Rihanna Album Cover
This is supposedly the cover for Rihanna’s upcoming album ‘Good Girl, Gone Bad’ (due June 5th). It’s a cool pic and reflects the title of the album. I’m still not liking the idea of her rushing out another album already (her third); she’s only ever released 5 songs.

Lil Kim To Write About Prison Experience

Rapper Lil Kim is ready to break her silence on her prison experience. The pint-sized star has allegedly signed a book deal with St Martins Press and will write about her time in jail for perjury. Kim was convicted in 2005 and sentenced to one year in prison; she was released in August 2006. The book should hit shelves later next year.

This should be an interesting read, seeing as she hasn’t spoken of her time in jail since she came out last year. A book though? I’m waiting on that new album. Kim is at her best when she has something to talk about about other than just sex, as her critically-acclaimed ‘Naked Truth’ album showed.

 

New Ne-Yo Track – ‘Drugz’

 

Another track from Ne-Yo’s new album has hit the net. ‘Drugz’ is a nice mid-tempo that showcases Ne-Yo versatility as a writer. Check it out…

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The video for Trey Songz new single ‘Wonder Woman’ debuted on BET yesterday. Though I’m liking the track more than I was at first, the video is kinda blah. I must say that I’m feeling Trey’s new material so far and will be checking for his new album ‘Trey Day’ due May 8th.

Whitney Houston has been awarded sole custody of her and Bobby Brown’s daughter, Bobbi-Kristina (14) in a divorce hearing on Wednesday. The divorce of the controversial couple was been approved by the courts and will become final on April 24th. Check out an extract of the PEOPLE.com report:

At times dabbing her eyes with a tissue during the court session, Houston testified that she did not require spousal or child support and that Bobbi Kristina could not depend on her father.

“He’s unreliable,” Houston said of Brown, according to the Associated Press. “If he says he’s going to come, sometimes he does. Usually he doesn’t.”

Houston declined to comment to reporters after the hearing. Attorney Ram Cogan, representing Brown (who did not attend the hearing), said he will file a petition on behalf of his client to overturn the judge’s decision.

Houston filed for legal separation from Brown on Sept. 8, and then filed for divorce in mid-October.

On Dec. 28, she requested a default judgment to fast-track the dissolution of the marriage.
Since their separation, Houston has been recording a new album with J Records president Clive Davis in Los Angeles.

Whitney ain’t playing. She’s making moves to sort out her life, yet there’s no sign of Bobby doing the same; she deserves Bobbi-Kristina. So much for the friendly relationship Bobby claimed he and Whitney were maintaining.

Click here to see the video of Whitney leaving court

Two new clips from Ne-Yo’s upcoming sophomore album have leaked. The first, ‘Do You’, is an ok sounding mid-tempo track; it wouldn’t make me want to run out and buy the album though. ‘Make It Work’ is much better; it’s a slow-jam that is sure to be one of the album’s standout tracks. A problem I have with most of the leaked clips/tracks so far is that Ne-Yo seems to have played it too safe this time around- no artistic growth or progression. Only time will tell if his new album, ‘Because of You’ (due May 1st), will be able to top his first.

What do you think?
 

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Ex-Spice Girl Mel B has given birth to a baby girl on alleged father Eddie Murphy’s 46th birthday. The child was born early Tuesday morning in a Santa Monica hospital. “The baby is completely healthy with a good head of hair,” a rep for Brown said in a statement. The statement added “Mother and baby are now resting. No name has been decided on as yet and she is purely known as Baby Brown.” Actor Murphy has publicly denied paternity of the child.
The coming weeks and months should be interesting, now the child has arrived. A DNA test is inevitable and, though I believe Eddie’s the daddy, Maury’s taught me that nothing is certain lol.

R&B superstar R. Kelly appears on the cover of the May edition of VIBE magazine. The caption for the issue, which is due to hit stands on April 10th, reads:

In the five years since R. Kelly was slapped with child porn charges, the R&B superstar has no court date in sight and continues to drop hits. Vibe investigates.

Plus – Amy Winehouse on what the tabloids don’t say, Nicole Scherzinger talks about her insecurities and fronting the Pussycat Dolls, and Congressman Charles Rangel on hip-hop, the President, and what’s in his 500 cd collection.

Five years?! Damn, time goes fast. The Michael Jackson trial started and ended and R. Kelly still hasn’t even been tried. I don’t think he ever will. Only he knows if he really did it; and by ‘it’ I mean whether he knew the girls he slept with were underage, because we all know he slept with them. This should be an interesting read…

Beyonce performed on the Today Show this morning in support of her B’Day Deluxe re-release, which drops tomorrow (April 3rd). She performed a combined English and Spanish version of ‘Irreplaceable’, as well as ‘Green Light’. Check out the performances:

Irreplaceable (Spanglish Version)


Green Light


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Eve – Tambourine

 

Fresh off her collaboration with Kelly Rowland on ‘Like This’, rapper Eve is back with a new single of her own. The track, ‘Tambourine’ was produced by Swizz Beats (Busta’s ‘Touch It, Beyonce’s ‘Check On It’ etc) and it’s expected to be the first single from E-V-E’s new album ‘Here I Am’ due later this year. It’s an upbeat/club kinda track and should do well. I’m liking it, although it’s kinda repetitive.
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———————————–Johnta Austin – Video (ft. Unk)

This new track from talented singer/songwriter Johnta Austin isn’t really doing it for me; it’s not bad, it’s just not that good either. Considering this is the man who played a major part in the career-reviving ‘Emancipation of Mimi’ album, I expected better. The subject matter in ‘Video’ has been done so many times before and the beat is kinda generic, so the song comes across ‘dated’. I’ve heard better tracks from him, such as ‘Turn It Up’ and ‘Hood Love’, so hopefully he delivers on his next offerings.

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Bone Thugs N’ Harmony (ft. Mariah Carey & Bow Wow) – L.O.V.E (SNIPPET)

The clip is kinda short, so I can’t give a full review. However, from what I can hear, the track sounds like its gonna be good. I’m sure it’s a Jermaine Durpi production; the beat sounds real ‘JDish‘ and I can hear him shouting in the background lol. Mariah’s flow on the hook sounds great, dunno why Bow Wow is on the track though.

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R&B superstar Usher has confirmed that he is engaged to his longtime girlfriend, Tameka Foster. In a statement to MTV News, the ‘Confessions’ singer hinted at the possibility of his marriage to Foster- a professional stylist- taking place before the end of the year.
Foster’s background is familiar territory for Usher. Similar to his ex (Chilli from TLC), Foster, 38, is older than the singer…10 years older; she also has kids with her ex husband- who she left for Usher. It’s not all smiles though. It has been reported that Usher’s momma, Jonetta Patton (who is also his manager), isn’t pleased with the relationship. It could have something to do with the fact that she once fired Foster as her son’s stylist as she wasn’t styling him ‘according to his caliber’. Ouch…
*As they’re leaking so fast, any new Beyonce vid will be posted in this post*

Still In Love (Kissing You)

Not sure how I’m feeling about this one. It’s very simplistic, set on a beach. The song is definitely one of the better additions to the B’Day Deluxe album and I would have liked to have seen a ‘proper’ video for it. Then again, the song is the B’Day equivalent of Dangerously In Love, so maybe they wanted to let the vocals take centre stage – which they do.


Flaws & All


This video is real simple, so it matches the theme of the song. She lets her guards down and shows some of her true personality, which we often don’t see.

Get Me Bodied

WOAH. This video is FIYAH! I’m liking the whole concept…everything. She ain’t ever brought it like this in terms of a video before. Beyonce’s former band mates Kelly and Michelle feature in the video too. She should have saved herself the time and just released this and ‘Green Light’, as they are clearly two of her best videos. PERIOD.

Green Light


Now this is what I’m talking about. Everything about this video is ON-POINT! I’m liking the ‘different’ vibe/choreography she went for on this one. I applaud the fact that she’s doing something kinda different here too. Hands down one her best video’s yet…

Suga Mama

This one’s a straight dance/concept video. I’m liking it for what it is but some of the other vids are much better. She was working the choreography though.

Rihanna has premiered her new single, ‘Umbrella’, from her upcoming new album. The track, which features Jay-Z, is good, but nothing special. No doubt it will be a hit, though, as her label insist on shoving her down our throats. When Jay started rapping I got the impression the song was gonna be hot and then her annoyingly nasal singing kicked in. Def Jam are not wasting anytime; the album name has been revealed as ‘ Good Girl, Gone Bad’ (hmmm) and will drop June 6th.

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Ok, so Beyonce’s B’Day Deluxe is leaking left, right and centre; videos, tracks…everything. This vid for ‘Freakum Dress’ ain’t bad, but it makes me wonder if there was any point in the whole ‘making a video for every song’ idea in the first place. There’s nothing innovative or interesting enough to make me want to go out and buy the album because of it. What’s more is that you can tell they were on a budget…it’s kinda cheap. To be honest, the only video’s that show any signs of being worthwhile are ‘Get Me Bodied’ and ‘Green Light’. Let’s hope the other vids are saying more than this.

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