17th Mar

Academy Award winning actress Halle Berry gave birth to her first child, a baby girl, yesterday night. PEOPLE.com reports:

Halle Berry – who only recently said, “I want to stay pregnant forever” – had a baby girl Sunday and “is doing great,” her rep has confirmed.
The father is Gabriel Aubry. Berry, 41, and the 32-year-old model met while shooting a Versace ad in Los Angeles in November 2005 and first stepped out publicly together three months later at the February 2006 opening of a Versace boutique in New York City.
Berry first announced her pregnancy in September last year, when she was three months along.
During her pregnancy, the Oscar, Emmy and Razzie winner told InStyle she felt “fantastic” thanks to eating right and keeping fit with yoga, swimming, light weights and an elliptical machine. “Right now I just have so much joy and energy,” she said. “I can just go and go and go.”
For his part, Aubry has been reading baby manualsand parenting books.

Congratulations to Halle and Gabriel. I guess there’s hope yet for older prospective Hollywood mothers – Janet, Mariah and them lol.

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16th Mar

Toccara Goes Berserk On Celebrity Fit Club

Check out this video of BET host and former America’s Next Top Model contestant, Toccara, going nuts on a recent episode of ‘Celebrity Fit Club’:

Whoa! She was really heated. According to many who watch the show, Toccara has been singled out by the judges and picked on constantly. I guess one can only take so much. Haven’t watched the show myself, but her body was looking g-o-o-d.

Any thoughts?

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16th Mar

Snoop: "Ugly Women Don’t Sell Records"

Check out this controversial quote on females in the music industry lifted from Snoop Dogg’s guest entry on BET.com’s ‘Hip Hop Vs. America’ blog. According to the ‘Sensual Seduction’ rapper, its only good looking (by who’s standards is anyones guess) women that sell records:

“How many ugly women selling records? None! Only the pretty ones sell records. Beyonce, Mary J, Keyshia Cole, the ugly ones don’t sell. I ain’t gon say no names, but they don’t sell records. They just be singing their little hearts out, but they don’t get no sales, cause they ugly. Now, that’s my fault? I can see this on TV now: ‘Snoop Dogg called me, ugly’. You beautiful on the inside, baby. What I wanna say to go on top of that, to the chocolate women, the dark-skinned women, I love ya’ll. I got a chocolate daughter at home. I always tell her chocolate is the best thing in the world”.

I’m gonna give Snoop the benefit of the doubt by saying he didn’t fully engage his brain before trying to articulate his point. As, on a surface level, what he is saying is arguably true – after all, the Beyonce’s and co are more likely to sell better than their less glamorous counter-parts. Where Snoop is wrong IMO, is that he appears to be endorsing such a bias industry standard.

Your thoughts?

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16th Mar

Mariah Carey Performs On SNL

*Update: Mariah’s people have yanked ALL video’s of the performances off Youtube. I guess they knew it was a mess too. SMH*

Mariah Carey was the musical guest on Saturday Night Live a few hours ago. The diva gave the first live performance current smash ‘Touch My Body’ as well as the hit-in-waiting ‘Migrate’ along with T-Pain. Check out the performances below:

Touch My Body

Migrate (ft. T.-Pain)

There’s no doubt the ‘Touch My Body’ performance was borderline horrid. One of my observations when first hearing the song was the toned-down vocals; and I assumed that was deliberate to make it easier for Mariah to sing the songs live – a problem she obviously had last go round. Was I wrong or was I wrong? Her voice sounded flat out SHOT on most of ‘Touch My Body’. Her performance of ‘Migrate’ wasn’t that great either, but it’s evident the song is a hit-waiting-to-happen. I’m hoping these showings were just a case of…something. Not a good look.

What do you think of the performances?

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Music

15th Mar

New Song: Solange – ‘I Decided’ (Snippet)

‘I Decided’ has been confirmed as the first single to be lifted from Solange Knowles forthcoming sophomore album ‘Soul Angel and the Hadley Street Dreams’ (due this summer). Produced by The Neptunes, the track is a soulful/jazzy number that should sit well with the adult contemporary audience.

One has to wonder, though, if the idea of Solange going down the (Neo)soul route was because it’s what she wanted or to avoid the the inevitable comparisons to her elder sister Beyonce. Whatever the reason, I’m hoping Solange achieves some level of success with this project. The material I’ve heard thus far has been very promising.

Hit or Miss?

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15th Mar

Madonna – ‘Hard Candy’ Cover

Pop superstar Madonna is set to release her latest album ‘Hard Candy’ on April 29th, boasting contributions from the likes of Timbaland, Justin Timberlake and Pharrell Williams. The above pic has been revealed as the LP’s official cover. Though I’m kinda feeling the look she’s gone for, the background is a mess, as is the ‘Hard Candy’ font.

What do you think of the cover?

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Music

15th Mar

Keri Hilson Promotional Video

Singer/songwriter Keri Hilson is set release her debut album ‘In A Perfect World’ this summer. Check out this promotional video, in which Keri is captured during a photoshoot for the record:

I’m really amped for Keri’s album, as I’ve been patiently awaiting its release for the last two or so years now. With the exposure and success that came with Keri’s features on a number of Timbaland’s singles, including the chart-topping ‘The Way I Are’, there’s no time better than now IMO to launch her record. Random point: For those who didn’t know, Keri is also apart of the writing collective The Clutch, who have penned hits for the likes of Usher, Mary J. Blige and Britney Spears.

Are you checking for Keri Hilson?

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15th Mar

Danity Kane – ‘Welcome To The Dollhouse’ Review

Within the two years that followed the release of Danity Kane’s self-titled debut, the group – consistent of Dawn, Audrea, Aubrey, Shannon and D. Woods – amassed a legion of loyal fans and experienced Platinum sales. Yet speculation about rifts between the ladies and management, as well as among themselves, threatened to dissolve the group just as quickly as they were formed. Having ironed out their issues, Danity Kane are back with their sophomore effort ‘Welcome To The Dollhouse’ (due March 18th). An eclectic Pop/Urban/Dance fusion, with ‘Dollhouse’ the ladies prove their worth and then some.

(more…)

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14th Mar

That Grape Juice To Interview Michelle Williams

That Grape Juice serves up yet another interview first. Your 1# source for Urban Pop Culture will very soon be interviewing Michelle Williams, one third of the biggest-selling female group of all time, Destiny’s Child.

After a successful stint on the Broadway adaptation of ‘The Color Puple’ as Shug Avery, Michelle has just wrapped up the recording of her first secular album.

Have a burning question for the Grammy Award winning star? Please drop them in the ‘comments’ section below. As usual, only legit questions will be considered – but don’t hold back : ) Thanks guys.

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14th Mar

New Song: Rihanna – ‘Take A Bow’

Seemingly out of nowhere, the latest single from Rihanna ‘Take A Bow’ premiered this morning on Ryan Seacrest’s ‘On Air’ radio show on 102.7 KIIS FM Los Angeles. The mid-tempo R&B/Pop cut, from the re-release of ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’ (due May 27th), is pretty much standard ‘Rihanna’ fare, so nothing groundbreaking here. Having said that, the 20 year old’s ‘studio’ vocals seem to have matured and she holds her own vocally on the track more so on this than I’ve heard before. It’ll be interesting to see if she can pull this off live….

Hit or Miss?

LISTEN: Take A Bow

Now, my rant. How in the hell is she releasing another album already?! Before the stans chew me out; yes, it’s almost a year since ‘Good Girl Gone Bad’ was released, but considering she’ll likely be dropping the album soon after her ongoing tour (in support of her current record), it’ll still IMO be a case of ‘Rihanna dropping an album every 5 minutes’. Not even the arguably ‘over-exposed’ Beyonce drops albums so frequently. I doubt a new Rihanna record, at this stage, will offer any real artistic growth…just more microwavable nonsense. SMH… All of this still applies…

Your thoughts?

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14th Mar

Eddie: "I Was Tricked Into Getting Mel Pregnant"

According to The Daily Mail, actor Eddie Murphy has claimed the reason he refuses to be a part of his daughter Angel’s life is because he was ‘tricked’ into conceiving her with Spice Girl Mel B:

Although Eddie accepts that Angel is his daughter, he has said that he won’t see the little girl, because he doesn’t want to set eyes on Mel.
A source said: “He says he will have to wait until Angel is older before he can get to know her without any interference from her mother.”
Secrets behind the couple’s doomed three-month fling have been revealed in legal papers in which Eddie, 46, states that Mel allegedly asked him for a $9 million (£4.5million) house, plus living expenses for 18 years in exchange for her silence while she was pregnant.
But Eddie baulked at the demands and it is claimed he has since refused to see the baby and the Spice Girl.

What little respect I had for Eddie disappeared by the time I finished reading that. What an idiot.

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Music

14th Mar

New Song: Day26 – ‘Don’t Fight This Feeling’

As the current season of Making The Band draws nearer to its end and the release of the groups’ albums ever-closer, more material from the guys of Day26’s has surfaced. Bryan Michael Cox, who seems to have several cuts on the group’s album, produced this new track called ‘Don’t Fight This Feeling’. With its throwback 90’s vibe, this slow jam is straight-up R&B in the vein of the 112’s and Jagged Edge’s before them (Day26). Saying that, parts of the track echo Ciara’s ‘Promise’ as well. Definitely a solid album track, that has me anxious to see what the rest of their debut will be serving up.