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

Today, in honour of her often overlooked contributions to Pop culture and the representation of African-Americans in a prejudiced world, we revisit Dorothy Dandridge‘s life by way of the 1999 biopic ‘Introducing Dorothy Dandridge’ which starred Halle Berry.

Unfamiliar with her remarkable story and her ties to the brilliant Harry Belafonte?

Watch below…

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michael-jackson

The triumphant yet turbulent life of Michael Jackson is to be honoured with its very own Lifetime biopic.

Full story below…

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anita baker thatgrapejuice retirement

Fans of ‘Sweet Love’ singer Anita Baker are feeling sour to say the least after the R&B legend took to Twitter to confirm rumors of her retirement.

Baker, who gifted the genre some of its most memorable efforts between 1983 and 2004 and earned the title ‘Queen of Quiet Storm’ along the way, excited music lovers in 2012 when she – after a nearly 10 year hiatus – delivered a Grammy-nominated remake of actor/singer Tyrese Gibson‘s hit, ‘Lately.’  The cover was joined by another song, ‘Sweet Dreams,’ as the kickoff to her long-awaited 7th studio album, ’21st Century Love’ (later renamed ‘Only Forever’).

Fast forward to 2017 and now we see the title change has proven prophetic as that’s exactly how long her fans will have to wait to hear its content (or any new content for that matter).  See what we mean inside:

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It seems with open hearts and wallets fans are welcoming back blue-eyed-soulster Ed Sheeran in a big way. For, as we reported here, the ‘Thinking Out Loud’ singer slid back onto the scene this week with not one, but two new releases – ‘Shape of You’ and ‘Castle on the Hill.’

The dual release help kick off his forthcoming album ‘Divide’ (in stores March 3rd) and, if iTunes and streaming response are any indication, will launch the project into the stratosphere.

Already hitting #1 and #2 on US iTunes respectively, new reports reveal the songs have individually smashed global streaming records.  According to an official press release:

With over 13 million global streams in the first 24 hours, Sheeran has broken Spotify’s ‘day 1’ streaming record with his monumental comeback singles Shape Of You and Castle On The Hill.”  With “Shape Of You” tallying 6,868,642 streams and “Castle On The Hill” landing 6,168,395 streams, both of the new tracks have individually overtaken the previous ‘day one’ record holders…

As if that’s not enough, now Billboard is reporting the tunes are jointly set to make Hot 100 history next week:

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jennifer holliday thatgrapejuice trump inauguration

Black Twitter had a thing or two to tell ‘And I’m Telling You’ singer Jennifer Holliday after the official announcement that she would be performing at president elect Donald Trump‘s inauguration next week.

Holliday, a stage and recording star best known for her portrayal of ‘Effie’ in the original 80’s stage version of ‘Dreamgirls’ (alongside Sheryl Lee Ralph as ‘Deena’ and Loretta Devine as ‘Lorrell’), came under fire for what is being perceived as her support of the president elect.

But, just as the e-battering began to reach its height and gay fans called for a boycott of her music, the singer’s publicist stepped forward to announce there has yet to be an official commitment from the singer to perform…

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Welcome back to TGJ Replay!

Designed much like our ‘Retro Rewind’ and ‘From the Vault’ features, ‘Replay’ is That Grape Juice‘s yet another reflective segment to act as a written quest to re-spin the gems and jams of yesterday. Unlike its TGJ retrospective predecessors, ‘Replay’ looks to dust off and showcase entire albums (and eras) from a library of pop and Urban pop music hits.

This week we go back to black…out.  That’s right, an ode to Britney Spears’ most critically acclaimed effort to date awaits inside:

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Living-Single-reboot-thatgrapejuice

Excuse us while we do our happy dance at news that Queen Latifah is hard at work to reboot the popular 90’s series ‘Living Single.’

A staple in many of our homes during its run from 1993-1998, the show – starring Queen Latifah, Kim Fields, Kim Coles, Erika Alexander, and more – certainly left a mark on television (especially for women of color).  Now, with an unquestionable need for that type of representation on television, Queen took to ‘Watch What Happens Live’ with Andy Cohen to discuss where she is in the development of taking us back to a ’90’s kind of world.’

Hear it from her mouth below:

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On January 28th, Lifetime will explore the parallels of the notion of love in its original film, ‘Love By The 10th Date.’

Directed by Nzingha Stewart, romantic comedy follows Gabrielle Fateful (Meagan Good), who takes on the theory of 10 dates to find love and happiness. With the help of her trusted sister-circle Nell (Kellee Stewart), Billie (Keri Hilson) and Margot (Kelly Rowland), the journey to obtaining the gift of love nothing short of the typical shenanigans.

Ahead of its premiere, That Grape Juice brings you an EXCLUSIVE clip of the flick, which features Gabrielle (Good) on a hilarious dinner date.

Watch below….

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kehlani-sweet-sexy-savage-promo-tgj

Kehlani is marching on full speed to the release of her debut album ‘SweetSexySavage’ – which lands in stores worldwide on January 27th.

And while that’s only a mere matter of weeks away, the rising star is keeping the try-before-you-buy party going.

This time it’s by way of new song ‘Do U Dirty.’

Uncaged today, the track does away with the stereotyped damsel in distress narrative and sees the 21-year-old embrace her inner ‘bad gal.’

Warning her prospective lover “think you love me now, I’mma do you dirty,” Kehlani makes it clear she’s not trying to be attached just yet.

Take a listen below…

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fantasia-dr-feel-good-tgj

As captivating performers go, few can rival the the fire Fantasia ignites when she takes to the stage. And even when she doesn’t.

See, the American Idol graduate was tapped to perform at ‘Taking The Stage: African American Music And Stories That Changed America’ – yet ironically gave her entire performance in the audience.

Watched on by the likes of Will Smith, Jada Pinkett, and Octavia Spencer, Ms. Barrino shut down the Kennedy Center event with a rousing rendition of Aretha Franklin‘s ‘Dr. Feel Good.’

See Fantasia set it all the way off, like only she can, after the jump…

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thatgrapejuice michael jackson urban myths

Michael Jackson‘s new “biopic” has been shelved.

Details below…

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beyonce-tgj

Beyonce‘s ‘Lemonade’ is the gift that keeps on giving.

Find out how and why below…

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