Rapper Trina appears in the latest issue of Ocean Drive magazine. Seems like photographer Billy Coleman went crazy with Photoshop in post-production; I know Trina has dropped a few pounds as of late, but come on now! Click here to read see more pics / read the full article.

In other news, February 12th 2008 has been set as the release date for Trina’s new album ‘Still The Baddest’ (IMO a much better title than it’s previous name: ‘Baddest Bitch 2’). The CD will drop via Slip-N-Slide/EMI and will be lead by the single ‘Single Again’.

What do you think of the pic(s)?

Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4

With Jennifer Lopez’s new album ‘Brave’ seeing it’s US tomorrow (out now in Europe), the singer took time out from touring to hit up MTV’s TRL today to promote the CD. I’m actually anxious to see how the album does; reviews, so far, have been been pretty mixed and this album is seemingly make or break for her music career. A tidbit: she needs to admit the pregnancy already – she can only keep wearing those tent dresses for so long.

Your thoughts?

Since the release of Tweet’s last album ‘It’s Me Again’ back in 2005, news on the Southern Hummingbird has been pretty scarce. However, she made a surprise appearance at VH1’s Hip Hop Honors event last week to participate in a tribute performance to Missy Elliot.

Having really liked her last CD (it’s very underrated IMO), it’s great to hear that things are moving along nicely with the new project. I’ll definitely be checking for it whenever it drops.

Will you be checking for Tweet’s new album?

I don’t get it. With all the media scrutiny, you’d think Usher would keep the relationship on a low(er) profile, yet instead they choose to flaunt it. Oh well…

Your thoughts?

Check out the making of Kanye West’s current single ‘Good Life’ (ft. T-Pain). Ironically, the directors of the vid, Jonas & François, are the same guys whose acceptance speech at the MTV Europe Music Awards last year was gatecrashed by a sore-losing Kanye. Anyway, the vid turned out pretty good. For those who haven’t seen it yet, click here to view.

Any thoughts?

After a lengthy hiatus from the music scene, British R&B singer Craig David has returned with new single ‘Hot Stuff’. Put simply, the song (which samples David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’) is so-so and the video is a complete mess. Considering he’s been away for so long, I was hoping for Craig to come with something with a little more substance than this, but obviously that didn’t end up happening. If this is any indication of what his forthcoming album ‘Trust Me’ (due November 12th) has to offer, maybe Craig should just call it a day.

What do you think of the song / video?

R&B singer Ginuwine recently filed a lawsuit regarding an allegedly fake recording contract, which he was ‘duped’ into signing. Check out the report below via MSNBC:

NEW YORK – Ginuwine says he was duped into signing a contract with a record company that doesn’t exist.

In a lawsuit filed in Manhattan’s state Supreme Court, the R&B singer says he was persuaded to sign on May 8, 2007, with King Music Group Inc., a company that a personal acquaintance, Michael Bourne of Memphis, Tenn., said he owned.

Terms of the contract gave Ginuwine, whose real name is Elgin Baylor Lumpkin, $1.75 million to record his first album with King, including a $500,000 advance, according to court papers. In nearly five months, the singer hasn’t made any records and hasn’t been paid a cent, the lawsuit said.

With ‘Crank Dat’ spending it’s fourth non-consecutive week atop of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Soulja Boy is definitely riding the wave of success. The 17 year old stopped by the Jimmy Kimmel show recently to perform the smash hit as well as the follow-up ‘Soulja Girl’. For both performances, he was joined by drummer Travis Barker. Though nothing groundbreaking, Barker kinda added a different vibe to each performances. Soulja Boy’s album ‘SouljaBoyTellEm.com’ is in stores now.

What do you think of the performances?

Kelly Rowland stopped by BET’s 106 & Park to finally premiere the video for her new single ‘Ghetto’. The former Destiny’s Child singer also promoted her forthcoming tour with Mario, as well as speaking on the ‘Ms. Kelly’ re-release. She confirmed that she is currently recording new tracks and is about to go into the studio with Nate ‘Danja’ Hills (‘Gimme More’, ‘SexyBack’ and ‘Promiscuous’).

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Part 3

The vid has been out for a minute, so it’s good to see her doing some kind of promotion for it. About the re-release, I’m very optimistic – it seems like she’s drafting in the heavy hitters.

What do you think of the interview?