Just how awkward will the awkwardly staged moment between Kanye West and Taylor Swift be? Will Eminem deign to smile? Which uncomfortable pop star will B.o.B choose to bring up on stage with him? And how will your hosts, Pitchfork's Ryan Dombal and eMusic's Sean Fennessey, make it to midnight without passing out? The answers to these questions and more, below, on our official SOTC 2010 MTV VMA Live Blog, commencing shortly. (Amuse yourself in the meantime with last year's edition.)

​Nicki Minaj Performs "Check It Out" With Will.i.am on the Pre-Show [8:35 p.m.]

SF: Tim Kash informs us that Nicki Minaj has a "great behind." And here she is. Will.i.am emerges dressed like the black Max Headroom.
RD: Will.i.am has too much time on his hands. Also, a live-action Jetsons movie just got greenlit. I want to Jazzercise right now.
SF: Nicki, fearlessly weird, and sort of disturbing!
RD: She just did the "Come to Daddy" scream to a dude in all white who's doing the robot -- I think I recognize that guy from Nicki's Ustreams! I have too much time on my hands.
SF: That man is wearing a "Pink Friday 11.23.10" T-shirt. RIP Macy Gray.

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​Power 105 Power Live, Featuring Rick Ross and Diddy
Governors Island
Sunday, August 22

The weather on Sunday in advance of Power 105's Power Live concert at Governors Island was fitting, considering its star attraction. There was a thick, slowing dampness in New York City yesterday--not so much simply wet as it was soaked through--and I couldn't help but feel sympathy for Rick Ross, he of the often sweaty constitution. It must be tough carrying that weight around when the air itself is conspiring against you.

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​Art: this is how we explain away indulgent decisions. Last night, Kanye West released the first visual--do not call it a video--from his as yet untitled new album: a "painting," as he and his director call it, for "Power." The clip premiered on MTV directly following an episode of the network's most popular program, Jersey Shore, and was created by Marco Brambilla, an accomplished video artist and one-time director of Alicia Silverstone caper comedies. The "Power" painting is 93 seconds long. It is art. Or something like it, anyway.

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On May 7, Katy Perry debuted "California Gurls," the first single from her forthcoming album, Teenage Dream. It was a cleverly-engineered, synchronized piece of pop craft--a classic no-chances move--and it had to be: there were things riding on this song. Things like the viability of Perry as a bona fide superstar, Snoop Dogg's continued (ir?)relevance, and an early bid for the title of Summer Anthem. So Perry and her label, EMI, did the thing that labels do when it's no-chances time: They called Lukasz Gottwald, better known as Dr. Luke.

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​In two weeks the first rap album of 2010 that matters will be released. How much rap will appear on The Adventures of Bobby Ray is still a mystery. But the recent hip-hop trend of paradigm-shifting MCs--e.g., rappers who don't always seem interested in rap--continues with the big top arrival of B.o.B. There has been something preordained about his rise, but it's been an intermittent ascent for Atlanta's Bobby Ray Simmons. Unlike his comrade in genre obfuscation, Drake--who became famous virtually overnight--B.o.B's trajectory has been a slow burn climaxing in, finally, a flash of light: the hit single "Nothin' On You."

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"For The Blueprint, Jay-Z literally just walked into the studio one day and was like, 'Anybody got some beats?'"

Kanye mourns, 1.30.10.

​Last Thursday, when producer Justin "Just Blaze" Smith announced he was closing shop at Baseline Studios, longtime recording homebase for Roc-A-Fella Records and other hip-hop and R&B luminaries, it marked not just the end of an era but the end of an ethic. Other historic venues for rap recording, including Chung King Recording Studios, Sony Music Studios, and The Hit Factory, have closed their doors in recent years, so the end of Baseline--where albums like Jay-Z's The Blueprint and Cam'Ron's Come Home With Me were recorded in part--feels like a stroke of finality in New York's ever-losing bid for geographical relevance. None of this means Just Blaze is retiring--in fact, just yesterday it was announced that he was joining in a partnership with Harlem's Stadiumred, a rising recording giant. Still, things won't be the same. In 2006, Sean Fennessey conducted a long interview with Just in the A room of Baseline to discuss his career, his future plans, and the legacy of the music made under his roof. In honor of Baseline's departure, here (below) is an extended excerpt from that interview, and--bonus!--a pretty much definitive collection of Just Blaze's production [now down, at the producer's request], over at Sean's blog, Split Infinitives.

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As we tend to do for various events crucial to the pop diaspora, we've asked expert critics Sean Fennessey and Ryan Dombal to sit in at SOTC for the evening and live blog the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards. Perhaps you remember their 2009 MTV VMA work? They really do this. Gentlemen?

Pop music, in one single photo.

​8:00pm
Ryan: First thing: #teamkanye
Sean: Obvs.
Ryan: I wonder if they'd be better off just airing Gaga's Radio City show a week and a half later.
Sean: I'm excited about her decision to not wear leggings. We are nearer to thine crotch.
Ryan: They said it couldn't be done.
Sean: Elton John, donning bejeweled glasses to match Gaga.
Ryan: This set looks like that board game Mouse Trap.
Sean: "Speechless" is the best song she's ever written. There I said it.

8:05pm
Sean: "How wonderful that felt with Gaga in the world."
Sean: Ace, Elton.
Sean: By the way, if there's a lull, not to worry, Ryan's just eating a sandwich DURING THE OPENING SET.
Ryan: Priorities.

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"I just love the Grizzly Bear. That project was great. It sounds like these church cathedral chords--it's just sick what they're doing."

​In 2009, Jay-Z rolled, grabbing his first number one record and--to the rapper's own surprise--a victory in our 37th Annual Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll. "When I got the call from the Village Voice I was like, 'Are you sure?'" Jay told our interviewer. "I thought they don't like me over there. They only like guys you never heard of." Not this year: "Empire State of Mind" cruised over Phoenix and Animal Collective, claiming spots on 89 of 697 total ballots filed by critics all around the country. Sean Fennessey's dissection of what it all means can be found here, but we figured since it's not every day Shawn Carter sits down to talk about his own life and work, we'd run the whole transcript of their conversation, too. Have at it: More >>

Girls/Real Estate
Bowery Ballroom
Friday, November 6

Cobain sweater. Check. Blonde, shoulder-length tangle. Check. "Let's all just have a good time," Girls' front man Christopher Owens said as he settled at the center of the stage at Bowery Ballroom. He said it flatly, no rocker pose or impishness. Like, you know, let's all just have a good time. It's the sort of phrase that might pop up in one of his songs--straightforward, hopeful, deceptively innocent. On Friday, Owens and bandmate J.R. White, along with touring drummer Garret Godard and guitarist Ryan Lynch, played nearly all of those songs. They did so before a crowded house, with the sort of calmness and restraint that belied the hysteria surrounding the band's first New York show since garnering a frenzy of acclaim for their debut, Album. Just another day in the sunshine for the San Francisco band.

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In honor of the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, we've invited SOTC buddies and pop savants Sean Fennessey and Ryan Dombal to lend a certain wisdom and perspective to these sure-to-be completely dignified proceedings. Gentleman?

John Shearer

​

9:00pm
Sean: We're coming to you live from one or two or seven places. Ryan, how do you feel?
Ryan: It's kinda hot in here.
9:01pm
Sean: Always, always about Madge. Even if it isn't.
Ryan: I guess Madonna is going to die now.
Sean: Pete Wentz is moved, though, so you know, good.
Ryan: He's Twittering.
Ryan: Holler at Brooke Shields.
Sean: "The roar of the lynch mob is so loud you're convinced your voice can never be heard."
Sean: Madonna is a werewolf.
Ryan: Cue Sharpton.
Sean: Taylor Lautner, let's get it.

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