Check out this new promotional shot for Pretty Ricky’s forthcoming album ’80’s Babies’ (due August 26th via Atlantic Records). It’s the quartet’s first pictorial showing with new member 4Play (first from the left), who I’m sure many of you know, replaced lead member Pleasure at the top of the year.

What do you think of the pic?
R&B crooner Tyrese’ 2002 smash ‘How You Gonna Act Like That’ serves as this week’s From The Vault video. Till date the single stands as the 29 year old’s biggest hit (having peaked at #7 on the Billboard Hot 100) and for good reason too. Vocally raw and emotive and lyrically engaging too, the song stands as one of this decade’s best (pure) R&B cuts IMO:

Having delivered such a stellar effort with this, it’s kinda baffling as to why Tyrese has since been unable to release anything worth listening to (shudders at the thought of his last LP ‘Alter Ego’. Word has it he’s currently on a break from music (and is still signed to J Records). Here’s hoping he finds his musical mojo during his downtime and hits us with great cuts like this upon his return.

Your thoughts?

Murphy Signs On For New Beverly Hills Cop Movie Following the worldwide success of the latest Indiana Jones flick, it is being reported that Eddie Murphy will once again star in the movie franchise that catapulted him to stardom almost 25 years ago, Beverly Hills Cop:

The 47-year-old is set to star as crime fighting police detective Axel Foley in the fourth installment of the hit “Beverly Hills Cop,” Reuters reported.

Murphy reportedly approached Paramount Pictures about the idea and filming is expected to start next year with a summer 2010 release date, according to Reuters.

Brett Ratner, whose work includes the “Rush Hour” movies, is in negotiations to direct the film, while Lorenzo di Bonaventura of “Transformers” was tapped to produce the flick, Reuters reported.

The first “Beverly Hills Cop” debuted in 1984 and was followed up with two sequels — the last of which premiered in 1994. {Source)

Here’s hoping this movie is actually good. Despite garnering praise for his role in Dreamgirls, Eddie, no doubt, dropped the ball in the critically panned ‘Norbit’. This may just be his redeeming gig…

Will you be checking for the new Beverly Hills Cop?
New Solange Promo Shot {Click pic to enlarge}

A burgeoning star in her own right, Solange Knowles is currently prepping the August 26th release of her sophomore effort ‘Sol-Angel & The Hadley Street Dreams’. This new promotional shot for the set recently surfaced on her official Myspace page. It’s hard to ignore the similarities to ‘Big Sis’ in this one (in terms of posture); not a bad thing at all, as it’s evident that Solange is taking what she’s seen and putting her own stamp on it. Her album is definitely one I’m anticipating for the 2nd half of the year.
The video for Solange’s new single ‘I Decided’ premieres on BET’s Access Granted this coming Thursday (June 5th).

What do you think of the pic?
Mariah Carey was one the performers at the MTV Japan’s 2008 VMA which took place yesterday. Check out her performance of ‘I’ll Be Loving U Long Time’ below:

Having been largely underwhelmed by many of Ms. Cannon’s performances as of late, I must say I really enjoyed this. ‘I’ll Be Loving You Long Time’ is one of the few tracks that I gravitated toward on ‘E=MC²’, so it’s great to see her do the song justice live – most especially vocally. The ending high-notes were a great touch. More performances like this, please.

What do you think of the performance?

The video for Madonna’s latest single ‘Give It 2 Me’ premiered today. Both the song and vid are kinda underwhelming coming off the brilliance of ‘4 Minutes’. IMO ‘Hard Candy’ has tracks that are more deserving of the single treatment such as ‘Candy Shop’ and ‘Dance 2night’.

Your thoughts?

R&B star Usher continued along the promo trail for his new album ‘Here I Stand’ by performing a set for Good Morning America’s Summer Concert series this morning live from New York City’s Bryant Part. The 29 year old performed ‘This Ain’t Sex’, current single ‘Moving Mountains’ as well as the #1 smash ‘Love In This Club’:

Despite the fact that I’m not all that impressed with Usher’s latest material, there is no denying his unmatched performing skills. Good stuff.

What do you think of the performances?

Ashanti & JoJo Appear At Inspiration Awards Ashanti & JoJo Appear At Inspiration Awards
Ashanti seems to be everywhere these days. The 27 year old singer attended the Step Up Women’s Network’s 10th Anniversary Inspiration Awards Gala in New York last night .She is really some of these other R&B chicks a run for their money in the looks department. Not sure about the frock though.
Teen star JoJo, 17, performed at the event too:
Ashanti & JoJo Appear At Inspiration Awards Ashanti & JoJo Appear At Inspiration Awards

What do you think of the pics?
50 Cent's Long Island House Burns Down; Possible Arson A raging fire broke out at a Long Island, New York home owned by rapper 50 Cent early this morning. Speaking to TMZ, the local fire department have labelled the fire ‘highly suspicious’. Check out the report below:

The fire broke out at the six bedroom, five bath house in Dix Hills, NY around 5:00 AM. Six people, including the rapper’s ex Shaniqua Tompkins and their 10-year-old son Marquise, were in the house. They all were transported to the hospital and treated for smoke inhalation.

The Chief of the Dix Hills Fire Department tells TMZ that dogs are currently searching the burned out rubble, as the intensity of the fire made it highly suspect. The Chief says they’re searching for what substance possibly could have been used as an igniter.

The house has been the subject of a bitter dispute between Fiddy, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, and Tompkins. The rapper reportedly bought the home — one of the biggest cribs in the area — for a cool $2.4 mil in January 2007. Last month he tried to evict Tompkins and Marquise from the house, demanding she pay him $4,500 a month in rent.

Story developing …

UPDATE 10:25 AM ET: Suffolk Police tell us they received a call at 5 AM. An off-duty police officer was driving by and stopped to help rescue the victims inside the house. We’re told injuries to all six victims — including Tompkins — are non-life threatening and they have been treated and released from the hospital. While they are currently investigating the fire’s cause, we’re told 50 Cent is not a suspect at this point.

Without doing the inevitable finger pointing, this is the most suspicious ‘ish’ I’ve heard heard in a long while. I mean 50 & Shaniqua were seen having a heated arguement on a New York street just this Monday; 50 even had to be restrained. SMH…

Your thoughts?

Tracee Ellis-Ross Looking... Former ‘Girlfriends’ star Tracee Ellis-Ross was snapped wearing this ‘interesting’ dress last night at the Chanel Celebrates New Concept Boutique event. Hmmm…

What do you think of the pic?
New Nas Album Cover As reported early last week, rapper Nas succumbed to mounting pressure from the media and critics alike to change the name of his forthcoming LP – which was controversially titled ‘N*gger’.
Word has it, Nas has insisted the album now be title-less so as to not fully comply with his critics. Anyway, set for a July 3rd release, the cover art for the album surfaced today. It’s evident he’s not shying away from the original album title’s message. I’m still kinda on the fence about this whole project. I guess time will tell if it works in his favour.

What do you think of the cover?
Ashanti Covers JET R&B songstress Ashanti features on the latest cover of JET Magazine. She looks great.
Having heard her new LP ‘The Declaration’ (due June 3rd) in its entirety, I must say that I’m pretty impressed. Look out for a review mid-next week.

What do you think of the cover?
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