This Is Why He's Hot!

The talented Ryan Leslie demonstrates what makes him hot! Check out his additional production on Lil Wayne's current smash 'Lollipop'.

NeYo - Closer Video

After the humiliating mug shot that done the rounds recently, NeYo's back with a video for his new single 'Closer'. The video's OK, but my only slight criticism is when will he stop begging it from Michael Jackson?! Like I understand him being influenced by Jacko, who isn't? But does it mean that every video has to be blatant rip off? Anyway away from that NeYo's forthcoming album 'Year Of The Gentleman' is due out 23rd June 2008. Check the video below.

The 1Xtra RnB Show With G Child

Your weekly dose of upfront RnB is served once again with brand spanking new music from Usher, Beyonce & Lil Wayne (all on the same track!) Mya, Slim (112), Tierra Marie (Ex princess of the ROC) plus loads more.

You can replay the latest show for the next 5 days online via www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra/gchild or listen to the show live every Friday from midnight.

1Xtra available on DAB Radio, Sky 0137, Freeview 701 & Virgin 907.

Here's a full run down of what was played.

Usher - Love In This Club (Reavers Remix) (Sony/BMG)
Young Steff - Body That (Atlantic)
Mya - Give It Up (Interscope)
Beyonce - Beautiful Nightmare (Columbia)
Donnie Klang ft P Diddy - Take You There (Bad Boy)
Elephant Man ft Mario Winans - Back That Thing On Me (Bad Boy)
Ray J Ft Game - Where You At (Rawkus)
Slim ft Young Joc - So Fly (Bad Boy)
Lloyd ft Lil Wayne - Girls Around The World (Universal)
Tierra Marie - No No No (Interscope)
Nelly ft Fergie - Party People (Universal)
Latoya Luckett ft Bun B - Swagger (Capitol)
Jarvis Ft Ludacris- Pretty Girl - (DTP)
The Dream ft Sheek Louch - Fast Car Remix (Def Jam)
Ne Yo - Closer (Def Jam)
Girlicious - Like Me (Geffen)
Lloyd - Love Spaceship (Universal)
Usher ft Beyonce & Lil Wayne - Love In This Club Remix (Sony/BMG)
LeaLea Jones - Oh My - (CDR)
Natalia - Perfect Day (Upper 11)
Tiao Cruz - She's Like A Star (Universal)
Mariah Carey ft Jay Z, JD - Bye Bye (Universal)
Feli Fel ft Kanye West, J.D & Fabolous - Finer Things Def Jam)
Jazmine Sullivan - Need You Bad (J Records)
Sheya - Dream Come True (CDR)
Cynthia Mare ft Craig - The Diet Song (CDR)
Lloyd ft Ludacris- Holw We Do It (Around My Way) (Universal)
Cheri Dennis - Spaced Out - (Bad Boy)
Charlie Wilson / Timbaland / Britney Spears - Super Sexy The Way I Are / Gimme More Remix (G Child Refix)
Chris Brown - Picture Perfect (Sony BMG)
The Dream - Ditch That (Def Jam)
Jaymes Madison - Room Service (CDR)
Sabrina Washington - Take It To The Top (CDR)

Time To Reflex

I was just thinking to myself, damn we are almost half way through 2008 already and its is shaping up to be a very healthy year for RnB. Usher album on the way, Mariah just dropped another classic album. Personally Im really impressed and proud of how UK RnB is sounded this year. Artists like LeaLea Jones, Natalia, EC, Sheya, LKP just to name a few have all made some wicked contributions to the scene so its only right we keep supporting them and spread their music out there. There's some interesting acts from the states coming through like Young Steff, The Dream, Jarvis and others that I'm taking an interest in. Have a listen to this Jarvis track called 'Pretty Girl' he's signed to Ludacris's label 'DTP' and I think this has hit record written all over it!

Leona Lewis Meets Tyra Banks

Im so happy for Leona, she really is flying the flag for UK music in a big way. Check out her interview with American chat show queen Tyra Banks from last week Thursday.

Part 1


Part 2

Omarion's A Free Agent

This is the harsh reality of the music game, yeah you might make a few good singles in your career but if your album don't sell them units your ass is getting dropped! Which is now the position of the former B2K lead singer Omarion. Personally I really liked his last album '21' and with 'Entourage' & 'Icebox' both being strong singles I thought that might help sell the album, even over here, but I guess not. Maybe he needs a European sounding track from Stargate to help him out, I mean damn its worked for everyone else...

Mary J Blige & Jay Z Share Their Secrets

Now this an interesting interview with Mary J & Jigga baring all on the secrets to global success.

Usher - Here I Am (Album Cover)

So this is how the the new Usher album cover will look on the CD racks once its released on May 26th. Of course we are all looking forward to hearing the album and of course we will compare it to his 9x platinum album 'Confessions' which is going to be hard to top. Will be interesting to see what happens.

The 1Xtra RnB Show With G Child

After a one week power break, Im now back in action bringing you the best in up tempo, RnB club bangers! Here's what was played on the show...

Nelly ft Fergie - Party People (Universal)
Donnie Klang - Take You There (Bad Boy)
Lloyd ft Ludacris - How We Do It In The A (Universal)
Latoya - Swagger (Capitol)
Young Steff- Body That (Richcraft)
Usher ft Ludacris - Dat Girl Right There (Sony BMG)
Ne Yo - Closer (Def Jam )
Sabrina Washington - Take It To Da Top (CDR)
Mary J Blige - Just Fine (Geffen)
Cheri Dennis - Spaced Out (Bad Boy)
Craig David ft Ryan Leslie - 6 Of One Thing (Atlantic)
Ray J ft The Game - Where You At (Knockout)
Chris Brown - Wall To Wall (Sony )
Chris Brown vs Soulja Boy G Child (refix)
Chris Brown ft T pain Kiss Kiss (Sony)
Shareefa ft Ludacris - I Need A Boss (DTP)
Nelly Furtado ft Timbaland & Justin Timberlake - Give It To Me (G Child Refix)
T Pain- Buy You A Drank / This Is Why I'm Hot - (G Child Refix)
Janet Jackson / Britney Spears - Feedback (Mercury) (G Child Refix)
Cynthia Mare ft Craig - The Diet Song (CDR)
Charlie Wilson / Timbaland / Britney Spears - Super Sexy The Way I Are / Give Me More Remix (G Child Refix)
Missy Elliot Ft Ciara & Jay Z - Ching A Ling (Atlantic)
Lloyd ft lil Wayne - Girls Around The World (Sho' nuff)
Mariah Carey - I'm That Chick - (Island/ Def Jam)
Jaymes Madison – Room Service (White)
The Dream – Ditch That (Def Jam)
Janet Jackson - Luv - (Island)
Ciara - Can't Leave Me Alone – (La face)
Estelle ft Kanye West - American Boy (HomeSchool)
Beyonce - Beautiful Nightmare (Columbia)
Lloyd - Get It Shawty (Universal)
Usher - Love In The Club (Reavers remix) (Sony BMG)
Snoop Dogg Ft Chris Brown - Sensual Seduction (Geffen / Sony BMG)
Robin Thicke – Wanna Love You Girl (Interscope)

Listen to this show online here

Young Steff - Body That (Nexus Remix)

Young Steff is without a doubt an artist worth keeping a look out for. He was discovered and signed by super producer Rich Harrison and now has record deal with Atlantic Records. I didn't really feel his debut track "Put That On Everything" but this next one "Body That" is pure heat! Unfortunately I don't have a video, release date or any of that kind of information for you at the moment but I'm on the look out - detective G Child over and out.

Young Steff - Body That

Wish You Was Here!

Currently I'm sitting on the beach with my laptop and a crushed ice cocktail with the sun blazing down on me. How's the weather in the UK? :-)

OK I wont rub it in too much... Right better go, I feel like a dip in the pool...

Ryan Leslie Responds To The Diamond Girl Video

Ryan Leslie has given his fans his verdict on the Diamond Girl Video in a MySpace bulletin:



This the edit of the video that premiered on BET's 106 & Park on Friday, April 4th. Since it's my channel, I added some sound design to the version that aired.

As I posted in my previous video, I had a huge vision for this video to feel like a live television performance that gave tribute to a James Brown piece I saw on the Ed Sullivan show.

I saved up my money and had the EXACT same stage built that James performed on. I then hired a band to cut the live version. After that, I worked with everyone on the stage to have that throwback vibe. I paid to shoot the performance on a blue screen with the intention of having the set of the Ed Sullivan show digitally recreated behind me. My label disagreed.

They felt that the live version felt too much like a remix.

They also felt that we needed to rush on the video so the final edit came back without the digital stage - just changed the blue to black and added some lights, and cutaway graphics of diamonds.

My original treatment called for the video to be set in the late 60's just like James Brown's performance. I wanted to have families huddled around the television watching this performance like they used to back then.

When I got to LA to shoot, the entire set was modern and a piece of me died. My vision was compromised. Rather than be an ungrateful artist, I stayed and gave my best performance.

The video that's airing is really only a partial representation of my artistic vision.

Here are a few of the audio edits I've made that are featured in the vid that you're seeing:

* First, I had someone come to the studio and say the following dialogue in French:

"Ryan. Wait for me. I'm not even ready! I can't believe you're gonna leave me here...You're driving me crazy - I can't do this anymore. Ryan - if you leave - we're finished! YOU SPENT $3000 ON A DRESS - don't you wanna see me in it?? Oh..ok - fine... GO! Amuse yourself with the girls at your show!! And if you think I'll be here when you get back - THINK AGAIN!!"

* Second, I convinced Evan to do the voice-over of my manager.

* Third, I re-cut my dialogue from the beginning and added the sound of running water to enhance the vibe of our bathroom conversation.

* Fourth, I added the sound of the door opening before the video starts.

* Added a few horn stabs to parts of the performance when I'm gesturing to the band to "hit me".

* Put some applause at the end of the performance scene.

* Added the sound of screaming girls, running feet, more screaming girls and the car door closing.

The lesson I learned here is that when you have a strong creative vision - do everything in your power to see it through. I am very thankful that I have a video on TV. Many artists are still striving for that milestone. Regardless, this experience encouraged me to shoot another video as well as an 11 minute short film based on "Diamond Girl".

I will not stop.

R

Currently listening to Mariah Carey - Migrate

Words by Jonny G

Dwele Live In Birmingham Review

On Sunday night, my DJ partner Mr.Smoove and I got the chance to see one of our favourite artists, Dwele, live in our home town of Birmingham.

Now if you've never heard of Dwele before you'll be hearing his slick vocals lacing Kanye West's new single 'Flashing Lights'. He's periously featured on such tracks as Slum Village's 'tainted', Platinum Pied Pipers cover of the Bobby Caldwell classic 'open your eyes', Common's 'The People' and the recent head nodder, Pryslezz' 'More than a love song'. He has 2 albums currently under his belt (3 if you include the brief release of Rize) - The fantastic 2003 release 'Subject' and the equally brilliant 2005 release 'Some Kinda...'. The forthcoming installment - which is currently untitled - is sceduled for June this year.

The night kicked off just after 9:00 with Birmingham Mob DJ, DJ E Double D warming up the crowd with a fantastic soulful set ranging from Marvin Gaye to Common to Ryan Leslie to Musiq Soulchild.

Dwele hit the stage at 11:00 and kicked off the show with a number of tracks from the 'Some Kinda...' album, including 'flapjacks' and bust into his version of Snoop Dogg's 'Sensual Seduction' which was heavy!! but he his ear monitor was causing a lot of feedback, so he pretty much put the concert on hold, beatboxing and humming a melody for his band to play and he fixed the problem with his earpiece during their introductions/solo's. With all of this going on, Dwele figured there was no point in carrying on with his setlist and through a bit of role play with the crowd turned the show into a radio request show! Dwele would play the radio host/DJ and would get the crowd to "call in" and request what tunes they wanted to hear! After performing 'A.N.G.E.L' and 'I think I love you' one of the callers requested 'I'm cheatin' - which is set to be the lead single for his new album - Dwele joked with the crowd about how we've got a hold of the single and then went on to perform another track set for the new album. He finished off his set with the classic 'Find A way' and for the encore, kicked his band off and performed 'kick out of you' solo on the keys and then brought the band back on to finish off with 'The Truth' (which we'd been shouting for all night!!).

Dwele was absolutely fantastic! His interaction with the crowd had us all involved all night, inbetween songs he'd have some role play on the go or talk to the crowd to introduce the next tracks and he was vocally on point the whole of the night! Dwele was fantastic!

After the performance DJ E double D came back on with some up beat tracks and broken beat. Track of the night goes to Fyza (who was in the house!). Her tune complicated had 4 pull up requests! Check her out on myspace to realise why - http://www. myspace. com/flyza

Dwele came out for a meet and greet and we got a photo op with Dwele and up and coming Birmingham sensation Rachel Moulden - http://www. myspace. com/rachelmoulden - while it was only brief it was an honour to meet the dude.

We had an absolutely fantastic night! Dwele was brilliant and this was a real experience seeing him live! Next time Dwele is in town, this is one concert you shouldn't miss!

I just wanna shout out DJ E Double D for playing a fantastic set and getting the crowd hyped, Fyza for being really cool with us, her tune 'complicated' is hot and you've really gotta check it out! The amazingly talented Rachel Moulden, it was a real pleasure meeting u and believe me your turns coming soon - all you soul heads don't sleep on her!! Not forgetting my boy Mr.Smoove for rolling with me!

Until next time....Jonny G signing out!

Currently listening to: Drake feat Dwele & Little Brother - Don't you have a man

Reviewed by Jonny G

You Gotta Love It!

Nelly & Fergie have teamed up to bring us a club banger called "Party People" and boy I'm loving this tune! Instantly I thought yep this is my kinda thing, its edgy, catchy, energetic & perfect for the clubs... Although I'm not a massive Fergie fan I have to say the girl has done good on a few tracks like "Glamourous" & "Clumsy" which I think are both modern day Pop/RnB classics, yeah I said it!

Check out their video below.

At Last, Ryan Leslie's - Diamond Girl Video

Damn its been a long time coming, but thankfully its finally here. Diamond Girl has been bubbling on the underground RnB scene since late August 07 but with the help of some nice remixes including a banger featuring our very own Craig David the momentum has kept going. I have to say though I was expecting more from the video and I'm not sure how the die hard Ryan Leslie fans will feel about it. Have a look for yourself.

Brand New Usher Video!

Well my man Jonny G gave you the snippit and now here's the full length video for Usher's first single "Love In The Club " from he's upcoming album "Here I Stand" due out May 27th.

There's quite a lot of cameo's in the video so see if you can spot them all!

Usher -Love In The Club (Snippit Video)

The soon to be hit single 'Love In The Club' has been blowing up airwaves for a while now and here's a teaser of the video set to hit a TV screen near you soon.

On another note, Usher's 5th studio album 'Here I Stand' has been pushed FORWARD!! Scheduled to be released early June it's been pushed forward to May 27th! I can't wait to check the full album, you know it's gonna be BIG!



Currently listening to: Charlie Wilson ft. Snoop Dogg - Let It Out

Peace Jonny G