Arista
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by EbtheCeleb
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The cast of Sparkle sings Happy Birthday to Whitney Houston, Swizz Beatz and Bangladesh debate relevance, Young Jeezy becomes the latest artist turned music executive, Frank Ocean may have dissed his Detroit fans and more in today’s UrbLinks.

Today would have marked Whitney Houston’s 49th birthday. We remember her great talent today and her Sparkle co-starrs, Derek Luke, Mike Epps Omari Hardwick, Jordin Sparks, Tika Sumpter and Carmen Ejogo wish her happy birthday. [24Wired]
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From one legend gone too soon to another. Check out Usher singing a Michael Jackson song at karaoke. [TMZ]
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Can’t we all just get along? I guess not when it come to battling beats. Producer Bangladesh caught heavy heat yesterday when a XXL article was released where he said fellow producer Swizz Beatz was now irrelevant. Swizz Beatz responds and boasts about selling over 300million records. [GG]
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Jay-Z, Jim Jones, and Ne-Yo is doing is right now — the list goes on of artists that have taken on positions as record executives. Next to join the ranks is Young Jeezy who was recently appointed the Senior Vice President of A&R at Atlantic Records. I wonder what the criteria is to get this type of position because when I look at Jeezy’s virtual resume it doesn’t look like he would be qualified for this position. [Billboard]
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Starting today I’m going to start highlighting one underground urban artist per day that I am really feeling right now. We’ll call the spotlight UnderUrb so definitely make sure you check back daily so you can be in the know on the hottest acts on the come up in the urban scene. We kick things off with R&B artist Wish.

WishIsHere.com
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We live in a day where a lot of R&B artists have ditched the genre for pop music so it’s refreshing when new artists come around that aren’t following the trends. Wish is here and just dropped her new mixtape “Me Against Her” that is the epitome of 90s R&B. So if you’ve been missing that sound you definitely want to download her tape. Plus it’s FREE! [Eb]
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Dwele is gearing up to release his sixth studio album Greater Than One on August 28th. Want to know what a day in the life of the artist is in preparation of a release? Check this out! [Centric]
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There’s no denying that Frank Ocean has the best fans in the industry that stuck by him when he wrote an open letter about having a relationship with a man just days before his debut LP would drop. For most that would be career suicide but he came out with a #2 album. Did he ditch his hardcore Detroit fans for Lollapalooza? If so that’s just wrong! [AllHipHop]
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Selah Sue is getting ready to tour the United States in order to promote the U.S. release of her debut album. I’m looking forward to it. Just looked how she rocked the stage during The Roots Picnic covering Lauryn Hill.

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That’s your Hip Hop and R&B links for today. Don’t forget to check back daily so you are in the know on all things urban music.