Producer Verse Simmonds opens up to MTV News about WTT track 'Who Gon Stop Me.'
By Rob Markman

Kanye West and Jay-Z
Photo: Getty Images

Jay-Z and Kanye West's collaborative Watch the Throne LP is shaping up to be the year's most anticipated release.

So far, fans have heard the Southern-fried, Lex Luger-produced "H.A.M." and the soul-drenched "Otis," which premiered Wednesday night on New York radio. While the two records both feature hard-nosed lyrics from Hov and 'Ye, their sounds couldn't be more different.

Well, the sonic versatility doesn't stop there. Singer/songwriter Verse Simmonds revealed to MTV News that the multiplatinum rap tandem will also be experimenting with dubstep on the new album.

After getting a call from Bu Thiam, Def Jam's VP of A&R, to submit tracks for WTT, Simmonds and his production partner, Sham "Sak Pase" Joseph, immediately went to work. "What we did is, we locked in a week, we just went crazy on everything Jay and Kanye," Simmonds told MTV News. "I remember telling Sham, I was like, 'Yo, I think this dubstep stuff is going to be the next new flavor that everybody gotta be on. It gotta have a hip-hop feel to it still.' "

The result is "Who Gon Stop Me," a track that, according to the "Buy You a Round" singer, is influenced by the U.K. style of electronic dance music. Together, Verse and Sak Pase make up the Jugganauts, and for "Who Gon Stop Me," Joseph made the beat and Simmonds wrote and referenced the chorus.

"We started creating the track, and it just started to come crazy, so we came up with the concept," Simmonds said before reciting a loose rendition of the song's lyrics. "It was like, 'Who gon stop me, huh? Black cards, Black cars, whole lot of money.' "

To pen the hook on the track, Verse said he first imagined himself in Jigga and Yeezy's shoes. "When I recorded it, everybody was like, 'Yo, you sound just like Kanye, you sound just like Jay-Z,' " he remembered. "It's just crazy, because I felt like, at that moment in time, I was them. I got into that mode of: 'What would these guys say? How would they say it?' I think they heard it the first time and loved it."

Hopefully, the fans will too.

What do you think about the Watch the Throne tracks released so far? Let us know in the comments!

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An a cappella girl group covers Usher's hit for Nationals in next week's episode.
By Aly Semigran

Usher
Photo: Christopher Polk/ Getty Images

During this week's episode of "Glee", the gang from New Directions took a big risk when they decided they would compete in Nationals by singing their own original songs. Well, the stakes just got a little higher.

MTV News has an exclusive first listen to one of the rival groups who will go up against the McKinley High glee club in New York City during next Tuesday's (May 24) big season two finale. In the upcoming episode, an all-female a cappella group sings Usher's 2004 club and radio smash "Yeah!," which may have the Nationals judges saying just that.

Singers replace synthesizers for the four-note melody that repeats throughout the song, and lead vocalists RaVaughn Brown and Missi Hale match the high energy that Usher, Lil Jon and Ludacris brought to the track.

Granted, a few things have been tweaked in the version for the tween-friendly show, including the length (the original is over four minutes long, while the "Glee" version comes in at three and a half minutes) and the tune's instructions to "Take that and rewind it back ... got the rhythm make ya booty go."

Also, instead of Ludacris' verse, "We want a lady in the street/ And a freak in the bed," one girl sings, "You know you want a kiss on the lips, old red." The line, "Ludacris fill cups like double D's" has also been cut from the song.

But, it's not all PG. At one point in the girls' rendition of the track, they page homage to Lil Jon's crunk hit "Get Low," singing, "From the windows to the walls" and even Mystikal's booty-happy single "Shake Ya Ass," when they urge, "Show me whatcha' workin' with."

At the 2005 Grammy Awards, the power trio of Usher, Lil Jon and Ludacris won the Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Yeah!" But, will the song bring the same sort of fortune to this girl group at Nationals? Or will the glory all belong to New Directions this time? Gleeks will still have to wait a few more days to find out.

The "Glee" season finale airs Tuesday at 9 p.m. on Fox, while "Glee": The Music, Volume 6, including the three new original songs "Light Up the World," "Pretending" and "As Long as You're There," will be available on Monday.

What do you think of this a cappella group's version of "Yeah!"? Let us know in the comments section below!

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