By Ruven Afanador for EW

Well hellooooooooo diva!

Solange Knowles is in the pages of the newest issue of Entertainment Weekly in all afro and long-haired fur glory, speaking on her love of the simple life, her hopes to head back down South soon, and her son Julez’s hopes to rap (blame it on his uncle).

In a short excerpt from the full interview, Knowles discussed all the work she put into her new critically-acclaimed EP, True, including all the money she spent out of her own pocket to pay for videos (including “Losing You”) and to create the EP as a whole. This was all done so that Knowles could finally have full creative control over her work, saying, “Every decision that’s been made behind this record, from the exact color of the album’s artwork to what record stores we put the record in, has been made by me.” And the results for the new, take-charge way of leading her life and career have been great. Many of Knowles’ upcoming shows to promote the EP have been sold out, and she has become part of the sartorial elite, being named one of Vogue’s Best Dressed last year and a fashion forward chick constantly killing it on the red carpet, creating her own lane outside of what people expected from her (which was to follow Bey’s lead). Great idea.

But an idea Knowles isn’t too sure about is whether or not she wants Julez to get into the entertainment industry. However, lil man has already started writing down his flows, and Solange showed off some of what he had written so far. Soooo cute:

“You don’t know how to rap/You’re so fat, like a rat in a mousetrap/You got a pen?/No? I didn’t think so/I’ll get you one if you know how to flow, yo/You got a pocket? I didn’t think so/Because you’re like an armadillo in the road, bro/Have you seen the movie hunger games?” And then it stops there.

But those rapper plans may need to go on hold for now, as his famous mom hopes to leave Brooklyn and move back South in the next few years. Blame it on her H-town roots…and the warm weather.

“I’m such a Southern girl. I plan on moving back in the next year or two, when it makes sense for Julez schoolwise. I think either Austin or New Orleans. Somewhere warm, for sure.”

Check out the full interview by picking up the newest issue of Entertainment Weekly, but until then, you can see the full excerpt on their website.

Also, check out homegirl singing “Bad Girls” for Black Cab Sessions recently and let us know what you think!

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Relationships are designed for two people to get to know each other, to add value to each other’s lives, to fulfill a distinct purpose, and to bring an equal amount of happiness to each other. Many times, when women are in a relationship, they have the tendency to act and do things differently. For instance, when a woman is in a fresh relationship, she tends to clean her home more (some women, not all), she buys more lingerie, she makes home cooked meals or at least tries to, so on and so on. Not only does a woman’s habits change, but her attitude changes. She seems happier and friendlier, and there is a certain glow about her that wasn’t there before her newfound relationship. Why is that? Why is it that so many women are the best person they are, or only their happiest, when they are in a relationship? Why is it that some women can only be happy when they have a man in their lives?

There are many opinions and answers to these questions, but the one reason many women are only happy when they are in a relationship is because they are not happy with who they are and they believe they can only be happy and complete when they are with a man. And the reason many women are not happy with who they are is because they don’t know who they are as an individual, and they have not found their purpose. Another reason women are only happy when they are in a relationship is because they are looking at other relationships from face value; meaning they are looking at the happy pictures and the happy couples who are out enjoying each other, and not looking into the relationship and the work that goes into it. What many women often fail to realize is that a happy man as an individual wants to be with a woman who is happy before he comes into her life so she can add a unique sense of happiness to his own life. There are a number of women who believe they can only experience a true sense of happiness when they are in a relationship and this is just not true.

Why isn’t this true? Because happiness and joy come from within and that happiness and joy is discovered when it is searched for and fulfilled by an individual who is seeking it within who they are and were created to be. Now don’t get me wrong, relationships are great, and they do and should bring about a new sense of happiness for both people; but the truth of the matter is that a relationship is not the end all, be all of happiness. They take work from two whole and happy individuals who know their worth and know what makes them happy before they commit to each other. If one person in a relationship depends solely on the other person for happiness, then that can add pressure to the other person in the relationship and in turn can make them unhappy. I’ve witnessed a number of women who were happy being who they were, only to change into a different woman when they were in a relationship to make the men they were with happy so they would stay with them.

This was absolutely unbelievable because I always thought that these women were strong-willed and happy with who they were and being single…that is until a man came around. I couldn’t understand why they changed several things about them for the sake of saving a relationship that may or may not end in marriage. And then I figured it out. They changed to please the men they were with because they feared being alone, and rather than standing firm on who they were and loving themselves, they changed in an instant. Unfortunately, many unmarried women live with the fear of being alone for the remainder of their lives. They fear they will never experience true love, or have children, or get married; but what I wish a lot of unmarried women would realize is that there is nothing wrong with being single!

Being single has its advantages and disadvantages, just the same as being married or being involved in a committed relationship does. Both aspects have their ups and downs, but at least when you’re single you can be who you are and spend more time learning who you are before you jump into a relationship and turn into someone else, to please someone else. As I stated previously, relationships are great, and they do and should bring new happiness into one’s life…but at what cost?

How many of you have ever compromised yourself for a relationship? Do you find your happiness in a man and a man only? Are you happiest when you’re in or out of a relationship?

Liz Lampkin is the author of Are You a Reflection of the Man You Pray For? Follow her on Twitter @Liz_Lampkin.

If Solange Knowles’s track “Losing You” released a few months back pleasantly surprised you with its synth heavy lush sound and end-of-the-road type of love lyrics, then prepare to be further impressed by her new jam, “Lovers In The Parking Lot.” This most recent release is coming off her upcoming seven-song EP, True, off Terrible Records, and it’s another collaboration between one of Vogue’s best dressed and her new favorite producer, Dev Hynes (who is killing the game right now).

While “Losing You” centered around the singer putting just about everything into a relationship that was crashing and burning, “Lovers In The Parking Lot” is more about taking good love for granted, and “Solange” (or whoever the song was written about/for) finding themselves alone and wishing for that old thing back. Too bad that can’t happen because as Solo sings, “I played around with your heart/And now I’m playing around in the dark.”

So, can I just say that Solo is giving me life with her newest stuff? (Sorry, but it’s true.) “Losing You” is on repeat on my iPhone and I’m going to have to download and wear out this joint too because it’s tough (in a good way). The whole thing, with its great writing and keyboard presence sounds like something we used to fawn over Alicia Keys for in the early ’00s (this could literally be a track off Songs In A Minor or Diary of Alicia Keys), but this is all Solo at her finest. By experimenting with her music, which she did a lot of with Sol-Angel and the Hadley Street Dreams, she’s exposing us to a whole new league of R&B, and we here at MN dig it. Check out the track and let us know what you think. Pass or play? And if you love it, you will be happy to know that True will drop on November 27.

www.liberettemag.com

Is being confident relevant to one’s existence? Does it make a difference in having low or high self-esteem? What exactly is self-esteem? Self-esteem is the realistic respect, or favorable impression a person has of themselves. It is who one believes they are, believing in their abilities, or the lack thereof. It is also who one believes they can be or desire to be. Self-esteem or the lack of comes from within and is revealed in the way a person walks, talks, their style of dress, the way they interact with others, etc.

A person’s self-esteem is a key part in who they are, who they will become, and what they will do. It starts developing as a child, and continues to develop as an adult. The relationships we encounter, the people we surround ourselves with, our parents, community, etc. all play an intricate part in the initial development of self-esteem.