July 14, 2006
And Where The Hell Have I Been?
Hi everyone. It's me, Keshawnta. I'm back. I know at least some of you care that I've been gone. I just kind of fell of the face of the earth and left without warning. My apologies. I had some stuff going on in my life, which I don't want to get into, but I needed some time to deal with it. In that time, I didn't do much of anything productive. I dealt with my issues, read some Haruki Murakami books that had been collecting dust, and missed everyone here. Enough was enough and Chris and myself decided that it was time for me to come back. So here I am.
What I didn't do during my time away was keep up with what was going on in the entertainment world too closely or write anything other than my name, so bear with me as I try to get it going again. Hopefully I will be back to form soon.
Foxy Brown
Did anyone attend Jay-Z's "Reasonable Doubt" show at Radio City a few weeks back? I thought about it, but I decided that I do not go to concerts of retired artists who are always doing concerts. Anyway, I noticed that Foxy was in the place to be. What happened to her being deaf? After her appearance, I read an interview were she claimed she had gotten the required surgery for hearing restoration and she was miraculously healed and headed straight from the operating table to the recording studio.
It was an MTV interview and Foxy said, "It was really hard. I was deaf for an entire year. Completely deaf. The surgery was iffy. They didn't know if it would be a success, and it was. I went straight from the operating room to the studio".
This sounds like b.s. for many reasons, but mainly because you can't just get something as serious as a surgery to restore your hearing and head straight for the studio. That is so not an outpatient surgery. Also the results aren't instantaneous as she claims. Regardless, I don't think the chick was ever deaf. I don't care what she says. She claims to have been completely deaf for over a year, but during that time, she was going to court and cursing out judges who were yelling back at her and she seemed to hear just fine then.
I think her deafness was ploy to get some sympathy and attention. She had to do something to keep up with Lil Kim, who was going to jail. If she wasn't deaf, she should be ashamed of herself. What makes it so bad is that no one really cared. I mean her two biggest fans were probably outraged and broken hearted, but the casual fan or the non-fan, was like "oh too bad, so sad" and kept it moving.
Yet and still Foxy is my favorite rapper chick. Recently some photos have appeared online of Foxy looking better than ever before. Nice outfit, no outrageous butt length weave, and devoid of that god-awful purple lipstick.
She looks really pretty and understated. She reminds me of pre-deranged Lauryn Hill in the last picture. I am so proud of her. I hope she keeps doing what she's doing, because she actually looks classy, tasteful, and pretty.
Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is
On Wednesday BET premiered it's new reality show "Keyshia Cole: The Way It Is". When BET first announced plans for this show, I was thinking the same thing I always think about the folks in charge at BET - that they all need to be fired. I watched the show and it wasn't bad at all. The show pretty much just follows Keyshia around and shows her doing what she does. On the first episode it showed her adoptive mother as well as her sister. They all reiterated the stories about Keyshia that we'd heard countless times: she had a rough upbringing, been through a lot, etc.
She was in Oakland, where she's from, and went over to her sister's house. Now the sister has been through as much or more than Keyshia, and Keyshia was pretty much going over there to check up on her nieces, because she'd been hearing some unfavorable things. Mind you, when they arrived at her sister's house, they expected her to be either drunk or at a bar and it was something like 8 in the morning.
Her sister has three or more beautiful little girls and they and Keyshia seem to adore one another equally. It was cute to see their interaction.
Overall Keyshia seems like a really good person. She loves her family and wants to take care of them and cares about how she is perceived by young girls who look up to her.
Keyshia went to the local radio station and threatened one of their radio personalities that spreads false rumors about her. I think the woman in question is named Sana G, she sounds like the Bay area's answer to Wendy Williams. Now Keyshia didn't threaten to do anything to her, but she warned the DJ she was speaking with that if her family ran into Sana G in the street and something popped off, "it ain't my business."
Keyshia went back to her old stomping grounds and had a barbecue for the entire neighborhood and those people love her. She gave a little speech and requested that everyone "throw the sets up". Now I'm not saying that Keyshia is single-handedly responsible for the gang violence in Oakland, but that was too much.
At one point during the show Keyshia was on the phone with the one and only P-Diddy and he told her numerous times that she is so talented and he is the president of her fan club, and a lot of other nonsense. She was telling him that she was focused and hadn't been drinking because she was on her grind and trying to get her Beyonce on. I love that she is staying sober to be about her business. It sounds like she has a good head on her shoulders.
I really like Keyshia Cole and I enjoy her music, but she has a ways to go before she gets her Beyonce on. Now in my eyes, Beyonce is a hell of an entertainer and a blithering idiot who knows all of eight words in the English language, but her image is solid. Beyonce is a brand that pretty much markets itself. Keyshia spends way too much time being ghetto and proclaiming that she keeps it real to ever reach anywhere near Beyonce level success. I am all for keeping it real, but she is pretty ignorant and seems content with it.
At one point during the show she was talking and my 12-year-old little brother said, "Wow, it's 2006 and this girl sounds like a slave." I laughed, but it was true. She was worse than some of the most ignorant rappers in the game and that says a lot.
She sounded really bad. I know she's had a rough life, but she now has a lot of resources at her disposal and I hope she uses them to better herself and have a long, successful career. She's only going to go so far carrying on the way she does now.
So far, she is very down to earth and has her mind in a good place. I really hope she takes some measures to be a better interview and things of that nature. She can be a little more polished while still keeping it real and being true to herself. Most people do it everyday. I hope she can do that and not compromise who she is, because even though she's ghetto as hell, she seems like a really genuine person and I'd hate to see her lose that.
I also respect the hell out of how far she's come and that she's come from nothing, but I do not want to keep hearing this same story ten years from now. I have no problem with hearing it for now, because she's still pretty new on the scene. When she's like 10 albums in, I do not want to keep hearing that story, like with Mary J. Mary's like 15 years into her career and she is still talking about her past in every interview all the time. That gets really old.
At the end of it all, I enjoyed the show, I enjoyed Keyshia, and will continue watching.
Dallas Austin
Dallas Austin needs to get the hell to rehab ASAP. Has everyone heard that he was actually detained in Dubai for trying to smuggle in a personal stash of cocaine? I'm sure you have. Mind you he was on his way to Naomi Campbell's birthday party, where the drugs were more than likely to be flowing more freely than food and drink, so I don't even see his vision. Maybe he has better coke than she does? I don't know. Anyway, he was originally sentenced to 4 years in prison, but was pardoned and I guess he's at home smoking his crack by now.
He acted like he could not see where he went wrong just trying to bring his own stash to Dubai. Okay, there needs to be some form of punishment handed down. He was pardoned because of some very influential Americans who ran interference for his dumb ass; another case of knowing the right people and having the right money completely excusing criminal behavior.
Dallas is an idiot and a fool and should not get away with a slap on the wrist. Apparently it is time for Dallas to quit with the drugs, because he is no longer using the drugs, the drugs are using him and nothing good is going to come of that relationship.
Vibe Magazine
Word on the street is that Mimi Valdez, Editor In Chief of Vibe Magazine, and the majority of her staff have been fired. This may now be actual fact and not a rumor, but I hope it is true. I do not want to ever see anyone lose their job, but Vibe has been floundering for a long time. It is said that Vibe is bringing back novelist Danyel Smith, who was EIC back when Vibe was still in its prime, long before poor journalism, bad ads, and half-assed photo spreads became Vibe's signature.
Vibe sent me an offer for a 2 year subscription for like $7. I hate Vibe and don't read it, but am a sucker for a good deal. So I sent back the little card telling them to bill me later. Well, I forgot to send them a check and 2 issues into the subscription, they stopped sending the magazines and began sending letters telling me to ante up their $7. Well, I never did. I meant to, but again I just forgot. Then yesterday in the mail, they sent me another offer for the magazine for $9.95 for like a 2 year subscription. They pretty much seem to be in dire straits and a change was not only in order but inevitable.
Hopefully Danyel is coming back and I'm sure she will make a difference in the best possible way. Not to mention that there is nowhere for Vibe to go, but up.
Jay-Z, Beyonce and Rihanna
We've all been hearing rumors that Jay-Z is sleeping with Rihanna on the side, and Beyonce is not happy with that situation. We've heard the stories about Jay and Rihanna being holed up in the VIP at the 40/40 club, alone for 4 hours and so on and so forth. The rumors don't go away.
I honestly don't know what Jay is doing with Rihanna, but I do think that he is trying to groom her to be Beyonce-lite. There have been recent photos of the trio dining together, so there seems to be no animosity between Bey and Rihanna. I think it could very well end up being an "All About Eve" situation with Rihanna and Bey.
For those who haven't seen "All About Eve", it is a movie from 1950 starring Bette Davis. Bette plays an aging actress who takes in a really sweet girl named Eve who turns out to be a conniving wench who wants Bette's man, career, clothes and anything else she has. It's a classic. It's like "Single White Female" minus the murder. I so see this happening with Beyonce and Rihanna. Everytime I see Rihanna she looks more and more Beyonce-esque.
One day Beyonce is not going to know where she ends and Rihanna begins.
Check out the pictures. She has stolen Bey's shoes.
It starts with the shoes and will end with the man, watch.
- reported by Keshawnta J.