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Music News: Kendrick Lamar wins Video of the Year at MTV VMAs

Kendrick Lamar (R), Dave Free and Dave Meyers accept the Video of the Year award for 'Humble' onstage during the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards at The Forum on August 27, 2017 in Inglewood, California.
Kendrick Lamar (R), Dave Free and Dave Meyers accept the Video of the Year award for 'Humble' onstage during the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards at The Forum on August 27, 2017 in Inglewood, California.Kevin Winter/Getty Images

by Jay Gabler

August 28, 2017

Kendrick Lamar won Video of the Year and Best Hip-Hop Video at Sunday night's MTV Video Music Awards, for "Humble." Lamar also opened the awards, performing that song as well as "DNA." Ed Sheeran was named Artist of the Year, and Pink took the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award.

The ceremony featured the big-name performances that are typical of the VMAs, this year including Katy Perry doing her single "Swish Swish" with collaborator Nicki Minaj. The ceremony touched on the "tense political atmosphere," as Billboard notes, with transgender military service members walking the red carpet and a descendant of Confederate general Robert E. Lee asking viewers to "answer God's call to confront racism and white supremacy head-on."

In the night's most unexpected joint performance, pop band DNCE — fresh off of backing Bonnie Tyler on "Total Eclipse of the Heart" during the total eclipse of the sun — teamed up with Rod Stewart on his 1978 hit "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?"

Not to be outdone, Taylor Swift took the occasion of the VMAs to premiere the video to her new single "Look What You Made Me Do." The song is already a massive hit, setting a new first-day Spotify streaming record with eight million streams. If it debuts at the top of Billboard's Hot 100 this week, it will block Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee from tying or even breaking, with "Despacito," the record for most weeks at number one. That record has been held, for 22 years, by Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men ("One Sweet Day").

Ice-T to host doc on Biggie and Tupac

Who Shot Biggie and Tupac? That's the title of a two-hour special premiering Sept. 24 on Fox. The special will feature the first-ever release of audio from 1996, in which the Notorious B.I.G. talked about Tupac Shakur's death; just six months later, Biggie himself would be gunned down. Soledad O'Brien will co-host the special with a man who knows more than a little about '90s hip-hop: Ice-T. (Rolling Stone)

Isaac Hayes box set to highlight Stax star

The storied career of Isaac Hayes will be spotlighted in an upcoming four-disc box set called The Spirit of Memphis. The set will be released on Sept. 22, as part of the celebrations around the label's 60th anniversary. In addition to Hayes's own recordings, the set will feature songs he wrote or produced for other artists on Stax.

As Rolling Stone notes, the set "also comes with a 60-page hardcover retrospective, essays, interviews with artists like Sam & Dave’s Sam Moore and compilation producer Joe McEwen. The set also houses a replica 7" of Hayes' 1964 single 'Laura, We're On Our Last Go-Round' and 'C.C. Rider.'"

Brian Johnson takes the stage with Muse

AC/DC’s Brian Johnson has been forced to step away from touring because of dangers to his hearing, but that's not to say he can't make an onstage cameo from time to time. That's exactly what he did on Sunday at the Reading festival, joining Muse for a rendition of AC/DC's "Back in Black." (NME)