Bark + Bite

Frank Ocean cancels tour dates abroad. Is he headed to the VMAs instead?

For fans hoping to catch Frank Ocean overseas on the European festival circuit or opening for Coldplay, there's bad news. It ain't happening.

The rising R&B star has pulled out of many of his tour dates overseas without any real explanation other than the letter above, which he gave to organizers of the Way Out West festival in Sweden, according to Billboard.

This abrupt cancellation coincides with the perhaps unexpected news of Frank Ocean's multiple VMAs nominations.

If we were to place bets, our money would be on MTV working with Frank to plot a spectacular VMA performance with a few moonman trophies to go home with too.

A stunning VMAs debut would be exactly what Frank needs to kick his career up to the next level. Hopefully, fans will forgive him for the tradeoff. Nothing hurts like a cancelled concert from your fave.

Whitney Houston Tribute: Brandy strikes back, Monica soars and more

The late and great Whitney Houston has been on the receiving end of many a tribute since her unexpected passing this year. Brandy and Monica, the two people who've been missing from every one so far, finally paid homage to their mentor at the BET Awards this year.

Monica sang "I Love the Lord," a track from Houston's The Preacher's Wife soundtrack. Clearly not one of Houston's more recognizable tracks, but Monica sang it beautifully nonetheless.

Brandy, however, brought the house down with some of the most popular jams in Houston's entire catalogue: "I'm Your Baby Tonight" and "I Wanna Dance With Somebody."

Displaying a big cat presence on the stage like never before, Brandy dominated with stunning vocals and dance moves, which is incredibly rare for the singer. It was a sight that needed to be seen to believe. And it got Brandy to become one of the top trending topics for the night on Twitter.

Cissy Houston, Whitney's mother, broke down spirits and hearts as she dedicated "Bridge Over Troubled Water" to her late daughter. Perhaps most touched was Soulja Boy, who recently lost his little brother in a car accident in March. Kanye was equally moved, having lost his mother a few years back, and Beyonce let a single tear roll down her impeccable face.

Check out the Whitney Houston tribute at the 2012 BET Awards below

Usher delivers a straight-up performance of "Climax" at the 2012 BET Awards

Awards show performances are usually a special occasion in which the conventional goes out the window. Surprise guests, eye-popping costumes, neck-snapping medlies, you name it, it happens.

So imagine our surprise when Usher failed to deliver one measly left turn during his performance at the 2012 BET Awards. Admittedly, the falsetto and vocals were damn near flawless, which wasn't the case for him on SNL, but still. Aside from his curious red Uggs, there wasn't nothing here to really get all that excited about.

Oh well, at least "Climax" is still great.

Check out Usher's BET Awards performance below

Kanye West and G.O.O.D. Music open the 2012 BET Awards in a blaze of glory

Kanye West and his G.O.O.D. Music crew got the party started right at the 2012 BET Awards with a larger-than-life Lamborghini for the collective's smash hit, "Mercy." Big Sean got the ball rolling and Pusha T and 2 Chainz kept it going until Big Boss Kanye shut it down on his own.

While Ye has assembled an impressive team with G.O.O.D. Music, he proved that he's a solo star at his core. Instead of doing his verse from "Mercy," Ye went into his anti-Kris Humphries rant, "Too Cold." He then followed it up with a new freestyle that name checked Whitney Houston and the newly crowned NBA champion LeBron James.

Kim Kardashian, meanwhile, got a front row seat the entire show as she gabbed with Nicki Minaj and Beyonce. That is when she wasn't making kissy faces with Kanye the whole night.

Check out Kanye and G.O.O.D. Music's BET Awards performance below

Nicki Minaj gets cheeky in her 2012 BET Awards performance

After leaving people dazed and confused with the excorism of Roman at the 2012 Grammys, Nicki Minaj left her hip-hop fans feeling thoroughly satisfied with her performance at the 2012 BET Awards.

Opening her set with the hip-hop anthem "Champion," Nicki segued into her strip club banger "Beez In the Trap." The come to Jesus moment of the whole thing? When Nicki stripped off her black poodle skirt, turned her back to the audience bent it over real low in front of everyone. Frankie Beverly's eyes must've popped out of his head once got an eyeful of dat a$$, a$$, a$$, a$$.

Oh, and the camera shots of Beyonce poppin' her imaginary gum and rappin' along were pretty sick too.

Check out Nicki's performance from the BET Awards below

The BET Awards are not taking the Video of the Year category seriously this year

So the BET Awards nominations were recently announced and the nominees included many of the usual suspects. A lot of Beyonce, a lot of Kanye, etc. That's normal and to be somewhat expected.

But there is truth to the saying about avoiding too much of a good thing. And the BET Awards went overboard the most in the Video of the Year category. The nominees went something like this:

• Beyoncé – “Countdown”
• Beyoncé – “Love on Top”
• Jay-Z & Kanye West – “Ni**as in Paris”
• Jay-Z & Kanye West – “Otis”
• Usher – “Climax”

Beyonce and Janye (Jay-Z + Kanye) received 4 of the 5 nominations overall, with Usher's "Climax" being the sole non-Blue Ivy blessed entry. That's just plain ol' lazy.

The 2012 Billboard Music Awards fall short big time

We should have known things were on shaky ground at the 2012 Billboard Awards when the ceremony was opened by LMFAO.

LMFAO is a group that saw incredible success with their two hits in 2011/2012, "Party Rock Anthem" and "I'm Sexy and I Know It." But individually and collectively, they don't possess the starpower of a Lady Gaga or a Kanye West. Unfortunately, a lack of starpower plagued the entire three-hour telecast and things didn't get much better beyond the opening number.

Steve Aoki, Mac Miller and MGK prove the 2012 Woodie Awards will be a night to remember

If the Woodies press conference call last Thursday is any indication, the 2012 mtvU Woodie Awards should be nothing if not entertaining.

Almost every year, mtvU (MTV’s college-focused subsidiary) hosts the Woodie Awards, an award show that hands out honors to artists who are getting noticed by the college-aged audience and who (hopefully) are on the cusp of becoming something huge. Last year was the first time the Woodies were held at South by Southwest (SXSW), the infamous Austin music festival, and this year will continue that tradition.

Along with the typical award show, this year mtvU is adding a festival component to the Woodies, which will feature artists such as fun., Chiddy Bang, Kimbra, A$AP Rocky, Gary Clark Jr. and more and will be streaming live online on March 15^th.

The night following the day-long festival, the actual Woodie Awards will take place, which will include performances by Childish Gambino, Santigold, Steve Aoki, and others who have yet to be announced. Voting for the awards is open now through the 9^th, save for the Breaking Woodie, which continues through the live show.

Keep in mind, though, that the Woodies won’t really air until the half-hour special on MTV and mtvU on Sunday, March 18^th at 8 p.m. ET.

In preparation for this year’s Woodies, mtvU hosted a conference call last Thursday which included Breaking Woodie nominee and recipient MTV’s 2011 Hottest Breakthrough MC, MGK (aka Machine Gun Kelly); EDM Effect nominee and the man who will be closing out the awards show, Steve Aoki; and dual nominee for Woodie of the Year and Performing Woodie, Mac Miller.

If their conversations say anything about the upcoming awards show, it’s that they will certainly be interesting.