HRS News

26 year-old Johnta (pronounced zhan-tay) Austin is a Grammy-winning songwriter who made a name for himself penning hits such as Mariah Carey’s mega-hit “We Belong Together” (2005) and one of the biggest hits of 2006, Mary J Blige’s “Be Without You.”

Austin’s debut Ocean Drive is due December 26 and offers lovers of R&B a soulful classic vibe that belies his youthful age.
We caught up with the prolific singer/songwriter (listen) who talked freely about his journey as an artist, working with Jermaine Dupri and his love for Alicia Keys.

AUDIO INTERVIEW WITH JOHNTA AUSTIN

Photo courtesy Virgin 

Legend among legends and Godfather of Soul, James Brown passed away early Monday, December 25 (Christmas morning). He was 73 years old.

Despite his edgy lifestyle and seemingly neverending decades of performing, Mr. James Brown was truly one of those people whom you expect to live forever, as evidenced by the shock waves traveling around the planet on what to many is the biggest holiday of the year.

At a time when most are usually sleeping “with visions of sugar plums” dancing in their heads, a small army of folks are typing away furiously in an attempt to begin to pay homage to this great man. More is to come. RIP JAMES BROWN.

According to Hollywood.com, Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith have been inspired by the enormity of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes’ wedding and have decided to mark their tenth anniversary with a massive ceremony of their own.

“We had on OK wedding,” Will Smith said. “We just came back from Tom and Katie’s wedding. So, that made me realize we didn’t have a big wedding. They had a real wedding. It was just the most amazing, beautiful, wonderful, fairy tale experience ever and I was just sitting beside Jada going, ‘Phew!’ I hadn’t had too much success when we got married, so I couldn’t afford that. Ten years – we’re going to go back and do it again – renew the vows and all that.”
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Right on the heels of sending an excited birth announcement heralding the arrival of twin girls D’Lila and Jessie, Diddy wasted no time in taping video footage while still in the hospital. The video, at Myspace, basically reiterates the birth announcement, but we have a feeling there’s more footage to come.
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Beyonce star vehicle Dreamgirls has been named by the African American Film Critics Association (AAFCA) as the top film for 2006. Nominated for a number of Oscar awards, the film adaption of the popular stage musical also grabbed the AAFCA awards for Best Supporting Actor: Eddie Murphy, and Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson.

Will Smith starrer The Pursuit of Happyness, currently the No. 1 movie in the country, also made the AAFCA’s top 10 list.
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Although he’s got the No. 1 album in the US, Young Jeezy hasn’t forgotten his roots. The Atlanta native is preparing for a Christmas concert in his hometown, Macon, GA to be exact, as Macon is the scene where Jeezy first developed his rap skills. He performs Saturday night (December 23) at Rock-A-Billy’s. The show takes place at 9 pm and tickets can be got for $30, according to the Macon Telegraph. http://www.macon.com/mld/macon/entertainment/music/16290210.htm
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While her husband, Nas, comments on the fate of hip-hop, Kelis has taken on a massive new Ford campaign that sees her penning hot hooks and appearing on billboards and in commercials alongside Funkmaster Flex.
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Hip-hop pioneer Doug E. Fresh is launching a cartoon series called Ultra Five. “It’s about the five different elements of hip hop,” Fresh said, referring to the oft-overlooked 5th element of beatboxing. The New York legend hopes the series will educate folks about true hip-hop culture, and, according to Soundslam, also revealed hopes to drop a new album and open a film studio in Harlem.

Today is a estatic day for Diddy, aka Sean Combs and girlfriend Kim Porter. In an excited email titled “What do you name Royalty?,” Combs sent the joyous pre-Christmas birth announcement.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” the announcement exclaimed, “please welcome to the world, 5 lbs….19 1/4 inches, D’Lila Star Combs; 5 lbs/4 oz….19 1/2 inches, Jessie James Combs. WATCH OUT WORLD!!!!”

Combs went on to explain the names came from “2 people to have incredibly impacted me and Kim’s lives.”

“We’re proud to announce that we are naming the twins after our beloved grandmothers…. Kim’s grandmother’s name is Lila Star. My grandmother’s name was Jessie Smalls.”

Diddy flew on a stand-by plane from Toronto, where he halted filming on the movie adaptation of the play “Raisin in the Sun,” to an undisclosed New York hospital for the births.

Porter gave birth with Combs by her side and is resting comfortably with the girls.

The couple also have 10-year-old son, Christian, together, while Porter is also mom to son Quincy, from her relationship with AL B Sure. Combs has additional 13-year-old son Justin from a previous relationship.

“God is the Greatest. All the Time!!!!!!!” said Combs, before signing the announcement, “God Bless, Diddy.”

There has been a fair amount of new holiday music floating around, but how much of it is really worth listening to more than once without having to gulp down a glass of (really strong) eggnog?

So far we take our hats off to Bootsy Collins for giving us a great album of funky party Christmas jams. Some of the joints on Christmas Is 4ever are original tunes, some are Bootsy-style versions of staples but all are fun. Click here to buy the CD or download it from iTunes.

For those of you looking for more traditional holiday music check out our music store where you can find R&B/soul holiday albums or any genre you want (just type it in). Also check out our picks for Top 10 classic and contemporary R&B/soul holiday albums. Also visit a wide collection of excellent R&B/soul songs available through iTunes, from the popular to the obscure.

Finally, for those looking for some of the latest stuff, check out this cut from Danity Kane. You can listen to it here and download right here… unfortunately, we can’t supply any eggnog. Merry merry.

AUDIO: Danity Kane – “Home For Christmas” Windows|Real|Download on iTunes

Just in case you’d like to hear more from Mos Def, the East coast thespian/emcee has generously offered even more tracks besides the first two.

And yes, for all you who are wondering, Mos’ third solo album, True Magic, is due out on Friday, December 29. No it is not a typo.
Typically albums drop every Tuesday but since there’s nothing typical about Mos, this really shouldn’t come as a surprise. Enjoy the tracks.

AUDIO:

“Crime & Medicine” – Windows|Real

“Sun Moon & Stars” – Windows|Real

Justin Timberlake has just announced the dates for his upcoming 2007 FutureSex/LoveShow, scheduled to premiere in San Diego, CA on January 8th, 2007.

The 34-date North American leg of his worldwide tour will include special guest Pink. Timberlake will be accompanied by a 14-piece band and back up dancers all performing in the round. More info on seating packages can be found at www.JustinTimberlakeFanClub.com.

If you haven’t heard JT live, here’s a concert version of “Like I Love You” recorded in England in 2006 with his current band. The Prince disciple breaks it down in a decent way on this rare, funky track, so check the dates below.

AUDIO:

Justin Timberlake – “Like I Love You” (Live) Windows|Quicktime

Confirmed FutureSex/LoveShow dates:

1/8 San Diego, CA iPayOne Center
1/9 Anaheim, CA Honda Center
1/12 Sacramento, CA ARCO Arena
1/14 Phoenix, AZ Glendale Arena
1/16 Los Angeles, CA Staples Center
1/17 Fresno, CA Savemart Center
1/27 St. Paul, MN Xcel Energy Center
1/30 Toronto, ON Air Canada Centre
1/31 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
2/2 Washington, D.C. Verizon Center
2/3 Cleveland, OH Quicken Loans Arena
2/6 Boston, MA TD Banknorth Garden
2/7 New York City, NY Madison Square Garden
2/18 Buffalo, NY HSBC Arena
2/22 Tampa, FL St. Pete Times Forum
2/24 Miami, FL American Airlines Arena
2/25 Fort Lauderdale, FL BankAtlantic Center
2/27 Atlanta, GA Philips Arena
3/1 New Orleans, LA New Orleans Arena
3/3 Bossier City, LA CenturyTel Center
3/4 Houston, TX Toyota Center
3/5 Dallas, TX American Airlines Center
3/8 Omaha, NE Qwest Center
3/9 Ames, IA Hilton Coliseum
3/16 Nashville, TN Gaylord Entertainment Center
3/18 Charlottesville, VA John Paul Jones Arena
3/19 Pittsburgh, PA Mellon Arena
3/21 Uniondale, NY Nassau Coliseum
3/24 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun
3/27 Philadelphia, PA Wachovia Center
3/29 East Rutherford, NJ Continental Airlines Arena

To celebrate his new album, The Price of Fame, Bow Wow has gotten together with Photobucket.com for a look-a-like contest.

To enter, anyone who thinks they look like the teen rapper or any other celebrity, can send in their photo and the name of the star they look like to bowwowphotos@gmail.com.

Bow Wow will then pick the best entries and make them into a slideshow which will be featured on his MySpace.com page (www.myspace.com/bowwow.) The slideshow will be powered by Photobucket.com.

Two grand prize winners will also receive a copy of The Price of Fame, signed by Bow Wow himself. The contest will run until January 13, 2007.

As previously reported, the new album, released December 19, finds Bow talking about matters close to his heart.

“Now that I’m older, there are things that I can talk about,” said Bow. “Finally I’ve gotten the green light to talk about what I’ve wanted to talk about for so many years. It’s definitely a real rap album. I’ve stepped up lyrically. I want to become known as more of a lyricist, I want to prove I am more than a heart-throb.”

As one of 2 rap murder cases that seem like they’ll never be solved, the Notorious B.I.G. murder case has now been linked to a sexual harassment suit filed by LAPD Sgt. Ya-May Christle who claims the murder investigation was botched by authorities.

Meanwhile, Sylvester Stallone recently revealed that plans for “Notorious”, a movie he was was set to co-write, produce, direct and star in, about the murders of both Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur has been shelved due to red tape.

“I don’t think it’ll ever be done because of the amount of lawsuits that would be filed,” said Stallone whose last Rocky movie will open later this month.
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Ahmet Ertegun, founder of Atlantic Records and responsible of nurturing the beginning careers of soul artists such as Aretha Franklin, Ruth Brown, and countless more, passed away. He was 83.
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Living blues legend, B.B. King was awarded the Medal of Freedom on Friday by President George W. Bush. Acknowledging his hard childhood, (King lived alone by the age of 9 and picked cotton for 35 cents a day), Bush cited King as an inspiration for the world’s greatest musicians as well as being “The King of the Blues.”
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Soundslam.com has blown the whistle on what they claim is a phony emcee battle. Battlerap.com promises upcoming emcees the opportunity to battle for a chance at a record deal with Pure Records, but according to the online mag, the contest is a fake. Despite attracting top notch producers such as Cool and Dre, the online battle seems tainted by the fact people need to pay $25 to enter and there has been no winner or announcement dates posted.

Despite claims that his people are tripping (we agree), Mos Def is scheduled to drop his True Magic on December 29.

Production help on the set (pushed back from a September release due to internet leaking) comes from Pharrell, Minnesota and Preservation. The set features the following two tracks “Fake Bonanza” and “Napoleon Dynamite.”

We find it suprising that an emcee as vocal as Black Dante would only do email interviews to promote his new album. Our experience with email responses are that they’re usually canned and/or warmed over. Perhaps this is his label’s way of censoring his controversial views labeled anti-zionist and anti-homosexual in the past? Hmmmm…. Tell us what you think.

AUDIO:

“Fake Bonanza” Windows|Real

“Napoleon Dynamite” Windows|Real

True Magic track listing:

1. True Magic 2:52
2. Undeniable 4:16
3. U R The One 3:58
4. Thug Is A Drug 2:53
5. Crime & Medicine 3:09
6. A Ha 2:36
7. Dollar Day 5:10
8. Napoleon Dynamite 2:00
9. There Is A Way 3:28
10. Sun, Moon, Stars 4:39
11. Murder Of A Teenage Life 3:26
12. Fake Bonanza 4:11
13. Perfect Timing 4:14
14. Lifetime 5:47

www.mosdefmusic.com
www.myspace.com/mosdef