the chal banz blog

Jay-Z's much anticipated album, "4:44" was released last night via streaming service TIDAL(which Jay-Z co-owns). Cellular phone service Sprint offered its current customers and future customers 6 free months if they signed up for TIDAL. Jay-Z famously scored a deal with Sprint which helped house the album. The response to the Jay-Z's new album has been overwhelming to say the least. Here's what I know(and read considering I haven't heard the album yet). No I.D. produced the album. Jay-Z name checks(and disses) Kanye West, Solange, Eric Benet(actress Halle Berry's ex-husbad), OJ Simpson(song: "The Story of OJ" and I'm assuming it references the football athlete), Future, Diddy, etc. Jay shockingly opens up about his marriage with Beyoncé(involving infidelity, stillborns, egos, children etc.). The album is currently being celebrated via social media and beyond. It is a welcome return for the New York emcee! In other music news...Socialite and...

As we all know Mariah Carey is still legally married to Nick Cannon and the rumor has been that he is not willing to sign the divorce papers. Nick Cannon is denying this and says he wants Mariah to be "happy". Well then, sign those damn divorce papers! Justin Beiber was seen on camera fighting in Cleveland at the Westin Hotel after a man and two women asked for a picture. Justin replied "no" and went to lunge on the man. What is Justin smoking? He really needs to get over his self in my opinion. Bobby Brown's tell-all interview has some people reeling particularly mother of Whitney Houston, Cissy Houston. And we all know Cissy don't play. Cissy talked to People magazine and blasted Bobby's claims about Whitney. In the interview, if you missed it, Bobby says he caught Whitney doing drugs on their wedding day; which is pretty believable. Whitney herself says the drugs started around 1992. He also alleges that Whitney had a same sex relationship with fri...

Iggy Azalea is back with a new single titled, "Team". It the first single from her new album,"Digital Distortion". The famed rapper spoke candidly recently in an interview saying she was "suicidal" during the times everyone was taking jabs at her. I wouldn't of guessed she felt that way being that she always responded back to everyone who came at her, but that still doesn't mean that those words didn't affect her. Well I hope she is okay now! In other music news..Ashanti's stalker has been found guilty. Ashanti and her stalker both appeared in court and he defended himself and grilled Ashanti about the lewd text messages he sent her. And 2 Pac's mother Afeni Shakur is getting a divorce and her estranged husband wants half of 2 Pac's estate. Say what? And the Game is being sued after threatening to break a man's jaw! Nothing new there! And on top of that he spoke explicitly about singer Kehlani on IG and she clapped back. Game ...

2 Chainz just won a case involving a woman who sued the rapper for referring to her as a "THOT" in a backstage video. Elsewhere, Mendeecees Harris from "Love & Hip Hop New York" was just sentenced 8 years in prison. The trailer for "Love & Hip Hop New York" was just released a few days ago and in the clip, there was that possibility of him facing jail time. Future is being sued after a promoter paid him $15,000 upfront to perform at a club. When Future performed, his manager pulled him off stage after only one song when it was discovered that the promoter didn't have the rest of Future's money. The promoter is suing though. Ha! Benny Boom, most notably known for being a video director having worked with the likes of Keyshia Cole is now said to be directing the long-awaited, oft-delayed Tupac biopic. And is Rick Ross sending shots to Drake and Lil' Wayne on his new song, "Color Money". Well it looks like Ross the Boss, made r...

Azealia Banks was caught on tape cursing out a flight attendant who wouldn't let her off of a plane. Azealia could be heard screaming and yelling several obscenities to a flight attendant who retrieved her bag and wouldn't give it to her. Azealia defended herself via Twitter. There is a cop running around saying that he along with Suge Knight helped 2 Pac fake his death. Rumors about 2 Pac faking his death have run rampant since his death. Question is, what do you think? Do you think 2 Pac is still alive? I know many always wondered how 2 Pac managed to still release music. Sure, he had a lot of music in the vaults but with the amount of music being released at one time, it only added fuel to the rumors that 2 Pac was still alive.

Madonna is going all out for her new video to her new single, "Bitch I'm Madonna" featuring Nicki Minaj. The video is said to feature Beyonce, Katy Perry, Rita Ora(l), and Miley Cyrus. The video is set to premiere any day now and its being touted as an answer to Taylor Swift's "Bad Blood" video which featured a handful of pop starlets. Are you all looking forward to new Madonna video? Kanye West and Kim K. West celebrated North West's second birthday party complete with the Kardashian clan and Tyga. Drake and The Game have been hanging out shooting the video for the single, "100". Ne-Yo, Meek Mill, Nicki Minaj are just a few of the performers at this year's BET Awards airing in 2 weeks(can't remember the date off top). And Happy Birthday to the late great 2 Pac Shakur. He would of been 44 today! Many artists alike paid their respects to the entertainer today.

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?

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...

There has been whispers and rumors online that Chris Brown's new album; "Fortune" would be pushed back and now the rumors have been confirmed. Originally scheduled to be released on May 8; the album will now be released on June 26. I'm not sure of the pushback but its not like the album release really needed it since Chris has multiple hit singles out at once. Then again this has become standard in R&B/Hip-Hop releases anyway. We get at least three or more single releases before the album is actually released. Suge Knight has found another way to conjure up some controversy for whatever reason. The famed former record label exec believes that Tupac is still alive; like many other people. He claims stem from Tupac's recent Hologram performance at Coachella which featured performances from Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Azealia Banks, and Frank Ocean to name a few. I mean I can understand why Suge and even other people make notions like this and as long as things like...

That's according to TMZ who have claimed to see the footage and describes in detail below: A five-minute sex tape showing Tupac receiving oral sex while rapping and dancing has surfaced ... and TMZ has seen it. The tape, shot in 1991, begins with a bunch of groupies in a living room during a house party. Tupac walks into the room with his pants down to his ankles, his shirt off ... sporting several chains. Tupac -- whose head is shaved -- pulls one of the women toward him, and she begins performing oral sex. As she does her thing, an unreleased song of Tupac's is playing in the background, as Tupac is singing along and dancing, wiggling his hips. And it gets even better. As the woman services Tupac, who is holding a cocktail in one hand and a blunt in another, Money B from Digital Underground walks over to him. Tupac puts his cocktail arm around Money B, continues singing and dancing ... and the woman never stops. As the tape ends it appears he's ready to begin s...

Thanks to the success of 2009's "Notorious"; an untitled 2Pac biopic is now in the works. There is also word brewing that there may be a similar pic about Aaliyah as well. You can read more about the upcoming 2Pac biopic below as well as stories on Master P's oil outrage and Mariah Carey's baby bump. A biopic on Tupac Shakur is currently in the works and Antoine Fuqua ( Training Day , Brooklyn’s Finest ) has signed on to direct, according to digitalspy.com. In an interview with the site Fuqua said production company Morgan Creek recently approved his role in the flick. “It looks like we’re doing Tupac Shakur’s movie next in September, that’s what I’ve been starting up and working on now,” he said The former music video director said he’s interested in finding an unknown actor to play the iconic hip-hop legend. “That’s the goal, I want to discover someone new,” he revealed. “I want to discover a lot of new people if I can. Obviously I’m going to have to pu...

Everyone has had something to say about Nicki Minaj and rap legend; Pepa[of Salt N Pepa] speaks on Nicki Minaj and her image. Read more below about that story as well as 2Pac's mother's arrest and Eve's fall out with Interscope Records. “Not everyone’s role model material, but we do have a sense of responsibility because kids listen more to us than they would their parents. But [Nicki's] young, so how’s she gonna enlighten?’ She’s new, she’s excited and what happens when you have a male camp backing you? Yeah, you might be singing those kinds of lyrics,” she says with a laugh. “That’s what happens when you have a male camp dictating how you should be.” 2Pac's Mother Arrested For Drug Possession! Late rapper Tupac Shakur's mother, Afeni, was arrested earlier this month on a drug possession charge after being busted by North Carolina police. According to reports, Afeni was arrested on April 16. The mother of late rapper Tupac Shakur was arrested earlier t...

Before she turned into a TV talk show host, Wendy Williams was known for being a notorious, nosy, on-air personality that asked all the questions everyone is dying to know. Over the years Wendy has had beef with many celebrities for quoting news stories or should I say gossip. Check out some of her most well-documented feuds. 2Pac My knowledge on this story is a little vague. I do remember though there was a story about 2Pac in jail and getting raped or having sex with a man. It was a strange story to say the least. Method Man Wendy reported some news regarding Method Man having an affair and once the rapper caught wind of the story, he recorded a video dissing and threatening Wendy. Scary stuff! Chris Brown Wendy being the person she is, she is known to say some pretty off the wall stuff. Whatever Wendy said about Chris(probably in regards to Rihanna), it rubbed Chris the wrong way and he later tweeted about it. The two have since made up and Chris will appear on Wendy's show this...

I don't care what anyone says but I am a big fan of Ms. Shani Bani. I loved "The Declaration" and it was sadly overlooked. Now on the heels of her performance at VH1's Hip Hop Honors telecast, Ashanti speaks a little about her upcoming album! Next up the songstress is readying a new album, her first since parting ways with Irv Gotti and Murder Inc. Records earlier this year. The untitled project is slated for release next year on her own Written Entertainment imprint, she said. For her forthcoming album, her fifth overall, Ashanti said she's working with a mix of new and familiar faces, including the writer behind her last album's biggest hit, "The Way That I Love You." "I've been working with a lot of people," she said. "These new producers, The American Dream, Warren Campbell, L.T. [Hutton] again, who did my last single. So it's been good." Lil' Wayne Confirms Nivea's Pregnancy Rumors! Lil Wayne recently confirme...

Queen Pen speaks out against domestic violence Music Biz: Fantasia Plans New Album, Career Moves! American Idol winning singer Fantasia has a lot on her plate this year, one of the things she admits she's focused on is her next album. While the effort is currently untitled, Fantasia says "I want to reach back to the audience I had from Idol. What I want is a timeless record".In related news, Fantasia is stepping back onstage for another run of "The Color Purple" this summer. She will also take on reality television via a soon to be aired series at VH1. ---------------- Now playing: 2pac - So Many Tears via FoxyTunes

---------------- Now playing: Gucci Mane - Stoopid via FoxyTunes

Keyshia Cole has chosen "You Complete Me" as the second single from her upcoming album, "A Different Me". I recently heard the song on the radio late one night. Unlike her first single, "Playa Cardz Right" feat 2Pac, this song is actually an original one. I don't know how I feel about this upcoming album. The samples I heard on Amazon didn't do the album any justice. I will really have to give the album a full listen to decide if I like it or not. Audio: Shawty Lo feat Lil' Kim - Get Money First single from Shawty Lo's new album coming soon. Video: The Game feat Ne-Yo - Camera Phone Music Biz: D'Angelo Not A Bad Boy! Despite rumors suggesting a signing with Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Bad Boy Records, R&B crooner D’Angelo is remaining at his current record label AllHipHop.com has confirmed.“While both gentlemen hold one another in the highest regard, the stories circulating in the press are totally false,” according to D'Angelo's ma...

Audio: The-Dream - Right Side Of Ya Brain Music Biz: Janet Jackson's Superbowl Case Returns! It’s been almost five years since Janet Jackson flashed her nipple during the Super Bowl halftime show broadcast, but the controversy still rages on! The Federal Communications Commission has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower court ruling that threw out the FCC’s half-million dollar fine against CBS. The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in July that the FCC’s huge fine violated the Commission’s policy of not punishing broadcasters for “fleeting” moments of objectionable content. But the FCC says the Circuit Court misinterpreted an old FCC rule about profanity (the rule said that an expletive had to be repeated before it would be considered “indecent.” The FCC has since changed that rule.) Patti LaBelle Cooks Up A Storm! Patti LaBelle has released her third cookbook, Recipes for the Good Life. It’s got instructions for over 100 dishes and personal stories from throughout ...

Keyshia Cole looks extra lovely on the latest issue of Billboard magazine. In the article the singer talks about her new album, new outlook on life, and the new season of her hit series, "The Way It Is" which airs on BET. Keyshia's new album, "A Different Me" in stores December 16 is just one of the many high-profile albums dropping this holiday season. The album is led by first single, "Playa Cardz Right" featuring 2Pac. The album contains collaborations from Monica and Polow Da Don just to name a few. I didn't care much for Keyshia's last album as a whole but it had some standouts here and there. The album's singles were very huge and that alone gave "Just Like You" a long shelf life. Audio: Britney Spears - Kill The Lights New song from Brit's "Circus" album in stores December 2. The song was produced by Danja(worked with Keri Hilson). A lot of people are excited and looking forward to Brit's real(and true) co...