A Supreme Hour In Five Sentences: Bronx spitfire Rece Steele narrowly defeated her new best-bud, the spunky Russo-Brooklynite Byata, in the ultimate battle for Miss Rap Supreme . For their final test, the girls had to write an original song to be performed with L.A.’s coulda-been Dap-Tones, Breakestra. Byata came a little granola, telling a backpacker-friendly story about the path to her hip-hop greatness. Celebrity judge Missy Elliott asked fellow judge Mona Scott (an industry vet) if she could even remember the hook and eventually came up blank. The usually fierce Rece Steele didn’t disappoint, running around the stage and coming so hard that even challenger Byata was singing along — eventually taking the $100,000, the title of Miss Rap Supreme, a week of MySpace hits and, most importantly, the honor of being serenaded by Kool Keith! (more…)

Ego Trip and VH1’s Miss Rap Supreme seeks “a woman who will put female rap back on the map.” Is the next Kim , Foxy or Eve in the Fembassy Hotel? Rock Daily is watching, ma.

A Supreme Hour In Three Sentences: After shooting some targets at the Los Angeles Gun Club (Ms. Cherry — out on bond — had to sit this one out), the girls spit a 16-bar verse about bringing peace to the streets. Byata totally blanked (”uh huh. yeah. we gotta do it for the children”), Ms. Cherry stumbled on her words and Rece Steel stared at her feet. Chiba was the only femcee that brought it, so of course now was the perfect time for everyone to jump down her throat at her about using pre-writtens. (more…)

Ego Trip and VH1’s Miss Rap Supreme seeks “a woman who will put female rap back on the map.” Is the next Kim , Foxy or Eve in the Fembassy Hotel? Rock Daily is watching, ma.

A Supreme Hour In Four Sentences: The episode began in true reality-show fashion, with Rece Steel barfing champagne and vodka all over her bed. Serch made everyone show off their hidden talents — though Nicky2States’ pathetic hula-hooping and Chiba’s abortive double-dutching assured whatever talent they had remained hidden. Finally, with the help of Just Blaze, the teams had to make a clean hip-pop song for the radio — promptly judged, live on the air, at L.A. hip-hop station KDAY. Byata led her team to victory for a third time, but if anything was ultimately decided, it’s that a Just Blaze beat can make anyone sound dope. (more…)

The final three performed three song apiece on last night’s American Idol : a judge’s pick, their own selection, and a track chosen by the show’s producers in an attempt to demonstrate each hopeful’s commercial viability as the season edges to its conclusion. So what happened? David Archuleta’s right hand reached out even more than usual (perhaps he was grasping for his backstage-banned dad ?), David Cook brought the big notes (and some Switchfoot love) and the judges told Syesha Mercado she was beautiful but sucked (in almost as many words). Here’s what you may have missed, in five quick clips:

5. Archuleta tries to sass it up and dance to a Chris Brown song. We have never missed Danny Noriega more.
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Each week on MTV’s Rock the Cradle , the sons and daughters of musical icons compete for the sort of exposure they would have received anyway on the basis of their DNA. Rock Daily sorts through the nepotistic wreckage.

Children’s Story: We finally arrive at our last live episode, which opens in rapid fire fashion with Crosby Loggins shrugging his way through the Raconteurs’ “Steady As She Goes,” Chloe Lattanzi getting all twitchy on “Should I Stay or Should I Go” and Jesse Blaze Snider shouting along with Good Charlotte’s “The Anthem.” It only went downhill from there, as there were conversations with the rejects, collaborations with parents and an endless barrage of flashback montages for things that happened a mere five weeks ago.

Baby Geniuses: While Jesse Snider was performing “We’re Not Gonna Take It,” the only thing the audience could be thinking was, “This is fine, but I would prefer if Dee was here.” And then he showed up! (more…)

With only four Idol hopefuls left, the competition is getting ugly. Literally. From Syesha Mercado’s teary make-up-running interview to Jason Castro’s dreads a’flyin’ rendition of “I Shot the Sheriff,” nearly everything about last night’s homage to the 500 songs that shaped rock (as deemed by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame) was in poor taste — special props to Paula Abdul for this gem: “I think your ‘Hungry Like the Wolf’ has left me with a big appetite.” For the night’s best moments, watch these quick clips:

5. Is Jason Castro trying to tell us something? Read his lips: “Don’t vote.” Or was that “Don’t toke”? Either way kids, this man is a walking lesson.
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Ego Trip and VH1’s Miss Rap Supreme seeks “a woman who will put female rap back on the map.” Is the next Kim , Foxy or Eve in the Fembassy Hotel? Rock Daily is watching, ma.

A Supreme Hour In Four Sentences: Director John Singleton stops by for “Hip-Hop Hamlet” if only to help us all cringe at what a stupid exercise this is — “Whether ’tis nobler in the domepiece to suffer the ballin’ and fallin’ of some outrageous fortune.” Cherry brags that she’s in three upcoming films and then blows it. Once split into teams, the girls worked out a dance routine at the famous Lulu Washington Dance Theatre. Team Lady Twist lost since the heavyset Twist was out of breath, the scrappy Bree was a showboater, but everyone learned their hot new dance that evokes images of fun things like sweeping the floor. (more…)

Each week on MTV’s Rock the Cradle , the sons and daughters of musical icons compete for the sort of exposure they would have received anyway on the basis of their DNA. Rock Daily sorts through the nepotistic wreckage.

Children’s Story: After getting record scores last week, Crosby Loggins doled out some dull trash talk about getting an automatic bye to the finale next week. This frustrated both Jesse Snider and Lucy Walsh, despite the fact that both seemed pretty confident they were also in the clear. Lara Johnston and Chloe Lattanzi panicked, probably because they weren’t very good. In the performance portion of the show, each remaining hopeful got to sing two songs, save for the two who were eliminated. Lara Johnston was sent packing, and in what could be considered a minor upset, Lucy Walsh was also shown the door. There were no tears in either of their exits; they probably remembered that even though they lost, they’re still both rich and able to score record deals.

Baby Geniuses: In a week where everybody stunk, the highlights were few and far between. (more…)

After two weeks of brilliant guest-mentor wackiness thanks to Mariah Carey and Andrew Lloyd Webber, Neil Diamond was a relatively normalizing presence on last night’s bizarre American Idol . David Archuleta pulled the Kristy Lee Cook card and performed “America,” Ryan Seacrest creepily played with a kid in the audience’s hair before Syesha Mercado’s second song and something happened in Paula Abdul’s mind that cannot be explained by simple science. For those moments and more, check out these quick clips:

5. Due to a tear in the space-time contiuum, Paula Abdul actually did see Jason Castro perform twice (her analysis of his phantom second song was dead on , folks!).
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Ego Trip and VH1’s Miss Rap Supreme seeks “a woman who will put female rap back on the map.” Is the next Kim , Foxy or Eve in the Fembassy Hotel? Rock Daily is watching, ma.

A Supreme Hour In Three Sentences: Too $hort will be the first to tell you (over and over again… over the course of twenty-five years) that he truly knows the inner workings of women. So the ladies had to respond to his sixteen bars, or as Lady Twist put it: “Now is the time to get vulgar and ignorant.” Then Ghostface Killah showed up and hung with the spazzin’-out ladies for no particular reason — but who are we to complain about a Ghostface cameo? (more…)

Each week on MTV’s Rock the Cradle , the sons and daughters of musical icons compete for the sort of exposure they would have received anyway on the basis of their DNA. Rock Daily sorts through the nepotistic wreckage.

Children’s Story: Dull non-controversy continued in the Cradle Lounge this week, as Jesse Blaze Snider said something vaguely opinionated and everybody flipped out. Nobody flipped out better than Bobby Brown , however, who was irate that his son Landon earned such low scores for his performance of “My Prerogative” last week. As for the show, the viewers said goodbye to both Lil B. Sure and Landon Brown, which prompted Bobby Brown to announce “We’re all going on tour”; the prospect of a show that included sets from Landon & Bobby Brown and Lil & Al B. Sure gives Rock Daily night terrors.

Baby Geniuses: Jesse Snider continues to rule this show; his version of Johnny Cash ’s “Ring of Fire” was uniformly excellent despite some middling scores from the judges. (more…)

Andrew Lloyd Webber brought some much-needed sass back to American Idol last night, demonstrating the wondrous powers of brutal honesty (”I can’t watch somebody who’s got their eyes closed all the time,” he groused about David Archuleta, he of the outstretched palm ). Ryan Seacrest made a buffoon of himself (seriously, is this getting worse each week or what?), Syesha Mercado prepared for her future Broadway career, Brooke White goofed and started her song again, and Sir Webber had a grand chuckle over boys singing songs written for girls — let’s forgive him, he’s British. For the night’s best moments, watch these quick clips:

5. Lloyd Webber never thought he’d see a man with dreadlocks sing “Memory”? Allow us to introduce him to a little place called gay cabaret bars.
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Ego Trip and VH1’s Miss Rap Supreme seeks “a woman who will put female rap back on the map.” Is the next Kim , Foxy or Eve in the Fembassy Hotel? Rock Daily is watching, ma.

A Supreme Hour In Four Sentences: Veteran Khia demanded respect last week, even going so far as rhyming “respect me” with “respect me” a dozen times and calling it her sixteen-bar challenge. Whatever respect she gained was lost a mere three minutes into this episode when the Miss Rap Supreme staff discovered her entire challenge verse was lifted from “Respect Me” (of course), a song from her 2006 album Gangstress . So German reim-spitter Lionezz got a second chance and the nine remaining femcees entered the So Seductive Rap Challenge, rhyming about “what’s personally seductive and alluring to you” (something co-host Yo-Yo did just fine without ever doing) in front of the ladies at the Moonshadow lesbian bar. We barely noticed the change in scenery since there’s already so much gratuitous kissing on this show. (more…)

Each week on MTV’s Rock the Cradle , the sons and daughters of musical icons compete for the sort of exposure they would have received anyway on the basis of their DNA. Rock Daily sorts through the nepotistic wreckage.

Children’s Story: This week opened up with a bunch of after-party footage that featured stagey-looking dust-ups between a few of the contestants and a full-scale dressing room-destroying meltdown courtesy of last week’s loser Jesse Money. Cardboard host Ryan Devlin announced that next week the stakes “would be doubled” and the bottom two vote-getters would be sent home, which is carny speak for “MTV says we have to wrap up in fewer episodes!” In what could probably be considered another upset if any of this mattered, A’Keiba Burrell-Hammer was forced to pack up her Lane Bryant wardrobe and go home.

Baby Geniuses: The show finally arrived at an intriguing premise: each contestant had to sing a song made famous by their rock star parent. This led to some spectacular exchanges, including Bobby Brown not wanting son Landon to perform “My Prerogative” because “it’s already perfect.” (more…)

In a move that probably came three or four weeks too late, Kristy Lee Cook was sent back to her horse-less farm in Oregon on last night’s elimination episode of American Idol . Brooke White and Syesha Mercado joined Cook as the bottom vote getters. Cook’s dismissal seemed telegraphed, as the show made a big deal out of Cook fielding a question from a fan during the call-in segment about whether or not she will be getting her horse back (as it turns out, the guy she sold the equine to will not sell it back). Last night’s show also featured a fairly subdued performance from this week’s mentor Mariah Carey (she worked her way through “Bye Bye” from her new album ) as well as a song from Season Five’s Elliott Yamin and the most aggressive Brooke crying jag yet. Cook made a graceful exit, though for a girl who has had mixed martial arts training, Rock Daily does wish that she had made her exit by putting Ryan Seacrest in a kimura and forcing him to tap out.

[Photo: Micelotta/Fox]