MTV's Video Music Awards have been the site of Britney Spears' greatest triumphs (Madonna make-out! Sexy snake dance!) and one of her most calamitous disasters (this). But since both Good Britney and Bad Britney bring MTV comically massive ratings, the network will do anything to get Spears to show up. In 2008, they let her win three awards for a video that straight-up sucked, just to get her to come have a "triumphant" moment there. In 2009, MTV used Spears in VMAs promos with Russell Brand even though she couldn't attend and gave her seven (!) nominations and a Best Pop Video victory for "Womanizer" (she thanked MTV for the "so freakin' cool" honor from the road). In 2010, the VMAs squeezed plenty of controversy out of Lady Gaga's jerky gown, but this year they have the potential of bringing both Britney and Gaga (and Beyoncé!) to their show, which is taking place August 28th in Los Angeles. Both ladies will have albums to promote. Both ladies will likely perform.

This. Will be

The Internet continues to provide hip-hop fans with the gift of unearthed Wu-Tang Clan videos. Last time, it was the Wu's "too ill for TV" commercial for Super Game Boy, and now Ego Trip NYC (via Nah Right) has dug up this gem: a 1991 public access show called Rhythm & Soul featuring guests GZA, RZA, and Ol' Dirty Bastard. This lofi chat predates the formation of the Wu-Tang Clan itself as, back then, GZA was "The Genius," RZA was "Prince Rakim," and a slightly saner ODB was "Ason Unique." The fourth guy in the blue-and-yellow gear has not yet been identified.

Even though this clip came two years before the 36 Chambers was entered, it's still pretty incredible. The Genius was promoting his 1991 solo album Words From the Genius, ODB was his dancer/beatboxer, and the pair team up for a great a cappella at the tail end of the chat. We also hear firsthand what rappers inspired this nascent Wu collective: Melle Mel, Spoonie Gee, Cold Crush Brothers, Kool Moe Dee, Treacherous Three, and

Just what the near-bankrupt State of California needed, another tax-dollar-guzzling Phil Spector trial! It took two lengthy murder trials totaling roughly 13 months in court to find the famed music producer guilty in the 2003 death of actress Lana Clarkson. The second trial concluded in May 2009 with Spector's second-degree murder conviction and a sentence of 19 years to life in prison. Now almost two years later, Spector's defense team believes they've discovered enough prosecutor and judge "errors" during the second trial to force a third.

A panel of three judges will hear the Spector team's appeal for a new trial today. The crux of Spector's appeal centers on five of the prosecution's witnesses, all women who testified that Spector had previously threatened them with a gun, NPR reports. Spector's lawyers claimed that the judge should have disallowed those witnesses from taking the stand, but prosecutors argued that the women's testimony was "highly relevant."

If this seems like a

Jay-Z once rapped, "I'm not a businessman, I'm a business, man." He is proudly, unquestionably both. In the past six months he's launched enterprises as varied as a Brooklyn chicken-wing joint and a new lifestyle website called Life + Times. Guess which one his good friend Gwyneth Paltrow wanted to interview him about?

In a bout of uncomfortably icky cross-promotion, Paltrow's GOOP newsletter ran a Q&A with Jay today and Life + Times published an interview with Paltrow titled -- feel free to heave a preemptive sigh now -- "Straight Outta Compton?" (insert second, more exasperated sigh here). Why would Jay reference N.W.A's iconic meditation on downtrodden 'hood life in relation to an actress who grew up in extreme wealth? Because after boys from fancy New York prep school Collegiate introduced Paltrow to hip-hop when she was 16, she went to L.A. for a summer and "discovered N.W.A, which became my obsession. I was fascinated by lyrics as rhythm and how Dre had a such different cadence