I am in Queen City...Charlotte!

I came to the conclusion that I could no longer pay rent in Boston while also being unemployed so I packed my car up and drove South. Once I passed the Mason-Dickson line I realized there was no turning back. I visited my brother in DC, my cousins in VA and finally, arrived in NC. My hair went from THIS...



to THIS...



and occasionally THIS...

Raven is a Mommie??!!!!

According to Hiphop.popcrunch.com by way of , Yazmar.com , millionaire child star Raven Symone Christina Pearman give birth to a little girl named Lillianna Jade Pearman this summer. I don't know how true this is but according to Yazmar, the alleged father is Jussie Smollet(one of Jurnee Smollet brothers.)

Joe's Triumphant Return

Joe- Magic

So as many of you might know a couple of years back R.Kelly and Joe had a falling out and Joe hasn't been on the scene since but I am elated to see that he has returned. I am only 23 years-old but I have loved all of his albums since his second album All That I Am became a classic for my parents back in 1997 (yes, when I was 10 years-old!)My favorite songs are No One Else Comes Close and So Beautiful. I found his new single Magic on Honey Soul Music. For all you music lovers, Honey Soul Music is an excellent blog features some of the best untapped talent and that classic neo-soul. The new album is slated for a July 14th released; it's entitled "Signature." I hope you in enjoy this little piece of heaven.

MJ Tributes

I absolutely adore this rendition of "I'll Be There" by Chanj. I found this clip on STRAIGHT OUTTA NYC and I feel like this really captures the essence of what Michael Jackson gave to world.



I found this clip on Honey Music Soul and I instantly feel in love with Dwele interpretation of "Human Nature." I hope you enjoy it too!



In my previous BET Awards post, I said NeYo stole the show with his rendition of "Lady of My Life" but last year he performed this at BET Honors and he killed it. I have posted that version above for your listening pleasure.

I'm Just Trying to Stay Relevant

I am thoroughly disgusted the obscene amounts of press coverage this lucky island girl (I’m sorry…Rihanna) is receiving. She has been spotted everywhere donning all her rented goods. I don’t want to see Rihanna sporting no more couture looks during in the daytime! And I know her feet are taking a beatin’ after wearing those Giuseppe Zanotti all damn day too. But I’m not gonna lie, homegirl has got one of the best publicist in the world. How are you still relevant when you have no personality, no voice and you haven’t released a record in months??!!! I guess it pays to be a battered woman. (I’m sorry I couldn’t resist)

J Smooth is Gettin' Work

Recently, I came across Pleasure P's new video "Under" on Concrete Loop and I couldn't help but wonder why his choreography looked so familiar. Apparently, J Smooth, YouTube famed choreographer, put his magic touch on this video. Check out the video then, J Smooth's notorious video for Keith Sweat's "Nobody."

BET's Biggest Failure... '09 Awards

Jamie Foxx tried so hard to make us laugh yet I could not stop wondering why I felt like I was watching a re-run of The Jamie Foxx Show. He should have left that moonwalk alone. Clearly, they never had a dress rehearsal.

And Keri Hilson's performance was probably the most entertaining thing and even that was bad. Some singer writers are not a performer...Keri you are one of them. Stage presence is a gift that few possess, hunny, that is not your calling. I will give you the benefit of the doubt since you do have songwriting allocades to your name. She did try to pay homage to MJ...unfortunately, this generation has never seen the "Bad" music video or the movie "Moonwalker" so everyone looks a bit confused. Bless her heart, she did her best.

The crowd watched while Monica single-handedly schooled Keyshia on stage. While Keyshia strutted down the stairs in her Bubble Yum pink ensemble and 70s style hair, Monica popped on stage with freshly fried hair and too much damn sass for little Keyshia to handle.

I felt so bad when Janet Jackson appeared on stage visibly fighting tears and said, "My family elected."I guess the family was drawing straws. They really need a better public relations rep ASAP. Couldn't they just fax BET a statement to read at the award show?!

Why did Don Lemon look so confused when Joe Jackson literally had someone jump up on the platform and read a statement about his son. Clearly, he couldn't formulate a positive thought about Michael on his own.

Queen Latifah joined Gospel Goddesses Mary Mary on stage when they decided to bless the crowd a crunk performance. Sorry but Mary Mary should be singing to such a secular beat. I literally thought T-Pain and DJ Khalid were going join them on stage.

Aye Maria 09 BETA Live
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I didn't care too much for Beyonce's rendition of Ava Maria ( considering she's not Hispanic) but I think she by far had the most cohensive performance of anyone. She got a lot of backlash about not performing a Michael Jackson tribute but I commend her for not trying to put some half-ass tribute together. She knew what time it was... it is BET. But that's no excuse for her ensemble, I was confused and disgusted. She couldn't have just put on a piece from the Tacky Tina collection and sing.

I thought Taraji Henson learned that she no longer needs to be type-cast but when she reprise her role as Yvette from "Baby Boy" I knew you can take the girl out of the hood but a bird will always be a bird. Only on the BET Awards! This was TNS!

OMG! Ciara confirmed that there was no rehearsal at all. She sounded terrible. Little Keke Palmer who belted out her rendition of "Who's Loving You" actually, sounded better than Ciara. I can't believe she sat still on a stool and managed to sound that bad. Maybe she was choked up...or maybe she just can't sing! She was the one person who should have done a dance tribute. That's her forte...what was BET thinking!

I found it agonizing to watch Jay-Z old ass rap about autotune which everyone in the audience including his wife, Beyonce, uses, I wanted to just die. Some people should just stay in retirement. And furthermore, I was disgusted that he said T-Pain is the only artist to master autotune. He dubbed the most Amos n' Addy Negro as the king of autotune! WTF!

Maxwell stole the show! Every single artist's mother was singing that song. Keri Hilson's mother was literally having a moment. His seductive performances never gets old...but did anybody peep his Prince split at the end of the performance?! Still loved performance and the album is hot too!

OMG! Loved the New Jack Swing tribute. Teddy Riley+ Aaron Hall+ Keith Sweat+ BBD= wonderful performance. All I needed was Christopher Williams and AL B. Sure and I would have been in heaven!

The O'Jays still got! They're steps were on point. That was the first time on a very, very long time that I saw group dance, not lip-sync and sound better than the record. I hope Trey Songz and Tyrese were taking notes.

Tevin, Trey, Tyrese Ojay's Tribute
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I thought Johnny, Tyrese and Trey did a good job but I felt really bad when they cut to Ginuwine who looked like he wanted to be up there so bad. Trey Songz really robbed his demographic.


Yeah, so Drake and Lil' Wayne decide to bring them little girls up on stage. I hope it was spontaneous decision that they regret now, but since it's Lil' Wayne I think he didn't give a damn. And did anyone else notice that the little girls were singing along to the raunchy song?!


NeYo- Lady in My Life

Ne-Yo MJT 09 BETA Live
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The best performance/ MJ tribute goes to Shaffer C. Smith (NeYo). (Yes, he was that good I had to look up his real name.) NeYo has performed this song before and he executed the song immaculately. And he did an superb job with this song again. He did not oversing it or try an make it a NeYo original. Perfection!

My Nine Cents:

I do not know why this award show was poorly executed but I know BET needs to get it together before it becomes something of the past. Maybe they need to bring Bob Johnson back or something but there is no excuse for them to be displaying such amateur productions. It was like watching an off-Broadway production fail miserable. It's like you know it's off-Broadway some it may lack stage production and acting but you hope that there's a breakthrough performance. I suggest they hiring some new people because why is Stephen Hill producing and directing every single show on the network. Thousands of other individuals are qualified to do his job... they need new blood! And if they couldn't pull off an award show they probably shouldn't be premiere new second best television shows (ie. Monique's new show, Wendy Williams, Tiny & Toya and Frankie and Neffy)