Bill Maher welcomed Jay Z to his ‘home’ last night, inviting the Rap icon for a conversation launched to endorse his newly released ‘Picasso Baby‘ video.

While on the controversial personality’s show, the Rapper took the time to address a number of issues- including comments Harry Belafonte made regarding he and Beyonce‘s work- or the alleged lack of it- employed to help African Americans in need.

Watch Jay address the actor’s criticism of he and his wife below…

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US album sales have hit an all time low this week, despite the aid of albums spawned by Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars and Pop Princess Rihanna.

An unsettling story below…

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This week’s That Grape Juice Cover Star comes from U.S. native Drastik Williams. Watch as the Youtube siren answers the call to cover Tamar Braxton‘s summertime hit ‘The One’.   Click below to learn more and enjoy Drastik’s cover:

#tamartian friends I wanna hear y’all sang! 1 more week to sing #TheOne for a chance to win a call from me. http://t.co/zmE1UMxchF

— TAMAR BRAXTON (@TamarBraxtonHer) August 1, 2013

 

 

Cute, fun, and flirty, Drastik’s cover of Tamar’s tune certainly checks every “descriptive box” related to the number. While certain parts did seem a bit “talk-sung”, it’s evident that Drastik definitely shined where it mattered most – injecting her own flavor of emotion into the number.

For that we say bravo!

For more on Drastik, visit her Youtube Page. To enter your own cover of ‘The One’, click here.

Your thoughts?

R&B will find a breath of fresh air in Bridget Kelly this year, welcoming the arrival of her long awaited female friendly debut album.

Now, as she watches her Kendrick Lamar backed single ‘Street Dreamin’ dominate Urban airwaves, the LaGuardia gal catches up with Muve Music to share a few details on her debut, teasing its release.

Love her as much as we do?

Press play below!!

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Guess which mezzo-soprano rocked the Ditch Fridays at Ditch Pool & Dayclub at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada on Friday!

Hint: Her voice boasts of 2 octaves, 3 notes and one semitone.

Still not sure?

OK. One more hint.

She first entered the industry as one third of a girl group.

Find out who she is below!

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You should expect to see the face of ‘Poker Face’ performer Lady Gaga quite a bit in the coming months.

With the countdown already begun for her new single ‘Applause’ (due August 19th), fans are already in heavy anticipation of the Mother Monster‘s feature film debut aboard ‘Machete Kills’.

Set to hit theaters October 11th, the Robert Rodriguez-directed film sees its star-studded cast (Mel Gibson, Charlie Sheen, Cuba Gooding Jr., Sofia Vergara, Antonio Banderas) align for an action packed thriller!  See more on the plot below and check out the trailer above.

Plot (source):

Danny Trejo returns as ex-Federale agent Machete, who is recruited by the President of the United States for a mission which would be impossible for any mortal man – he must take down a madman revolutionary and an eccentric billionaire arms dealer who has hatched a plan to spread war and anarchy across the planet.

Your thoughts?

Performance art meets hip hop aboard the artistically forward “mini-movie’ accompanying Jay Z‘s latest ‘Picasso Baby’.

The Timbaland-produced single off his latest No. 1 album ‘Magna Carta…Holy Grail‘, the 10-minute video – directed by Mark Romanek – saw its premiere hit HBO moments ago much to critical acclaim.

Seeing the Roc Nation leader visit the Pace Gallery in New York to film it, fans should look for cameos from Taraji P. Henson, Rosie Perez, Wale, and many more including the “grandmother of performance art” Marina Abramović.

Get into it all below:

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In an era that has seen album sales at their collective worst, some stars have opted to employ innovative marketing schemes to ensure their sales stay afloat.  Arguably one of the most creative means of doing so was imparted by rap royal Jay Z in a recent endorsement deal with Samsung that saw the company purchase 1 million copies of his latest album ‘Magna Carta Grail’ for givewaway to users of Galaxy S III, Galaxy S 4, and Note II on July 4th by way of a specially created app.

While RIAA embraced the method and ensured such tactic would avail platinum certification to the hip hop hitmaker, Billboard, on the other hand, were not so welcoming and quickly slammed any notion the deal’s sales would impact the count honored by the music Bible.

Fast forward a month later, fans of Jay have cried foul after Billboard editorial director Bill Werde took to Twitter this week to share word that Lady Gaga – who recently announced her new album ‘ArtPop’ (November 11) would be introduced via a similar, app-based approach to album sales generation – would see her sales count…

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It’s a great time to be Robin Thicke right about now.

After a decade of imparting some of R&B’s most critically acclaimed numbers, the blue-eyed soulster has finally found roost atop Billboard charts with the hit ‘Blurred Lines’ – the title track to his newest album.

As the song notches its 8th week at #1 on Billboard Hot 100, its parent album is set for similar honor as it was reported to be next week’s #1 on Billboard 200.   Now, in a weeklong celebration of the “career firsts”, Robin continues his promotional promenade in support of the album with the latest appearances coming to ‘The View’ and ‘Late Night with Jimmy Fallon’.

See both performances below as Robin continues to prove why he all of this newfound success is long overdue…

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Still in heavy promo mode for her latest self-titled chart topper, ‘1, 2 Step’ singer Ciara was all smiles as she stepped on set of the new ‘Kris Jenner Show’.  While there, the dancing diva showed off a few moves alongside rap mogul Diddy (who was acting as the day’s co-host).

After showering praise on Ci for her latest effort, Diddy faced off with the songstress in a “step team” battle.  An interesting watch indeed, tuck in below to catch the action:
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The masses have been feeling the latest offerings of ‘Feeling You’ songstress Solange.  From her well-received EP ‘True’ (featuring the web hit ‘Losing You’) to guest spots on a number of fellow artists’ mixes, longtime fans of the eccentric singer have patiently awaited news on the follow-up to 2008’s ‘Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams‘.

Well, wait no more.

For, in a recent interview with Billboard magazine, the youngest of the Knowles clan she was hard at work on a new album due next year on her independent label Saint Records.  The interview surfaced just a day after her stunning spread for ‘The Edit’ publication hit the net.  See it all below:

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Miley Cyrus finds a new friend in Lyrica Anderson today, honoured by the ‘King Me’ beauty in a scorching new number named…. ‘Miley Cyrus‘.

Lifted from Lyrica‘s new EP ‘King Me 2‘, the song welcomed the release of its official music video minutes ago, and- ever eager to showcase Urban’s freshest faces- TGJ has your first look at the clip below!

Meet ‘Miley’ after the jump…

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