1. D’ANGELO IS BACK!

    That’s right folks! Your eyes are not deceiving you. Neo-soul king D’Angelo is back and ready to work!   

    The Richmond, VA native hasn’t performed or released new solo music since 2000’s epic Voodoo, but all of that changed this week when the singer kicked off his European tour on Thursday night (1/26) over in Stockholm, Sweden.

    In addition to performing his classic hits and goodie album cuts, D’Angelo also performed a new cut entitled “Sugar Daddy,” which will be found on his forthcoming third studio album due this year via RCA Records.

      

    When D’Angelo’s CD finally drops this year, he’ll be on that anticipation level of Sade and Maxwell. They both took over a decade to release new albums, but managed to score huge #1 debuts. Then on top of that, he got his voice still in tact, lost weight and still can rock a stage. Can’t say the same for someone like Lauryn Hill.

    Also, to celebrate the 12th-year anniversary of the release of Voodoo on that exact date, he and his band performed a 8-minute, cookout approved rendition of “Chicken Grease.”

      

    Just seeing D’Angelo healthy and on stage doing his thing makes me hope all of this isn’t just a sober for the moment thing and he revert back to some old habits. Ever since Voodoo, this guy has been going through some shit, so seeing him this way now is refreshening. He has more shows coming up in Copenhagen (Jan. 27), Paris (Jan. 29), Amsterdam (Jan. 30, 31), and London (Feb. 3).

  2. 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.

  3. KATY PERRY TO RE-RELEASE ‘TEENAGE DREAM’

      

    After going through a divorce with Russell Brand and not being seen publicly since, Katy Perry will stay focused on her work by re-releasing her double-platinum sophomore album Teenage Dream. Scheduled for a release in March, the re-packaged album will now be titled Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection. There’s no word on whether the re-release will be combined with the original album or a standalone EP ala Lady Gaga’s The Fame Monster and Ke$ha’s Cannibal, but it will contain some new tracks produced by Tricky Stewart and probably the single versions to all six of her Billboard Hot 100 hits.

    Ever since she got her round of #1 singles this era, Katy Hudson and Capital have been desperate as fuck to get her a new #1 every single release. However, the buck got stopped with “The One That Get Away.” Even with that, her chart hoe shit tactics were even more evident by dropping a single/radio version, a B.o.B-featured remix and the just-released acoustic version. And we all thought Beyonce was bad in her heyday SMH.

    Anywho, at this point Katy needs to be releasing her third album off the success of Teenage Dream instead of re-releasing an album that came out August 2010. Hell, Jessie J’s ”Domino” could’ve been her lead single and another #1. I truly don’t understand, but I’m 1000% sure this re-release will produce another #1 smash so that Katy can go to bed comfortably knowing she achieved her goal.

  4. DOC TV: ETTA JAMES’ DEATH, NICKI MINAJ VIDEO REVIEW, AMBER ROSE, SWIZZ BEATZ, LANA DEL RAY, SOPA + MORE

  5. RIHANNA CHOOSES THIRD SINGLE

    Well it’s official, Rihanna is already moving on to the next single from her album Talk That Talk. RiRi has selected the Stargate-produced album title track as the third release from the gold-selling album, which features her “big bro” Jay-Z.

    Her TTT lead cut “We Found Love” is still doing major at radio and digitally, becoming her longest #1 single and still holding strong at #2 on this week’s Billboard Hot 100. Her second single, “You Da One,” on the other hand is still trying to make an impact, being stuck in the coattails of “WFL.” Therefore, I can kinda see the rush to announce the third single. But knowing Rihanna and Def Jam, the single release will most likely be around mid or the very end of February.

    I also think “TTT” is a good single choice because she needs a little more urban support for this album to get the rest of those sales kicking in. And I need to see her on 106 & Park and doing radio interviews ASAP! Also, I guess those rumors of Kanye West being on  a remixed version of the track are false.

    As for the single cover, I like it, but I’m just a tad biased because of the one I did a few weeks ago.

  6. IT’S OFFICIAL: BEYONCE GIVES BIRTH TO BABY GIRL!

    Well folks, it didn’t happen on Christmas Eve nor Christmas Day, but it has FINALLY happened…Beyonce and Jay-Z are now the proud parents of a baby girl!

    Ever since she debuted her undercover pregnancy at the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards, Bey has been under a lot of eye-watch due to the validity of her pregnancy. Everything from rumors of fake/prosthetic bumps to just flat out faking her pregnancy to spike album sales for 4, she just was getting no luck. It wasn’t until very recently that she was looking very puff-like as if she was gonna pop any moment if you just press her stomach.

    But back to the story, Bey gave birth to her baby girl on Saturday, January 7th in New York’s Lennox Hill Hospital during a scheduled C-section delivery. The Carters had the entire floor rented out at the hospital in the Upper East Side (like a baaaaws!). 

    So are y’all ready for the name? After much people thought that Hov and Bey would name their daughter Brooklyn after Jay said it in “Hello Brooklyn,” the two have named their new baby Blue Ivy Carter! And just as expected, Blue is already getting major love from her parents’ friends and celebs alike.

    “Welcome to the world princess Carter!” Rihanna tweeted, signing off: “Love Aunty Rih.”

    Mom-to-be and reality sister Kourtney Kardashian tweeted: “Congratulations to Beyonce, the 2nd Princess of Pop (behind Britney) for her new baby girl Ivy Blue!”

    Young Jeezy also showed his support for his former bossman and his lady, tweeting “Congratulations to Jay-Z & Beyonce on baby Ivy Blue being born.” (SN: what ever happened to that Jeezy and Bey record called “Mama Knows?”)

    Of course The Carters’ best friend Gwyneth Paltrow had some kind words to say to the new parents, tweeting “Welcome to the world Blue! We love you already.”

    While I’m still trying to figure out what the hell and Ivy Blue is, the name just screams inspiration from Gwyneth and her husband Chris Martin naming their kids all types of funny names like Apple and Moses and whatnot. I really thought their daughter would be named Brooklyn or something complicated like Beyonce (y’all know that name was hard to pronounce when she first came out back in ‘96). 

    Either way, their baby girl is healthy and here! Now let’s see how long it’ll take for pictures to come out! That also leaves room for Bey to come back out sooner than expected for her shooting of her new film A Star Is Born and her new tour and album. I also wonder who are the official God parents. Kanye is already a shoe in, but with Kelly Rowland running her damn mouth all the time and first giving out the info that Bey was having a girl, Michelle may take her place (but I digress). Plus, Kelly is already Blue’s aunt since she’s Mathew’s oldest daughter.

    Congrats to the Carters!

    SN2: I wonder when will Blue meet her big brother…y’all know Jay got another seed out there, but y’all didn’t hear that from DOC! LOL

  7. DOC’S 2011 MOST FASCINATING THINGS AND PEOPLE

      

    Well people, it’s that time of year to say goodbye to one year and welcome in the next. And while me and my FNL RADIO co-hosts Yoshi, Brandiinoo and Chris weren’t able to do a year-end show for you all, I decided to go back to my old stomping grounds of YouTube to do a DOC TV version of a quick year in review video…all under 15 minutes! 

    I talk about everything and everyone from Adele, Beyonce, Jay-Z and Kanye West, T.I., Kelly Rowland…just everything!

  8. A LOOK INTO RIHANNA’S POSSIBLE ‘TALK THAT TALK’ TRACKLIST

      

    With her new album Talk That Talk a few weeks away from release, Rihanna just posted a sh** load of pics showing her recording the final moments of the album due November 21st. But out of all the pics, the most interesting is the possible tracklist for TTT.

    1. We Found Love
    2. You The One
    3. Watch and Learn
    4. Rock Me Out
    5. Cockiness
    6. Talk That Talk
    7. Answer
    8. Drunk On Love
    9. Farewell
    10. We All Want Love
    11. Saxon
    12. Fool In Love
    13. Where Have You Been
    14. Do Ya Thang
    15. Birthday Cake

    Just looking at the trackist, this CD looks like it’ll be something interesting. “You The One” is on board to be single #2 and was produced by Dr. Luke and penned by Ester Dean. And I’m hyped that RiRi ended up recording “Saxon.” For those that don’t know, Nicki Minaj wrote and recorded a demo for Rihanna called “Saxon” that was to be included on the re-release of Rated R which in the end ended up being a new studio album, Loud. There’s also a lot of “love” floating around on the CD and I’m interested in hearing how “Birthday Cake” sounds. Knowing how Rihanna is, it could be a slore-fest of a song that’ll be catchy as hell lol. And in one of the pics, I see Terius Nash (aka The-Dream). I’m kinda hyped to see that he’s doing something on this CD because even though his lyrics can be basic, there’s this chemistry between he and RiRi that works on her Good Girl Gone Bad CD.

    But, looks like TTT is FINALLY finished being recorded. I hope Def Jam attaches a behind-the-scenes DVD to the deluxe edition or a YouTube video series because just looking at the pics, the recording process for this album has been something interesting. She’s currently still on her Loud World Tour overseas (which doesn’t come to a close until December), which means a mass majority of the recording for TTT took place in hotel rooms rather than a traditional recording studio.

    Still, the promo for this CD will be something to look for because there’s still no concrete promo plans nor any official, official news regarding the CD. Also, congrats to RiRi who just scored her 11th #1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart this week with “We Found Love.” That Rihanna reign just won’t let up! 

    Check out pics from the TTT recording process under the cut 

    Read More

  9. TRACKLIST: DRAKE - ‘TAKE CARE’

      

    With his album a couple of weeks away from release, Drake has FINALLY unveiled the tracklist for his sophomore disc Take Care, in stores November 15th.

    Even though he initially wanted to keep his guests on the disc to a minimum, Drizzy kept a nice number of featured artists for the CD, including his “What’s My Name” co-star Rihanna, Nicki Minaj, Rick Ross, Andre 3000, The Weeknd and of course his baby daddy Lil Wayne, who appears on three out of the nineteen tracks on the CD.

    I was kinda hoping the TLC rumors of them being on one of the songs were true, but just seeing the guest list has me anxious to not only hear the album itself, but the collabos as well. The one I’m looking forward to the most is hearing Andre 3000 on “The Real Her” and also RiRi on the title track.

    Take Care Tracklist

    1. “Over My Dead Body”
    2. “Shot for Me”
    3. “Headlines”
    4. “Crew Love” featuring The Weeknd
    5. “Take Care” featuring Rihanna
    6. “Marvin’s Room” / “Buried Alive Interlude”
    7. “Under Ground Kings”
    8. “We’ll Be Fine”
    9. “Make Me Proud” featuring Nicki Minaj
    10. “Lord Knows” featuring Rick Ross
    11. “Cameras” / “Good Ones Go Interlude”
    12. “Doing It Wrong”
    13. “The Real Her” featuring Lil Wayne & André 3000
    14. “HYFR (Hell Ya Fu**in’ Right)” featuring Lil Wayne
    15. “Look What You’ve Done”
    16. “Practice”
    17. “The Ride”

    Bonus Tracks
    18. “Hate Sleeping Alone”
    19. “Untitled” featuring Lil Wayne

  10. NEW AMY WINEHOUSE ALBUM TO BE RELEASED DECEMBER

      

    Now that the cause of her death has been officially ruled as “too much alcohol in her system,” news has come that a posthumous Amy Winehouse album will be released on December 5th via Island Records and Universal Music Group.

    Titled Lioness: Hidden Treasures, the collection will feature twelve tracks that Amy recorded during the releases of her two studio albums Frank and the GRAMMY-winning Back to Black as well as material she had began recording for her third album, which would’ve been released later this year. The collection was put together by longtime Amy collaborators Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi.

    “It was said by all who worked with Amy that she never sang or played a song the same way twice,” read the release announcing the disc. “It quickly became apparent to Salaam and Mark that they had a collection of songs that deserved to be heard, a collection of songs that were a fitting testament to Amy the artist and, as importantly, Amy their friend.”

    Of course this was going to happen and I’m pretty happy about it. There was a reason why people loved Amy and connected with her - because of the music.

  11. KELLY ROWLAND LINES UP NEXT TWO SINGLES FROM ‘HERE I AM’

      

    She just released her two latest singles from her third album Here I Am and is possibly plotting her fourth album for next spring, but even dismal sales can’t keep Kelly Rowland from releasing more singles from her CD. With “Lay It On Me” somewhat taking off at radio and “Down For Whatever” as the lead single for the international edition of Here I Am, Kelendria has chosen the Rico Love-produced “Feelin’ Me Right Now” and “Keep It Between Us” as the next singles lifted from the CD. In fact, she’s gearing up to shoot videos for said songs. However, there’s no time frame on when the songs and videos will be released as official singles. 

    Ever since I reviewed the CD when it came out, I’ve always pegged “Feelin’ Me Right Now” as a possible single choice in the future. Of course, it’ll only go as far as getting urban radio support (to an extent), but it’ll be gamble she should take at this moment. Even with “Keep It Between Us,” I can see it doing decently on Urban AC radio, to an extent. At this point though, Kelly should just go ahead and re-release that album with some more radio-friendly songs to keep the hoe-shit factor going for sales purposes. Or hire a new promo team (I’m available Kelendria!).

  12. 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.

  13. KE$HA TO GET “SLEAZY” WITH EVEN MORE RAPPERS

    International renowned spoken word artist Ke$ha is just segueing her way into a bonafied hip hop artist nowadays. First, she teamed up producer Bangladesh for “Sleazy” from last year’s EP Cannibal. Then, she got a lil ATL action with Andre 3000 on the remix from her remix EP I Am The Dance Commander + I Command You To Dance earlier this year. Now, it looks like K-Dollar Sign-Ha isn’t ready to give up on “Sleazy” yet. That’s because the drunken glitter queen is about to get gangbanged by a new elite group of rappers for yet another remix to the track. This time, Keesha is keeping 3Stacks, but bringing along Lil Wayne, T.I. and Wiz Khalifa for the new-new official remix, dropping real soon.

    “Sleazy” has always been a banger, so it’s cool that it’s getting a potential single release (and hopefully a video too). I’m just ready to hear this damn remix already. Ke$ha’s coming for that best rapper alive title! (Of course, I’m just keeding lol)

About me

Likes