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

*Opening photo courtesy of alltheparties.com.

So, it’s the first of the month of February and you know what means don’t you? It’s Black History Month! Say it loud: “I’m black and I’m proud!” “Black is beautiful!”

You get it.

People who know me know that I love this month, love giving out daily black history facts and watching documentaries on black people; Everyone has their own way of celebrating the month, whether loud or subtly, and it always makes me smile. So after putting a post up on my social media about the fabulous Phylicia Rashad’s achievements at 12 a.m. on the dot, I was kind of confused to learn through the gossip mill 15 minutes later that Rihanna spent $160,000 on a Swarovski crystal-adorned portrait of Marilyn Monroe. Oh..that’s cool…I guess. But I’m saying, my niece could have drawn one for her and bedecked it in macaroni for the low low. But anyway…

Then, this morning while looking through my e-mail, I was asked to view a new music video by new FemmeC (female lyricist) Brianna Perry called of all things, “Marilyn Monroe.” In the video, the black female rapper has long a long blonde lace front, and in a few scenes has a fake Marilyn Monroe beauty mark above her lip and by her cheek. In the hook she refers to herself as Marilyn (“I’m Hollyhood, arrogant, don’t I look good? Marilyn…Monroe”). Sure, the tune was cute, but all I could think was—Marilyn, again? Creeeeeeepy.

No disrespect to Marilyn whatsoever. She was a beautiful woman who I’m sure brought a lot of light and joy to people’s lives and maybe even taught folks to be comfortable with their curves. Kudos, kudos. However, I don’t understand why so many black women seem to be enamored with her these days. It’s 2012, right? But psych my mind, because so many celebrities get dressed up like her on the cover of magazines and in music videos to try to emulate her sex appeal and aura (I’ve seen Nicki Minaj, Amber Rose, Rihanna, and Jennifer Lopez don the same wig that looks exactly like Monroe’s hair in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”), buy portraits of her face and shout her out in their tracks. Aside from being a bombshell though, in all honesty, she didn’t do all that much over-the-top honorable and monumental stuff for black women. In fact, she was said to have done some less than awe-inducing things in her time that I won’t bring out (because we’ve all heard the allegations before), but what exactly did she do that warrants adoration of her more than a Lena Horne, a Dorothy Dandridge, a Josephine Baker, a Dr. Mae Jemison, a Nina Simone, a Joyce Bryant (since folks love to call her the “black Marilyn Monroe”), a Judith Jamison, a Ruby Dee and the likes of such iconic black women gone and still amongst us? Yet and still, folks like Mariah Carey, Kelly Rowland, Rihanna, Nicki Minaj and more have shouted her out and emulated her like she was Harriet Tubman setting us free or something. Maybe I just missed the memo?

Not to bring anybody down, but I’m sour about the idea that some of our sistas might know more about Monroe than they do a Rosa Parks or Lorraine Hansberry or any of the other black women I mentioned earlier who opened so many doors for us. I went to high school with creative chicks who had purses with Marilyn’s face emblazoned on it, and bought products with her likeness just to keep up with the oh-so popular jones: loving and acting like you personally knew celebrities who have been gone for years–decades sometimes. She’s cool and all, but I think that with all the wonderful and talented women we have in black culture from the past and the present, we need to jump off the Marilyn bandwagon and start giving love to and emulating the people who look like us (and stop trying to look like her) and gave so much so that we could freely sit wherever on buses, have the chance to be famous singers and actresses and walk through integrated halls pretending that Marilyn Monroe is the end-all, be-all. Just saying.

Am I the only one who has noticed this?

Dorothy Dandridge

Lena Horne

Josephine Baker

Dr. Mae Jemison

Joyce Bryant

Judith Jamison and Alvin Ailey

Ruby Dee

Look these beautiful women up, please!

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Apparently, Rihanna is channeling her inner Tupac with her latest inking. The word “thug” on hand and the word “life” on the other. We should mention that we’re not sure whether these markings are permanent or not.

What a pop singer from the islands knows about “thug life,” I don’t know. But it’s her body, not mine. (Thank God.)

Check out pics from tattoo parlor visit at Necole Bitchie.com.

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I guess the whole world was late trying to read into recent subtweets between Chris Brown and Rihanna because according to US Weekly, these two have been secretly hooking up for over a year now.

Multiple sources on both sides say the two are still finding love in a hopeless place, with a Chris Brown insider saying they “meet up very casually,” and that “[Rihanna] comes to see him anytime she’s in L.A.”

Someone from Rihanna’s camp confirmed what we’ve expected all along about the attention-grabbing singer:

“Rihanna loves to live dangerously, and talking to and hooking up with Chris is all part of that,” the source says.

Living dangerously may not be as fun as she thinks though. After photos surfaced of Chris with Karuche on New Year’s Eve, Rihanna tweeted:

“How can you lie to her, while u lay with me???…..If you don’t have an answer, you don’t have to answer.”

Many also speculate the angry twitter rant she went on recently was in response to reports that Chris tattooed girlfriend Karrueche’s face on his arm. She tweeted:

“Cuz of u I’m on some real f*** a n**** s***!”

Then she got Lil Kim with it: “U wanna be my main squeeze n****, don’t ya? So what n****, I’m not tryna hear that s***!”

This morning, Chris Brown’s rep, Jeff Raymond, told ABCNews.com, “He and Rihanna are just friends,” and that “He is with his girlfriend, Karrueche, and is not cheating,” but these reports definitely puts Karrueche in an awkward place—much like the tattoo on Chris’s arm. However this “friendship” shakes out, I hope this music industry source is wrong when he says, “They can’t get enough of each other. I don’t see it ending well.”

What do you think about this threesome? Is Rihanna fueling rumors on purpose or is she really still messing around with Chris?

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

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In the 80′s, professing nose job aspirations induced ridicule, shame and accusations of self-hate. Commercial rappers were sell-outs, “stay black” was the movement and little black boys and girls were advised to take pride in their broad-shaped noses, and disregard false standards of beauty.

The nose job debate made its way into conversation anywhere black people congregated and became the focus of several day time talk shows. Comparatively, 21st century black folks, still rocking the noses of their parents, still marginalized by mainstream standards of beauty, are more nip-tucked than ever.

There’s far less scrutiny awaiting those that go willing to undergo rhinoplasty. In Hollywood, it’s more of a challenge to find a starlet who hasn’t reshaped her nose.

But the underlying motivation for celebs going under the knife are no where as puzzling as figuring out whether a procedure actually happened. These women are pretty before and after the surgery and sometimes the change is so slight, it’s like nothing ever happened. At least that’s what many are hoping. That’s where side by side photos come in.

Here’s a rundown of your favorite African-American starlets who ditched her natural nose for a Hollywood honker as soon as she got the chance to blow.

Can you tell the difference?

Comparisons with Beyonce just won’t stop following Rihanna no matter how much fame and fortune separate the two entertainers. But from the way Rihanna sees things, she’s in her own lane and there’s no need for her to watch Beyonce’s throne.

She recently told Look magazine:

“There’s nobody really in my league. But there’s competition everywhere. The whole music industry is competition. There are people who like other artists, those who like me and others who like both. Beyonce is a great artist and I feel honored to be mentioned in the same sentence, but we’re different performers with different styles.”

Rihanna’s response is pretty on point. There really isn’t anyone in her league, mostly because there aren’t too many artists in the league at all. You could count the pop/R&B artists that are actually consistently relevant today on one hand and still have fingers left over. Beyonce and Rihanna are pretty much in their own lanes with a sea of has-beens or wannabes surrounding them, while staples like Mary J. Blige, Mariah Carey, and Janet Jackson put out albums every couple of years just because they still love the craft. On the sidelines are singers like Chrisette Michlle and Jazmine Sullivan who get overlooked.

So while I don’t think Rih Rih should get too cocky about standing out against no one, in 2011 she did become the fastest growing artist to snag 20 top 10 hits. Just recently, Nielsen also recognized her as the highest selling digital artist of all time, selling over 47 million records through digital downloads—and that doesn’t even include the songs she was featured on. The girl is doing something right coming out with an album every year and bringing in some of the highest earnings for women in music.  So maybe what Rihanna told Look magazine is true: There’s competition all around, but she’s not seeing it.

What do you think about what Rihanna said? Is she truly in a league of her own?

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

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Well, here we are again with our weekend wrap-up! This weekend has given us quite the cup of tea including…a new baby!! So here we go…!

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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!

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For the last few years, reality shows have completely taken over the television airwaves with levels of foolishness no one thought could ever be reached. So, while my DVR has reached the max on what shows I can record, if any of the following people were to have a reality show, I’d be front and center.

See who I think should get a TV deal now!

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Every year Forbes puts out a list of the top celebrity earners of the year.  What’s even more fascinating about reading through these lists of millionaires, is looking at their ages!  Fame favors the young, and if you doubt that, just take a look at the singers, movie stars and athletes on Forbes annual list of the Best-Paid Celebrities Under 30…

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Celebrities basically sign up to have their lives exposed to the public once they appear on the big screen, or sell out a concert venue.  But does that include their personal lives?  Unfortunately for them yes, but lucky for us sometimes details about their lives can make for quite a juicy read.  Although most actors and actresses can hide behind their “role” and “character” to act a certain way and therefore serves as an excuse for what they are portraying, there are no excuses once the cameras turn off and their real personal lives are exposed.  Sometimes their personal lives are even more interesting than their on-screen performances!  Check out these 9 celebrities who openly admitted to lesbian affairs, well, after the paparazzi had caught them a few times!