Wednesday, August 12th 2009

Lady GaGa & Jay-Z Join VMA Line-Up

Two of music’s biggest acts have joined the line-up of performers at the MTV Video Music Awards 2009 – Lady GaGa and Jay-Z:

Lady GaGa and Jay-Z will play live at the MTV Video Music Awards in New York on Sunday September 19th.

Also announced to present awards at the ceremony are Nelly Furtado, Leighton Meester and Miranda Cosgrove.

Lady GaGa is the undoubted pop success story of 2009 and is nominated for a staggering nine Moonmen, including the coveted Video Of The Year award.

Rapper Jay will perform the same week his hotly anticipated Blueprint 3 album is released and could bring some special guests with him- Jigga’s new single Run This Town features both Kanye West and Rihanna.

Previously announced to perform at the VMAs are Green Day, Pink, Taylor Swift and Muse. {Source}

While this undoubtedly lends a lot of star-power to the somewhat lacking list of performers, I can’t but have my mind wonder off-topic if there will be a Michael Jackson tribute performance of some sort?

Your thoughts?

Posted By: Sam

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Friday, August 7th 2009

Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West On The Set Of ‘Run This Town’ Video

My goodness has it been a slow news-day today or what. Anyway…

Check out these brand spanking new shots from the set of the video for Jay-Z’s new single ‘Run This Town’ – featuring Rihanna and Kanye West. The clip for the all-star song was directed by Anthony Mandler.

While I continue to question the idea of one of the song’s ultra-nasal feature artists running anything (I wonder who?), these pics have me feeling like the video may just be a winner.

ri5 Jay Z, Rihanna & Kanye West On The Set Of Run This Town Video

ri4 Jay Z, Rihanna & Kanye West On The Set Of Run This Town Video

ri3 Jay Z, Rihanna & Kanye West On The Set Of Run This Town Video

ri2 Jay Z, Rihanna & Kanye West On The Set Of Run This Town Video

As well, of course, your take on the pics, That Grape Juice wants to know…

Do you feel Jay-Z, Kanye, and Rihanna ‘run’ the industry?

Posted By: Sam

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Tuesday, August 4th 2009

Pussycat Dolls Not Splitting; Working On LP #3

Reports over the weekend suggested that drama-plagued group the Pussycat Dolls were parting ways. However, the founder of the group, as well as the ‘Pussycat Doll’ concept, Robin Antin has gone on record to shoot down any such idea:

Writing on her Twitter blog, Robin Antin said: “The Pussycat Dolls are not breaking up and if they ever were, you would hear it from me first.

“Not gossip! Album number three is on the way.”

This is not the first time that the girlband have been forced to deny rumours of a rift. Earlier this year, Melody Thorton insisted that the singers were still going strong amid reports that frontwoman Nicole Scherzinger was eager to move on. {Source}

Unless something drastic happens with their next record in the way of sound and more equal distribution of vocals, I can only see the situation becoming worse. Clearly there is friction within the group and Nicole, by all indications, wants to get things ~~flopping~~ popping with her solo stuff. What’s more, folks are bored with the whole Nicole at the forefront set-up; regardless of whether this was the vision of what Robin wanted, it’s not working. The key to longevity in the industry is adapting with the times, while still delivering quality music. Time will tell if things pan out for PCD…

Any thoughts?

Posted By: Sam

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Friday, July 24th 2009

New Song: Jay-Z – ‘Run This Town (ft. Rihanna & Kanye West)’ (New Single)

With Jay-Z’s much anticipated ‘The Blueprint 3′ nearing its September 11th release, the next single to be lifted from the record ‘Run This Town’ has surfaced. Featuring former Def Jam label mates Rihanna and Kanye West, Hova has gone on record to say the track is named as such because they are the folk that ‘run’ the industry (hmm…).

While I’m feeling the track’s ‘epic’ feel, along with Jay and Kanye’s verses, I couldn’t stomach Rihanna’s part on the hook. Ms. Fenty was on her extra-nasal game on this one, which makes it a few pig-squeals away from being un-listenable. That said, the song still kinda manages to work.

Hit or Miss?

Posted By: Sam

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Wednesday, July 22nd 2009

Jay-Z: "I Didn’t Stop Chris Brown Performing At BET Awards" + Calls The Game "A Groupie"

Rapper Jay-Z was interviewed by the UK’s Tim Westwood last night to promote his eagerly awaited ‘Blueprint 3′ LP. While speaking to Westwood, Jay-Z was finally questioned about the much talked about rumour of him using his pulling power to have Chris Brown removed from the list of performers at the travesty that was this year’s BET Awards. Jigga, real name Shawn Carter, vehemently denied the claim and offered his take on Chris Brown’s recent apology.

Also, giving his reaction to The Game’s recent ‘anti-Jay’-Z campaign, Jay labelled the former G-Unit member “a groupie”. Ouch.

Any thoughts?

Posted By: Sam

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Monday, June 29th 2009

BET Awards 2009: Performances

As many of you know, the BET Awards 2009 took place last night at The Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. Long time readers will know that with the big award shows, That Grape Juice are at the forefront with live coverage and performance videos. However, with Michael’s passing really hitting me (and millions) to the core, the show kinda took a backseat in my mind, only regaining my interest when it began to be advertised as a Michael Jackson Tribute Show following The King of Pop’s sudden death. Check out the night’s performances below:

(more…)

Posted By: Sam

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Tuesday, May 12th 2009

Ciara & Jay-Z To Tour Together

Ciara appears to be everywhere at the moment promoting her new LP ‘Fantasy Ride’, and if you’re in the US, she and rapper Jay-Z, may be coming to an arena near you:

Jay-Z and Ciara are planning a summer tour together, the former’s representative has confirmed to Billboard.com.

“I will say it because the information has been leaked. Me and Jay-Z will be doing a 10-city tour run together! More details coming soon! [sic]” Ciara revealed on Twitter Monday night.

The full itinerary has not yet been announced, but Jay-Z’s rep did say it won’t be a 10-city tour, although she wouldn’t confirm if it was more shows or less.

Still, a few dates and venues have already been revealed, including stops July 3 and 4 at The Pearl at The Palms in Las Vegas, July 10 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Connecticut, and July 12 in Atlanta.

Before the Jay-Z tour, Ciara will support Britney Spears on the European leg of the “Circus” tour in June. {Source}

CiCi and Jay sounds like one hell of a show. I must say though, I did always envision Jay being a joint-tour of sorts with Ms. Knowles-Carter if he were to ever embark on such a trek with an R&B singer. That said, it’s still a great billing…

Your thoughts?

Posted By: Sam

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Tuesday, November 11th 2008

Jay-Z’s ‘Blue Print 3′ Delayed

According to MTV, Jay-Z’s eagerly awaited ‘Blueprint 3′ has been pushed back until next year, after initially being expected to hit stores before 2008′s end:

Jay-Z has all but confirmed that The Blueprint 3 is not coming out in 2008. When Hov premiered his new record, “History,” on Angie Martinez’s Hot 97 New York radio show last week, Martinez playfully reminded him that he was supposed to be coming out with an album this year. Jigga countered that he’d never told anyone that the album would be dropping this year and didn’t know where the speculation came from.

While in Europe for the EMAs last week, Kanye West, who has produced a gaggle of tracks for Jay’s new album, shed a little light on what’s holding up the highly anticipated album.

“I mean, it’s phenomenal,” West told MTV Base. “We went in and we done the whole album. He wanted to do a few more joints, so he kinda pushed it back. Now we’re gonna go in and just work on some more records. So I got some more stuff to kill it with! I think [Jay pushed the album back because] ‘Swagger’ just did so incredible. We wanted to go up [and make sure] everything was on that level.”

The likelihood of the album dropping between now and December was slim anyway IMO. With Jay seemingly back at his best, I’m sure a few more months wouldn’t hurt. In fact, I feel the anticipation will be more. Roll on next year…

Your thoughts?

Posted By: Sam

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Wednesday, October 1st 2008

Stars Come Out For Thicke Album Launch

Hip-Hop heavyweights Jay-Z & Diddy were just some of the few that came out to celebrate the release of Robin Thicke’s latest offering ‘Something Else’, which was released this week, in New York last night. Peep more pics below, including Thicke with wife Paula Patton.