Kirk Franklin, Erykah Badu, Sade, Plies and MORE...







Everybody is talking about the Haitian benefit tracks coming by Bono with Jay-Z but don't forget Kirk Franklin has recorded a great song with a host of gospel artists including Mary, Mary, CeCe Winans, Donnie McClurkin and many more  to raise money for Haiti with "A Song For Pain"..

Erykah Badu will release her sixth studio album, New Amerykah, Part II: Return of the Ankh, on February 23 via Universal Motown. The singer says the set is called Part II because unlike 2008's more conscious-driven New Amerykah Part I: 4th World War, this album is more about raw feelings. "I called it Part II: The Return of the Ankh because this album is the sister of the left side of my brain - it is the right side," Badu explained during a New York listening session, according to Billboard.com. "Part I was the left side of my thoughts -- it was more socially political and my thought process was more analytical. This time there wasn't anything to be concerned with -- the album is more emotional and flowy and talks about feelings. It reminds of the days of Baduizm -- this is just about beats and rhymes in a cipher."

Sade is coming back. There's a date - February 9, 2010. Press Release on this page on our site

Was it just me or was Adam Lambert's performance on the AMA's a total waste of time?

Gotta give him props...Rapper Plies did a good deed during a recent concert at Florida State University. After noticing a young fan in the crowd he paid the little girl $1,000 to leave.

Plies was set to perform his smash hit 'Bust It Baby,' but felt the little girl was too young to hear the song's raunchy lyrics.

After pulling $1,000 out of his pocket and handing it to the girl, he told her to have her parents take her somewhere "nice."

Although there's no word on why the youngster was allowed to attend the concert in the first place, Plies' actions added a nice touch to an event deemed controversial to some. - Latifah Muhammad

Whitney Houston's I Look To You, her first new album in seven years, crusied to a #1 debut this week as it sold 304,800 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. This marks Houston's fourth #1 album and best opening sales week since SoundScan began tracking data in 1991. Her previous best opening week since that year came when 2002's Just Whitney bowed at #9 with 205,000, according to Billboard. I Look To You is also the singer's first chart-topper since The Bodyguard soundtrack spent 20 weeks at #1 in 1993. Her other two #1 albums were her 1986 self-titled debut, and her 1987 sophomore set, Whitney.

This is Whitney’s 7th studio album. Since her 1985 self-titled debut, she has built an illustrious career that has generated over 170 million combined worldwide sales of albums, singles and videos.  Cited by the Guinness Book of World Records as music’s “most awarded female artist of all time,” with an unsurpassed tally of 411 awards, inclusive of 6 Grammy Awards, 2 Emmy Awards, 23 American Music Awards and 16 Billboard Music Awards…Houston remains a singular force in music today.


Raphael Saadiq will release his first live DVD, Raphael Saadiq: Live From The Artists Den, on July 21. Billboard reports that the concert film was recorded December 3 for a private show in Boston and that portions of the performance aired on the PBS series Live at the Artists Den. - FMQB Report

R&B singer Maxwell will offer BLACKsummers'night, the opening installment of the BLACKSUMMERS'NIGHT trilogy, on July 7. The trilogy's subsequent chapters, blackSUMMERS'night and blacksummers'NIGHT, are slated for release in 2010 and 2011, respectively. "Pretty Wings," the first single from BLACKsummers'night, is available through digital service providers now. The video for the song has already premiered on BET's 106 & Park and on musze.com. Maxwell is scheduled to headline the main stage of the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans on July 4, and will be on a North American tour all summer long. -FMQB

Fantasia will be back in The Color Purple when it returns to Chicago this summer. Music Experience artist (guitarist), Felton Offard will also be back in the play as a musician.
 
FMQB reports...American Idol season-two winner Ruben Studdard will perform his new single, "Together," on the Thursday, March 26 episode of the show. Smokey Robinson will also take the Idol stage that same night. Studdard’s new album, Love Is, is set for release on May 19. (Photo of Dedry Jones and Ruben at The Experience courtesy of Dan Ingram)

Rapper Big Boi, one half of the musical duo Outkast, told Rolling Stone that his upcoming solo album, Sir Lucious Leftfoot: The Son of Chico Dusty, will feature 16 tracks that will cover "electro, funk, blues, some of everything. It’s all over the place. When we make a record, expect the unexpected." However, the album is expected to be released this summer. Big Boi also said he was in the studio with partner Andre 3000 recently, working on follow-up material to 2006’s Idlewild soundtrack. "As soon as Dre finishes his solo record, we’ll get the ‘Kast cranking," Big said. "We're cooking up tracks, all right. Never stop. That’s an everyday thing."

Mary J. Blige will star in Tyler Perry’s new movie, I Can Do Bad All By Myself. Blige will play Tanya, a nightclub manager, and the film also features Taraji P. Henson. Perry’s well-known alter ego, Madea, will also have a part. The movie is set for release on September 11, 2009, according to Billboard.com. Meanwhile, Blige is recording songs for the follow-up to 2007's Growing Pains, which is due later this year.

Eminem, Jimmy Page, Ronnie Wood and Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea have been named as inductors for the 2009 class of the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. At the April 4 ceremony in Cleveland, Eminem will induct Rap icons Run-DMC, while Flea will welcome Metallica. Jimmy Page will salute his former Yardbirds bandmate Jeff Beck by inducting him as a solo artist, and Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood will be there to induct R&B singer/guitarist Bobby Womack. Also, Smokey Robinson will be on hand to pay tribute to Little Anthony & The Imperials.