JR Magazine is Moving

All good things come to an end, with that said; JR will no longer be making posts with WordPress.com. Just so everyone understands, JR did not shut down. There was a slight dispute between the executives that own the magazine and we decided that it was best to place the entire operation on hiatus. However, almost a month ago, the decision was made to revive the website.

While the dispute between the management of JR was easily solved, a minor dispute between the parent company, TBT Entertainment Group and WordPress.com has brought about an end to the long partnership that they have enjoyed. Because of this dispute, JR Magazine will no longer operate as a WordPress.com website. This is truly painful to say, but both JR and TBT will remain on great terms with WordPress.com because without their support, JR would have never come to be.

It is just the fact that the time came for TBT Entertainment Group to search for better options and we happened to find better options elsewhere. Not only will JR Magazine be back up and running before the end of today, but we will be doing so with a rebranding of the publication. No longer will the site be called JR Magazine, but it has been renamed to JR, The Black Entertainment Guide, which is shortened to JR for reference purposes.

Once again, the JR and TBT Entertainment Group would like to apologize for the sudden break of posts with JR. We will be back before you all know it, just not with WordPress.com. This move was not anything personal because we will link back to this site as much as we have to, at times. But, this move is one that had to be made.

JR, The Black Entertainment Guide.

Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade are Together, but not Official

Dating back to last year, there have been rumors of Gabrielle Union and NBA star, Dwyane Wade, dating. As long ago as September of 2008, the two have made public appearances together. Wade has had Union on his arm at almost every public function that he has attended. Whenever Gabby needs some arm candy, she often calls on D-Wade.

When asked about their relationship, the two stars used to deny any romanticism. Now, they let it roll off of their shoulders. No longer do they deny dating each other. To some, that was good enough, but when Dwyane Wade appeared in a picture with another woman, some outrage was made. But, neither person confirmed their relationship, either.

Ever since Wade took the picture with the other woman, more than ever, people want to know exactly what the deal is. In the time since that picture surfaced, there have been pictures of Heat captain on Miami Beach seemingly getting intimate with Gabrielle Union. Looking at those pictures would say that the two are dating. But, the two have not said that they are dating.

Obviously, the Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade are into something more than a friendship, but they have not confirmed their relationship.

Tyra Banks plans to end “The Tyra Banks Show”

It was expected of Tyra Banks to truly become the next Oprah Winfrey after she announced that she was not going to renew her talk show after its 2011 renewal date. For the past few years, Tyra Banks has been a distant second to Oprah in the female talk audience. With Oprah out of the way, some felt that Banks could overtake her.

Some saw the Oprah announcement as one that was bound to happen, but people in some circles were trying to make her the next Oprah. She has been following the same trends as Winfrey, perhaps a little bit too much, though. It was expected some twenty years down the road from Tyra Banks to be ending her talk show. As fate will have it, her show will end its run before “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”

For the past five years, Tyra Banks has been the star of “The Tyra Banks Show.” The series quickly built an audience because of the new style that Banks came with and those who grew bored with Oprah began watching her show. Tyra Banks has enjoyed doing the talk show for the past five years, but she feels that it time for her to move on.

In moving on, Banks has decided that she should end her television series in order to pursue a career in Hollywood. She has plans of starring in and producing films in the near future. Taping episodes of “The Tyra Banks Show” would slow that process down, quite a bit.

Lloyd denies signing with Young Money

Throughout the years, a few things have remained constant. Among those are a Lloyd collaboration with Lil Wayne. Starting in 2004 on his debut album, Southside, Lloyd had a track featuing Lil Wayne. In late 2006, he released his hit single, “You,” which also featured Lil Wayne.

On the heels of his 2007 album, Street Love, Lloyd returned with his third album in 2008. Like his previous release, the first single off of the album, “Girls Around the World,” featured Lil Wayne. It was around this time that there were rumors of a collaboration album between Lloyd and Lil Wayne.

That album has yet to come, as Wayne is fresh off of the release of his seventh album, We Are Young Money. This album features a collaboration with Lloyd. This makes the third consecutive year that there has been a single that Lil Wayne and Lloyd have collaborated on. They came together for the hit single, “Bedrock.”

Initially, the song featured Omarion, as he was signed to the label. But, after he left, he was replaced with Lloyd. This led many to believe that he had replaced Omarion on the label. At the time, Lloyd had just left Murder Inc. and he did little to tell people otherwise about his label status.

As the rumors have become louder and louder, Lloyd has finally addressed them. He said that he is great friends with Lil Wayne and Birdman. They have maintained a strong relationship during his time in the game. While he would love to sign with Young Money, if the money was right, he has not gotten around to doing it yet.

Currently, Lloyd is in talks with a number of record labels about a possible deal. At this time, Young Money is not one of those labels, but if they were, he would be more than willing to join the label.

Jay-Z to take Beyonce’s last name?

Jay-Z proved that rappers can commit when he began dating Beyonce Knowles, the star of Destiny’s Child. Before their relationship, most of his lyrics detailed him having many women and lots of cash. Over the years, his relationship with Beyonce grew and the only thing that remained constant was his rhymes about money.

Starting with “Bonnie & Clyde 03,” Jay-Z and Beyonce became hip hop’s power couple. By 2006, it was clear that he was committed to Beyonce. They credit their successful relationship to the fact that they are able to keep the media out of their business.

In 2008, they made things official when they got married. Things were great for Jay-Z and Beyonce last year. However, things were not so great for the rest of the Knowles family. Over a week ago, it was revealed that Beyonce’s parents are filing for divorce.

Because of that, Jay-Z has decided to change his name from Shawn Carter to Shawn Knowles-Carter. This is because of the fact that Beyonce’s parents never had a son and when they die, the Knowles name will also die. When Jay-Z and Beyonce do choose to have children, the Knowles name will be in their name.

Jennifer Hudson is not Pregnant

Recently, there have been rumors of Jennifer Hudson already being pregnant with her second child. This comes only four months after the birth of her first child. She was spotted at a concert with what appeared to be a baby bump.

As reported by The Black Entertainment Report, Jennifer Hudson is not expecting her second child. Contrary to what some were thinking, Hudson is preparing to make a strong comeback. Ever since the loss of her family, she has kept a low profile.

Starting next year, she will be exposing herself to the limelight, once again. Early next year, she will fly to South Africa to portray the role of Winnie Mandela in the new film, Winnie. Aside from her film role, Hudson will also begin working on her second studio album.

The only releases that she has planned for 2010 will be the release of this film and the release of her new album.

Omarion to release New Album in 2010

After his break-up with B2K, Omarion quickly rose to become one of the biggest solo R&B acts. Early in 2005 he released his debut album, O, which became a big commercial hit. The following year, he released his sophomore album, 21.

Like many male R&B acts before him, Omarion received many comparisons to Michael Jackson. The first was because of the fact that he was in a group. The second was because of his dancing abilities. After releasing two albums on the heels of each other, Omarion took some time off.

After his collaboration album with Bow Wow, Omarion left Sony. Last year, it was announced that he had signed with Timbaland’s Mosely Music Group, but it was revealed that those were only rumors. It turned out that Omarion was still a free agent. This past August, he signed with Lil Wayne’s Young Money label.

Omarion would only spend a few weeks with Young Money before he left the label to start his own label under EMI Music. Taking a sharp turn away from his music about partying and falling in love, Omarion wants to record a grown-up album with his latest release. The album will be his first to ever have a ‘Parental Advisory’ label on the cover.

The new Omarion album, Ollusion, will be released on January 12, 2010 on StarWorld Entertainment and EMI Music.

Que speaks on Day26 departure

Earlier this week, it was reported that Que was no longer a member of Day26. Recently, the group has been all over the news. First, it was revealed that they were no longer with Bad Boy and later it was revealed that they were still on Bad Boy.

Not even a week after that, it was revealed that Que had been kicked out of the group. To fans of Day26, it came as a shock, but no one was more shocked than Que. He was also hurt by the comments that were made by former band-mate, Willie Taylor, who said that he was “like a cancer to the group.”

In an interview with MTV, Que revealed that he was confused about exactly what happened. He said that he had never had a prior issue with Day26, but all of a sudden they kicked him out. On top of all of that, the singer was referred to as a cancer by someone that he considered a friend only minutes before.

While Que admitted that he never had an issue with the group, he said that there was an issue with the management. However, he said that all of this is in his past now. Que said that he no longer considers these people to be his brothers, they are no longer cool with each other. From here, Que will hope to begin a solo career.

Kanye West is ready to marry Amber Rose

For over a year, Kanye West has been in an on and off relationship with model, Amber Rose. Many thought that she was just his rebound after Kanye had broken off an 18 month relationship with fashion designer, Alexis Phifer. Maybe she is a bit more serious than that.

Ever since he has been in the public eye, Kanye West has been erratic. In 2002, he almost lost his life and since that time, he has lived as if there is no tomorrow. Recently, Kanye West has been going through some personal issues.

The year of 2006 was his last year of true happiness. This was when he proposed to Phifer, and he celebrated his hit music. However, as 2007 came around, he found himself being bullied by 50 Cent. If that was not bad enough, he lost his mother while promoting his third studio album, Graduation.

Ever since 2002, Kanye West has been working non-stop. First, he almost dies and he changed his way of life. After that, he was baited into a feud with 50 Cent. Then, he loses his mother, Donda West, after she decided to have gastric bypass surgery. All of that stress led to him breaking his engagement with Phifer.

Never did West take the time off to digest what happened. Instead, he poured all of his energy into his music. His feelings of heartbreak after breaking up with Alexis Phifer and the death of his mother led to the creation of his R&B album, 808s & Heartbreak.

Even after his album, Kanye West went right back in, trying to create a rap album and release it before the end of 2009. While working on all of this, his break was supposed to be the MTV Video Music Awards. Of course, his appearance here led to the infamous VMA outburst.

Kanye West’s longtime friend, Memphis Bleek, explained West’s situation, saying that he has been going at this for seven years with no break. He has not even taken the time to properly grieve his mother. Now that he has become a media scapegoat, Kanye has taken some time off.

Earlier this year, it was said that he and Amber Rose were no longer an item, but this appears to be untrue. There have been rumors of Kanye West dating his collaborator and “Paranoid” co-star, Rihanna. Those rumors have proved to be false as it has been revealed that Kanye has plans of marrying Amber Rose.

True Black Television readies an all-new TBT Thursdays

At the beginning of this year, True Black Television made the shift from being a reruns wasteland to an original programming powerhouse. The first original programs to air on the network were “Living Lavish,” an animated sitcom and “Agape,” a soap opera. These two programs filled up Thursdays on the network.

Quickly, the two programs became quite popular over the internet television scene. Due to the popularity of the programs, the network marketed the newly-formed programming block as TBT Thursdays. Over the course of the spring of 2009, the network was able to acquire the first-run rights to many other sitcoms.

In the second season of TBT Thursdays, the programming consisted of “Can Life Get Any Worse Than This?,” “The Way We Live,” “Kiki & Claude,” and “Riviera Beach.” Once all of those programs ended, the block went defunct. Since that time, TBT Mondays had a nice run with the Jaleel White sitcom, “Road to the Altar” and “Rundown & McRee.”

Recently, True Black Television reached out to Seaton Smith to acquire the first-run rights to his sitcom, “Annoy Charlie Smith, Inc.” the special pilot episode aired on December 3, 2009. The series will fill the Thursday night lineup, beginning on December 24, 2009. It will be paired with the second season of “Rundown & McRee.”

These will be the first original programs to air on Thursdays since “Can Life Get Any Worse Than This?,” which will now air on Wednesdays on True Black Television, now that its spin-off, “The Amina Wilson Show” will also begin airing. Both the series premiere of “Amina” and the second season of “Can Life…” will begin airing early next year.

The network is also in-talks with some other content creators about them possibly developing some programs for the network. Those programs would probably air on Thursday, too. Currently, there are two sitcoms that are in development for True Black Television and they will probably end up airing on Thursdays, too.