R. Kelly's Trial Begins As some of you may already know, the child molestation trial of R&B crooner R. Kelly began this week; it didn’t take long for what will inevitably be a courthouse and media circus to commence. Check out the report via TMZ:

Could a skin doc end up saving R. Kelly’s hide? Looks like it, since his lawyers are basing pretty much his entire defense on one mole – the dark, irregularly-bordered kind.

The pisstastic singer’s trial finally began yesterday, and openings were just as lurid as the tape at its center. The defense claims that the guy in the video doesn’t have a mole, but Kelly does. Maybe the most shocking moment came when the defense claimed that the woman in the tape was a prostitute: “[The alleged victim is sweet and nice,” said Kelly’s lawyer. “The woman in this tape is a prostitute.”

Among other interesting sexual curiosities, the girl calls the man in the vid “daddy” and he apparently pays her at the end.

This one looks set to be pretty interesting. The trial is expected to last 2 weeks.

Your thoughts?
Beyonce Breaks Silence Jay-Z Marriage After more than a month of silence, Beyonce has spoken out about her much talked about marriage to long-time partner Jay-Z:

“I don’t deny it (the wedding). I just don’t talk about it. We’ve never talked about us and it’s kind of protected our relationship. I think it’s kept us out of tabloid drama. A lot of actresses that have had successful relationships don’t talk about them, so neither do I.”{Source}

Kudos to them for not allowing the media to infiltrate what they have.


Any thoughts?
Competition: Alicia Keys Tour Give-Away! - Week 3 WinnersThanks all those who entered the final week of our ‘Alicia Keys Tour Give-Away’.
The correct answer to the question:

What was the first film Alicia starred in?

c) Smoking Aces

The winners, who are listed below, win a pair of tickets each to their selected date (email confirmation has also been sent out):
* Tampa, Florida: Times Union Center – May 24th 2008 – Winner:
Raul Fernandez

* Atlanta, Georgia: Philips Arena – May 28th 2008 – Winner
Antonius McClendon

* Greensboro, North Carolina: Greensboro Coliseum – May 30th 2008 – Winner
Ashley Bracey
Congratulations to the winners! Remember to keep it locked on That Grape Juice for future competitions…

The full version of Solange’s ‘Sandcastle Disco’ from her forthcoming album ‘Sol-Angel & The Hadley Street Dreams’ has surfaced. Having really liked the snippet that was floating around not too long ago, I’m feeling the cut even more so after hearing in it’s entirety. Solange’s record really is shaping up to be something. ‘Sol-Angel & The Hadley Street Dreams’ drops August 26th via Geffen/Music World.

Hit or Miss?

New Janet 'Rock Witchu' Tour Promo{Click pic to enlarge}
With Janet Jackson set to kick off her ‘Rock Witchu’ tour on September 10th, a new promotional shot for the worldwide trek has surfaced. She looks great, as usual.
A full itinerary of dates is set to be publicized any time from now and the tickets will go on sale June 7th.

Any thoughts?
Making The Band Tour: Not Selling? Word has it that the Making The Band 4 tour is having difficulties attracting concert-goers; consequently a series of dates have been cancelled. Click here to see the proof. What’s more, MTV are said to be looking to shorten the tour as well as ‘give-away’ tickets to the show so as to save face.
What the hell is going on over at Bad Boy? I know Danity Kane have been on their grind doing a series of non-televised shows here and there; yet with a tour coming up, it makes little sense to be working the non-televised circuit when you have something to promote – namely an album and tour.
With ‘Damaged’ having just cracked the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100, it’s understandable as to why their second single ‘Bad Girl’ hasn’t been rolled out just yet. Day26, on the other hand, have been in dire need of an appearance, performance..hell something, yet have been MIA since the tour was announced. Diddy and Bad Boy have with Danity Kane the best girl group out at the moment IMO and with Day26 guys with mass potential, yet don’t seem to be promoting them as such. For both group’s sake, business needs to pick up ASAP.

Any thoughts?
R&B songstress Ashanti gave the first televised performance of current single ‘The Way That I Love You’ on BET’s ‘The Adventures of 106 & Indiana Jones’ yesterday. Check it out below:

Not the best performance, but pretty good all the same.

What do you think of the performance?

Nas Changes Album Title; Relase Date ConfirmedAccording to Billboard, the title of Nas’s controversial ‘N*gger’ LP has been scrapped in favour of an unconfirmed name. Now slated to drop on July 1st, the rapper confirmed that he was pressurised into changing the album’s title in view of the media hysteria:

“It’s important to me that this album gets to the fans,” the rapper says. “It’s been a long time coming. I want my fans to know that creatively and lyrically, they can expect the same content and the same messages. It’s that important. The streets have been waiting for this for a long time. The people will always know what the real title of this album is and what to call it.”

I was always kinda on the fence about the album’s title; no doubt, the record, irrespective of it’s new title, will have garnered much attention already.

Your thoughts?

The Pussycat Dolls performed their brand new single ‘When I Grow Up’ on the Jimmy Kimmel Live show yesterday. While I enjoyed their showing, I was kinda disappointed to see Nicole singing everything again. Having listened to the track, I was under the impression, lead vocals had been shared out a bit more evenly this time, yet I’m assuming that was some ‘studio wizardry’ as Nicole evident sings the whole song (backing vocals included). Is there a point for the others to even have a mic? SMH…

What do you think of the performance?

{After our very brief hiatus, it’s back to our regularly scheduled programming (cheesy I know lol)….}
Pop superstar Janet Jackson appeared on the Ellen Degeneres show earlier this week to perform and officially announce her upcoming tour – her first trek in 7 years. Check out the performances – of ‘Rhythm Nation’ and ‘LUV’ as well as the tour announcement below:

Rhythm Nation

Tour Announcement


LUV

She nailed both performances, for real! I’m guessing it’s all but confirmed that ‘LUV’ is the next single and rightfully so. Moreover, it’s great to see her much anticipated tour finally announced; it’s known by most that Janet’s tours trump that of most other artists. {Click here to read more on the ‘Rock WitChu Tour}

In other Janet news, it has been confirmed that she will join Mariah, Mary J. Blige, Usher, Nelly etc as a performer at the upcoming BET Awards. {Source}

Janet will be launching a new fan club very soon. Click here for more details

Here’s hoping her resurgence helps resurrect the ‘Discipline’ project.

What do you think of the performances?

Will you be going to see Janet on tour?

The video for Michelle Williams brand new single ‘We Break The Dawn’ finally made its debut today. In what may sound like an oxymoron: expectantly the video served up the unexpected. From Michelle’s edgy, sass, to the choreography, to the costumes…everything. The masses notion of ‘Michelle from Destiny’s Child’ really looks set to change. Good stuff. Michelle’s first secular solo LP ‘Unexpected’ hits stores August 12th.

What do you think of the video?

After being rested on the bench briefly, From The Vault returns this week with Destiny’s Child’s 2001 crossover smash ‘Survivor’. Fresh off the controversy of what seemed to be a revolving door of group members, the ladies re-asserted that they were ‘here to stay’ not only with this single and video but also with their album of the same name – their biggest selling (worldwide) effort to date:

Survivors indeed; their worldwide success with the record helped catapult them to the status they enjoy today – the biggest selling female group of all-time.

Your thoughts?

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