Rex Features via AP Images

Once upon a time (today included), there was a Queen Bey who reigned unchallenged over every facet of the pop star kingdom. Her unparalleled commitment to outperforming the lesser royals allowed her to outshine them all. Except in one dark area. Being larger than life alienated her from the masses.

Always looking to improve, Queen Bey set her sights on the Web. Other starlets had used social media to their advantage. Surely the Queen could as well. She launched a website! And a Tumblr! Sprinkling out glimpses of her life for the masses to consume, artistic candid photos and handwritten open letters to those that inspired her. Everyone ate it up… for the most part. Some complained. The Queen was showing more of herself, but she wasn’t really telling us anything about who she was.

Bolstered by the delight of fans or the criticism of detractors, Queen Bey decided to take her online presence a step further. She launched The Beyhive blog on Tuesday. She billed it as “my way of showing all the inspiring things I come across every single day… through my eyes.”

Here’s Where the Fairy Tale Gets Real…

Beyoncé’s latest endeavor satisfies the minimum qualifications to be called a blog. The Beyhive is “a frequent, chronological publication of personal thoughts and Web links” (Marketing Terms). The blog features: photo links to the star’s latest cultural and artistic finds, a collection of the notes she writes to newsmakers (previously found in the News section), street style photographed by her stylist, and an archive of fan art. All listed in chronological order.

It’s cute. But she could have just made a Pinterest board.

Let’s look at what other celebrities are doing with lifestyle blogs:

• Goop, launched by Knowles-Carter clique member Gwyneth Paltrow, features interviews as well as editorial heavy features on products, destinations, recipes, and more.
• Little Monsters, the brainchild of the only other performer allowed to make eye contact with the Queen, Lady Gaga, is a full-fledged social network for fans of the provocateur.
• Life & Times, spearheaded by husband to Beyoncé’, Jay-Z, is a full-scale online publication that runs branded video, op-eds, and accompanies all its images with at least a paragraph of text.

Another day, another opportunity to be nosey and find out which stars have ties/roots/connections to the Caribbean. This time though, we’re professing our love for some of our favorite Bajan stars, even if we didn’t know half of them were of Barbadian descent in the first place…Either way, enjoy!

Source: howmuchdotheyweigh.com

Stacey Dash

I know what you’re thinking. Stacey Dash is clearly a mix of a lot of things, but the actress and even singer (random) is repping Barbados. Not necessarily in the public…but you get what I mean. Born in the Bronx, she’s the child of a Bajan father and a Mexican and Native American mother (Aztec and Blackfoot Native American). Definitely an interesting mix culturally, but then again, she’s an interesting lady.

Source: Eurweb.com

From Eurweb.com

When it comes to the N-word, rapper Nas is down for using it by any means necessary it seems.

So, it should come as no surprise he has no problem with actress Gwyneth Paltrow using it as she did in her world rocking tweet last week. He says she has free reign to use it because “she’s a real n***a.”

“I would slap the s*** out of somebody for Gwyneth Paltrow,” Nas told (Atlanta’s) CBS Local. “She’s the homie, she’s cool. Gwyneth gets a pass. Real people get a pass. We know what this s*** is. We don’t interrupt Italians when they say ‘Wop’ to each other. They gonna punch you in the mouth if you interrupt that. Don’t interrupt us. We pick and choose.”

Watch the clip of Nas’s defense of Gywneth Paltrow and read more about why he thinks she gets a pass on Eurweb.com.

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Source: dailymail.co.uk

As you know, Gwyneth Paltrow has been catching a lot of heat for tweeting ‘Ni**as in Paris for real’ during Jay Z and Kanye’s Watch The Throne concert in Paris. I’m here to jump up and down on my soapbox and throw the last bit of gasoline on that raging fire. I’m also going to light up a few of her co-signers in the process.

Russell Simmons recently wrote a blog about how we shouldn’t take offense to Gwennie using the “N” word because it’s a badge of honor. He wrote,

“And in the case of “N*ggas in Paris,” it is clear that these two poets are celebrating the fact that they now travel the world and are literally ballin’ in Paris … it started as a badge of honor, something to be proud of, something to poke their chests out at. Because for them, when they were kids, Paris was a million miles away and now it’s a private jet ride. The idea of being in Paris with a movie star, whether she’s black or white, is incredible!

At the risk of sounding uppity, the life story of Josephine Baker never made Paris seem that far away to me. It seemed within my reach because of her. She was a woman of color living in Paris and broke down many a barrier during her lifetime. So as a little girl, the validation of an actress referring to me as a “n*gga for real” didn’t cross my mind. But Russell isn’t the only one who has given Gwen cover for her a** to fall on. Gayle King stated on the CBS Early Morning Show that the song “N****s In Paris” is the reason why she goes to Paris. Oprah’s BFF obviously caught amnesia and forgot about the time she and Lady O weren’t allowed in the store Hermes for literally being n****s in Paris. The-Dream, who was at the concert, even took responsibility for the offensive tweet and then promptly told Twitter to pretty much get over it because it was all about context. If it’s all about the way you say it, where did the “for real” part come from? That’s not in the song’s title.

The biggest offenders in this rush to defend Gwen for getting just a little bit too comfortable are her besties: Jay-Z and Beyoncé. Their silence is just as incendiary as the “N” word. It even speaks louder. They don’t have to denounce her, but friends check each other.

The Bible speaks on the power of the tongue. It holds life and death. Our history has left too many of us dead just because of the color of our skin. From the slave ships of yesteryear to the Trayvon Martin’s of today, we are being killed because our lives are being seen as having less value and that perception is built around the reality that we are just seen as “n****s” to many. Too many.  A single word has damned the black community, but yet a lot of us want to change the meaning behind it. I suppose, but I don’t see Hispanics in a rush to reclaim any of the slur people use against them. GLAAD will fly down like a pack of locusts against those who throw around offensive language to gays and no exceptions or context is accepted. There are repercussions for others when insults of this manner happen in their community, but there’s always one of us leading the charge to absolve those that offend. What’s that about?

The default rationale is that we use the “N” word and so it’s permissible for universal use. In this instance, it’s the name of the song and therefore it’s okay. The word is littered in so many rap songs that you’ve come to expect it after the first beat drops. The use of the “N” word has become so commonplace that people just shrug when they hear it and that’s a Joe Clark Code 10 situation!  It’s time to get out of the house and burn it to the damn ground.

Blacks who are in a position of power have got to use their influence. Their platforms shouldn’t be used to make a mockery as to why there is outrage over the flippant use of the “N” word. Their silence and apathy in lieu of some emotion shouldn’t be either.  A lot of these celebrities shouldn’t act too surprised when they hear crickets at the cash register. If anyone can be that removed from how potent the “N” word still is and always will be, I can keep my hard earned dollars to myself. And that’s for real.

Follow Stephanie Guerilus @qsteph

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Source: newyorkgossipgal.com

I figured Russell Simmons would make a statement about this sooner or later, and sure enough the Global Grind founder wrote a post on his site yesterday asking, “Why Is Everyone So Cray About Gwyneth’s Tweet?” Uncle Rush essentially defends the use of the n-word by anybody—black artist, white fan, etc.—and starts with a little anecdote about white folks in Carnegie Hall singing “Ain’t No N*gga” in harmony with the black people in the audience like it was the 1900s and they were singing “Lift Every Voice and Sing” while holding hands. For someone who was around at the start of rap’s entry into the mainstream I guess it might have been the equivalent of that to him, but anyway, here’s the full letter:

A few months ago, I went to the Jay-Z charity concert at Carnegie Hall. It was pretty exciting to watch hip-hop’s biggest star play the world’s most prestigious venue. However, there was nothing more exciting than him donating 100 percent of the proceeds to charity, including my $25,000 donation.

The third song that came on during the show was “Ain’t No N*gga”… the song I signed Jay to Def Jam on. Everyone in the hall was singing every word to the song. Every white girl (and there were a lot of them) was singing it to their man…“Ain’t no n*gga like the one I got!” EVERYONE was singing every word of every song for the entire set, which ended with “N*ggas In Paris.” White, black – everyone was singing along.

But a couple of nights ago, a similar milestone occurred in Paris with Jay and Kanye’s Watch The Throne Tour.  It was at this show that my friend Gwyneth Paltrow tweeted something that got me a little twisted. I follow Gwyneth on Twitter and when I saw her tweet about the “N*ggas in Paris” show in PARIS, I said ‘Damn everybody is there but me.’ I’m a bit older and I don’t get to jet-set to concerts like I used to, but when I saw Gwyneth was there, I must admit, I got a little jealous. The tweet she sent has since angered some in the black community, since she used the n-word. But when I saw it, it didn’t faze me – not even one bit.

I have to throw my hand up and stand up for Gwyneth. I know her intentions were not to be offensive … she was just proud of her friend, Jay-Z. My words are in defense of her.

I don’t have a permanent answer to the n-word controversy that appeases everyone. I remember when I tried to fix it and said we should maybe beep that word and a few others on the radio, Oprah quoted me as if I said not to use the n-word. However, for the record, I have NEVER told any artist not to use that word or any word in my life and I never will; a poet can choose their own words to describe whatever they want in their art.

And in the case of “N*ggas in Paris,” it is clear that these two poets are celebrating the fact that they now travel the world and are literally ballin’ in Paris … it started as a badge of honor, something to be proud of, something to poke their chests out at. Because for them, when they were kids, Paris was a million miles away and now it’s a private jet ride. The idea of being in Paris with a movie star, whether she’s black or white, is incredible!

There is something truly inspiring about black culture and black music, hip-hop culture and hip-hop music.  No matter what color skin you might have, there is an overriding good effect that this music has on you. It is contagious. It was this explosive expression that spread out of the inner cities of America into the walkmans of kids like Gwyneth Paltrow during their childhoods in 1980s and 1990s. It allowed white kids to begin to sympathize with the plight of many in black America. And these kids have overwhelmingly become progressive in their politics and their social concerns. Having any Hollywood starlet at your concert was unimaginable, and having her quote your lyrics as a badge of honor that she was hanging out with you, you never would have dreamed of that – until your poetry hit the market and changed the world.

So, for Gwyneth to tweet out her excitement about hip-hop taking over the planet is a good thing. She didn’t mean any harm, she just was trying to ball so hard, and like Jay-Z says, “motherf***ers can’t fine” her.

You can tell what era of rap Russ grew up in because he’s quite nostalgic about a time when the music was progressive and aired social and political concerns. You can’t deny rap is still contagious and explosive but white people are hardly sympathizing with any black plight these days. They just want to be n*ggas for as long as the three- or four-minute song their singing lasts and then go back to their inherently privileged realities.

What’s interesting about this whole thing is that it’s come out that The Dream is actually the one who sent the tweet from Gwen’s phone that night and had he spent more time explaining that from jump instead of that “context is everything” statement, this would have died out. But apparently he wanted to make a point like Russell Simmons: The n-word is fair game for any and everybody. I guess (not.)

What do you think about Russell Simmon’s post?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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It’s never a dull moment when Kanye and Jay-Z hit the stage to perform N*ggas in Paris. Over the weekend, they kicked off their Watch the Throne Tour in the French capital and since they were self-described n*ggas in Paris, they performed the hit song a record 11 times. Somewhere in the midst of all that, Gwyneth Paltrow, who attended the concert with Beyonce, Kelly Rowland, and the Dream, was feeling the energy and sent out a tweet with the picture above of her on stage saying:

And that’s when the beat dropped a bit. Blogger B. Scott picked up on Gwyneth’s tweet and retweeted it asking if it was OK or not, to which the actress responded:

I was surprised this was even up for discussion considering she didn’t exactly just throw the n-word out there without asterisks, but I think it’s the “for real” part that made some people say hold up, did she just call Jay and Ye n*ggas? The Dream came to the actresses defense quickly on Twitter saying:

“N[*]gga doesn’t have any power over me which is why this will be the last thing I say about it. A word means something when u react to it! Context is everything. Meaning it in the context as a Song which is how we Sold it to the world!!!!!! it is what it is. I’ve seen people not use the Word at all and have been the most racist people rather than use it in the context as the song it self. And Actually N[*]ggaz was in Paris! Lol stop wasting gods time Do something with your life! Love not War.”

Regardless of whether Gwyn got too caught up in the hype or not, I blame Jay and Kanye for this. The title of this song and it’s crossover appeal was just asking for this type of nonstop n-word controversy foolishness.

Do you think Gwyneth was in the wrong or are people overreacting?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Source: Swagger New York

Beyonce is just about ready to get back to work on the numerous projects she has lined up for 2012, but not before she gets in one last vacation retreat. Bey and her BFF Gwyneth Paltrow are reportedly planning a relaxing mommy getaway in Tuscany and their bringing their kids Blue Ivy, Apple, and Moses along too. According to MTV UK,

“They’re planning daily yoga sessions at a private five-star villa, which has its own pool… And the pair will get stuck into a menu of Gwyneth’s favorite organic grub while they are away.”

Beyonce has already supposedly been taking Blue, who’s just about 2 months old, to baby yoga classes thanks to Gwyn’s recommendation so sessions at the Italian villa sound perfect for the mother-daughter pair. Maybe the singer and actress will work out Bey’s upcoming role in One Hit Wonders while they’re away too. Either way this vacay sounds fantastic!

If you could go anywhere in the world for a post-baby retreat where would you choose?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Source: Artist Info Blogspot

Picture “Glee” for adults. That’s the feel of a new musical comedy Beyonce is set to star in once she wraps “A Star is Born.”

Bey is just one of a few big names for the Sony Pictures movie “One Hit Wonders” which is designed to be a star vehicle for her, Gwyneth Paltrow, Reese Witherspoon, Cameron Diaz, and Andy Samberg. Gwen, Reese, and Cameron will play three singers who each scored a top hit song in the ’90s before their careers went down the drain. The ladies then decide to form a super group—which is where I’m assuming Beyonce comes in—but there’s no official word on what her role will be just yet.

The idea for the flick apparently came out of a dinner Ryan Murphy, who will produce and direct the film, had at his home with Gwyneth, Reese, and Cameron who wanted to do something fun together. Ryan will bring on fellow “Glee” creators Brad Falchuk and Ian Brennan for the project so that already gives you an idea of what to expect. It might be nice to see Beyonce take on a funny role though.

What do you think about the idea for this script? Would you check it out?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Have you noticed that in the entertainment industry, everyone feels like they can crossover from field to field? Actors become singers, singers become actors, actors become authors etc.  But are they all truly talented in these varied fields, or do they simply get bored with their current job?  Whether they were discovered during a movie or have branched out into the music world on their own, these celebs have crossed over successfully.

Take a look at these 8 celebrities who actually have vocal talent….

Read the rest of this entry »

I’m not a fan of Nene Leakes’ on-camera demeanor and attitude, but let’s be honest, somebody obviously is. You have to give her credit though because she is making some big moves and collecting some even bigger checks, and you know you’ve made it when you’re moving from ratchet reality TV to a popular, mainstream series on a non-cable network.

The outspoken and “rich” reality TV star has confirmed that she will have a recurring role on the show as character Roz Washington,  Sue Sylvester’s rival. Washington is a synchronized swimming coach for the school that will definitely be making waves. She’s already filmed her first episode and tweeted about her new gig:

“Studying lines now! My memory is just gone LOL! Gotta head right back 2 the Glee set after the holidays”

I don’t even really like Glee, but even I have to admit that this could be interesting knowing how crazy the Sue Sylvester character is, and also knowing how crazy NeNe is in general. If all goes well, she could be the black Gwyneth Paltrow on that joint, getting nominated for Emmy awards and singing at the Grammys. It also helps that some of her new co-stars are geeked about her new role and presence on the hit show. Entertainment Weekly reports that stars Chris Colfer and Lea Michele were all over her trailer when she arrived for filming. Looks like Glee is about to get some ATL swag.

So will you be watching?