the chal banz blog

The Billboard Awards are going on as I type this. With that being said, I will give a brief recap of what has occurred so far. The award show, hosted by Ciara and Ludacris opened with a performance from Britney Spears. She performed a medley of her hits including "Toxic" and "I'm a Slave 4 U". The Weeknd won for Hot 100 Artist. Wiz Khalifa won for his "Furious 7" song, can't remember the name of it. Fifth Harmony performed, "Work From Home". Meghan Trainor performed, "No". Oh yeah, Justin Beiber also performed. :( Nick Jonas performed and Shawn Mendes. Presenters included DJ Khaled, Kelly Rowland, Keke Palmer, Heidi Klum, Michael Strahan, etc. At this point I'm pretty much just waiting on the Prince tribute. In other music news, Tamar Braxton was reportedly let go from "The Real", the daytime talk show she hosted along with 4 other women including singer Adrienne Bailon. Tamar posted a cryptic message on social ...

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...

So......................how is everyone doing tonight? Here's what's going on in the world of music. MUSIC BITS: Ludacris will release his new album "Ludaverses" on March 31 via Def Jam Records. Ludacris and his wife recently announced that their having a baby and personally I think people are more excited about that then his new album. One album that I believe people are excited for is the new album from Jodeci, "The Past. The Present. The Future". The album title sounds like that of a greatest hits collection but it is indeed a new album. The album contains the hit single "Every Moment"(which is one of my favorite songs right now). The new album will also be available on March 31. Speaking of available Iggy Azalea's boyfriend Nick Young is now coming to his honey's defense. After a sportscaster made some unfavorable comments about Iggy, Nick sounded off on Twitter to the heckler and threatened to handle him when he seems him. I think the...

How are you all on this Sunday night? I'm doing fine I suppose. Not looking forward to the work week but what else is new? Any who here is a little news for you all. I have to report some sad news today in the world of R&B. Singer Charmayne Maxwell formerly of group Brownstone(song: "If You Love Me") has died after a fall at a soccer game in Denmark. Maxwell is married to producer Soulshock, one half of the production duo Soulshock & Karlin. Prayers to the family. And speaking of family, on a brighter note, Ludacris and his wife have announced they are having a baby. Congrats to the couple.

So how is everyone? I'm doing okay for the most part. I apologize for not updating in a few days but never fear I'm back to get you all caught up. BABY MAMA DRAMA: I'll start with Ludacris who just won custody of his 1 year old daughter. There is video online of Luda and his baby mom in court and I must say baby mom was not attractive. Then again it could of been her horrendous haircut. Happy Birthday to J. Cole, the rap star turns 30! J. Cole recently got engaged to his longtime love and his new album was recently certified Gold. And Benzino's crazy self got arrested for attempting to carry a loaded gun onto an airplane. As dumb as this sounds I can't say I'm surprised. I wonder what Benzino was thinking though by doing that. What do you all think? While I'm on the subject of Love & Hip Hop Atlanta stars, Lil' Scrappy has dissed Wendy Williams saying that she puts down black people. And he doesn't care if he's ever on her show and he used t...

ABORT MISSION: I'm back after a brief time away for the Holidays. I was going to blog over the break but I left my laptop at home. So anyway on the news, Nicki Minaj opens up on the cover story of Rolling Stone magazine. She says she had an abortion at an early age and the decision has haunted her ever since. It looks like she also took another shot at her nemesis Iggy Azalea by implying that certain artists brag about not writing their material. Then again I'm not sure if she were talking about Iggy but if I had to take a wild guess I'd say she was the intended target. Though I can't quite recall Iggy ever saying she didn't write her rhymes as its been suggested by Minaj. In other Nicki news a video of her performing an acting scene in school has leaked out and they say she was not happy about it. Why? I don't know. Nicki's album The Pink Print is doing well on the charts and now I'm eager to get my hands on it now because all of a sudden I have a rene...

Aside from going around claiming he's broke and he doesn't have enough money to pay his child support, Ludacris blocked his former protégé Shawnna from entering the 2014 BET Hip Hop Awards . This story is ludicrous to be honest. It just goes to show that niggas are bitches too!

From his upcoming album Ludaversal .

Ashanti has been pretty quiet on following up with a new single after The Woman You Love featuring Busta Rhymes only managed to peak at #59 on the R&B charts. Well word is that a new single is in the works and should be released within the next two weeks.  Ashanti's upcoming album Braveheart is said to be released on August 28. We'll see about that! Whatever the next single is it needs to be big and if Ashanti is going to feature someone maybe someone like Drake would be fitting. With the rumored Cash Money/Young Money ties what do you have to lose?   Ludacris is set to return with a new album Ludaversal as well as the album's first single Jingalin' . The song was produced by Da Internz(produced Big Sean's Dance(A$$) . The song is said to go to iTunes at the end of the month. There is no release date for the new album as of yet but stay tuned. 

---------------- Now playing: John Legend ft/ Ludacris - "Tonight (Best You Ever Had)" - Music Video Teaser - YouTube via FoxyTunes

2012 is about to be legendary. John Legend is readying his return to the spotlight with a new single and album. The Grammy-winning crooner will release “Tonight (Best You Ever Had)” featuring Ludacris on Monday, January 23. The Phatboi production will appear on Legend’s fourth solo album and the soundtrack to the romantic comedy Think Like a Man, which also features the title track by Jennifer Hudson, Ne-Yo, and Rick Ross. “We’ll be putting out a new single this week. ‘Tonight (Best You Ever Had)’ – Me feat. @Ludacris. Look for it on Monday!” Legend announced via Twitter. “The single will be on my upcoming album (unless y’all hate it!), but it’s coming out on the ‘Act Like a Lady…’ soundtrack also…” The follow-up to 2008’s Evolver (He also collaborated with The Roots on 2010’s covers album Wake Up!) will be executive produced by Kanye West. In addition, the two have been in the studio working on the G.O.O.D. Music album.

"Need A Boss" was the debut single from former DTP/Def Jam recording artist Shareefa. I'm not sure what happened to Shareefa except for that she morphed into what's otherwise known as the singer; K. Michelle. They bare quite the resemblance to each other. I remember my sister had this song as her call tone and my Mother got mad at her. Told her "she too old to have that Rap shit on her phone!" Ha!

Ludacris has revealed that he is working on a new album titled; "Ludaversal" to be released by the end of the year. The rapper just started work on the album and in the meantime you can catch him in the fifth installment of "The Fast & The Furious" which will be in theaters April 29. Aubrey O'Day formerly of Danity Kane who has her own reality show on Oxygen; "All About Aubrey" has signed a new record deal with SRC/Universal Motown Records; the home of Akon and Melanie Fiona. I'm not sure when her album is coming out but probably not long after her show wraps up; that would be the smart thing. I never watched the show and it simply just doesn't interest me. Other former Danity Kane members have kept a pretty low profile with the exception of Dawn Richard part of trio; "Dirty Money". D. Woods put out a mixtape or two and that's about it. Jennifer Lopez will finally release her new album; "Love?" on May 3. The album co...