(more…)

Looks like Vibe’s favorite white boy and the amazing Ms Mary J Blige are about to head out on tour this fall. The duo will be hitting up cities all over the country on their LOVE SOUL tour which kicks off next week in Virginia. Performing along side Mary and Robin Thicke is the debut artist off the Queen of Hip-Hop/Soul’s Matriarch label Dave Young whose premier album will be available in early 2009. “I am so excited about going out with Mary again,” said Young “I went out with her on the Breakthrough tour and I learned so much from watching her, how she would sing to her fans, connect with them and include them.” To see if the Soul Lie tour is visiting your area  see dates and venues below. Friday, September 19                 Virginia Beach, VA          Virginia Beach Pavilion Saturday, September 20             Washington, DC             DC/Nissan Pavilion Sunday, September 21                Raleigh, NC                   Time Warner Music Cable Pavilion Friday, September 26                 Philly/Camden, NJ          Susquehanna Bank Center Saturday, September 27             Charlotte, NC                 Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre Sunday, September 28                Detroit, MI                    DTE Energy Music Theatre Thursday, October 2                   New York City                Radio City Music Hall Friday, October 3                       New York City                Radio City Music Hall Wednesday, October 8               Baltimore, MD                1st Mariner Arena Friday, October 10                     Ft. Lauderdale, FL          Bank Atlantic Center Saturday, October 11                 Tampa, FL                      Ford Amphitheater Sunday, October 12                    Atlanta, GA                    Hi-Fi Amphitheatre Tuesday, October 14                  Chicago, IL                     Arie Crown Theater Wednesday, October 15             Omaha, NE                     Qwest Convention Center Friday, October 17                     Las Vegas, NV                Pearl Theatre Saturday, October 18                 Oakland, CA                   Sleep Train Pavilion at Concord Sunday, October 19                    Los Angeles, CA             Gibson Amphitheatre

Possibly one of the best soul, R&B acts we have seen emerge in the new millennium Robin Thicke has ousted Vibe in a recent interview for not putting him on the cover because he is white. The Lost Without You singer who is a personal fave of Jimmy Iovine, Andre Harrell, Pharrell Williams and married to Paula Patton (Deja Vu and Idelwide) put the glossy on blast in a recent interview with Billboard and rightly so. Their response to Thicke asking if a cover story was a possibility was this  ‘Why can’t I get the cover? This is a magazine I love. If there’s one magazine that I’d want to be on the cover of, it’s Vibe,’ “Thicke said. “Their response was they don’t have white artists on the cover; that the only white artist they’ve had on the cover was Eminem.” Funny that as I can think of Justin Timberlake on the cover of Vibe, I remember No Doubt front lady Gwen Stefani on the front cover and going through my old collections of the YEAR…wasn’t Robert DeNiro on there too. Come on good people at Vibe you need to sort your lies out if you gonna lie, becasue remarks like that are going to be put on blast. Robin Thickes Something Else project hits shelves on September 9th.

A few weeks back, I mentioned California-bred rapper Shwayze to you all and that he was on a quick rise to fame. To re-familiarize you all with his story, he’s from Malibu, and he got his start after he befriended rock producer and former Whitestarr member Cisco Adler. The two collaborated to make some songs and eventually got a deal with Suretone Records and got their own MTV show called Buzzin’.   Anyway, their debut album came out on Tuesday, and I wanted to share my thoughts on it with you all. The album is 12 tracks long (actually 69, but I’ll explain later), and is filled with quotable lyrics from Shwayze’s laid-back raps, and tons of catchy melodies crafted by Adler. The two singles “Corona & Lime” and “Buzzin” basically set the tone for the rest of the album, but definitely are not the highlights. Shwayze and Cisco are definitely a great duo, however. They feed off each other creatively, and have the unique ability to transform regular album cuts dedicated to James Brown  into potential singles that could get TRL play. The best track on the album is either the lead-off, “Roamin,” on which Shwayze discusses blowing up and having fun while doing it. Through all the weed and women references, this is a quality album with literally not one bad song. And, in an effort to surprise the CD-buying masses with a bonus, after the first 12 tracks, Shwayze & Co. add 56 tracks of white noise before track #69 – a bonus track.  Enjoy this album and go out and buy it, if you can sit through all 69 tracks.

Texas Titan Slim Thug has left the confines of Interscope Records to head on over to Koch to deal with projects for his Boss Hogg Outlaws. The Still Platinum rapper who signed to Star Trak/Geffen back in 2005 to release his first major album, wants to be more hands on with his own imprint which will be distributed through Koch. The second album from The Boss Hogg Outlawz will be hitting shelves on September 2nd and is titled….Back by Blockular Demand.

Finally! An artist has his own show on MTV and he doesn’t suck! If you guys didn’t catch the series premiere for “Buzzin” the other day on MTV, you just might be missing out on an actually good show on the Music Television Network. If you’re unfamiliar with Shwayze, he was bred in the mean streets of Malibu and is currently signed to Suretone Records/Geffen Records. Shwayze is the epitome of laid-back rap and is very visibly a product of his environment. His songs are slow, catchy, and very bouncy; much like the beautiful beaches of Cali. Shwayze’s group consists of Cisco Adler on guitar/vocals, who’s the former frontman of WhiteStarr and son of famed producer Lou Adler; DJ Skeet Skeet on the 1′s and 2′s; and Shwayze. With singles “Buzzin” and “Corona and Lime” getting heavy rotation on MTV and on several radio stations, Shwayze and his cohorts are definitely making some feel-good summer music for the boys and girls. Check out his debut, due to be released August 19th. For now, download “Buzzin” below… “Buzzin” by Shwayze