URBAN CONNECTIONZ ONLINE HEADLINEZ

NEW YORK, NY--(March 30, 2009) - Songbook Entertainment/Atlantic recording artist Trey Songz has announced the upcoming release of his hugely anticipated third album. "READY" -- which follows the Grammy-nominated Prince of R&B's 2007 breakthrough sophomore album, "TREY DAY" -- arrives in stores and online on June 30th.

"READY" is preceded by the first single, "I Need A Girl." The track -- produced by the Grammy Award winning team, Stargate (Flo Rida, Ne-Yo, Beyoncé) -- has already begun receiving early adds at Urban Mainstream radio outlets nationwide, weeks in advance of its official multi-format impact date.

Furthermore, a companion video to "Brand New" -- an additional buzz track from "READY" -- will have its world premiere tomorrow at www.myspace.com/treysongz. The track -- produced by Soundz (Usher, Brandy) -- has already proven a fan favorite, with total streams rapidly approaching 1 million.

Hailed by the late, great Atlantic Records founder Ahmet Ertegun as "among the most promising R&B artists we have had on Atlantic since we started the company 60 years ago," Trey Songz first burst to the forefront of modern urban music in 2005 with his critically acclaimed debut, "I GOTTA MAKE IT." "TREY DAY" followed in 2007, entering Billboard's "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums" tally at #2, while also exploding onto the Billboard 200 at #11. The album found the Virginia-based Songz teaming up with a stunning selection of studio superstars, resulting in a number of hit singles, including "Missin You," "Last Time," and the #1 Urban Mainstream smash, "Can't Help But Wait." The latter track established Trey as a true sensation, earning him his first-ever Grammy Award nomination, for "Best Male R&B Performance."

The 23-year-old singer -- a 2008 BET Award nominee for "Best Male R&B Artist" -- celebrated "TREY DAY" with a long list of TV appearances, including live performances on BET's "106 & Park" and "It's Showtime At The Apollo," not to mention a featured spot on BET's annual "Rip The Runway" extravaganza, modeling fashion created by some of today's hottest designers. Trey -- aka "the Prince of Virginia" -- was also among the VA-based artists showcased on MTV2's "My Block," alongside such like-minded musicians as Timbaland, Pharell, and the Clipse.

In December 2008, Gap enlisted Trey and Flo Rida to write and produce a street-smart rendition of a Christmas classic for its annual holiday promotion. The unique "Jingle Bells" spot proved a marketing sensation throughout the holiday season.

What's more, Songz has been profiled in a variety of national publications, highlighted by cover features in Right On!, Floss, and Black Beat. Other magazine appearances include King, Sister 2 Sister, WordUp!, SBH, Blackmen, XXL Presents Hip-Hop Soul, Giant, Hype Hair, and Rap Fanatic.

Posted by jamesjohnson at 07:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

NEW YORK, March 30  -- Jive Records legendary hip-hop duo UGK announces the release of their final studio album, UGK: UGK 4 Life on March 31st. The sixth studio-album from the influential southern duo, Bun B and the late Pimp C, is a poignant culmination of their musical legacy.

UGK: UGK 4 Life, embodies the pure essence of UGK and the late Pimp C's signature production incorporating the down and gritty Texas sound they created over two decades ago in Port Arthur, Texas. The video for their lead single, "Da Game Been Good To Me," captures Bun B and Pimp C as they reminisce over their groundbreaking hip-hop career. The video debuts on MTV2 and MTVU as the "Jam Of The Week" today.

  UGK: UGK 4 Life Track Listing
  1. Intro
  2. Still On The Grind featuring Raheem DeVaughn
  3. Everybody Wanna Ball
  4. Feelin' You
  5. The Pimp & The Bun featuring Ron Isley
  6. She Luv It
  7. 7th Street Interlude
  8. Swishas & Erb featuring Sleepy Brown
  9. Purse Come First featuring Big Gipp
  10. Harry A**hole featuring Lil Boosie & Webbie
  11. Used To Be featuring E-40, B Legit, 8 Ball & MJG
  12. Steal Your Mind featuring Too $hort & Snoop Dogg
  13. Texas Ave. Interlude
  14. Hard As Hell featuring Akon
  15. Da Game Been Good To Me
  16. Outro

Courtesy of PRNewswire

Posted by jamesjohnson at 06:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Soulja Boy Tell'Em proved his credibility on his smash single "Kiss Me Thru the Phone" (featuring Sammie). The Collipark/Interscope supastar has turned the temperature up way past nova as "Kiss Me Thru the Phone" topped the Billboard's Rhythmic Top 40 Radio chart this week and is the #1 ringtone in download sales (1,000,000+) for an incredible eight weeks in a row on Billboard's Hot Ringmaster's chart. The song remained steady at #4 on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop chart and jumped to #12 at Top 40, helped by a 1300-spin increase from the previous week, and is now at 107 million audience mark.

"My fans let me know, enough with dancing songs for now," states Soulja Boy Tell'Em. "Now it's time to do great music like 'Kiss Me Through the Phone.' It's a real record, no gimmick. It's a catchy record ,'cause that's what my fans want."

"Kiss Me Thru The Phone" also continued its climb up the Billboard Hot 100 chart, jumping a spot to #3 and holding steady at #3 on the Digital Download chart with 1,000,000 + downloads. The video peaked as the #1 Video on BET's "106 & Park", and will move into MTV's General Rotation alongside "Turn My Swag On," which currently stands at #27 on Billboard's Hot R&B / Hip-Hop Songs chart and had a 20% Digital Singles chart swing to land at #61 on the Hot 100 Chart. The Internet is also keeping pace with chart activity as the video has received over 30 million You Tube views to date, while Soulja Boy Tell'Em's MySpace page now boasts over 1,000,000 Friends and 216,000,000 Listens on MySpace. Popular mini-blog behemoth Twitter reports a 70,000 increase in Soulja Boy followers over the past four weeks to bring his followers to well over 100,000.

Soulja Boy Tell'Em will appear on BET's "Spring Bling", taping this weekend, and plans to announce a number of big radio and tour appearances on both the East and West Coasts through July. Soulja Boy Tell'Em's television presence is not limited to video channels, though. Expect to see Soulja Boy Tell'Em in a role on The CW Network's "The Game" television show, which will air Friday May 15. With such activity, it's not surprising to see the entertainment world turn its attention his way as several of today's top rap artists have created unofficial remixes to the song. So, if the music world seems to be revolving around Soulja Boy Tell'Em, please believe it -- and stay tuned!!!

Posted by jamesjohnson at 06:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)