During a recent press conference to promote her new film ‘Why Did I Get Married’, Janet Jackson was quizzed on her forthcoming new album. Surprisingly, Jackson, 41, revealed that long-time collaborators Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis are, as of now, not working on her Island Def Jam debut. She had the following to say:

Janet, are you finished with your next album? What direction are you taking?

Janet Jackson: “No, I’m working on it. It’ll be out probably first quarter of next year. I’m doing something, still being who I am, I’ll never shy from that. I’m working with a few people. I’m working with Ne-Yo, I’m working with Jermaine, working with Rodney Jerkins”

(Tyler Perry points at himself and everyone laughs)

Lamman Rucker: “They’ll be doing a duet together.”

Janet Jackson: “This is something different for me because normally it’s myself, Jimmy [Jam] and Terry [Lewis] and always writing music and myself writing the melodies. This is a bit of a departure from [that].”

So Jimmy and Terry are not involved?

Janet Jackson: “As of now, no.”

{Source}

I’m all for Janet working with fresh producers, but I don’t know if it’s a wise choice to drop Jimmy & Terry at this stage of her career. IMO, the duo have brought the ‘classic Janet’ element to her more recent efforts – which have seen her try and switch up her musical style. Time will tell if the change will work in her favor.


Your thoughts?
Since the release of Tweet’s last album ‘It’s Me Again’ back in 2005, news on the Southern Hummingbird has been pretty scarce. However, she made a surprise appearance at VH1’s Hip Hop Honors event last week to participate in a tribute performance to Missy Elliot.
What’s more, in an interview with VH1 following the event, Tweet – real name Charlene L. Keys – confirmed that her 3rd album will be dropping real soon and will be preceded by first single ‘My Dear’ – featuring rapper T.I.

Having really liked her last CD (it’s very underrated IMO), it’s great to hear that things are moving along nicely with the new project. I’ll definitely be checking for it whenever it drops.

Will you be checking for Tweet’s new album?

Newlyweds Usher and Tameka Foster are set to be the main feature in the latest issue of Essence magazine. E! got behind the scenes of the shoot and provided exclusive vids. Be sure to check out the vid below too, where Tameka is..well…not doing herself any favors.

I don’t get it. With all the media scrutiny, you’d think Usher would keep the relationship on a low(er) profile, yet instead they choose to flaunt it. Oh well…

Your thoughts?

Check out the making of Kanye West’s current single ‘Good Life’ (ft. T-Pain). Ironically, the directors of the vid, Jonas & François, are the same guys whose acceptance speech at the MTV Europe Music Awards last year was gatecrashed by a sore-losing Kanye. Anyway, the vid turned out pretty good. For those who haven’t seen it yet, click here to view.

Any thoughts?

After a lengthy hiatus from the music scene, British R&B singer Craig David has returned with new single ‘Hot Stuff’. Put simply, the song (which samples David Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’) is so-so and the video is a complete mess. Considering he’s been away for so long, I was hoping for Craig to come with something with a little more substance than this, but obviously that didn’t end up happening. If this is any indication of what his forthcoming album ‘Trust Me’ (due November 12th) has to offer, maybe Craig should just call it a day.

What do you think of the song / video?

R&B singer Ginuwine recently filed a lawsuit regarding an allegedly fake recording contract, which he was ‘duped’ into signing. Check out the report below via MSNBC:

NEW YORK – Ginuwine says he was duped into signing a contract with a record company that doesn’t exist.

In a lawsuit filed in Manhattan’s state Supreme Court, the R&B singer says he was persuaded to sign on May 8, 2007, with King Music Group Inc., a company that a personal acquaintance, Michael Bourne of Memphis, Tenn., said he owned.

Terms of the contract gave Ginuwine, whose real name is Elgin Baylor Lumpkin, $1.75 million to record his first album with King, including a $500,000 advance, according to court papers. In nearly five months, the singer hasn’t made any records and hasn’t been paid a cent, the lawsuit said.

Some 10 years deep into the industry, you’d think he’d know better than to get caught up in nonsense like this. Then again, without a hit in years, he must have jumped at the first thing thrown his way. SMH.

Your thoughts?

With ‘Crank Dat’ spending it’s fourth non-consecutive week atop of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Soulja Boy is definitely riding the wave of success. The 17 year old stopped by the Jimmy Kimmel show recently to perform the smash hit as well as the follow-up ‘Soulja Girl’. For both performances, he was joined by drummer Travis Barker. Though nothing groundbreaking, Barker kinda added a different vibe to each performances. Soulja Boy’s album ‘SouljaBoyTellEm.com’ is in stores now.

What do you think of the performances?

Kelly Rowland stopped by BET’s 106 & Park to finally premiere the video for her new single ‘Ghetto’. The former Destiny’s Child singer also promoted her forthcoming tour with Mario, as well as speaking on the ‘Ms. Kelly’ re-release. She confirmed that she is currently recording new tracks and is about to go into the studio with Nate ‘Danja’ Hills (‘Gimme More’, ‘SexyBack’ and ‘Promiscuous’).

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Part 3

The vid has been out for a minute, so it’s good to see her doing some kind of promotion for it. About the re-release, I’m very optimistic – it seems like she’s drafting in the heavy hitters.

What do you think of the interview?

Apologies about the quality, Youtube are on a rampage taking the vid down!

Or

As you know, it’s not all that often you read about Britney Spears around these sides. However, there’s no denying that the premiere of her ‘comeback’ video ‘Gimme More’ is an event in itself. Made available on iTunes earlier today, I pity anyone who actually paid for this. It’s not as bad of a train wreck as I assumed it would be (see: set pics), but it isn’t good – at all. There is talk that this is only a promo video and the proper vid will debut Monday 8th October on MTV’s TRL. For her sake, I hope it’s true. Then again, the song is already a bonafide hit – currently sitting at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Digital chart (all without a video).

In other Britney news, the title of her new album been revealed. The long-awaited CD is called ‘Blackout’ and is still set to hit stores on November 13th – despite Spears’ much-publicised troubles. {Source}

What do you think of the video?

Apologies about the quality, Youtube are on a rampage taking the vid down!

Or

As you know, it’s not all that often you read about Britney Spears around these sides. However, there’s no denying that the premiere of her ‘comeback’ video ‘Gimme More’ is an event in itself. Made available on iTunes earlier today, I pity anyone who actually paid for this. It’s not as bad of a train wreck as I assumed it would be (see: set pics), but it isn’t good – at all. There is talk that this is only a promo video and the proper vid will debut Monday 8th October on MTV’s TRL. For her sake, I hope it’s true. Then again, the song is already a bonafide hit – currently sitting at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Digital chart (all without a video).

In other Britney news, the title of her new album been revealed. The long-awaited CD is called ‘Blackout’ and is still set to hit stores on November 13th – despite Spears’ much-publicised troubles. {Source}

What do you think of the video?

Apologies about the quality, Youtube are on a rampage taking the vid down!

Or

As you know, it’s not all that often you read about Britney Spears around these sides. However, there’s no denying that the premiere of her ‘comeback’ video ‘Gimme More’ is an event in itself. Made available on iTunes earlier today, I pity anyone who actually paid for this. It’s not as bad of a train wreck as I assumed it would be (see: set pics), but it isn’t good – at all. There is talk that this is only a promo video and the proper vid will debut Monday 8th October on MTV’s TRL. For her sake, I hope it’s true. Then again, the song is already a bonafide hit – currently sitting at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Digital chart (all without a video).

In other Britney news, the title of her new album been revealed. The long-awaited CD is called ‘Blackout’ and is still set to hit stores on November 13th – despite Spears’ much-publicised troubles. {Source}

What do you think of the video?

R&B star LeToya continues to work on her sophomore effort (tentatively titled ‘Lady Love’) for a Spring 2008 release. The breakout solo star was recently filmed in the studio working with renown producers The Underdogs. I’m definitely liking the track they were working on – hopefully it’ll make the CD’s final cut.

Your thoughts?

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