Check out this snippet of the title track from LeToya Luckett’s sophomore LP ‘Lady Love’. While full judgement will be given upon hearing the track in it’s entirety, I must say I’m liking how LeToya really seems to have evolved with her material with this 2nd CD – judging by the cuts heard thus far.
Hit or Miss?
Peep supermodel Naomi Campbell striking a pose on the cover of Giant magazine. 
The star, often branded a ‘diva’, recently spoke out against her ex-manager, blaming him for her not so favourable reputation:
Supermodel NAOMI CAMPBELL has taken aim at her former boss, blaming him for her reputation as an awkward diva.The Brit insists she’ll never forgive Elite chief John Casablancas for the comments he made about his one-time top model when she left his agency – because they’ve stuck with her….…Firing off about the father of The Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas in the new issue of America’s Giant magazine, Campbell says, “He had to attack me because I decided to leave. Models can leave agencies. I was not under a written contract.
“I was shocked to see how he acted. He started that first rumour (that I was tough to work with).” But Campbell insists she has had the last laugh – because she’s still working with the world’s top photographers: “The people that love me, love me and that’s what matters to me.”
Oh whatever LOL. Naomi is a diva and she knows it. Her phone throwing episodes never cease to crack me up. Ms. Campbell always seems to throw her cell at the same sorts; I’ve always wondered what would happen should she attempt such behaviour with ‘Shaniqua from the block’ or Tanisha from ends LOL.
What do you think of the cover? 

Vocal power-houses EnVogue are still going strong, most recently performing at the Trumpet Awards. The ladies gave medley of their biggest hits ‘Hold On’, ‘My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It)’ and ‘Don’t Let Go(Love)’. While they’ve had better showings, I enjoyed this. Good stuff.
What do you think of the performance?

 

Adrienne Bailon, formerly of 3LW and more recently The Cheetah Girls, has reportedly signed a solo deal with LA Reid’s Def Jam.
Word has it, 25 year old is in the studio, working with hitmakers such as Brian Michael Cox (Usher, Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige), The Dream (Rihanna, Beyonce, Mariah Carey), K. Brisco (Britney Spears’ “Womanizer”). What’s more, the as yet untitled LP is set to feature nothing but ‘club bangers’. {Source}
Sounds interesting…
Your thoughts?
Solange / Kelly Rowland Label Drama?
Our friends over at AOL Black Voices have offered a real interesting insight to the Kelly Rowland record label situation, as well as supposed drama with Solange’s deal. Check out the detailed report below:
Last week, the internet was abuzz with the rumors that Kelly Rowland had been dropped by Columbia Records.
The day after the story surfaced online, the record company CEO, Robert Stringer attempted to quell the rumors by releasing a formal statement.
“Kelly Rowland is one of our finest contemporary artists and a musical force to be reckoned with. It has been a privilege and a pleasure to work with Kelly and we will continue our working relationship with her under the Destiny’s Child moniker. The decision for Kelly to seek other opportunities for her solo career was agreed upon mutually, and any reports to the contrary are false,” Stringer offered.
Anyone with a remote knowledge of the music business understood that since Rowland was signed to Columbia Records via a production deal with Music World Entertainment, the company founded by Mathew Knowles, it was inevitable that her deal with Columbia Records was compromised once the 28-year-old singer ended her management agreement with Knowles back in January.
Now my sources tell me that the real reason the story about Rowland leaked the way it did last week was so that no one would realize that Geffen/Interscope Records has opted not to further their relationship with Knowles’ daughter Solange Knowles.
The eclectic singer’s sophomore release ‘Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams’ has only sold around 138,000 units since its release in August of 2008 and Geffen/Interscope didn’t see the value in doing a new CD on her.
“Geffen did a one-off deal with Music World Entertainment for Solange and wasn’t interested in doing a new contract with her. People at the label really liked working with her because other than her infamous news outburst in Las Vegas, she was a constant professional. There were challenges dealing with her camp, but Solange was great to work with. In the end, the CD didn’t sell despite Solange’s countless high
Solange / Kelly Rowland Label Drama?
profile appearances,” the record label source told me.
One of the record labels that Knowles has been meeting with about signing his youngest daughter is Epic Records.
Incidentally, Epic Records is also the label that had initially approached Rowland about a new recording contract upon learning that she would be dissolving her management and recording relationship with Music World Entertainment/Columbia.


Epic’s new president Amanda Ghost, a London-bred former recording artist and songwriter, recognized Rowland’s impact as an international recording artist and thought she would be able to duplicate her European success here in America.
“Amanda was really into signing Kelly and then Matthew started meeting with her about Solange. I’m told he used his influence in the Sony system with Beyonce to complicate the existing offer to Kelly and then the deal ultimately didn’t happen,” the source explained.
Ghost was recently spotted at the South By Southwest Music Festival (SXSW) in Austin, Texas where she was apparently scouting Solange, who performed on the last night event.
So both Rowland and Solange are now currently without record company homes; though I am told that Rowland will likely be announcing a new record deal in the coming weeks.
At press time, a rep for Music World Entertainment was unavailable for comment.

Wow! All I can say is: the plot thickens…

Your thoughts?

UK vixen Alesha Dixon premiered the video for ‘Let’s Get Excited’ today, the third single from her smash album ‘The Alesha Show’. While it’s predecessors ‘The Boy Does Nothing’ and ‘Breathe Slow’ were great cuts, there’s little that ‘excites’ me about both this song and video. Put simply, neither then song or it’s accompanying clip, I feel, are strong enough to keep up the momentum Alesha has going at the minute. Of course, things could go otherwise…
What do you think of the song / video?
Your Top 5 Songs Of The Moment?You know the deal; That Grape Juice, once again, wants to see what you all are listening to. Which 5 tracks have you got on constant rotation at the moment? Remember, it doesn’t have to be limited to Urban music; could be something new, Throwback, religious, even something you made yourself LOL. Drop a comment in the comments section. Mine are – in no particular order:

1) Love, Sex, Magic – Ciara
2) Put It On Her – Day26
3) Walking On The Moon – The Dream
4) Fall – The Saturdays
5) Fashion – Lady GaGa

What are your ‘Top 5 Songs Of The Moment’?

The video for Eminem’s ‘comeback’ single ‘We Made It’ premiered a few moments ago. Directed by Joseph Khan, the clip sees the Detroit rapper in ‘funny’ mode (note the inverted commas).
Having been away for so long, it’s a little worrying that ‘this’ is the best Em’ could come up with. The song itself, to put it bluntly, is wacker than wack and the video’s concept feels like something he’s done 5 times over. While, I’ve never been the biggest Eminem fan, I’ve always preferred his darker, more edgier material (which over time, itself, became played out). For all my rambling, though, I’m pretty sure a few weeks from now this will be topping charts just about everywhere. SMH…
What do you think of the song / video?
Chris Brown Pleads NOT Guilty
The Chris Brown and Rihanna situation has been at the center of media hysteria for the last two months, with many a twist and a turn in the on-going saga. Yesterday proved no different when Brown, who was widely predicted to enter a plea deal or plea ‘Guilty’, entered a plea of ‘Not Guilty’:

R&B star Chris Brown pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges that he threatened and assaulted his girlfriend, singer Rihanna. Brown arrived 25 minutes late for the 3pm arraignment, amid a flurry of last-minute plea bargain rumours. Rihanna was not present.

After judge Patricia Schnegg read the charges, of assaulting Rihanna “by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury” and of threatening to commit a crime “which would result in death and great bodily injury”, the 19-year-old murmured his plea. “Not guilty, your honour,” he said. They were the only words Brown spoke in court.

The singer spent less than 15 minutes at the Los Angeles superior court, entering his plea and then departing in a black SUV, escorted by four bodyguards.

The charges stem from an alleged altercation between the couple on the early hours of 8 February. According to a police affidavit, Brown shoved Rihanna’s head against the passenger window, punched her in the face, bit her ear and finger and put her into a headlock. “I’m going to kill you,” he allegedly told her.

Brown later said that he was “sorry and saddened” about the incident. He faces up to four years in prison if convicted.

Although Brown’s attorney did not make a statement to the press, a lawyer for Rihanna spoke to reporters after the hearing. Donald Etra confirmed that Rihanna is in her native Barbados but would testify if subpoenaed. Asked directly if his client thought Brown is guilty, Etra said, “Her position on the case is to leave the matters of guilt or innocence to the judge and or defence counsel”.

The two pop stars are thought to have reconciled, although they have not recently been seen together.

Brown will return to court for a status hearing on 29 April. {Source}

While I’m sure many will be pointing to that now infamous Rihanna Police Pic and scratching their heads as to how Chris could plead ‘Not Guilty’ (hell, I am), this kinda has me thinking there is yet more to come out from this story….

Your thoughts?

Lil’ Kim continues to soar on Dancing With The Stars. Check out her performance of the Argentine Tango on last week (week 4), and her performance of the Viennese Waltz last night (week 5):
Your thoughts?

Peep this hilarious clip of new hidden camera show ‘True Colors’. I won’t spoil it for you all, but I spat out my drink at “I will pull off this this wig”. LOL LOL LOL.
Your thoughts?
T-Boz Talks TLC, Destiny's Child, Performing With Alicia Keys & More
Our very good friend, Jawn Murray, over at AOL Black Voices, caught up with Tionne Watkins, known by most as TLC’s T-Boz. The 38 year old spoke candidly about many a topic, including a possible TLC movie, Beyonce being ‘favourite’ in Destiny’s Child, performing with Alicia Keys at the BET Awards and more. Check out extracts from the interview below:
On TLC Movie:
Jawn: I hear you and Chilli have been approached about a TLC movie. Monique Coleman from ‘High School Musical’ says it’s her dream to play Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes in a film.
T-Boz: That’s awesome to hear. I am interested now whereas I wasn’t before. I actually do want to pursue making this movie. We’re talking to companies now so right now it’s just talk. People are actively pursuing it and that’s a great thing.

Jawn: What actress would you like to play you in the film?

T-Boz: It would have to be a girl who has a lot of cool personality like a prissy tomboy. She has to look good with blond hair, because she must swag out the blond. I love Kyla Pratt. She has a lot of personality and a lot of spunk. I think Meagan Good can do it, too. I like both of them. In ‘ATL,’ Lauren London played me and she did a great job. ‘ATL’ was about Dallas Austin and my experience growing up in the skating rink. The only difference was that we [were not in a relationship]. That was part of the movie. I executive produced it, and it was a part of my life. That was really my story.

Jawn: What actress should play Chilli? I pick Keshia Knight Pulliam or Tatyana Ali or anyone else who can brush down their baby hair.

T-Boz: Those are two good picks. Keshia still has that valley girl in her and so does Tatyana, so they make great looks, but they have to get rid of the valley girl part, because Rozanda has no valley girl in her at all. You can buy the lace-front weave and anybody can have her hair. All you got to do is call up Tyra Banks and ask her where she gets her wigs from.

On Performing With Alicia Keys:

Jawn: Alicia Keys got you and Chilli to reunite and perform on last year’s BET Awards. How did it make you feel that a singer who wasn’t even in a girl group professionally wanted to celebrate TLC, SWV and En Vogue like that?
T-Boz: I love Alicia and that was the only reason I did it. We’ve never said yes to perform with anybody, ever. She is one of those people that you respect and feel honored to be asked and that’s why we said yes. I don’t count the BET Awards as a real TLC performance. That was just a mess altogether. That was a terrible day for me. It wasn’t a regular TLC show anyway. At a real TLC show, we run things and are energetic and dance. That was just a hot mess. I’m very excited to do what we do, and I’ll be back in my element. That sure wasn’t my element. I’m happy to be back, and we’ll be doing it the way that we do it.

On Destiny’s Child / Beyonce / Kelly:

Jawn: When you hear stories about what’s going on with Destiny’s Child and Kelly Rowland having to fire Matthew Knowles to finally get attention, what are your thoughts?
T-Boz: They get mad when I say this, but I don’t give a damn. It was all about Beyonce anyway. She was my favorite, too, but come on. Her parents are over everything. Who do you think they were going for? It’s always Beyonce. It was supposed to be exactly the way it is now, Bey is on top. I love Beyonce, and I am a fan of hers. She was my favorite in the group even before they were Destiny’s Child and they were the Baby Dolls. She was so cute and pretty. I like all of them, and I wish Kelly the best. When you’re in a girl group, you have differences, and you have to learn how to respectfully agree to disagree. There are a lot of things that happen behind the scenes that people don’t know about. Some girl groups have girls trying to steal other girls’ boyfriends and that’s the ultimate no-no. You have situations like the Kelly thing and Beyonce’s parents. You can say that I’m out for everybody, but if Lisa was to bring somebody in that’s her boyfriend, then I’m gonna feel like you got Lisa’s back more than mine, and that’s gonna be a no-no. I just think that brings a conflict of interest in the beginning. That would have been a hard group for me to be in, because I would have been like your mommy and daddy are running things and they’re gonna have you at heart the most. That’s just how I feel.

Wow…she really went there LOL. I must say, I’m really liking T-Boz’s blunt and frank delivery.

Your thoughts?
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