Listen to Rihanna give an in-depth track by track preview of her new album Rated R. Here’s an excerpt of what she had to say about tracks “Hard” and “Stupid in Love”.

“‘Hard’ is lyrically–lyrically it’s very different from anything I’ve ever done. It’s very cocky. Um…it’s a lot of bragging Uh, on both my part and Young Jeezy’s part, but that’s the fun in the song. It’s like ‘I’m so hard’. I love it, I love performing it. As cocky as it is, it’s one of the least serious records on the album so it’s fun.”

“‘Stupid In Love’ is the first song that was written on my album. Actually Ne-Yo wrote it a couple days before the Grammy’s this year, so when we heard it was just crazy how it was like a premonition and the lyrics just made complete sense. It’s really about being blinded by love and coming to terms with that and the reality of  the state of your relationship and just saying ‘This is not what I stand for. I don’t want to do this anymore. Eventhough I still love you, this relationship is stupid’.”

Check out Rated R x Nokia’s live concert this past Monday in London.

]]> http://str8nyc.com/2009/11/18/rihanna-talks-rated-r-x-nokia-concert-full-video/feed/ 0 http://str8nyc.com/2009/11/18/mary-j-blige-usher-to-celebrate-christmas-in-washington/ http://str8nyc.com/2009/11/18/mary-j-blige-usher-to-celebrate-christmas-in-washington/#comments Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:47:10 +0000 J'More http://str8nyc.com/?p=28445 MARY J. BLIGE & USHER TO CELEBRATE “CHRISTMAS IN WASHINGTON”

Mary J. Blige and Usher are joining forces with TNT to ring in the holidays in musical style with its annual presentation of “Christmas In Washington”, set to air on December 20^th at 8 p.m. (ET/PT). This year’s concert will be hosted by funny man George Lopez and other musical guests include Neil Diamond, Sugarland, and Rob Thomas. “Christmas In Washington” is attended annually by the President and First Lady and other Washington VIPs. According to Michael Wright, executive vice president/head of programming for TNT, TBS and TCM,

“We take pride in presenting “Christmas In Washington” each year as we bring together musical artists from a variety of genres for a fantastic holiday concert. This year, we’re especially thrilled to welcome a lineup of top-name performers and an equally amazing host, George Lopez. Together, they will make this a holiday celebration to remember.”

Looks like New Year’s Eve in NYC is going to be crazy! Diva Mariah Carey has announced that she will be ringing in 2010 with a special performance at Madison Square Garden.  Tickets for members of the songstress’ Honey B. Fly fan club go on sale tomorrow, meanwhile tickets for the rest of the public will be available on November 14th. In the meantime, you can catch Mariah on the “Late Show with David Letterman” on Friday, November 13th at 11:35 p.m. ET.

“Mariah Carey, the #1 most successful female recording artist of all time will be live at New York’s famous Madison Square Garden for a special New Year’s Eve performance! Join Mariah as she bids farewell to 2009 in superstar style and gets ready to ring in 2010!”

After the sudden cancellation of her highly-anticipated tour with Kanye West, citing “creative differences”; Lady GaGa is trying hard to prove that nothing can hold her down and has decided to go on tour with rap newcomer Kid Cudi instead. She says in a statement:

“Due to diligent work and preparation, The Monster Ball will begin on November 27 in Montreal. The Monster Ball is a multimedia artistic experience int he style of the first-ever ‘pop electro opera’”.

Lady GaGa and Kid Cudi will hit Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami and have saved the best city for last, New York City to conclude their North American trek on January 21^st of next year.

So Kid Cudi is basically the rebound guy…

On Wednesday night, Ghostface Killah took the stage at NY’s Hiro Ballroom at the Maritime Hotel teaming up with MySpace to celebrate his new album Ghostdini: The Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City. The event was hosted by Jasmine Solano along with Hot 97’s Puerto-Rican and a Jew duo, Cipha Sounds and Peter Rosenberg. Ghostface kept the crowd amped with special guests which included Kid Cudi who hopped onto the stage igniting a showdown with the rapper, Jadakiss, fellow Wu member Redman, and Raheem DeVaughn. Unfortunately, ya know some people just don’t know how to act and a fight broke out, but that didn’t keep the show from going on!

MORE PICS & VIDEO UNDER THE HOOD!

Looks like Ike Jr. is trying to come back hard after being disgraced for whoopin’ Rihanna’s ass back in February. Chris is set to make his first official live performance headlining Power 105’s Powerhouse Concert at the Izod Center on October 27^th in New Jersey. The show will also feature performances by Radio Killah aka The-Dream, Fabolous, Keri Hilson, Trey Songz, Mario and Ginuwine.

In the last two weeks, Mr. “Imma Let You Finish” aka Kanye West has had to deal with the media scrutinizing him for his rude outburst at the MTV Video Music Awards, clearly this isn’t a good month for Mr. West. Not to mention, he was originally scheduled to attend a pre-trial hearing this month for his run-in with the paparazzi at LAX airport in Los Angeles last year in which he was charged with vandalism, battery and grand theft. However, thanks to his attorney Blair Berk, the hearing has been rescheduled and will now take place on October 23^rd.

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