Black Celebrity Men

UPDATE: For those of you hoping to get or give Usher's new c.d. as a gift this holiday season will have to wait because the album's release date has been pushed back for now. A new date is still being determined. According to Usher's spokesperson, "This is a solid album that we believe in. We want to give it a proper launch. We believe that the album is so strong that we want to give it the opportunity to have the proper set-up before coming out."

Usher's record label, Jive Records, announced yesterday that the singer's new album Raymond V. Raymond will hit record store shelves on December 21st. Just in time for Christmas. Isn't that coincidental? The set is led by current single, Papers, which is No. 2 this week on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.

Usher is just full of coincidences this year. I'm sure no one is surprise to learn that along with the release of his new album comes news that he is once again a single man. The singer's divorce has finally been finalized. It was made official earlier this month after the Superior Court in Fulton County, Georgia, issued a final decree, thereby, legally ending his two-year marriage to Tameka Foster Glover Raymond. It was Usher who filed for divorce in June, claiming his marriage was "irretrievably broken" with "no reasonable hope of reconciliation."

Mmmm-hmmm, just earlier this year, a track Usher recorded called Get Used to Her hit the Internet. In the song, Usher pops off at the mouth to folks who had anything negative to say about his and Tameka's marriage....specifically Tameka's own family. Here's an excerpt:

"...Tell your family I don't mean no disrespect/But trust me later on down the road they'll get it/when I prove to them you're the one that changed me/And we have our own little girl, that looks just like you/But I don't wanna prove myself no more/tryna figure out what it is they hate me for/but the rules and the game ain't changed because we in love....

....that's why I'm so focused/when I'm thinkin of you baby/but everybody wanna see us give it up/I really didn't mean to fall/better get use to her, here in right here/she ain't never, she ain't never goin' nowhere/she's the one that's gon' have my baby it's so clear/she's gon' be the one that's givin' me love when you ain't there/please believe it/if you use to me, you better get use to her..."

That was back in January. And just 10 months later, he's gone from telling folks to Get Used to Her to telling everybody, including her, he was ready to sign them Papers.

"I can't, get to work on time, can't believe the words to her I just said/But who the hell argue n fight like dogs at 6 in the morning?/I know its gonna' be some more shit tonight/Our pastor's callin, tellin me I done went too far in/I'm seen around town and my friends can't recognize me/'cuz I took a chance on love, it's like, I'm dyin'...

For you I gave my heart and turned my back against the world/'Cause you were my girl, girl, girl/I done damn near lost my mama/I done been through so much drama/I done turned into the man that I never thought I'd be/I'm ready to sign them papers, papers, papers..."

Time flies, huh, Ush? Well, at least you got two beautiful baby boys out of all of this. As for Tameka, don't expect her to drop your last name anytime soon. Chances are she is going to continue to use that Raymond name until the day she dies...just out of spite...especially if Usher remarries; which is funny, because she didn't take no time at all dumping her first husband's last name (Glover) even before they were divorced.

Tameka's on a roll in 2009. Five kids, four of those kids at home, three baby daddies, two failed marriages and a partridge in a pear tree! Just in time for Christmas!

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