Brandy - Two Eleven

Words cannot describe how excited I am for Brandy's new album Two Eleven due out on August 28. You can check out her latest single from the album Put It Down ft. Chris Brown here which is a certified banger! The accompanying visual has been shot for the song and it should be premiering soon. The album title is a representation of her birthdate and the day that her idol and very dear friend Whitney Houston died. It has been 4 long years since she has released an album and the wait is almost over. The album will feature production credits from Rico Love, Bangladesh, Danja, Jim Jonsin, Timbaland, and Noah "40" Shebib, and songwriting credits from Chris Brown, Frank Ocean, Sean Garret, and Drake. I am a huge fan of Brandy and feel that she has not reached the level of success that she is destined to have. Granted, she has been very successful throughout her career I just feel that she has so much more to give to this world beyond just GREAT music! If her past albums are any indication of what is to come from Two Eleven then I must say we are about to be knocked off our feet by Ms. Norwood! My favorite album of hers is Never Say Never! Brandy sung her heart and soul out on that album and it is still in heavy rotation to this day along with Full Moon and Human! Speaking of Human, that album was Brandy's most underrated album to date! Her Human album was flawless from beginning to end and my favorite performances from her comes from that album era. You can check them out here and here and be as wowed as I was! Also check out my girl doing her thing at this year's BET Awards where she performed during the tribute to Whitney Houston! She killed it and I was so proud of her for showing up and showing out! I know it was hard for her but she did Whitney very proud! I am so ready to be wowed during this new era! Brandy always delivers! She hasn't let me down yet! Don't forget to purchase your copy of Two Eleven when it hits shelves and online retailers on August 28! I can't wait to get mine!

Note: The above picture is not the actual album artwork for Two Eleven; it's fanmade but gorgeous nonetheless!

Frank Ocean Is Happy

So recording artist and songwriter Frank Ocean revealed on July 4, 2012 that he was gay through a beautifully written letter that he posted on his Tumblr page. I posted my very first blog entry on Frank Ocean and marveled about how great of an artist he is, which you can check out here! Me, personally I do not care who he wants to love because I am here for the music and the music only! But what a way to celebrate Independence Day by declaring his own independence! Now with him revealing that, one has to wonder how this will affect his fanbase and his music sales. His debut album, Channel Orange, will be released on July 17, 2012. Homosexuality is slowly becoming more of a norm in society but he is in one of the most homophobic music industry communities, which is the hip-hop community. I guess in the coming weeks we will see if his coming out will affect his record sales. This is huge! I mean he is like the first person ever in the hip-hop community to openly admit to being homosexual! Some may consider that to be career suicide; but I see it as being a career birth! I guess that’s the optimistic person that I am but I honestly believe that! The support from some of his industry peers has been awesome but will they really look past his sexual preference and see his talent instead. The picture that I used for this post was uploaded by Beyonce on her Tumblr page to show her support for the singer. I applaud him for opening that door for people like us. He really just started a movement. Yes, there are openly gay men in the industry but not the hip-hop industry…until now! I applaud him for having the courage to bare his soul like that in such a judgmental society. This is great for people in the gay community who didn’t have the courage to stand up and be who they are. He just gave all of those people hope! Thank you Frank Ocean! You’re kind of like a hero man!