Bow’s finest, Tinchy Stryder passed through MTV HQ twice in 2 days! First he hosted his very special 2 – hour countdown, “Tinchy’s Top 20 Urban Dance Bangers”, look out for that on your screens in August. Dressed in his trademark “Star in The Hood” T – shirt, Tinchy rolled up with a HUGE entourage of just one person – his close friend, Words Mattic from Ruff Squad! His only request was to wear both his chains on – air to complete the look of the day!

As always Tinchy was a joy to work with, laughing and joking with the crew and even asked me to break down the complex fundamentals of Twitter for him! This coming from the man who has over 20,000 followers and regularly tweets about his “flee” life! He just couldn’t understand how to “follow” people! I eventually tricked him into “following” me – thanks Tinch – I needed an extra follower!

By the way, for those who don’t know what “flee” is – it’s a term derived by Tinchy meaning someone who is so extra fly - they are “FLEE”!

During the shoot, Tinchy revealed that he calls N-Dubz’ Dappy the “Luther Vandross of the Hood” due to his incredible vocal range. So on your travels, if you come across Dappy – shout out “Wa Gwan Luthy”! Tinchy also revealed that during recording sessions with label mate Taoi Cruz, they spoke about their love of cars, but was surprised when Taio revealed that “he doesn’t even drive – what’s up with that!?!?”. Finally Tinchy reminisced about the first time he was flown out to LA by the Godfather of Grime, Wiley for his video “Pies” , way back in 2004! Bless Tinchy – he looked even younger than he does now - peep the video on the net to see what I mean!

Not content with taking over our MTV studios for an afternoon – Tinchy came back the next day to give us a set of exclusive live performances to promote his forthcoming album "Catch 22".
He was joined by friends Taio Cruz (“Take Me Back”) and a newly recovered from suspected swine flu, Sugababe, Amelle Berrabah for the live performance of his latest single “I will never leave you”.
The song is destined to replicate the huge success of his previous hit “Number 1” ( which stayed at the top spot for a staggering 3 weeks) as Tinchy revealed that radio airplay has already exceeded what “Number 1” was receiving before it’s release!

Good Luck Tinch – the song is a smash!

Random fact: Did you know the song is not actually about a girl or loved one? It’s actually talking about Tinchy’s feelings towards the grime scene! In the song – he insinuates that despite his mainstream fame, his heart will always remain with grime and he “will never leave” it!

Typically – the day’s schedule was running late – but this didn’t put Tinchy off – all he requested was some chicken; a thigh and drumstick and he was good to go!

Ever the perfectionist, he asked to do several takes of each song to ensure everyone was happy! What a professional!

Make sure you support UK music and go cop his soon to be released album, “Catch 22” - it’s straight fire and you will NOT be disappointed with the hits!

Now I’m of to tweet to my new buddy – Have a “FLEE” day peeps!

Catch "Tinchy Stryder's Top 20 Urban Dance Bangers" - August 17th on MTV BASE @ 7pm.

Today is a very sad day for music lovers all around the globe and the MTV BASE family wish to pay respects to the legacy of MICHAEL JACKSON and send condolences and prayers out to Michael's family and friends.

Michael influenced every urban music artist that MTV BASE play on air and his loss will be felt for all the music community.

Friends of MTV BASE spoke to us about their thoughts at the tragic news of Michael Jackson's sudden passing....

PHARRELL WILLIAMS reflected "the way he moved, the way he sang, those records that him and Quincy did together are massive and he's affected the world in a way that we'll all never be the same"

ALESHA DIXON said that she was "thankful to have witnessed a true legend in my lifetime. My heart cannot express the joy his music has bought to my life. I pray for him and his family. Thankyou Michael Jackson for all you have given."

CRAIG DAVID summed up the superstar; “There are stars and people who influenced you who are great lyricists and songwriters - and then there are superstars. In my lifetime I don’t know if I’m going to see one of those again. It’s a great loss."

ESTELLE expressed her shock at the star's untimley death - “I just can’t believe he’s gone. I keep thinking I’ll go to sleep, wake up and he’ll still be alive.I was born in 1980 and I grew up listening to him. He just meant so much to me."

MS DYNAMITE exclusively revealed to MTV her thoughts on "The King of Pop"- "MJ was undoubtedly a Legend that touched, influenced & inspired the entire world! MJ was 'music' itself, he was an entertainer on every level, right through to his soul & his presence will b greatly missed, the world over!"

Finally - BASHY made a fitting tribute to Jackson: "Michael Jackson was my hero when I was younger. The BIGGEST MUSIC Star in the world is gone but he'll never be forgotten. I hope he's at peace now."

Someone once said ‘’Dream as if you'll live forever, Live as if you'll die 2day. You only live once, but if you do it right that's all you need ‘’.........you did it Big MJ!

‘Are you absolutely phenomenally bonkers?!’. Is what I said when they asked me if I could make it up to the studio for a shoot with Idris Elba, AKA Stringer Bell from the Wire, AKA Derek Charles from Obsessed, AKA DJ Driss, AKA Tim Webster from Family Affairs, AKA Charles Gotso from The Office, AKA the black dude on the old Crimewatch reconstructions etc etc. “Of cours I’ll be there!”

The truth is he’s an absolute legend and has become one of the most respected faces on American TV, and the dude’s straight outta Hackney! So, when word got out that he’s coming up to the studio, even the MTV TWO guys wanted to come and watch!

And I don’t blame them because he’s a cool guy and doesn’t at all have the ego of the star he is. He came down to the studio’s humbly and has the presence of a respectful gentleman that can make everyone smile. He requested little but jokes with everyone, in fact, he could just as easily be your barber or your bus driver and I think the cliché of ‘feet remaining firmly on the ground’ is a perfectly appropriate definition of his ‘swagger’. Which is a word that is commonly over-used and often worn incorrectly, as he puts it: “Swagger is not a must, it’s a liability, a cliché, a bad suit”, on the intro to Jay Z’s American Gangster. He told me he wrote, recorded and sent that track to Jay Z with out informing him who sent it. Apparently, after listening to the track Jay said to his manager ‘I don’t like it… I ****ing love it!’ and once he found out it was written by the man who plays Stringer Bell, the rest is history.

Anyway, Idris had come up to the studio to record his links for the ‘Top 50 US All Stars with Idris Elba’, which will be aired on July 4th. And judging by this performance as a presenter, I think Trevor, Reggie, Kat, Ace, Vis and even Zane should be watching their backs. Pretty much every link (I think there were around 50) was done in one take with out an auto cue as he managed to recall personal stories of meeting the legendary stars he was linking to. For instance, while he was staying at another 5 star hotel in the states he bumped into a short dude who was mumbling something. The ‘short dude’ was none other than Pharrell Williams, and the something he was mumbling was him congratulating Idris on his self-made success. Also, he told us about a time when P Diddy called him up and asked him to hang out, before taking him to Jay Z’s birthday party! Can you imagine that? Getting a phone call from Mr Diddy himself just to ask if you can come out! That’s how you know you’ve got some serious ‘swagger’, and it doesn’t stop there! Busta Rhymes also called Idris personally and asked him to head down to his video shoot for “Respect My Conglomerate” just to give the video a bit more of a gangster feel!

I think Idris Elba is one of the few people who have generated so much hype and are not over-rated. He’s earned every bit of his respect and does a good job at maintaining it. We even cancelled booking our regular make-up artist for the shoot, as all the girls in the office wanted the chance to touch his face. Susan, the MTV Base assistant producer won the battle and clearly enjoyed the job immensely, in fact I’m not even sure if she even managed to apply any make up! But I can’t talk! I was one of many who requested a photograph and signed copy of his new single. Yes he’s a musician too and there’s plenty more to come from him… just don’t call him Stringer, he hates it and can easily hurt you!

To promote the release of "Notorious" on DVD - I was asked to go on an amazing promo trip to Brookyln, NYC, to interview Christopher "Notorious BIG" Wallace's mother - Mrs. Voletta Wallace. Now if you are a hip hop head - you have no doubt heard about this inspirational woman - she has overcome breast cancer 3 times AND had to suffer the high profile ( and still unsolved after 12 years!?!?!) murder of her superstar son Biggie Smalls.

Armed with my presenter Kat, we were escorted around Biggie's neighbourhood by the woman that knew him best - Mrs. Wallace.

First up - we went to his childhood home. This was the place where he lived when he married Faith Evans and first met Lil Kim, whom he had a tumultuous on & off relationship with. (Apparently Lil Kim was upset with her portrayal in the movie and has publicly attacked Mrs. Wallace since it's release ). Mrs. Wallace graciously accepted the attack and said that she "would love to meet with her - mother to daughter" to discuss this. She also condemned her son's treatment of Lil Kim but said at the end of the day "This movie isn't about her - it's about Christopher".

Biggie's now iconic music video, "Juicy" was also filmed on the steps of his childhood home. I was told that the neighbourhood looks really different to when Biggie lived there - it's been gentrified over the years and a lot of money has been ploughed into the area!

Next up on our hit list - myself, Kat and Mrs. Wallace visited Fort Green Middle School - a Catholic School that Biggie studied at from a young age. It was also the first place where he was christened with the name "Big" due to his height and stature! He also excelled in English there. This was also the spot where Biggie's real life son with Faith Evans, CJ, shot some scenes in his portrayal of a young Biggie. Mrs. Wallace said she was proud of her grandson's acting and would support him if he chose to go into music or entertainment.

Finally - we visited Biggie's high school - Fort Westinghouse in Brooklyn. Ironically - this school was also home to Busta Rhymes, Jay Z and DMX! Talk about an amazing hip hop legacy of students! Sadly Mrs. Wallace had no recollection of the young wannabe rappers – although she said her son knew them when he was a student there! She also revealed that Biggie’s decision to drop out of Fort Westinghouse at the age of 17, to focus on music, made her want to kill him. She didn’t understand why he wanted to pursue music when “he couldn’t even sing”. Her parting words to us were “Biggie promised me that (music) would make him!” ....and that it did!

Go cop “Notorious “ on dvd if you haven’t already – it’s released at the end of June!
In the meantime you can catch Kat and Mrs. Wallace talking all things Biggie all this month on THE LICK – Sunday, 7th June @ 5pm.

Just a thought… but who’s seen Trevor Nelson in real life? I’ve always been a massive fan of The Lick presenter and as the new kid at MTV, I’d only ever seen him on the TV or heard him on radio. For all those who haven’t had the pleasure of shaking his hand, let’s just say… well… his personality is slightly larger than his frame! And I’m not sure if his trim makes a difference, or the fact that I’m a few inches taller than six foot, but the dude’s surprisingly… well, let’s say… petite. I mean absolutely no disrespect to the man, he’s an icon, even a legend in his field, and if anything this should be an inspiration to others with a similar physique! And as the lovely Alesha Dixon found out, if you were to ever end up co-presenting with Trevor, leave your high heels at home!

To all those who’ve tuned in to the current episode of The Lick, you’d see that the Base team pulled all strings to get the beautiful Alesha Dixon to co-host with Trevor (notice how she’s wearing flat pumps?! she actually changed out of her high heels so she didn't dwarf Trevor!) in the an amazing exhibition from another iconic figure, Goldie.

So, as Trevor and the team chilled out in the gallery surrounded by vibrant canvasses from Goldie’s ‘The Kids are Alright’ exhibition, a pair of trainers belonging to Goldie could be seen walking down the stairs. As he emerged further down we become aware of two bricks in his hands. In what seemed enough time for a heart to beat, the artist fell over his feet leaving a brick to strike the wooden flooring with a loud bang and in the same motion the remaining brick was flung in the direction of Trevor. I’m no mind reader, but can imagine that our presenter saw his life flash before his eyes followed by thoughts of what impact this would have on his facial symmetry! Then, with what seemed like a crash, bang and a wallop, the brick smashed through Mr Nelson and we were all left to gasp and wait for the blood to start trickling down his skin.

If you’re now wondering why this story hasn’t featured in the news and Goldie hasn’t been done for assault, it’s because the brick in question was made from no more than polystyrene! Brilliant! And there you have it, Goldie is also a practical joker as well as a DJ, producer, actor, artist etc etc…

So, my initial experiences with MTV Base have proved memorable, and let’s hope the future brings more behind the scenes stories. I’ll keep you posted. Peace

As I sit down with a rapper that has been hailed as many as the next big thing in Hip-Hop, I wonder to myself, am I about to interview an artist who one day will go down in musics ’Hall of Fame’, I think so, he can spit, I mean he can really rap, from tearing up Lil’ Waynes ‘A Milli’ to the student anthem ‘I Love College’ but by appearence the skinny, pale dude with vans slip-ons accompanied by a black hoody doesn’t have superstar written all over him, but who does these days, he certainly has swagger, has a look, and is probably one of the coolest guys you could meet. But what is going to open doors for him is that this is the era of the internet, an era of openess and musically less discrimination. So now is the time for Asher Roth to break the rap game, a product of a middle class humble upbringing in the suburbs of Phillidelphia. So how did the humble kid from Philli become the most talked about individual in Hip-Hop for the last few years? Well if you know my musical prefrence and have read my articles dotted over the internet you will know I have been supporting for a while, and so have MTV Base as a whole since the tape of 'I Love College' arrived on our desks. But now he has finally landed in the UK, a whirlwind tour where he was interviewed by all of your favourite DJ’s, dropped a 30-minute straight freestyle on Westwoods Radio 1 show, which is in modern rap terms, unheard of, nobody straight freestyles anymore, and certainly not for 30 minutes!

So what makes him so special Asher told us that, "I mean I guess the break for me was essentially being able to link up with Shaka Zulu, Steve Rifkin and Jay-Z and everything, but the real break musically was the green house effect with DJ drama and DJ Cannon, that was the break as far as people taking it seriously as a project and then when I remixed ‘a Milli’, where I turned it into like about ‘no one cares about your million dollars’ basically I totally flipped the perspective, I think that was one of the moments when people were like okay, cool, he can rap. Obviosuly my look is different, I'm pale as hell, and i rap good. What can I say, not to many about!"

Then as we ask him what his first big break is he smiles adding, "I guess the first big break was essentially being able to link up with Shaka Zulu, Steve Rifkin and Jay-Z and everything, but the real break musically was the green house effect with DJ drama and DJ Cannon, that was the break as far as people taking it seriously as a project and then when I remixed ‘a Milli’, where I turned it into like about ‘no one cares about your million dollars’ basically I totally flipped the perspective."

Asher also spoke about his high-profile support, ranging from Kanye West to Jay-Z to Andre 3000 to Cee-Lo, and he rapped with Mos Def in the summer, he said, "Yeah well Mos Def at Magic, that was dope, rapping with Mos was like WOW! And Cee-lo is now on the album, ‘Sleeping In The Bread Aisle’"

On his press tour of the UK he also hooked up with CHipmunk via. friend of MTV Base DJ Semtex, also he reportedly laid down a track with Mr. Hudson, and he also added to his support of the UK music movement be revealing to us that he has worked with Estelle on the new album, Asher commented, "Well the Estelle joint is called ‘She dont want a man’, I have two older sisters and the club songs you know, are usually all degrading to women as far as you know ’show your booty bitch’ or whatever and for me it was like you know, with two older sisters and with them being older they kind of drilled into my head not to be a douche bag! So I wrote a record about when they go to the club she just wants to dance on the dance floor she doesn’t want a slimy dude get all up and try to get her pregnant that night so that’s what it’s about, so for the track I wanted somebody classy but still fresh and Estelle’s very much that she classy and she’s dope, she’s a dope artist I didn’t want some pop sensation just for the moment, like Lady Gaga or something, haha, I wanted someone whose gonna stick around for a while. And Estelle at the same time that she heard about the project she knew it was very organic it’s not made up, it’s a genuine project."

My conclusion is that he may be billed as the new Eminem, but I will bill him as the Anti-Eminem, due to his complete different attitude to music and life, the only similarities I can find are that he raps well, he is white, and he has a slightly high pitched vocal tone, musically the content could not be further away, overall I would say he isn't just the Anti-Eminem, he is the Anti-Rapper helping rap back to the roots.

Luke Monaghan

If I told you a year ago that Grime would be swallowed by Funky house you may have laughed at me, if I told you that the usual gun finger waving grime dance movements would be swapped for the ‘Macarena’ and ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees & Toes’, well you would have spat at your coffee and sent us away immediately. But a dance craze is sweeping the nation, I put it down to the credit crunch and there being no better way to forget your money woes then to do a little duty-wine. In light of all of this MTV Base had to call in the men of the moment KIG Family for an interview, the three east Londoners who have crowned themselves the ‘Kings of the Ghetto’ weren’t short of things to say claiming, “We will have more hits, we can reveal that the new dance is called Point to the Star, it’s going to take over.’ And added, ‘It’s a simple move, even if you have a granddad back you can buss it on the dance floor, you just point up to the sky innit!’.

They revealed desires of working with artists like Bashy and Kano, after saluting the grime scene that moulded and influenced them, but they owe the start of their burgeoning music career to one thing, a Playstation 2. One member of the KIG Family, Shocka revealed, ‘Yeah we started making beats on a game called Music 3000 on the PS2, it was big man! Haha!’. So whether you love them or hate them, you can’t deny that they are blowing up on Radio 1, 1xtra and KISS FM. And of course catch the video on MTV Base featuring Bashy, Sway and many, many more.

Luke Monaghan

MTV Base Backstage at the EMA’s is back, and I know what your thinking! How can we possibly top last years efforts in Munich? Well seeing as this year’s awards were hosted by the European Capital of culture, yes, Liverpool! We felt necessary to take down two cultured gentleman to cause havoc in the city that birthed The Beatles.

Reggie Yates and Rickie Haywood-Williams managed to squeeze in a lot of sight-seeing into three days, notably taking part in boot-leg pub-quiz at John Lennon and the gangs regular haunt ‘The Cavern’ in Liverpool’s city centre, playing football outside Anfield with some familiar faces, chasing Katy Perry’s scantily clad dancers around backstage (and initiating a pillow fight, which they lost!) and of course gate-crashing Trevor Nelson’s now famous EMA after-party …what you weren’t there? You really should have been!

And don’t even get us started on Reg’s exclusive interview with Kanye West, the genius revealed a lot about the new album, future plans and the struggles that he is going through right now. So while Reg was backstage interviewing one of his idols, Rickie was lucky enough to be interviewing Grace ‘You have a nice back Rickie’ Jones, if you like to see Rickie looking very uncomfortable that is must watch TV! We enlisited the help of 'The Gossip Gangstar' Perez Hilton, and Perez didn't waste any time in dishing out bitchy comments, not only to our presenters but saying Estelle needs to get her teeth fixed, and calling Kanye insecure. Then Perez challenged the boys to a rap battle in which he wiped the floor with Reggie, REALLY HE DID! You should have come prepared Reg! But let's be real even Jigga would have trouble battling Perez. Or maybe not, would be interesting to see, maybe Base can hook that up?

We also felt appropriate to ask ALL the stars at this years awards, who they felt out of Reggie and Rickie is a better leader, who has Barack Obama type tendancies, and the big question ...who would you trust with your girl??

I don't actually know who won the vote, I think we called it a draw, because you can trust neither of them with your girl...

So much happened and we tried to squeeze it all into the hour show, which premieres on MTV Base at 5pm Tonight! Tune in!

ALSO CATCH IT:

Tuesday 11th November @ midday

Wednesday 12th November @ 9am

Friday 14th November @ 6pm

Sunday 16th November@ 5pm

Sat 22nd November @ midnight

Sun 23rd November @ 10am

Tue 25th November @ 9am

Thur 27th November @ 9am

If you have never heard of "Family Guy" - what flipping planet do you live on?!?!

Myself and the MTV crew recently rolled down to a rather interesting launch for Series 7 of the utterly fabulous cartoon - "Family Guy" in London Town.

How could I resist an invite that teased me with "Quagmire" burgers and an epic ‘burger-off’ ( to you and me - that's a burger eating competition) !!?!?

Upon arrival, I was met by a scantily - clad (in sexy y-fronts), human, Peter Griffin - yes you read correctly!! see the picture below if you don't believe me!

The human Peter Griffin proceeded to serve drinks and burgers all night and even relived the iNFAMOUS chicken fight - live - just for our eyes!

I felt like I was partying amongst the elite!

All I can say is that I went home with an exceedingly full belly and moistened throat due to all the freeness available on the night - lovely jubbly!

For all you "Family Guy" fanatics - make sure you go cop the dvd on 10th Novemeber....

Alesha Dixon is back with her new album The Alesha Show on November 24th, but you can get a taste of things to come right now by getting a FREE download of a brand new, exclusive track produced by Soulshock and Karlin.

The track - called Colours Of The Rainbow – doesn’t feature on the album and isn’t available to buy anywhere else, so make sure you get yours now!

Click here to get your FREE download! 

www.aleshadixon.co.uk

Get more FREE MTV downloads here!