Calvin Richardson "Sang No More"
"Sang No More" is Calvin Richardson's lead single off his upcoming third album When Love Comes. You might recognize him from previous joints alongside Angie Stone and Raphael Saadiq.
Check out his myspace for more info: www.myspace.com/calvinrichardson
When Love Comes will be released May 27, 2008 via Shanachie Entertainment
Alicia Keys is looking for a new background singer...
Visit http://www.aliciakeys.com/tourtheworld for more details
Who's copping Estelle's album Shine today? I'm a big fan of this one!
April 29th is a good day for music -- Madonna is also releasing Hard Candy I'm feeling her latest single "The Beat Goes On" ft. Kanye & Pharrell
While I sometimes lament how much soul has gone "pop" -- you have to give it up to Pharrell and Timbaland for becoming "popular music". With strong percussive (drums baby!) backgrounds like theirs it is good to see them eating well! So yeah I'm checking for Madonna too...
Lyfe Jennings' album Lyfe Change also drops today (Check Never Never Land) As does The Roots Rising Down
Glad to have a reason to post "Rising Up" !
Looks like Solange is getting plenty of promo for her new album. CNN covered her video shoot.
I really wish she would retire the hot pink. There are other color groups besides neon Solo!
Hate to admit it but "I Decided" is growing on me. SoL-AngeL and The Hadley Street Dreams hits stores August 26th.
Amy Winehouse is up to no good as usual -- the cracked out songstress got tossed in the clink last week for headbutting a man, she's facing up to six months behind bars. Please somebody lock her ass up!
Meanwhile the Judge in R.Kelly's child pornography case is holding closed hearings to cut down on the media circus -- however the media circus continues on. There's a blogger who did us the favor of compiling all the nasty facts on Kelly that have been gathered by the media over the years --- click here to read it -- Completely gross.
So I gotta ask you, whose badder? The pedophile pee pee man or the cracked out headcracker?
(image via Glamour)
I love Fergie, but I'm not crazy about her Nelly song "Party People" so I was thrilled to find out she recorded this song "Labels or Love" for the Sex and the City soundtrack where Fergie basically says she'd rather have Blahniks over Big...If you're not into labels you might not like her particular brand of name dropping but I definitely can dig the idea of being more devoted to finding the perfect pair of pumps than going on a manhunt.
Click here to listen to "Labels or Love"
Here's what Fergie Ferg had to say about contributing the theme song to the film:
“I grew up watching Sex and the City and I know a lot of my girlfriends did as well,†says Fergie. “We felt like these characters were our friends, so to be a part of this project has been amazing.†Fergie added, “I would die to do a video with the girls.†(uh, the treatment for that is written already I'm sure)
“Labels or Love†open the film which hits theaters May 30 as well as the Sex and the City: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, out May 27.
This one should come as no surprise...
Alicia Keys "Teenage Love Affair"
I loves it...
The video for Solange's single "I Decided" was shot in Los Angeles yesterday. No I don't have any pictures from the shoot but I did get a press release about the album. For all you Solo fans -- her second album SoL-AngeL and The Hadley Street Dreams will be released August 26th on Geffen Records through Music World Entertainment.
The video was directed by one of B's fave's Melina and it promises to stay true to Solange's free spirit personality. It's being described as "The ultimate pop art piece. Its psychedelic, it's adventurous, it's colorful and not so colorful, it's intelligent, and it's the inner makings of Solange... The "I Decided" video deals with pop culture from the 60s to the future. It displays SoL-AngeL in settings from American Bandstand, to the Civil Rights Movement, to New Wave, and finally a "Cosmic Journey" future.
Hmm sounds interesting.
The video for Alicia Keys third single, Teenage Love Affair, should be ready fairly soon. The clip will be styled after Spike Lee's film "School Daze" which I LOVED and think is a classic. Here's Alicia on the set talking about the song and her current tour.
She also performed the song yesterday on the "Today" show where she also shut Matt Lauer down when he tried to ask her about the Blender quotes. Watch below.
I can't say I'm a big Omarion fan (though he tried to get me with that "Icebox" business though) but after hearing he's been dropped by Columbia Records I feel kinda bad for him. With the Soul Train Awards also getting yanked, I figured it was only fitting to post this "Icebox" performance.
Corny as he may be, there is no doubt O is a great entertainer. Jawn Murray at BlackVoices is speculating that he may land on his feet though -- possibly at Capitol or Motown records.
So the internets going all crazy over Akon being exposed by the Smoking Gun for not being quite the Konvict he portrayed himself to be.
I personally could care less, dude did a couple months for car theft -- sounds like a criminal to me. Maybe not as much of a criminal as the leader of a multi-state car-jacking ring, but a criminal nonetheless -- plus he's proven his talent as a musician right? Hasn't he?
Diddy and his Sean John spokesmodel Cassie are back at it again. This puppy popped up on Livesteez.com this weekend with the two of them hyping up Cassie's new project and single.
Cassie is tired of being your Unofficial Girl. Her vocal skills are pretty tired too. :-( She's beautiful but this song shouldn't be played anywhere but junior high dances. This is definitely an upgrade from that "Thirsty" ish that leaked earlier though.
Here's the cover for Ush's upcoming album Here I Stand.
I think it kinda says -- Ran out of gas with no razor in the middle of the desert for a few days -- but what do you think?
His album is due out May 27th.
Hype Williams directed Mary's latest video "Stay Down"
She looks great -- modeling some of the finest winter outerwear -- I think I caught a cold watching that ish tho...
Jokes but seriously, I hope she's getting her due from Bvlgari and the fur people cuz I definitely was checking out the sunglasses and the fur hood.
What do y'all think though?
Plies ft. NeYo "Bust It Baby Pt. 2"
Raheem Devaughn "Woman"
As I mentioned in Hot Press last week, Toni Braxton was recently hospitalized for chest pain. She's since been forced to sit out the rest of her April showdates at the Flamingo Las Vegas with plans to resume the show on May 6th.
That's really sad news -- I hope they're able to find out what's wrong with her and are able to help. Vegas is a great place for her to make some dough since the music business hasn't been so kind to her as of late.
Here's a mini-homage to Toni -- Get well soon!
"Making Me High"
So Duffy and Estelle have been fighting it out on the UK singles charts...
This is Duffy's video for "Mercy"
There's been a bit of talk in the foreign press that Estelle suggested Duffy isn't representative of soul music. Click here to see what Duffy reportedly had to say in response.
I am personally more interested to hear what you have to say -- Is Duffy soulful -- yay or Nay?
My girl Natasha at YBF.com made my day yesterday with the rumor alone that Faith Evans is writing her memoirs. It's supposedly set to hit shelves in August. The rumored book cover is above. Check out the synopsis:
"KEEP THE FAITH is Faith Evan’s first person account of life at ground zero of hip-hop’s greatest generation. She’ll share the truth about the love affair that changed her life, and the innuendo that rocked the hip-hop world to its core. From her passionate and tragically short-lived life with Biggie, Faith will finally lay the true story on the line. We’ll get to see the good, the bad and the ugly side of P Diddy; nobody knew either quite as well as Faith."
wait a minute -- uhhh did Faith forget Kim Porter? or Misa? Come to think of it Mary J. Blige should know the many sides of Puffer well too, no?
Soulman put it out there in January but it looks like -- Brandy has indeed signed with Epic Records There is definitely a new album in the works -- I'm working on getting y'all some exclusive information from one of the producers on the project within the next week or so so be on the lookout. In the meantime here's B-Rocka's cover of Phil Collins song "Another Day in Paradise" featuring her freaky lil brother Ray J
http://www.myspace.com/anthonydavid
You might remember reading about India.Arie's new label SoulBird Music on SOHH recently but if not I'll remind you (Click here to read) -- anyway I was excited to see her first artist is Anthony David -- a very talented brother from Savannah who has been making noise in Atlanta for a minute now.
A former backup singer for India.Arie, Anthony David has already released two solo indie albums, 2004's Three Chords And The Truth and 2006’s Red Clay Chronicles. His June 17th Universal Republic/SoulBird Music release Acey Deucey will bring together the best music from both albums
I hate to interrupt the flow of the "5 Songs..." post but I saw this and had to show y'all
I hope his wife pushed him in a vat of peroxide -- otherwise this is just atrocious. I guess Kellz is looking for some attention since he has a new album coming this summer, or maybe he's promoting his new single "Hair Braider" -- if you want to hear the song or confirm that yes this is indeed Robert "Who Done Lost His CotDamn Mind" Kelly you can go to his myspace page www.myspace.com/rkelly
(image via People)
Tameka's Boo Usher has me stuck on this one...
"Love In This Club"
Where are my Kelly fans at? I got that "Comeback" video for you
Kinda sexy. Wonder what the budget was for this photoshoot? I used to think folks were just talkin ish when they said Kelly gets treated like a stepchild but on further examination that ish is true! She doesn't even get extras for this video. I mean damn, when Beyonce did her re-release that ish had like four new videos included. It was a production. Granted, Beyonce is a guaranteed seller right? What do you guys think tho -- is the label just doing what makes sense financially by limiting Kelly's re-release to digital only and keeping the new vids to basics? Or is she getting the short end of the stick???
Leona Lewis' album Spirit comes out in the US today. The UK is all abuzz about whether it will debut at #1 here -- I don't know about all that but I'm crossing my fingers for her. Nothing like some fresh meat to keep the music industry lively right?
(source: bossip.com)
It's a little dark and the flashing lights make it a little hard to identify all the high-powered cameos (I believe I saw Rick Ross, Diddy, Kanye West, Robin Thicke, Nelly and of course Jeezy & Polow in the mix) but aside from that I likes it... Keri Hilson makes a great sex kitten, right?
Friday marked the 40th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King's assassination (April 4th, 1968) and I spent a lot of time this weekend watching tribute footage -- the History channel ran a great two hour special and I also enjoyed VH1's "The Night James Brown Saved Boston". I'm posting part 1 of the latter as well as my favorite girl, Nina Simone, singing her tribute "Why (The King of Love Is Dead)"
As long as we're on the subject of veterans who are continuing to do the damn thing...
Can we talk about this woman?
I caught this clip of Mary & Jay-Z at their Letterman appearance last week and fell in love with their performance of "Can't Knock The Hustle" which you can watch below (sorry about the lengthy interview that precedes but Hov's description of his failed tour with R.Kelly totally makes it worth it)
The video for Madonna's "4 Minutes" ft. Justin Timberlake has hit the net and I have to say WOW. This woman deserves a lot of respect. Say what you will about her, but she's a master at her craft. Check out the video -- I recommend watching the full screen version.
Current "Dancing With The Stars" contestant Mario is offering fans an opportunity to win a private dance with him.
Ray J "Sexy Can I" ft Yung Berg
The video for Usher's "Love In This Club" isn't scheduled to premiere until April 7th, but I happened to see a snippet I thought I'd share...
Hmmm looks kinda like "Yeah" to me...
You guys have heard the wedding rumors, so I'm sure you already know where I'm going with this...
The two have been "collaborating" since Jay's '03 "Bonnie & Clyde"
(image via Jack Magazine)
After recently releasing a statement saying "It is not my time to put out new music" and encouraging fans to check out Kelly, Michelle and Solange's work, Beyonce has sprung another leak.
Click to hear the snippet of "Kick Em Out"
R.I.P. Marvin Gaye (April 2, 1939-April 1, 1984)
One of my favorite singers of all times, I LOVE his stuff with Tammi Terrell, Here My Dear makes me almost afraid to love and "What's Goin' On" is just as relevant today as it was when he made it. If you don't know this man's music -- definitely get to know it. You know I had to post some live performances in honor of the man who passed 24 years ago today.
"What's Goin' On/ What's Happenin' Brother" (Video excerpted from "Real Thing: In Performance 1964-1981" DVD)
"Got To Give It Up" Live in Montreux 1980
