NAS confirms Kellis pregnancy and Eddie has to pay child support

Nas confirmed to MTV news on Sunday at the Grammy Awards, that he and Kelis are expecting a child and they will find out the sex of the baby soon:


The news first broke out on US Weekly’s website last month that Kelis was currently in her first trimester. The two also celebrated their wedding anniversary in January.


Eddie Murphy has agreed to pay out $51,000 a month in child support to his former girlfriend Melanie Brown and their child together:

British tabloid the News of the World has revealed that Dr. Doolittle star Murphy has agreed to a support package totaling more than $10 million, following a 15 month court battle in Los Angeles.

Murphy sparked a war of words with Brown following their break-up when he suggested it was possible he wasn’t the father of the baby. He subsequently took a DNA test which determined daughter Angel Iris - born on Murphy’s birthday, April 3rd 2007 - was in fact his. SOURCE

MPL | Flower

Prince is planning to release three new albums in 2009.

The singer says he has almost completed two solo albums, tentatively titled ‘MPLSOUND’ and ‘Lotus Flower’, as well as a record with his protégé Bria Valente called ‘Elixir’.

All three albums are likely to be released by Prince independently, with the LA Times reporting that the star is in negotiations with a major US retailer to distribute physical copies of the music.

Peep the spread here

Free the Husbands

Executive hints at end of 'Winfrey Show'

"The Oprah Winfrey Show" may cease airing in 2011 when Winfrey walks away from the U.S. TV talk show, an executive says...."

read more here

Remembering St. Clair

By Jacquie Jones One of my earliest memories of St. Clair Bourne was winding up at a party at his old apartment at 105th and Broadway, right in the heart of what was becoming, in those days, in the 1980s, the “Upper West Side.” It was still kind of Harlem, then, old Harlem, fringe and kind of sexy. But what impressed me at the time – and I was barely out of Howard University, mind you, if at all – was the company that was kept there. The writer Quincy Troupe and film historian and scholar Clyde Taylor, Hugh Masekela, Kathleen Cleaver, the father of all Black documentary filmmakers, Bill Greaves – all the people who had chronicled and given life to the history and struggle that had brought us up to that moment. So, I just smoked my cigarette (it was the 80s, remember) and tried to look like I belonged. That was twenty years ago.

Since then, somehow, my distanced awe of Saint and all he represented to me turned into something else, something more.

It is true that with over forty titles to his credit, St. Claire Bourne is easily one of our most prolific filmmakers in any genre. And with a list of titles that reads like the who’s who of great Black men, he had, throughout his career, an agenda no self-righteous “Afro-American” – a term he stuck with til the end, could argue with: Black filmmakers have to right the wrongs of the past, cover our heroes in glory, speak the truth.

Avon Kirkland, director of Street Soldiers a film about the work of MacArthur Genius Joe Marshall and the PBS biography of Ralph Ellison and another real veteran of these wars, said of our friend, “his most outstanding virtue: his bone-deep commitment to black people and racial justice. We argued all the time about craft, didacticism, the nature of the universe, etc., but hugged each other warmly, whenever we encountered each other, as if we increasingly came to understand and eventually celebrate that we were, after all, brothers in a (still) strange land.”
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Each Room Is a Stage, Every Day Is a Show

By DAVE ITZKOFF
Published: October 28, 2008

THE chef at Benihana was struggling to entertain the customers around his table, but Tracy Morgan wouldn’t surrender the spotlight. On a recent Thursday afternoon, Mr. Morgan, the comedian and “30 Rock” star, was putting on a show for the gathering crowd — tourists, office workers, restaurant staff and a pair of NBC publicists sent to keep an eye on him — his voice booming like thunder amid the clanging of knives and the sizzling of the grill.

Presiding over a dining room he visits two or three times a week, Mr. Morgan, 39, mocked the chef for his gold-capped tooth (“You from down South or something?” he asked) and chided him for fumbling an egg (“You got girl problems?”); he wished happy birthday to a woman at an adjacent table and updated the staff on his exploits (“Still makin’ them babies”); he accused King Kong of racism (“All these black women in the jungle, and he went all that way for one white woman?”), then began to tell a story about his family before crooning a verse of Prince’s “When Doves Cry” into a reporter’s tape recorder.

When they see Mr. Morgan in the flesh, the stunned onlookers who shout “Yo, Tracy!” and slap him high-fives expect him to play the buffoon. And no one relishes that role more than Mr. Morgan himself, who has embraced the part on “30 Rock” and in public appearances both paid and unpaid.

Click here for full story

New Orleans Rising, by Hammer and Art

By SHAILA DEWAN
Published: October 28, 2008
NEW ORLEANS — Over the last few weeks more than a few locals have stopped by to inform a small construction crew in the Lower Ninth Ward here that it obviously does not know what it is doing.

Ms. Del Aguila, an assistant to the artist Wangechi Mutu, and her crew have been building the frame of a traditional shotgun house, not as a permanent dwelling but as part of Prospect.1 New Orleans, an ambitious new art biennial that is to open here on Saturday and continue through Jan. 18.

Billed as the largest exhibition of contemporary art ever held on American soil, the biennial is intended to help restore the cultural vibrancy of a city that remains on its knees three years after Hurricane Katrina.

With a star-filled roster of 81 artists and a projected 50,000 visitors from out of town, it may indeed bring benefits to New Orleans. But it is already clear that the arrangement has not been one-sided, and the New Orleans contribution has been rich. With its history of destruction and rebirth, artistic triumph and economic struggle, this crumpled crescent of a city provides a singular interpretive context that acts as a resonance chamber. Click here for full story

JENNIFER HUDSON'S MOTHER AND BROTHER REPORTEDLY FOUND DEAD

The mother and brother of Academy Award winning actress and singer Jennifer Hudson have reportedly been found dead at a home on Chicago's South Side.

CBS2 in Chicago reports:

The mother of Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Hudson was reportedly found dead in a South Side home.

Two adults were found fatally shot at a home at 70th Street and Yale Avenue at 3 p.m. Friday, authorities said. Willie Davis, the pastor of the Hudson family's church, Progressive Baptist, confirmed that 57-year-old Darnell Hudson Donnerson was one of the victims.

The other victim was a man, the Chicago Fire Department said.

The shooting is believed to be domestic.

TMZ has also confirmed the death of Darnell, pictured here with her daughter Jennifer at the Governor's Ball following the 2007 Academy Awards, and Jennifer's brother. According to the website:

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ Jennifer Hudson's mother was one of two victims shot and killed in Chicago earlier today.

A neighbor tells TMZ the other victim was Jennifer's brother Jason. A cousin who lived nearby discovered the bodies.

We're told the two bodies were found dead on the scene at 2:44 PM. When the fire department arrived and discovered the bodies, police were brought in and the home was declared a crime scene.

A call to Hudson's rep was not immediately returned.

WABC in New York reports that Jennifer is on a plane en route to Chicago. Jennifer, 27, is the youngest of three children. Jason reportedly was a mechanic and Jennifer's sister Julia is a school bus driver. Their father Samuel Simpson, who died, was a bus driver.

The Chicago Tribune reports:

According to public records, the home is owned by Darnell Donnerson, Jennifer's mother.

A Chicago police spokeswoman also said a 7-year-old boy was reported missing. Police identified him as Julian King, but they would not say whether he is a relative of the actress. He is 5-foot tall, weighs 135 pounds, with brown eyes and black hair.

The police said that they are searching for a William Balfour as a suspect in the double homicide. They said that he is considered to be armed and dangerous and may be driving white 1994 Chevrolet Suburban with Illinois license plate No. X584859 or a teal/green Chrysler Concord four-door with a left front headlight hanging out that is scratched all along its left side. The Chrysler is displaying temporary tags of 332K823.

The missing boy may be in the vehicle.

According to a source, the actress' sister reported the boy missing from the home.

Public records indicate the Suburban is registered to Jason Hudson, who neighbors said is Jennifer Hudson's brother. Authorites would not say whether he was one of the two victims.

Jennifer Hudson is not injured, her bodyguard told the Tribune before referring all questions to a publicist.

One of the victims was a woman in her 50s who was shot in the head and the other was a 29-year-old man who was shot in the chest, according to a spokesman for the Cook County medical examiner's office. The spokesman did not have the victims' identities.

At least one of the victims had defensive wounds, according to police.

Since announcing her engagement to David "Punk" Otunga last month, the singer/actress has been busy promoting her movie, "The Secret Life of Bees," which opened a week ago, and her self-titled debut album.

Our prayers go out to Jennifer and her family.

More details to come.

Clarence Williams III: Underappreciated

By VeTalle Fusilier

"Wakey wakey, baby", it's one of my favorite lines from the movie 52 Pick Up. Perhaps you have seen him lately as Mr. Boxer in the family drama Constellation, or fright fans saw him in Tales from the Hood. We can catch him this week again in the highly anticipated American Gangster as Bumpy Johnson. Clarence Williams III is a great actor, respected by his fellow thespians and critics, and delivers image gifts we should cherish.


He was the first actor I saw play a cop with an Afro, when he broke new ground as Lincoln Hayes ("Linc") on ABC's The Mod Squad.

Those who were too young for Mod Squad likely first caught a glimpse of his brilliance as Prince's tortured father in Purple Rain. But he has always been around, staying in our minds as the characters he portrayed, not as Clarence, because that's what great actors do ­ bury themselves in the part.

He has been in Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, The Highwayman, Twin Peaks, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. We have seen him recently in Everybody Hates Chris, and in a recurring role as Philby Cross in the Mystery Woman movie series on the Hallmark Channel. Adept in front of the cameras or on stage, Williams starred in Slow Dance on the Killing Ground, receiving a Tony nomination.

Williams is a city kid. Born in New York City, New York, in a jazz family, grandchild of Eva Taylor and Clarence Williams, the pianist and founder of the largest black music publishing company in its day. We can relax, knowing that we exert influence in the future, because of the comforting wisdom of the cookie baking Oracle in The Matrix, actress Gloria Foster, his departed wife.


Certainly his life's work is worthy of a serious uplifting, but as Wesley Snipes' and Michael Wright's tragic, drug addicted father in Sugar Hill, he turned in a Oscar worthy performance. It's an underrated movie overall, but he is the best thing about it, without question.

It is highlighted by the scene in which he knowingly overdoses himself while declaring his love for his son, who gave him the heroin.

Watch it. Listen to him go, "Woooo-wooo". Anyone who has felt an overwhelming drug rush is sold right there. He deserved the Oscar for best supporting actor, and he should have been nominated. But at the time, Hollywood was nervous (and so were we) about the Black image on film, --deaf to great performances, unless associated with heroic personification. Fear?
Overcompensation? That was definitely then. My how things have changed.

Has the guilt pendulum swung to the other extreme, or are we just more comfortable now with our own imperfections? Denzel can win an Oscar, not for Hurricane but for playing an angel dust smoking, crooked cop. Halle can win for letting a white man "make me feel good" (and we'll see how right they really want to be if she gets a nomination for her stellar performance in Things We Lost In The Fire"). Forest Whitaker can win, not for giving life to the complex self- destructive genius of Bird, but for playing killer and dictator Idi Amin.

The year Williams would have been eligible for Sugar Hill, the other nominees for supporting actor were Kevin Spacey in The Usual Suspects, James Cromwell in Babe, Ed Harris in Apollo 13, Brad Pitt in 12 Monkeys and Tim Roth in Rob Roy.

With all respect to Williams¹ fellow actors, at least three of those things are not like others. So as long as we¹re celebrating bad guys, let¹s give credit where credit is due. We the people nominate Clarence Williams, III to receive an Oscar retroactively.

Raiders win their 1st

the Bay Area DJ

the “Yes We Can” Mixtape

1. Intro
2. David Banner,Busta Rhymes,Talib Kweli “Black President” Rmx pt1*
3. Barack Obama “Stand Up”*
4. Nas Speaks on Politics
5. Styles P and Cassidy “Make It Out”*
6. Jay-z Speaks “The American Dream”
7. Barack Obama “One Mic, One People”
8. Russell Simmons Speaks on Obama
9. Joe Budden,Twista,John Mayer “Waiting on the World to Change 2008″
10. Angie Martinez “Yes We Need A Mixtape!!”
11. Kanye West,Malik Yusef “Promised land
12. Wale,Rhymefest,Christina K, Royce 5′9 “Black President” RMX Pt2*
13. Barack Obama “My Life”*
14. Jay-z “Lick a Shot”*
15. Russell Simmons on Change
16. Wyclef “Obama for President”
17. Charles Hamilton “The Moment”
18. Find ur Dreams (interlude) *
19. George Bush’s Highlight Reel
20. Mikkey Halsted “King George” *
21. Obama on Hip-Hop
22. Joel Ortiz feat Dante Hawkins “Letter To Obama” *
23. Akon , U.M. “Aint No Sunshine” *
24. Qadir, Dwayne (Invasion) “Its My Time
25. Johnny Polygon (Invasion),Amanda Diva “Colorblind” *
26. Mavado “We Need Barack” *
27. Jay-Z / Gabe Real “What We Need” (Speech)
28. Qadir “Yes We Can” Outro

Rapper Nas Delivers Fox News Petition, Says Network Is "Scared" (VIDEO)

Rolling Stone reports on the Color Of Change/MoveOn/Brave New Films petition that rapper Nas brought to the offices of Fox News today: About four hours after the announcement that his controversial, politically charged ninth album was number one in the country, Nas was on a small podium in front of Fox News headquarters in New York City protesting what he sees as racist attacks against Black Americans and presidential candidate Barack Obama. In a brief prepared statement, the multi-platinum rapper pointed out examples of what he and ColorOfChange see as a long racist smear campaign against the Obama family: The onscreen graphic that referred to Michelle Obama as the Senator's "baby mama"; Bill O'Reilly casually using the phrase "lynching party" to refer to attacks on the Senator's wife; referencing to the couple's infamous fist thump as a "terrorist fist jab." Said Nas, "Fox poisons this country every time they air racist propaganda and try to call it news. This should outrage every American that Fox uses hateful language to talk about the person that may be the first black president." The rapper stood next to 19 neatly stacked cardboard boxes, with the number 620,127 taped to the side of each one -- over 600,000 signatures gathered by ColorOfChange demanding that network president Roger Ailes "find a solution to address racial stereotyping and hate-mongering before it hits the airwaves." Fox rejected the petitions, but Brave New Films says that Comedy Central's The Colbert Report will accept them instead.

Spike Lee: Miracle at St. Anna

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Jay-Z Launches New Record Label

After all the marriage hoopla, Jay-Z has been quite quiet lately. We now see that Hov’s been silent because he’s been putting the final touches on his newly launched record label StarRoc.

According to Rolling Stone, Jay has recently teamed up with the Norwegian production duo Stargate, to create the label. They each share 50/50. Stargate is best known in urban circles for producing the hit Rihanna songs “Take A Bow” and Ne-Yo’s “So Sick.”

The label is apart of Jay’s $150 million Live Nation deal. StarRoc, will release all of Jay’s new albums, and focus on developing new talent. The label will be headquartered at Jay’s Roc the Mic record studio in Manhattan.


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Save The Birthplace of Hip-Hop

On August 11, 1973, in the first floor recreation room of 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, hip hop was born. It was on that day that DJ Kool Herc, known as the founder of hip hop, and his sister threw the first hip hop house party. Scholars, musicians, and the media widely recognize 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, aka General Sedgwick House, in the Bronx borough of New York City, as the birthplace of hip hop, a uniquely American musical genre and culture that has taken over the world.

In recognition of its important place in American history, in July of 2007, 1520 Sedgwick was declared eligible to be listed as a state and federal landmark. Congressman Serrano of the Bronx honored Sedgwick and Kool Herc in the Congressional record.

Now 1520 Sedgwick is at risk of converting to market-rate housing!

1520 Sedgwick was built in 1969 under a state program to provide quality affordable housing for New Yorkers. This affordable housing helped revitalize the Bronx and made it possible for working families like DJ Kool Herc's to thrive and create the communities that gave rise to hip-hop.

The owner of 1520 Sedgwick plans to remove the building from this affordability program by February 2008! The owner of Sedgwick intends to sell the building to a private equity investor who has already taken several buildings out of the affordability program in the Bronx.

As gentrification sweeps through New York City, the low and moderate income families who have lived in these communities for decades are being pushed out.

for full story: http://www.save1520.org/


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a Letterman Reaction

lil' bad ass

Kwaz's 2008 Hottest TV Anchors

Man, time flies when you're chopping wood. I guess no better time now then to introduce the 2nd year review of Kwaz's, "Hottest Anchors". I was fortunate to bless 2007 with my personal faves. (peep last year's darts) I'll try not to be biased, being that I've worked with a few of them. But these picks aren't based on just looks alone. A combination of intelligence style and persona must also fit the bill. Now it's 2008 and as we post under the Shadetree, check out this years top picks.

Jackie Guerrido
Univision's weatherperson and journalist

Stephanie Elam

This super smart Bay Area bred worked her way up from chief copy editor for Howard U to a business news correspondent.

Suzanne Malveaux

For the older cats out there, I know you feel me! Y'all can appreciate this ragin' cajun.

Maya Kulycky

Maya has a master's degree from the University of London, Goldsmith's College, a law degree from Yale Law School, and is a member of the New York State Bar. Nuff said!


Melissa Theuriau
the French television bombshell

Eunice Yoon

And Yes Kwaz has that 'asian persuasion' goin' on (in Full-Effect!)
Lady E holds it down @ CNN's Jerusalem bureau.

Isha Sesay

Quality Control! This Sierra Leonean journalist and anchor for CNN-international is Top Drawer!


honorable mentions: Sara Sidner

Tyler Perry's New Family Affair

By
Shirea L. Carroll

He has done it again. How is still uncertain, but as predictable as Tyler Perry’s plays-turned-movies are, his newest flick, A Family That Preys, manages to evoke real emotion in spite of its predictability.

Produced, directed, and written by Perry, A Family That Preys stars Alfred Woodard and Kathy Bates, as Alice And Charolette, two close friends and matriarchs doing their best to keep their families together. Total opposites racially, economically, and morally, both families find themselves connected in the midst of scandal, deceit, and hardship.

Like so many of Perry’s box office hits, anything and everything that could possibly go wrong does. Sanaa Lathan as Woodard’s newlywed daughter, Andrea, is having difficulty securing a job, which leads to bigger issues respecting the marital vows she took with husband Chris, played by Rockmond Dunbar. Actor Cole Hauser, plays William Cartwright, a man who believes he has it all, while leaving those closest to him with nothing. Overcome by greed and arrogance, the only way William knows how to play is unfair. Tyler Perry, Taraji P. Henson, and KaDee Strickland are also featured in the movie with supporting roles that provide the film extra drama, laughter, and secrets.

Allowing the audience to witness the characters highest of highs, and lowest of lows, Perry knows the formula to truly connect with his audience and make them feel. Not just pay, watch, and laugh but to really feel, and somehow relate to every character and their story. This is especially true in one scene where one of the characters slaps another character – a scene so good, details will be spared so as to not ruin the impact.

In spite of the best slap scene ever, A Family That Preys lacks surprises. Even in a Tyler Perry film where he is not dressed up as his most famous character, Madea doesn’t make an appearance, it’s easy to figure out who is going to do what and why.

But what A Family That Preys does have in abundance shouldn’t surprise anyone familiar with Perry’s work: Drama that runs the gamut of emotions topped off with an ending that satisfies