Despite having spent the last 25 years touring venues around the world and earning critical acclaim for her unmistakable brand of Soul music, veteran songstress Macy Gray has managed to keep her personal life notoriously private and separate from her professional.

That changed recently when her daughter, Aanisah Hinds, took to the local authorities to file a temporary restraining order against her own brother, Tracy Melvin Hinds, with claims that he constantly “abuses” them.

Details inside.

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Beyonce gave generously both on stage and offstage in Washington, D.C. last night (August 6).

The second night of the megastar’s ‘Renaissance Tour’ stop at the FedEx Field was affected by the severe storms that impacted the city at large.

As a result, the start of Queen Bey’s extravaganza had to be delayed – meaning the concert finished later than the Metro service.

Full story on how the ‘Break My Soul’ chart-topper remedied the situation below…

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Less than two weeks ahead of the February 25 kickoff of their Vegas residency, Silk Sonic is still giving fans new reasons to make their way to Sin City.

‘Love’s Train,’ their latest release, is a remake of Con Funk Shun‘s 1983 hit that Sonic rolled onto digital shelves just in time for Valentine’s Day.

Hear their soulful take on the classic number inside:

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Meghan Trainor was among the first Pop stars to help kick off this year’s holiday season with the October 30 release of her inaugural yuletide album, ‘A Very Trainor Christmas.’

The critically acclaimed, 18-song set not only shines with the GRAMMY winner’s takes on holiday classics like ‘Silent Night,’ ‘The Christmas Song,’ ‘Winter Wonderland,’ and more, but also sees her crank out a slew of Christmas-themed originals.

Among the latter class is ‘Holidays,’ a funky festive bop that features legendary R&B/Soul group Earth, Wind, & Future and even contains a light sample of their eternal classic, ‘Let’s Groove.’

“Even if you dance alone, you deserve a cheers,” Meghan croons over the horn-filled number. “‘Cause you been workin’ way too long, no more wishing.”

See its official music video inside:

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The year was 2007. And while the masses were grooving to the soulful silkiness from the likes of  Amy Winehouse, a song snuck up and took the world by storm. In the process ushering in a new era in music.

Today’s From The Vault pick is the infectious ‘Crank That’ by Soulja Boy.

Produced and written by Soulja Boy himself, the track was his debut single and was received with worldwide acclaim, because of its instructional structure and catchy hooks and chants.

The track shot to the top the charts in the US and reigned for a seismic seven weeks. In the UK, it peaked at #2, and was also a Top 5 smash in Australia and Canada peaking at #3 and #5 respectively.

In the United States, it was named the 23rd biggest song of the 00’s, and was nominated for a Grammy Award. Talk about a debut.

The song’s instruction-driven video was directed by Dale Resteghini. Within, it presents the head of Collipark Records taking an interest in signing Soulja after discovering the whole city embracing dance craze.

Over a decade later, the song has an impressive 431 million views on YouTube and remains a firm fixture on plenty of turn up playlists on Spotify and beyond.

Many many, the ‘Crank That’ phenomenon was the catalyst for all the various instructional dance crazes which followed.

With everybody and their mama – quite literally – hopping on the TikTok train, we can’t help but imagine just how bigger ‘Crank That’ would have been if that platform existed in 2007.

Though Soulja Boy is rarely included on anybody’s Top 10 Best Rappers Of All Time tally, he has managed to make the world dance as one with this very song; a feat most of his more respected peers can’t say they achieved.

Your thoughts?

BET’s enjoying a wave of success with its new television programming, namely new series ‘American Soul’ and ‘Boomerang.’

While the former is a blast from the past in the form of loosely biographical look at the creation and heyday of legendary TV show ‘Soul Train’ and its host Don Cornelius, the latter is a modern-day twist on the iconic 1992 Eddie Murphy film of the same name.  As both have led the network to favorable viewership figures with their respective inaugural runs, reports have it they’ve been renewed for second seasons.

Details inside:

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As we reported here years ago, Gladys Knight made it well known that Destiny’s Child alum Kelly Rowland was her top choice for portrayal of her legendary life in a biopic.

And, while that wish was (to a degree) honored when the ‘Motivation’ singer was picked to play the ‘Empress of Soul’ in BET’s forthcoming, ‘Soul Train’-inspired television series – ‘American Soul’ – it certainly gives the 37-year-old the chance to show off her acting chops in case the full length biographical film ever develops.

Until then, look inside for your first peek at Rowland assuming the role of the R&B icon…

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Michelle Williams‘ acting portfolio continues to grow more impressive by the day.

For, fresh from landing a new Broadway gig, the multi-talented star has been tapped to play the legendary Diana Ross in BET‘s hotly anticipated new series ‘American Soul.’

Details below…

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‘American Soul’ will see the ‘Soul Train‘ retold in spectacular style with help the Grammy award winning performer Kelly Rowland.

The show is to air on BET and pull viewers behind the ‘Soul Train‘ cameras to tell stories based on the real-life stories of its host Don Cornelius and his celebrity friends.

Its teaser awaits below…

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Four years ago Empress of Soul Gladys Knight took to press to announce she was interested in casting Destiny’s Child alum Kelly Rowland as the lead singer in her yet-developed biopic (click here to read).

Now, it appears the ‘Midnight Train to Georgia’ legend is getting her wish.  Details inside:

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‘Soul of a Woman’ vocalist Kelly Price is to perform at the Chris Brown vs Soulja Boy boxing match.

Details below…

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As we recounted here, R&B bad boy Chris Brown’s 2016 was a crazy year thanks to a number of highly publicized altercations, alleged assaults, and the like.  Now, barely a week into the new year, it appears the Grammy winner is set to have 2017 follow suit.

His ongoing beef with rapper Soulja Boy has been a rollercoaster to say the least, one many thought had come to a halt when the ‘Crank That’ hitmaker cranked out an apology last week.  Well…that was then.

With a celebrity boxing match scheduled between the two (Floyd Mayweather training Soulja and Mike Tyson in talks to train Brown), the ‘Run It’ singer reportedly ran to the gym to let off some steam on the basketball court when an altercation allegedly took place between him and its manager.  Needless to say, it didn’t end well for Breezy:

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