MTV NEWS

I worked at MTV News for over a year--and came at quite an exciting time! I started a few weeks before the VMAs and had a blast producing the Red Carpet Pre-show at Radio City Music Hall! I started there a few days before Sway did, so we both relied on each other to navigate our new MTV World! A new show called DFX (Direct Effect) was launching, and Sway would be doing the live news breaks in the same way they were already done on TRL. My responsiblities at MTV News were vast. As the Coordinating Producer there, each day I had to determine what was newsworthy and relevant for the audiences of DFX and TRL. I had to approve the scripts leading into the story and approve the packages being produced--making sure they were accurate and visually appealing. Then each day at 3:00 I would prep our talent for the live TRL news. Either John Norris, Sway, Suchin Pak, Gideon or Iann Robinson would deliver the news around a group of screaming kids while I produced in the control room! There was also a fight for time between the TRL staff and News...It was quite a battle! But we never had a battle on DFX where the hip hop news was one of the favorites of the show! Sway would get out there and hype the crowd! The team usually consisted of myself as producer, Elon Johnson as writer and Sway as host. We always had tons of stories, from the beef between DMX and Ja Rule, the controversy surrounding an Outkast lyric, to the hottest new mixtapes news.But nothing compared to the frenzy created when Puffy and Shyne were put on trial for MURDER!!!! This spawned from an incident that took place at a NY nightclub when Puffy was dating J.Lo and trying to promote his new protege, Shyne and an altercation broke out.From day one, we covered that trial and updated audiences on daily testimonies in the courthouse. We went to the courts and did live feeds when the case went to jury deliberations, and were there when Shyne was convicted and Puffy was acquitted on all charges! In fact, it was Sway and myself who got the first exclusive interview with Puffy when he officially changed his name to the man we all know and love, P.Diddy! Talk about a comeback!!!At MTV, I also teamed up with Sway and Iann Robinson to produce a show called, "The Assignment: Keepin it Gangsta." This show examined the downside of glorifying the gangsta life in hip hop. From being harassed by cops--having your lyrics being used as evidence against you in legal cases to the effect this imagery has on the community. The Assignment was highly rated on the network, and included candid, sometimes humorous interviews with Snoop, Cam'Ron, and sometimes dangerous interviews with Birdman (his gun fell out of his pocket during the interview, but he was cool as hell), Snoop (I won't go into it) Damon Dash and other high profile rappers.