Welcome to Retro Rewind, the TGJ original feature carved out to celebrate TV and Film’s glorious past.

Today, we revisit Disney’s hit African-American show ‘Smart Guy’ starring Tahj Mowry. As his older sisters Tia and Tamera soared on Nickelodeon with ‘Sister Sister’ Tahj carved out a ratings-pulling lane for himself with the comedy which saw him play the powerful and precocious T.J Henderson.

After ordering a seven-episode run for its first season, Disney upped its order to 22 episodes per season after watching Tahj and his comedic co-stars push viewing figures to astronomical heights!

Ready to take that journey into the past?

‘Smart Guy’ below…

 

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Celine Dion has well over two decades of dominance under her belt and her success shows no signs of slowing.

This week the vocal powerhouse surprised with ‘Ashes’ – a brand new song which serves as the theme for hotly anticipated movie ‘Deadpool 2.’

And while it’s early days, the song seems to be slaying out of the gate.

Details below…

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‘Tightrope’ performer Janelle Monae has traipsed her way into yet another top 5 hit on the Billboard 200 thanks to her tertiary release, ‘Dirty Computer.’

Her first studio album in nearly five years, the set – kicked off by ‘I Like That,’ ‘Make Me Feel,’ ‘Django Jane,’ ‘Pynk,’ and a short film – has come as a welcomed addition to her critically acclaimed discography as it was greeted fanfare similar to that of its forerunners.  Initially, industry analysts suggested that critical laud wasn’t exactly reflected commercially as the LP was predicted to shift 37,000 units its first week (click here to read more on that).  The numbers, if proven true, would have delivered the singer’s second best first week sales of her career.  Keywords:  “would have.”

For, at the close of ‘Computer’s first full tracking week (May 4), a surge in sales has not only seen her leave that first report’s prediction in the dust, but also gifted her the best first week sales of her career:

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Donald Trump has praised the performer Kanye West for “boosting his approval rating amongst black men” after the star endorsed the President in a series of tweets.

Kanye West must have some power because I doubled my African-American poll numbers. We went from 11 [percent] to 22 in one week.Thank you, Kanye, thank you. Even the pollsters thought there must be some mistake.

Watch below…

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Rihanna made headlines this week that she revealed that she and the superstar rapper Drake are no longer on speaking terms.

One reason why? Her feeling that he hijacked a moment designed to honour her contributions to Pop culture by professing his admiration for her beauty.

Today, members of the digital community have taken to Twitter to reveal that they feel that Drake’s supposed “thirstiness” wouldn’t be as palatable to the masses if he was a full African-American male.

An interesting conversation, partially fuelled by Wale‘s remarks on how he feel colorsim affects him, below…

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The last month has been rocky (to say the least) for Trey Songz, but today brought news that gives the R&B hitmaker reason to celebrate.

A month post learning he evaded a felony criminal charge after his friends joined forces to contradict statements made by his alleged attack victim, Andrea Buera (click here to read more), Songz will also not be charged with misdemeanor domestic violence charges.

Details inside:

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The emergence of multiple lawsuits since her catapult to the top of charts is showing Cardi B there are many prices to fame.

Just a week after the world learned her former manager, Klenord Raphael, sued her for $10 million (click here to read more on that), news is indicating a previous headline-grabbing lawsuit – filed to the tune of $5 million – will be moving forward despite the rapstress’s legal teams attempt to stop it.

In this case, the plaintiff – Kevin Brophy Jr – claims Cardi used his likeness without his permission and, in the process, put him in a “submissive and embarrassing position.”  Details inside:

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Although Adidas CEO Kasper Rorsted commended Kanye West‘s importance to the fashion brand, calling the controversial rapper  a “fantastic creator” and “a very important part of [Adidas] strategy,” that has not stopped detractors from calling for his dismissal.

The call comes as part of an ongoing backlash after the Grammy-winner took to TMZ to claim African Americans’ endurance of 400 years of slavery was “a choice” (click here to read more on that). And, while commenters from all walks of life have slammed his declaration, Adidas have declared they are sticking by the embattled star during this trying time.

“We’re not going to comment or speculate on every single comment that our external creators are making..and that’s where I’m going to leave it,” Rorsted said during an interview with Bloomberg TV on Thursday (May 3).

There are over 16,000 signees of a petition who don’t share Rorsted’s stance.  Details inside:

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‘American Idol’ has silenced the naysayers. Because, after solid ratings and ample advertiser interest, the revived version of the show has earned itself another season at ABC.

Details below…

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The actress Jada Pinkett-Smith is coming clean about her feud with her peer Gabrielle Union.

What went down?

Find out below…

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Readers of That Grape Juice know what avid music lovers we are – especially of hits past.

So, as our retrospective features ‘From the Vault’ and ‘TGJ Replay’  allow us the chance to re-spin the gems and jams of yesterday of one artist, our newest feature Chart Rewind – a variation of our current Retro Rewind assay – accedes salutes to an entire era of music history.

This week we’re turning the lens to ‘The Most Beautiful Girl in the World’ – the lead single from pop icon Prince‘s ‘The Beautiful Experience.’  Released in 1994, the tune – one of the first efforts under his signature symbol (and unpronounceable) moniker and title ‘Artist Formerly Known as Prince’ – ‘World’ is considered the release that solidified his ability to remain a commercially viable act despite the name change and lack of major label support (as it was released “independently”).

Going on to be his first and only #1 in the United Kingdom, the song also fared well Stateside as it eventually went Gold and peaked at #3 (where it was found this week 24 years ago).   It was his last antemortem top 10 hit.

Look inside to see who joined The Purple One on the Hot 100 this week in 1994:

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Nicki Minaj has lit the match on her fourth album campaign by unleashing the music videos for both ‘Chun-Li’ and ‘Barbie Tingz.’

Both tracks debuted together on April 12th and have proved resonating for the the Rap queen.

Indeed, ‘Chun-Li’ hit #10 on the Hot 100, while ‘Barbie’ blasted to a respectable #25.

With Onika serving an as established streaming force, can she climb even higher now both jams have accompanying visuals? Watch both below and let us know!

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