Madame Noire | Black Women's Lifestyle Guide | Black Hair | Black Love

Source: Wire Image from the Telegraph.co.uk

Well, well, well. Look at what we have here. Rohan Marley, son of Reggae legend Bob Marley and infamous baby daddy to Lauryn Hill’s five children, is finally settling down with Brazilian supermodel Isabeli Fontana. After dating since October 2011, the couple recently got engaged and plan to marry in Ethiopia. They yet to set a wedding date but Fontana told the Brazilian newspaper, Terra, ”Rohan told me that we must return to their origins so that the marriage will last forever.”

That’s interesting.

Honestly, I‘m not here to judge Rohan and his new fiancé…harshly. But I really do have one very important question. Why after dating Fontana for less than a year is Marley so ready to make it official when he and Lauryn, who were together for fifteen, were supposed to get married and have five children together, never made it down the aisle?

And before some of you start making assumptions, this really isn’t a racial thing, for me. And I hope it’s not for Marley either. If anything it’s more about being a man of honor, staying true to your word and doing right by your children. If you believe in the institution of marriage in the first place, and clearly Rohan does considering he took a good minute to divorce his first wife, then why continue to have children with a woman you have no intention of marrying? And that one’s directed at both Rohan and Lauryn too. Sometimes you have to get real with yourself.

*Sigh* I could ask questions all day but really it’s none of my business. I’ll never understand the dynamics of Rohan and Lauryn’s relationship. It’s different and unorthodox. I do hope though, that since Lauryn has had a child with another man, that the both of them have moved on from the romantic element of that relationship because we know those five children will always tie them together.

What do you think about Rohan’s engagement announcement? Do you think he’ll actually get married this time?

More on Madame Noire!

• Bet You Didn’t Know: Secrets Behind the Making of “The Color Purple”
• Lord Help Me, I’ve Got The Old Chick in The Club, Ready For a Family Itch
• An Open Letter to People With Jobs…Who Don’t Want to Work
• Wondering What The Most Popular Baby Names Were of 2011?
• Made For T.V. Moms: Our Favorite Reality Show Mothers
• Where Are They Now? The Cast of “New York Undercover”
• Evening Eye Candy: Model Broderick Hunter

What goes up inevitably must come down. It’s the law of gravity by Isaac Newton, but he may as well have been talking about the peaks and valleys of celebrity life. Stars are made and seemingly replaced by brighter ones almost overnight and one can’t help but wish for the originals to reclaim their place in the spotlight. So many rise and fall, but here are seven stars who need to shine even brighter once more.

lcaregina.ca

Halle Berry

Her name and face have been all over the news for everything from her baby daddy drama, engagement to her questionable choice of lacefronts. Paula Patton seems to be Hollywood’s go to woman of color these days, but there’s still a place for Ms. Berry on the silver screen.  Some may still debate whether or not she deserved her Oscar for Monster’s Ball, but she is still the first African-American actress to have been awarded the Best Actress statue, and that’s not by accident. It’s past time that she fully redeem herself from Catwoman with a role worthy of her talents.

by Marissa Ellis

We know that “selling out” is part of the entertainment game. We do. But in light of the recent Mary J. Blige chicken-peddling fiasco, we appreciate those celebrities who are simply about their art that much more. Who are we talking about? Oh, you know, the ones that are successful enough to command the requests of advertisers seeking to hawk their products but classy enough to turn down offers to sing the praises of soda, chicken or DirectTV.

There’s nothing wrong with hawking products. This is America after all. But something about seeing Erykah Badu plugging The Gap just reduces her mystique and authenticity…ya know? Here are a few artists who have refused to water down their brand (and essentially turn down lucrative offers) for the sake of their main gig: being an artist.

Many entertainers look to and respect Sade. Beyonce just recently gave her a shout out on her new Tumblr page. But one thing that many of these popular artists don’t have on Sade is her focused love of the music – it’s so focused that she doesn’t engage in PR or care about red carpet engagements and certainly doesn’t care for endorsements. If there is one powerful global influencer out there when it comes to music, it’s Sade. We’re sure that Coke and Pepsi and countless others have begged for her plugs.

Certainly by now you’ve noticed that the new side hustle for artists and entertainers, is to write an autobiography. Everyone from Common to Iceberg Slim has a book on the shelves. It’s hard out here for musicians these days. Everyone has a story to tell but it’s the people below who we want to hear from the most. While these autobiographies will probably never happen, with one for certain, we know that people would be snatching these hardcovers off the shelves if they were to ever come to fruition. Simply because, we’re nosey like that.

Source: theurbandaily.com

Lauryn Hill

I had to start with the best. If everyone on this list were to write an autobiography, I’d want to read Lauryn’s first and then read it again after I’d finished everyone else’s. After The Miseducation and the following hiatus, turned disappearance, Lauryn had people from all walks of life wondering one simple question. What happened? Every time I talk about Lauryn I reference this video I saw of her giving a speech to some middle-high school aged students. In it there was a light about her. She was 25 at the time and regrettably we, the public, haven’t seen her in this fashion since then. I need Lauryn to write an autobiography so we can have some closure. I have to laugh at myself because it sounds crazy, right? She’s a stranger. But the thing is when your music has such a profound effect on people, they feel, whether logically or illogically, like they know at least a portion of you. In this hypothetical, dream autobiography Lauryn has got to tell me what went down with she and Wyclef, what happened with the marriage that never happened with Rohan and why she became so disenchanted with the music industry. And really, why she started asking folks to address her as Ms. Hill…

I think most of us look back at our high school yearbooks with either one of two emotions: somewhat of a sadness at the younger and maybe slimmer us, or somewhat of a pain because of the tacky hairstyle or outfit we were wearing. Okay, okay, and some other folks are lucky enough to smile at the good old days. Despite how much money they get paid or how much makeup and designer clothing they put on, celebrities were just as raggedy looking in high school as the rest of us (raggedy might be harsh). They’ve changed a lot since then. Back in the day some of these ladies had longer hair, bigger noses, and so on and so forth, but they sure looked…normal. Check out these divas before they were taking over the big screen and stage.

Jennifer Hudson

Source: Necole Bitchie

Before she was on American Idol or Dreamgirls, Jennifer Hudson was just a young lady with a big voice attending Dunbar Vocational High School on the South Side of Chicago. Nowadays, she’s an uber-slim spokesperson for Weight Watchers, she has a beautiful son and a reality TV star fiance, and she no longer wears the microbraids seen below. Thank goodness! Man…everybody was wearing those damn things in the late ’90s! Thanks a lot Brandy…*shakes head*

Source: celebrityclassphotos.com

Source: hollywooddame.com

Oh, eyebrows…

When we get them done, they can open your face in ways you never thought or dreamed of. And when we don’t, they can make us look like unkempt Neanderthals. A good or bad set of eyebrows can define you. I loved Lauryn Hill’s brows back in the day, hated Bette Davis’ and was just puzzled by Groucho Marx’s caterpillars. If you’re looking for inspiration on how to make your own brows do big things so that they can make your eyes pop, we’ve supplied some looks from models, and other celebrities who keep their eyebrows looking fresh and clean. Happy tweezing! Or whatever it is you do for brow maintenance…

Bey doesn’t have the thickest, nor the thinnest eyebrows out there, but somehow she manages to keep them full and arched in all the right places. Back when I used to get my brows threaded, crazy enough, Beyoncé’s eyebrows were an example of a look that you could get, and many women wanted them. Why? Maybe because they stay full up to the very end of the brow and still have enough of a prominent arch in the middle to give your face a little more flair without looking like a caricature.

For people like myself who really love music debates, the “conscious rapper” topic is one that tends to get people all riled up.  More often than not, someone’s favorite rapper will get talked about in a negative light and come under fire for their actions not always living up to their words.  I’ve learned to not have any real beliefs in the idea of the “conscious” rapper because when you do, you’re also going to get that human side that you only thought belongs to the “gangsta” rapper.  I don’t believe many of the complaints about the “high and mighty conscious rappers” are warranted. I don’t think it’s right to expect them to ALWAYS talk about the plight of black people or to be positive every second of the day.  Then again, in life you’re often forced to take sides. Anyway, enough rambling – just take a look at a few of the conscious rappers and feel free to let me know what you think (I’m also on Twitter…DrennaB).

Read the rest of this entry »

Often times, celebrities go through things and we take it totally personal.  Like, they could have moved on with their lives and found the full answer to world peace and we’d still be like, “But remember when…”  So, maybe there are some things we – hell, I – need to get over. It may not happen when you read this and shoot, it may not happen at all (I’m sure I’ll side eye some of these things always) but maybe we should just…get over it?

Check out some of these examples and see if we should get over it or stop being so to forgive since “it wasn’t me or mine.” Let me know what you think!

Read the rest of this entry »

In addition to her powerful voice and acute rhymes, Lauryn Hill is a natural beauty. And she didn’t have to bare her boobs and butt for us to see it. That’s why it was so hard for us to accept her departure from the music industry. She was truly one of a kind. Since The Miseducation Lauryn has traveled down an interesting path:. multiple children, some diva behavior and most recently, her own Maury Povich moment. But such is life and it  wouldn’t be complete without its ups and downs. The same is true for a hair history. If we dig through our old photos, we’ll find some wonders and some womps. Check out Lauryn’s.

Close and Curly

I absolutely love this look. Her hair is short, but the style, texture and sheen of her hair in this shot, gives her style so much more dimension and character. The fact that Lauryn’s eyes are so engaging in this photo definitely seal the deal. It’s no wonder this is one of the more popular pictures of her.

Lauryn Hill may have shunned the spotlight, leaving many of her fans craving for a new LP, but she hasn’t stopped her daughter from pursuing her dreams of fame and fortune as a model. Last March, Selah Marley, daughter of Lauryn and Rohan, made her debut in Teen Vogue and she’s already started off the new year with a new set of prints.

The 12-year-old looks gorgeous as she switches from serious poses to more playful, youthful looks, proving you can still be striking without being oversexed. With a mother like Lauryn, I’m sure Selah’s modeling career will be kept in check—making sure she’s always age appropriate.

If, by chance, modeling doesn’t work out, Selah can always fall back on one of her many other talents like playing basketball and doing ballet and gymnastics, or playing violin, piano, or guitar. She might also give signing a try—if mama Lauryn approves. Selah told Teen Vogue, when she asked her mom about launching a singing career she told her, “Let me hear your stuff and I’ll think about it.”

“People tell me I have to follow in the footsteps of my mom and grandfather, but it’s a lot of pressure,” Selah said. “I can’t really slip up and mess up the name.”

More on Madame Noire!

• Yesterday’s Year In Review: The Good and Bad of 2011
• The Top 10 Most Shocking Celebrity Scandals of 2011
• Deuces Before The Due Date! Couples Who Split With Babies On The Way
• Celebrity Hair Spotlight: Selita Ebanks
• Should a Man’s Religion Affect Your Dating Decisions?
• Mane Magic:Ways To Color Your Hair Without Dye