the chal banz blog

On May 13 Epic Records will release  Xscape  from the late King of Pop Michael Jackson. The album will feature eight tracks, from the vaults composed and produced by the likes of Jackson, Rodney Jerkins, Timbaland, and Stargate(worked with Ne-Yo). The album's title track serves as the first single which was produced by Rodney Jerkins. The album will be available for pre-order on iTunes beginning on April 1.  

Any news is good news.  Greetings on this Sunday night! There has been a few things rumbling in the blogosphere. First things first, Kandi recently celebrated her bachelorette party. The party including RHOA castmates Phaedra Parks-Nida and Porsha Williams. There were also her friends, former bandmate "Tiny" Harris, Rasheeda, and Toya Wright. Kandi isn't the only one celebrating as her husband to be, Todd will be celebrating a bachelor's party as well. Speaking of RHOA, former Danity Kane member D. Woods made a brief appearance on tonight's RHOA episode since she was casted in Kandi's play, A Mother's Love . Her appearance prompted her to be a Trending Topic on Twitter throughout the night. And while we're on the subject of Danity Kane, the remaining members have teamed up yet again for a tour(cha ching!). The tour, named #NoFilterTour will be coming to a city near you I suppose. You all will have to look up the tour dates yourself since I didn...

Any news is good news. Greetings on this rainy Thursday night, here in Ohio anyway! I was reading that Keyshia Cole has titled her new album, her sixth, Point Of No Return . The announcement comes on the heels of Keyshia recently sounding off on the radio show host in Atlanta. One of the radio hosts asked Keyshia was she "wifey" material and that set her off. After the meltdown, Keyshia said it would be awhile before she does another radio interview. I can't say I blame her. Sometimes radio show hosts are just plain rude! While I'm on the subject of new albums, Usher is in the studio with Rico Love. Rico Love is behind many hits from Usher including Love In This Club . There's no word on when we can expect a new Usher album but maybe later this year.  

Any news is good news. Greetings! Christina Milian is getting her own reality TV show on E! The show currently titled 'Christina Milian' will follow the singer as she navigates being a mother and getting her music career back on track. Christina signed to Young Money/Cash Money awhile back. So what do I think about Christina getting her own reality show? I think its a good idea. Sometimes reality TV is exactly the vehicle you need to get your career back on track. Speaking of tracks, Keyshia Cole has teamed up with R. Kelly for her new album. The singer recently posted a picture of herself and Kells in the studio. The two singers previously collaborated on R. Kelly's Double Up album. Keyshia has recently made headlines when she became angry during a radio interview in Atlanta. The radio jockey asked her was she "wifey" material. The comment angered Keyshia and led the singer to lash out and halt any future radio interviews for the time being. Hey! We all kno...

Any news is good news.  Greetings everyone! I was just reading that Brandy plans to return to making music full time very soon. So does that mean we'll be getting new music this year? Perhaps. But as we all know Brandy typically takes her time recording her albums. So ideally early next year sounds about right to me. What do you think? Well why you think about that, Brandy's friend Kelly Rowland has officially left Universal Republic Records. The news was reported last week and now the singer has spoken out about it. She also is in the early stages of recording new music without the backing of the label. She did however go on to say that there are a few new deals on the table. In other news...Trey Songz has come out and denied rumors that he's gay. Apparently he was a Trending Topic on Twitter last night( I missed it) when it was posted via his Twitter that he was gay. Trey has released a few tweets on Twitter early this morning denying the rumors. Unfortunately those ...

Any news is good news. Greetings on this wonderful Tuesday night. Tamar Braxton is heading on tour with R. Kelly! The tour will begin on April 18 in Alabama. Once her tour wraps up with R. Kelly, Tamar is embarking on her own tour for her hit album Love & War . They say touring is where the money at. Shit! Just ask Trina! She stay touring and making that money!  

Tiny stops by Wendy to promote the new season of T.I. & Tiny: A Family Hustle airing on VH1 this Monday. Elsewhere the singer turned reality star talks trouble in her marriage, plastic surgery, and more. Check it out!

Any news is good news. Greetings on this Tuesday morning! I was doing some reading and I found out that Frank Ocean is back in the studio. This was news some time back ago but the singer has posted pics on his Tumblr account proclaiming the news. The upcoming album will be the follow up to his 2012 debut channel Orange. I know how much I liked channel Orange so I'm hoping the new album is just as good if not better. I know sometimes I can like an album by an artist and when the next one arrives, I absolutely hate it. Let's hope this is not the case. Speaking of new albums, J-Lo is talking about her 10th album due June 17. While the album has no title, J-Lo has opened up about the many collaborations. They include Wiz Khalifa, Robin Thicke, Maxwell(song: I Wanna Love ), Chris Brown(song: Same Girl ), French Montana(single: I Luhh Ya Papi ), Detail(producer: Drunk In Love ), etc. Whew! Sounds like quite the list of people. Let's just hope the music is as good as the gue...

Any news is good news. Greetings! You might of thought Tamar Braxton was done releasing singles from her album Love & War, well apparently not! Tamar has plans to release Pieces as the next single from her album which has sold roughly 365K copies last time I checked. Maybe this fan favorite song will help push the album to gold status. I personally like Tamar as a person but I think her album sucked. I think it could of been a hell of a lot better. I do like Pieces though.  

Any news is good news. Greetings on this beautiful Sunday. The lovely Faith Evans will be bringing us new music to our ears very soon. The singer has enlisted Missy Elliott for her new single I Deserve It along with Missy's artist Sharaya J.(Who?). The new single was produced by longtime collaborator Chucky Thompson(worked with Mary J.) Faith's new album Incomparable is due later this year. I'm just hoping that Faith really brings it this time. Her last two albums sucked monkey balls and I'm a Faith Evans fan. With a title like 'Incomparable' she better deliver! If that's not enough to look forward to, check out Ms.Alicia Keys! She is joining forces with Pharrell(who is also working on Alicia Keys' new album) alongside Kendrick Lamar for a collaboration for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 soundtrack. The track titled, It's On Again will appear on the soundtrack due on April 22 while the film arrives in theaters on May 2. While we await that collabor...

Any news is good news. Greetings everyone! The Supreme Diva herself, Ms. Diana Ross will be paying for putting together the wedding of her son Evan Ross, who is marrying his girlfriend Ashlee Simpson, sister of Jessica Simpson. If you recall Ashlee Simpson was previously married. Hmm it makes me wonder will Joe Simpson(the estranged father of the Simpson sisters) attend the wedding with his new boytoy in tow. Yes! You read that right! If you didn't know Joe Simpson is gay and has been sporting around his much younger boytoy. And if that's not enough Ms. Ross will embark on a nationwide tour at age 69. They don't call her the Supreme Diva for nothing! Speaking of weddings, here are some weddings to look forward to this year: Kanye West & Kim Kardashian - The controversial couple currently have everyone talking due to them gracing the cover of Vogue magazine. People will be talking even more when the two tie the knot this Summer. Ciara & Future - The famed ...

Any news is good news. Greetings everyone on this Friday afternoon! I was just reading what I consider to be a pretty funny story regarding singer Anita Baker. We all know Anita for her late 80s hits such as Sweet Love . Anyway there is a warrant out for her arrest and the singer is reportedly on the run. It turns out that Anita failed to show up for a court hearing where she is being sued. Apparently a company did some work for the singer in her home and the singer allegedly has failed to pay up in the sum of $15,000 dollars. Ouch! Let's hope Anita doesn't stay hidden away too long. We'd hate to see one of our favorite songbirds in the slammer but it has happened. Below are some other divas who have had run-ins with the law. Check it out!  Diana Ross The famed Motown singer was arrested after being stopped for DWI or DUI(can't remember which one) in Arizona after a trip to Blockbuster Video. The footage of the arrest was plastered all over the media outlets whe...

Any news is good news. Greetings everyone! So its being revealed that Kelly Rowland asked to be dropped from Universal Republic Records. It was being reported originally that the singer was dropped. Kelly felt that her label was not supporting her properly. Isn't that usually the case when it comes to R&B acts anyway? I do however think Kelly got a pretty big push. She had multiple singles released but her album only sold 215,000 copies. That's pretty normal when it comes to R&B acts though, that number anyway. By no means is the number great but its what we've come to expect. Anyway its also being reported that Kelly has been unhappy with her label since December. She wanted her label to release a single during her stint on X Factor but they denied. Universal Republic probably felt like there was no point in releasing anymore singles since they had already released a hand full of singles. Then again I'm not sure why they just didn't go ahead and relea...

Ashanti talks her new album BraveHeart in the first video and what went into making it and the second video features the singer in a red hot solo performance of her current single I Got It . BraveHeart is in stores and online now!

Any news is good news.   Greetings everyone! J-Lo has finally set a release date for her 10th album! Can you believe J-Lo's released 10 albums? Its amazing to me because some of our favorite divas have been around twice as long as J-Lo and has only released like five albums. Was that shade? Well maybe just a little. Anyway J-Lo's upcoming album, her Capitol Records debut will be released on June 17. The album features the album's first single I Luhh Ya Papi featuring French Montana. The duo will perform their hit single on American Idol this Thursday I believe. Make sure y'all check that out and tell me how it is!  

Any news is good news. Greetings on this St. Patrick's Day night! I hope that you all are safe if you are out drinking tonight. Me, I'm at home blogging and watching Watch! What Happens Live . Anyway I was just reading that Miguel is hard at work on a new album. The wish list of artists include Kanye West and J. Cole among others. Look for a new Miguel album this Fall. In other Miguel news, congratulations are in order for the singer as his album Kaleidoscope Dream was recently certified Gold for sales of over 500,000 copies.  

Ashanti goes back in time, exactly 12 years ago and delivers a riveting performance of her Platinum debut single Foolish from her self-titled debut album. Ashanti's new album Braveheart is in stores and online now! Check it out! It's a banger!

Any news is good news. Greetings on this wonderful Sunday afternoon! Keyshia Cole will premiere her first single on The Breakfast Club , a radio show in New York this Wednesday. The single titled Rick James features Juicy J. It was just last week where Keyshia announced her new single was coming and it looks like she wasn't playing. You all ready for new Keyshia Cole music?  

Any news is good news. Greetings! It seems as if many R&B singers are getting pink slips from their perspective music labels they record music for. The newest person reportedly dropped from their record label is Mario. We all know Mario from hits such as Let Me Love You and Just A Friend 2002 . Most recently the singer topped the charts with his hit single Somebody Else featuring Nicki Minaj. His follow up single Fatal Distraction barely got any radio play and it was a doozy in my opinion. Even the leaked songs from Mario's recording sessions were trash in my opinion. I like Mario and its unfortunate if he is indeed dropped from his record label, RCA Records. Mario's former label mate Chris Brown is back in the slammer! Now don't act too surprised by the news! I'm not even going to go into full detail about this as I only know so much of the story myself. We all know Chris was in rehab for the last few months. I actually thought he was doing good but we should...

Say what? Hey y'all! This is a pretty lengthy post so bare with me. With that being said I promise its definitely worth reading. I'll start things off with one of my favorite R&B sirens Miss Ashanti. The singer is keeping herself busy as she celebrates the success of her new album BraveHeart . The singer will appear on The Queen Latifah Show on April 9 and on Good Morning America on April 18. She will perform the National Anthem on April 12 at the WBO(World Boxing Organization). If that's not enough she is currently working on music for the new 2 Pac biopic due in 2015. There is also talk about a second single which if Ashanti is smart will be Early In The Morning featuring French Montana. The song has topped the R&B iTunes chart top 10 upon its release outperforming her current single I Got It . If that's not enough of an indication of what your next single should be I'm not sure what else is. But something I do know for sure is that Brandy will appear...

 Talk About Our Love appeared on Brandy's 2004 album Afrodisiac . TAOL is one of my favorite Brandy songs. I was mortified that its one of Brandy's least favorite songs. I remember her saying something along the line of the song and its meaning and what was going on in her personal life triggers bad memories. Oh shucks! 





Say what? Hey y'all! For some reason I couldn't access Blogger for awhile. Not sure why? Maybe its because I am using Internet Explorer now and its been somewhat of a pain. But anyway. Kelly Rowland, there is talk that the singer has been dropped from the Universal Records roster. Could the label simply be updating their site? As we know Kelly's last album Talk A Good Game released last June had a few hit singles but the album's total numbers were dismal. Kelly's stint on The X Factor is over now as Fox has cancelled the show. So what's next for Ms. Kelly? I guess only time will tell. And its being revealed that Rihanna secretly visited Chris Brown in rehab. Just when you think Rihanna is over Chris Brown, she always comes crawling back. I guess the same can be said for Karrueche Tran, Chris' on again-off again girlfriend. I was just thinking...I wonder do Chris and Rihanna hook up every once in awhile? Well we've all seen Chris Brown's package s...

Chal is serving the TEA! Hey y'all! I think we just got our first little inkling that Janet Jackson may be returning to music a lot sooner than we think. Her frequent collaborator  Jimmy Jam aka James Harris announced on Twitter that Janet was not "done". There is also talk that Janet will appear on a compilation album produced by Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis. Sounds interesting right? Are you all ready for Janet to return to music? I am. I know she has been working on new music but simply taking her time. There is no talk of any label deals at the present moment but I'm sure most labels wouldn't mind snatching Janet up. And if your looking for some more DRAMA into your reality TV viewing habits, the new season of TVOne's R&B Divas Atlanta is among us. The season three premiere will arrive next month with two new additions, Meelah Williams of 702 and LaTavia Roberson of Destiny's Child. Will you be watching?

Chal is serving the TEA! So....I just read that Frank Ocean is filming the video to his first single off his new album. Say what? If the sound of the first single and accompanying album is anything like his Def Jam debut consider me sold. Speaking of sold, Ashanti's new album is out and its on track to sell upwards of 18-21K(thousand) copies in the first week. That's good considering she is an indie artist now. During her press rounds Ashanti revealed that she is working on the score to the upcoming Tupac biopic due in 2015. What do you all think about that? Well why you think about that Pharrell, who released his own album G I R L this week is producing on Alicia Key's next album. He describes Alicia's new work as "super next level" but we'll be the judge of that when we hear it. Right?

So! Just so you all know this is a pretty lengthy review so I'm just warning you ahead of time. It's been awhile since I reviewed an album. I typically only review albums I have an genuine interest in, one being Ashanti's long delayed album BraveHeart . The album starts with the Intro and the title track all rolled into one track. The Intro begins with Ashanti speaking about the last few years of her life and how its been an uphill battle. BraveHeart , the title track produced by LT Hutton features a repetitve hook that is very catchy indeed and will stay in your head. To be honest I'm not a fan of Ashanti's vocals on the album's first four songs. Though I do like Count (track #4) produced by Detail(producer: Drunk In Love ), it is one of the more radio friendly songs on the album but I'm not particurly fond of Ashanti's vocal performance of the song. The song instantly reminds you of a song that could be easily performed by Rihanna or even Beyonce. T...

Chal is serving the TEA! Well now! There's a battle brewing between singers August Alsina and Trey Songz. August called out Trey Songz during an interview for www.rapup.com . Apparently the two singers were supposed to tour together. Shortly before the tour Trey Songz' infamous ego arose and August was not flattered to say the least. I feel em though! Trey can be very cocky and that can rub anyone the wrong way. Let's hope this battle doesn't get too ugly.

  Check out J-Lo as she struts her stuff for her new single I Luh Ya Papi featuring French Montana. The song produced by Detail(song: Drunk In Love ) will premiere tomorrow at 2 PM. It is the first official single from J-Lo's upcoming Capitol Records debut. 

Chal is serving the TEA! Hey y'all! Happy Sunday! I was just reading that Kelis' new album FOOD has leaked a month in a half before its April 22 release date. The album features the first single Jerk Ribs. A video was serviced for the single awhile back but the video never made it to my blog, only because I only post videos from YouTube or VeVo or Worldstarhiphop. And speaking of new albums J-Lo's new album is shaping up to be quite the collaborative effort. The diva recently released the guest list of artists on her new album including Maxwell, Wiz Khalifa, Robin Thicke, Future, Chris Brown, and Tyga. Wow! Sounds like quite the lineup. There is still no release date on when we can expect a new J-Lo record. But the question is do you even care? Well from what I've heard so far I have been that interested but I can be persuaded with more music. And I know I'm a little LATE but VH1 has cancelled Single Ladies ! Thanks goodness. The show was boring and wasn't ...

Chal is serving the TEA! Hey y'all! If you recall it was just a few days ago where I and countless other blogs reported that Janet Jackson's marriage was in trouble. Now its been revealed through Janet's publicist that her marriage is not in trouble and that the couple are very "happy" unlike Robin Thicke & Paula Patton! Shade! Speaking of Robin Thicke, he is doing everything in his power to win back the trust and affection of Paula Patton. Recently the couple announced their separation. Robin has even cancelled a few tour dates of his to make amends with his wife. All I can say is good luck to Robin at getting his woman back. Though Paula comes off very kooky she looks to be a very good woman that any straight man would love to wife up. And if it seems as if this entire blog post is about the dissolution of relationships, its because it is. That leads me to the next couple, Brandy and Ryan Press. The two recently got engaged a few months ago and now word ...