Many Nicki Minaj fans and critics were skeptical when she debuted the ‘sell out’ pop record ‘Starships’ to mixed reviews.  Proving that she can still rap like she’s back in Queens, the Young Money femcee gave NY’s legendary DJ Funkmaster Flex the go-ahead to premiere ‘Roman Reloaded.’ The song, which features YMCMB leader Lil Wayne, is basically 3 1/2 minutes of Nicki bragging about all that she’s accomplished since taking over the music scene.

I think this is a song that can grow on me.  As I’ve said before, I’m not a HUGE Nicki fan, but I can definitely appreciate the fact that this is a RAP record. *hands Nicki some of her street cred back*

Take a listen:

All The Dream wants you to do is ‘Kill The Lights’ this summer as he serenades the ladies with that familiar voice. This spring the Radio Killa will debut music from his forthcoming album ‘The Love IV: Diary of a Madman’, due sometime this summer. Starting March 7 and lasting until mid April, check out the dates and see if you’ll have a chance to see The Dream.

“Kill the Lights” Tour Dates

March 7 – Greensboro, NC – Greene Street Club
March 8 – Charlotte, NC – Amos Southend
March 9 – Wilmington, NC – The Soapbox
March 10 – New Haven, CT – Toad’s Place
March 11 – New York, NY – SOB’s
March 13 – Boston, MA – Wilber Theatre
March 14 – Providence, RI – Lupos
March 17 – Washington, DC – The Fillmore
March 18 – Baltimore, MD – Soundstage
March 20 – Philadelphia, PA – TLA
March 21 – Cleveland, OH – House of Blues
March 24 – Chicago, IL – House of Blues
March 28 – New Orleans, LA – House of Blues
April 3 – San Diego, CA – 4th and B
April 4 – Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre
April 6 – Las Vegas, NV – TBD
April 12 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL – Revolution
April 13 – Orlando, FL – The Beacham
April 14 – Tallahassee, FL – The Coliseum

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Beyonce looks gorg (pre-Baby Blue) in the promo foto for House of Dereon’s 2012 Spring Campaign. I was never really into this brand- I think Beyonce is the only person that looks good in it. She should still to performing in my opinion. However, I must say that the look has improved since debuting years ago.

Check out the promo video that accompanies the campaign:

Adele fans got all hot and bothered a few days ago when the British superstar took the stage at the Brit Awards to accept an award and was cut off after just a few seconds.

Badass sidenote: Adele flipped the bird when it happened and the awards show has since apologized.

Another British songbird, Lily Allen, is that the music industry is to blame:

I’d rather hear adeles acceptance speech.  I can’t say I’m surprised [it was cut off]. It was like the music industry’s attitude to women played out as a metaphor.

I agree that equality between women and men is an ongoing issue in the world, but what do we think of Lily’s statement? Do you agree or is she making a false assumption?

SOUND OFF!

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Fresh from discussing his viewpoint on the Rihanna and Chris Brown remix that he aided in making, the Radio Killa drops the visuals for his video ‘Roc’. Surrounded by beautiful woman and one leading lady that catches his eye, the track will appear on fourth studio album, ‘The Love IV: Diary of a Madman’. 

Check out the video after the jump:

Her music may not be hot right now but those legs are….

Ciara was spotted in Beverly Hills doing what she does best…shopping. Fotos were taken of the diva leaving Barney’s dressed very casually in printed shorts, a tank and sandals. CiCi is currently working on her debut with Epic Records under L.A. Reid.

Check out the fotos after the jump:

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Taylor Swift and Zac Efron paid a visit to Ellen DeGeneres to discuss their new roles in the animated film ‘Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax’. If you’ve ever watched Ellen then you know that’s the last thing she wanted to talk about. Speculation has been surrounding the two as being a couple, so of course Ellen asked.

Taylor responded:

We are not a couple,” Taylor said. “He is awesome, [but] we are not a couple, though.

To Ellen’s dismay, the two are not dating but are spending lots of time together working on the movie. She’s even teaching Zac to play the guitar. Cute.

Catch the vid below:

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Earlier this week, Vibe unveiled its February/March cover featuring the ‘Notorious K.I.N.G.’ Nicki Minaj.  Now, we’re granted even more access to fotos from the entire shoot as well as some interview excerpts.  Nicki talks about being intimidating, why she loves doing features and writing her second album:

On if it’s hard this time around to be a perfectionist this time around:

Actually, I’m writing 10 times quicker that I wrote the first album because I’m a lot more confident in who I am. The music is pretty much done, but we may hold the album back a bit so that things are done perfectly as opposed to being rushed, in terms of promotion.

I think I had the most growth outside Pink Friday. My features really gave me the most confidence because i used the features to play around a lot. Once I’m having fun, the lyrics are the simplest thing to come up with.

On if she’s intimidating:

I would say that people are cautious of the way they come to me. I’m just about my business. So when I meet people, it doesn’t matter how big of a celebrity they are, I maintain who I am. I maintain respect for myself. I’d rather people be intimidated than to be too comfortable.

On reinventing herself:

I’m always switching it up, so when I finally finished the tours and I came home and I relaxed, I just started feeling a certain way. And depending on my mood is when I change my hair up. And it just happens to coincide with the new album. But it wasn’t something that we said, ‘Hey, new album coming out we have to reinvent ourselves,’ because everyday is a reinvention.

There is some major Photoshop going on here, but she still looks fantastic!

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The Dream has made a rumored $15 million from co-producing and writing Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella,’ so it’s a no-brainer that they would continue their winning formula for other songs as well, including the just released fan favorite ‘Cake.’

The Dream talked to Sway on MTV RapFix Live and had this to say about the remix featuring Ri-Ri’s ex-boyfriend Chris Brown:

The Dream on if he knew Chris would be on the Birthday Cake Remix

No, I didn’t know he would always be a feature on this song. Eventually, I would; of course, I would have to know. This song came about and ended up being an interlude on the album because the last time that we had remaining – I think I was in Amsterdam, which we stopped over in Amsterdam for some reason– and I wrote this record. Everybody that knows me knows that I only write up until the first hook because I think you’re wasting your time if nobody likes it up until then. What’s the point in writing the whole song [because] you’re just wasting time. So I write up until the first hook and that’s all that was there and we ran out of time but she loved the song so much that she was like, “I have to record whatever is here and we’ll make it an interlude” with the thought that we think it may be a single but we wasn’t tripping.  Then she put it out and everybody got pissed off (because it was so short). That’s how the song part began and how she got to the Chris Brown part is probably…. all Ri … I remember her mentioning it. At the end of the day, she’s my friend, so whatever she wants to do is whatever she wants to do and we made it happen.

How did Rihanna tell you Chris Brown was going to be on the Birthday Cake Remix?

Very nonchalant.  I was in the car actually in Miami and driving. “What’s up? I think I’m going to put Chris on it,” [says Rihanna]. I don’t know which Chris you’re talkin’ about, [but] OK, cool, whatever you say. Then she didn’t say anything else about it and it happened.

He also talked to Billboard about the same thing, stating that at then end of the day ‘it’s just music’ and if Rihanna can forgive Chris, maybe we should, too:

For me, it’s just music — two talented people doing a record together, doing two records together, and that’s what it was. It wasn’t about an incident that happened. The true thing really is to forgive, and… you want to believe in people.

It was Rih’s idea, not only do we work together, but [Rihanna] is a friend of mine. And it’s like, ‘You wanna do something? Then cool, let’s do it.’ I don’t know how she got the logistics and how it happened — maybe she’ll talk about it one day. I showed up at the studio, and it was like, ‘All right, cool, let’s finish this record,’ which we probably should have finished the first time we did it.

I think [the topic] that should be more on the tongues is: how do we proclaim to be a nation of forgiving, and we go by all of these rules and everything, but we can’t actually do it? It actually makes you look weaker than your adversary — if you don’t have the power to forgive, but you lie and say that you did. Because this is about her, if she can forgive, that’s where she is mentally. As a friend, it’s like, ‘Okay, cool. Let’s roll.

Late last year, JoJo was on the promo trail in a major way readying the release of her next album Jumping Trains. Proving to fans that she has no plans to slow down, the singer stopped by Sacramento radio station 107.9 for a live acoustic performance of the album’s title track:

Today, she released the official ‘Disaster’ remix and video featuring DJ Kue and revealed the cover art for her next single, ‘Sexy To Me.’

As usual, JoJo kills her live performances, but I’m not feeling the dance remix.  The original sounds way better…but that’s just me.

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