Black Women Represent At The 2008 BET Awards

Alicia Keys Showing Off Love, and Hate

Rihanna's A Vision in Yellow

Check the rest under the hood...

Fab Chick Alicia Renee

Miss Kenya Moore, Still Working It!

Love The Hair Jennifer Hudson!

Jill Scott Has The Best Smile

A Glammed Up Lola Luv Hides That Bodacious Booty

Lovin Jordin Sparks In That Candy-Apple Red

Gabrielle Union Gives Us Back & Tracks, As Only She Can

Alicia's Fab Is Unmistakeable, But Rumor Has It...

Alicia Keys aka Homewrecker?

Losers in R. Kelly Case: Sistas/Jurors Unsure About Girl
South Africa Scarred by Immigrant Attacks
Capri Capital Lands $2 Billion Real Estate Deal
The Business of the NBA Finals
Obama's Rise Has Americans Debating Affirmative Action

Detroit Mayor Won't Show at Obama Rally
Adoption System Failing Minority Kids
Mike Tyson 'Offered to Pay Hitman'
Sharpton: Lil Wayne Doesn't Say Anything Substantive
Nas Director Explains 'N*gger' Video: Not for MTV
UN Security Council Needs To Get Tougher on Darfur

Alicia Key's Video "Teenage Love Affair" Does A Hat Tip To Spike Lee, But Is That A Good Thing?

What Ever Happened To Orginality?

By Avery O Williams

There is a wonderful sense of nostalgia invoked by Alicia Keys new video "Teenage Love Affair" mainly because it is modeled off of "School Daze", a movie that echoes with visions of my experience at Morehouse in the late '80's. Trust me. It's decent. No booty shakin' or platinum grill teeth flashin' at ya. In fact, very similar to this:


However, there is also something disconcerting about director Chris Robinson's video
too.

Instead of pulling from a fictional film I would loved it more if he had pulled from his own vision, his own scenes, his own take on the black college experience. As it is now, he's made a copy of a copy.

50 Cent Says F**k Alicia Keys

I'm concerned when we lean on learning of our history from others and not going to the source. And lawd knows, there are plenty of sources who attended Morehouse, Spelman, Clark, Hampton, Howard and other HBC's to gather insight from--even if Chris didn't attend one himself.

Mystery Illness Forces Keys To Cancel More Concerts

The black college experience is so rich, so vibrant, so visual to mine from, that he could have created his own homage to the past if he had done a little work. Maybe he and Alicia didn't want to. Did they love "School Daze" that much? Has it become a "classic" already?

Or was Chris perhaps a bit, um, lazy? This video is really an homage to Spike Lee and the black college experience that was seen through the prism of HIS artistic vision, and not Chris or Alicia's. The issue (and hence the reason for this post) is to express my concern when artists rely upon other art as their sole inspiration instead of life itself. They lean on the learning of history or life from another's work without deriving that knowledge from the source.

Of course, especially as it regards old knowledge, you can't talk with anybody who has lived in ancient Rome or fought in the Civil War, so you've got to pull from third parties, books, archival films and whatnot. I'm a fan of Alicia Keys and I do like Chris Robinson's work.

He has a fine narrative sensibility in many of his videos, but lawd knows, there are plenty of people who attended Morehouse, Spelman, Clark, Hampton, Howard and other HBC's to gather insight from--even if Chris didn't attend one himself.

Heck, they could have called me.

Here's Alicia on The The Today Show with Matt Lauer, the Blender Magazine "gangsta rap" controversy and her new video:



Others had this to say about the "As I Am" girl, whose 3rd album released in November has already sold 1 million units:

moresickaMC says...
Can't wait to see that video. Y'all kids need to get on your black film history & watch School Daze. "lift your torches to the heavensss!"Alicia's AK-47 killa swag is crazy right now!!!

Playboy says...

LMAO I love how Alicia plugged that documentary, thats how you do it. The video looks to be her best yet and I'm lovin her swag, her body, As I Am... just HER. Alicia is the hottest chick in the game with NO re-release or fake hype.

Alicia Keys Pays Tribute To Spike Lee's "School Daze" In New Music Video "Teenage Love Affair"

Seeing as though I met my now wife when I was twelve, I'm absolutely digging "Teenage Love Affair" by Alicia Keys. It's my favorite cut on her slamming cd. After watching the video, I'm just beside myself:



As a Morehouse Man, the whole "School Daze" vibe is so on point, I feel like I'm back in time, strolling between The House, Spelman and Clark Atlanta University. Anybody out there want to co-sign on this???

Alicia Keys Balls-Up Her Fist: You Go Angela Davis!

Grammy-Winning Biracial Sistah Goes There

We ain't mad at Alicia Keys. The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter tells Blender magazine: "'Gangsta rap' was a ploy to convince black people to kill each other. 'Gangsta rap' didn't exist."

The 27-year-old singer, sonwriter said she's read several Black Panther autobiographies and wears a gold AK-47 pendant around her neck "to symbolize strength, power and killing 'em dead," according to an interview in the magazine's May issue, on newsstands Tuesday.

Another of her theories: That the bicoastal feud between slain rappers Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. was fueled "by the government and the media, to stop another great black leader from existing."

Known for her romantic tunes, Keys told Blender that she wants to write more political songs. If black leaders such as the late Black Panther Huey Newton "had the outlets our musicians have today, it'd be global. I have to figure out a way to do it myself," she said.

The multiplatinum songstress behind the hits "Fallin'" and "No One" most recently had success with her latest CD, "As I Am," which sold millions.

Apparently Alicia Keys Has The One CD Folks Just May Go Out And Buy!

The incredibly talented biracial sistah has released four albums over the course of her career, and all four have debuted at #1 on the Billboard top 200. As I Am, which first landed in record shops last week, now gives Alicia Keys a perfect 4-for-4 record.

But a fourth #1 opening isn't the only thing the R&B songbird is thankful for this week. With 742,400 copies sold, As I Am earns the distinction of being the singer's best-performing debut. Her 2001 LP Songs in A Minor sold 235,800 copies to enter the top 200 at #1 while 2003's The Diary of Alicia Keys scanned more than 618,300 copies; her 2005 Unplugged set sold close to 196,000 units. Do your thang Alicia. We don't know of one person who doesn't love your music. Of course now that we've put that out, here come the haters!

Beyonce Wants Everyone To Enjoy Their Thanksgiving Dinner, Then Have Her For Dessert!

The Beyonce Experience Kicks Off Tonight On BET

You Damn Right Obama's Iowa Surge Is For Real!
Despite Racial Slurs, Chicago City Supervisor Keeps Job
CodeBlack Entertainment Delivers Quality To Urban Audience
Step Aside Black Pastors, Sex Scandal Hits White Megachurch

Family, Health Among Notable Blacks' Reasons for Gratitude

Alicia Keys Storms Chart with Mega-Selling 'As I Am'
Suge Knight to Be Included in B.I.G. Wrongful Death Suit
Terrence Howard to Take on Broadway
Publisher of Afro-American Fought to Set Record Straight

Sisters Cook Turkey for Families Caught in Housing Crisis

Al Sharpton Warned of Possible Package Threat
NAACP Seeks Suspension Of Taser Use
Study Downplays Bias in NYPD Stop-Frisk Policy
Rebuilding LL Cool J's Old Neighborhood

Writers Strike Day 17: Expect To See Alicia Keys In More Movies 'Cause Hey, Girlfriend Ain't No Dummy!

Add Writers To Those Giving Mad Love To Alicia

*Timberland Man's Up With Baby, Impeding Marriage

*Oprah Goes Stomping For Obama

*African Americans Still Lag Online

*NBC: Black Women, Where They Stand

*Bill Gates: Lack of Black Tech Professionals Hurts US

*Brazil Stops to Mark Black Rights

*Judge OKs New Defendants in B.I.G. Suit

Writer's Strike Is Costing Big Bank

*Barbados National Bank's Profit Surges

*Ne-Yo Dropped from R. Kelly Tour

*Church Group Claims They were Pepper Sprayed

*D.C. Man Dies After Police Use Taser

*Obama Unveils $18B Education Plan

*Abortion Causes 'Hopelessness', King Says

*California Schools Are Failing Black Kids

*Detroit's Black Mafia Family Goes Down

Ahmad Rashad Marries, You Won't Believe Who

Hot Photos: Red Carpet Regulars Beyonce, Ne-Yo & Mary J. Blige Don't Disappoint At The 2007 American Music Awards

International Artist Award winner Beyonce looks like a butterscotch pecan scoop of "Oh Yeah!"

Classy never goes out of style, right Ne-Yo?

Mary J goes Gallactic, but it works.

Is Ashanti heading to the Academy Awards after the AMA's? This burst of yellow was a bit too much for our taste. Some long white gloves and she'd be all set for Winter Formal.

Whether he's at dinner with ex Lisa Bonet or at the AMA's, Lenny Kravitz looks exactly the same. But is that a good thing???

Idol winner Carrie Underwood and loser Chris Daughtery won big tonight. Is Jordin Sparks next? Well, at least she looks the part.

We love us some Alicia Keys, but she looks 4-months preggers in this black number.

Sean Kingston, we'll talk about you after you go home and change! NOW! Hurry up!!!!

The Internet Will Take You To Alicia Keys, But You May Not Like What You May End Up With!

Computer Viruses Can Turn Up In The Strangest Places, Right Alicia?

It's easy to see how visitors to Alicia Keys' MySpace page could have accidentally clicked on the wrong spot last week and gotten whisked off to a Chinese website that tried to install malicious code onto their computers.

The buttons to play Keys' songs were clearly marked — and clean — but almost every other image on the site, including the full-sized background photo of the diva herself, had been hacked in such a way that merely clicking on it could infect visitors' computers with malware. So if you happened to click on Keys' bare midriff on Nov. 8, you would have been siphoned to a murky corner of cyberspace: a site that attempted to install a program that could trick you into buying fake anti-virus software, record the credit card information you used to buy it, and secretly log every other user name and password you typed into your computer as well.

Time Magazine gives more details and preventative measures you can take family. The bottom line is, be careful where you roam online. It could come back to bite you -- big time!

Since When Did Alicia Keys Become So Damn Sexy???

Alicia Keys is popping up everywhere these days. And I do mean EVERYWHERE!


I don't know if it's photoshop or what but this girl's on fire. I haven't even heard

her new cd and I've already decided I will definitely be picking it up.

Are You Really Tripping Over Alicia Keys Being Gay? If So, You've Just Found Your Exhibit A

Did you have any reservations or concerns that playing a gay characters was going to spawn rumors?

In the new issue of Complex Magazine, that's how the Alicia Keys interview starts where she talks about playing a lesbian in last year's film Smokin' Aces:

"What is this gay shit?" Alicia asked the director about the relationship between Georgia and her partner. Later, after reading the entire script, she welcomed the opportunity.And the more I read, the more I got it. I was like, "Wow, there's nothing people will expect from me less than this. And that's what I wanted when it came to the film. I don't want to be the singing, piano-playing 'girl role.' I want to be something that’s not who I am."

Not that there's anything wrong with it, but you have everybody and their mama believing that Alicia really gets down this way. What say you??? While your thinking, here she on the set of her new video in Harlem with the bunny and on the cover of the new issue of Ebony.

Alicia Keys: "It Wasn't a Big Deal" Playing Gay Character

Singers Ashanti & Alicia Keys Go Head Up: The Battle Of The Magazine Covers

In the far cormer looking hella sexy on the latest issue of KING Magazine is the princess of hip hop turned actress and main Nelly squeeze Ashanti.

Immediately to our left, multi-talented writer-composer-keyboardist and still searching for acting swagger Alicia Keys on the cover of Complex Magazine. (Check Alicia out on the cover of Ebony for November)

And the winner is _______________ (fill in the blank)

Usher, Eve, Will Smith and Mariah Carey Allegedly Outed By White Publicist: Is Gay The New Black?

Is this really anybody's business?

What do actors Cuba Gooding Jr., Jamie Fox, Henry Simmons, Will and Jada Pickett Smith, Rappers Eve, DaBrat Queen Latifah, and singers Alicia Keys, Usher and Mariah Carey all supposedly have in common?

EVE HAS A CRUSH ON ANGELINA JOLIE

A publicist new to the blog game insists that these folks, among others, are playing for both teams and has decided it's time they come out the closet.

Is this cat just a Perez Hilton wannabee, or has gay really become the new Black???

Assume for a moment that these accusations are true. Would it make you love these celebrites any less if they were gay or bisexual???

BEFORE HALLE, IT WAS JAYNE KENNEDY, BUT LENA HORNE WAS THE ORIGINAL

Lena Horne celebrated turning 90 on June 30.

Happy Birthday to a true legend!

Who would you pick to play her in a movie?

We're going with Alicia Keys:

Here she is at last week's Live Earth 2007