Two new clips from Ne-Yo’s upcoming sophomore album have leaked. The first, ‘Do You’, is an ok sounding mid-tempo track; it wouldn’t make me want to run out and buy the album though. ‘Make It Work’ is much better; it’s a slow-jam that is sure to be one of the album’s standout tracks. A problem I have with most of the leaked clips/tracks so far is that Ne-Yo seems to have played it too safe this time around- no artistic growth or progression. Only time will tell if his new album, ‘Because of You’ (due May 1st), will be able to top his first.

What do you think?
 

{Link Removed As Requested}

Ex-Spice Girl Mel B has given birth to a baby girl on alleged father Eddie Murphy’s 46th birthday. The child was born early Tuesday morning in a Santa Monica hospital. “The baby is completely healthy with a good head of hair,” a rep for Brown said in a statement. The statement added “Mother and baby are now resting. No name has been decided on as yet and she is purely known as Baby Brown.” Actor Murphy has publicly denied paternity of the child.
The coming weeks and months should be interesting, now the child has arrived. A DNA test is inevitable and, though I believe Eddie’s the daddy, Maury’s taught me that nothing is certain lol.

R&B superstar R. Kelly appears on the cover of the May edition of VIBE magazine. The caption for the issue, which is due to hit stands on April 10th, reads:

In the five years since R. Kelly was slapped with child porn charges, the R&B superstar has no court date in sight and continues to drop hits. Vibe investigates.

Plus – Amy Winehouse on what the tabloids don’t say, Nicole Scherzinger talks about her insecurities and fronting the Pussycat Dolls, and Congressman Charles Rangel on hip-hop, the President, and what’s in his 500 cd collection.

Five years?! Damn, time goes fast. The Michael Jackson trial started and ended and R. Kelly still hasn’t even been tried. I don’t think he ever will. Only he knows if he really did it; and by ‘it’ I mean whether he knew the girls he slept with were underage, because we all know he slept with them. This should be an interesting read…

Beyonce performed on the Today Show this morning in support of her B’Day Deluxe re-release, which drops tomorrow (April 3rd). She performed a combined English and Spanish version of ‘Irreplaceable’, as well as ‘Green Light’. Check out the performances:

Irreplaceable (Spanglish Version)


Green Light


{Click images to enalrge}



Eve – Tambourine

 

Fresh off her collaboration with Kelly Rowland on ‘Like This’, rapper Eve is back with a new single of her own. The track, ‘Tambourine’ was produced by Swizz Beats (Busta’s ‘Touch It, Beyonce’s ‘Check On It’ etc) and it’s expected to be the first single from E-V-E’s new album ‘Here I Am’ due later this year. It’s an upbeat/club kinda track and should do well. I’m liking it, although it’s kinda repetitive.
{Link Removed As Requested}

———————————–Johnta Austin – Video (ft. Unk)

This new track from talented singer/songwriter Johnta Austin isn’t really doing it for me; it’s not bad, it’s just not that good either. Considering this is the man who played a major part in the career-reviving ‘Emancipation of Mimi’ album, I expected better. The subject matter in ‘Video’ has been done so many times before and the beat is kinda generic, so the song comes across ‘dated’. I’ve heard better tracks from him, such as ‘Turn It Up’ and ‘Hood Love’, so hopefully he delivers on his next offerings.

{Link Removed As Requested}

———————————–

Bone Thugs N’ Harmony (ft. Mariah Carey & Bow Wow) – L.O.V.E (SNIPPET)

The clip is kinda short, so I can’t give a full review. However, from what I can hear, the track sounds like its gonna be good. I’m sure it’s a Jermaine Durpi production; the beat sounds real ‘JDish‘ and I can hear him shouting in the background lol. Mariah’s flow on the hook sounds great, dunno why Bow Wow is on the track though.

{Link Removed As Requested}

 

R&B superstar Usher has confirmed that he is engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Tameka Foster. In a statement to MTV News, the ‘Confessions’ singer hinted at the possibility of his marriage to Foster- a professional stylist- taking place before the end of the year.
Foster’s background is familiar territory for Usher. Similar to his ex (Chilli from TLC), Foster, 38, is older than the singer…10 years older; she also has kids with her ex husband- who she left for Usher. It’s not all smiles though. It has been reported that Usher’s momma, Jonetta Patton (who is also his manager), isn’t pleased with the relationship. It could have something to do with the fact that she once fired Foster as her son’s stylist as she wasn’t styling him ‘according to his caliber’. Ouch…
*As they’re leaking so fast, any new Beyonce vid will be posted in this post*

Still In Love (Kissing You)

Not sure how I’m feeling about this one. It’s very simplistic, set on a beach. The song is definitely one of the better additions to the B’Day Deluxe album and I would have liked to have seen a ‘proper’ video for it. Then again, the song is the B’Day equivalent of Dangerously In Love, so maybe they wanted to let the vocals take centre stage – which they do.


Flaws & All


This video is real simple, so it matches the theme of the song. She lets her guards down and shows some of her true personality, which we often don’t see.

Get Me Bodied

WOAH. This video is FIYAH! I’m liking the whole concept…everything. She ain’t ever brought it like this in terms of a video before. Beyonce’s former band mates Kelly and Michelle feature in the video too. She should have saved herself the time and just released this and ‘Green Light’, as they are clearly two of her best videos. PERIOD.

Green Light


Now this is what I’m talking about. Everything about this video is ON-POINT! I’m liking the ‘different’ vibe/choreography she went for on this one. I applaud the fact that she’s doing something kinda different here too. Hands down one her best video’s yet…

Suga Mama

This one’s a straight dance/concept video. I’m liking it for what it is but some of the other vids are much better. She was working the choreography though.

Rihanna has premiered her new single, ‘Umbrella’, from her upcoming new album. The track, which features Jay-Z, is good, but nothing special. No doubt it will be a hit, though, as her label insist on shoving her down our throats. When Jay started rapping I got the impression the song was gonna be hot and then her annoyingly nasal singing kicked in. Def Jam are not wasting anytime; the album name has been revealed as ‘ Good Girl, Gone Bad’ (hmmm) and will drop June 6th.

{Link Removed As Requested}

Ok, so Beyonce’s B’Day Deluxe is leaking left, right and centre; videos, tracks…everything. This vid for ‘Freakum Dress’ ain’t bad, but it makes me wonder if there was any point in the whole ‘making a video for every song’ idea in the first place. There’s nothing innovative or interesting enough to make me want to go out and buy the album because of it. What’s more is that you can tell they were on a budget…it’s kinda cheap. To be honest, the only video’s that show any signs of being worthwhile are ‘Get Me Bodied’ and ‘Green Light’. Let’s hope the other vids are saying more than this.

British soul singer Joss Stone has launched a scathing attack on Christina Milian in the upcoming GIANT magazine issue. EUR WEB reports:

While Stone had some harsh criticism for today’s crop of R&B singers, her most scathing words were saved specifically for singer-actress Christina Milian, who just so happens to be the ex-girlfriend of her ex-boyfriend, Beau Dozier.

Stone describes most singers today as “just highly paid strippers.” When told she may have just insulted a large swath of singers, she cocked her head to the side, flashed an innocent smile and said, “What? It’s not like I’m not telling the truth.”

When Christina Milian’s name came up in conversation, Stone, according to writer Aliya S. King, “doesn’t bother to hide her disdain for the woman who Dozier, now Stone’s ex-boyfriend, once dated.”

Stone told King: “I could tell you some stories about her… ,” then launched into a “profanity-laced tirade against the pop star.”

King writes: “After I point to my tape recorder, reminding her that she’s on record, Stone doesn’t quit. Instead, she continues to go off on Milian and, even worse, Milian’s mother. ‘I’m just honest,’ Stone concludes with a shrug.”

“Christina has never met Joss,” Milan’s publicist responds. “She can’t imagine what this is all about.”

Ain’t this funny? How does she manage to to call out anybody else when she, herself, has a shady background?. Wasn’t it just a few short weeks ago that Joss came under fire in the ‘F*cking for Tracks’ exposé? What she doesn’t seem to understand is that she can call all these R&B chicks ‘hoes’ all she likes but at least they’re ‘hoes’ for all to see! She, on the other hand, is a ‘hoe’ behind closed doors and that’s worse. She needs to sit down.

Beyonce’s B’Day Deluxe re-release is days away from being available in stores (April 3rd) and the inevitable leaking of some new cuts from the project has happened.
The ‘Kitty Kat’ video (below) will apparently serve as an intro to the ‘Green Light’ video, hence why it has a short running time (appox 1min). It’s a cool vid and the special-effects work better than I imagined from seeing the video caps.

‘Flaws & All’ ain’t doing it for me right now. She delivers vocally, but the song itself is kinda blah. The other track, ‘Still In Love (Kissing You)’, is much better and can be likened to ‘Dangerously In Love’ – a strong, emotive ballad. Assuming she’s singing about Jay-Z, she even drops the line ‘I love you more than music’. Check them out…

{Link Removed As Requested}

Finally, heres an extended preview of the ‘Get Me Bodied’ video and it looks like it’s gonna be the best out of all of them. The choreography is ON-POINT and theres cameos from Kelly and Michelle (of Destiny’s Child)…oh and Solange lol.

So there you have it…I still hope she decides to lay low after all of this because people are tiring of her.
Though Beyonce’s B’Day Deluxe re-release has yet to hit the shevles, Rolling Stone are reporting that the ‘Deja Vu’ singer is to release ANOTHER album this year:

After a world tour, Beyoncé will release a live album that her team considers the finale piece of their B’Day puzzle. “This is going to change the way people launch records,” says Matthew Knowles, Beyoncé’s father and longtime manager, who conceived B’Day’s multiple releases early in the recording process. “It’s not just a one-time event anymore.”

That’s some BS. Matthew is talking out of his backside; they know full well that the only reason for all these re-releases/new albums is due to B’Day not selling as well as ‘Dangerously In Love’. End of. I feel sorry for all the people that are buying into all this nonsense.

Source: Rolling Stone

**