A preview of the video for Mary J. Blige’s latest single ‘Stay Down’ aired yesterday on BET’s 106 & Park. I’ll reserve my judgement for the Hype Williams directed video until seeing it in its entirety. In the meanwhile…

Your thoughts?

She did pretty good, though gone seem to be the days where a Mariah performance ‘Wowed’ me. Also, I’m not sure if it’s just me but, it seems as if she lip-synching during certain parts. In any case, it’s unlikely to affect her sales as, according to Billboard ‘E=MC²’ is on-course to debut atop of the US album chart at #1 next week – knocking off Leona – with sales in excess of 500,000. More power to her.

Your thoughts?

According to the NY Daily News, Beyonce may be retiring (you read right) following the release of her upcoming LP:

The diva is currently working on a new album, but her cousin Angelica Knowles tells our source that it will be her last. Instead, Beyonce plans to spend her days scouting talent for new hubby Jay-Z’s upcoming label, The Carter Music Group.

Beyonce’s first protege is rumored to be an R&B artist named Chelsea Thomas. Her reps couldn’t be reached for comment.

I have a hard time believing this; as we all know, it’ll be a cold day in hell before Papa Knowles ever allows such a thing to happen. The way I see it, if there’s an ounce of truth to this, then be prepared for ‘Jay-Z / Blackout’ round 2. Anyway, hate it or love it, the industry needs Beyonce IMO. Granted I’m still waiting on her to come with her ‘A-Game’ musically, her performing skills (in comparison to her peers) are second to none.

Your thoughts?

In a recent interview with our good friend Necole Bitchie, former TLC member Chilli spoke candidly about her ex. Usher and her feelings towards him now:

Necole: I mean because everyone was rooting for the two of you. You were like the cutest couple ever

Chilli: Well you know what’s funny. I will say this and I know it’s gonna be everywhere. Lord, Tameka gonna be trying to fight people. But honestly I will say, although Marlon (Wayans) is the one that got away, Usher is the one that I truly did love. Like that was truly my first adult love. I love him very much and I will always love him. I don’t know how you love someone that deeply and just stop loving them. I’m not in love with him anymore but I can’t say that I don’t love him anymore. And of course I do want him to be happy and all but me and him had what I never had in any of my other relationships, and that was chemistry. Even in that picture that you have up. Any picture that you see with the two of us, you see it. It’s just there! I could be standing next to him til this day and people will be like “Wow”. It’s not that you are wondering if we are back together again, it’s just that we look like we just go together.{Click here to read the rest of the interview}

I applaud Chilli for not giving the ‘media-trained’ answer and talking around the topic. Still, I wonder exactly what caused the break-up…

Any thoughts?

R&B singer Ray J performed his hit ‘Sexy Can I’ on The Tonight Show Jay Leno yesterday night. I can’t front, I’m really liking the song and tip my hat to Ray J on his success (the song peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100). About the performance, it was pretty decent.

What do you think of the performance?

Exactly three years after release of Mariah Carey’s 2005 smash ‘The Emancipation of Mimi’, the Diva serves up her 11th studio effort in the form of ‘E=MC²’. Billed as the emancipation of the 38 year old superstar ‘to the next power’, the age old adage ‘sequels never top originals’ echoes loudly throughout the set. By no means bad, it’s worse – mediocre; which after associating itself with its career-rivalling predecessor, doesn’t bode well for the record overall.

(more…)

Part 2

Part 3

‘Bye Bye’ Performance

Great interview and pretty decent performance; shame about the lip-synching at the end though.

Your thoughts?

While the Blog Performance Indicator (BPI) Team are currently prepping the next installment of the Top-40 Urban Blog list (click here to see this month’s), they have released a Top Ten Blog Heat Seekers list – which we charted on. Check it out:

So here are the BPI Urban Blog Heat Seekers…The Top 10 newest, hottest urban blogs who are less than a year old and are burning it up in terms of growth and momentum. This list does not measure overall traffic or inbound links like the BPI Top 40, but rather focuses on how fast a blog is growing month over month. For example, Highbrid Nation has less traffic and inbound links than A Hot Mess, but Highbrid Nation’s metrics are growing at a faster in the past four months than A Hot Mess. So The Heat Seekers are all about growth. Get it? Good. Take a look at the chart in detail after the jump…

1.Necole Bitchie – Urban blog networking guru. Hard work and hustle is paying off. Traffic and linking momentum off the charts

2.Highbrid Nation – Great layout, branding and dedicated fanbase is helping build traffic

3.Blogs Is Watching – Proving regionalized hip-hop blogs outside of NY, The ATL and LA can work. Fast growing Seattle hip-hop blog

4.Soul Bounce – An eye for unique news and well-written commentary. Already becoming an established urban blog in less than a year

5.Ill Seed – Capitolizing on his famed AllHipHop gossip column. Took a little to build up the buzz but now traffic is growing rapidly

6.Satchel of Gravel – The anti-street wear blog, takes a look at the anti-coporate/trend side of style and hip-hop; attracting broad audience

7.That Grape Juice – One of the U.K.’s fastest growing urban blogs; gaining heat in the U.S. in the past three months

8. A Hot Mess – Light hearted look at urban news with plenty of updates per day, slowly escalating to Top 5 Urban Blogs level

9. The Corporate Takeover – Unique take on business side of hip-hop. Dedicated core group of readers allows for high linking momentum

10. Ill Doctrine – Jay Smooth’s video blog gains popularity stemming from his original hiphopmusic.com blog

You will notice a common theme to The BPI Heat Seekers is the unique angle or twist each blog positions itself as. Some take advantage of their credibility from other sites, others find truly unique angles to share about hip-hop or urban news. But this list just proves being unique, having your own voice and getting your networking on are critical for early blogging success. Congrats to this month’s BPI Heat Seekers!

As I have, and will continue to stress, this wouldn’t be possible without you all. Thank you! Remember spread the word and keep it locked on That Grape Juice.

Any thoughts?