1. STTP NEWS: SWV, NE-YO, DIDDY

    After releasing their first brand new single in forever last month, SWV have unveiled the official release date of their first studio album in 15 years since 1997’s Release Some Tension. The Sisters With Voices will release their all-new album I Missed Us on April 10th via eOne Music/Mass Appeal Entertainment. The ladies have been in the studio with Lamb (who produced the lead single “Co-Sign”), Jazze Pha and Bryan Michael Cox to put the finishing touches on the disc. 

    Ever since his 2005 debut as a singer, Ne-Yo has always been a mainstay hot commodity at Def Jam Records. But now, the Red Tails actor has moved to a new label home…Motown Records. Not only is the singer/songwriter a new artist on the label, he’s bringing over his Compound Entertainment imprint as well as taking on the duty of being Motown’s Senior Vice President of A&R. With that responsibility, Shaffer will take on the task of developing and mentoring new signees to the label (including the homies MPrynt).

    Last year, Motown split from it’s meger with Universal Motown (now Universal Republic) and joined Island Def Jam Music Group for the all new Island Def Jam Motown.

    Always the one to dig in every venture possible, Diddy is doing something that was bound to happen: create his own television network. After having shows he has produced for on MTV, BET and HBO, Mr. Combs has teamed up with Comcast and Time Warner Cable to distribute his network Revolt. The station has been likened to the old days of MTV, except with an urban edge. He’s aiming for a 12/12/12 air date.

  2. SNEAK PEEK: CASSIE - “KING OF HEARTS”

      

    Diddy’s favorite shadow and mute Cassie is back to make more noise with the upcoming release of her single and music video “King of Hearts.” The Bad Boy beauty is dropping the single in an attempt to FINALLY release her LOOOOOONNNNNG awaited sophomore disc Electro Love (if that’s even still the title), a CD that was supposed to drop back in 2007!

    Cassandra (along with her Ciara-esque new logo) also stopped by 106 & Park to drop off the trailer as well as talk about the next chapter of her career.

      

    As much as it hurts to say this, I’m still looking forward to her new album (more Bad Boy promo!)

  3. TRACKLIST: MARY J. BLIGE - ‘MY LIFE II: THE JOURNEY CONTINUES (ACT I)’

    My Life II... The Journey Continues (Act I)  

    With her album a month away from it’s release, Mary J. Blige has FINALLY unveiled the tracklist for her upcoming new album My Life II: The Journey Continues (Act I). The sequel to her epic 1994 sophomore disc My Life will feature 15 tracks on standard, including collabos with Beyonce, Busta Rhymes, Nas and Rick Ross. Even Mary’s rap alter ego Brook Lynn resurfaces for the set’s track “Midnight Drive.” Executive producer of the original album Diddy also pops up in a phone conversation skit with MJB on MLII intro. Also, previously leaked tracks “Miss Me With That” and “Feel Inside” makes it to the final tracklist.

    My Life II: The Journey Continues (Act I) Tracklist:

    1. Intro
    2. Feel Inside (featuring Nas)
    3. Midnight Drive (featuring Brook Lynn)
    4. Next Level (featuring Busta Rhymes)
    5. Ain’t Nobody
    6. 25/8
    7. Don’t Mind
    8. No Condition
    9. Mr. Wrong
    10. Why (featuring Rick Ross)
    11. Love A Woman (featuring Beyonce)
    12. Irreversible 
    13. Empty Prayers
    14. Need Someone To Love You
    15. The Living Proof     (from the motion picture The Help)

    Deluxe Edition Bonus Tracks:
    16. The Journey Continues
    17. Miss Me With That
    18. Someone To Love Me (Naked) (featuring Diddy & Lil Wayne) 

    The journey must be continuing for Mary in her grade 3 reading class for this long ass album title! Aside from that, I’m looking forward to hearing this album.

  4. KELLY IS ANNOUNCED AS DIDDY’S ‘EMPRESS’

    kelly rowland empress e1312121776947 Kelly Rowland Named As Sean Johns Empress

    ***Brandiinoo’s Breakdown***

    Not even a week after her 3rd and undoubtedly best solo album Here I Am, Kelly Rowland had made another phenomenally smart business move. Next to being a judge on the hit show, UK X-Factor, now Kelly is the face of hip-hop mogul Diddy’s new fragrance Empress. Set to release next month exclusively in Macy’s department store, Empress is a female equivalent to his former fragrance I Am King. The press release for the fragrance said :

    “The woman who wears Empress is a force of nature, powerful, enchanting and uniquely feminine. Her presence captivates and her words inspire, compelling those around her to her cause. Men long to be by her side, women want to know her secrets.”

    Now being the face of Empress means magazine spreads and television campaigns. Now one can say that they don’t know about Kelendria’s cd due to her under the radar promo, but with this, plus her recent slew of performances and magazine covers, her sales have to improve. Kelly is making hella smart moves now, as Khia would say “GET MONEY BITCH”.

    -Brandiinoo, out.

  5. NEW MUSIC: DAY26 f/ ROCSOE DASH - “LET IT GO”

      

    It’s been two years since the release of their last album Forever In A Day, but DAY26 is back from their break with new music. After getting the boot from Bad Boy after Diddy went over to Interscope and the departure of Qwanell, the remaining four guys just dropped their buzz single from their upcoming third release A New Day. Brian, Willie, Mike and Robert teamed up with Roscoe Dash for their ATL-inspired track “Let It Go.”

      

    It’s nice to see DAY26 back out there with new music. The track is nice for what it is, but I’m happy this isn’t their official lead single. It’s sounds like a more hood-hoe version of “Imma Put It On Her” but it’ll serve it’s purpose of re-introducing the guys out there since there’s no Making The Band 4 or Bad Boy behind the extra promo.

  6. MUSIC VIDEO: DIDDY-DIRTY MONEY F/ USHER - “LOOKING FOR LOVE”

    **BRANDIINOO’S BREAKDOWN***

    *sigh* . That’s all I can say about video and song. This J.Lack and Polow da Don song is nothing less off disappointing. The beat is sick, so I won’t fault the producers, but the video doesn’t sit well with me. Diddy knows he’s wrong for his lyrics, adding Usher, and tacking Dawn and Kalenna’s name to this, as they have no part in it, the lead video hoe in the video gets more camera time than them. As soon as I heard Usher say his “Its Ursher Baby” and “Yeah Man” , I wanted to push him off the building he’s standing on. I don’t know why, but the video lowkey reminds me of Tony Yayo’s “So Seductive” video circa 2005 and Usher’s “Little Freak” video combined. It may be the random safe background in which I’m convinced Diddy shot at Club Aurora in Richmond. I had to do a double take because I thought I saw Ciara in the video dancing on Diddy, I thought I was going to have to a whole different post on just her. The song is … I don’t know, I don’t know how I feel about, like a part of me likes it, put then the other half is telling me to hate because Usher says “Yeah Man” like 4x through-out the song. *waits for DOC to give thoughts*

  7. MUSIC VIDEO: MARY J. BLIGE F/ DIDDY & LIL WAYNE - “SOMEONE TO LOVE ME (NAKED)”

     

    After that disastrous release known as Stronger withEach Tear (her spelling, not mine) in ‘09, Mary J. Blige is ready to release a new album this September with the release of My Life II: The Story Continues. To kick off things to come, Mary just released the Colin Tilley-directed video for her promo single “Someone To Love Me” featuring Diddy and Lil Wayne. The track “Someone” can originally be found on Diddy-Dirty Money’s latest album Last Train To Paris.

    Aunt Willona Woods done switched the swag up and got her a new lace front! And of course her jig had to be present to the party. Other than that, it was a pretty standard video that serves it’s purpose.

    As far as My Life II, the CD is expected to drop on September 20th with production by Danja, Stargate, Swizz Beatz and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. Not to put my mouth on anything, but I have a feeling that sometime this summer before the CD release, Mary and her husband Kendu will make some sort of separation or divorce announcement. I say that only because we all know how the original My Life album from 1994 was depressing as hell, yet made for great music. I also have a feeling this may be the 2011 version of her tragic ‘03 album Love & Life in terms of critical acceptance. Let’s just all hope for the best!

  8. DIDDY-DIRTY MONEY ANNOUNCE ‘COMING HOME’ TOUR DATES

    Diddy-Dirty Money 

    The Last Train To Paris will be pulling into a city near you this spring! Diddy and his Dirty Money cohorts Dawn Richard and Kaleena Harper will be hitting the road on the 20-city tour in support of their album Last Train To Paris as well as their current hit “Coming Home.” The Coming Home Tour kicks off in Minneapolis on April 13th, hitting other cities like Norfolk, Atlanta, Atlantic City and NYC, before ending on May 15th in St. Louis.

    Coming Home Tour Dates:

    April 13 – Minneapolis, MN – Epic Center
    April 14 – Chicago, IL – House of Blues
    April 15 – Detroit, MI – Sound Board
    April 16 – Providence, RI – TBD
    April 21 – Boston, MA – House of Blues
    April 22 – New York, NY – Hammerstein Ballroom
    April 23 – Atlantic City, NJ – Showboat
    April 24 – Norfolk, VA – Norva
    April 26 – Atlanta, GA – Tabernacle
    April 28 – Jacksonville, FL – Plush
    April 29 – Melbourne, FL – Levelz
    April 30 – St. Petersburg, FL – Jannus Live
    May 1 – Orlando, FL – House of Blues
    May 6 – San Francisco, CA – The Warfield
    May 7 – Los Angeles, CA – Club Nokia
    May 8 – Anaheim, CA – The Grove
    May 10 – Phoenix, AZ – Ovations LIVE!
    May 12 – Houston, TX – Warehouse
    May 14 – Kansas City, MO – The Midland
    May 15 – St. Louis, MO – The Pageant 

  9. KEYSHIA COLE EYES LADY GAGA COLLAB FOR NEW ALBUM

    Keyshia Cole JUST released her new album Calling All Hearts a month ago but is already plotting her next release. Since Hearts opened to not-so-stellar first week numbers (only selling over 140k to date since it’s release), KC is ready to move onto recording what will be her fifth album. When speaking with MTV News on who she would love to get in the booth with on the next disc, Keyshia replied 

    “I would honestly love to work with one of the girls that are huge in pop, like a Beyoncé or Lady Gaga or Fergie.”

    So could this be a possible outlook on the sound of Keyshia’s new album? I kinda sorta hope so because I would like to see her expand her sound in a different arena while still staying true to her roots. A Gaga or Fergie collaboration wouldn’t be hard to achieve being that all three ladies are under the Interscope umbrella. It’s all a matter of KC actually reaching out to make it all happen.

    IMO, Keyshia has the potential to release a huge record that will crossover to mainstream, just look at “Let It Go” and the Diddy-collabo “Last Night.” However, she had the opportunity to take on the challenge with ‘08’s A Different Me, failing to release standout tracks such as “Please Don’t Stop” and “Erotic”…hell even “Beautiful Music” was taking off nicely.

    Keyshia is also one of the rare R&B chicks that can do some Pop music while still keeping her urban soul alive (listen to A Different Me’s supposed-to-be single “This Is Us”). So this new chapter will be interesting to watch in terms of sound, being that Calling All Hearts is flopping due to horrible ass single choices even she regrets (s/o to “I Ain’t Thru”).

    But in the meantime, Keyshia will be releasing the Irv Gotti/Chink Santana-produced “Take Me Away” as the third single from CAH. She recently shot a video for the track as well as kicking off promo for the single by performing on The Conan O’Brien Show last week.

  10. MUSIC VIDEO: DIDDY-DIRTY MONEY F/ DRAKE - “LOVING YOU NO MORE

      

    Diddy feels the emotions of a breakup in the Gil Green-directed video for “Loving You No More.” He mends his broken heart by hitting up the club with Drake while his Dirty Money co-horts Dawn and Kalenna keeps the bossman company in his all-white everything crib.

    Last Train To Paris hits stores and online on December 14th (for real, for real this time!).

  11. STTP: BEYONCE, KEYSHIA COLE, CIARA, KERI HILSON

    After a lengthy delay, Beyonce will finally release her I Am…Tour DVD on November 30th! The show, which was taped live in London last November, will also feature the first stage performance of “Ego” featuring Kanye West.

    Bey is also gearing up for an ABC special to air during Thanksgiving week. More details are to come.

    Keyshia Cole is ready to unleash new music just in time for the holidays! KC will release her fourth album, Keyshia, on December 14th. She’ll be going up against her “Last Night” collaborator Diddy and his Dirty Money crew Last Train To Paris, Ciara’s Basic Instinct and her ex-boyfriend Jeezy’s TM103. If you haven’t done so, check out Keyshia’s new Nicki Minaj-assisted single “I Ain’t Thru” HERE

      

    Time to put the Keri Hilson/Ciara feud stories to rest! This video will pretty much explain it all.

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