Take Care is an unbelievably plush album. Not only are the soundscapes on the album orchestral, ethereal, but the tone of the album is equally emotionally indulgent, Drake adopting the position of a somewhat world-weary player. The tone is set unmistakably with the opening track, Over My Dead Body, a piano-chord rich number. Drake boasts of his success, detailing a sense of disaffection in equal measure: “I was drinking at the Palms last night/ Ended up losing everything that I came with,” he raps, before adding, “Feel like I been here before, huh/ Still got ten years to go, huh.” It’s a tone that stays throughout. Even whilst he’s boasting of his lyricism, his album success, on tracks like Headlines and Crew Love, there’s a note of mournfulness, of predictability, about this game. The Weeknd’s verses on Crew Love is a particularly wistful, ethereal addition.

While most of us woke up and went to work this morning, Rihanna got up, slid into this a pile of ruby fishnets and started downing rum out of a cup she found lying next to a chicken coop.

From there, it was only another a matter of more rum until she thought simulating doggy style sex on a parade float would be an awesome idea. And when isn’t it? Anyway, all this is to celebrate Kadooment Day in Barbados which I’m just going to assume is some sort of ritual to declare a new queen of da island.

Later, a bunch of nerds will use “Google” and tell me it’s about the sugar cane harvest then question how I even got this job. Which, funny enough, also involved rum, fishnets and this. Whatever this is.
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Drake and Rihanna were reportedly seen leaving a sex shop per the National Enquirer, who is quite accurate these days.

Sexy rocker RIHANNA turned the kinky portrayal of sadomasochist sex on her chart-topping “S&M” into reality, whispers My Canuck Spy – who spotted Star Vixen hand-in-hand with old flame DRAKE at Wicked Wanda’s Adult Emporium in Ottawa, where she cracked whips, then spent $1,000-plu$ on handcuffs, a riding crop/whip, bustier, pasties, boots, edible undies, collar and leash, spandex hood and…a chocolate penis!

Said the salesbabe: “Have fun.”

Purred Rihanna: “I always do!”

As Billboard magazine honors music’s top selling acts Sunday night, an absent Eminem ties Justin Bieber for the top honors.

Unless you’re counting host Ken Jeong’s decision to dress as Flavor Flav and then crawl under Nas’ legs, Eminem offered the biggest Hip Hop presence at Sunday night’s Billboard Music Awards. It should be noted that Em didn’t actually attend the mostly Pop affair, which was dominated by the likes of Justin Bieber, Beyonce and Britney Spears.

Eminem tied Bieber for the most awards at six wins. Out of 46 award categories, Shady took home nods for Top Artist, Top Male Artist, Top Rap Artist, Top Billboard 200 Album [Recovery], Top Rap Album and Top Rap Song [“Love The Way You Lie” ].

While the selection process by the National Acacemy of Recording Arts and Sciences has recently come under fire for their more subjective methods used for selecting Grammy Award winners, Billboard stated, “all finalists and winners were determined by a combination of chart performances.” The eligibility period for nominations ran from February 28, 2010 through March 1, 2011. The amount of their respective awards reflected the strength of Eminem and Bieber’s current sales. To date, Em’s Recovery has sold over 3.8 million copies, while Bieber’s My World 2.0 has moved over 2.7 million units.

Notable performers Sunday night were Cee-Lo Green, Beyonce, Mary J. Blige and Lil Wayne, and Rihanna and Nicki Minaj, who both featured Britney Spears as a guest performer.

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This year’s BET Awards will feature many old faces returning to glory and a plethora of new faces to come onto the scene.

Making a return is Chris Brown, who released his album F.A.M.E. this year. Brown leads the field with 6 nominations including Viewers Choice, Best Collaboration, and Best Actor.

In the category of Viewers Choice and Best Collaboration, Brown’s songs Look At Me Now and Deuces will be going head to head with his ex-girlfriend Rihanna, and her collaboration with Drake on What’s My Name.

Rihanna will also be among heavy competition in the best female R&B category. Other nominees include Beyonce, Jennifer Hudson, Keri Hilson, and Marsha Ambrosius.

Just days after the death of their member M. Bone, Cali Swag District was nominated for Best Group alongside Diddy’s Dirty Money, N.E.R.D., New Boyz, and Travis Porter.

This year’s Best Male Hip-Hop Artist will be an extremely tough category with all of the contenders having an opportunity to take the crown. The nominees are Kanye West, Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, B.o.B., and Drake.

The Best New Artist category is also shaping up to be a battle pitting Bruno Mars against the likes of J. Cole, Willow Smith, Miguel, and Wiz Khalifa.

The show airs live on June 26th from the Los Angeles Shrine Auditorium.

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★★★★★
To say that Chris Brown has been given a rough ride recently would be the understatement of the century. The incident with Rihanna more than two years ago is still on the tips of everybody’s tongues. Many “fans” deserted him as he seemed to apparently be spiraling out of control. As if he didn’t have enough on his plate, somebody has leaked nude photos of Chris on the Internet. At times, it’s hard to stay focused on the music; his life seems to play out like a cringy soap opera but lets remember, Chris Brown started off fresh faced, 16 year old whose debut album Chris went double platinum, selling over 2 million copies in the United States alone. The talent of Breezy cannot be disputed!

Now this month, Chris is set to release his latest album, the greatly anticipated F.A.M.E.

The first track off the album is Deuces, featuring Tyga from the Young Money camp. We all know it, it has become something of an anthem…the ultimate break up tune. Still getting heavy rotation on the radio both stateside and in Europe.

But the rest of F.A.M.E. is not all as ice cold as Deuces. Chris shows a more sensitive side on tracks such as the slow jams No Bullshit and Up 2 You. Up 2 You gives us a glimpse of the romantic side of Chris Brown as he is the perfect gentleman whilst he croons, “It’s so unusual for me to be waiting/ But I don’t wanna blow it girl” — just what every girl wants to hear.

Wet The Bed, featuring Ludacris, is a sexual, sensual piece. Brown owns this track and does not get overpowered by Luda. Delicate water drops, drip their way through this delectable ditty. I will be adding this one to my slow jam playlist at home.

Look At Me Now was confusing to me. Chris doesn’t sing on this — he raps. I’m all for trying something new but after listening to this several times I still have come to the conclusion that Chris should definitely stick to singing. He does himself no favors. The beat is pretty hot though. A punchy, mid-tempo beat with a heavy bassline and something skipping over it sounding a lot like a cool, futuristic, mechanical bird. Busta Rhymes comes in after Chris and to put it bluntly — shuts Chris down. Busta’s flow hits hard and fast like a machine gun and by the time Lil Wayne came in I was like, “Lil who?” Not the worst track I’ve ever heard, but probably the weakest on this album.

She Ain’t You, one of the other more warm, mellow tracks. SWV’s Right Here has been sampled with just a few added tweaks. It was definitely complimentary to the sugar sweet vocals of Chris Brown and put me in a reminiscent mood as I was gently taken back to the 90’s. Loved it! Everything about She Ain’t You worked.

Tracks such as Say It With Me, Yeah 3x, Oh My Love and Beautiful People are all more fast-tempo, dance tracks. I’m not too much a fan of dance music but I loved the feel good vibe and positive messages in Beautiful People.

All Back and Should’ve Kissed You are more reflective than the rest. All Back was more of a ballad. The cliche ‘Don’t know what you’ve got ‘til its gone’ track. It was fairly average, but one couldn’t help wondering who he was missing. Could it be Rihanna?

I should probably say something about the recently leaked Next 2 You, featuring Justin Bieber. I didn’t like it, it was cheesy, unoriginal and sounded as if they were singing to each other rather than singing with each other. Big thumbs down.

After listening to this album a few times, I realized that there is a little something for everybody. From slow jams to tight rap verses all the way to dance music. F.A.M.E. was an easy listen. Nothing out of the ordinary or super original but not dull either.

F.A.M.E. is a good attempt by Chris Brown to re-establish himself as the Prince Of R&B, which unfortunately, I don’t think this has achieved. Overall, not a bad album!

Standout Tracks: “She Ain’t You”, “Wet The Bed”, “Beautiful People”

Tracklisting:

1. Deuces ft. Tyga & Kevin McCall
2. Up 2 You
3. No Bullshit
4. Look At Me Now ft. Lil Wayne & Busta Rhymes
5. She Ain’t You
6. Say It With Me
7. Yeah 3x
8. Next 2 You ft. Justin Bieber
9. All Back
10. Wet The Bed ft. Ludacris
11. Oh My Love
12. Should’ve Kissed You
13. Beautiful People ft. Benny Benassi