Bow Wow and Omarion stopped by MTV’s TRL in New York today to promote their forthcoming collabo album ‘Face Off’. Call me a hater or whatever, but I doubt the CD will be saying much. I felt their collabo on ‘Let Me Hold You’ to be pretty underwhelming. What’s more, neither have proved their worth as solo stars; with their recent albums just scrapping Gold status. I’m guessing this joint project is just a way of ensuring each of their fan-bases buy it – hence equalling larger sales overall.

As R. Kelly preps the release of the latest ‘Trapped In The Closet’ DVD (due August 21st) , chapter 13 of the ‘Hip Hopera’ has hit then net. Click here to watch it. If you need to refresh yourself with the story up to this point, you can watch the recap by clicking here.

LMAO at ‘Rosey The Nosey Neighbour’ and her husband, Randolph, cussing each other out – too funny. I’ll definitely be checking for the remaining chapters.

Melanie Brown, alongside her attorney Gloria Allred, appeared on the Larry King Live show this past week. In the interview, Scary Spice – as Brown is more commonly known – was grilled on her relationship with Eddie Murphy, her legal fight against the actor regarding their child Angel, as well as her motives behind meeting with Murphy’s ex-wife a couple of weeks back. Check out the interview:

Since the release and subsequent poor performance of Kelly Rowland’s sophomore CD ‘Ms. Kelly’, there have been calls for a re-release to bolster sales. It now appears that a reworked version of the album may be in the pipeline afterall. Following a concert in Atlanta this past Friday (August 11th), the singer was quoted as saying she was on her way to the studio to record more tracks. Whilst it’s common-practice for artists to record inbetween projects etc, the comment is interesting when considering her manager Matthew Knowles’ new ‘multi-tiered’ (spread across time) approach to releasing records – first shown with Beyonce’s ‘B’Day’ project. For what it’s worth, producer Brian Michael-Cox (‘Bad Habit’, ‘Be Without You’ etc) was in attendance at the concert. {Source}

I’m all for a re-release; it’s not too late to right whatever wrongs were made with the handling of this project. ‘Ms. Kelly’ was a very solid effort and anything to rejuvenate the album is welcomed by me. I say she should hurry and put out a 2nd single -anything- and follow that up with something from the re-issued CD toward the end of the year.

In a recent interview with Chicago’s Power 92 radio station, former B2K star Lil Fizz spoke on life after the group and his forthcoming solo project. During the interview, Fizz was asked flat out whether former band member Raz B was gay. Evidently taken aback by the bluntness of the question, Fizz replied ‘I don’t think it’s my place to answer that question’. Click here to listen to the audio

I doubt this will come as a surprise to many. With reported sightings of Raz at numerous ‘guy’ clubs and an appearance on ‘Noah’s Arc’ (a black gay drama), rumors about his sexuality have been circulating for months. Though I doubt Fizz did it deliberately (the B2K guys are apparently cool with each other now), it’s kind of ironic that the confirmation(ish) came from him.

Rumors of R&B star Monica being pregnant have been circulating for a while, however the news has been confirmed via one of our affiliates, Sandra Rose. The ‘Don’t Take It Personal’ singer is reportedly 5 months pregnant with her second child. The father is believed to be Rodney ‘Rock’ Hill Jr – her long-time partner and father to her 2 year old son Lil Rock.

Though I congratulate Monica on the news, is it a bit selfish to question the timing? Having liked her last album ‘The Makings of Me’ and seeing it tank, I was hoping for some new material from her soon. I’m good to wait though. One small tidbit: when is Rock gonna put a ring on her finger and make it official? I mean, they’ve been together so long and are popping out these babies. Marriage isn’t for everyone, I know that, but come on now…

Akon appears to be the latest celebrity to jump on the reality show bandwagon. He explains the concept of his show ‘My Brother’s Keeper’ below:

“Whenever I’m not in Atlanta, they go out posing as me and everyone believes it’s actually me. It’s so crazy, because everyone seriously believes it’s me. They are going around getting VIP treatment, girls, free food at restaurants, free everything and everybody is falling for it. It’s a real life thing, which has got really out of hand in Atlanta, so I decided to take the situation and make it into my advantage by making a reality TV show out of it. They get my life, all the perks without having to put in all the hard work I do. I’m constantly working so I can’t live it, but they are out there living it.”

I, for one, will not be tuning in to this nonsense. I’m getting real fed up of some of these useless reality shows – the concept is a joke. It’s as if it’s being made ‘just because’. Akon has managed to make (a lot of) money with a dodgy voice and so-so songs, I’m sure he could come with something better than this mess.

The situation with 50 Cent and Kanye West albums facing off against each other has escalated to new heights. Speaking to SOHH, 50 is now claiming that if he sells less than Kanye, he’ll hang up his mic for good (sort of). Check out what he had to say:

“They would like to see Kanye West give me a problem because I’ve worked myself into a space where I’ve become the favorite,” Fif told SOHH exclusively. “Everybody roots for the underdog when he goes against the favorite.

“Put it like this,” 50 told SOHH. “Let’s raise the stakes. If Kanye West sells more records than 50 Cent on September 11, I’ll no longer write music. I’ll write music and work with my other artists, but I won’t put out any more solo albums. [Listen to the audio here]

“And I bet this, when Kanye West’s sales come in, he’s gonna have a 70% decrease [the second week] ’cause Def Jam is gonna buy records to keep him closer to 50 Cent,” the Queens rapper added. “So watch the first week and then watch the second week. Watch his @#* drop off the planet. We keep our angles covered before we make a decent bet.”

50 is really becoming laughable. I’m guessing he thinks he’s creating a buzz around his CD by playing up to this ‘face off’, yet he’s coming across like a fool. Instead of feeding into the hype, Kanye is releasing great singles and building genuine interest around his project. For that reason, as well as 50’s cockiness, more people are likely to pick up Kanye’s CD {Itunes Pre-orders show West to be in the lead already}. I’m hoping Kanye comes out on top, so 50 can go sit down somewhere.