Whitney Houston- Swarovski Fashion Rocks

Whitney Houston closing the Swarovski Fashion Rocks charity event.
Work it Girl!

Mary J. Blige- Album Release Party: Dream Big!!

I had the privilege of being invited to attend Mary J. Blige's star studded album release party at Manhattan's upscale Soho Grand last night. All of the cameras flashed outside, but inside was another story. How was it that, I rode the up elevator with John Legend and Mario, directly after Tank exited the same; Maxwell stood a few feet a way. My head went back and forth looking at the bevvy of celebrities in attendance. I actually touched the rich fur that covered Ms. Patti, and was within arms length from Mary.
As she sat talking to LL's wife Simone and Al Reynolds who tried to talk her ear off, you could see that she was tired but joyful, gracious, and human. I didn't want to ruin the calm excitement that filled the room and my spirit with an intrusive camera flash. Instead I can hold onto the memories as they keep me moving forward on my journey.
I know that Mary never knew that she would have a party in her honor with the likes of Woody Allen celebrating her. Just like I never knew that I would even be in the room with, much less interview some of my favorite artists. Well actually I did know, and Mary probably did too...deep down inside.

Never Stop! You never know where your Dreams will take you.
Dream Big & Work Hard...
Merry Christmas!
SDM

Growing Pains- In Stores Now
Come To Me (Peace)

More Mary

JANET JACKSON TO RELEASE “FEEDBACK” – DEBUT SINGLE AT ISLAND DEF JAM MUSIC GROUP, IMPACTS JANUARY 7th

LEAD TRACK FROM DISCIPLINE – IDJ DEBUT ALBUM, SET FOR FEBRUARY 26th RELEASE


“Feedback” produced by Rodney Jerkins – other producers on new album include Jermaine Dupri, Ne-Yo, Stargate, Tricky Stewart, and The-Dream


Janet Jackson currently starring in Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married? , #1 box office smash

(December 13, 2007 – New York, NY) International megastar Janet Jackson, who has sold over 100 million albums worldwide and is the newest signing to the Island Def Jam Music Group, has completed her first new single for the label with hitmaking producer Rodney Jerkins. “Feedback” will impact across-the-board at all radio formats on January 7th.

DISCIPLINE, Janet Jackson’s new album – and the 10th studio album of her career – is scheduled to arrive in stores on February 26th. In addition to Rodney Jerkins, the new album brings together an A-list of guest producers, including Jermaine Dupri, Ne-Yo, Stargate, Tricky Stewart, and The-Dream. DISCIPLINE was executive produced by Antonio “L.A.” Reid, Chairman, Island Def Jam Music Group.

In a class all by herself, 5-time Grammy Award-winning and Oscar-nominated Janet Jackson is currently starring in Why Did I Get Married?, the smash hit movie by Tyler Perry, which opened #1 at the box office. This is the third motion picture of Janet’s career, and her third to open at #1, following the success of Nutty Professor II: The Klumps (2000), and her leading title role in John Singleton’s Poetic Justice (1993).

Erykah Talks about Honey & New Album titled Titled "Nu AmErykah"

Watch Erykah introduce herself, 'Honey', and the new album......




New Album "Nu AmErykah" In stores February 26th

Daniel Merriweather- Steps Out on His Own

Well Almost...Mark Ronson's Goldenboy Daniel Merriweather is readying himself for his debut album that will be produced by Ronson. Take a listen to the first single 'Chainsaw'
Looks like Ronson is sticking to his winning old soul formula (Amy Winehouse- Back II Black). I Like!

More Daniel

The Perfect Holiday

I couldn't resist this clip. Enjoy!

Cookies & Milk



Synopsis
An African American take on the classic and beloved Christmas family film, THE PERFECT HOLIDAY tells the story of Nancy (Union), a divorced mother of three who is so busy raising her children that she’s forgotten to take care of herself as well. With Christmas fast approaching, she decides to take her kids to the mall to meet Santa Claus, not knowing that her youngest daughter Emily (Khail Bryant) has sensed her mother’s sadness and is determined to use her time with Santa to make her mom happy again. Just a few days prior, Emily heard her mom say that all she wanted for Christmas was a compliment from a man, so that’s exactly what she tells Santa. Ironically, Santa (Chestnut) is an office supply salesman and struggling songwriter who ends up giving Nancy just what she wants for Christmas, and much, much more.

Directed by: Lance Rivera
Cast: Morris Chestnut, Gabrielle Union, Faizon Love, Terrence Howard, Queen Latifah, Charlie Murphy, Katt Williams, Jill Marie Jones, and Rachel True
Producers: Shakim Compere, Queen Latifah, Marvin Peart, Leifur B. Dagfinnsson, Mike Elliott, and Joseph P. Genier
Story by: Lance Rivera & Marc Calixte
Screenplay by: Lance Rivera & Marc Calixte and Nat Mauldin & Jeff Stein
Release Date: December 12, 2007
Release Pattern: Wide
Rating: PG

Michael Jackson works with Akon, Fergie, will.i.am & Kanye West for Thriller 25th Anniversary Edition Album Re-Release

EPIC RECORDS/LEGACY RECORDINGS UNVEIL
THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION
OF MICHAEL JACKSON'S THRILLER
THE WORLD'S BIGGEST SELLING ALBUM OF ALL TIME

Newly Expanded Deluxe Edition of Multi-Platinum Grammy-Winning Album
With New & Previously Unreleased Bonus Tracks
Including Remixes By Akon, Fergie, will.i.am & Kanye West
+ Bonus DVD Featuring Digitally Restored Short Films
& Michael Jackson's Historic Breakout Performance
From "Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever" Television Broadcast

TRACKLISTING

Thriller: Original Tracklisting
1. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" - (#5 Hot 100, #5 R&B)
2. "Baby Be Mine"
3. "The Girl Is Mine" (with Paul McCartney) - (#2 Hot 100, #1 R&B, #1 Adult Contemporary)
4. "Thriller" - (#4 Hot 10, #3 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks)
5. "Beat It" - (#1 Hot 100, #1 R&B)
6. "Billie Jean" - (#1 Hot 100, #1 R&B, #9 A/C)
7. "Human Nature" - (#7 Hot 100, #2 Adult Contemporary)
8. "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" - (#10 Hot 100)
9. "The Lady in My Life"

Bonus Material
10. Vincent Price

Previously Unreleased Tracks For 25th Anniversary Edition
11. The Girl Is Mine 2008 with will.i.am*
12. P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) 2008 with Michael Jackson and will.i.am*
13. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008 with Michael Jackson, Akon and will.i.am*
14. Beat It 2008 with Fergie*
15. Billie Jean 2008 with Kanye West*
16. For All Time (unreleased track from original Thriller sessions)*

Bonus DVD
The Videos
1. Thriller
2. Beat It
3. Billie Jean
4. Billie Jean performance from Motown 25: Yesterday, Today and Forever

Read More

New From Raheem DeVaughn- 'Customer'

Raheem Devaughn's new album 'Love Behind the Melody' is due in stores January 15th. Listen to his second release Customer

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Mary J. Blige- 'Growing Pains' Listening Party NYC

Watch EXCLUSIVE footage of Mary J. Blidge at her listening party for 'Growing Pains' in NYC. Listen for snippets of the new album!



More Mary

Mary J. Blidge- 'Growing Pains' Endorsements & Appearances

Geffen Records superstar and hit-making songwriter Mary J. Blige, is set to follow-up the most successful album of her career, the triple platinum The Breakthrough, with her eighth (8th) studio CD Growing Pains on Tuesday, December 18th, one week before Christmas.

Growing Pains includes her top ten single “Just Fine” which has become an instant favorite on radio enjoyed by over 20 million listeners. “Just Fine” is in heavy rotation on MTV, BET and VH-1, and Mary recently shot the video for her second single, “Work That,” which is currently featured in an Apple iPod commercial.

After selling over 40 million CDs and garnering six Grammy Awards during her phenomenal 15-year career, Mary is confident that her fans will not be disappointed with Growing Pains. “They’re going to get a sense of what my state of mind is and how I view the world,” she says. “And hopefully, most of all, they’re going to hear just the sincere honesty and love that I have for them.” She adds, “Growing Pains represents accepting that there’s pain that goes along with growing and change. No pain, no gain.”


Growing Pains, with Mary co-writing most of the songs on the album, features guest appearances by Ludacris and Usher and production by The Neptunes, Jazze Pha, Johnta Austin, Neyo, Stargate, Bryan-Michael Cox, Dre and Vidal, Tricky, Dream, and Sean Garrett.

Mary makes her message loud, clear and seriously funky on the first release “Just Fine” produced by Jazze Pha and Tricky and co-written by Mary and Dream. A celebration of life, “Just Fine” gives you Mary fierce, and as the video shows, glamorous. The song’s vibe? “Sometimes it feels like you’re having this miserable time, like all 365 days of the year are tough. But then, you get one of those days; maybe when your hair is great, or you’re not stuck in traffic; where it’s a ‘just fine’ day. At some point,” Mary laughs, “You’ve got have one or two of those.”

The party and positivity keeps on keeping on with the rump shaking second single “Work That.” Mary comments, “When I meet a woman who doesn’t know what to do about her weight or her hair I always say – ‘whatever it is that you have, make that work for you, Work what you got.’”

After releasing her bestselling anthology Reflections last year, Growing Pains is Mary’s first CD of new material since The Breakthrough debuted at #1 in 2005, selling over 700,000 copies its first week -- the best opening week for a solo R&B female artist in SoundScan history. The album’s first single, “Be Without You,” also made chart history by holding down the #1 spot on the Billboard R&B charts for a record breaking 16 straight weeks; making it the longest-running No. 1 song on the R&B chart in over 40 years. Mary led all artists with eight 2007 Grammy nominations for the landmark album, and she took home honors for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, Best R&B Song (both for "Be Without You"), and Best R&B Album. After earning three Grammy Awards, she continued her award show domination by winning nine Billboard Music Awards, two American Music Awards, two BET Awards, two NAACP Image Awards, and a Soul Train Award. The Breakthrough lived up to its name selling over seven million copies worldwide.

You can witness the incredible magic of Mary J. Blige on television this week as she performs on “CNN Heroes: All All-Star Tribute” on December 6th and “Movies Rock!” on CBS on December 7th (both at 9 PM Eastern time).

Mary will also bring in 2008 on New Year’s Eve on MTV.

J. Holiday Videos- 'Suffocate'; 'Be With You'- In Case U Missed It

Watch J. Holiday's third video- 'Suffocate'

This song is cool, but it can't touch my Spotlight Pic: 'Be With You', produced by DarkChild. This was the first single, apparently, it did not set the world on Fire like 'Bed' but it is still my fav.

Kirk Franklin: The Fight of My Life Interview- "There’s nothing about what I try to do that is religious."

Kirk Franklin took time out of his busy schedule for a brief Press Junket, to discuss his upcoming album "The Fight of My Life"; due in stores December 18th. Read excerpts from the session where Kirk talks about his personal relationship with God and his definition of religion. Kirk also discusses how his life has changed since appearing on Oprah, and
what he would say to a budding musician in the ministry.
Click Here to see Kirk's Shout Out to SpotlightGrooves.com!


More Kirk


{Edited}
SDM: Hello, Kirk Franklin, how are you?

Kirk Franklin: I’m doing good, how are you doing?

SDM: I'm very good,..I have a few questions. Religion is under, I would say, attack right now, some people are upset about the commercialization of it, we’ve always had televangelism, but with the rise in the popularity of the Pastors and investigations into their finances and even your television show, 'Sunday Best', what is your take on that, on the commercialization of religion?

Kirk Franklin: Well, I feel the same way that other people feel. I don’t think that religion is even something that I’m even trying to endorse. There’s nothing about what I try to do that is religious. I’m not a religious person and you know, I’m, you know, a child of God, I’m a man who loves Jesus and that wonderful love relationship doesn’t birth anything religious inside of me, that it just develops this great relationship that I have with my heavenly father. Religion is a bunch of man made rules that kind of keeps people down, it keeps people in a prison, and so that’s not anything that I try to endorse. And trying to reach the masses in ways that they haven’t been reached before without compromising the message, I think, is very important, and I think that we all have to be very careful, including myself, that we never compromise truth for entertainment. And so, that’s why accountability is so important, to have a team of people around you that can hold your actions accountable, to make sure that the message and the integrity of the message is never lost.


SDM: That is great to hear. For your last album, 'Hero', you appeared on Oprah and I wondered, how did your life change after that? You were very open in discussing some very personal issues. People go on Oprah and apparently their lives change. Did your life change, and in what way?

Kirk Franklin: Well, I was invited to come because of several years of me sharing my story within the church community. So, for me, it was this continuation of a testimony that I’ve been giving for about 6 years. For the people that knew me, they already knew because I’d been sharing my testimony for years; for the people who didn’t know me, I think that {they} we’re so used to people being exposed because they chose to be exposed. When a person exposes himself, they don’t always know how to receive it. And so, you know, it’s always going to be people that love you for that and there’s going to be people that feel like, you know, "whatever is going on at home, stays at home", and that’s been a demise especially to the African American community. Look at how many people in our community suffer because we didn’t share those things. You know, we knew of things that were going on in our families, with our family members, but because we don’t talk and because we were taught not to talk, people died quietly. I’m just very, proud that I tried to fight it.


Writer: The title of your album is 'The Fight of My Life', so what would you say is the biggest fight of your life? And what would be your advice to someone who was going through the biggest fight of their life?

Kirk Franklin: What I would just say, man, life is going to always be a battle and there's always going to be a struggle; and so, you know, what we have to do is we have to always remember that we don’t have to fight this battle by ourselves. That the battle is not ours, it’s going to be proven that, Christ is going to give us the victory, man and we don’t have to live in fear.


Writer: Wonderful. Now, you’ve broken a lot of barriers in gospel music, but you’ve also faced criticism, because you’ve come out with more contemporary fans. What would you say would be your biggest criticism, and how did you respond to that?

Kirk Franklin: Well, you know, it’s just people questioning my motives and my heart, you know. A lot of times it’s hard when people question my motives and my heart, and whenever people do that, you know, that’s always been hurtful. I just always want to live a life that’s really honest and true. But, you know, that’s going to come and I’ve had to just accept that and just learn how to take it.


Writer: When you have a great catalog that’s kind of building – when you have done, like, six, seven, albums, how do you make it so you’re not just saying something similar . Do you kind of respond to different things your going thru during that time ; is each recording, sort of a reflection of where your walk is, at that time? How do you make it so it’s unique, so people, are not like, well he kind of said that same thing back in 95 or something?

Kirk Franklin: You know, for me, I am just a firm believer that every song and every gift is, you know, every good and perfect gift is from above, and so, if it’s from above, then all I have to do is just stay connected to him, and if I stay connected to the one who gives the gift, then I don’t have to worry about trying to figure out what to say, all I have to do is to stay connected. And as I stay connected, you know, God has promised that he’ll speak what he wants to speak through me.


Writer: What kind of advice would you give to an up and coming person who feels the call to do, sort of, what I would call, a musical ministry? Besides just obviously listening to the spirit, what would you say, in terms of how to make a difference in music, for someone, who’s maybe 20 years old, saying, "hey, I feel this calling, I’m a musician, and this is what I want to do"?

Kirk Franklin: What I would say is that the first thing that you should do is to weigh the costs and to be able to see if this is something you really can commit your life to. That there are things – so many people are so jaded that the last thing we need is another half hearted soldier. Let’s try to take another gun and try to fight a war that in the middle of it, they’re going to get tired of it and walk away from, that I think the people have to really count the costs of what this is. You know, the cross is heavy, man, and you know, trust me, man, I’d be making more money if I was like some mainstream rapper, you know. I talk about Jesus, and because I talk about Jesus, there are a lot of doors that get slammed in my face. There are a lot of opportunities, you know, that I don’t get because I’m that Jesus dude. So, if you’re not in it to win it, you’re going to walk away. I have to make a decision everyday on who do I love more, him or me?

De La Soul, LL Cool J- Jam Master Jay Awards

The Ballroom was Packed Thursday as Rap Legends Paid Homage to an Innovator.

Check out video footage of De la Soul performing hits including "Buddy" and "Ooh"



LL Jumped on stage with EPMD

ERYKAH BADU Returns with New Single, "HONEY"

"HONEY" Audio
Universal Motown's multi-platinum-selling, Grammy award-winning singer/songwriter/actress Erykah Badu returns to the music limelight with her debut single "Honey." Laced with Erykah's bluesy grit and MC style vocals, the song is bolstered by producer's 9th Wonder's razor sharp hip hop beats. Badu describes the song as "an old school track with some funk on it."
Praise for the single is already rolling in, with tastemaker DJs in NY, Chicago, Dallas and other cities already declaring their love for the innovative song.
The recent release of "Honey" on November 20th also marks Badu's 10th year in the music industry. To celebrate, the gifted trendsetter prepares the release of her much anticipated new album on her birthday, February 26th. Badu has enlisted some of the most talented, groundbreaking underground producers and engineers in the hip-hop game to support her breakthrough return, including Grammy Award winning producer 9th Wonder (Jay-Z, Nas, Mary J. Blige), Madlib, Mike "Chav" Chavarria and R&B singer Bilal. A special, 12-inch pink wax edition will be available only to DJ's next month and will feature album tracks, "The Healer" and "Real Thing."
"The music is the star," says Erykah, "I just laid down my vocals and let the music breathe while the melodies tell the stories."
Erykah Badu, a Dallas native emerged in 1997 with her masterpiece debut album Baduizm as a primal force of nature connecting old school soul with contemporary R&B. The album garnered her numerous award nominations, pulling 2 coveted Grammys (Best Female R&B Vocal, Best R&B Album) and multiple Top spots on critics' Best-Of-The-Year Lists. In 2000 she followed up with the critically acclaimed platinum selling album, Mama's Gun. In 2003, the EP World Wide Underground was awarded Gold certification.
Erykah most recently performed a Diana Ross Tribute on the BET Awards and the hit show Girlfriends and received rave reviews. The highly regarded upcoming project will be Badu's first full length album in 7 years.

UMG