R&B crooner Joe, seemingly, out of nowhere has taken aim at R. Kelly, blaming the singer for trying to ruin his career. Check out the report via Contact Music below:

R&B singer JOE has accused R. KELLY of pressuring radio DJs not to play his records – in a bid to scupper his growing stardom.

The Stutter singer released six albums with Jive Records over an 11 year period, but left the label earlier this year (08) after the company pushed back the release of his 2007 LP, Ain’t Nothin Like Me, several times.

And the Grammy-winning star believes his rival labelmate Kelly was to blame, insisting he would call Jive bosses and radio stations and urge them not to promote the singer too strongly.

Joe says, “R. Kelly was very instrumental in making a lot of decisions when it came to my records being played on the radio.

“He would make a call to the radio station or to the label and say, ‘Hey, this Joe record is too hot right now. Y’all (sic) need to pull that back.’ And they would oblige. It’s incredible that now I get the opportunity to, I don’t know, maybe pay (R. Kelly) back in some sort of side bar kind of thing.”

And Joe, who left Jive to release his forthcoming LP New Man through Kedar Entertainment Group, insists he is still a prevalent musician despite R. Kelly’s alleged intervention.

He says, “I’m still very relevant in the game. But yeah, he did try to make some decisions when it came down to my records being on fire, and climbing up the charts and on the radio stations. He felt like they should pull back because he felt he was more important. And with their loyalty to him, they obliged.”

Though I do support Joe, it does kinda seem like he’s a little bitter about being…well…not all that relevant in the contemporary music scene and is taking aim at R. Kelly because of it. I mean, I find it a little odd that he’s only coming out of the woodwork now. Anyway…

Check out this behind the scenes footage of Nelly’s new Sean Jean Underwear shoot:

Your thoughts?

In a statement to the press, Usher’s record label have confirmed that the Grammy winner has re-hired his mother Jonetta Patton as his manager. Check out the report via Billboard:

In a short statement issued by LaFace/Zomba, it was announced that the artist “has dissolved his management arrangement with Benny Medina and has re-engaged Jonnetta Patton as his manager.”

Usher split his mother as his manager in May 2007. He then hired Medina, who was integral in the launch of the artist’s recent album, “Here I Stand.” In 10 weeks, it has sold 948,000 units in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It’s the No. 8 best-selling album of 2008 so far.

However, it hasn’t come close to matching the gaudy numbers of its predecessor, 2004’s “Confessions,” which sold 3.77 million copies in its first 10 weeks and is at 9.6 million to date.

Let the ‘I told you so’s’ ensue lol. For real, this is definitely a good look for Usher IMO; maybe not for the ‘Here I Stand’ LP (which IMO was dead on arrival), but for his long-term prospects.

Your thoughts?

Review up shortly…

In the meanwhile…

What do you think of the video?

Hit or Miss?

This past week, R&B star Ashanti performed at Six Flags new Jersey. Check out her performance of current single ‘Good Good’, which featured a medley mix of Lil Wayne’s ‘A Milli’ and ‘Grillz’. Check out the performance below:

Good performance.

What do you think of ther performance?

R&B star Fantasia appears on the cover of the September 2008 issue of Sister 2 Sister magazine.

Call me a hater or whatever else you choose, but there is no denying that was the pits. She sounded like Billy Goat Gruff with all that bleating. Horrible.

Randomness: It would be great to hear a little of ‘pre-industry cleansing’ Rihanna (aka Caribbean flavoured sound) on her new music – even if just a little. Just a thought…

What do you think of the performance?

In this journey I have been so blessed to come across many faces and spaces that have shown so much love. I hear so many folk who love that the record is a departure from most of the traditional things out right now. I get people who love my steez and encourage me to be me and I THANK YOU!!

Unfortunately I’m in an industry where diversity is not celebrated the way it should be. When some people see and hear something different it feels foreign to them and they don’t like that. Everyone has a choice of what they like and that’s a beautiful thing!!!

BUT Record labels, managers, publicist, journalist, media ect… have a tendency to see something work and try to reciprocate that with another artist thinking that’s what makes success. To me what makes success is letting people be truly who they are.

“When I heard Kanye’s “Everything I Am” I instantly fell in love. I felt my story somewhere in his. I felt his frustration yet acceptance of who he was. So I decided to put my own little twist on it:)

Warning: This song in NO WAY shape or fashion has a negative light to any of the artist I mention…I love and respect them ALL. I am just simply expressing myself and my story. When I say F.U. I am talking to no one in particular, only those that feel guilty of categorizing :)”

You can listen to the track below: