The full version of Solange’s ‘Sandcastle Disco’ from her forthcoming album ‘Sol-Angel & The Hadley Street Dreams’ has surfaced. Having really liked the snippet that was floating around not too long ago, I’m feeling the cut even more so after hearing in it’s entirety. Solange’s record really is shaping up to be something. ‘Sol-Angel & The Hadley Street Dreams’ drops August 26th via Geffen/Music World.
Hit or Miss?
Tour Announcement
LUV
She nailed both performances, for real! I’m guessing it’s all but confirmed that ‘LUV’ is the next single and rightfully so. Moreover, it’s great to see her much anticipated tour finally announced; it’s known by most that Janet’s tours trump that of most other artists. {Click here to read more on the ‘Rock WitChu Tour}
In other Janet news, it has been confirmed that she will join Mariah, Mary J. Blige, Usher, Nelly etc as a performer at the upcoming BET Awards. {Source}
Janet will be launching a new fan club very soon. Click here for more details
Here’s hoping her resurgence helps resurrect the ‘Discipline’ project.
What do you think of the performances?
Will you be going to see Janet on tour?
The video for Michelle Williams brand new single ‘We Break The Dawn’ finally made its debut today. In what may sound like an oxymoron: expectantly the video served up the unexpected. From Michelle’s edgy, sass, to the choreography, to the costumes…everything. The masses notion of ‘Michelle from Destiny’s Child’ really looks set to change. Good stuff. Michelle’s first secular solo LP ‘Unexpected’ hits stores August 12th.
What do you think of the video?
During a recent promotional trip to France, Kelly Rowland was interviewed by one of, if not the, top Destiny’s Child fan website DC3 Forever. In the candid interview, Rowland spoke on a number of issues including the omission of popular tracks from the ‘Ms. Kelly’ re-release, the mishaps of the album’s original release and her third solo album. Check out extracts below (the full interview is in the ‘comments’ section):
JC: Some songs (Comeback, Still In Love With My Ex, Ghetto, Flashback) were removed from the re-release. Whose decision was it and why ?
Kelly: It was my choice, I wanted to close a chapter and move to the next step, so people asked me why I wouldn’t do a whole new record but the Freemason remix of Work took it to the next level.JC: By closing a chapter, do you think of songs such as SILWMX ?
Kelly: Not really, I just wanted to have another view on the record and close the Ms. Kelly chapter.JC: With Work being a international hit, why wasn’t it released in the US ? At least the original version that could fit better the American market ?
Kelly: I don’t know, seriously, I feel like I didn’t have anything to do with the success of Work in Europe. The Freemason remix took the song to the next level, fans kept requesting it on the radio. Look at Say My Name, the fans in the US made it a single, they made it happen, I didn’t have that little extra with Work over there.JC: It looked like Work (Put It In) was originally supposed to be the first single ? Who decided that Like This would be a better first single and why ?
[I explained that way before the album got released, Work, under the title Put It In, was up for pre-order on different websites]
Kelly: Wow, really ? It was considered as the first single but I wasn’t sure of myself, I didn’t think it could be a hit. And then I read that blog and it made me feel bad, I got confused. So we picked up Like This, it sounded like a new beginning to me. But I wanted Work to be a single just like I wanted Still In Love With my Ex to be a single.
JC: Then why was Ghetto released as the 2nd single ?
Kelly: It was my decision. *SILENCE* (-I could feel she somehow regretted that choice-) I was in that zone, I wanted to release it.
JC: Do you already have any themes in mind for your third album ?
Kelly: I’m really inspired by the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s because there was more meaningful lyrics like Stevie Wonder. Look at Stevie Wonder, he is an inspiration for everybody, Whitney said she was inspired by him and she’s not the only one.
JC: So you want to do a couple of old-school songs ?
Kelly: Not really, I want a mixture, but I don’t want to give too much away. But we’ll do another interview together when the album will be ready, I’ll preview the tracks to you [ ] and I’ll also do blogs when I’ll be in the studio, with the producers”.
JC: When do you think it will be released?
Kelly: Top of next year, yes, top of next year. I wanna make sure I do the right choices, each single being a hit.JC: You’ve said you really like Kanye, Alicia Keys, Will.I.Am, Danja, Timbaland… have you been in contact with any of them ? Possibly for the third album.
Kelly: These people are very busy, I gotta get the right timing. Actually one day Will.I.Am was in a studio, next to mine, and he started playing tracks for me, and there was this one track… I fell in love with it. So we’ll see…
JC: You recently saw Nelly at the Radio 1 Event… Would you like to work with him again, for your next album maybe?
Kelly: Yes, we talked about it, the idea of doing a Dilemma Part II or renaming it. We’ll go to the studio together and see if something magical happens.
A real interesting read, if I must say so myself. A new album due early 2009; Kelly sounds real focused about making sure everything is done right the next go round. Here’s hoping she shines like many know she can.
Any thoughts?
Having already enjoyed a very successful year with high profile features on efforts by Usher, Chris Brown and mentor Timbaland, Keri Hilson’s debut ‘In A Perfect World’ looks set to drop within the next few months. A snippet of what appears to be her first single ‘Energy’ (released to iTunes on May 27th) has surfaced. Unlike Keri’s material heard thus far, I’m not entirely sold on this. Though by no means poor, the song sounds doesn’t really offer anything new in comparison to a lot of what dominates the radio at present and does little to separate Keri from the masses. Still, I’m real optimistic about Keri delivering with the album.
Despite 50 Cent’s plummeting popularity, reports are claiming that the G-Unit leader is set to sign a new ‘360’ deal with Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation which is said to be worth a whopping $300 Million. Check out the report via Contact Music below:
The In Da Club hitmaker is in final negotiations with Murdoch’s News Corp firm – which owns social networking site MySpace – for a large stake in all aspects of the 50 Cent brand, including music, concerts, books and his label G-Unit Records.
If the agreement goes ahead, G-Unit Records and its roster of artists will move under News Corp’s MySpace Records umbrella.
According to reports, half of the $300 million deal will be in stock, potentially making 50 Cent – real name Curtis Jackson – one of the biggest News Corp shareholders.
However, the deal is not expected to be finalised until next year (09) – allowing the star to fulfil all of his contractual obligations with his current label, Interscope Records.
Unless 50’s music career has a turn-around soon, News Corp will be buying into a sinking brand IMO. The ‘Kanye Chart Battle’ episode reinforced that. Yes, he’s still a relatively big seller, but it speaks volumes that after the much hyped ‘battle’, ‘Curtis’ dropped like a rock on the charts. With every release since his 2003 debut, 50 has sold less and less. I guess time will tell if this works out…
Though Solange’s new single ‘I Decided’ was released digitally a while back, it is this, the Freemasons remix, that will be released as her official first single over here in Europe (it is being touted as the ‘Part 2’). Having worked their magic with Kelly Rowland’s ‘Work’ earlier this year, the ‘Masons really came through for Solange; I’m actually liking this mix more than the original. What’s more, considering the music that is dominating the charts on this side of the pond, Solange may just have a chance of doing big things on this side of the pond also.The video for The Game’s latest single ‘Game’s Pain’, featuring R&B songstress Keyshia Cole, premiered on BET today. I’m really feeling both the song and the accompanying vid too. ‘Game’s Pain’ is the first single to be lifted from the California rapper’s forthcoming album ‘L.A.X'(due July 1st) via Interscope.
What do you think of the video/ song?
As Beyonce continues work on her third studio album, another snippet of new material – presumed to have been recorded recently – has surfaced titled ‘Now I Know’. I must say the ballad sounds great – she’s really on top of her vocal game as well.For all her hollering and ‘church wailing’, I must say that Fantasia ‘brought it’ and then some. Even with the song not really being catered to that audience, she still managed to engage the studio audience. Definitely anticipating the new album. Good stuff.
What do you think of the performance?
Billboard.com have revealed some very interesting details about Ciara forthcoming studio album ‘Fantasy Ride’:
R&B singer Ciara has slated her third album, “Fantasy Ride,” for a September release via Jive. Rather than one standard CD, the music will be spread across three separately packaged discs, bundled together, each with five to six songs catering to a different theme.
The first disc is called “Groove City” and will contain sensual songs like “Promise,” while the second disc is called “Crunktown” and includes tracks akin to Ciara’s 2004 introductory single, “Goodies.” Finally, the up-tempo “Kingdom of Dance” will showcase Ciara’s house-leaning, freestyle-tinged cuts.
Producer Tricky Stewart, who crafted Rihanna’s “Umbrella,” is co-executive-producing the project along with Ciara. Danja is helming both “Crunktown” and “Kingdom of Dance,” while “Groove City” is led by Tricky and Jasper.
An official single will drop in June, according to the label.
Now that’s what I’m talking about! Despite Ciara being immensely talented, I oft wonder how she’d be able to take it to the next level artistically and leave a lasting impression Ala the Beyonce’s and co etc. This, her latest venture, really seems to be her real ‘evolution’.
According to the NY Daily News, the much talked about jailhouse nuptials between rappers Remy Ma and Papoose was cancelled after Papoose tried to smuggle in…wait for it…handcuff keys. Check out the report:“A wedding was scheduled today and a visitor to that wedding service was found to be in possession of jail contraband so the wedding was canceled,” a correction official told the Daily News.
“The key that was found today easily opened handcuffs that we and other law enforcement officials use,” the official said.
Now the 29-year-old Brooklyn-born Papoose – real name Shamele Mackie – won’t be able to see his fiancée until November.
“The visitor was sanctioned by not being able to visit Rikers Island again for six months,” the official said. “He was asked to leave.”
So was Papoose trying to break out his rap queen, whose real name is Remy Smith, from the joint?
Neither his or her camp were saying – but Remy has every reason to be eager to get cut loose.
The 26-year-old Terror Squad rap princess faces up to 25 years at today’s sentencing for shooting her friend Makeda Barnes-Joseph in the stomach last July outside a Meatpacking District club.
Papoose was not charged after he voluntarily surrendered the key to authorities.
He was quickly ushered out of the jail and never got to enter the prison island’s Rose M. Singer chapel in which the two were set to say their “I do’s.”
I’m falling over myself here LOL. I mean, what the…
*Update: Remy Ma’s sentence was also handed down today:
Remy Ma has been sentenced to eight years in prison in the shooting a woman outside a Manhattan nightclub
The state Supreme Court sentence was handed Tuesday to the 26-year-old rapper, whose real name is Remy Smith, for assault, weapon possession and attempted coercion.
Remy Ma, who could have faced up to 25 years in prison, was teary-eyed as she heard the sentence.
She says last summer’s shooting was an accident; an appeal is planned.
Correction officials say they called off her weekend wedding at the Rikers Island jail after the groom — fellow rapper Papoose — showed up with a handcuff key.
Remy Ma’s lawyer, Ivan Fisher, denies the key could be used to unlock handcuffs. Papoose isn’t charged.
Fisher says the two still plan to wed. {Source}
Your thoughts?
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