the chal banz blog

Chris Brown will release his new album X on November 19. The album will feature appearances and production from Pharrell, Kelly Rowland, Brandy, Wiz Khalifa, Nicki Minaj( Love More ), Polow Da Don, and more. We all know Chris Brown has pushed his album back continuously, not as much as Ashanti's pushed hers back but will he sale that's the question? I think Chris will sale decently. He usually sells decent numbers in the long run. I've liked pretty much all the songs he's released thus far from X so I will likely check it out! Speaking of new albums Justin Timberlake released his new album The 20/20 Experience Part 2 , a sequel to his album released earlier this year. The album is already said to sell over 500K in its first week making it an obvious #1 album next week. The album features the single Take Back The Night , which can also be heard in the Bud Light Platinum commercials. I didn't get into the first 20/20 album so I'm not going to bother with this on...

I stumbled upon another interview Brandy did when she was in the UK just last week. The singer talks candidly about her collaboration( Conquer The World ) with Jessie J and what success means to her. Check it out!

Ashanti will be joining the new season of ABC's Moderny Family! The singer posted the news on Twitter then deleted it. Obviously the singer revealed the news ahead of time. This comes on the heels of Ashanti's acting role on Lifetime's Army Wives which has since been cancelled. Ashanti can currently be heard on the new track Just Believe from the Songs for a Healthier America album available on iTunes now. As for her ill-fated BraveHeart album, its said to be released in March 2014.

Columbia Recording artist RaVaugh releases the video to her single Best Friend . Check it out!

Rihanna is set to release the video for her hit single Pour It Up soon. The singer famously beefed with the former director of the video who bowed out of the project. Though the song was released eons ago, I guess its never too late to add a visual to the hit song. I don't know why when I first read this news, I was thinking about Loveeee Song featuring Future, another song released from Unapologetic . That song didn't get a video either and if it did, I strongly doubt Future would be in the video now thanks to the Ciara beef. Rihanna is rumored to be releasing a new album this year but to be honest I haven't heard anything about a new album release.

It's been a slow news week, all week if you ask me. I mean there have been some things going on but not all like that. I mean we did have the Rihanna vs. Teyana Taylor beef. That was good for a few minutes right? Well here's some little news tidbits for you all today! Enjoy! Remember Toni Braxton's 1996 hit You're Makin' Me High ? Well it turns out that the track was originally for Brandy! Who would've thought? Could you imagine Brandy singing that? I just so happen to come across the news on a forum I frequent. So......Remember Amel Larrieux? She was the front woman of the 90's group Groove Theory. Now the singer is back with a new album, Ice Cream Everyday . The album is due October 22 and it contains the first single, Afraid .

The much hyped about reunion from Danity Kane is happening and the ladies speak out about what fans can expect from their new album!

Kelly Rowland talks marriage, kids, and how she keeps her body in shape. Check it out!

While in London Brandy not only performed with singer Jessie J for their duet Conquer The World , she also sang a gem from her 2002 album Full Moon , When You Touch Me which is one of my absolute favorite Brandy songs so it was nice to see her perform this. It's funny because a day prior to this I was just listening to this song. Brandy is hard at work on a seventh album(YES!), let's just hope we don't have to wait an eternity for it. Also Maxwell praised her over Twitter and said he wants a duet with her! Punch Bran!

K. Michelle is in hot water with Uncle Sam! The Love & Hip Hop singer owes the IRS 52,000 dollars! If that's not an interesting enough story for you Rihanna is involved in yet another Twitter war, this time with Teyana Taylor of G.O.O.D Music. I'm not sure of the origin of the Twitter war but the singers were trading insults back and forth earlier today. When I find out more about this matter I will let you all know. Some of the back and forth got pretty heated though. Teyana called out Rihanna for "showing out" and says she has her "#" if she really wants to talk! Ouch! We all know Rihanna is no punk but perhaps she finally met her match?

Fire is the latest offering from Michelle Williams. It appears on her upcoming album Journey To Freedom due this February. Fire is currently available on iTunes and in physical release at Walmart. I'm actually kind of liking this.

Brandy joins Jessie J at the iTunes Music Festival to perform their new duet Conquer The World which appears on Jessie J's new album Wild .

Brandy speaks on her humble beginnings in the industry up to her current status. Check it out!

Tamar is busy in the studio finishing up her Christmas album which is to be released sometime next month. It was this month that Tamar released her second solo album Love & War which debuted at #2 on the Pop charts. Speaking of new albums TLC will release a Greatest Hits album on October 15. Meanwhile their biopic will air on October 21 on VH1. No word yet on a tracklisting for the Greatest Hits album. TLC can currently be heard on the J. Cole hit song Crooked Smile .

Jennifer Hudson is back! The singer's new single I Can't Describe features T.I. and is produced by Pharrell. A video for the song will be shot soon. A new album from the singer is expected soon. Speaking of new albums Chris Brown will FINALLY release his new album X on November 19. The album will feature the single Love More featuring Nicki Minaj. X sports collaborations from Wiz Khalifa, Rihanna, Brandy, Kelly Rowland, and more.

The Weeknd's new album Kiss Land is in stores and online now!

Solange struts her stuff in her new video for Lovers In The Parking Lot which features cameos from Mannie Fresh and Bun B. Check it out!

Chris Brown spills the beans on his new album X and what we can expect from the album. Check it out!

Ashanti has been busy in the studio crafting her oft-delayed album BraveHeart . Recently the singer logged studio time with none other than reggae legend Beenie Man. BraveHeart is currently scheduled to be released in March 2014 but don't hold your breath. Speaking of new albums Mike Will Made It, producer extraordinaire whose worked with everyone from Juicy J to Rihanna says Ciara is working on a new album. Her current album Ciara was released this past July. Next up for Ciara is the release of her single Overdose . I remember reading about Read My Lips being released as well, possibly as an Urban single so we'll see. Speaking of Ciara, I keep reading and seeing this story about Keri Hilson reportedly recording a new song which will be an apology to Ciara and Beyonce. The news first came at the hands of Timbaland who may or may not of revealed the news. Keri is currently working on a new album and most recently had a brief role in the Vin Diesel film Riddick. There is no word...

TLC is back in the Top 10 of the R&B charts as their the featured artist on J. Cole's Crooked Smile which is number 9 this week. It's the first top 10 R&B hit since 1999. The group also receives their first top 40 hit in 11 years as Crooked Smile moves up to #37 on the Pop charts. Congrats to TLC and J. Cole. TLC will release a new album on October 15 through Epic Records and their new biopic will subsequently air on VH1 the same month. Check that out!

The R&B Divas L.A . and former City High star talks! Check it out!

Know You Better is the latest single from Omarion. It appears on the new album Self Made 3 which is in stores and online today!

During a recent performance Beyonce almost found herself in the audience with an overzealous fan. Check it out! I think Beyonce's Mrs. Carter Show World Tour will go down as one of the tours from Beyonce's where she's had the craziest things happen to her. Who can forget when Beyonce's hair got caught in the fan while singing Halo ? Crazy! 

She has a new album in stores, The Electric Lady ! Janelle Monae is doing pretty well for herself at this point in her career. Now here comes those pesky gay rumors which she was recently asked in an interview. The singer didn't exactly confirm or deny her sexuality but chooses to keep her personal life PRIVATE! We all know what that means. I mean to be honest I never even wondered about Janelle's sexuality until people started talking about it this go round. If your a fan of VH1's Love & Hip Hop I just read that the franchise is expanding in the following cities of L.A., New Orleans, and Houston. Really? It's been rumored that Ray J and girlfriend Teairra Mari will star in the L.A. spinoff of Love & Hip Hop . No other cast announcements have been made as of yet. If you know Ray J you know he is controversial but he is also a hustler. I'm sure he will work his way onto our TV screens even if it kills him. In regards to Love & Hip Hop expanding their fr...

Word on the street is that Danity Kane will have a reality show with VH1 who is often affiliated with 51 Minds. 51 Minds is behind shows like Charm School and Flavor Of Love . Rumors of Danity Kane's return ran rampant a few weeks ago when it was confirmed by group members. All four original members returned to the group sans the fifth member, D. Woods. The group was signed to Atlantic/Bad Boy where they release one Platinum( Danity Kane ) and one Gold( Welcome To The Dollhouse ) album.

Producer Rodney Jerkins speaks out about Mariah's declining vocal abilities. While there has been no recent performances as of lately Rodney felt the need to state that Mariah still have her "voice". Rodney is one of the many producers said to have worked with Mariah on her new upcoming album.

Mariah Carey is getting it in...in the studio. The singer is in the studio with Hit-Boy, Mike Will Made It(Rihanna), Rodney Jerkins, and Jermaine Dupri. There is no word on when we can expect a new Mariah album. You can expect the new album to feature the Miguel duet #Beautiful . Mariah's new album was supposed to be released in July but the album was pushed back so Mariah could finish recording more material. Last month the singer reportedly blasted Island Def Jam for giving all their attention to Kanye West and his project.

Hot on the heels off the recent success of R&B albums by Tamar Braxton, John Legend, and Jaheim, here comes another flock of R&B albums debuting next week. First up is The Weeknd whose second album Kiss Land is said to debut with sales of 90-100K next week. Janelle Monae will also debut with her new album The Electric Lady with sales of 45-50K. Speaking of Tamar Braxton, the singer is releasing a new Christmas album on October 22. The album will feature Christmas classics and some originals. This news comes on the heels of Tamar's new album Love & War topping the R&B and Pop charts. Speaking of Christmas, K. Michelle will release a Christmas Deluxe Edition of her album Rebellious Soul which was released this past August. The song will feature six new songs. No other details of the album have been released thus far.

New R&B chart debuts this week! Tamar Braxton debuts at #2 with 114K copies sold of her second album Love & Wa r. John Legend debuts at #4 with 68K for his new album Love In The Future . Jaheim comes in at #6 with 58K for his album Appreciation Day . It was recently announced that the next single from his album is Baby X3 . Congrats to all the R&B acts for their debuts this week! R&B back on top? I wouldn't have it any other way.

The ladies that make up R&B these days are no punks! They have been getting down and dirty via Twitter and on TV. Check them out in all their glory! Kelly Price vs. Chante' Moore & Lil' Mo Whether you watch TV One's R&B Divas L.A . or not I'm sure you've heard of the impending beef between singers Kelly Price, Chante' Moore, and Lil' Mo. If you follow the show the show spearheaded by Kelly Price, or the concept whether to do a monologue was soon overtaken by Chante' Moore. Kelly eventually became irritated and upset about the revelation and soon took heed. It resulted in some not so subliminal shade, threats, and various accusations. The show has cast Kelly Price in an ugly light and seeing the show I am no longer a fan of the singer myself. Lil' Mo's part in the whole ordeal is because she more or less sided with Chante' but the only person really who was #TeamKelly was Dawn Robinson who was like the Cynthia Bailey to NeNe Leak...

The lawsuit between JoJo and Blackground Records continues. The record company finally responded to JoJo's lawsuit and wants her to dismiss the charges. If you want to read more about the legalities of this case click here . The war wages on between R&B divas Tamar Braxton and K. Michelle. The R&B ladies have been trading hurls of insults via Twitter over album sales, singing abilities, personal lives, and more. Maybe this is just a publicity stunt. I can't even remember how their feud originated. K. Michelle did buy a copy of Tamar Braxton's album to support her but Tamar is the one who is keeping the feud going and I think its for the record buying sake. You know they say, "There's no such thing as bad publicity". But at the end of the day Tamar is doing well and so is K. Michelle so let it go. This situation reminds me of when Rihanna kept throwing pebbles at Ciara. Why though? Your so much more successful at this point, not taking away from Ciara b...

I swear after you've done so many blogs, you forget some of the things you've blogged about over the years. Even if you go through the vaults and look to see if you talked about this or that, it still remains to be seen. Well anyhoo if I have done a blog like this in the past my apologies. Nothing wrong with doing an update of sorts right? Well fresh off the heels of Gucci Mane's recent Twitter rant, I have compiled a list of rappers who have notoriously called out female singers over claims of sexual relations. Of course all women involved denied the allegations. It makes you think though. Were the men really telling the truth or simply lying on their d!ck? 2Pac & Faith Evans I start with one of the most notorious allegations which was started by 2 Pac when he insinuated that he slept with Faith Evans. At the time Faith Evans was married to Notorious B.I.G, 2 Pac's nemesis. Of course Faith denied the allegations even though there were pictures of the two. To this d...

Some news for you all tonight! R. Kelly will release new album Black Panties on November 11. The singer recently previewed a slew of tracks from the upcoming album. Titles include Sex Genius , Girls Kissing Girls , Oreo , My Story featuring 2 Chainz, Circles , Show Ya Pussy , Legs Shaking featuring Ludacris and more. Dawn Robinson of En Vogue is said to be cut from the next season of R&B Divas L.A. The reunion saw the singer noticeably absent and during Part 1 of the reunion telecast, Dawn called out moderator Wendy Williams for calling her "weak". Dawn's ex husband has also reportedly spoke out against TV One and others involving abuse claims she's made. Dawn was very "weak", weird, and scary acting while on R&B Divas . I think there's more to her than what we're really seeing. There have rumors over the years how she has been difficult to work with and a "bitch". I think R&B Divas L.A. just scratched the surface. A few of...

It was back in February when Keyshia Cole took to Twitter to express her disdain towards Michelle Williams during the Super Bowl Half Time performance. Beyonce was the headlining act and she brought out Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland for the Destiny's Child medley. Keyshia's words in regards to Michelle's performance sparked a lot of controversy and debate with fans and critics alike. Well I am happy to report that all has been resolved by the two women. Last week Michelle Williams spoke out and said she wanted to have a sit down, woman to woman with Keyshia Cole. Keyshia reached out via Twitter and apologized to Michelle for the comments she made. Michelle also apologized! Well there you go! Two other women in the news today is a bit of an unlikely pair, K. Michelle and Elle Varner. The two were in the studio via Instavid where they playfully danced around, is said to be working on a collaboration as well as an upcoming VH1 reality show. In other K. Michelle news the ...

A lot of news tonight on this Friday night! I'll start with Janet Jackson who is busy at work on a new album. Not much is known about the upcoming album or its release date. One thing I do know is that its been said that producer Bangladesh(Brandy) is working on the new album. Remember when Keyshia Cole made those comments on Twitter about Michelle Williams at the Super Bowl? The comments sparked a lot of controversy. Well know Michelle Williams wants to sit down and talk to Keyshia Cole, woman to woman, hence Keyshia's most recent album Woman To Woman . Shall be interesting if it does happen though. Yesterday I reported some news about Mary J. Blige's Christmas album A Mary Christmas . Well it turns out her duet with Barbra Streisand is not the album's first single. Instead Mary will release Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas followed by This Christmas . Mary's new album is in stores October 15. Joe will release his new single Love & Sex featuring Fantasi...

The Holidays are just around the corner and with that being said expect a new(and her first) Christmas album from Mary J. Blige. The album, aptly titled Mary Christmas features a duet with Barbra Streisand titled When You Wish Upon A Star . The album is slated to be released on October 15. I'll likely check out Mary's Christmas album. I do however wish she would of opted to release a regular studio album. That's really what I want from her right now. In other news..I've read that Kandi from The Real Housewives Of Atlanta has learned that her show The Kandi Factory has been cancelled. The show aired for two season on BRAVO. The ratings for the show were pretty low. I mean I watched the show but it didn't pull enough ratings to be renewed for a third season. Kandi reportedly tweeted the unhappy news via Twitter or made some statements in regards to the cancellation. Kandi will be fine. I look forward to seeing her and the rest of the cast on the sixth season of The...

Love Won't Leave Me Out is the newest single and video from Chrisette Michele. The single appears on her newest album Better in stores and online now!

Tuesday saw the release of several R&B albums that are set to storm the charts next week. First up is Republic Records sensation Ariane Grande whose debut album Yours Truly is set to debut at #1 with 150K. Next up will be Tamar Braxton with her album Love & War with 105-110K units, John Legend( Love In The Future ) with 50-55K, and Jaheim( Appreciation Day ) with 40-45K units. These estimated sales are all courtesy of HITS Daily Double which tracks the record releases. These numbers are subject to change by week's end. Congrats to everyone though. R&B is on the come up hopefully! You all buying any of these album releases?

If Danity Kane reuniting wasn't enough another famed Bad Boy group is back together, Day 26. The members are back in the studio and working on a new album. Whether or not the group is still recording for Atlantic Records is another story. As more details emerge regarding Day 26 and their return I will let you know. I think its good when groups reunite even if its just for a show or to do another album. It lets you know that everyone has grown or are willing to put differences aside. There's power in numbers! Speaking of groups two members of a group; past and present came together for a recent video shoot. In the video for Michelle Williams' If We Had Your Eyes, LeToya Luckett makes an appearance as one of the wayward girls Michelle sings about. The song and message probably couldn't of come at a better time. Recently LeToya found herself the subject of a vicious letter by a fan who runs her fan site. The outraged fan blasted LeToya for turning her back on her fans as ...

Okay before you even begin, this is a lengthy read so prepare yourself. I watched Ashanti's UStream video earlier and she gave quite a bit of updates on everything about her new album, new movie, and more. Ashanti started off her UStream video with some connection problems before going live. She answered a handful of questions and provided several album snippets from BraveHeart. Some of the songs that were played were Don't Tell Me No (HOT!), Anything , I Got It featuring Future, She Can't , Paradise, and more. There is talk about releasing a possible mix tape but I won't hold my breath. She insists a rapper friend of hers(NELLY Anyone?) told her to release a mix tape eons ago. And the one question everyone wanted to know, "When is the album coming out?". The question was never quite answered but Ashanti wants to give the album the proper setup i.e. a successful single. She eluded to why BraveHeart has been on the back burner for nearly two years. One of t...

Michelle Williams debuts her new video from her upcoming album Journey To Freedom due this February. Check out the cameo from LeToya Luckett!

Wonder what's been going on with Ciara since she released her self-titled album this past July? Well rest assure I have some news regarding the singer's next singles. There were initially plans to release the Future duet Where You Go as the next single. Thankfully those plans were nixed. Instead Ciara will release Read My Lips as the third single from her album. Another single Overdose will either impact Top 40 radio at the same time or serve as the album's fourth single. I liked Read My Lips the moment I heard it and it should of been released as the second single. Overdose is a fan favorite and many feel that she needs to release this song if she wants her album sales to increase. So what do you all think about Ciara's new single choices? Yay or nay?

So Ashanti's oft-delayed album BraveHeart has been officially scrapped! I broke the news a day or so ago. Now I have the new release date which is March 4, 2014. Let's see how this all pans out. After numerous push backs and delays Ashanti has yet to publicly speak on it but she did promise fans on Twitter to let them know what's really going on. Meanwhile the singer was just in Las Vegas with Eve and T.I. where she did a show. Do you think Ashanti's new album will come out on March 4, 2014 or do you not even care anymore or never cared in the beginning? While you think about that I was reading a few days ago that the late Aaliyah's mother is sick with cancer. Well Aaliyah's brother Rashad Haughton put a end to the rumors via Twitter proclaiming that his Mother is not "sick" but "thanks for the concern". Well there you go! Glad she is is not sick.