I’m generally not ready to feel Christmasy until after Thanksgiving, due to the fact that I like to take things one holiday at a time. But the big, commercial Christmas push comes so early these days that its sort of unavoidable.

Here’s Chris Brown’s take on a Christmas classic from the soundtrack of his new movie, This Christmas. He does a pretty good job, even with the silly, out-of-place choreography, but why would anyone really listen to C.B.’s version when Donny Hathaway’s is available? Or am I just being resistant to change?

No, I still don’t think Nas should name his new album Nigger. Obviously. Yes, I understand where he’s coming from, even if I don’t agree. He needs to get used to doing this dance every time a white person asks him about it. [RTNY]

• New York magazine noticed a little too late that we weren’t ready to be cynical about Donda West’s death just yet. [Jossip]

• Also, TMZ does its best to honor that privacy request the West family made. [TMZ]

• In case you missed yesterday’s Breaking Into Fashion forum. [SYB]

• Usher’s new song sounds like the final cries of a mortally wounded robot. [CL]

• Right. I wish them all the happiness. [C&D]

The Thanksgiving turkey may be on the back burner at T.I.’s house, but, according to Entertainment Weekly, there’s something stewing in his in-home studio.

A representative for the Grammy-winning artist, 27, says he has already completed six new tracks in a studio inside his Georgia home. T.I. hopes to release the disc, which he’s calling Paper Trail, in September 2008. The album’s title refers to the fact that T.I. is writing his new lyrics down — a practice he abandoned after his 2001 debut, I’m Serious. Each of his four subsequent albums, including this year’s T.I. vs. T.I.P., was composed without the aid of pen or paper. “He wanted to take more time to really put something down [this time],” explains his rep.

…because these days he has nothing but time, right?

The video for Jay-Z’s new single, “Roc Boys,” premiered today, and it certainly is an improvement on “Black,” I mean, “Blue Magic.” Even if you hate the song, playing “spot the cameo” in this Chris-Robinson-directed video is entertaining enough. Is it just me, or does he clearly have a crush on Cassie? I hope he knows that Diddy will smack flames out his ass if he gets too close to his girl artist.

According to , Jay-Z’s stressing over the less-than-glowing-reception his latest album, American Gangster, has received.

An industry insider says, “He is scrambling - the first single, ‘Black Magic,’ isn’t being played on radio. It’s the first time in his career he’s not doing well.” Jay-Z will perform the album live on VH1’s “Storytellers” on Thursday. He’ll also tour to “create buzz,” and Def Jam shelled out $500,000 for the first video, added the source. Jay-Z’s rep, Jana Fleish man, says, “It’s not true at all. It’s a conceptual album, so we’re not focusing on one single. He was inspired by the movie. And we tour to support every release.”

Now, I am sure there is some truth to the story, but should we really trust an “industry insider” who doesn’t even know that Jay-Z’s single is called “Blue Magic,” not “Black Magic?” Or maybe that says it all right there.

You think you know John Amos, and then he totally throws us all for a loop. The Good Times/Roots/Coming to America/Men in Trees actor, who is originally from East Orange, NJ, has decided to cut a country album with members of Johnny Cash’s family.

“Country Music is all about storytelling. That’s what makes John perfect for this genre,” said Gene Cash. “We worked with him closely and helped him discover his singing voice as well. John Amos is country music.”

Cash picked up on Amos’ talent over the summer during several trips the TV star made to Nashville. Songs on the album include the title track, written by 17-year-old Eric Cash of the Cash family, as well as other Johnny Cash originals including “Hopelessly,” “Independence Day” and a tribute to the late county legend titled, “When Johnny Came to Town.

If he somehow manages to weave “temporary lay-offs/easy credit rip-offs” into one of his tracks, I might be forced to purchase the album.

Beyonce, who is winding down her successful world tour, wants more international success (a la Rihanna) with her next album, according to the British duo supposedly helping her with her new material. Think more “Umbrella” and less “Get Me Bodied.”

Freemasons star James Wiltshire says, “The album is going to be huge. It will rival anything the likes of Britney and Rihanna have done recently. Beyonce and her team can see where mistakes were made on the last album. It was very American, very R+B and stripped back. “They want to go for a more international sound this time. She wants to hit as many audiences as possible.”

I think this Wiltshire character sort of lost all credibility when he threw Britney into that comparison. How hard is it to rival the stuff she’s done recently. But if this is true, bummer. I vastly prefer Beyonce’s music to Rihanna’s (although I might like Rihanna’s better if Beyonce was the one singing).

Omarion and Bow Wow are obviously trying to recreate some sort of Best of Both Worlds vibe with their new joint album, but they’re Bow Wow and Omarion. So we can predict how this is going to go, before we even see their so so clip for their lead single “Girlfriend.” Interestingly, Bow Wow had this to say about this track:

“[’Girlfriend’ is] probably gonna be one of the biggest records that I’ve ever done in my career,” he added.

But his career hasn’t even been that short!

It’s interesting that John Legend releases a video that kind of looks like every other R&B video ever made for a song called “Another Again.” It goes along with the theme.

[CL]