After a long silence, Andrea Kelly, the wife of singer R. Kelly, has spoken out about the sex-abuse allegations, their history and their upcoming divorce. See extracts from this interview with Essence below. You can read the full article by clicking here. It’s a very interesting read.

On When The Allegations Broke
:

Andrea was pregnant with their son when the news broke. Instead of breaking down, she blocked everything out. She said the couple worked hard to protect the family from the outside world, and the accusations forced her to become “a lioness” for her children

On ‘The Tape’ Itself:

She also doesn’t believe that R. Kelly is the man on the tape at the center of the criminal charges. “C’mon,” she said. “Who would believe all that? That’s why they call them allegations.” But at the same time, she also says she hasn’t seen the tape and never looked for it.

On Protecting Their Children:

Andrea does, however, shift uncomfortably when talking about the case against her husband; it’s a subject she’d rather leave alone. She does not allow her children to read the tabloids and will only permit them to be in the company of people she trusts. She keeps life for them as normal as possible: playdates with neighbors, parties and trips. But Andrea says she had to cut some people off who said nasty things about her husband, and surround herself with people who she believes care for her.

I really don’t know what to think. I must say, though, that I feel she is in denial about certain things.

What do you think?
It has been reported that Mya has again pushed back the release of her new album ‘Liberation’. The CD, which was scheduled to drop on June 26th along with Kelly Rowland and 50 Cent, will now be released on August 14th (…if it’s not pushed back again).

On one hand, I think it was smart to delay the release this time because she would have got crushed in sales by 50 Cent and Kelly. Having said that, the album has been pushed back so many times already, its like: does anyone really care about it anymore?

You still holding out for Mya?

R. Kelly – Same Girl (ft. Usher)
This track is apparently taken from R. Kelly’s upcoming ‘Double Up’ album (due May 29th). ‘Same Girl’ – which features Usher- is a great mid-tempo track, with an engaging storyline (kinda like a male version of ‘The Boy Is Mine’). The song has reignited my interest in the new album.

 

LISTEN: Same Girl (ft. Usher) {UPADTED LINK}

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Chris Brown – Wall to Wall

The Swizz Beats-produced ‘Wall to Wall’ is slated to be the first single from Chris Brown’s 2nd album ‘Exclusive’. It’s a decent club track but at the same time its kinda generic- any other standard R&B artist could have dropped this one. I’m sure it’ll be a hit for him, though.

LISTEN: Wall to Wall (HQ) {UPDATED LINK }


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Olivia – Missing You
After her departure from G-Unit, I didn’t think we’d be hearing much from Olivia any time soon. However she has, apparently, started her own label and is heading into the studio with Darkchild, Ne-Yo and Missy Elliott. This new track ‘Missing You’ has a very different vibe to anything I’ve heard from Olivia before and I’m liking it alot. The track has a real ‘grown R&B’ feel to it and her voice is well-suited to this kind of music.

 

LISTEN: Missing You

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

“You got your artists who find their way through the circuit and are following and are not giving the respect where the respect is due. “If you know (you’re) following and biting, then, hey, give the respect. You can’t come around here and think that you’re really starting the game. Understand, when I came up in the game and I found a trail, I was cool. “Bobby Brown went this way, Michael Jackson went this way, Marvin Gaye, he created his little profile and he held to it. I didn’t step on those toes. “What I did was find a way and my thing and created my thing. Now you have my thing being built. So I look up, and I’m like, ‘OK, I see you all. I see you all in the videos. I see you moving, I get it, but pay the respect.

He needs to go sit-down somewhere with that talk. Yes, he is very talented and set a standard for male R&B, but he’s yet to reach the levels of influence Michael Jackson and Marvin Gaye have. If anything, I think he’s threatened by these artists he’s calling out. The careers of Ne-Yo, Chris Brown, Omarion etc are booming and I think Usher is worried his place is being taken.

{Click images to enlarge}
As Rihanna gears up for the release of her third album ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’ (due June 5th), new promo shots for the CD have hit the net. She’s looking good…I’m liking the ‘look’ she’s gone for; it compliments the album title (which I still think sounds like a joke)….

In other Rihanna news, the official tracklist for ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’ has been released:

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.

Thanks very much Jay for passing this one along; I didn’t have any idea about it. It’s great to be getting some mainstream exposure. As I said before, we have some major features in the pipeline so keep it locked on That Grape Juice.

There are a few major changes that have been made to the site recently:
1) You can now also reach us via our new web address: www.thatgrapejuice.net
2) Any comments, submissions, questions etc should be emailed to: sam@thatgrapejuice.net
In addition, there are available positions in areas such as reporting, reviews and design. Please feel free to email me if your interested.
Watch this space for some upcoming big features, not all of which I can speak about now. Keep it locked on That Grape Juice…
Chingy Re-Joins DTP
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.
You had to know this was gonna happen. Since leaving DTP, Chingy has had two albums flop back-to-back; despite the moderate success of some of his singles. I’m wondering if this will make any difference to the success of his future releases?
R. Kelly New Album Cover

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.

R&B superstar Beyonce covers the June issue of VIBE magazine; her fellow Destiny’s Child member, Kelly Rowland, will also be featured in the issue. I’m liking the cover, she’s looking on-point. It’s also nice to see Kelly getting press attention in the run up to the release of her album – ‘Ms Kelly’ (due June 26th). However, I can’t help asking myself

Shouldn’t it be Kelly be on the cover?

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?

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