the chal banz blog

Remy Ma took home the award for Best Female Rapper last night at the BET awards breaking Nicki Minaj's 7 year streak! Remy definitely deserved the honor in my opinion. Someone pointed out the fact that Remy was the only nominee that actually released an album this year(her joint album with Fat Joe) which I didn't even realize. Female rappers have no problems putting out songs or getting on features but putting out albums is a totally different story. Congrats to Remy Ma for her win! Now as far as the BET awards is concerned, I was not home to watch the telecast as I was out being social. I did however had the ability to capture the most talked about moments and performances thanks to social media. One of the highlights of the night based on my seeings was the reunion of famed R&B group Xscape who sang a medley of their hits. Bruno Mars opened the show. Future and Kendrick Lamar performed the remix to "Mask Off". French Montana performed his hit single, "Unf...

Does Ashanti have new music on the way? Well that's the way it looks judging from her social media pages. The singer posted a video of herself adorned in a glittery dress walking in slow motion over an intoxicating instrumental. Ashanti included the hashtag #JustWaitOnIt signaling there is new music on the way. Are you all here for i? I know I am. I like Ashanti and I'm ready for some new music. Trey Songz, Migos and Bruno Mars are the first names announced as performers at this year's BET Awards. As much as I like Trey Songz, I'm not really sure why he gets a performance spot considering his latest album, "Tremaine" did horribly in sales as did the singles. I just found the whole project underwhelming. None of the singles grabbed me and I just felt like the whole sex thing this time comes off more as desperate than believable. Trey is currently on tour and now in his act, he brings a woman on stage; seduces her and attempts to pick them up without injuring ...

Mama Tina comes to her daughter's rescue after everyone accused Beyoncé of dipping out of the BET Awards. Apparently Beyoncé had to be overseas for her overseas leg of her "Formation World Tour". Lil' Kim's fans came to her rescue after Nene Leakes started throwing shade or one of her writers for her new website. The website which Nene just launched called "The Fab Gab" deals with everyday topics including plastic surgery(which Nene has been very open about in recent years) and dating. Nene took time to address the Lil' Kim fans by saying she didn't write the article that threw shade at Lil' Kim. I wonder will Nene address what Khia said about her on her video blog. Nene is one of the few celebs who will basically responded to every negative critique she receives especially when it comes from another celebrity. Jennifer Hudson has signed to Epic Records. Jennifer has been apart of the Sony Records family since her first signing. Originally...

Mariah Carey has been bringing out surprise guests during her stint in Las Vegas. Just last week she brought out John Legend for an intimate lap dance for her hit single, "Touch My Body". Just a few days ago Mariah brought out none other than Blac Chyna which I thought was pretty random. I guess! Who do you think Mariah will bring out next? Congratulations are in order for Jill Scott who got married this weekend! Suge Knight is suing Chris Brown for saying his lack of security is the reason why he got shot 5 times. Chris Brown's ex manager has spoken out and says they quit because Chris was "irrational" and "on drugs". No surprise there! Justin Timberlake faced a backlash after Jesse Williams' BET acceptance speech. He has since apologized for his words which stated "we are all one" or something along those lines. Jesse spoke about the power of Black people and what we represent during his acceptance speech for his Humanitarian award. ...

Beyoncé opened up the 2016 BET Awards last night with a performance of the song, "Freedom" and she was joined by Kendrick Lamar and abruptly left the show. Beyoncé's mother, Tina Knowles-Lawson accepted Beyoncé's awards in her honor. Someone told me at work that Bey had to leave to go to London. Is that true? While I didn't personally watch the BET Awards telecast, I was informed through social media at many of the aha moments and performances. The "other" highlight of the show was the many Prince tributes in the form of Erykah Badu, Bilal, Janelle Monae, and Jennifer Hudson who brought the house down with "Purple Rain". I was fortunate to see a :30 second clip of the performance and I need to see the rest. Elsewhere Toni Braxton was in tow with her new man, Birdman. Speaking of Toni, her sister threw some shade on IG over Toni's decision to use Tamar's ex makeup artist. Tamar is too damn dramatic for my taste. I like dramatic but no...

Hello all! So the hosts for the 2016 BET Awards has been revealed and its none other than "black-ish" stars, Tracee Ellis Ross and Anthony Anderson. I swear I read that Mike Epps was the host this year but maybe that was just a rumor. In reality TV news, Toya Wright and Mickey "Memphitz" are now officially divorced. We all know Toya from the BET show, "Tiny & Toya" fame and for being Lil' Wayne's former wife. Memphitz is famously known for his volatile relationship with K. Michelle which has played out over the years on the blogs, the court room, and TV. Wiz Khalifa and Amber Rose are also now officially divorced. The former couple celebrated by going to a strip club together. Happy Birthday to Prince! The singer would of been 58 years old today! R.I.P.

Hey people! I know its very rare that I greet you all personally but I wanted to say this post is being labeled the "Shade Edition". A lot of shade was thrown last night and over the last few days. So I'll start with Lee Daniels, creator of "Empire" who shad some words for his dear friend Mariah Carey. He said "Mariah shouldn't do reality TV!". Mariah responded by saying her new show, "isn't a reality show". Take that Lee Daniels! Ha! On a totally different note, Madonna is facing a backlash after her Prince tribute fell on deaf ears. Madonna was joined by Stevie Wonder for a somber duet of Prince's "Purple Rain". While I feel the tribute left a lot to be desired, at least Billboard did pay tribute to Prince, had they not, people would of been upset about that. Immediately after the performance, BET shaded Madonna by posting a 15 second clip with the caption, "Yeah, we saw that. Don't worry. We got you"....

Drake leads the nominees for the 2016 BET Awards which were just announced yesterday. Drake leads with 9 nominations. Beyoncé has 5 nominations. The BET Awards air next month. Speaking of award shows, The Billboard Music Awards will air this Sunday on ABC. Artists scheduled to perform are Britney Spears, Pink, and Ke$ha. Are their any black performers? But there are black hosts; Ciara and Ludacris. Do you all remember when Ciara and Ludacris read off the nominee list on live TV and Ciara didn't want to read Future's name on the teleprompter? Ha! But your son's name is Future! What's the difference? Speaking of Ludacris, he is back on the set for "Furious 8" which I believe will be released next Summer. It looks like we won't be seeing the first Whitney Houston hologram performance that was set to air on "The Voice" Monday. Whitney's estate had the performance pulled after it leaked online. The performance featured a duet with the show...

Nicki Minaj and Eminem are both featured on the remix to The Weeknd's "The Hills" song but on separate tracks. Speaking of Nicki, she spoke out on the beef between Meek and Drake saying "their grown ass men" and "it hurts" cause she loves both of them. Chad "Ochocinco" Johnson went on social media and claimed to have sent nude pictures to Rihanna and says she has yet to respond. I bet she showed her friends the pics. Now she just needs to show us! :) Then again hell Chad might show them himself being the type of person he is. The BET Hip Hop Awards were recorded last night and are set to air on October 15. In attendance were 2 Chainz, Diddy, Lil' Kim, Snoop Dogg, Lil' Scrappy, Bambi, Redman, T-Pain, Big Tigger, Maino, DeJ Loaf, Soulja Boy, Rick Ross and many more. Scarface was presented an award and was arrested shortly thereafter. Not sure about what though. Today marked the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March and many showed...

So some of us are still reeling over what was the BET Awards. Now comes news that Rich Homie Quan was set to perform on the telecast but it was undecided what stage he would perform on, the main stage or the pre-show stage. When BET and Quan's team were unable to come to a decision it resulted in a shouting match and no performance from Rich Homie Quan. :( Speaking of BET, people are up in arms about Rihanna throwing whatever she did in BET President Stephen Hill's face. Personally I think the whole thing was staged since it was filmed backstage. Rarely does an award show let you even go backstage to see what's going on. I think that was all perfect timing. What do you think? And Iggy Azalea has caught some heat after she tweeted in regards to the dismal sales of her Britney Spears assisted single, "Pretty Girls". The two performed the song back a few months ago on The Billboard Music Awards. Apparently Britney caught the shade and sent out a tweet in response b...

The BET Awards went down last night! Here is a list of the winners, presenters, performers, etc.  Hosts: Anthony Anderson & Tracee Ellis Ross Presenters: Laverne Cox, Gabrielle Union, Sanaa Lathan, Morris Chestnut, Michael Ealy, Keyshia Cole, Monica, Boris Kodjoe(sp), Nicole Ari Parker, the cast of "The Game", Kelly Rowland Winners: Kendrick Lamar, Nicki Minaj, Chris Brown, Terrance Howard, Tariji P. Henson  Performers: Lil' Kim, Faith Evans, Mase, Diddy, The Lox, Kendrick Lamar, Janelle Monae, Jidenna, Omarion, Pharrell Williams, Chris Brown, Ciara, Jason Derule, Tinashe, Tamar Braxton, K. Michelle, Patti Labelle, Fetty Wap, Meek Mill, Alicia Keys, The Weeknd, Kelly Rowland Audience Sightings: Joseline Hernandez, Stevie J, Rihanna, Floyd Mayweather, Busta Rhymes, Ray J, Brandy, Keyshia Cole, Smokey Robinson, Diggy Simmons Tributes: Smokey Robinson(Lifetime Achievement Award) and Janet Jackson(Ultimate Icon Award)

Well it looks like Rick Ross will be spending a little more time in jail. He was just denied bail after he was arrested for aggravated assault and kidnapping. Speaking of arrested, Diddy and the Bad Boy Family including Lil' Kim, Faith Evans, 112, Mase, and more will reunite at the BET Awards airing this Sunday. Chris Brown who is also expected to perform numerous times Sunday night is releasing a new album in the Fall. The untitled project comes hot on the heels of his recently released "X" album. The album's first single, "Liqour" was just released. What do you all think about Rick Ross? And are we looking forward to the Bad Boy reunion? I hear their all going on tour together too and if that's true that will be pretty big. And are you looking forward to seeing Chris Brown take part in the Janet Jackson preview? And are you looking forward to his new album? Thanks for reading! :)

So its finally been confirmed that BET will be honoring Janet Jackson at this year's BET Awards airing on Sunday June 28. Ciara, Tinashe, Chris Brown and Jason Derulo will be on hand to honor the icon. Will you be watching? I think what would be really cool is if Paula Abdul played a hand in the tribute in some capacity, whether it was her performing one of Janet's routines or presenting her with an award? I mean what do you all think? Paula played a big part in Janet's career early on. Speaking of surprises, Tyga possibly found a way to stop people from talking about he and his teenage lover! Early this afternoon Tyga surprise released his album, "The Gold Album" on Spotify. I don't have Spotify so I guess I'll have to hear it in a different capacity. "The Gold Album" has been sitting for awhile on the shelves since Cash Money wouldn't release it for unknown reasons. Lil' Wayne faced the same fate causing him to fall out with Birdman....

Happy Father's Day to all the Father's out there. And I want to give a special shout out to all readers in Russia. You guys have been showing a lot of support and I'm glad you continue to visit my blog. Now on to some music news...so with the announcement of Janet's new single, "No Sleeep" being released on June 23. It's now being rumored that BET is paying tribute to Janet at their BET awards this year. Word is Ciara is to take part in the tribute but for now everything is hush hush and nothing has been confirmed. Hey! Maybe Janet will perform her new single there as well. I guess we will have to wait and see. Something you will not see is Claudia Jordan of "RHOA" on the show's upcoming 8th season. Jordan was fired and no specific reason was given. Though many have alluded to her beef with Nene Leakes being a deciding factor to axe her. The story goes that Claudia was hired to take on Nene and she did just that. But when the executive prod...

The BET Awards nominations have been revealed and there's really no surprises. I just think its a bit bogus how they wait so late to release their nominees when the show is a month away, I guess that's black people for ya! Here is a list of some of the nominations below: BEST FEMALE RAP NOMINEES ARE:  AZEALIA BANKS TINK IGGY AZALEA NICKI MINAJ DEJ LOAF TRINA  BEST FEMALE R&B/POP ARTIST BEYONCE JANELLE MONAE JHENE AIKO CIARA RIHANNA K. MICHELLE BEST MALE R&B/POP ARTIST AUGUST ALSINA CHRIS BROWN JOHN LEGEND THE WEEKND TREY SONGZ USHER  For a complete list of nominees log onto www.bet.com   The BET AWARDS will air on Sunday June 28. Will you be watching?