Kelly Rowland Beyonce is on the cover of this month’s Vibe magazine. The R&B/Sports Illustrated model bringing in the summer with a fabulous photo spread. Well, not really. The photos in the article were pretty tame. They practically bordered on recycled publicity shots. The article itself, also more of the same.

I’m not one to slap the over-exposed sticker on Beyonce’s back, or hate for bitter reasons. However there is something to be said when she’s on Vibe’s cover and her homie-for-life Kelly Rowland has an album coming out next month - June 26th. To add insult to disgrace, Kelly’s article is a one page, new artist kind of thing. As if a full article couldn’t be fleshed out with what she’s been up to.

In the article Kelly speaks about “living in Beyonce’s shadow.”

“The Lord brought Michelle and me into B’s life and look what kind of heights we’ve soared to.”

Vibe also states that Kelly is seemingly content to live in the background.

Guess so.

But it seems as though that’s somewhat a forced position.

B’Day is at 3 million sold. You’d think Team Knowles would give Beyonce a summer vacation, step back and give Kelly some shine time. Just rub the hands together and say, “Okay, we did well with B’Day, now it’s time to push Ms. Kelly’s project to the front.”

Instead, just before Kelly’s drop date you get B’Day deluxe and a high profile magazine cover. The equivalent of breaking into a singer’s solo during a concert.

Maybe the Knowles clan think this kind of piggyback promotion helps, but like Jay-Z standing under Rhianna’s “Umbrella” it’s something that adds little value and just didn’t need to take place.

Kelly’s article is titled “Hiding in Plain Sight.”

That may be her wish, but I say we do the girl justice and relieve her of that sidekick tag.

The June 2007 Vibe cover that shoulda/woulda’ve been.

What do you do when you take a trip to New Zealand?

If your name is Common New Zealand is a place for late night studio sessions.

Yeah, Common was halfway across the world in some tucked away studio recording tracks for his new album, Finding Forever. While there his traveling companion Kanye West, the big man on the boards for the album, was thinking up a hook for a song called “Drivin Me Wild.” In that thought bubble the perfect collaborator for the song emerged. Kanye whispered her name in the air, “Lily Allen.. Lily Allen.. ” An iTune visit later Common found someone he needed for his album, due July 10th.

Common recalls… “I’m like, ‘Aight.’ I wasn’t up on Lily Allen A??,??__ I ain’t gonna front!” but now.. “I just love her A??,??__ the way she carries herself, the confidence, and [her] whole style.”

This exchange was laid out in this week’s Entertainment Weekly.

These days I’m malnourished for lyrics of a different subject matter. So I’m thinking of what vets (or even new jacks) are going to release great music this year and the names escape me. To be real, Common isn’t an absolute favorite, his flow never held my attention past a single. This go around I’ll give his album a closer listen.

Which is right along the lines of his career success.

This being his 15th year in the game, seventh album on deck, Common spoke on his veteran status, yet still kickin’ it like a youngster..

“Man, it feels great! It feels like [2005’s] Be was my first album.. I remember one day [in high school] my science teacher said to me in front of the whole class, ‘‘Yeah, Lonnie’’ A??,??__ that’s my first name A??,??__ ‘‘he’s a late developer.’’ ‘Cause I was still real small and young-looking. I was just like, ‘‘What?’’ So maybe I just developed later [as an artist]. I’m not saying that the material I did before wasn’t nothing, but it’s just constant growth, and the growth is starting to get attention now. That’s a beautiful thing.”

And of course, since he said he “Used To Love H.E.R.”, the state of hip-hop..

“You know, I really don’t think about hip-hop, like, saying, ‘‘Man, where is the music at right now?’’ I just strive to create what I want to hear, and I listen to what I want to listen to, and try not to be even judging it anymore. Hip-hop is gonna be hip-hop. It’s always changing, always evolving..”

“I listen to the stuff that is really fresh to me, that I can enjoy from whatever perspective.”

That really underlines the only way to love music forever.

Oh yeah, that girl on the left.. another album to look forward to.

T-Pain’s “Buy You a Drank Shawty” is a top ten downloaded single and number one ringtone. Apparently Eve was taking the song literally. After leaving—- Eve was driving her gold Maserati on Hollywood Boulevard around 2:45 a.m. when she punched into a cement median at an intersection on Sycamore Avenue.

Police and the ever-present (in Hollywood) TMZ cameras descended on the car.

After submitting to a blood alcohol test, Eve was taken into custody and charged with a misdemeanor drunk driving violation. It didn’t take long for her to use that one phone call and have her manager post the $30,000 bail.

Wait a minute?!? 30 thousand for a drunk driving charge?

Do you get extra zeros for celebrity status?

I’ve heard (know) of a (not guilty) attempted murderer getting $5000 bail. Who’s more dangerous to society?

A fast ass Maserati careening down the sidewalk.. smashing through storefronts on Hollywood Blvd.. well, okay. 30 sounds about right.

The strange twist to this story is the police confirming that Sean Penn visited her at the station. He said he was.. “visiting as a friend.”

Hmm.. another vanilla homie?

I wonder what her drink of choice was: cherry margarita, pineapple splash, Tie Me To The Bedpost.. We usually put Eve.. on.. and do the shot”

Ok, that’s taken out of context.

Check how Billboard ends their story.

This is a helluva way to get the album party started.

Not happy with the reception of his last album, Pharrell has touched super rings with The Roots’ ?uestlove to take the best of what they bring to the mixing board and re-record In My Mind. The newly conceived dish is called Out of My Mind.

In attempt to get people really grabbing the meaning of his debut solo album, Pharrell called ?estlove to ‘operate’ the set and revealed the true ‘diamond’. “Pharrell called me at 4 a.m. like three times in a row from Japan,” ?uestlove wrote. “He sold me on the album: ‘I need to make this world see my vision with this record. Please help me translate it, man!’ He had me dressing and in the studio starting this record five hours later.”

?uestlove brought in his new instrument playing cronies The Yessirs, smashed out 18 hour days for two weeks and completed the project.

Pharrell says he’s blown away by the results.

The question is.. does he think adding live instruments will make the nonbelievers ‘feel’ it any differently?

Like now it’s gonna crack the 106 top 10?

I hope that’s not his goal: quality/creative music does not guarantee platinum plaques. Now if you’re talking about the platinum in the plaques..

You can hear one song, P and the Yessirs on ?uestlove’s Myspace page.

Oh yeah, think the record company is gassed over this? There is currently no delivery date for Pharrell’s new baby.

I’m not sure who wears FUBU or if it’s even in stores anymore, but Daymond John, the founder of FUBU (actually he has two partners but he’s the ‘face’ guy) has written a new book called Display of Power: How FUBU changed a world of fashion, branding and lifestyle. Released a few weeks ago, it’s fresh on the shelves. I’m pretty sure Karl Kani is fuming over the implication that FUBU started the for us by us urban fashion train.

Karl Kani was the first to take urban fashion from the fruity colorful Cross Colors stage to something a grown man wouldn’t mind wearing. FUBU was second in the door, but they made a couple of moves that left Karl Kani frozen in place. The key shift - marketing. Remember all of those FUBU ads featuring the hottest rappers of that time? And Karl Kani stuck to featuring himself. Only later did he make the switch, but it was too late. FUBU was THE brand to wear.

If Karl Kani wrote a book on his start and experiences in the fashion game I’d want to read it. Maybe now that Daymon John has beaten him to the punch, Karl will get a ghost writer on contract and knock it out.

I haven’t cracked the pages yet - but I did peep this excerpt that’s actually pretty revealing about how seemingly meaningless things can reveal a lot about a person.

Go Straight to Jail..

“One of the routines I developed, early on, was to sit my people down for a game of cut-throat MonopolyA??,??__once a month or so, after hours. For a while, we played a couple times a week. It was a great release from all the tension and pressure that would build up during the day, and more than that it turned out to be a chance to see the people who worked for you outside of a traditional office dynamic.”

“Think about it: around a Monopoly board, you can see how sharp someone is, how they deal with people, whether they’re hesitant or honorable. It’s a great tell. Didn’t start out like any kind of stratA,A?egy or litmus test. A group of us just started playA,A?ing, is all, and I started to notice the value in the game, started inviting others to sit in, on a rotatA,A?ing basis.”

“Understand, it wasn’t a garden-variety game of Monopoly, the kind you used to play when you were a kid. No way. This was vicious. We’d play for money sometimesA??,??__maybe S5O, maybe S1OO, whatever we felt like at the timeA??,??__but it was never about the money. This was killer, full-throttle Monopoly, and it was all about winning. It was about pride and respect and bragging rights, and whatever it took to outA,A?play, out-smart, out-hustle your opponents.”

“Over time, the game cost a couple people their jobs, or maybe even made a couple careers.”

“Don’t mean to suggest that I made my hiring and firing decisions based on a board gameA??,??__but hey, I’d learn some things that colored my thinking,  I mean, you play ten   games   with   someone,  and   they’re   conA,A?stantly cheating or being slick,  you start to quesA,A?tion whether they’re the type of person you want representing   you   or   your   company.  Conversely, you play ten games with someone, and they’re making deals and working it out and finding away to win, you take notice of that too, and maybe you fast-track someone as a result.”

“You lean towards what you see around that board / you play with a guy, he doesn’t know how to pull the trigger, he can’t see all the way down the road, takes a very short view on things, you make a note. You see a guy, can’t take the pressure, gets   mad when things don’t go his way, starts to throw things, you make a note of that as well.”

“Yeah, it’s just a game, but a lot of people think business is just a game, too. We’re all playing to win. With Monopoly, it’s the kind of game that reveals a person’s character. Chances are, it’s stuff that would come out eventually, but it puts a clock on eventually and gives you information you’ll need to get and keep ahead.”

“And it doesn’t have to be Monopoly. It could be anything. Poker. Hoops, Pin The Tail on the Donkey, This is why rich white guys spend so much time on the golf course, doing deals.”

“Find whatever works for you and your group and make something out of it. And be sure to take notes.”