Kanye West to receive Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award

There will definitely be reason to tune in on Sunday for this year’s VMAs.

MTV announced that Kanye West will be the recipient of the night’s most prestigious honor: the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.

Previous winners include Justin Timberlake, Madonna, and just last year, Beyonce who performed an amazing medley to close the show. No confirmation if ‘Ye will perform this year, but I’m pretty geeked he’ll get the honor for his videos. Kanye’s long been my (and many others) choice for the artist that has the best videos so it’s cool to see that recognized at this level. Even the announcement video for it was dope — highlighting Kanye through the years, even child rapping Kanye. Looking forward to Sunday now.

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Jhene Aiko explains “groceries” line

Jhene Aiko had one of the most ear-catching lines of the summer on Omarion’s hit single “Post To Be” with her and Chris Brown featuring. You all know it by now.

And now we get the explanation… as Jhene goes grocery shopping, of all things, with MTV’s Rob Markman. I dig the experience style of interview that added some intrigue to not only hearing from Jhene about the line but what sorts of actual groceries she buys. Remember, artists are real people too so we’ll have things like grocery shopping in common. Enjoy this fun, light hearted interview above.

Kendrick Lamar reveals OG album title

More Kendrick press today as he sits down with MTV’s Rob Markman for a great new 10 minute sit-down (Pt. 1 of more to come).

The newly revealed tidbit is the headline — the OG album title for the sopomore album was Tu Pimp a Caterpillar. You see what he did there?

Kendrick explains:

“That was the original name and they caught it because the abbreviation was Tupac, Tu-P-A-C,” Lamar told MTV. “Me changing it to Butterfly, I just really wanted to show the brightness of life and the word pimp has so much aggression and that represents several things. For me, it represents using my celebrity for good. Another reason is, not being pimped by the industry through my celebrity.”

Whoo, that woulda been cool too, but the Kendrick x Tupac influence is pretty clear throughout, of course with the “Mortal Man” 2Pac interview. Looking forward to more from this deep sit-down interview… keep it locked.

ICYMI: Kendrick Lamar x Hot 97 Interview (40 min. Video)