Rapper A$AP Rocky to host MTV’s reimagined Woodies at SXSW

By Jonathan Landrum Jr.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

ATLANTA _ Rapper and actor A$AP Rocky will host MTV’s reimagined Woodies this month.

The network announced Wednesday that Rocky will host the 12th-annual show on March 16 at the South by Southwest music festival in Austin, Texas.

The Woodies look to discover emerging musicians, honouring winners with a chunk of wood that has a large nail pierced down the middle and a hammer attached to the front of it. But MTV is changing things up this year: Instead of handing out awards, the show will chose 10 music artists they believe are poised to rise in 2016. The show will be dubbed “MTV Woodies/10 for 16.”

“This is all about shedding light on the music of this generation, the love and bond between different artists,” the rapper said in a recent interview. “We want to shed light at the Woodies on those who influence a lot of people and those who don’t get credit.”

The 10 rising acts will be announced at a later date, as will performers. Past Woodie winners include Drake, Sam Smith and Adele.

In 2014, Rocky and Skillrex won a Woodie for their song “Wild for the Night,” and Rocky has also performed at the show.

He said he feels confident about taking the next step as a first-time host of the show. The Grammy-nominated rapper, who starred in the movie 2015 “Dope” and appears in “Zoolander 2,” said there’s more pressure in acting in films than hosting.

“Acting is a little bit more nerve-racking, because with hosting you can be your own personality. That’s my comfort zone being a music personality,” he said. “We are talking about music. This is what I do.”

Erik Flannigan, executive vice-president of music and multi-platform strategy, wants the Woodies to ultimately show how the celebration of music artists can be beneficial to acts like Rocky.

“We want to introduce new artists to our audience,” Flannigan said. “With A$AP, it shows the power of the Woodies. To have him come back as a host shows the trajectory of his career and the show’s involvement.”

___

Online:

http://woodies.mtv.com/

http://www.asapmob.com/

___

Follow Jonathan Landrum Jr. on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/MrLandrum31. His work can be found at
http://bigstory.ap.org/content/jonathan-landrum-jr
___

This story has been corrected to show the Woodies are no longer an awards show.