Brandy - '2nd Thought (Snippet)' With Brandy now putting the finishing touches to her ‘comeback’ LP ‘Human’ (due November 11th via Epic), a snippet of a track presumed to be from the set has surfaced titled ‘2nd Thought’. Though little is known about the cut in the way of producers etc, the song itself speaks volumes. The piano-driven mid-tempo sounds top-notch both production-wise and vocally from Ms. Norwood. Good stuff.

Hit or Miss?

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Usher Preps 'Ladies Only' Tour In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Usher revealed that he is preparing a tour for ladies only. The ‘Love In This Club’ singer said he will soon announce full details of the trek, called the ‘One Night Stand’ tour. He said specific dates are still being worked out for about 15 “intimate” venues:

Asked why he wanted to perform a “ladies only” tour, Usher said he relishes the challenge.

“There’s only a few artists that can pull that off,” said the 29-year-old singer. “I feel like I’ve had such a connection with my audience. This album, I felt like, was definitely the type of one that was more intimate. So what better way to get up close and personal than to make it all women?”

To go with the theme, Usher is also planning his own line of lingerie and men’s undergarments. He already has a fragrance and cologne.

Usher is currently working on a video for his new single Trading Places.

Hmm…interesting. I Can’t help but think that this ‘intimate venue’ slant that is being put on the show is simply a means of veiling the fact that many were not feeling his recent ‘Here I Stand’ LP, hence wouldn’t be flocking to his show in the larger venues as this once may have. Just a thought…

Any thoughts?

Kelly Rowland recently performed at The Astoria here in London. Peep her performance of last year’s summer hit ‘Like This’ (apologies for the rubbish video quality lol):

There really must be something in the air over this side of the pond, as Ms. Kelly really seems to be feeling herself when over here – and rightfully so. Though not her best performance, still a great one all the same.

What do you think of the performance?

Ciara - 'Go Girl (ft. T-Pain)' As reported earlier, Ciara’s much anticipated new single ‘Go Girl’, the first to be lifted from her third LP – ‘Fantasy Ride’ was set to debut this week. Indeed, the track went on to surfaced just a few hours ago.
Though the song, which features T-Pain, is a solid mid-tempo cut (with that ‘knock)’, I must say I’m somewhat underwhelmed by this. With the high-octane/’Crunk to the next power’ nature of the album’s previously announced first single ‘High Price’, I was expecting big things from ‘Go Girl’, yet it doesn’t really deliver. By no means a poor effort, just simply not first single material. Here’s hoping the album packs more of a punch than this…

Hit or Miss?

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Ne-Yo Wins R. Kelly LawsuitR&B star Ne-Yo has won the lawsuit he filed against a tour promoter acting on R. Kelly’s behalf, after unceremoniously being thrown off a joint tour with the ‘Ignition’ singer back in January. Peep the report below:

Because of some backstage machinations, Ne-Yo is a little bit richer.

The R&B star has scored a nice payday for being dumped from R. Kelly’s road show last year. A Los Angeles judge has ordered Kelly’s promoter to pony up $700,320 to the “Because of You” Grammy winner.

Ne-Yo went to court in December, alleging he was bounced from the Double Up tour because his opening set was getting better reaction from fans and critics than Kelly’s. The bill also featured Keyshia Cole and J. Holiday.

Superior Court Judge Malcolm Mackey made his default judgment after Georgia-based Rowe Entertainment refused to respond to the lawsuit filed by Ne-Yo under his real name, Shaffer Smith.

Per his suit, Ne-Yo was supposed to earn $785,000 on the 25-date jaunt, but the 25-year-old performer was canned by Rowe after the second show on Nov. 15 and only received a fraction of the contracted amount.

At the time, the promoter blamed the dismissal on Ne-Yo’s camp for not completing the proper paperwork. {Source}

Good to see justice served…

Your thoughts?
Jay-Z Responds To Foxy Brown & Teairra Marì Jay-Z has broken his silence on comments made him by both Foxy Brown and Teairra Marì:

“As far as Foxy or Teairra Marì, these are people that I have given chances to. It’s understandable that they would be upset, but you got to look at it from my point of view as well. I gave Teairra Marì the same shot I gave Rihanna. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t.”

“You know that stuff is going to happen, eventually it’s going to happen. What I’m happy about is, that no matter what people say, no one has ever said that I am dishonest or that I have taken one dime from them . . . I’ve never cheated anyone out of a dime. No one’s ever said that, right?” {Source}

Kudos to Jay for not getting messy with his response. I guess he does have a point…

Your thoughts?

In this clip showing Ciara enjoying the Labour Day weekend, the 22 year old singer confirmed that the first single fro, her 3rd LP ‘Fantasy Ride, the T-Pain assisted ‘Go Girl (ft. T-Pain)’ will be debuting this week:

This one ought to be interesting…

Your thoughts?

Each week an album’s tracklist will be posted, with it being thrown to you guys to detail which 4 or 5 tracks you feel should have been (or should be) singles. This week’s LP is Kelly Rowland’s ‘Ms. Kelly’:


Tracklist

1. Like This – (ft. Eve) (Sam’s Single Pick #4)
2. Comeback
3. Ghetto – (ft. Snoop Dogg)
4. Work (Sam’s Single Pick #1)
5. Flashback
6. Every Thought Is You
7. Show – (ft. Tank)
8. Interlude
9. Still In Love With My Ex (Sam’s Single Pick #2)
10. Love (Sam’s Single Pick #3)

11. Better Without You
12. This Is Love
13. Gotsta Go – (ft. Da Brat)

Your picks?

That Grape Juice UpdateSome of our international visitors may have been wondering about the slow-go posts on some of your favourite blogs (That Grape Juice being your favourite, of course lol lol lol) over the past few days. Well, the US and select other countries enjoyed their Labour Day yesterday, which meant an elongated weekend.

Normality picks up from now though, with a lot to look forward to this week, namely the debut of Brandy’s ‘Right Here’ video, the first performance of ‘Stand Up’ by Beyonce, Rihanna & co, an inside look at the blogger behind That Grape Juice, as well as the site’s history and all the usual goodies in between lol.

You know where to keep it locked… That Grape Juice!

Yes, I know I’m a little late with this one lol. I’ve been hearing ‘Fall Back’ on the radio for the longest time and have been frantically trying to find out the voices behind the song. Long Story short, this infectious cut is by Capitol Records’ new girl group Dear Jayne. Featuring The Dream there is no doubt this one is a winner. Great song; the video is pretty good too. Here’s hoping the Atlanta trio have equally as good tracks on their forthcoming debut ‘Voice Messages’.

What do you think of the song / video?

Kanye's 'Glow In The Dark' Tour Returns To The UKThat Grape Juice has learned that Kanye West’s highly-acclamined ‘Glow In The Dark’ tour is on its way back to the UK this November. Peep an excerpt of the press release we received from Kanye’s team:

A visionary live music artist; West’s Glow in the Dark show has achieved critical acclaim cross the world. This will be the first time UK fans can watch the NEW show that has been touring the globe. West’s atypical hip hop set design includes a robot designed by acclaimed artist Christian Colon, creatures designedz by the legendary Jim Henson creature store, as well as Daft Punks Pyramid.

An epic show that transcends the all too familiar boundaries of hip hop.

12 November – O2 Arena
13 November – Newcastle Arena
15 November – NEC Birmingham
16 November – SECC Glasgow
17 November – MEN Manchester

Tickets are £32.50 (Regions) and £35 (London). Tickets are on-sale now, available through the 24-Hour hotline: 08444 775 775 or online www.AegLive.co.uk

Having missed Kanye’s show the last time he was in London,I will definitely be hitting this one.

For those who have already seen this version of the tour, your thoughts?

UK folk, will you be going to see Kanye?

'Hollywood: '50 Cent Has Lost His Hood Appeal'Some of you may remember our trailer post on 50 Cent’s latest movie ‘Righteous Kill’, which he stars in alongside acting heavy-weights Robert DiNero and Al Pacino. However, with the movie’s release drawing nearer, its makers have begun to distance themselves from the G-Unit general, with Hollywood insiders stating it being due to 50 no longer appealing to the ‘Urban audience’. Peep the report below:

Fans may have noticed that 50 has been missing from the promotional ads for his new movie “Righteous Kill” starring Al Pacino and Robert Deniro.

According to a report found on Woooha.com, 50’s absence is due to the filmmaker’s concerns that he is no longer appealing to the “urban market.”

“The real reason the studio cut Curtis out of the campaign is because their research and exit poll information showed that 50 actually was not the urban or young demographic box office draw they were hoping for,” read the report.

“50 basically can’t draw in the core demographic that used to buy his albums by the millions. The box office let down of ‘Get Rich Or Die Trying’ should have been a hint of things to come.”

“It’s no secret in the music world that 50 Cent has lost some mainstream appeal, but in the film world you don’t necessarily need multi-platinum albums to have a successful film career (Common, Mos Def, etc.) you just need to appeal to the urban demo. 50 clearly is losing that appeal.” {Source}

Hardly surprising. Although, I must say, it’s been a pretty rapid fall from grace for 50 – from loosing to Kanye, to G-Unit’s latest LP flopping to this.

Your thoughts?

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