Singer signs with Interscope instead of Young Money.
By Shaheem Reid

Lloyd
Photo: Universal Motown

Coming off the success of Young Money's "Bed Rock" and factoring in their previous track record of hit singles like "Every Girl," everyone figured that singer Lloyd and his good friend and fellow New Orleans native Lil Wayne would officially join forces. Since Lloyd got his release from the Inc. last year, his going to Young Money seemed like a foregone conclusion. However, a deal could not be worked out — but the 25-year-old MC is excited about his new deal with Interscope.

"Baby and Wayne were definitely the first people to reach out to me. I talked to them about a deal. That's who I thought I'd end up with in my heart," Lloyd explained to MTV News. "The problem is that Young Money/ Cash Money is exclusive to Universal/ Motown. As you and I know, that's where I did my last two albums. I wasn't excited about going back. I tried to do a Young Money/ Cash Money deal through another distributor, but it couldn't be done. At the end of the day, I'm still family, though."

The singer says not signing with his "family" doesn't hamper any chances of future collaborations. Lloyd is currently assessing who he'll get in the lab with.

"I don't feel the need to rush to release an album. It'll be out later this year. I got a couple of title options, but I'm not 100 percent sure yet," he explained. "I love the way Interscope gets down. I love the way Jimmy [Iovine, label head] gets down. I've always had a good working relationship with Polow [da Don, producer]. Having that creative partner is something I wanted to have, since the very beginning, to have that one creative partner. Mike [Jackson] had it with Quincy [Jones], Janet [Jackson] had it with Jimmy [Jam] and Terry [Lewis]. Justin has it with Timbaland. I feel that me and Polow have something special. I'm really looking forward to that. I also admire Jimmy [Iovine] as a producer. He loves producers. He's got Will.I.Am, Dr. Dre, Polow, the Neptunes, Timbaland. That's what he does. I'm looking forward to it."

MTV News exclusively received a copy of a new Lloyd single. It's called "Set Me Free" and features Mystikal. It's Mystikal's first song since going to jail for sexual assault six years ago. The MC was released in January.

"I'm a beast, I'm a dog," Lloyd sings. "Let me off the leash so I can set it off/...Feels like I got the whole world in my pants/ Girl you can set me free/ I'm feeling like Ali/ In his prime/ I'm a P.I.M.P. "

Mystikal comes in towards the end of the record with his famous southern howl. Myst also address his incarceration:

"Stop lyin' on me/ I smash these rappers and pick up trash at the same time, homie/ Young Lloyd called me and told me to sick the dog on 'em ... I got meaner from being behind that fence ... I hit the streets and rappers ran like shouts in the crowd/ Y'all was out here eating shrimp/ I was on that workout bench/ But I'm back on the beach/ Muscle up!"

"The N.O. is gonna love me for this one," Lloyd said. "The world is gonna love me for that song. It is the first of many [singles]. Since the album won't be coming out until later this year, that's more than enough time to get many songs out. We're gonna start hitting them pretty hard.

"I had two major goals in 2009," he added. "One was to get off the Inc., which I did. The other was to get back on radio and TV, which I did with 'Bedrock.' "

His plan for 2010 is laid flat as well.

"Signing with Interscope was just a small step," the Atlanta transplant offered. "This year I'm really focused on a classic album and staying in the public eye with more guest features. I have a few surprise collaborations coming. In the past two months I've recorded some really surprising features that will shake up the game a little bit."

• Check Out A Preview Of Lloyd's 'Set Me Free'

• Lloyd

Read more: MTV News

Late actor's name was found on a fraudulent prescription obtained through a drug ring, authorities tell the AP.
By MTV News staff

Corey Haim in 2009
Photo: Joey Foley/ Getty Images

Corey Haim may have been involved in a major drug ring that provided him with an illegal prescription for a painkiller, authorities told The Associated Press on Friday (March 12).

During an investigation of the ring, the California attorney general's office found records of the fraudulent prescription in the late actor's name. Law-enforcement officials were investigating the drug ring and whether Haim himself actually filed the prescription or if someone used his name to obtain it.

Haim was found dead Wednesday, but coroner's officials have not yet determined his cause of death. According to the actor's manager, preliminary reports reveal that he died of an enlarged heart with water-filled lungs. The Los Angeles County coroner told Haim's mother that the culprit was pulmonary congestion, manager Mark Heaslip said.

The initial buzz of what might have actually killed Haim came from the 1980s teen icon's decades-long struggle with drug addiction. Longtime friend and frequent co-star Corey Feldman asked Wednesday that people not "jump the gun" to conclude a drug overdose killed Haim.

Heaslip, manager to both Feldman and Haim, said he seemed to be winning his battle against drug abuse in the weeks before his death. Haim was "weaned down to literally zero medications" in the past two weeks by an addiction specialist, Heaslip said Wednesday on CNN's "Issues With Jane Velez-Mitchell."

The doctor "put him on a new line of medications," Feldman said on "Larry King Live" on Wednesday.

• 'American Idol' In 60 Seconds
• Remembering Corey Haim
• MTV Rough Cut: Corey Haim

• Corey Haim: A Life In Photos

Read more: MTV News

'I was going to be the first contestant to actually do a dance break,' he says.
By Katie Byrne

Todrick Hall performs on "American Idol"
Photo: Frank Micelotta/ Getty Images

Todrick Hall stumbled a bit during his first "American Idol" live performances, but he seemed to hit his stride with a bombastic version of Queen's "Somebody to Love" this week.

Unfortunately, the "Idol" viewers repaid him by sending him on his way Thursday night, along with Lilly Scott, Alex Lambert and Katelyn Epperly. We caught up with Hall on Friday (March 12) to talk about why he was eliminated, how he got sucked into the rumor mill and what's next.

Q: Were you surprised to be eliminated after your best live performance?

A: I feel like I should have done that a couple weeks earlier. The problem is, I'm an African-American male, as you call tell from watching me on TV. [Laughs.] ... I got so many messages saying, "Sing Usher. Sing Chris Brown. Sing Brian McKnight. Sing Ne-Yo, Stevie Wonder, any black artist basically that you can sing, because that's your demographic." But that's not the kind of music that I want to sing, so I'm happy that I stayed true to myself, but I kinda feel if I had just sang the cookie-cutter songs that people would have expected me to do and not gone so far out there with the clothes and the performing and would have just been a normal guy that got up there and sang semi-decent, I feel like I would have done better. But I'm happy that I stayed true to myself, because I think that is the most important. I would not have been happy doing anything else.

Q: Do you think your theater background worked against you on the show?

A: I do honestly feel that way, and it's sad to say, but when people know certain things about you, it's kinda hard to shake those things. But I just told someone today that I feel if Lady Gaga, who is one of the most successful artists out right now, if she was on "American Idol," I don't think that they would have good things to say about her. ... I do think that they want you to be out of the box and they kept telling me that I was changing things too much, but I would hear them tell people they're not changing enough and not making it their own. You have to try and find that line of when is it not changing it too much and when is it being too cookie-cutter and being a karaoke version, which sometimes they're OK with and sometimes they're not. I feel like I was true to myself, and I feel I'll be rewarded for being different in the end.

Q: What did you do after your elimination?

A: I just took a deep breath and thought, "What do I do next? Pick yourself up." I've grown up in theater, and I always know there are no's. ... I was more concerned about Alex and some of the people who had not necessarily gone through this.

Q: There have been a lot of online reports about you being involved in a scam surrounding "Oz, the Musical." Can you explain that?

A: I'm so glad that I can talk about it now. It wasn't a good time to talk about it when I was on "American Idol," because I just needed to focus on the show, but I do want everybody to know, I'm not a scam artist. I am a nice person. No 23-year-old that I know in the history of the world has ever had to put on a show, and I think if they think about that, they'll realize I'm just an ambitious kid that got wrapped up with a producer that didn't really know what he was doing. I didn't really know what I was doing. I allowed my name to be attached to it, but I'm gonna get on the phone on Monday and hopefully call a lot of those people, because I do want to go there, and I love kids, and I wouldn't want people to think negatively of me in that way, and I think the show is going to happen again and that we'll be able to fix that situation. And there won't be no more negative press. Just for the record, I was just the writer and director/choreographer. I did not produce that show. I never had any of that money. I never dealt with any of the money side of the show.

Q: Did you know what you would sing for the Rolling Stones theme week?

A: I was gonna sing "I Can't Get No Satisfaction." I was gonna dance for the very first time. They kept yelling at me for dancing, then Ellen, the very last week, said, "I think you should dance," so I was going to be the first contestant to actually do a dance break, like Crystal Bowersox does her harmonica type of thing and the guitar and people have beatboxed. But no one ever danced, and I was looking forward to doing that.

Were you sad to see Todrick go? Will you listen to his post-"Idol" music? Let us know!

Get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' "American Idol" page, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.

• Meet The 'American Idol' Top 12
• 'American Idol' In 60 Seconds

• 'American Idol' Top 12 Party
• 'American Idol' Season Nine Performances

Read more: MTV News

He also addresses Ellen's metaphors: 'I probably won't be able to look at a banana the same way.'
By Katie Byrne

Alex Lambert performs on "American Idol"
Photo: Frank Micelotta/ Getty Images

While Alex Lambert's nerves got the best of him during his early "American Idol" performances, the singer seemed to be getting on the right track, choosing perfect-fit songs by Ray LaMontagne and John Legend.

Unfortunately, Lambert fell victim to Thursday's shocking results night and didn't quite make the top 12, along with fellow castoffs Lilly Scott, Katelyn Epperly and Todrick Hall. We caught up with him Friday (March 12) to talk about his surprise elimination, what's next and much more.

Q: After you were eliminated, you said that you had more to show America. What did you mean by that?

A: When I said I want to break out of my shell and show America what I can do, man, honestly, every time I got up there, I couldn't even sing my best because I was so nervous, and I have a whole series of songs that I can sing that sound so much better than singing on the show. I don't regret anything, because it's the beginning of my career. I have never really been onstage before, so I think I did great for not having any experience.

Q: Do you think you'll be able to get past the nerves and have a music career?

A: I feel like I'm already past it. I feel like I just needed a few more weeks of just having a little bit more experience on that stage. ... It wasn't a nerve thing, because I would get up there and be comfortable and it felt right, but I didn't know how to look at the camera. I didn't know how to interact with the audience, because I had never done it before. I mean, definitely, it's something that I'll easily be able to get past.

Q: Did you get a chance to talk to the judges after the show?

A: They talked to me, and they pretty much told me that I need more experience. And it's true, but I felt like, vocally, it was my time. ... I didn't have enough experience on the stage is pretty much what they were telling me. They all know I have a good voice, and they told me I had a lot of future ahead of me.

Q: The judges have made a big deal about the contestants knowing what kind of artist they want to be. Do you know?

A: I know exactly what kind of artist I want to be. I really would like to do a bunch of acoustic stuff and I would also like some R&B tracks — a whole bunch of different stuff. I know my voice and what I can and cannot do, and I know what would sound good on what, and I believe that I could sound good on not only one genre of music; I could put it on anything.

Q: What helped you through the nerves? Did the judges help or your friends or ...

A: I would say it was all me. The only person who was going to help me overcome my nervousness and my stage fright was me, and it was all in my head. I could have gone up there and had a great performance, but in my head, I was thinking to nail the song vocally, and I wasn't really worried about performing, I guess. I never thought that the show was so much of a performing show as a singing competition. I had it in my head so much, like, "I want my vocals to be so much better than everyone else's." And I guess that's all. I lost track of the fact that this is a TV show.

Q: When the show came back from commercial after you were eliminated, things looked pretty emotional. What was going on?

A: A lot of people were talking to me and, yeah, it was emotional, because a lot of people weren't expecting the people that went home to go home. There's people in the top 12 that everyone thought was going home, and then when they found out it was me, that whole day I was nervous, and people were like, "Dude, why are you nervous? You have no reason to be nervous. You're going to be here." And then when I got cut, they were just like, "What?!?" And a lot of people that were upset were like, "I made it and he didn't?"

Q: Do you think if you'd made it to the top 12 you would have been encouraged to cut off your mullet?

A: [Laughs.] The stylists have already asked me if I wanted to cut it. I mean, even if they did tell me to — yeah, they probably would want me to cut it, but I wouldn't let them cut it. I wouldn't ever let them cut my mullet.

Q: What did you think of Ellen's constant banana metaphors?

A: [Laughs.] Well, I mean, I know it's all for entertainment, but it does make sense, I guess. I mean, I probably won't be able to look at a banana the same way.

Were you sad to see Alex go? Will you listen to his post-"Idol" music? Let us know!

Get your "Idol" fix on MTV News' "American Idol" page, where you'll find all the latest news, interviews and opinions.

• Check Out A Preview Of 'Summit On The Summit: Kilimanjaro'
• Meet The 'American Idol' Top 12
• 'American Idol' In 60 Seconds

• 'American Idol' Top 12 Party
• 'American Idol' Season Nine Performances

Read more: MTV News