Had no idea Robin Givens was an authority to speak on depression, but there she was yesterday on FOX news giving her opinion of Owen Wilson’s suicide attempt. His lawyer has denied that he had his stomach pumped and he wasn’t aware of any illegal drugs in his system at the time of the incident. He did mention that Owen’s been taking anti-depressants.

It’s one thing to see Amy Winehouse go from thick to thin in pictures and believe there’s a problem. But Owen Wilson?.. The Wedding Crasher, You, Me and Dupree.. Bottle Rocket guy?

It just seems bizarre.

Despite his lawyers denial and the lack of ‘official news sources’ confirming his drug problems, the confirmation that he did try to end his life is an indication that he’s got some things to work out.

Robin Givens gives the whole thing great context.. “I think that life is difficult for everyone and being a celebrity, being an actor, you’re not exempt from difficult days.”

No embed. Gotta click over to FOX for the video.

Chris Brown’s new video debuted on 106 and Park this afternoon. I love to see this kid growing up, his latest thing is to tell everyone at all times that he’s 18. Like that’s a big thing. Haha. I guess it is. I just wanted to get to 21 to get in the clubs.

Last night he was with Funkmaster Flex and wanted to hang around to talk to Kim Kardashian, who was coming in the studio later. What does he tell Flex? He’s not gonna do no Ray-J stuff.. “but I am 18 now.”

I was in the car, didn’t get to record what happened. Yes, I’m mad.

If you don’t get/don’t watch 106 here’s the video.

Kanye West is on the cover of this month’s XXL magazine.

If I may borrow a line.. “you can’t tell me nothing” .. the first response to Kanye’s answer to an interview question (especially when it’s about himself) is that he’s an arrogant, likes to run his mouth, funny dressing punk. Said without acknowledging that those things are exactly what makes him pop/blog material - someone to talk about. Not to mention they are also the specks of the ‘genius’ that goes into what and how he makes music. Flip the attributes - a humble, quiet, fashionably acceptable, nice guy - that’s someone who would walk through the music world like the invisible man.

In the article Kanye reveals a lot about how he approaches making music in a climate where the shocking and easy gets so much attention, when that’s not what he does or can fake off.. “There’s nothing about wearing a pink Polo that would make anybody believe that I would hold a gun.”

Pink polos. Let’s pause.

Kanye spoke on the Beanie Sigel just come out the closet diss. He said he was disappointed, but never thought about kicking in his door.. “Beanie ain’t no studio gangsta.”

So he can get away with a smack to the face, but Kanye reads blogs and from ya’ll (us) that’s not gonna be tolerated.

“I would read the blogs sayin’ “Kanye’s gay.” But it’s just the constant battle with Black people and being gay. Like, we’ll call something gay to diss it to the highest extent. It’s a hood mentality - that’s the way we think.
So, in hindsight, I’m glad he [Beanie] spoke on it, so I could speak on it.. But niggas ain’t gonna be calling me gay, and I’m not gay. Don’t disrespect me.

I don’t have a problem with gays, but I don’t be lookin at niggas.

I’m not accepting that shit.

That goes for everybody that’s writing a blog or anybody that’s said it in a barbershop. Don’t fucking call me gay. And if a nigga really feel like they wanna disrespect me like that, come speak to me face-to-face, and whatever it’s gonna be, it’s gonna be.

And this ain’t no threat. This is just how serious I’m taking it. Ain’t no once you-reach-the-1-million-mark Eddie Murphy shit with me.

Look at the “Can’t Tell Me Nothing ” video..

I got the no. 1 record in the streets, and my pants is tighter than a muthafucka in that.”

Today marks the 2nd anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Thankfully since that crazy hurricane season, a total of zero have kissed the United States coastline. Yesterday it was announced that Quincy Jones and Usher are teaming up to promote ongoing rebuilding efforts in New Orleans.

Soon after Hurricane Katrina Usher launched Project Restart, which has already helped 700 families get new housing and given them assistance with keeping their lights on.

The specifics of the new project with Quincy Jones will be announced in the coming weeks.

Quincy Jones talked about the Usher connection and their goal for the project.

“I’ve known Usher since he was 16 years old. He’s an extremely talented and remarkably respectful young man. I can’t explain how much he means to me; he’s almost like a son. He will forever have an apartment in my heart.

Our hope is together our voices will be heard by more people. There will be more progress made to aid the victims of Hurricane Katrina and to revitalize the Gulf Coast.

Passion and money aren’t enough.

It’s about the application of the money and the state of mind of a lot of spirits who have been broken. We have to figure it out step by step, more quickly to make more of a difference.”

It may seem like once people were moved from the Superdome, thousand dollar checks handed out, Brownie sent back to the horse ranch, that the problems were solved.

The reality is - other than the murder rate - New Orleans is far from being back to normal. The revenue generating sections of the city were quickly patched up and big expensive condominium projects are in the works, but for the everyday homeowners they feel the rebuilding efforts are nonexistent.

Quincy Jones has a video podcast, he touches on that in episode 3.

Usher will tell his New Orleans story in episode 4, which will be posted next week.

Then they will announce the project.

Uh.. No I don’t get the the slow build either, but at least they’re doing something constructive.

All is not well in the Winehouse family. After the very public fight and now undeniable drug use which has resulted in canceled concert dates by the pound, Amy’s father in-law, Giles Fielder-Civil is asking why the record company isn’t doing anything to help her get better.

In an interview on UK’s Radio 5 Live, Fielder-Civil said:

“Why don’t the record company do more?”

“We believe that the record company should be proactive in helping the couple get better. At the moment they seem to be hiding behind a label that the pair aren’t drug addicts, they’re exhausted or whatever.The pair have gone on holiday.

That isn’t helping them. It’s just getting them out of the way.

We urge the record company to do something.”

“It’s about time that their friends and their professional colleagues say to them ‘enough is enough’.”

Remembering the C.R.E.A.M. rules he made the ultimate suggestion.

“Perhaps it’s time to stop buying records. It’s a possibility ... by doing that, that affects the record company and the record company may take notice.”

After the interview Amy’s father, Mitch Winehouse called. He doesn’t believe things should get that drastic.

“This is the problem we find ourselves up against.

We have two families pulling in different directions. Basically we just want the same things, we want our children to be safe. But we’ve got different definitions of how we can do that.”

He added.. “There’s only one person to blame and that’s Amy. That’s what Blake’s parents have got to understand.
It’s no good blaming anybody else. This is Blake’s fault and Amy’s fault.”

More at The Daily Mail