Saturday, May 21, 2011

The Young, Black, and Fabulous

The Young, Black, and Fabulous

Stephen Hill Responds To 2011 BET Award Nomination Backlash

Posted: 21 May 2011 07:43 AM PDT

BET's Executive Vice President of Entertainment & Music Programming, Stephen Hill, heard what you said about the 2011 BET Award nominations.  Folks were up in arms--both celebs and fans--about certain folks grabbing nods and certain folks not grabbing nods.

 

But Mr. Hill is giving his 2 cents on what really went down with that Best Female Hip Hop Artist category and more when you read on...

Trina and other folks popped off on Twitter right after the announcements the other day.  And it was F-word laced and not pretty.  Folks are pissy because it seemed BET was totally out of touch not nominating Trina for Best Female Hip Hop Artist, yet nominating 3 people folks have never heard of.  And obviously setting up the category for Nicki Minaj to win.

Folks were also pissy about Chris Brown grabbing a Best Actor nomination, amongst other things.  So Stephen Hill went to bat for the nominations in an interview with the network's site.  Here's some excerpts:

Why wasn’t Trina nominated in the Female Hip Hop category?

Okay, that was because Trina didn’t submit a video that was in during the eligibility period. Let me back up. To be eligible, here’s what you have to have: a video that’s submitted and then first played on BET...between April 1 of one year and March 30 of the next year. So for this eligibility period it would be April 1 of 2010 to March 30 of 2011. She did not release a video to us in that time. “Million Dollar Girl” came in March. I think it was March 12 or so of 2010. And so she was in last year’s nominees for that. While she was featured in Lola Monroe’s video, the rules are you have to release a video of your own. You have to be the primary artist on it. You can’t be just the feature artist and be eligible. So that’s why Lola Monroe was eligible but Trina was not for this year because it came out this year. So I’ve reached out to her camp. I’ve talked to the head of her label. And actually the only reason I might get off this call is because I may be getting a call from Trina while this call is going on.

If she calls you just go ahead and jump off.

And I want to be clear: We love Trina, we work with Trina. She performed “Million Dollar Girl” on Rip the Runway in February of 2010. So we love Trina. We definitely understand that it’s a misunderstanding. And I’ll tell you now, if I were Trina and I’d released something during the eligibility period and it had not been nominated, I probably would’ve had a little bit of side-eye too. But the truth is she just wasn’t in the eligibility period.

Trina wasn’t the only one throwing the side-eye. Diamond shouted her out on Twitter, and even Nicki Minaj criticized the nominees. Does that concern you at all?

No, no, honestly. Because they were all operating off of false information basically. They all believed that Trina was eligible to be nominated. I love that. They were supporting each other. Far too many times in hip hop people want to tear each other down or not support each other. So even though it was at our expense, you have all these women supporting each other in the hip hop field. So hopefully people will feel better once the truth comes out, once they realize that there was no eligibility there. But absent that, if them not knowing the rules fostered some camaraderie, I’m all in.

 

The drama with Nicki Minaj and the lack of female hip hop artists....

In the female hip hop category, there is one very strong nominee and three others who are not as prominent. Why not just have a best rapper award and let Nicki Minaj compete against the guys?

Here’s what I think: We have this category as an aspirational category. Right now, there are very few women who put out hip hop videos. I will share with you: How many women do you think presented hip hop videos to BET in the eligibility period?

Based on the nominees I would guess four.

You are correct. Exactly four. So when your nomination level is five, everyone who submits a video is nominated. Now people might want to laugh at that. But I hope the same people who laugh at that realize that they were the people who were upset when that category was taken out of the Grammys. Right? Everybody was up in arms. So we’re going to keep it in. You know why? For the same reason that we aired My Mic Sounds Nice last year. It’s to hopefully encourage women. That show should have been one big hour-long ball of encouragement [for women] to start writing rhymes and call themselves MCs and start down that path. We’re going to keep this category in the show even if there’s two nominees. If there’s no nominees, we’re gonna keep this category in the show because one day down the line it’s going to be filled just like the men.

Really? Even if there are no nominees?

Yeah.

How would that work?

We would have that category there if nothing else just to make a point.

Just an empty nominee slot?

I gotta tell you, I hope it’s never empty. I hope the success of folks like Trina and Nicki and Diamond and Cymphonique and Lola will encourage women to pick up a pen. Like I said, let people laugh, but we’re fully behind women in hip hop. It wasn’t just about My Mic Sounds Nice. It’s about this, and all the energy we’re getting around this… Hopefully in a few years people will be arguing because there were too many people who were vying for the spot.

And the drama with Breezy...

Speaking of movies, I’ve seen a few bloggers who have questioned Chris Brown’s nomination for Best Actor. Any thoughts on that?

My thought on that is as follows: We assembled the Academy. We try to make it as varied as possible. But when the Academy comes back with their results—again, it’s not any of our individual shows—that’s the decision we’ve made, to trust the Academy. When they come back with a decision, we stick by that decision.

 

Well there you have it.  Check out the full interview over at BET.  Thoughts?

The Dream Gives Kelly Rowland's "Motivation" A Remix

Posted: 21 May 2011 07:02 AM PDT

The Dream is still trying to stay in the mix these days.  He took Kelly Rowland's #1 single, "Motivation," and remixed it for an even raunchier track. 

 

Read on to see if Dream should have left it to Kelly and Weezy when you read on....

 

Jim Jonsin and Rico Love produced Kelly's hit track.  And producer The Dream is now putting his remix spin on it.  We feelin' it?

PARTY FAB: Deets On Inside Oprah's Huge Finale Party

Posted: 21 May 2011 06:01 AM PDT

Oprah Winfrey hosted a star-studded wrap party earlier this week--after her star studded tapings of two of her last shows--and folks like Aretha Franklin, Tyrese Gibson and Tom Hanks.  See some pics, thanks to Tyrese, from the party and what the party goers snacked on...

 

Tyrese tweeted a pic of himself with Oprah Winfrey and Aretha Franklin at her huge Four Seasons Hotel for a finale wrap party.  According to TMZ,  Tom Hanks, Alicia Keys, Michael Jordan, Gayle King, Kelsey Grammer and Stevie Wonder were all in attendance. 

Sources report that Oprah arrived at 12:30am and greeted all of her guests, sans Stedman.  Interesting.

The celebs dined on shrimp cocktail, diced lobster tails and pulled pork sandwiches among other dishes. And for dessert there was a "make your own cotton candy" station.

And if that wasn't enough, there was a huge tequila station, because Oprah loves the spirit.

Tyrese tweeted a pic of him and Will Smith watching Beyonce perform earlier in the evening.

 

And he also chatted up actor Tom Hanks.  Nice.

SPLITSVILLE: Faith Evans & Her Manager/Husband Todd Russaw

Posted: 20 May 2011 05:28 PM PDT

It's officially over for Faith Evans and her husband/manager/record executive Todd Russaw.  She filed papers on him in L.A. Superior Court and cited irreconcilable differences.

 

Deets when you read on....

Faith and Todd have been married since 1997 and have 2 kids together.  But have been legally separated since 2005--despite having their youngest kiddie in 2007. Her oldest daughter, Chyna, was fathered by record executive Kiyamma Griffin.  And her oldest son, C.J.'s, father is Christopher "Biggie Smalls" Wallace.  Her youngest two with Todd are Joshua and Ryder.

So what is Ms. Evans asking for? Joint legal and sole physical custody, visitation rights for Todd, and no spousal support.

Damn homie.  I wonder if that reality show of hers will actually get off the ground now....

TV FAB: Kelly Rowland Set To Become A Judge On "X-Factor" UK

Posted: 20 May 2011 04:56 PM PDT

Kelly Rowland will soon be holding it down across the pond as the latest judge on Simon Cowell's "X-Factor" show in the U.K.  Get the deets inside.....

After a series of recent shake ups and departures, Kelly Rowland has been added to the panel of judges for Simon Cowell's hit ITV series "X-Factor" in the U.K.

Asked about the addition she said,

‘The X Factor is an amazing show. I love Simon [Cowell] because he’s so honest. Everything he says I agree with. I don’t know what kind of judge I’ll be.’

 

Congrats Kelly!

 

GUESS WHO: Which Celeb Hottie Was Spotted Kissing His Girl On The Beach?!

Posted: 20 May 2011 02:59 PM PDT

Well look who got all kissy while on a beachy vacay!  Guess which celeb hottie took some time off his day job to kick it with a lucky lady.

 

The answer...and shirtless pics...when you read on....

 

It's "Criminal Minds" actor Shemar Moore!  Despite telling Ellen DeGeneres on her show last year that he's single and looking, it looks like he's found some company.  Shemar was spotted on the beach recently kissing a chick he may or may not be official with.  And a little booty slapping ensued too.  Is it just me or does she resemble Kim K.?  Interesting....

Oh ok Shemar....

Tamyra Gray Opens Up About Bi-Racial Daughter, Whom She Says Didn't Look Like Her At All

Posted: 20 May 2011 02:00 PM PDT

In a new interview with People.com, actress and former "American Idol" contestant Tamyra Gray opened up about having a bi-racial daughter and how shocked she was that the baby didn't look anything like her. Get the deets inside......

 

When Tamyra Gray gave birth to her first child with former Color Me Badd singer/producer Sam Watters, she was shocked to see that the baby looked nothing like her.

 “The only reason you’d know she was mine is if you were at the hospital,” she said.

But now at age 10 months, Tamyra says little Sienna Marie is “...a good blend of both of us. She’s got his head with my face.”

 


 

And having two singers as parents, it's only natural that Sienna would love music too.

“She is really into this radio station Kids Place Live (on Sirius XM).....and if we don’t turn on her music as soon as we get into the car she’ll start screaming.”

The happy parents have even created a bedtime ritual around singing saying, “We have a song that we sing about washing her feet and hands and brushing her teeth that she loves.”

Very cute.

Diddy Becomes....Mr. Swag

Posted: 20 May 2011 11:03 AM PDT

In case you care, Diddy wants you to know he has recovered from his flu....and has changed his name again.  Read on for Mr. Swag's intro when you read on...

Damn...Diddy does look like he was up on some physical hard times for a while.  Anyways, he says he's "well" now and has renamed himself "Swag".  Follow him and his foolery at @IamSwag...but just for a week or so.  And then he's going back to regular ol Diddy.

He made a video intro'ing his new alter ego.  This dude here.....

EXTRAS:

1.  OH NO!  58-year-old Macho Man Randy Savage has died in a car accident after suffering a heart attack! Story
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