SOHH SOULFUL

It's been a long time coming but September 16th is finally here (almost)... Ne-Yo's Year of the Gentleman arrives in stores tomorrow. His first two albums both went platinum, will he do it again the third time around? Who is copping Ne-Yo's album tomorrow?  In the meantime check out this track from the album, "Lie to Me"

While I'm at it I want to dispel any of those nasty rumors that Ne-Ne outted himself in a recent Essence article. I got an email last week which included an excerpt from an interview that was purported to be from the popular black women's 'zine. In the interview, the mega successful singer/songwriter/producer made some confessions about his sexuality - however as I suspected, the rumor and the excerpt were completely false. So if you hear anything like this IT'S NOT TRUE. If Ne-Yo is batting for the other team, he's still in the closet for now. Personally I think Ne-Yo is straight. Give him a break, he's just in touch with his sensitive side.

Visit Ne-Yo's blog www.YearOfTheGentleman.com to listen to more tracks off the album.

Happy Belated Birthday and Congratulations go out to Jennifer Hudson! According to PEOPLE magazine the singer/actress and boyfriend, David "Punk" Otunga got engaged this past Friday -which also happened to be her 27th birthday.  Otunga AKA "Punk" from "I Love New York 2" gave J-Hud a Neil Lane diamond ring.

Sorry, excuse me while I go vomit at the idea of marrying "New York's" sloppy seconds. I guess there really is somebody for everybody.

While we're on the topic of marriage though, how many successful black relationships are there for black singers really? We got Jay & B of course. Rih Rih and Chris are way too early to judge, same goes for Mariah and Nick - mind you she has one divorce and he has a broken engagement or two already. Janet's been divorced twice. Mashonda and Swizz look like it's a wrap. Kelis and Nas seem to have overcome their troubled times, but only the future will tell. Sorry to tell ya J-Hud but the odds are not in your favor. Wish you and Punk the best tho.