Ever keen to broaden our musical scope, recent months have seen That Grape Juice venture into a number of new musical landscapes including, most recently, gospel.
“You don’t know, my town is the truth. Welcome To Brooklyn”
Today, From The Vault travels back to 2005 when a certain Kimberly Jones released one of her most acclaimed singles. Our pick is ‘Lighters Up’ by Lil’ Kim.
Produced by former close collaborator Scott Storch, the Island-flavored number – which samples Damian Marley’s ‘Welcome To Jamrock‘ – was the first single from Queen Bee’s fourth album ‘The Naked Truth‘. An ode to the artist’s native neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, the cut was a Urban hit in the US where it reached #31 on the Hot 100 and the 9th position of the Hot Hip-Hop/R&B charts.
Serving ghetto-fab aplenty, the accompanying Kirk Fraser video is set in various parts of Brooklyn and includes a special cameo by fellow royal Mary J. Blige, as well as comedian Katt Williams. With its documentary feel, the clip was shot a few months before the rapper’s incarceration and uses album track ‘Shut Up B*tch‘ as its introduction.
*************
Although the last decade has seen Ms. Jones trying to re-establish herself as a chart force, it can be noted that ‘Lighters Up’ stands as Kim’s latest chart success and quite frankly nothing she has released since this song and its parent album has been anything on-par with her classic catalog.
Over the years, we’ve stated how much we’d love to see the pint-sized diva win and we firmly believe that armed with a single akin to this one she could be on the brink of the comeback that has been eluding her for so long.
Peep this pic of Pop icon Beyonce uploaded to her official website today!
No doubt released to keep fans buzzing before the November 24th arrival of her new project, the performer’s pics saw the light of day as sales of her brand new studio album ‘Beyonce‘ now sit at the 2,094,323 mark, pushed there by 2,633 new purchases made in the last week.
As if that wasn’t enough to plant a smile on the singer’s face, her husband’s recent acquisition of ‘Ace of Spades‘ will see their combined net worth rocket within the next year, set to push it far higher than the $1 billion figure they can reportedly boast of.
Historically, November has served as Rihanna‘s elected month to release new music.
Indeed, with the record-buying public proven to be more generous during the holidays, the star smartly targets this time of year to combat her inability to shift albums (at the level her peers can at any date on the calendar).
2013, though, saw the model deviate from her annual tactic due to competition from bigger acts.
However, it’s back to business this year. For, the 26-year-old’s team have shared an interesting drop of tea in the newest issue of Elle Magazine.
Cheryl Cole’s ‘Only Human’ album campaign was gifted a major boost today courtesy of Beats By Dre.
The technology giant premiered a new TV and online commercial starring The X Factor judge sporting a number of their famed headphones.
With the LP set for release tomorrow (November 10th), the arrival of the ad is especially apt – particularly as it’s reportedly going to be put into power rotation.
It’s all rather ironic, though, as the album its promoting is dreadful. But we digress…
Las Vegas’ Orleans Arena was the place to be last night as the 2014 Soul Train Awards rolled all up and through!
Hosted by ‘Queen of All Media’ Wendy Williams, the show sought to tribute the best and brightest of hip hop and R&B with blazing performances from the likes of Chris Brown, Jodeci, Tamar Braxton, Tinashe, and a much anticipated ‘Ladies Night’ reunion featuring Lil’ Kim, Missy Elliott, Da Brat, and more!
BET & Centric are set to air the ceremony on November 30th at 8pm. But, before you get to see what all the performers served up, checked out the designer duds, do’s, and dont’s donned on the show’s red carpet.
The latest series of The X Factor UK continued in fine form tonight. With the Live Show segment of the season in full swing, the hopefuls are tasked on week 5 with pulling out all the stops to progress onto the next week. Judging the contestants are Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole, Mel B, andLouis Walsh.
The ‘American Music Awards‘ have welcomed Nicki Minaj to its 2014 showing this week, calling on the ‘Come on a Cone‘ performer to rock the event with a live performance.
Taking place on November 23rd, the show will see the rapper push her ‘Pink‘ agenda to the world before the release of her third studio album ‘The PinkPrint‘, due out on December 15th!
No one may be running to the stores to buy Nicole Scherzinger‘s new album (‘Big Fat Lie’), but that hasn’t stopped the singer from pressing on with new single ‘Run’.
The track is the third cut to be lifted from the LP in the UK and will reportedly serve as the project’s first US offering.
So as to build much needed buzz, the former Pussycat Doll shared a sneak peek of the song’s video with the folk over at E!
Check it out below and let us know if the clip is enough to jump start interest…