And it’s finally over! The season of Love and Hip Hop in New York ended yesterday after airing their final reunion episode, and boy did the absolute most happen. Joe Budden got punched in the back of the head by Consequence, Erica admitted to having sexual relations with Tiffany, Yandy opened up about the currently incarcerated Mendeecees, and basically, the ratch came out of pretty much everybody. Here’s a recap of the mess that we couldn’t help but be confused by last night.

Picture it: Richmond, Virginia, around 1996. It is Monday, mid-morning, and students on the campus of Virginia Union University are trying to figure out ways to pass the time between classes. While the library would be the most productive option, instead, dozens of students squeeze into the activity room at the Henderson Center and huddle around the television. With so many of us in the room, the temperature always managed to climb to a stifling degree, but whatever discomfort was felt from the heat paled in comparison to what was heating up on the small screen.

You see, between the hours of 11 a.m and 12 noon, it was known campus-wide as Jerry Springer hour. It was the time where we squelched our hunger for the shenanigans. There were public spectacles like a Nazi family reunion with a Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner twist; a deceitful lesbian, who tricked a straight exotic dancer into believing that she was actually a dude; and a love triangle involving an amputee man with no legs. It was crass, lewd and very ludicrous. It was the embarrassing part of America, of the community and heck even our own families. And yet here we were, W.E.B. Du Bois’ dream, sitting together in the hollow halls of a prestigious HBCU, hooting, fist pumping and booing every time someone manages to break free from the arms of Steve Wilkos and throw a fist or chair across the stage. Yes, it was shocking and appalling. But in between the tomfoolery, some discussions would happen; sides would be taken, and suddenly the real show was going on inside of the activity room.

Watching Mona Scott Young moderate the reunion episode for the third season of Love & Hip Hop on Monday, I realized how much she reminded me of that golden era of talk. I mean, that reunion episode had it all: lie detector tests, screaming matches, surprise twists, love triangles…and that was in the first 20 minutes. I watched as Mona was a referee between Raqi and Rashidah, who bickered over which of the two was a bigger industry “h*e” (I’m not being facetious; that was the actual conversation). My inside dialogue was like, well that’s just like debating Golden Delicious apples versus Granny Smith apples. However, Scott-Young took a different approach: She had respect for her guests, in this case, her cast mates. She didn’t mock them or make light of their petty disagreements. Instead, she tried her best to get to the bottom of their conflict by giving them the stage to air out their grievances. If the two wanted to deflect or skirt around the elephant – or should I say Joe Budden – in the room, well, that’s on them.

That’s why the whole, “she is bringing down the community”-talk just doesn’t work for me. Or if it does, I feel like this is a conversation we should have been having years ago when we were soaking up Donahue, Morton Downey Jr. and of course Springer. It’s so funny because so many people say that they don’t watch these type of shows and yet the numbers do speak for themselves. I don’t see why we folks have a hard time admitting to liking that there is something more realistic and pessimistically relatable about the people we see on her shows. It’s more than identifying with the characters themselves and what they do (very few of us can put video vixen on our resume), but rather an acknowledgment of the imperfect world we live in, where obscenity-laden screaming matches (with the occasional fist fight) and accusations of being h*e are pretty common. You don’t even have to be at the center of the drama. You could be standing in line at the supermarket or on the train and the drama will pop off around you. Believe me, I have been around some smack downs before and not once did anyone stop watching. Truth is, real life is messy and people can identify more with the emotional roller coaster (should I leave him or should I stay?) of dealing with a cheating partner more than they can the watered down, and often patronizing adversity we get from the Cosby Show-esque clones we have come to associate with more positive representational television.

It just seems like to blame Scott Young for the downfall of black television is a cop-out to all the not-so-kind images of black folks on television before her arrival. There was reality television, there was daytime television, and before that there were soap operas, or as the women in my family would call them: “stories.” No one ever complained about how black women looked on television when Drucilla Barber Winters was getting her Granny Golden Delicious Smith apples on with brothers on the Young and the Restless.  Scott Young has just managed to find a way to combine all the melodrama of the soaps with the tomfoolery of daytime talk and call it reality.

Source: Twitter

Former “Love & Hip Hop” star, Emily B appears to have had an amazing week as she celebrated her February 9th birthday over the course of the past six days. Among the festivities were multiple parties, including one celebration at Pink Elephant in New York City and box seats at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center with boyfriend Fabolous. The couple also spent Valentine’s Day together, celebrating at The Noir with pal Adrienne Bailon. Both Fab and Adrienne used their social networking pages to show Em some love.

“ Happy Birthday Emily!!!!!!! If only people REALLY understood the friendship we have… Our long talks & the laughter we’ve shared over the years! I’m blessed to call you a friend… AKA Sister Wife! To a new year of Life, Love, & Blessings! @Emilyb #HBD #Friendship #Aquarius Great Times,” Bailon tweeted.

Of course, Adrienne’s “sister wife” reference doesn’t help the rumor that she and Em take turns with Fab, but we’ll pretend we didn’t see that, for now. Fab also utilized his Instagram page to send his boo some flirty birthday love.

“Happy Birthday to @emilyb_!! I love basketball, good movies, fly clothes, nice cars, vodka, and YOU!”

Em also sent out a few tweets, letting it be known that she was celebrating her man.

It seems like things have been looking up for Fabolous and Emily since her departure from VH1′s “Love & Hip Hop”. He even appears to be somewhat claiming her these days…Although, there is the questionable song, “Want You Back” with Joe Budden and Teyana Taylor  that he released back in December, which many speculate is about Em…

But, who can really keep up with these two?

Source: Twitter

When there’s drama, everybody and their mama usually has a cent or two to contribute to the conversation. The latest contribution in the weird 3-way relationship between “Love & Hip Hop” cast members Tahiry Jose, Joe Budden and Kaylin Garcia is resident hothead, Erica Mena. The aspiring singer recently chatted it up with the YBF about all things “Love & Hip Hop” and of course, the interview couldn’t end without discussion of the show’s popular love triangle and those harsh rumors that Tahiry has herpes. Check out what she had to say.

On why Tahiry is jealous of Kaylin:

“Um… I think Tahiry needs to admit to the fact she is in love with Joe, and kind of acknowledge the fact that she is a little bit jealous of Kaylin. I think honestly Kaylin is playing her position the right way, Joe puts Kaylin on a different pedestal than Tahiry, and I think that’s what kind of bothers Tahiry, and that’s what made her react the way she did.”

“He kind of brags about Kaylin more ( as far as social networks). He’s quick to put out there that he’s in love with this woman. She’s young, she’s intriguing, she’s fresh, and aint nothing like good meat. Ain’t nothing like good fresh meat.”

On rumors of Tahiry having an STD:

“God bless if that’s true and definitely stop spreading it. If you’re a walking disease you should put yourself in a bubble and stay there. I think that could be true though… but then it may not but if it is she should definitely slow her roll.”

Interesting enough, Tahiry and Joe were recently spotted at her single release party together looking rather cozy.

Source: Bossip

What do you think of the constant back and forth between Tahiry and Joe? Is she jealous of his new lady?

Jazmine Denise is a news writer for Madame Noire. Follow her on Twitter @jazminedenise

Look into this child’s big, bright eyes and tell us who you see! Definitely a stylish cute kid, this little guy gets all his fashion sense from his stylist mother. And he gets his young swag (and those ears) from his father, a pretty popular rapper. The couple has been together on and off since 2001 reportedly, and they brought this cutie into the world in 2008. When his mother is not busy bedecking her man and other stars in stylish digs, she’s occasionally showing her face on reality TV, with Love and Hip Hop and Chrissy & Mr. Jones under her belt. And his papa is known for putting out mixtapes and bang-worthy club jams for the ladies and fellas too. So whose cute kid is this? If you look hard enough, he is actually the perfect mix of both parents…

Source: Shutterstock

On Monday night’s episode of “Love & Hip-Hop,” ghostwriting rapper Consequence and his girlfriend Jen the Pen engaged in yet another one of many arguments we’ve seen between the pair about their lifestyle and child-rearing. Jen, through tears, tried to explain why she’s having a tough time with the idea of the couple’s son being raised Muslim — even though she already agreed to it, which is a different discussion — and Cons, as she calls him, hit her with what she called an “eff you,” when he basically said if this is all she has to complain about she should be happy. In his words, out of all the things he does that Jen doesn’t like, at the end of the day he’s faithful to her, and for that reason, she’s spoiled.

Yeah, let that simmer.

After I checked the Twitterverse to make sure that’s what that negro had actually said, immediately my mind started going into total recall and I remembered this was not the first time I’d heard this sentiment. My ex had a similar philosophy about relationships and my right — or lack of — to complain when he wasn’t doing what I needed him to do. Like Consequence, he totally overlooked all the things I said I needed outside of fidelity and sufficed that if he wasn’t cheating, at the end of the night I should be able to rest my head on a pillow next to him and sleep rather soundly. Surprise, surprise, that didn’t happen.

Though the jury of my personal peers is still out on whether I actually believe my ex was faithful, lets say for all intents and purposes he was. Can I take it back to sixth grade and ask, do you want a cookie? Let me first say that I do understand why some men, hopefully a select few, want to be applauded for doing something that us women would like to just be a customary part of being in a committed relationship. For one, cheating has been made out to be the absolute worst thing a man can do to a woman in a relationship. I’m not sure if it’s on the same level with, or right underneath, putting your hands on your partner, but at the end of the day, infidelity is the ultimate no-no. That said, it’s also a somewhat expected no-no. Most women don’t enter a committed relationship with a man knowing one day he will be unfaithful, lest they be fools, but we know it’s a real possibility that he may be seriously tempted a some point throughout our relationship and unfortunately succumb. To that end, a man who has set himself aside from the rest and exceeded our expectations by not cheating, I imagine, wants some type of reward for his loyalty, other than us not going off about another laundry list of wants and needs.

I’m also coming around to understanding just how difficult it is — or men say it is — to not cheat. So on that same note of reward, as a man, if I know women think cheating is at the top of their “do not do” list and I do not do it, everything else that I’m doing wrong or not doing right should seem like small fries in the grand scheme of things. After all, I think that I’ve just aced the ultimate test in relationship success 101, so I can’t help but ask, “what more could you possibly want from me?” especially when you don’t understand that I’ll be taking that test every day of my life. If I can manage to keep it in my pants, you should be able to handle me coming in a little late one night, or forgetting that we had plans when I went out with the boys, or leaving too many dishes in the sink, right? Right?

Sorry, wrong. Yes, most women view infidelity as grounds for termination of their relationship, but that doesn’t mean we don’t value other relationship characteristics just as highly — or nearly as highly. Truth be told, I think cheating is the only non-negotiable all women have in common so we all talk about it all the time and it’s become a much bigger thing than it really is — or at least than stats say it is. (Truthfully  if only 50 percent of men are cheating, why are 100 percent of women outlining guidelines against it all the time?) But when it comes to other things like spending time, or romantic gestures, or life goals, there’s much more fluidity from day-to-day or even decade-to-decade, so we can’t lay down hard and fast rules like we can with cheating, which is pretty much always a hell no, no matter time of day or year.

Also, unlike with cheating where women like to let it be known that they don’t tolerate it, when it comes to other relationship issues, we sort of like the man to figure those things out. We don’t want to have to tell men to come over after we haven’t seen them in five days, we just want them to know that they should — again, a topic for another day. The reality is the things that bring us joy in relationships are not quite as concrete as men’s seemingly universal basic needs of sex and food, which they have no problem telling us they need. For the most part, we’re sitting on the couch somewhere telling our girlfriends how we hope our guy will get us purple roses on Valentine’s Day even though we’ve given him no clue that we like either the color purple or roses, and then have an attitude when neither is on our doorstep the 14th of February, and never say why exactly.

It’s crazy, I know. But as confusing as all this ambiguity is for men, I say look at this issue in this simple way: When you’re not in a relationship you’re also not getting cheated on, so why would that same factor be enough to sustain a partnership? Bottom line: it’s not. Fidelity is — or at least should be — a baseline quality that makes for a good partner, like honesty and reliability and loyalty. When a man is faithful  he’s only succeeded our real-world woman expectations not our relationship ones. Not sleeping with someone else should be a given and that’s why we’re not giving any pats on the back for not doing it. Fidelity, in a sense is like air. We need it subconsciously and we certainly notice when it’s not there, but we aren’t routinely reminded of it’s necessity, like say hunger or thirst. When it comes to our partner being faithful, we need or daily fill of conversation and quality time and things of that nature to carry on because when things like that don’t get quenched, it’s a signal we have an even bigger problem like infidelity. And when you mess up on the maintenance you might as well have cheated because it’s likely the relationship will suffer the same fate.

Source: WENN

“Love & Hip Hop” star Consequence recently made a visit to Power 105.1′s Breakfast Club along with his girlfriend Jen The Pen. The popular ghostwriter wasted no time getting straight to business and going in on his fellow cast members. His wrath wasn’t merely limited to the cast of “Love & Hip Hop” though. He also proceeded to go at his ex-friend Kanye West over what appears to be shady business practices and Kanye’s failure to send a gift to Jen’s baby shower or even congratulate the couple on the birth of their son. When former friends begin to slander one another, some of the first things to come out of their mouths are old secrets.

Jen was actually the first to begin spilling tea as she proceeded to share that Kanye was allegedly carrying on a sexual relationship with Kim Kardashian while she was still with NFL player Reggie Bush.

“Cons did nothing to him. Nothing. I’m telling you, I hear this man’s every single conversation — I know every single thing that has ever happened, and I could say on my son, he never did anything to Kanye for Kanye not to give a congratulations [for our baby], to him or to me, for that matter. … When he was sticking Kim, when he ‘was’ sticking Kim, when Kim was with Reggie, you know whose secret that was? That was our secret, when the rest of the world didn’t know. No one blew up his spot. He had his back. Every night that man called, ‘What do I do? What do I do, you know, about Kim? I need to be with her, I want to be with her,’ this, that and the third. That secret was in ‘my’ home.”

Consequence proceeded to confirm Jen’s statement by sharing that he was the one driving Kanye to meet Kim at various hotels. ”I was driving him to the telly,” the rapper expressed. He also shared that his relationship with Kanye initially went south after Ye was slow to pay money that he owed him. He didn’t refrain from letting it be known that he was a ghostwriter for Kanye, either.

“When you not my friend no more and I ghostwrote for you, I’m gon’ tell everybody… I am a ghostwriter. I have been helping you. That’s why I can say I’m arguably one of the best. If you running around here talking about you the best on the planet, and you definitely say that, then how you the best on the planet if you got my pen?”

Yikes.

Check out the full interview on the next page. What do you make of Consequence and Jen airing out Kanye’s dirty laundry? Was it warranted?

Source: Twitter

Everybody knows the real reason people join the cast of “Love & Hip-Hop” isn’t to launch whatever singing or rapping career they claim to have, they’re looking at dollar signs. The question is, just how much is clowning on TV and telling all your business to $3.5 million viewers every week worth? According to CelebrityNetworth.com, that answer is a pretty penny because some of these reality stars are cashing in big time from the show’s high viewership. Take a look at the estimates some of these stars reportedly earned in 2012.

Source: Stephen Knight

Last night, VH1 and Mona Scott-Young held a premiere screening of “Love & Hip-Hop New York” and we were there to catch all the ratchetness as it unfolded. I wish I could say some of the things we witnessed was just for the cameras but it wasn’t — most times they weren’t even rolling. That means what you see of these people when the third season premieres Monday night at 8pm is absolutely who they are in real-life — skin-tight dresses, drunken slurs, ragged weaves, stank attitudes and all. Though next week we’ll show you all our exclusive one-on-one chats with the cast members, we couldn’t wait to bust out the classic moments and insider info we peeped last night. Oh and here’s the super trailer in case you need a debriefing before you dig in. Happy ratchetry!

FayesVision/WENN.com

It used to be that when your career was nearing its end, there wasn’t a whole lot that could help resuscitate it. Then came reality television. Now many a has-been celebrity have found new life (and bigger paychecks) by jumping on the reality bandwagon. Whether they’ve taken a spin around the “Dancing with the Stars” ballroom or honed their business chops on “Celebrity Apprentice,” these celebrities have found fame in unexpected places. Madame Noire lists its 15 celebs that have benefited most from a little reality action.