Beyoncé
Photo: Columbia

Who was the biggest star of 2008? Who had the most impact on the year that was, who inspired the most headlines or generated the biggest amount of buzz? It's really tough to say ... yet, for decades now, plenty of magazines have been doing just that (we're looking at you, Time). And so, after years of sitting on the sidelines, we here at MTV News have decided to get in on the act too.

Over the next few days, we'll be unveiling our list of the most fascinating, controversial and, well, BRITNEY!!! women of the year. These are the artists, actors and pop-culture heavyweights who dominated the headlines here at MTVNews.com (and no, Sarah Palin didn't make the cut ... we'll leave that to the folks at Time).

Today, we present picks 10 to 6. On Tuesday, we'll reveal numbers 5 to 2. And then, on Thursday, we'll unveil our 2008 MTV News Woman of the Year. And, of course, we'd love to hear what you've got to say — we'll even publish some of the best comments later this week — so if you agree with us (or if you don't), let us know in the comments below.

And now, let the debate begin ...

10. Beyoncé

2008 Highlights: Spent the majority of the year putting the finishing touches on her much-discussed double-album, I Am ... Sasha Fierce ... Played legendary blues singer Etta James in "Cadillac Records" ... Married longtime beau Jay-Z ... Applauded by PETA for her fur-free outfits ... Released a pair of singles, "If I Were a Boy" and "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)," the latter of which ended up being our second-best song of 2008 ... Donated $100,000 to victims of Hurricane Ike ... Volunteered her services for Barack Obama's inauguration ... Snagged her third-consecutive #1 album, selling more than 482,000 copies of I Am in one week ... Parodied the "Single Ladies" video to hilarious effect on "Saturday Night Live" ... Landed a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song. To anyone else, this is a lifetime's worth of résumé fodder. To B, it was just another year.

9. Hayley Williams

2008 Highlights: Penned a cryptic blog post that kicked off rumors that she and her band, Paramore, were calling it quits ... Addressed those rumors (and whispers that she was pregnant) in an equally cryptic blog post that used the phrase "My Eggo is not preggo" less than 24 hours later ... Sat down with MTV News for an "everything's fine" interview in Austin, Texas, during South by Southwest ... Defended "family friend" Miley Cyrus ... Played the Warped Tour ... Battled her stepfather over unscrupulous eBaying ... Got (then later removed) bull-ring piercing in septum ... Admired by John Mayer ... Performed in a virtual Whisky A Go Go during the MTV Video Music Awards ... Contributed a pair of songs to the "Twilight" soundtrack ... Copped to being a huge "Twilight" fan and a member of Team Jacob ... Began work on new Paramore album ... Is seriously, like, 4 feet tall.

8. Rihanna

2008 Highlights: Won her first-ever Grammy in early February ... Followed up on that momentum by landing an opening slot on Kanye West's Glow in the Dark Tour ... Re-released her hugely successful Good Girl Gone Bad album with the hugely successful single "Take a Bow" ... Denied reports that she and Chris Brown were an item (despite mounting evidence to the contrary) ... Performed a freaky version of "Disturbia" (another one of her hugely successful singles) at the Video Music Awards ... Collapsed onstage in Australia while performing a duet with Brown, sparking rumors she was pregnant ... Inspired a fan revolt when none of the aforementioned "hugely successful singles" are named in James Montgomery's Best Songs of 2008 list ... Did, at some juncture during the year, get a fairly awesome neck tattoo.

7. Aubrey O'Day

2008 Highlights: Rolled into the year fresh off reports that she was leaving Danity Kane to join the Pussycat Dolls ... Appeared to put all the drama behind her when DK's Welcome to the Dollhouse debuted at #1 on the Billboard charts ... Launched DK/Day26 tour in May ... Landed the role of Amber Von Tussle in the Broadway version of "Hairspray," which causes her to miss Danity Kane's appearance on "FNMTV" ... Boasted about her breasts during an interview with former WWE announcer Paul Heyman ... Shot a rather eye-opening photo spread for Complex magazine ... Booted from Danity Kane during live finale of MTV's "Making the Band" due to concerns over her "image" and despite the fact she was one of only two interesting members in the group ... Reportedly posed for Playboy ... May have had the most turbulent 12 months of anyone not named " Britney Spears" or "Amy Winehouse."

6: Sasha Fierce

2008 Highlights: Created by Beyoncé as a marketing tool/ psychological id for her I Am ... Sasha Fierce album ... Despite being completely fictional, may actually be more interesting than the actual Beyoncé ... Starred in the "Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)" video, which managed to "out-crazy even 'Ring the Alarm' " ... Definitive proof that Beyoncé is nuts ... Signified by a futuristic metallic glove worn on the left hand ... Is probably steampunk ... Quite possibly the most interesting alter-ego ever created by a musical superstar (sorry, Chris Gaines).

We'll be rolling out our Top 10 Men and Women of the Year all week! Today you've got 10 through 6, tomorrow you'll see 5 through 2, on Wednesday we'll be recapping your reactions and opinions, and on Thursday the winners will be revealed! Who do you think the Man and Woman of the Year should be? Tell us now!

• MTV News' Women And Men Of The Year

• Britney Spears
• Beyoncé

T.I.
Photo: Scott Gries/Getty Images

Who was the biggest star of 2008? Who had the most impact on the year that was, who inspired the most headlines or generated the biggest amount of buzz? It's really tough to say ... yet, for decades now, plenty of magazines have been doing just that (we're looking at you, Time). And so, after years of sitting on the sidelines, we here at MTV News have decided to get in on the act too.

Over the next few days, we'll be unveiling our list of the most fascinating, controversial and, well, German men of the year. These are the artists, actors and pop-culture heavyweights who dominated the headlines here at MTVNews.com (and no, Barack Obama didn't make the cut ... we'll leave that to the folks at Time).

Today, we present picks 10 to 6. On Tuesday, we'll reveal numbers 5 to 2. And then, on Thursday, we'll unveil our 2008 MTV News Man of the Year. And, of course, we'd love to hear what you've got to say — we'll even publish some of the best comments later this week — so if you agree with us (or if you don't), let us know in the comments below.

And now, let the debate begin ...

10. Pete Wentz

2008 Highlights: Threw a Barack Obama fundraiser in his hometown of Chicago, complete with PBR and free "Frogger" ... Insisted that much of the film "Cloverfield" was based on Fall Out Boy's Infinity on High album ... Boycotted the Grammy awards (and later reviewed them for MTV News) ... Marched on Washington ... Appeared in Jimmy Kimmel's "I'm F---ing Ben Affleck" video, alongside Huey Lewis and Brad Pitt ... Mocked the Amish in the film "Sex Drive" ... Attempted to set a world record by playing a gig at a research facility in Antarctica (an attempt that ultimately proved unsuccessful) ... Announced engagement to Ashlee Simpson via blog post ... Denied (then later admitted) that Simpson was pregnant ... Married Simpson in a private ceremony at her parents' house ... Hosted "FNMTV" ... Launched a viral campaign in support of new album Folie à Deux that was subsequently hijacked by rock act Copeland ... Revealed that he owes his creation to VP-elect Joe Biden ... Raged when Folie was pushed back to a December release by FOB's label ... Attempted to set another world record for doing the most interviews in a 24-hour span ... Named his son Bronx Mowgli Wentz ... Got back to the business of being in a band. Seriously, how is he not MTV News' Man of the Year?

9. T.I.

2008 Highlights: Entered the year on a down note, after being arrested on a variety of weapons charges ... Spent his house arrest working on his album Paper Trail, which he hoped to have in stores sometime in 2008 ... Addressed a crowd of 30,000 in an Atlanta Baptist church during Easter services ... Pleaded guilty to federal weapons charges as part of a deal that could send him to jail for a year ... Also sentenced to perform 1,000 hours of community service ... Released the incendiary first single from Paper Trail, "No Matter What," which called out his newest rival, rapper Shawty Lo, by name ... Named #10 on MTV News' "Hottest MCs in the Game" list ... Returned to the stage with a fiery 90-minute performance in Washington, D.C. ... Nabbed his third-straight #1 debut, when Paper Trail sold more than 568,000 copies ... Watched as members of his camp brawled with members of Shawty's at the Dirty Awards in Atlanta ... Simultaneously held the #1 and #2 spots on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart ... Closed 2008 with the specter of beginning his jail sentence in March.

8. T-Pain

2008 Highlights: Announced his desire to collaborate with, um, Toby Keith and Fred Durst on his upcoming Thr33 Ringz album ... Joined forces with Lil Wayne to record an album that will presumably never see the light of day ... Premiered Thr33 Ringz at a circus-themed listening party in NYC ... Never appeared in public without a Wonka-esque top hat on his head ... Turned a gospel song into a boozy ode to tequila ... Arrived at the Video Music Awards atop an elephant ... Filled in for Katt Williams as host of the BET Hip-Hop Awards after Williams goes missing ... Joined forces with Nelly, Akon and Pharrell to record another album that will presumably never see the light of day ... Maintained that he — and he alone — be allowed to use the Auto-Tune vocal effect in songs and called for his fellow artists to put an end to their Tune-filled madness, unless they are prepared to pay him royalties. Please read that last sentence again and tell us why Pain shouldn't be Man of the Year.

7. Nick Jonas

2008 Highlights: Dated — then split with — fellow pop star Miley Cyrus ... Inspired much of Cyrus' Breakout album, including venomous first single "7 Things" ... Also inspired Cyrus to give the following quote to Seventeen magazine: "When we were dating, Nick wanted me to get highlights — and so I did that, and I got myself looking great" ... Moved on to romancing another pop star, Selena Gomez ... Told "TRL" audience members that he likes girls who are "good to their moms" ... Encouraged kids to go outside and play during a trip to the White House ... Immortalized in wax ... Beefed (sort of) with Video Music Awards host Russell Brand ... Celebrated first-ever Grammy nom with "a big fist pump" ... Has diabetes ... Is by far the second-most interesting Jonas Brother.

6. Bill Kaulitz

2008 Highlights: Maintained his epically spiked plumage and remarkable, porcelain-like complexion for the entirety of the year ... Haunted our dreams and tricked fans into singing in German ... Took over Times Square and confessed his love for David Hasselhoff ... Released his band's first English-language album, Scream ... Gave an interview dressed in what appeared to be Michael Jackson's jacket from the "Thriller" video ... Arrived at the Video Music Awards atop a supercharged monster truck ... Immortalized in wax ... Professed his love for American Halloween candy (but not warheads) ... Got new tattoos ... Inspired a level of devotion from his fans that was both shocking and frightening.

We'll be rolling out our Top 10 Men and Women of the Year all week! Today you've got 10 through 6, tomorrow you'll see 5 through 2, on Wednesday we'll be recapping your reactions and opinions, and on Thursday the winners will be revealed! Who do you think the Man and Woman of the Year should be? Tell us now!

• MTV News' Women And Men Of The Year

• T.I.
• Lil Wayne
• Jonas Brothers

Lil Wayne
Photo: Johnny Nunez/Getty/WireImage

Family and friends, we've had a beautiful 2008. The year is almost over, and when you see what we're bringing to the table in '09, you'll be proud and entertained.

But before we get to next year, let's reflect a little on the last 350-plus days. A lot of MCs stepped up with quality material, and, wow, so many records floated around that disintegrated the dance floor, straight disrespected the speakers in your car and just about ignited your iPod. Our usual suppliers (Weezy, Jeezy, Rick Ross, Hova, 'Ye, Fif, Tip) delivered crack music, while new connects (Mr. L.O., Maino and even overseas princess M.I.A.) dropped off face-numbing product.

We sat back, consumed everything and came up with a list to reward the best of the best — choosing from songs that were commercially released as singles and had videos. Tell us in the comment section what we got right and who we omitted. Next week, we'll be handing out our own year-end awards and naming the top mixtapes of 2008. (And, of course, we're still bringing you Streets Is Talking news below.)

28 In '08: Commercially Released Hip-Hop Singles

1. Lil Wayne - "A Milli"
2. Kanye West - "Flashing Lights"
3. Shawty Lo - "Dunn Dunn"
4. M.I.A. - "Paper Planes"
5. Fat Joe (featuring J. Holiday) - "I Won't Tell"
6. T.I. (featuring Rihanna) - "Live Your Life"
7. Lil Wayne - "Lollipop"
8. Snoop Dogg - "Sexual Eruption"
9. Young Jeezy (featuring Nas) - "My President"
10. Rick Ross (featuring T-Pain) - "The Boss"
11. Plies (featuring Ne-Yo) - "Bust It Baby Pt. 2"
12. The Game (featuring Keyshia Cole) - "Game's Pain"
13. Young Jeezy (featuring Kanye West) - "Put On"
14. David Banner (featuring Chris Brown and Young Joc) - "Get Like Me"
15. Maino - "Hi Hater"
16. Shawty Lo - "Foolish"
17. Rick Ross (featuring Nelly) - "Here I Am"
18. T.I. - "Whatever You Like"
19. Lil Wayne (featuring T-Pain) - "Got Money"
20. The G-Unit - "Rider Pt. 2"
21. Busta Rhymes - "Don't Touch Me"
22. Lupe Fiasco - "Hip-Hop Saved My Life"
23. Jay-Z - "I Know"
24. Kanye West - "Heartless"
25. Lil Wayne (featuring Bobby Valentino) - "Mrs. Officer"
26. Red Cafe (featuring Fabolous, Fat Joe and Jadakiss) - "Paper Touching" remix
27. Ron Browz and Jim Jones (featuring Juelz Santana) - "Pop Champagne"
28. Busta Rhymes (featuring Ron Browz) - "Arab Money"

The Streets Is Talking: News & Notes From The Underground

As the February 4 release date of his Before I Self Destruct nears, the possibility of 50 Cent leaving the Shady/Aftermath/Interscope fold is becoming more of a reality. Still, even if his business relationship with Eminem comes to a halt with failed renegotiations, Fif said Curtis Jackson and Marshall Mathers will always be friends.

"I'm a loyal person. I'll always be down with Em, regardless to what the scenario is," 50 explained recently in London while talking to MTV UK. "My album requirements will actually be done, and it'll be time to renegotiate. So if things work out, I'll end up staying with Em and Aftermath/Interscope. If the negotiation doesn't go right, then I'll go elsewhere. It won't change our relationship, because Em's so rich it doesn't matter. That's why he'll just take off for two or three years, and you don't hear nothing or see nothing from him and then he comes back, because he can afford to do that."

At the end of his video for "Get Up," 50 pays tribute to Em and Dr. Dre, showing their images in the lab coats from the "In Da Club" clip. The two were supposed to be frozen in the futuristic clip.

"The actual music video [for 'Get Up'] took place within the same place I started, and it actually makes perfect sense for my album to release at the time period it's going to release," he explained. "If you remember correctly, I released Get Rich Or Die Tryin' in February 2003, and [Before I Self Destruct] is actually my final album requirement, so I'm finishing exactly where I started. The music video was me going back to the very beginning again and back to the things that people appreciate me for initially. I was able to capture things from a perspective that they could embrace from me, because they knew that I actually had prior experiences going through different portions of my actual life. So I went back to some of the things that I've experienced that haven't been so pleasurable." ...

OK, we can stop asking. T.I. said he's not shooting a different video for "Swing Ya Rag," and he's not releasing the one he has in the can. A few months ago, you remember Tip revealed to us exclusively that the anticipated clip had been relegated to the vaults because Gucci and Louis Vuitton protested having their products shown.

"We spoke to them," Tip said. "The video, it's done. But I guess it's one of those corporate things where they don't wanna be associated or affiliated with a certain type of brand. A T.I. video ain't the best look in their eyes right now. No harsh feelings. At the end of the day, it's gonna be a time when somebody is gonna have to sit at my table, and we gonna have the same type of conversations. It might be something as simple as just a party or endorsement. One thing is, the world goes around and comes back. I can take it when it's my turn."

For other artists featured in Mixtape Monday, check out Mixtape Mondays Headlines.

• Best Of Mixtape Monday Video

• Lil Wayne
• 50 Cent
• Eminem
• T.I.

Notorious B.I.G.
Photo: Bad Boy

Christopher Wallace Jr. was just 3 months old when his father, the Notorious B.I.G., was gunned down in L.A. back in 1997. CJ has learned — through family, friends and the media — just how great his dad was.

While he never got to know his pops, he has gotten the chance to work with him. The "One More Chance" remix, featuring CJ, is one of the must-hear records from the soundtrack to the Biggie biopic "Notorious." The preteen's voice is nowhere near as husky as dad's endearing tone, but CJ shows his hip-hop pedigree by mimicking Biggie's flow and taking over some of the lyrics on the song.

"I stay Coogi down to the socks/ Rings and watch filled with rocks," CJ raps over the original beat. "And my jam knock in your Mitsubishi/ Girls pee-pee when they see me/ Navajos creep me in they teepee/ As I lay down laws like Island Carpet/ Stop it, if you think you're gonna make a profit."

The more adult material from the song is still handled by the senior Wallace.

Later, CJ returns with some of the song's signature lines: "Once ya grin, I'm in, game begin/ First, I talk about how I dresses this/ In diamond necklaces, stretch Lexuses."

Both father and son close the song out with the lines: "Lyrically, I'm supposed to represent/ I'm not only the client, I'm the playa president."

"CJ was 3 and a half months when Christopher died," Voletta Wallace said of her son and grandson over the weekend in New York. "We watched his father's work. We talked about it. Of course I talked about his father a lot. He saw his father's pictures a lot. I talked. The love is there. There's no question asked."

While father and son get top billing, let's not forget Big's widow and CJ's mom, Faith Evans, who sings the hook on the record. It's a historic family affair.

Evans' soul-stamped vocals also help Jadakiss articulate his emotions to the late King of New York on "Letter to Big." 'Kiss raps as if he's talking directly to Biggie. "Dear Christopher 'Frank White' Wallace/ In your memory, I keep a Coogi in my closet/ Kangol on the rack and fresh pair of Wallys."

Kiss also updates him on how Jr. M.A.F.I.A. broke up and puts Big up on the state of hip-hop. "Everybody is 'the king' now, you ain't gotta be nice/ Getting shot is the thing now," he raps. "Game has got cheaper, rappers are more commercially successful now/ But the heart's a lot weaker."

As 'Kiss nears the song's ending, he addresses Puff Daddy and Biggie's children: "I ain't on the label no more, but I'm tighter with Diddy/ ... T'Yanna is so pretty/ CJ turned into little Biggie/ Just a little lighter, but so witty."

Faith sings somber sentiments laced with hope: "We try so hard to understand why you had to go away/ ... We just keep our heads to the sky, 'cause we know we're gonna see you in the next lifetime."

The soundtrack includes a bevy of Biggie's greatest musical accomplishments, such as "Juicy" and "Warning." Three demo records are also included in the set. One is called "Love No Ho," on which the Brooklyn mic hero tells his girlfriend to take a long walk off a short peer.

"This bi--- is in the back of my mind," Big says on the song intro before telling one of his boys he wrote a rhyme about her. "Thinking what this ho said, she called me a thief/ She said I stole her heart and didn't leave a trace/ ... Walked out my door with my Walkman in my pocket/ Playing 'Love Is a House,' and thinking how she jockin'."

Apparently, the lady was upset Biggie spent more time in the studio making music than chasing females. Thank goodness for us.

"Microphone Murderer" which was re-created for "Notorious," displays a rookie Big who even back then was a better rapper than a lot of veterans. In the film and in real life, the freestyle turned out to be a major part of getting him signed to Uptown Records by Sean "Puffy" Combs. As you know, Puff was fired from Uptown and later started Bad Boy with Biggie and Craig Mack as his crown jewels.

"The B.I.G. moves swifter than a ninja," Big raps over a sample of the Emotions' "Blind Alley." (The sample has also been used on tracks such as Wrexx n Effects' "Rump Shaker" and Big Daddy Kane's "Ain't No Half Steppin'.") "Even on stickups, I'm the masked avenger/ Keeps my eyes open and the case closed/ No eye witnesses or names exposed/ ... It's the heavy-set one, with the big gun and the sweet tongue/ Shaking down everyone/ Loot like Michael Jackson, kicks like Bo Jackson, bi---es like Freddy Jackson."

The soundtrack to "Notorious" is scheduled for January 13. The film will be in theaters January 16. MTV News has some B.I.G. things on the horizon surrounding both releases — stay tuned for more in the coming days.

• Notorious B.I.G.
• Faith Evans

Kanye West performs at KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas on Sunday
Photo: Dave Harrison/ MTV News

If Kanye West really does chuck it all to become a fashion intern in London, rapping only outside of business hours, his schedule might start looking like it did over the past few days. In addition to popping up at Common's secret New York show on Thursday and playing a stripped-down two-song set on "Saturday Night Live," the rapper jetted across the country on Sunday to make a surprise appearance at KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas show at Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, surprising and delighting the crowd with an unannounced mini set, accompanied by a full band and a quartet of Taiko drummers.

On Saturday night the rapper-turned-crooner took the "SNL" stage alone (with a band in the shadows above him atop a giant video screen) to sing the first two singles off his 808s & Heartbreak album, mostly without the assist of the album's Auto-Tune-enhanced effects. During "Love Lockdown," West mostly stood still at the microphone as images of stormy weather rolled by on the two giant screens behind him. But he danced and skipped excitedly across the stage for "Heartless," which was illustrated on the screens by some of the Rotoscoped pop-art style images from the song's video, including a cameo from boy genius Elroy Jetson.

It was a different look in Los Angeles on Sunday night, when West slipped into the lineup between sets by Franz Ferdinand and the Killers for the second night of the annual radio station event. Those expecting to see the Killers were completely shocked when the turntable stage spun around to reveal a sole figure with his arm raised in the air. It was tough to actually tell who it was at first, because he was masked by white strobe lights, but once the strains of "Stronger" began pumping out, the crowd exploded into a sea cameras and cell phones waving in the air.

(Check out photos from the show right here.)

West and his band rounded out the set with versions of "Homecoming," "Heartless" and "Love Lockdown."

Before taking the "SNL" stage, he dropped in on Thursday night at a secret show by his Chicago homie Common, who was performing for a select crowd of 200 at the Angel Orensanz Foundation in New York's Lower East Side. The concert was part of a series of secret Common shows celebrating the launch of NBC's Locals Only community-focused Web sites. Backed by a band and a DJ, Common performed songs off of his electro-funk new album, Universal Mind Control, including "Punch Drunk Love," "Gladiator" and the title-track.

Since it's the season of giving, the Windy City MC was in a charitable mood, handing out the tickets for the free show, making his album available at ThinkCommon.com for only 99 cents and giving the crowd a pre-Christmas musical surprise they won't soon forget: letting his pal Kanye take over the stage for two songs.

• Paramore, Kanye West, More Come Out For KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas 2008

• Kanye West

Guy Ritchie and Madonna
Photo: Dave Hogan/Getty Images

Less than two months after confirming that she was getting divorced from movie maker Guy Ritchie, Madonna has reportedly settled with her ex for more than $76 million.

The Associated Press reported on Monday (December 15) that Madonna's longtime spokesperson, Liz Rosenberg, confirmed that the pop singer has settled with the "Sherlock Holmes" director for between $76 and $92 million as part of their divorce agreement. Rosenberg said that figure includes the value of the couple's sprawling country home, the 1,100-acre Ashcombe House, in Western England, whose original construction dates back to the late 1600s.

The couple finalized their divorce last month in a quickie proceeding in the High Court in London, though details of the proceedings were not announced and neither showed up for the court date. The couple's joint fortune is estimated to be more than $525 million and they have one son together, 8-year-old Rocco, and an adopted Malawian son, David Banda.

Rosenberg said on Monday that the financial part of the settlement has been worked out, but that arrangements for custody of the couple's children have not yet been finalized. Madonna reportedly favors having her children live with her in New York, while Ritchie is said to prefer having them with him in England.

"I'd assume it's one of the largest payouts ever in a divorce settlement," said Rosenberg, who could not be reached for further comment at press time.

Under English law, Ritchie, who is estimated to have his own fortune worth more than $50 million, could have been entitled to up to 50 percent of the money earned during the couple's eight-year marriage, but friends told the Times Online last month that the director was not interested in taking half his wife's fortune.

While, relatively speaking, Madonna was not terribly hurt financially in the divorce, the singer did seem to take a bit of a beating during her show in Rio de Janiero over the weekend, when she wiped out on the rain-slicked stage and made a less-than-graceful recovery.

• Madonna

Sharon Osbourne
Photo: Paul Morigi/WireImage

Los Angeles police are investigating an incident on the set of the reunion special of VH1's "Rock of Love: Charm School" on Saturday, in which host Sharon Osbourne reportedly got into a fight with contestant Megan Hauserman. According to TMZ, Hauserman said that Osbourne became angry during the taping of the special, allegedly running across the stage, grabbing the contestant by the hair and continuing to pull her hair and scratch at her until security separated them.

Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson Kate Lopez confirmed that a battery incident was alleged to have occurred during a taping of a reality show hosted by Osbourne over the weekend. "We can't verify Osbourne's involvement," Lopez said on Monday morning (December 15). "An investigative report was taken ... and detectives will do interviews to determine if charges should be filed."

Hauserman said she went to the hospital Sunday afternoon and filed a report with the LAPD later that day. TMZ has posted a video of her being interviewed by a police officer and leaving a hospital with her left arm in a sling.

The former Playboy Cyber Girl reportedly told TMZ that the source of the fight was a comment she made about Osbourne's husband, Ozzy. Hauserman said she reacted to a slight from Sharon by saying that the show's host was only famous for managing a "brain-dead rock star."

Osbourne, of course, is known for her scrappy sensibility — whether she is feuding with Iron Maiden, throwing down with a showbiz flack at a Japanese restaurant in West Hollywood or unceremoniously dumping the Smashing Pumpkins as a management client. But as the host of "Charm School," Osbourne is charged with taming 14 contestants from the two seasons of Bret Michaels' "Rock of Love," as the women attempt to learn etiquette for a chance to win $100,000.

Hauserman, who began her reality-TV career winning the third season of the CW's "Beauty and the Geek" in 2007, went on to be a contestant on season two of "Rock of Love" and the VH1 show "I Love Money." She's slated to get her own VH1 spin-off called "Trophy Wife."

A rep for Sharon Osbourne had not responded to MTV News' request for comment at press time.

Afro-Punk band Blood Sugar
Photo: www.bashirawebb.com

James Spooner, like a lot of kids growing up in Southern California in the 1990s, was into punk rock.

But unlike most of the kids in the scene, he's black. Sometimes, this posed a problem.

"I was in this tiny desert town that was pretty much all white, and the punk scene was very racist," he recalled. "You would go to shows and it was blatantly white power, swastikas, all of that."

But when he moved to New York during high school, Spooner found "a gang of black kids" just like him. For the first time in his life, "I could be who I wanted to be," he said. "[They] made it OK for me, you know?"

The fundamental contradiction of black kids feeling left out of rock — which from its very beginning was based on black music — has played a large role in the creation of Afro-Punk. And while there have been many black artists who have been embraced by white rock fans, from Little Richard to Sly and the Family Stone to the Bad Brains, the Afro-Punk movement has found fans bonding and creating communities, organizing shows and shooting films in a whole new way.

Afro-Punk has gone from the name of a message board to a movement in less than five years — and the scene just keeps growing.

Before the 2000s, Spooner said, "there were no black bands in the mainstream doing anything alternative." Sure, bands like the Bad Brains, Fishbone and Living Colour had set an example for the younger generation — and the Black Rock Coalition was formed during the 1980s — but the success of the mostly black group TV on the Radio has crashed the door open for the movement.

Now, British rockers the Noisettes and singers Santogold and Janelle Monáe are poster children for the movement, even though the artists in the scene sound completely different.

When we checked in with Afro-Punk promoters Kaos Blac and Rape Whistle, they rattled off a mind-spinningly diverse list of bands. It includes:

Game Rebellion
Brooklyn rockers who meld punk, metal and hip-hop with a rudeboy 'tude.

The Apes
A Washington, D.C., psych-rock foursome who masters a balance between goofiness and raw power.

Ebony Bones
This former UK TV star makes truly danceable post-punk electro-pop and loves comics as much as we do.

Whole Wheat Bread
An old-school-style punk band that has worked with Rancid and Lil Jon.

VV Brown
A British songstress who mixes doo-wop and pop, and whose latest video is for her song "Crying Blood."

Tamar Kali
A hardcore-tinged rocker who's become a favorite on New York's downtown music scene, her debut LP, Black Bottom, will be released next summer.

So how did this thriving movement become a scene in the first place? T-Kali knows from joining Spooner on the road, when he was shooting his "Afro-Punk" documentary in 2001. (She's on the cover of the DVD — check her out in our photo gallery, along with some of our favorite Afro-Punk moments here.)

"To this day, I always get messages on MySpace from people saying, 'I saw you!' " she said. "That's a wonderful thing."

Spooner's doc, which debuted in 2003 at the Toronto Film Festival, also featured TV on the Radio as well as bands such as Cipher, in his attempt to document "the other black experience." It continues, five years later, to screen at festivals.

"The film surprisingly has legs that a lot of other films don't," Spooner said. "I just did two screenings last month. The film continues to reach new people."

Part of that reach extends online. "Afro-Punk" the documentary inspired the messageboard AfroPunk.com, and from the fan discussion there, Spooner realized that they could turn the desire for Afro-Punk shows into a music festival, which now happens annually.

One of the first shows Spooner did was an afterparty for one of the documentary screenings, so he reached out to the band Stiffed (the band formerly led by Santi White, who is now known as Santogold) via manager Matthew Morgan, "and he was like, 'No problem — we'll do it for free,' " Spooner said.

As the popularity of Santogold and other artists loosely associated with the scene has grown, Afro-Punk has exploded beyond its musical definition, even including Grammy-nominated Bad Boy recording artist Janelle Monáe, whose music can hardly be considered traditionally punk (she's opened for Nas and has been called "the female version of Prince" by Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz).

"I felt it was my duty as an artist and as a young African-American woman to support Afro-Punk," Monáe told us at the Afro-Punk Festival last summer.

"I think it's very important to let people know that we're not all the same. Diversity needs to be promoted more ... I love being in that environment, and that is something I am trying to promote."

Some of the bands associated with Afro-Punk — like Santogold — helped support the scene and increase its visibility simply by showing up. Others who aren't associated, like Lupe Fiasco, helped out just by singing about subjects like skateboarding.

"Lupe was able to, in one song, propel the idea of black kids skateboarding into a whole new generation," Spooner said. "That's all out of 'Kick, Push.' "

Spooner's since handed off the Afro-Punk torch to Morgan, who has taken the lead in managing the bands, running the Web site and promoting the annual festival. "He had a big vision," Spooner said.

The Afro-Punk brand now plays a key role in events like CMJ and South by Southwest, partnering with those larger festivals with the goal of introducing a lineup of bands to a diverse audience who might not have discovered them otherwise. Morgan plans to make the festival a national one next year, and to tour Africa in 2010.

"A festival in Africa is a really important step for us," he said. "We want to spread that sense of freedom."

Technology has helped, Spooner pointed out. "iPods change the way we listen to music," he said. "[With shuffling,] genre after genre, they all start blending together."

Still, that blending doesn't erase all racial boundaries. Spooner said part of the reason the scene is growing is because the issues addressed in the film are still affecting young people. Punk shows are still mostly white, and black rock fans may not always get the most positive reaction in the black community.

And even with Afro-Punk's growing popularity, some of the bands associated with it don't like to talk about it publicly for fear of losing their white audience, Spooner said. Could that be due to the scene's growing pains as it wavers between DIY and the mainstream? Or does it make Afro-Punk more needed than ever before?

"We will have succeeded when Afro-Punk is no longer relevant," Spooner said. "Clearly we are not there yet, but I'd like to believe that we are on our way. When that day comes, there will no doubt be a 14-year-old kid who flips off Afro-Punk and says, 'I'm starting my own thing,' and that's what they should do. I think that's the nature of scenes, and I wouldn't be mad at them. I would be like, 'Can I come to your show?' "

Photographers Bashira Webb, Richard Louissant and Ed Marshall Photography NYC contributed to this gallery and their sites are great sources for more Afro-Punk photography.

• How Afro-Punk Turned Into A Movement

• Afro-Punk: Five Years Of Rebellion

• Santogold
• TV On The Radio
• Janelle Monae

Jennifer Hudson
Photo: Alexandra Wyman/WireImage

Last week, Jennifer Hudson's label confirmed that the singer would work on her first music video since the murders of her mother, brother and nephew in October. Over the weekend, however, reports surfaced that Hudson is not quite ready to get back to work.

Hudson's shoot for "If It Isn't Love" in Los Angeles was scheduled months before the murders, but a source told UsMagazine.com that Hudson, 27, who has been on hiatus since the tragedy, won't be filming it this week after all.

"The video was set up before the tragedy, and she felt like she should finish what she started, but she's realized that she's not ready to go back to work. It's too early," a source told the site.

But another unidentified personal spokesperson for Hudson said that the plans for the shoot were never set in stone. "The video shoot was never confirmed, so there was nothing to cancel," the spokesperson said. "[J Records' statement] was erroneous."

Hudson has been mostly off the radar since the murders, but she did release a statement last week calling her four Grammy nominations "truly a blessing. ... I'm extremely honored and humbled by the nominations."

MTV News could not reach Hudson's personal publicist or label spokesperson for comment at press time.

Hudson's ex-brother-in-law, William Balfour, was officially charged with the murders on December 2 and is currently in jail awaiting trial. According to People.com, police say Balfour was motivated by jealousy after allegedly visiting his estranged wife, Hudson's sister Julia, and seeing a birthday gift he believed was given to her by another man.

• Jennifer Hudson

Eminem
Photo: Kevin Mazur/ WireImage

Eminem has been dropping crumbs about his upcoming Relapse album, his first studio effort since 2004's Encore, for so long, he might consider changing the title to Slow Leak. Slim Shady recently told Billboard that the album, due in the spring, will be a throwback to his early collaborations with mentor Dr. Dre.

"Me and Dre are back in the lab like the old days, man," Eminem reportedly said in an e-mail to Billboard. "Just him banging away on tracks and me getting that little spark that makes me write to it. I don't have chemistry like that with anyone else as far as producers go — not even close. Dre will end up producing the majority of the tracks on Relapse. We are up to our old mischievous ways. ... Let's just leave it at that."

While there's still no release date for the LP, Em confirmed that Dre put his own long-awaited album, Detox, on the backburner to help his protégé.

New tracks from Relapse have been popping up here and there for months. A freestyle, "I'm Having a Relapse" dropped in October, and last week a song called "Crack a Bottle," which is believed to have been produced by Dre, was being advertised on DJs Big Mike and Neptune's 4th Quarter Pressure Part 2 mixtape. It's unclear if either song is destined for the album, but the Detroit MC said he was disappointed by the "Bottle" leak.

"It wasn't close to finished, and it even has me doing guide vocals for Dre as a suggestion of how he could lay his verses down," he told Billboard. "It's like someone catches you peeping in your window before you got the Spider Man costume all zipped up! Nobody is supposed to see that. We are gonna finish it up, though, and get it out there how it's supposed to be."

And, despite what Swizz Beatz told MTV a few weeks ago about a song he was referring to as "Stan Part 2," Em said that no such song is in the offing. "I haven't worked with Swizz on this album," he said. "There isn't a 'Stan 2,' and there won't be. ... Stan drove his car off a bridge and I'm not writing a song as Stan's ghost. That would just be really corny."

Em also said that working on his recently released best-selling autobiography, "The Way I Am" — written with journalist Sacha Jenkins — while recording the album has required intense focus. "For me, writing an album is an entirely different process from making this book," he said. "The album requires a certain focus of mine that I can't really explain — let's just say it's all I can really do while I'm doing it. With the book, the process was much more spread out, like, 'Let's get you together with Sacha for a few hours next week. Let's go through these photos and artwork, etc.' The book was a lot more of a focus here-and-there thing as opposed to music, which totally consumes me every second."

In addition to the delayed Dre album, another record that has been pushed back, 50 Cent's Before I Self Destruct, is getting back on track, according to Em, and is now slated for a February 4 release. "He's still working on it and getting back together with me and Dre next week to finish up," Shady said of 50, who recently referred to his benefactor as being like "my grandmother" due to his sage advice and support. "I have a couple of tracks on there with him. It's sick."

• Eminem Comes Out Of Hiding

• Eminem
• Dr. Dre