Destiny's Child gathers most BET nominations

 

The reigning princesses of RNB/Pop Destiny's Child is likely to add some more silverware to their already expanding trophy case as they top the nominees list for the 1st Annual BET Awards with 3 nods under their belt. Other nominees include recent Soul Train Award winner and neo soul songstress Jill Scott, Country grammar rapper Nelly, Atlanta natives Outkast, Miss Janet (Jackson if you're nasty) and Philly's newest prodigy Musiq SoulChild all with 2 nominations each.

Whitney Houston will receive the 'Lifetime Achievement' Award for her contributions to the music industry. The ceremony will be held at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas June 19th and hosts will be comedians Steve Harvey and Cedric 'The Entertainer'.

The nominees are:

Best female R&B artist: Jill Scott Mary J. Blige Erykah Badu Janet Jackson Aaliyah	Best male R&B artist: R. Kelly Joe Carl Thomas Maxwell Musiq Soulchild
Best female hip-hop artist: Eve Lil' Kim Trina Missy Elliott Da Brat	Best male hip-hop artist: Jay-Z Nelly Snoop Dogg Ja Rule Mystikal
Best female group: Destiny's Child Mary Mary 3LW 702 Blaque	Best male group: Boyz II Men Outkast 112 Dr. Dre / Snoop Dogg / Nate Dogg Jagged Edge
Best new artist: Jill Scott Musiq Soulchild Nelly Lil' Bow Wow India Arie	Best gospel artist: Yolanda Adams Mary Mary Donnie McClurkin Kirk Franklin Hezikiah Walker
Video of the year: Outkast, "Ms. Jackson" Dr. Dre / Snoop Dogg / Nate Dogg, "The Next Episode" Janet Jackson, "All for You" Eminem, "Stan" Destiny's Child, "Independent Women Pt. 1"	Viewers' Choice: Lil' Bow Wow, "Bow Wow, That's My Name" Outkast, "Ms. Jackson" Jay-Z, "I Wanna Love You" R. Kelly, "I Wish" Destiny's Child, "Independent Women Pt. 1"

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Kenny Latimore's ready for the 'Weekend' 

 

Kenny Lattimore bursts unto the music scene in 1996 with his self-titled album that gave us the brilliant track 'Never too busy' and the ultra smooth ballad 'For you'. With the success of that debut came his sophomore piece 'From the Soul of Man' (in '98) and again another fine set that garners no attention from the airwaves (both radio and internet). 

Now 3 years later, Kenny switches gears and signs a deal with a new label (Arista) and now has a fantastic new tune out called 'Weekend' that's making the rounds on the R+R market taken from the "yet to be titled" album. The track is written by Kenny and produced by up and coming producers Troy Taylor and Charles Ferrar (aka The Characters). The album features a wide array of writers and producers including George Duke, Raphael Saadiq, Battlecat and the Marley Brothers to name a few. With that said I'm really looking forward to the full length set which has a tentative release for September.. Keep you posted with more news as I get it.  

 

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J-Lo's 'Play' gets the Dodger's treatment 

 

Jennifer Lopez recently made some changes in her life. She broke things off with boyfriend Shawn 'Puffy' Combs and changed her name (supposenly) as her latest album suggests to J-Lo. Now from the album she released her latest single 'Play'. 

This time around instead of the norm remixers she seeked the services of UK 2-Step king Artful Dodger UK who gave the song a totally different feel from the original track, beefed it up a bit and flipped it with trip hop beats and synths This track's destined to be another hit the singer/actress who got her break as a one time 'In Living Colour' dancer back in the day. Look for the single to be released either later this month  or next month 

 

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Babyface said 'There she goes', 1st single for Arista Records 

 

Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmunds recently left Epic Records to sign with former partner Antonio 'LA' Reid's Arista Records according to Arista.com who confirmed the signing this past October. The combination of Babyface and LA  who once partnered their own label Laface Records (for parent company  Arista) but went their seperate ways after a dispute a few years back didn't seem to materialize in past years but it would seem that they have put their differences aside and work together again. 

Babyface signed to Solar/Epic after his days with the RNB group 'The Deele' (in which he and LA were apart of) and had a great deal of success there with hits like 'Lovers', 'Whip Appeal', 'Tender Lover' and 'This is for the cool in you' among others. LA on the other hand stayed consistant and kept producing. He was offered the position of president of Arista after Clive Davis's departure last year. What made him (Babyface) decide to leave is yet unclear rumor has it that it was due to creative differences but his new single 'There she goes' produced by The Neptunes has a change of pace in rhythm and style for the singer who comes across a lil' harder sound on this track compared to the norm mellow drama beats you've come to expect from Babyface. The album will be in stores July 17th 

 

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 Beverlei Brown: Make her your new 'Best Friend'

 

The UK has always been the leaders in the Soul/RNB gendre sending  mult-talented artists across the US shores. Acts such as Loose Ends, 52nd Street, Lisa Stansfield, D'Influence, Omar, Young Disciples, Pete Weller, Hil St Soul, Cathy Dennis, Vanessa Simon, Kele Le Roc and a host of others to numerous to mention. 

Add to that list another talented artist by the name of Beverlei Brown  a beautiful songstress who hails from London has her  debut single 'Best Friend'  which is another shining example of a finely well written, well produced track out of the UK. She recently signed with Dome Records and her debut album 'Next To You' was released in Japan earlier this year (via Pony Canyon Records) and will see a summer release in her native UK. The next single should be 'Gonna Get Over You' which was released in Japan. No word yet on whether the US will see a release of this fine set.