Month: June 2022

Chloe Bailey’s launch as a solo artist has been much more of a marathon than a sprint, with the 23-year-old taking her sweet time with each and every single she releases ahead of her self-titled album’s arrival later this summer.

To kick things off back in 2021, the vocalist shared “Have Mercy,” followed by a sultry, microphone-licking moment during her MTV Video Music Awards performance that caught Gunna’s attention, along with the rest of the world’s.

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After that, we saw a collaboration between her and the YSL rapper on his DS4Ever track, “you & me.” Footage of the pair getting up close and personal during a shopping trip for the filming of the accompanying music video caused romance rumours to surface online, and though Gunna expressed interest, Bailey has maintained that she and the currently-incarcerated rapper are “just friends.”

“Treat Me” came next on her lineup, followed by the equally sexy “Surprise,” which finds Bailey asking listeners to “slip [her] panties to the side.”

On Sunday evening, the Atlanta-born starlet took to the stage as one of the many performers at the 2022 BET Awards, not only singing her latest single, but also a rendition of Adina Howard’s “Freak Like Me.”

Bailey hit the crowd with “Treat Me” as well, which had audiences cheering her on in-studio and at home – including Beyoncé, who made sure to send her protégé a beautiful bouquet of flowers in celebration of her accomplishment.

“You killed it last night!” the Lemonade hitmaker wrote Bailey. “Making me proud. All my love, B.”

Check out Chloe Bailey’s performance at the 2022 BET Awards below, and read what she had to say about all those comparisons to Beyoncé here.

It was a big night at the BET Awards on Sunday. While we saw plenty of excellent performances and many artists receiving recognition for their work, Diddy certainly had one of the biggest moments of the evening. The mogul was chosen as the recipient of this year’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and gave a shout-out to practically everyone that’s helped him throughout his career.

 Vivien Killilea/Getty Images 

Unfortunately, it seems like Pete Rock wasn’t necessarily appreciative of Puffy’s shout out to Bobby Brown, who the Bad Boy founder declared, “the first Chocolate Boy Wonder.” Rock gained the nickname Chocolate Boy Wonder during his come-up in the 80s and bashed Diddy for attempting to discredit him.

“Pete Rock is the original Chocolate Boy Wonder. Stop playing,” he declared in the post before going in on Diddy. “ERASURE IS A REAL THING we doing this to each other now???” @bet @billboard We not alike. YOU KNOW BETTER THAN THIS KNOCK THIS OFF!! You are from 77 dell ave Mt.Vernon NY. i know everything about you but i wouldnt call myself puff daddy when im THE REAL CHOCOLATE BOY WUNDA BOSS,” Pete Rock continued before diving into details about their broken relationship. 

“My brother Grap Luva taught you dance steps in your garage on dell ave. I touch drum machines and make the beats 4 REAL. You cant erase what i have done in music or try to take my name lol. Everyone in hip hop knows who the chocolate boy wunda is. You brought biggie to the basement only to diss me later and not use me on any of his projects. You cut me out the ‘One More Chance’ video when BIG himself invited me. You got to where you wanted to be then shitted.”

Check out the full post from Pete Rock below. 

City Girls rapper JT joked on Twitter, Monday, that she only attended the BET Awards because she heard a rumor that Beyoncé would be doing a surprise performance. Despite the rumor not coming true, the legendary singer is gearing up to release a new album, Renaissance, later this summer.

“I knew I was delusional when I thought Beyoncé was gone do a surprise performance,” JT wrote in the tweet. “I literally went because that was a rumor.”

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While Beyoncé was a no-show at the BET Awards, there were surprise performances from several other high-profile artists including Lil Wayne and Brandy, who were brought out by Jack Harlow. Kanye West also shocked the audience by presenting Diddy with the Lifetime Achievement Award. In his speech, the Donda rapper went off-script to speak about how Diddy is his “favorite artist” and more.

Renaissance is scheduled to be released on July 29, 2022. Beyoncé shared the album’s lead single “Break My Soul” earlier this month.

“With all the isolation and injustice over the past year, I think we are all ready to escape, travel, love, and laugh again,” Beyoncé said in an interview for Harper’s Bazaar in 2021 when asked about her upcoming seventh studio album. “I feel a renaissance emerging, and I want to be part of nurturing that escape in any way possible.”

Check out JT’s tweet regarding Beyoncé below.

It’s been a long time coming but finally, we’ll be getting a new album from Joey Bada$$ this summer. The Pro Era leader was supposed to drop 2000 on June 17th but ended up having to push the album’s release date back due to sample clearances. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a new date to announce but this Friday, he’ll be sharing all of the details surrounding his follow-up to All AmeriKKKan Bada$$.

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Joey hit Twitter this morning where he revealed that he would be releasing a new single off of the project titled, “Where I Belong” this Friday, as well as a new release date. The pre-save for the album will also be available on that same day. So, it’s looking like he’ll be coming through with some heat in July at some point.

Joey released his last studio album, All AmeriKKKan Bada$$ in 2017 and remained lowkey on a musical front since then. He leaped into the world of acting, earning him an Oscar for Two Distant Strangers while also penning songs for other artists. Earlier this year, he kicked off the campaign for 2000 with the release of “The Rev3nge” and followed it up with “Head High.” Last week, he joined Chance The Rapper on “The Highs & The Lows.”

We’ll continue to keep you posted on any more updates surrounding Joey’s album. 

For many, landing on Verzuz is an opportunity that comes with plenty of bragging rights – even if you lose – but for Ray J, it may have been one of the worst live shows of his career. In case you missed it, the “Sexy Can I” hitmaker was a part of the pre-show with a slew of other artists, though his vocals failed to impress.

Recently, he got on a call with Joe Budden for his self-titled podcast, during which the two friends chopped it up about what led to the unfortunate moment. “You making my job really f*cking hard today,” the host told the R&B singer. “You know you my man, you making this really tough for me.”

Ray likely knew what he was in store for ahead of the interview (and has already been cracking jokes about it online himself). “It’s something that I didn’t have planned,” the 41-year-old said of his comedic vocal slip-up during “One Wish.”

“I was having too much fun, and I woke up and I seen it and I said, ‘That’s me? Like, that’s ME that’s me!’ And it’s continuing to go,” he added, speaking on the endless memes that have surfaced on social media since last week’s episode.

“The plan was for me to stand right in the middle of the stage, with a mic stand like how I started, and every song I was supposed to stand there and not move anywhere – that was the whole structure of the rehearsal.”

 Budden told Ray J that there was no way he was off the wine and acting like that, pressing the recording artist to tell him what he was drinking before taking the stage. “That was Casamigos!”

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The father of two pointed out that his sister, Brandy, was in the audience (and she didn’t hesitate to flame him afterward), and because she’s such a talented songstress, he feels as though he owes it to her and the R&B community to return to the stage and redeem himself.

“Because I really can go right,” Ray said of his singing talents, “but last night, you just would never know. But, I will work harder… You know, I wanted to do something vocally that really woke people up,” he joked. 

After his Verzuz flop, the Mississippi native said he has plans to start a new Twitch channel where fans can follow him along on his journey to better himself. “I got Brandy – I gotta make sure my sister happy because last night was unacceptable,” he admitted.

Check out the full interview below, and tap back in with HNHH later for more pop culture news updates.