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Usher has sent out a warning to all those ‘imitating’ his style and not acknowledging his influence. He told MTV News:

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1. Umbrella f/ Jay-Z
2. Push Up
3. Don’t Stop the Music
4. Breakin’ Dishes
5. Shut Up and Drive
6. Hate That I Love You f/ Ne-Yo
7. Say It
8. Sell Me Candy
9. Rehab
10. Question Existence
11. Good Girl Gone Bad
12. Lemme Get That

It’ll be interesting to see how these end up sounding. To be honest, I’m not expecting it to be anything special; I’m not really feeling ‘Umbrella’ and ‘Hate That I Love You’ sounds too much like a mix of Irreplaceable/Sexy Love. I’m still giving her a chance though, as the production credits are pretty impressive- Timbaland, Stargate and Ne-Yo. ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’ drops June 5th.

MTV News is reporting that rapper Chingy has squashed his beef with Ludacris and reunited with the Disturbing Tha Peace (DTP) family. The move comes as a surprise considering the reason the St Louis rapper left the group in late 2004 –alleged money/deception issues. Although it’s unknown whether Chingy will re-join DTP at Def Jam (he’s been signed with Capitol since his departure), he is definitely back in the fold.

I know R. Kelly has stated that his upcoming album ‘Double Up’ is 60% R&B and 40% Hip-Hop, but this cover is a joke. The man is 40 years old and looks like a fake thug. I’m getting the vibe that this is the direction the album is going in; I’ve heard the 2nd single ‘Blow It Up’ and it’s a mess. I know his music has always had some Hip-Hop influence, but this is coming across like a big gimmick. ‘Double-Up’ hits stores May 29th.

Ne-Yo: “Mariah’s Comeback Should Inspire Whitney”

R&B singer/songwriter Ne-Yo has described new songs by Whitney Houston that he has heard as ‘impressive’. However, Ne-Yo, who is currently writing songs for Houston’s album, wants to avoid creating songs that scream ‘I am Whitney Houston and this is my triumphant comeback. Instead, he suggests that Whitney takes inspiration from Mariah Carey’s comeback; not singing about her drama, but just everyday situations.

I think he kinda has a point; most of the albums that are too message-driven often fall flat e.g. Whitney’s last album ‘Just Whitney’. Let’s just hope his tracks for the album are good.

Having watched Rihanna’s video for ‘Umbrella’, I can say that I’m liking it. The video didn’t ‘WOW’ me but it’s still good- her best video so far. From the images of vid I saw a while back, I was expecting more – but it still turned out ok. The ballerina scenes were pretty cool, as were the body paint scenes too. Rihanna’s album ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’ hits stores on June 5th.

Hit or Miss?

I’m liking the ‘different’ vibe Fantasia went for in this video. It’s generally unlike her past videos. The ‘couples’ theme was a nice touch as well. For some reason, some of the neighbourhood scenes remind me of TV show ‘Everybody Hates Chris’. ‘When I See U’ is one of my favourite tracks from Fantasia’s excellent self-titled album and I hope it does well.

What do you think?

So, Mya’s back with her much anticipated new video ‘Lock U Down’ and I’m liking it alot. The best aspect of the vid has to be choreography… it’s ON-POINT. It’s a simple concept video and it works. As I’ve said before, I think the song is great and it’s good to see that the video does the track justice. Mya’s new album ‘Liberation’ will hit stores June 26th.

What do you think?