As Estelle’s ‘American Boy’ continues to blow up around the globe, the Londoner performed the smash with Kanye West for the first time at France’s FĂŞte de la musique festival, which took place in Paris over the weekend:

I really enjoyed the performance. Though I’ve seen Estelle offer more polished live showings of the song, having Kanye on stage as well as the 30, 000 strong crowd really made for an awesome atmosphere.

‘American Boy’ is lifted from Estelle’s fantastic new album ‘Shine’ which is in stores now.

What do you think of the performance?

That Grape Juice 2008 BET Awards Coverage As with last year’s show, That Grape Juice will be providing live on-the-minute coverage of the 2008 BET Awards which take place this coming Tuesday (June 24th) live from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles. News, arrivals and of course performances, ThatGrapeJuice.net will be the spot for them all. Things have been, somewhat, streamlined from last year show and will consist of three main post areas:
* Arrivals: Thorough red-carpet coverage.

* Performances:
All the show’s performances minutes (it’s hoped lol) after they’ve aired. Visitors around the time of last year’s show will know what I mean 🙂
* Your Shout: Here you’ll be able to express your thoughts on the show as it’s taking place. Anything and everything goes; randomness, observations, views etc.
So for ‘net’s most thorough live coverage of Urban entertainment’s biggest date on the calender, do be sure to keep it locked on ThatGrapeJuice.net!

Your thoughts / suggestions?
This week’s From The Vault journeys back to Beyonce’s showing at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards. Featuring the now infamous ‘upside down’ entrance, this performance of ‘Baby Boy’ and ‘Crazy In Love’ IMO was Beyonce’s ‘Motown 25’ moment – officially cementing her place as, hate it or love it, ‘The Hottest Chick In The Game’:

Your thoughts?

Entertainment Tonight caught up with Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson on the set of her much anticipated video for first single ‘Spotlight’. Check it out:

Jennifer looked great and came across very well. Though ‘Spotlight’ didn’t ‘wow’ me initially, it’s grown on me considerably as of late. Here’s hoping Jennifer’s project lives up to the high expectations.

Any thoughts?

Day26 - 'Must Be Love' An unreleased Day26 track, which is believed to be a left-over from their debut album, surfaced recently. Produced by Bryan Michael Cox, it’s pretty evident why ‘Must Be Love’ wasn’t included on their record – it’s a real run-of-the-mill, uninspired slow-jam. Fortunately, Cox and the Bad Boy five-piece fare better on their other joint efforts such as ‘Are We In This Together’.
In other Day26 news, the video for the guys’ long-overdue second single ‘Since You’ve Been Gone’ will premiere on F’N MTV this coming Friday.

Hit or Miss?

{Link Removed As Requested}

Kanye West Defends Soulja Boy In a recent entry on his official blog, Kanye West took up for Soulja Boy in his escalating ‘beef’ with rapper/actor Ice T. Here’s what Kanye had to say on the issue:

Soulja boy is fresh ass hell and is actually the true meaning of what hip hop is sposed to be. He came from the hood, made his own beats, made up a new saying, new sound and a new dance with one song. He had all of America rapping this summer. If that ain’t Hip Hop then what is? A bunch of wannabe keep it real rappers that ain’t even relevant, recycling samples trying to act like it’s 96 again and all they do is hate on new shit? Niggas always talk about the golden age but for a 13 year old kid, this is the golden age!!! That song was so dope cause everything he said had a hidden meaning… that’s Nas level shit… he just put it over some steel drums which is also some Nas shit if you had the 2nd album cassette with the bonus track “Silent Murder” on it. In closing… new niggas get ya money$$$$$$$$$$ Keep this shit fresh and original…. ain’t no fuckin’ rules to this shit and that’s what real hip hop is to me.

– Kanye West

Interesting…lol. In other news, Ice T has responded to Soulja Boy’s response (if that makes any sense lol):

It’s increasing seeming like an Old Skool vs New Skool situation…

Your thoughts?

Review up shortly…

In the meanwhile…

What do you think of the video?

Continuing along the promotional trial for his million-seller ‘Tha Cater III’, Lil’ Wayne performed #1 smash ‘Lollipop’ on the ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live’ show on yesterday. Good stuff.

What do you think of the performance?

The video for Part 2 (Freemasons Mix) of Solange’s new single ‘I Decided’ premiered today. Largely the same, this video will be serviced to the European market as the first release from her forthcoming LP ‘Sol-Angel & The Hadley Street Dreams’ (due August 26th).

I must say that I’m really feeling this version of the song (peep the That Grape Juice chart on the right) and feel as though it has the better chance of making an impact.

Your thoughts?

It appears Rihanna’s label are pulling out all the stops for the release of her ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’ re-issue – she’s everywhere right now. This morning the singer performed on the Today Show’s Concert Series in New York City’s Rockefeller Plaza. Her set featured current single ‘Take A Bow’ (above), ‘Don’t Stop The Music’ and ‘Umbrella’ (below).

As I’m sure most of you know by now her live performances do little for me, these included. Though I’m sure the inevitable ‘hater’ tag will be levelled, it’s hard to ignore the fact (IMO) that she sounded as if she were singing through her nose for the whole set. Not a good look. Still,her label she must be convincing people she’s worth their hard earned cash, as ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’ is on course to shift between 45,000 – 50,000 units first week; which is definitely an achievement for an album that is over a year old and wasn’t very good to begin with.

What do you think of the performance?

Soulja Boy has responded to rapper Ice T’s comments that he ‘killed Hip-Hop’. The 17 year old evidently didn’t hold back lol…

Your thoughts?

Competition: 'The Great Debaters' DVD Give-Away (Winner)
Thanks all those who entered the ‘Great Debaters’ give-away. The correct answer to the question:

Forest Whitaker won an Oscar for Best Actor in 2007. Which film was it for?

b) The Last King Of Scotland

The winner (who has also been notified via email) is….

Gillian Goodwin – Marietta, GA
Congratulations.

Remember to keep it locked on That Grape Juice for upcoming competitions…

**