A Special Note from the Editor

It is offical. And it's been fun.

Since 2004, Blogger has been a wonderful location for me to blog my thoughts, posts the lates news and deliver some incredible commentary. I've especially enjoyed the interactivity my followers have had with my posts and with other bloggers' thoughts.

But it's time to move on to newer horizons. Closing this chapter here isn't terrible news for me since we have opened up MainIngredient; the new blog associated with PRAYZEHYMN Online.com and MainStreet. The coverage there won't be so narrow since we have adopted a new philosophy to cover everything good in pop culture. Covering only gospel music led me to become pigeonholed into a specific genre and conversation topic; grouped in with conservative, Christian-related bloggers. Being boxed in to a specific format like that wasn't always enjoyable for me since I am a liberal guy who loves pop culture and also grew up on a beautiful variety of music choices.

And so, I am signing off on the PRAYZE Report. If you are looking for exclusive details and information related specifically related to gospel music, I urge you guys to check out the following blogs.

GospelPundit.com
The Black Gospel Blog
1800Gospel.com

PRAYZEHYMNOnline.com will continue to cover gospel music, just not as much. It will begin template renovations beginning this month and will reshape its focus of coverage on other music styles and genres including rock, pop and R&B/soul. Notice we even changed our motto. It's not just "where gospel music lives." It's "where good music lives." I'm on a mission to keep good music out there.

Expect MainStreet to cover the pop culture-related stuff while PRAYZEHYMNOnline.com will cover a broader range of topics and material - including extensive commentary pieces, articles and even more interviews.

By the way, I will begin posting a series of personal blogs detailing the reasons of my shift from gospel music. And I promise you it's going to be worth reading. It will cause you re-think the music you buy and quickly label "anointed", trust me. First post goes up next week. So be there for that.

Major kudos go out to Rod McCullom at Rod 2.0. You were the inspiration behind me launching this blog. Thanks for leading me to make this choice and to enter into the world of blogging.

Gossip Leak: Tye Tribbett and Da' T.R.U.T.H.

Got to call it what it is. It's gossip. But as they always say, there's always some truth in the tale.

Twitter posts and unauthorized gospel blogs went haywire this week concerning the moral discrepancies and recent fall outs concerning urban gospel/hip-hop rapper Da' T.R.U.T.H. and gospel star Tye Tribbett.

Both are now the subject of marital infidelity and moral indiscretion. For Da' T.R.U.T.H., the rapper publicly posted via his web site a letter to his fans that he will be taking a sabbatical from the music ministry and is need of time to heal for his wife and family.

But even more puzzling revelations are surfacing concerning a soap opera-tinged love triangle. According to gospel blog Da Gospel Truth, "Tye cheated on his wife with a choir member who was his good friend’s baby’s mother. Da’ T.R.U.T.H., Tye’s mentee, cheated with Tye’s wife."

According to reliable resources, Tye Tribbett nor his publicist will comment about the new revelations or his moral crisis.

In May, former label mate Ambassador was released from his record label, Cross Movement Records, concerning moral failure pertaining his wife.

After Da' T.R.U.T.H publicly announced his semi-retirement leaked, Cross Movement issued a public statement revealing their decision to drop him from the label. "It is with tremendous sadness and humble disappointment that Cross Movement Records must inform you regarding the suspension of the promotion and forwarding of the artist...Da Truth,...due to recent findings of moral failure in his marriage." stated the letter. "It is the expressed ambition and demonstrated intent of this label to foster Christian leadership that utilizes the platforms of an artist or musician. While obedience to the word of God is the high standard for all who name the name of Christ, for the Christian leader, the standards and the consequences are even greater.

No word has surfaced if Columbia or Sony Urban will decide to drop Tribbett from their roster concerning the newly released allegations.

In closing, for those that want to label this as just another sleazy, downgrading ploy designed by Satan. I leave you with these powerful words: "You shall know Da' T.R.U.T.H. And the truth shall set you free." Amen.

[PREACH THE GOSPEL, SPREAD THE GOSSIP]

Torrence's Take on Da T.R.U.T.H. [The Gospel According to Torrence/BET]

Love Triangle Takes On a Whole New Meaning [Da Gospel Truth]
Da' T.R.U.T.H. Takes Sabbatical for Moral Indiscretion [Gospel Pundit]

Official Web Site [DaTruth.net]

BeBe Axed from Oprah

According to the Associated Press, BeBe Winans has been uprooted from the Oprah Winfrey Show until the legal charges against him based on allegations of him attacking his ex-wife are resolved in court.

Winans did appear on her show last week to promote Still, his new album with sister CeCe, and was seen in promos for upcoming shows. A show focusing on a "karaoke challenge," bolstered by the debut of the video game Band Hero, was supposed to feature (BeBe) Winans, but will be cut from the show according to show spokesman Don Halcombe.

Amid growing concerns from bloggers about Oprah's harsh stance against domestic abuse, Oprah responded in a statement: "Domestic violence is something that I wouldn't tolerate. Period."

More growing concerns for Winans has sparked surrounding the rumors of his departure as a judge and co-host on BET's Sunday Best. At press time, BET has not confirmed such a report, but the rumors seem to be true, as reported earlier by Gospel Pundit. BeBe & CeCe Winans are still expected to go on tour to promote their new album.

[AXE TO THE ROOT]
BeBe Winans Leaving Sunday Best? [Gospel Pundit]

Oprah bans BeBe Winans from her show and I have a challenge for gospel music fans [Beliefnet]
Oprah Responds to Domestic Violence Double Standards, Bans BeBe Winans [The Boombox]

James Fortune and Isaac Carree Robbed

Columbus Day was a holiday and a day off from work for some. For Isaac Carree (of Men of Standard fame) and gospel artist James Fortune, it was just a day of horrid discovery.

The reports were first made on their Twitter accounts and eventually leaked on gospel radio. Early reports on Gospelflava.com stated they were robbed in Atlanta. Well, we have since read an entire different version at other gospel online resources (including GospelPundit.com). They were robbed at gunpoint while leaving Le Peep's restaurant near Houston's Galleria. Personal belongings reported stolen, according to the victims, were iMac computers, jewelry, passports and money. Both Carree and Fortune were unharmed.

[DON'T NOBODY GIVE ME NO BAD NEWS...]
James Fortune & Isaac Carree Robbed Yesterday (GospelPundit.com)
Isaac Carree (Twitter)
James Fortune (Twitter)

Steve Harvey Captures TBN Audience

Normally I don't watch TBN. I'm just not a big fan of religious programming. After hearing the rhetoric from super-conservative bullies, I just slowly lost interest.

But GospelPundit.com led me to watch the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN) archived copy of October 5's Praise the Lord. Glad that I did.

The evening's lineup was in rare form that night. Donnie McClurkin hosted the live taping, while special musical guests Vanessa Bell Armstrong and refreshing newcomer Melinda Watts brought some of their best stuff and gusto to the stage. Armstrong debuted her new single, "Good News," from her recently-released album The Experience; sending the audience into a Holy Ghost frenzy. And Watts, surprisingly, sung "Come Boldly." Astonishing enough that in my album review of her debut project People Get Ready I mentioned the song was the strongest moment on board. But thw show's first guest, renowned comedian Steve Harvey captured the heart of the evening. It was hilarious, uplifting and emotional - even leaving the original King of Comedy in tears.

Harvey, a New York best selling author and radio host, brought his blunt and forward humor to the stage and incredibly spoke of his faith in God. The infamous introduction of Jesus segment, taken from his T.D. Jakes' Megafest stand-up performance, opened up the program and had the audience enraptured with shouts of joy. But his breakdown on men, excerpts from his best-selling book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, allowed the church crowd to get a dose of reality and truth from a renowned mainstream comedian. How incredible is that.

Powerful words from Harvey, when talking about fame, faith and the troubles of the Internet:
"It's this fame thing that makes it hard. See, my life is under a microscope. I get sick of that sometimes. People don't understand how that is, man, to have your life dissected by people who don't know you. See, the Internet has become this place for evil to dwell. People who blog who have no sense of reality. They just blog about you, don't even know you...I have kids that be reading stuff that ain't true about their father. But you gotta have a piece of you that hold you when all of it is bad. I give God all the credit."

After hearing Harvey's transparency, his profound testimony and words of truth, there was no need to even bring out the preacher of the hour.

Below is a short five-minute snippet from Harvey's TBN appearance.

[BEHIND-THE-SCENES]
Steve Harvey, Vanessa Bell Armstrong, Melinda Watts - Archive [TBN.com]

Deitrick Speaks Out: "Not a Sissy Bone In My Body"

On his Twitter page, gospel artist Deitrick Haddon decided to chime in on the popular online debate surrounding homosexuality in the church. Apparently it created major attention when EJ Gaines posted a thread on his site, GospelPundit.com. Now with over 50 comments at Gaines' site and other blogs jumping into the heated conversation, Gaines extracted from the Twitter content some of the homophobic language from Haddon's statements.

"All Gospel singers are not gay as I don't have a sissy bone in my body."

Apparently outraged from Tonex's recent conversation with gospel artist Lexi on her Word Network cable show The Lexi Show, Haddon also commented, "Listen people. God loves everybody but he hates sin! God destroyed Sodom & Gomorah because the city was gay! You think he wants it in his church?" He did repeat on several Twitter posts that he was not a gay basher or homophobic, but his usage of the word" sissy," a derogatory term for "homosexual" upset a number of bloggers and readers.

"God is not pleased with the anger we exhibit, and the venom we spew," Gaines stated in his editorial. "Just because we say “I’m doing it for YOU, Lord.” We condemn other religions for committing hateful acts in the name of God, we have seen (as a nation) racial oppression premised on people’s errant interpretation of Scripture. And we’ve not liked it....let's do better."

In response to Haddon's comments, Tonex' spoke to popular urban gay blog Loldarian .com and said that he was a "little bit disappointed with the response. I think the term "sissy" wasn't necessary but as a brother of mine, no love is lost here."

Not all stand in EJ's corner. A number of Haddon supporters and anti-gay protesters are also becoming more and more vocal with their stance on homosexuality and Tonex's decisions to speak out about his sexuality. BIGG C left these words, "Come on people, please. Why are we so soft on sin, God aint., yes he’s a forgiving God, but he ain’t soft on the sinning. Homosexuality is sin, fornication is a sin, lying is a sin. It aint being hateful if we call someone out who is wrong, if we base it according to the word of God. DH shouldn’t have to apologize for nothin’. He’s not hatin” or being hypocritical."

Daservant posted, "Ohhh I get it now…SISSY…has been elevated to the big ‘N’ word. Never knew…thought it was just like any other word used…not of the caliber as N*GGER OR F*GGOT OR CR*CKER!, man SISSY is not that serious!!"

Amazingly, the controversial content was removed Wednesday from Haddon's Twitter page and shows no sign of the conversation ever taking place. No word if it was removed due to possible orders from his music label, Verity Records, or its parent company, Zomba.

Haddon, married to gospel singer Damita Haddon, topped the gospel charts in 2006 with Crossroads. In 2008, he released his most recent project Revealed, which featured the R&B crossover hit "Love Him Like I Do," featuring guest appearances from Mary Mary and American Idol winner Ruben Studdard.

In conclusion, maybe Haddon needs to learn a valuable lesson from Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), tennis champion Serena Williams and hip-hop icon Kanye West about civility. There's a time and a place to say things. Artists needs to get back to what they do best...stop preaching and promoting their ideologies and get back to making good music. Do we buy their music because of how good they preach or how great their music is? Right now, we can't tell.

Read the other comments from Haddon's Twitter posts below.

[LET'S HEAR IT FOR THE BOY]

Deitirck Haddon Sparks Debate on Homosexuality (Gospel Pundit)
Gospel Music: "There's Not a Sissy Bone in My Body" (Loldarian.com)
YPJ Calls for Order (PRAYZE Report)

Tonex' Opens Up About His Sexuality (PRAYZE Report)

106 & Gospel Cancelled

We kind of saw it coming.

Originally hearld as cable's answer to reaching the hip-hop community with gospel, BET officially announced their decision to cancel 106 & Gospel; sighting poor ratings to be the show's determining fate.

According to Black Voices guru Jawn Murray, the show was nixed from BET's lineup due to its horrific airtime on Sunday at 12 noon - a time when most of their target audience were likely to be at church.

The show, which featured hosts Angel Taylor (Trin-i-tee 5:7) and Jor'el Quinn (21:03) and guest appearances from Tye Tribbett and Kierra Sheard, became gospel music's golden token in helping reach the hip-hop community and newer audiences when it was announced to be the spin-off of the urban-focused, video countdown show 106 & PARK; which airs on weekdays and is still hearld as BET's #1 show in ratings (according to Wikipedia at current press time).

EJ Gaines, of popular gospel blog Gospel Pundit, began an online protest over the outrage of the show's cancellation by posting a petition to keep the show alive. After securing more than 1,600 signatures, BET released an official press statement from executive vice-president Stephen Hill in response to the grassroots campaign. The statement mentioned they "will continue to create new and exciting shows to entertain our audience. However, at times we must also face the hard task of making tough programming decisions, as in the case of 106 & GOSPEL, which was recently cancelled."

To see the 106 & GOSPEL online petition, click here.

[106 & NIX]

BET'S 106 & GOSPEL Cancelled [EURweb.com]

BET Bids Bye-Bye to '106 & Park' Spin-off [AOL Black Voices]

BET's Response to the Petition to Save 106 & Gospel [GospelPundit.com]

Save 106 & Gospel [PetitionSpot.com]