Bark + Bite

Brandy shakes her booty to "Put It Down" at Howard Theater

Hot damn! B-Rocka is taking no prisoners in the game with this new album.

Performing in front of fans at the Howard Theater in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, Brandy performed her single "Put It Down" live for the first time. The routine featured some aggressive booty popping and hip thrusting, the likes of which are usually associated with Beyonce.

Maybe her time with Dancing with the Stars has helped or maybe Frank Gatson, Beyonce's choreographer, has whipped her into shape. Either way, she was killin' it on stage. Oh, and she still sang live on top of it. How you like them apples?

Watch Brandy's first performance of "Put It Down" below

Daley digs deep for beautiful cover of Usher's "Climax"

One of our On the Verge artists, Daley, is so talented it hurts. While he's not made his mark in the U.S. yet, Daley is hard at work building a fan base back home in the UK.

That doesn't mean he's not paying attention to what American artists like Usher are doing though. Showing his appreciation for the Diplo/Usher masterpiece, Daley covered the emotional track while in concert in London recently.

Listen to Daley's perfectly spellbinding cover below

No Doubt sticks to its roots on Caribbean-flavored "Settle Down"

While it's been more than 10 years since No Doubt released their last studio album, Rocksteady, you wouldn't be able to tell it by the vibe of their comeback single, "Settle Down." The island-flavored song essentially picks up right where the band left off, firmly planted in its reggae/rock stylings.

The other amazing feat is that Gwen Stefani, now a 42-year-old mother of two, doesn't look like she's aged at all in the past 10 years. And she still fits into the clothes she wore when she was in her 20s. Who's bad?

Check out the video for Gwen and the gang's comeback song below

Drake and Meek Mill praise and worship themselves in "Amen" video

For readers who are more familiar with the pop-side of hip-hop, Meek Mill might not be a familiar name. But Drake has taken him on as a brother in hip-hop, adding him to this who's who of opening acts on his Club Paradise tour.

Oh, and he also happened to be right next to Drake when that whole Drake/Chris Brown fight went down in the club. So there's that too.

In the video for their collaboration, you can't help but think of that fight in the NYC club that resulted in Chris getting chin checked in the scenes where Drake and Meek toast and pop bottles in the club. Somebody should probably hold Chris as he watches this video cause he might have painful flashbacks.

The video itself isn't much to write about. It serves as a hybrid tour/club video, as scenes of the young bucks (J.Cole, Meek Mill, Kendrick Lamar) on the Club Paradise tour are mixed in with shots of Drizzy (rockin' a basic red Lacoste polo) and Meek performing in the city of Camden.

See if you can watch the video and not think of that fight in the club.

Nicki Minaj graces Jay Leno with her presence, performs "Pound the Alarm"

Caribbean queen! It's not just a Billy Ocean song, it also describes Trini-born Nicki Minaj.

Killing two birds with one stone, Nicki sat on Jay Leno's couch to promote her participation in the new Ice Age movie, in which she voices a sass-talking wooly mammoth. She also talked about touring life and her past as a Red Lobster waitress.

The real highlight though was her performance of "Pound the Alarm," which was given a heavy dose of Carnaval flavoring. This matches the soon-to-be-released video, which was shot in Trinidad recently.

As flesh-baring suits go, Nicki's was quite the eye-popper. Her performance game has stepped up significantly since her "Itty Bitty Piggy" days. There's energy, polish and confidence there now. Also, get into Jay Leno screaming "YEEEEEESSSS!" at the end of Nicki's performance too. What a Ken Doll he is.

Watch Nicki's appearance on Jay Leno's show below

Top 10 Songs in the US

1 CARLY RAE JEPSEN / CALL ME MAYBE
- The Illuminati claims another one.

2 MAROON 5 FEAT WIZ KHALIFA / PAYPHONE
- This song is stuck in the top ten like a quarter in a payphone.

3 GOTYE FEAT KIMBRA / SOMEBODY THAT I USED TO KNOW
- After this many weeks on the charts, the person has gone from somebody you used to know to somebody you know damn well again, Gotye.

4 KATY PERRY / WIDE AWAKE
- Just when you thought Katy couldn't squeeze one more drop of water out of that Teenage Dream sponge.

5 ELLIE GOULDING / LIGHTS
- It's refreshing that this song sounds like it could be the soundtrack to a Final Fantasy game. Gamers/geeks unite.

6 RIHANNA / WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN
- Rihanna usually seems like an act now, ask questions later kind of girl but she's pulling a Spanish inquisition on this joint.

7 DAVID GUETTA FEAT SIA / TITANIUM
- Should've saved this one for the Iron Man 3 soundtrack, no?

8 FUN. FEAT JANELLE MONAE / WE ARE YOUNG
- This song's so old that it's collecting social security.

9 NICKI MINAJ / STARSHIPS
- Soon to be replaced by the equally club-friendly "Pound the Alarm."

10 USHER / SCREAM
- The "awooo baby, baby" parts sound like a dog pound during a full moon.

SOURCE: Billboard Hot 100

Britney Spears comes alive in X Factor promo

Oh, ok. So this Britney Spears as a singing judge thing might be real fun after all.

The latest spot for Spears' run on Simon Cowell's X Factor just aired and the producers smartly put together a reel of Britney sassin' contestants. Could it be? Is Britney finally back to normal or did they just knock down the dosage of her meds?

Whatever the reason, we like it. In the words of Britney, give us more.

Watch the promo for Britney on the X Factor below

Day26 members duke it out on Twitter, signal the end of R&B group

The group's demise has been a long time in the making. The writing was on the wall once Danity Kane fell apart, to be honest. But now, it appears that Day26, Diddy's last Making the Band act, is officially a wrap.

Three of the four remaining members of the once five-man group got into it on Twitter, airing out the group's dirty laundry. Brian kicked off the beef by musing that the official Day26 Twitter account only seemed to promote Willie's solo efforts and no one else's. Willie responded that Brian was jealous and a snake. Willie further went on to blame Brian's selfish behavior for the dissolution of the group.

Willie has since deleted his tweets, but Miss Jia screencapped them. We've also rounded up the remaining tweets into a Storify post.

Read how the Day26 breakup went down