WEDNESDAY'S BIG R&B SCOOP!

Former Member of "Da Band" Sara Stokes has shot the video for her new single "You" at the Nightlife Hotel on November 1, 2006 in New York City. She looks really pretty and reminds me a lot of Terry Dexter.

LeToya Luckett was at the MTV Studios in New York for "Sucker Free on MTV". Not sure if it's me but it looks like she upgraded those implants ....

Yesterday, Ciara attended the Veuve Clicquot's "Yelloween Vampire's Ball" in Miami and looked stunning.

So yesterday, Ciara's album cover for Ciara: The Evolution was unveiled and I'm quite disappointed with it. I always stated that her true beauty lies in the black hair and I am very happy that she maintained this look for the album cover and not that horrible blonde disaster of a fake fan-made cover that was floating around the Net weeks ago. It just looks cheap and on some low budget shit. They could've also picked a better font as well. Somebody needs to hire my ass when it comes to album cover designs. I'd have done a much better job than this but let's hope that the songs on her album are spankin' hot and make up for it. It's refreshing to see that her album has 17 tracks because a lot of artists only came with 11-track albums so at least the fans will get their money's worth. She already impressed me with her new song Promise and that brilliant new video of hers. Ciara: The Evolution is expected to hit stores 5th December 2006.

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Yesterday, Ciara also dropped by at BET in which she performed. I'm sorry, but she's taking her Aaliyah "inspiration" a little too far in my opinion. It's okay to be inspired by someone but there is a BIG difference in being inspired by someone and straight jacking them. Ciara has adopted Aaliyah's hair, baggy outfits and fancy footwork and not content with that, hangs out and collaborates with Aaliyah's closest pal and collaborator Missy Elliott. I mean, dang, if you're going to jack somebody, at least try to disguise it out a little instead of making it look blatantly obvious. Or maybe Ciara reminds Missy of Aaliyah which is why she ALWAYS hangs out with her.

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That is kinda sad because if one of my best friends died under such tragic circumstances, then there's no way I'd try and compensate her loss for a replacement which is what it looks like Missy is doing. We know Missy still misses Aaliyah and so do her fans like myself and a million others but still, it's just - eerie. To me, it just looks like she has studied ALL of Aaliyah's video's and decided to jack pieces of this and that to conduct her latest marketing package which is just not cool. Her Promise video was definitely Aaliyah reincarnated.

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When she came out with Goodies, she was nothing like Aaliyah, her image was different and her choreography was no where near parallel to Baby Girl's style and she came out with a sound that was fresh, hot and innovative (she was the first female to grace her vocals over a Crunk & B beat) but with this album, she is Aaliyah from front, back and center. On Ciara's new album, she has a 7-minute tribute called Cry. If it's about Aaliyah, this would explain EVERYTHING. I cannot wait to hear this track. When her album leaks, this will be the first track I listen to.

I posted the inside spread last week but here is the actual front cover of that Kelis shoot. The pictures were taken from Vibe's Vixen and I absolutely love this picture. Very artistic and creative.

On 30th October, my favourite singer Tamia attended the 2006 Phenomenal Women Celebration & Award Cermony. Kiss FM 98.7 in New York presented the 2006 Phenomenal Women Celebration & Award event. Guests included honoree Star Jones, and performances by Tamia herself and Brian McKnight.

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Jennifer Lopez, her husband Marc Anthony and her mother Guadalupe attended the 10th Annual ACE Awards which took place on October 30th at Cipriani's in New York City. I hate her make-up but a part from that, she looks okay, though I'll admit she has looked much hotter this year especially when she attended the Oscars. She needs to go back to looking like that or just call it a day. I sometimes wonder if she applies on talcum powder under her eyes. Maybe it's a new thing to hide aging wrinkles or her crates which show in FULL effect when she's not wearing any make-up. Other Latina's like Eva Mendes, Salma Hayek, Rosalind Sanchez, and Zoe Saldana are giving her a run for the money. She use to be jump-off-a-cliff gorgeous but now she's been looking rather off lately.

On 30th Oct, Fantasia performed at the 2006 Avon Foundation Awards celebration in New York. Never mind the performances, just come with the album. Judging by some of the tracks that have leaked, I know that ish is going to be hot!

On 30th October, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams attended the "Stranger Than Fiction" movie premiere. I don't think long hair suits Kelly AT ALL. Her face is really long. I think her suited style is short hair with the bangs, think the look she rocked in that Destiny's Child Say My Name video. Michelle on the other hand looks great which makes a nice change! Hell has frozen over. I just found it in myself to compliment Michelle *lol* I mean months ago, she was looking like Nicole Richie, all skinny and sickly but now she's glowing and looks really healthy. I guess the break-up of Destiny's Child worked in her favour.

Raven Symone made an appearance at the VIP Reception For LA Lakers owner Jerry Buss. Say what you want about Raven but she holds it down for the thick chicks and yes she's THICK, not fat in my opinion and she is gorgeous with it too. If you want to talk fat, talk Monique. Anyway, I love her hair and am thinking about getting a cut like that for the new year. It also looks like she had a breast reduction because she has always been top heavy and her tata's looked much bigger than that in the past but if she got it done for health reasons then fair play to her. I just hope she doesn't resort to getting lipo or facial surgery because she is beautiful.

NEW MUSIC

Another new Mario track has leaked and it goes by the name of Crying Out For Me. This song is great, well polished and production-wise, he has definitely evolved as an artist. I love the new vocals. They're a lot deeper than usual, more sensual. I actually prefer this track better than the Breathe track. I still say that Omarion's Ice Box is the hottest track from an R&B male artist this year. That song is straight FIYAH! Nevertheless, I look forwards to Mario's new album and if this song is any indication as to what to expect, then I can't wait to hear Effortless in its entirety. Click banner to download.

R&B CRUMBS ...

Yesterday, it was widely reported on many sites that Jay-Z did the dirty and dropped his non-selling act Teairra Mari whilst he parades his other act Rihanna like a trophy at his concerts (Rihanna has been very successful lately). "Princess Of The ROC" is no more as she left due to a "business decision" but why would you LEAVE, when Rocafella is as good as you'll get? It's not like to say she has record labels fighting over her ass. She just can't bring herself to say she got dropped. This comes as no surprise considering that Teairra's last album tanked and there has been no hype surrounding Teairra's sophomore album which was supposed to have dropped on the same day as Ciara. Maybe her downfall had something to do with those skanky chicken-head lyrics when she tried to be all grown and sexy before her time. Rihanna never needed to do that and look how far she has gone. You know something aint right when you are too young to buy your own CD all because it has a big fat parental guidance sticker plastered all over it.

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Oh, and I will not forget that one article where she trashed an ex-boyfriend just because she got to cruise around with Jay-Z and go to cool parties. She was like, why should I hang with him when I get to go to cool parties? Something to that nature. If anyone has the article, please submit it. So where is your Mr Cool Jiggaman now Teairra? I regularly frequent a forum in which Teairra's cousin posts and last year, when her album was about to drop, he wouldn't shut up talking ish that she was going to be the new Beyonce, what? Ironic that Rihanna succeeded in doing just that. Hmmm, okay. I wonder what he has to say about this. As soon as more light is shed on the situation I'll post it. Anyway Teairra Mari is supposedly looking for a new record deal.

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Letoya Luckett's official next single will be Obvious. I say it should do pretty well on urban. Alesha Dixon from Mis-teeq has done a Mya and pushed back her album to early next year because her second single Knockdown isn't doing too well and her first single Lipstick also bombed. It's not looking good for Alesha. If the public do not care about her, what makes her people think it will be any different next year? Just release the album and if it flops, it flops. She could always do a Take That and All Saints and regroup with Mis-teeq who were like one of the most successful R&B groups in the UK (needing to add that we don't have much R&B groups in the UK). Stay tuned for more R&B crumbs.