Way? (66)
Eminem and Rihanna have already hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with "Love the Way You Lie," the second single from Slim Shady's smash hit album Recovery. The song has managed to scale the chart without the benefit of a music video, but one is on the way soon. Photos of Eminem and Rihanna on set surfaced last week, and over the weekend director Joseph Kahn announced that the clip would be premiering sometime in the coming week.
"And that's a wrap! Eminem/Rhianna premieres in a week!" the director tweeted on Saturday (July 24). (A few minutes later, he corrected himself on a crucial point: "Oops Rihanna," he added. "That's what I get for typing while feeding my white Siberian tiger. More caviar, slave!")
Little is currently known about the clip, although "Lost" actor Dominic Monaghan will appear alongside Em and Rihanna. The video was filmed in Los Angeles last week.
"Love the Way You Lie" will be the third video Kahn has directed for Eminem. He previously took the lead on the clips for "Without Me" and "We Made You." During Kahn's 20-year career, he has directed videos for the likes of Britney Spears ("Womanizer"), U2 ("Elevation") and Lady Gaga ("LoveGame")
Kahn sounds extremely satisfied with the final version of his latest project. "My director's edit of Love the Way You Lie is done," he tweeted on Sunday (July 25). "I love this video."
Source: MTV
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Poll After The Jump
Before it was released, Eminem's Recovery was touted as a great comeback vehicle after the so-so showing that was Relapse (which was supposed to be his other comeback vehicle). It appears as though everybody was right, as Recovery has been greeted by enthusiastic buyers (it has already sold over a million copies) and already has a chart-topping single ("Not Afraid"). In fact, it could be scoring its second #1 single very soon, as "Love the Way You Lie" — Slim Shady's collaboration with Rihanna — has rocketed up the Billboard Hot 100 and is looking to dislodge Katy Perry's "California Gurls" from its perch.
"Love the Way You Lie" is something of a departure for Eminem, as he doesn't typically follow the hip-hop trope of spitting some verses and then letting the female singer handle the hook in the chorus. But it's a brutally honest, heart-on-his-sleeve series of verses, and Rihanna's appearance is a sweet respite from the swirling angst surrounding her. It's quite possible that "Love the Way You Lie" is the best female collaboration in Eminem's career. How does it stack up to his other mixed tag-team partners?
Pink
Of course, it's possible that Eminem's team-up with Rihanna isn't even the best collaboration with a woman on that album. "Won't Back Down" puts Pink's tough girl aesthetic to excellent use, matching her up with a cranking guitar-infused beat full of piss and vinegar. "Won't Back Down" is so badass that former UFC light heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell used it as his entrance music during his fight with Rich Franklin a few weeks back.
Dido
Eminem's signature team-up track (on the classic "Stan," from 2000's The Marshall Mathers LP) also uses his guest's vibe correctly, as Dido croons the song's haunting hook with an ethereal chill. Though Dido was not famous when "Stan" came out, she certainly elevated her profile after the track became a hit. (Her 1999 album No Angel — which contained "Thank You," the track from which the sample from "Stan" came — ended up going platinum four times.)
Dina Rae
Though not a star in her own right, Eminem has tapped singer Dina Rae for more collaborations than any other female artist. Rae has provided backing vocals and hook work on "Cum On Everybody" (from The Slim Shady LP), "Drug Ballad" (from The Marshall Mathers LP) and "Superman" (from The Eminem Show).
Hailie Jade
The other female voice heard pretty often on Eminem's albums? Daughter Hailie Jade, who actually got a "featuring" credit on The Eminem Show's "My Dad's Gone Crazy" (she half-sings the song's hook).
So who is the best female Eminem collaborator? Vote in the poll below and leave your arguments in the comments!
It would appear, after years spent debating, deliberating, dissecting and disputing, that there is finally a better way to determine just what is the biggest Summer Jam of the year ... and of the past 25 years, too.
That's because Billboard just unveiled its brand-new Songs of the Summer chart, which ranks the Top 10 summer jams "based on actual performance on the Billboard Hot 100, from the June 12, 2010, chart date through the most-recent chart."
Not surprisingly, Katy Perry's "California Gurls" holds the top spot on the chart. After all, the song has been #1 on the Hot 100 for six straight weeks. Usher's "OMG" — which had previously nabbed the top spot on the Hot 100 — is in at #2, followed by B.o.B and Hayley Williams' "Airplanes," and the Travie McCoy/ Bruno Mars track "Billionaire." Ke$ha's "Your Love Is My Drug" rounds out the Top 5.
Lady Gaga's "Alejandro" — which won MTV's Summer Jam Sweepstakes last month — is at #6, Taio Cruz's "Break Your Heart" is at #7, Drake's "Find Your Love" is at #8, Eminem's "Not Afraid" is at #9 and Mike Posner's "Cooler Than Me" closes out the Top 10.
The "Songs of the Summer" chart will run until September 9, when Billboard will crown a champion. So it's still plenty early, which means that you probably can expect to see newer Hot 100 entries — like Eminem's hard-charging "Love the Way You Lie," which sits at #2 on the chart after just three weeks — to make a dent on the Summer chart as well. Hot 100 rankings are based on radio play and sales.
Along with the Summer chart, Billboard also unveiled a comprehensive list of the biggest summer songs of the past quarter-century, as determined by impact on the Hot 100 and something called "an inverse point system, with weeks at #1 earning the greatest value and weeks at No. 100 earning the least." For music obsessives, it's a treat. And for trivia buffs, it finally provides an answer to the question "Who had the biggest summer song in 1988?" (Steve Winwood!) So, really, everyone wins
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