Better Late than Never: 2006 Wrap Up

2006 was a different year - for me, the world, and celebs. Bobby and Whitney filed for divorce, Lil Wayne and Baby tongued (ok – I took it there), and George Bush pretty much cemented his fate as The Worst U.S. President Ever. In absolutely no particular order except what pops in my head, let's get movin:

**Jay Comes out of "Retirement"**
Of course Jay-Z came back this year with Kingdom Come, but Nas' Hip Hop is Dead knocks a little harder and deeper in my opinion. Kingdom Come might actually be a certified winner, but there was no way Jay could have lived up to the hype. I mean the man has conquered it all: he's not living in the hood - and hasn't been for some time, he has the absolute hottest chic in the game, everything he touches turns to gold or platinum, and he's The Man all over the world. Rap is a pain-driven art, and if your pain comes from too much money, well, you aint really in pain...

**Eddie Murphy Divorces, and Shines in Dreamgirls**
Eddie Murphy and his wife Nicole divorced, and now Scary Spice is supposedly knocked up by him. Eddie, however, is denying all of this and basically says Scary is a ho who might be carrying anybody's baby. Come on Eddie...time will tell...those Murphy genes are strong.

I could not post about Eddie without mentioning his outstanding performance in Dreamgirls. He gave us funny, vulnerable, serious, and entertaining. If anyone deserves an Oscar for Dreamgirls, it is definitely Eddie. I wish they would make a separate movie about James Early!

**The Game Keeps On Pushing**
You have to respect this man's tenacity. 50 knocks him down and he gets up every-single -time. Perhaps the best move he made in '06 was the remix to One Blood featuring every rapper except 50 Cent. Cold part about it is The Game even offered 50 a spot on the track, but he refused. Dumb move 50. The Game, with his name dropping ass, is pretty hot right now.

**Mary J. Solidifies Position as Queen of Hip Hop Soul**
MJB is my all-time favorite artist. Love Eykah Badu to pieces, but she's keeping an extremely low profile. Mary, however, comes and goes at just the right time. We never tire of her and we always always always feel her to the core! Mary did it big with The Breakthrough, and in true Mary fashion, she refused to back down and give us that heartwrenching painful music we begged for. She did HER by showing us that you can be in pain, but you don't have to be a fool about it. Check out Be Without You and Take Me As I Am.:

"Be Without You"


"Take Me As I Am"

More Later

NELLY AND ASHANTI ENGAGED?

Vibe Confidential says that Nelly and Ashanti got engaged over the holidays. If so, how sweet! They make a beautiful couple and they seem to spend a lot of quality time together. Lord knows, they haven't been putting out any music.

Nas Scores Third No. 1 Album With 'Hip-Hop Is Dead'

Nas moved 355,000 copies of Hip Hop is Dead according to Nielsen SoundScan. "Street's Disciple," peaked at No. 5 on the chart. Nas' two other joints to take the #1 spot were 1999's "I Am... The Autobiography" and 1996's "It Was Written."

Close, but no cigar, Jeezy

Jeezy did well, selling 352,000 copies of The Inspiration in it's first week, but didn't he downtalk Nas and say something about lookin "at them first week numbers and we’ll talk about it" just the other week?

...And I love it!

Spike Lee Signs On To Direct Film About James Brown

Famed director Spike Lee has signed on to shoot a movie about the late James Brown, titled "Godfather Of Soul," according to Daily Variety. The film is being developed for Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures by Brian Grazer, who won an Oscar for "A Beautiful Mind" as well as produced the highly successful film based around Eminem called "8 Mile." It is scheduled to being production in 2008. (more here)

As you all know, James Brown passed away on Christmas. It was just like James Brown to even die in some kind of grand manner. I hear his wife has been locked out of the house and the legal battle is about to begin. I wish these old black men (i.e., Lou Rawls) would get their affairs in order as soon as they marry these young(er) white women. They need to make sure their kids are provided for.

I'm too young to remember James Brown (I wasn't around in his hey day, fyi) but my mother and aunt were really taken aback by his passing. Apparently, James Brown was the man. R.I.P.

Fantasia. Stop.

RUDE.

Now, I know Fanny Mae done performed in a catsuit before. So why in the hell wasn't this backwoods beast prepared for such a meltdown?

REAL MEN

REAL MEN
With all of the DL rumors and truths swirling, I wanted to post something to honor celebs who we never hear DL rumors about—and never better:



Whether Vintage or Current, Ice Cube is the coolest rapper, actor, director to do it.


Big Boi could wear pink panties and get away with it; nothing but MAN exudes.


A.I. - I'd disfigure a b**** for starting a rumor about this übersexy, übercool piece of steel.
(First time using über!)


Tyrese - He might be Baby Boy and Black Ty, but he aint never Sisqo.


Denzel Washington - What can I say? He's the MAN. Pauletta knows it, Sanaa knows it...


Rick Ross - Teddy Bears don't do it for me, but Ricky definitely exudes testosterone to the limit.


Morris Chestnut - Fine, chocolate, married MAN. Morris is...!


Bun B - What?!
The Pimp isn't on the list because, well, as much as I love him, there was that long jail stint.

If I had to pick a #1, it would be Nasty Nas - no contest. Brilliant and sooo sexy.

Nas could get it, and in many dreams he has gotten it.

... and of course, King Latifah leaves no doubt about what's up.

Taye Don't Like Black Women

Taye Diggs has been lashing out after his new show “Day Break” (which I tried to watch, but couldn't after my interest flatlined 3 minutes in) was canceled. After reading Taye's interview with Rolling Out magazine, I got the impression that he believes black women have something to with his stagnant star. Dude actually sounds pretty bitter:

“What [black women] were happy about was that [Mendes’ character] wasn’t white; she was Latina,” Diggs explains when asked why Will Smith’s role in the film didn’t draw as much cultural ire as some of the choices he’s made on- and off-screen. “That’s what they were happy about, if we’re gonna be real. That’s how the scale goes. First off, if it’s a dark brother and the dark brother isn’t with a dark sister that causes issues. … After that, if you’re going to date outside the race, then they go down the list of how poorly other minorities have been treated after blacks. [So] after that, you have Latino. … Like, I’ve had people say that about my wife: ‘At least she looks Spanish.’ Like that makes it a little bit better. So that’s why people accepted it. If Will Smith had been with a lily-white woman, it would’ve been a completely different situation in the black community as far as females are concerned. I guarantee you that.”

“I’m too far along in my life and in my career to really give a question like that any type of dignified answer,” says Diggs, who was raised in black, middle-class Rochester, N.Y., intones. “When I was in high school, maybe. College, maybe. But I’m a grown-ass man and if people have a difficult time dealing with that, then I welcome them to see a movie with Omar Epps or Denzel Washington or some of those other brothers that have chosen to spend the rest of their lives with sisters, as you say. I just don’t have time for it. You can’t make everybody happy. And for the fans that are out there that are into me; they don’t really give a f— what’s going on with my personal life.” (more here)

While Taye's scale theory is embarassingly accurate, Black women don't like Taye because...we don't like Taye. He's unappealing and unsexy. (Not Seal-unsexy, but unsexy, still.) I'm hesitant to say he's not "black enough" because he's not really white either. He's just not a man you can imagine being with.

His strong-jawed wife started looking real distant after she realized her man wasn't going to be the next Denzel. Or even the next Morris Chestnut.

I hope Taye knows, in all of his bitterness, that Black women have little to no say in his lack of mainstream success. (And he obviously wants mainstream success.) White men and women don’t want to see Taye with a white chic any more than Black women do. We're actually more forgiving.

If white people thought Taye was The Man (i.e., Will Smith) he'd still be employed. So he might want to redirect his anger to the blue eyes who yanked his show because they couldn't stand watching a field-slave-like negro fawning all over their "lily white" woman. (See: Terrell Owens and Nicole Sheridan and the uproar that caused.)

Lil Wayne Aims High

Weezy F(?) Baby was recently interviewed in Complex Magazine:

He had some words for Jay-Z:
“I don’t like what he’s saying about how he had to come back because hip hop’s dead and we need him,” he says. “What the fuck do you mean? If anything it’s reborn, so he’s probably having a problem with that. You left on a good note, and all of the artists were saying, ‘Yo, this is Jay’s house. He’s the best.’ Now he comes back and still thinks it’s his house. But we fucked bitches in your bed already. It’s not your house anymore and I’m better than you.”

We asked if he thinks he’s better than Jay-Z:
“Who don’t? [to friends in the background] Ay-yo, am I better than Jay? [friends laugh and nod]. I ain’t got nothing to do with who he is. I’m better than him, though. I’m 24 years old… The dude’s like…? It’s scary. I’m 13 years deep with five albums and 10 million records sold.”

We asked if he thinks he’s better than Jay-Z: “Who don’t? [to friends in the background] Ay-yo, am I better than Jay? [friends laugh and nod]. I ain’t got nothing to do with who he is. I’m better than him, though. I’m 24 years old… The dude’s like…? It’s scary. I’m 13 years deep with five albums and 10 million records sold.” (more here)

Lil' Wayne is really showing his ass, but I'm not too mad about it. Aside from the total disrespect factor, think about it: Lil man has worked extra hard to either get some tight ghostwritten lyrics or to expand that mind when you know it don't wanna stretch too far. Then, people always doubt him because he's from the South and has that dumb look, but when they listen to his music they see how talented he is and how much he's grown. And he's only 24. So I'm sure that Wayne had been feeling like the "savior of hip hop" before Jay resurfaced. (Was he ever gone?)

Still, the negro is out of line. Jay-Z might not be quite as nice as he once was, but he can still put it down.
*Jigga will always be bigga.*

Actually, all of this is null and void because of this. Who, now, doesn't think of Lil Wayne as Baby's lover-son?

Video: Jay-Z- Lost Ones

I really want to post something other than Jay-Z and Nas' recent music, but these 2 apparently have my interest right now.



This is a pretty hot video. Of course, I love the Beyonce allusion.

Video: Nas - Blood Diamonds

I really like this. Nice to see Jay-Z giving Nas some promotion. This makes the second Nas video in one week. And he's not giving us any b.s. either. I'm really feelin Kelis' husband right about now. He's doing his thing.