Source: Twitter – BrendaRichie

I don’t know what’s in the water, but it seems that this is the week for celebrities to post pictures of themselves as tiny tots. Yesterday was Tia and Tamera Mowry, today it’s Nicole Richie and her mother, Brenda Harvey Richie. In case you weren’t aware, Brenda (I can only think of “The Boondocks” when I think of her…) and Lionel Richie provided a home for Nicole when her parents (her father is actually Sheila E’s brother) came into hard financial times. They later adopted her and dressed her up in all kinds of interesting ensembles (see the blue “Toddlers & Tiaras”-esque dress below, circa 1985. Her words: “is it too late to audition for Toddlers & Tiaras? NR 1985!“). Nicole and Brenda decided to post a few pics from Nicole’s childhood recently, and it’s clear that someone was fashion savvy early on.

Source: Twitter – BrendaRichie

Source: http://www.nicolerichie.com/blog/

Is this cute or what?

More on Madame Noire!

• You Know That’s Annoying, Right? 6 Things You’ve Got to Stop Saying to Your Single Friends
• Where Are They Now? The Women of “For the Love of Ray-J”
• Let’s Be Real Here, How Many Baby Showers Does One Mother Need?
• Thank God I Dodged A Bullet! That Feeling You Get When Your Ex Is A Mess
• A Memo To The Ladies of Love & Hip Hop: Commitment In a Relationship Should Never Be Up For Discussion
• Get It Mrs. Hines! Check The Behind-The-Scenes Pics Of Tichina Arnold’s Hawaii Wedding
• Bet You Didn’t Know: Secrets Behind The Making of “Diary of a Mad Black Woman”

Source: Eurweb.com

From Eurweb.com

One of the incredible things about being in this line of work is finding out things about people that you otherwise would have never known. Sheila told us about her charitable endeavor, which is no big surprise really. Many artists have charities. It’s a widely recognized tax shelter. But this one goes much deeper than that. Way deep!

“People can go online to my foundation,” she explained. “It’s called elevatehope.org. We raise money and use that to bring music to children in foster care. It’s to give them tools and give them hope to be creative and express themselves. One reason that’s important to me is because my Dad, for a couple years, he was left in an orphanage. Early on he put all our instruments in the car and said ‘As bad as we have it, even though we’re on welfare there’s always someone who is worse off than we are. So, let’s just go to these facilities and play for the kids and give them something. I know how it feels.’ My manager and I did Elevate Hope together. We found that the more people we talked to, more than half were molested or raped. I was raped at the age of 5 by a babysitter, and she was molested as well. Music was one of the healing parts of my life. It’s not like a book that we just read. We understand because we went through the same things. We know how music helped us to heal. Some of them have been so abused that they don’t know how to communicate and they don’t know how to express themselves. Music is a speaking piece for them to allow them to break down those barriers and those walls.”

Find out about the rest of Sheila’s influences and her upcoming performances at Eurweb.com.

More on Madame Noire!

• Small to Big Screen: TV Shows That Should Be Turned Into Movies
• Going After A Man: Confident or Crazy?
• Salt & Peplum: 10 Peplum Dresses That Need a Place in Your Closet
• WOMAN to WOMAN: Decoding The Book Of Bull
• Brandy And Monica Are Drifting Apart…Again!
• My Hair Story: I’m Going To Miss My Dominicanos
• The Hair She Dared to Wear: The Coiffures of Patti Labelle

Let me be clear in saying, I’m talking Louisiana Creole descent. Sorry if you clicked and were looking for one of the many other kinds. But where was I?

Frenchcreole.com identifies Creole people as a broad cultural group of people of all races who share a French or Spanish background. No matter how you come to the conclusion that one is Creole (and please, let’s not get into the colorstruck aspects of it all), there are many people who identify as such, and they speak a wide variety of languages. In our random travels through the Internet (or da Intanetz as we like to call it), we were surprised to find a number of celebrities who are of the Louisiana Creole heritage. If you’re nosey like us, you probably want to know who. Check it out.

Source: drumlessons.com

Sheila E.

Sheila Escovedo is hands down one of the coolest people to ever pick up a set of drumsticks and go to town on the drums, and if you didn’t know, she’s also of Mexican and Louisiana Creole heritage. Her father, famous drummer Pete Escovedo, is Mexican-American, while her mother, Juanita Escovedo (formerly Gardere), is French and black. I’ve been a fan since homegirl showed up in Krush Groove and dropped The Glamorous Life, but I can say that I didn’t know she was Creole…

Source: reelmaniacs.com

Looking for a list of winners from the 84th Academy Awards? You’re in the wrong place. Only fashion lovers are allowed to venture any further into this post because, lets face it, fashion is the only main reason we tune in to awards shows. This year, women and men of color were heavily represented and, for the most part, did not disappoint. View our gallery of attendees to find out who they wore and solidify your favorite look of the night.

With the help of a continuously embattled (but still Hot) Chris Brown, last week, Keri Hilson debuted the song and video “One Night Stand” from her album, No Boys Allowed. The Hot duet, scorching from the recording to the dark video and its synchronized dance breakdown, brought to mind all the dope duets in Hot R&B over the years. Not the lovey-dovey Ashford & Simpson or Marvin & Tammi type joints, but the make your ears melt and make you turn it down when people come around type tracks. There’s too many to narrow down, but here are a few you’ll need to get a hold of ASAP.

“Prince is not an artist, he’s a genre”

-Toure

Round here, we love us some Purple Rain-velvet wearing-orgasm screaming Prince. We thought of the perfect gift to give him for the b-day, but what do you give a man that has everything (even a symbol as a name)? Well, there’s no better form of flattery than imitation. So, in honor of our Prince, we’ve compiled a list of artists who should thank their britches Minnesota is soo boring he had to leave and be a STAR.

Read the rest of this entry »