Hip-Hop’s biggest players, Eminem and Jay-Z, made a dual promotional appearance on ‘The Late Show with David Letterman’ recently. The rappers, who will be performing together in September (see  the Jay-Z interview below for details), performed a range of their material including ‘Renegade’ from Jay-Z’s ‘The Blueprint’ LP. Peep the performances below:

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Lady GaGa debuted a new song at Elton John’s 12th annual White Tie & Tiara Ball earlier this week. The track is entitled ‘You & I’ and will be featured on her next studio album due in earlier 2011. Check out GaGa’s debut performance of the record below:

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Eminem performed on ‘Jimmy Fallon Live’ recently. The Hip-Hop phenom performed ‘Won’t Back Down’ from his new album, ‘Recover’, which is now on target to sell over 750k by the end of it’s 1st week of release. Check out the performance below:

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Chris Brown is set to honor Michael Jackson at the 2010 BET Awards on June 27th. The dynamic dancer is reportedly planning a secret performance alongside other artists that will take place at this year’s ceremony. Brown frequently paid tribute to Jackson during his sold-out ‘Fan Appreciated Tour‘. {Source}

Thoughts?

Melanie Fiona paid tribute to Michael Jackson on ‘The Early Show’ recently. The R&B singer performed the Jackson 5 classic ‘I’ll Be There’. Peep the performance below:

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Maxwell made a promotional appearance on ‘The Today Show’ recently. The singer performed several of his hits including ‘Pretty Wings’ and ‘Bad Habits’. Check out the performances below:

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The Saturdays sure don’t waste any time, do they? Following to so-so performance of their sophomore LP ‘Wordshaker’ last year, the ladies are back with ‘Missing You’ – the lead single from their forthcoming EP ‘Headlines’ (due August 16th).

Today saw the debut of the song’s video. Check it out after the jump…

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The Jackson family congregated at Michael Jackson‘s final resting place, Forest Lawn Cemetery, yesterday to mark the one-year anniversary of the megastar’s passing.

Led by Janet, the family (minus mother Katherine and Michael’s children) greeted the the crowds of more than 5000 fans who assembled outside the venue.

The superstar siblings then held a private memorial service inside Forest Lawn.

Your thoughts?

Kanye West will be opening the 2010 BET Awards. The visionary will be performing his new single, ‘Power’, from his upcoming album, ‘Good Ass Job’, which hits stores in September. {Source}

Thoughts?

Check out the official cover of Christina Aguilera’s ‘You Lost Me’. The song stands as the 2nd single to be lifted off her ‘Bionic’ LP, following the poor reception of the album’s 1st release, ‘Not Myself Tonight’, which only managed to peak at #23.

Beautiful cover for a beautiful song. Here’s hoping that it does well because it is definitely the best track on the record.

What do you think of the cover?

*Pinned: Normal Posts Resume Below*

Today marks one year since the passing onto eternity of the King of Pop Michael Jackson. Despite 365 long days having passed, the reality that Michael is no longer with us is still hard to fathom. Indeed, during his life, Michael enjoyed an unparallel level of super-stardom, leading many to class him as ‘other worldly’, a fictional character of sorts – who doesn’t die. Unfortunately, the reality of his mortality coldly hit the world on June 25th 2009.

However, today shouldn’t be one for mourning. Rather, the life of this incredible performer, philanthropist, and all-round legend should be celebrated. Cliché-sounding perhaps; yet, in the 50 years Michael spent on this earth, he shared a gift, a talent, which many of us will never see topped in our lifetime. To have experienced such history, I am eternally thankful for.

A lifelong fan, Michael’s passing hit me hard. As a late 80’s baby, Michael Jackson came to represent my childhood (from dancing around to his music at ANY and EVERY opportunity to watching ‘Thriller’ only to run away in a delightful fright when he turned into the monster “go away!”). In later years, I came to appreciate his artistry, as well as the depth and breadth of his message. Indeed, my love for Michael’s music birthed my love for music more generally – hence the eventual creation of this very site. His death (made all the more ‘real’ by the fact I was due to see him – front row centre – at his ‘This Is It’ show), therefore, left me feeling as if a significant part of my childhood died when he did.

Yet with time, comes fresh perspectives. While Michael may physically be no longer with us, he is still very much alive – as are the music and memories he left us with. Put simply, greatness is immortal. Michael Joseph Jackson is immortal.

Therefore, on this the one year anniversary of his passing, That Grape Juice salutes the undisputed King of Pop, King of Dance…King of Music – Michael Jackson.

Long live the King!

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Tidbits

A major supporter of Michael’s later work, I feel too much of it went criminally underrated. The following are a couple of my favourites of his more recent material:

We’ve Had Enough

Unbreakable

* Also, click here to check out our review of The Michael Jackson Exhibition.

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Your thoughts?

Fantasia has released the video for her new single, ‘Bittersweet’. To date, the song has reach #16 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Peep the video below:

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