What is there to say about this record except it has the right title. The song is guaranteed to heat up those special evenings and the video warms things up without going too far and leaves the ending of the story up to imagination of the viewer. Enjoy.

As we said when we first posted the audio for this song, there is something about Avant and KeKe Wyatt that just works. Even though this song may owe a lil’ bit to “My First Love”, this is the R&B we’ve been missing–not to mention the singing we’ve been missing–KeKe is murdering the vocals on this track.

This gem flies under the radar when it comes to Whitney Houston songs that are readily mentioned, but it is quite special. The melody is beautiful, the story that the lyrics tell is powerful and Whitney Houston’s and Deborah Cox’s voices compliment each other nicely. They both are able to show their ability without coming off like they are competing and the song shines. Dare I say even better than the Whitney/Mariah duet from the Prince of Egypt soundtrack, which was heavily promoted. “Same Script, Different Cast”, written by Stacey Daniels, Shae Jones, Shep Crawford and Montell Jordan for the album Whitney: The Greatest Hits.

When Marvin Winans said that he thought Whitney Houston sounded a lot like his sister CeCe Winans at Whitney Houston’s funeral, there seemed to be an uncomfortable silence in the room. However I strongly agree and hear a lot of similarities in their voices and their delivery and the fact that they were friends, collaborated on “Count On Me” and often joined each other on stage during each other’s live performances just made life sweeter for me–like having two slices of pie instead of just one.

We had been waiting a while to get both these “sanging” divas on a track and they finally put it together on “When You Believe”, from the Prince of Egypt movie soundtrack. While the media tried to pit them against each other, they continued to make positive statements about one another.  It proved to be true in the end that they did indeed care for each other as Mariah was at Whitney’s homegoing service. This song may not have been the most memorable of Whitney’s collaborations, but it may be of the most historic ones. To have these two voices together on the same track is something for our generation to treasure.

Check out the new video for “It All Belongs To Me”, Monica and Brandy’s first duet since “The Boy Is Mine”. While the pop melody backed by an R&B beat gives the song a “best of both worlds” quality and the vocals are strong from both singers, the lyrics, especially the chorus, are on the weaker side. These real vocalists deserve better. The you’re-a-loser-get-out-but-leave-your-stuff theme is not a new one for a song, so the lyrics really needed to tell an old story in a new and poetic way. But, as far as the look of the video goes–Brandy and Monica are MAJOR! Their grown-up steelo is workin’ for ‘em. Be sure to wait for the dedication to Whitney Houston at the end of the video.

Thank goodness we have this beautiful collaboration to enjoy forever from two treasured R&B artists who left us unexpectedly and wanting for more. “A Rose By Any Other Name” by Teena Marie featuring our Artist Of The Month–Gerald Levert.

RCA Records has officially announced the new Brandy and Monica collaboration. “It All Belongs To Me” is set for a Febuary 6th release date.

Check out the press statement below:

Multi-platinum, Grammy Award-winners Monica and Brandy have teamed up in the studio once again to recreate history with their brand new single, “It All Belongs To Me”. Written and produced by Rico Love (Usher, Beyonce, Chris Brown), the poignant song reunites these young powerhouse vocalists for the first time since their massive smash single, “The Boy Is Mine.”

It’s been 14 years since the then-teenage duo released their monumental collaboration, “The Boy is Mine,” which held the #1 spot on the Hot 100 Chart for 13 weeks, won the Grammy for R&B Performance by A Duo or Group, and was declared the best-selling song of 1998.

“It All Belongs To Me” will appear on Monica’s NEW LIFE album scheduled for release on March 6th (RCA) and Brandy’s yet-to-be-titled RCA/Chameleon debut to be released this Spring.

Check out Brandy talking about doing another duet with Monica below:

Source: trueexclusives.com

This time Ms. James treats us to a duet with Moonglows founder Harvey Fuqua. “If I Can’t Have You” is sincere and heartfelt, but still feels playful as the duo sings,

The way you hug me, The way you squeeze me

The way you kiss me, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, If I can’t have you

In 2000, Mr. Fuqua revealed and he and Ms. James had recorded an entire album that had yet to be released. Hopefully the record label will see not only the need for a resurgence of this type of quality music, but also the level appreciation for Ms. James’ catalog as a sign to finally release the duet album. “If I Can’t Have You” is available on the collection “Essential Etta James“.