Beautification is SHE! Michelle Obama Covers NY Times Style Magazine!
This New York Times Style Magazine shoot....a MOMENT! FLOTUS Michelle Obama gave us authentic, beautiful blackness for this shoot. And it's arguably her most stunning one yet. Get the pics inside that have everyone in a tizzy, plus the love letters written to her in the issue by fellow amazing women.
For The Greats issue of NYT's Style magazine, it's only right our First Lady gets top billing. There are several other covers for the issue with other Greats, but this one is something special.
The chic, gorgeous, and strong Chicago-born beauty is flawlessly serving in a way that's taking folks' breath away. And the love letters saluting her greatness accompanying the shoot are pretty much perfect. What she's meant to the progression of feminism, career-family balance, and black womanhood have not been overlooked.
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, author of the novel “Americanah” and book-length essay “We Should All Be Feminists,” wrote one of the four love letters comprising the story. Here's an excerpt:
She first appeared in the public consciousness, all common sense and mordant humor, at ease in her skin. She had the air of a woman who could balance a checkbook, and who knew a good deal when she saw it, and who would tell off whomever needed telling off. She was tall and sure and stylish. She was reluctant to be first lady, and did not hide her reluctance beneath platitudes. She seemed not so much unique as true. She sharpened her husband’s then-hazy form, made him solid, more than just a dream.
But she had to flatten herself to better fit the mold of first lady. At the law firm where they met before love felled them, she had been her husband’s mentor; they seemed to be truly friends, partners, equals in a modern marriage in a new American century. Yet voters and observers, wide strips of America, wanted her to conform and defer, to cleanse her tongue of wit and barb. When she spoke of his bad morning-breath, a quirky and humanizing detail, she was accused of emasculating him.
Because she said what she thought, and because she smiled only when she felt like smiling, and not constantly and vacuously, America’s cheapest caricature was cast on her: the Angry Black Woman. Women, in general, are not permitted anger — but from black American women, there is an added expectation of interminable gratitude, the closer to groveling the better, as though their citizenship is a phenomenon that they cannot take for granted.
Another excerpt describing Mrs. O's epic trajectory, now in 2016:
She had become an American style icon. Her dresses and workouts. Her carriage and curves. Toned arms and long slender fingers. Even her favored kitten heels, for women who cannot fathom wearing shoes in the halfway house between flats and high heels, have earned a certain respect because of her. No public figure better embodies that mantra of full female selfhood: Wear what you like.
It was the 2016 Democratic Convention. Michelle Obama was speaking. She said “black boy” and “slaves,” words she would not have said eight years ago because eight years ago any concrete gesturing to blackness would have had real consequences.
She was relaxed, emotional, sentimental. Her uncertainties laid to rest. Her rhythm was subtler, because she no longer needed it as her armor, because she had conquered.
The insults, those barefaced and those adorned as jokes, the acidic scrutiny, the manufactured scandals, the base questioning of legitimacy, the tone of disrespect, so ubiquitous, so casual. She had faced them and sometimes she hurt and sometimes she blinked but throughout she remained herself.
Michelle Obama was speaking. I realized then that she hadn’t been waiting to exhale these past eight years. She had been letting that breath out, in small movements, careful because she had to be, but exhaling still.
Actress Rashida Jones wrote one of the love letters as well, and she summed up things perfectly:
If feminism’s goal is equal opportunity and choice, Michelle makes me feel like every choice is available. You can go to Princeton and Harvard, you can rap with Missy Elliott, you can be a mother and a lawyer and a powerful orator. You can champion the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, while also caring about fashion. You can dance with Ellen and also fearlessly remind people, on live television, of the reality of your position: “I wake up every morning in a house that was built by slaves. And I watch my daughters, two beautiful, intelligent, black young women, playing with their dogs on the White House lawn.” You can be your husband’s partner and supporter, and also use your cultural and political capital to campaign for Hillary Clinton, unflinchingly standing up to her “locker room talk”-ing bully of an opponent with the battle cry “enough is enough!” — eloquently putting into words what a lot of people, myself included, had been feeling.
Michelle Obama will have her own legacy, separate from her husband’s. And it will be that she was the first first lady to show women that they don’t have to choose. That it’s okay to be everything.
You can read the love letters in full, plus two more from iconic feminnist Gloria Steinem and Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer John Meachem (who wrote President George Bush's life story) HERE.
#RHoA: NeNe Leakes Teams With HSN for a ‘Trolls’ Collection
Leave it to Ms. NeNe Leakes to make trolling a good thing! The Real Housewives of Atlanta alum, 48, is sprinkling her fabulosity onto her new HSN collection inspired by Trolls, the animated DreamWorks film out November 4.
Leakes, who is known for her over-the-top style and closet full of designer goods, eagerly took on the challenge of fusing fashion with the traditionally “ugly” dolls … once she got over the name, of course.
“‘Really, the trolls?’ That’s how I felt when they said ‘the trolls,’” Leakes exclusively tells Stylish. “But once we got into it, me and one of the designers really started loving it. There’s even a character that kind of looks like me.”
And when she got a few dolls in front of her, Leakes was moved by the hues of their hair. “I’m a girlie-girl. The colors pink and all of that. I started thinking to myself, ‘Maybe we can make these really, really cool. We could do pink and we could do sequins. We could do handbags.’ Because the trolls are all about color, and it’s all about the hair,” she explains.
The pieces in the line, which include a gray hoodie lined with purple fur, a black sequined pencil skirt and a pink fringed poncho, aren’t just colorful, though — they’re all made with quality, an important aspect for Leakes. “I love things that look expensive, even if they aren’t. You know, if you pay 20 dollars for something, I think it should look just as good as something you pay 100 dollars for. So it’s all about the fabric — it really is all about the fabric.”
Their wearability is another feature that Leakes loves. “A lot of the things can take you from day to night,” she says. “I love, love, love these for college students. I also feel like a mom could wear it, a grandma can wear it. It’s all about your personality. Dressing is supposed to be fun.”
And while she thinks the items will suit her fellow Housewives just fine — Cynthia Bailey and Shereé Whitfield have both asked for pieces! — Leakes would also love to see her line on Trolls’ Anna Kendrick, while Justin Timberlake, who also voices a role in the film, can just pass a hoodie on to his wife, Jessica Biel. “I’d give him my arm if he could get something over to her,” Leakes jokes.
Aside from the clothes, which are available in sizes 2 to 24 (“We are clothing women who eat and women who don’t eat,” she jokes), Leakes also birthed a lifelong Trolls fan. The reality star, who never played with the dolls as a child, was able to introduce the figurines to her 4-year-old “glambaby,” Bri’Asia.
“She’s a cartoon crazy lady. She looks at everything on her iPad. She wasn’t even tripping on the trolls at first,” Leakes reveals. “I was like, ‘Girl, let me show you something new.’ Now she likes them because we’ve been working on the line for a while.”
‘Empire’ Season 3, Episode 4: A Night at the Opera
Season 3, Episode 4: ‘Cupid Kills’
After spending an entire afternoon (or at least an entire dress-up montage) choosing an outfit for her date with the handsome city councilman Angelo Dubois, she settles on a tight, short, stunning red dress, then winds up with a face even redder when she shows up at their rendezvous point and discovers it’s a black-tie fund-raising gala, complete with a live performance by an operatic soprano as the evening’s entertainment — all of which her date neglected to mention. In her mile-high heels and similarly elevated hemline, she sticks out like a sore thumb.
Note to Councilman Dubois: If you’re really going to run for mayor of New York City, you need to work on your communication skills.
The would-be couple’s disastrous date is not without its highlights, however, for the audience if not for Cookie herself. She expertly deflects the snobbery of two of Angelo’s old-money acquaintances by describing doing time in a women’s prison. Later, she surprises them in the ladies room as they trash-talk her, telling them that after she gets through with them, the next charity they’ll want to raise money for is the Make-a-Wish Foundation.
She’s her usual funny, cutting self throughout, but when she’s finally clear of her tormentors she lets her guard down, the panicked look on her face revealing just how awful and out of place she really feels. She winds up giving Angelo the old Irish Goodbye, leaving without saying a word. Anyone who’s ever showed up at a party and felt there must have been a mistake on the guest list can relate.
Some of Cookie’s fish-out-of-water moments were harder to swallow. Her musical talents notwithstanding, Cookie’s success derives partly from her ability to read the room, to spot trends before they happen, and to cultivate an air of luxury and glamour that furthers her mystique as Empire’s empress. Would she really be so oblivious as to stand up and cheer in the middle of an opera performance at a fancy fund-raiser? I don’t care how transported she is by the high notes — the Cookie we know would have to be high, herself, to act that way.
In the end, though, she transforms humiliation into inspiration in true Cookie form. She produces a hit single for Empire’s star attraction Tiana, inspired by the story of a woman caught between two men in the La Bohème aria that so moved her.
It’s a story both women know well: Cookie’s on-again, off-again attempts at romance with Angelo are constantly under attack by her ex-husband, Lucious, while Tiana’s at the center of a feud between her current boyfriend and her ex, Hakeem. Another flashback to Cookie and Lucious’s teenage years in Philadelphia reveals that this dynamic has played out before. Her clean-cut boyfriend at the time, Barry, was mercilessly beaten down by Lucious and his friends to keep him from competing for her affections any longer.
But is there really any competition now? The most striking thing so far about Season 3 of “Empire” is just how insufferable Lucious has become, not just to Cookie but to everyone else. In this episode he shows up at Tiana’s performance solely to bust the chops of his family. First he goes after Cookie for dating Angelo. Seconds later he taunts Jamal for falling for a ruse Lucious concocted involving Freda Gatz. Is there a single character on the show who wouldn’t be better off if Lucious were dead? The “anti” in his antiheroic persona has been cranked up too high for story lines involving him to work; you know he’ll undermine his family to get what he wants every time, which makes him pretty uninteresting.
If you’re bored by the episode’s final scene, between Andre and the new Empire signee, Nessa, however … well, maybe you’ve been partaking in some of Jamal’s nerve-numbing painkillers. Andre is smitten by Nessa from the moment he hears her voice and sees her singing. As the episode progresses he works hard to woo her to the label, over the machinations of her meddling and violent manager and uncle, Shyne, whose criminal enterprises she helps maintain as head accountant. (Hey, if you’re in the arts, it pays to have something to fall back on.) After Andre and Lucious seal the deal by forcing the gangster to sign at gunpoint, “Godfather” style, Shyne declares war.
This leads to a delirious final sequence, in which the director Hanelle Culpepper uses jarring jump cuts to juxtapose scenes of Jamal popping pills and writing a song, Shyne and his men loading guns and arming for battle, and Nessa and Andre tearing each other’s clothes off and going at it on his desk. When Dre gets cold feet, he hallucinates an image of his dead wife, Rhonda, who not only encourages him to go through with it, but joins in.
This mental ménage à trois is a jawdropper, for sure. But as good kink is wont to do, it converts real pain — in this case Andre’s grief over Rhonda and his collusion with Lucious to intimidate Shyne — into forbidden pleasure. That’s not a bad description for the modus operandi of “Empire” itself.
New Music Video from Keke Wyatt Debuts Video for New Single “Jodeci”
After previewing the song for fans attending her performance at the ‘Circle of Sisters‘ expo in New York City over the weekend, Keke Wyatt wastes no time debuting the video for her brand new single “Jodeci.”
The sexy bedroom jam is lifted from the forthcoming ‘Deluxe’ re-release of her latest album Rated Love, which is due in stores on Friday, Oct. 21.
Keke seduces the cameras in the simplistic visuals, rocking a gold grill on her bottom teeth, and showing some leg against a black backdrop.
“It’s gonna be a tidal wave in these sheets / Time to sink or swim now / Baby every moment counts / Yea you gotta show out, I want to know what you’re about,” she coos.
Everyone loves Jodeci and Keke knows it. Show out with the songstress HERE.
HA!
New Hip Hop from New Music: Migos – ‘Pull Up’
Released as part of #MigosMonday, the G.O.O.D. Music trio of Quavo, Offset, and Takeoff unleash a head-knocking, dab-ready new slapper produced by Helluvalife.
“Mac and cheese,” Quavo raps. “No collards / Big Mac, no Whopper / Macintosh, no Apple / Mac 11 for the hackers.”
“Pull Up” comes a week after their recent Rich the Kid collab “Dat Way” and a month after their G.O.O.D. news.
Although Migos announced a management deal with G.O.O.D. Music in September, the trio is still set to release music through Quality Control and 300 Entertainment. Now, it seems fans have even more to look forward to from future #MigosMonday drops.
For now, listen to “Pull Up” HERE
CONGRATS! Kerry Washington Welcomes Baby Boy
Notoriously private actress Kerry Washington and husband Nnamdi Asomugha welcome their second child together...
According to reports Kerry and Nnamdi welcomed their bouncing baby boy on Oct. 5, 2016.
The baby's name is Caleb Kelechi Asomugha but no other information has been released.
Congrats Kerry and Nnamdi!
Amber Rose Voted Off ‘Dancing With The Stars’
Amber Rose has come to the end of the road on Dancing With the Stars. On Monday night, Amber and her partner Maksim Chmerkovskiy were eliminated. After getting the axe, ‘Muva‘ posted a sweet message to Maksim writing:
"Although our time was cut short @maksimc I’m so happy I had the chance to experience this with you! You truly are my brother for life! Who knew we would become so close in such a short amount of time? ? Thank you for not giving up on me and getting to know the real me with no judgment I’ll love you forever for that reason and I’ll always have ur back through whatever. I’ll miss our stressed out rehearsals more then anything tho ? Love Amberony"
Maksim responded, writing to Amber:
"My dearest Amberony!
Thank you for some of the best weeks of my @dancingabc career! You’ve not let me down and only made me more and more proud each week. You’ve become a friend and an older sister (although you’re younger….you know what I mean :)), and this is definitely just the beginning of ‘Amber and Maks’. This experience got cut short and I wish we would have just a few more weeks, but it happened exactly as it were meant to and I have absolutely no regrets.
The world has yet to see what you can really do and I can’t wait to be in your corner when it does…. Love,
Me"
While Amber is throwing up the deuces to DWTS, she’s taking her talents on tour.
Chris Brown Ditched the Process Server Trying to Serve Him a Lawsuit at a Basketball Game!
Chris Brown has dealt with enough drama in recent weeks, but now it’s being alleged the singer ditched a process server who was attempting to serve him with a lawsuit as soon as he saw her.
via TMZ: According to new legal docs … CB was in a charity basketball tourney on September 11, and the server went to deliver the summons. This was the same game where Chris refused to stand for the national anthem, and beefed with security.
The server says she approached Chris at halftime … pulled the docs out of her bag, and said the magic words — you’ve been served. She claims Chris totally saw her, but a member of his entourage slapped the papers to the ground.
She says they landed at CB’s feet, momentarily, before he went all Usain Bolt in the opposite direction.
Brown was being served over claims he beat the hell out of his former manager, Mike G.
If someone tried to serve us papers at a public basketball game with fans all around — we’d probably try to ditch them too. Embarrassing.
Is Denzel and Pauletta Headed for Divorce? The Globe says so.
For years there have been rumors actor Denzel Washington steps out on his marriage
Has Pauletta finally had enough...?
“This marriage is on its last legs,” declares an insider.
Another source close to the 61-year-old star and Pauletta, 66, who have four grown kids, describes the relationship as a “show marriage.”
The source claims Denzel has “been caught stepping out several times.”
[Print Edition Oct. 17, 2016]
I’m not sure I believe this!
Chaka Khan, Tupac, Janet Jackson, Chic Among 2017 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Nominees
*The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on Tuesday announced the nominees for its 2017 induction ceremony. This year’s nominees include Tupac Shakur, in his first year of eligibility, Chaka Khan, Janet Jackson, and 11-time nominee Chic.
Ballots to select the final 2017 inductees will be sent out to more than 800 artists, historians, and members of the music industry. The public will also get an opportunity to vote at rockhall.com. Public voting ends Dec. 5 at 11:59 p.m. ET.
To be considered for induction, an individual artist or band must have released its first single or album at least 25 years prior to the year of nomination.
In addition to Tupac, this year also marks the first year of eligibility for fellow 2017 nominees Pearl Jam, Bad Brains, Depeche Mode, Electric Light Orchestra, Jane’s Addiction, Joan Baez, Journey, and Steppenwolf.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2017 inductees will be announced at an unspecified date in December. The induction ceremony will be held at the Barclay’s Center in New York City in April 2017.
Read the full list of this year’s nominees include:
Bad Brains
Chaka Khan
Chic
Depeche Mode
Electric Light Orchestra
J. Geils Band
Jane’s Addiction
Janet Jackson
Joan Baez
Joe Tex
Journey
Kraftwerk
MC5
Pearl Jam
Steppenwolf
The Cars
The Zombies
Tupac Shakur
Good Luck to All!
Madonna Named Billboard 2016 Woman Of The Year
Reba McEntire was their inaugural Woman of the Year Award recipient back in 2007. Since then, the likes of Beyoncé, Fergie, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Ciara and twice Taylor Swift have earned the honor. For the 11th annual Billboard Women In Music event, Madonna joins the list. The 58-year-old icon is Billboard’s Woman Of The Year for 2016.
Madonna is one of a minuscule number of super-artists whose influence and career transcend music,” said Janice Min, who oversees Billboard magazine. “With her creative vision, relentless innovation, and dedication to philanthropic causes, she is an inspiration to hundreds of millions of people around the world, all while shattering every career record out there.” Min continued, “She is an important feminist on top of that, a one-of-a-kind artist who’s used her influence to change the conversation around women, sexuality and equal rights.”
Madonna is the best-selling female recording artist of all time. Throughout her career, she’s earned 8 No. 1 albums (and 21 top 10 albums) on the Billboard 200 and 12 No. 1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100. She holds the record for the most top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with 38. Additionally, she’s the highest-grossing female touring artist of all time with a staggering $1.31 billion in total concert grosses. Her most recent one, The Rebel Heart Tour sold more than 1 million tickets and walked away with $170 million.
The 11th annual Women in Music event will take place in New York City on December 9 and will air the following day on Lifetime.
Do you think Madge is a solid choice? If not, which artist would you give the honor to?
Kevin Hart And Ice Cube Develop ‘Ride Along 3’!
Universal is in early development of a third installment of its police comedy franchise “Ride Along 3,” starring Ice Cube and Kevin Hart.
Screenwriters Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi are working on the script with director Tim Story. The trio has worked on the first two “Ride Along” movies. Ice Cube, Will Packer, Matt Alvarez and the late Larry Brezner produced the first two movies.
The first “Ride Along” opened in 2014 with Hart as a security guard trying to prove to his girlfriend’s police officer brother, played by Cube, that he is a worthy brother-in-law by going on a police ride-along. The film, set in Atlanta with a $25 million budget, grossed $153 million worldwide.
“Ride Along 2,” which opened in January, was set in Miami with Hart’s character having graduated from the police academy and the duo dealing with crime lords. The sequel grossed $124 million worldwide.
No plot details are available for “Ride Along 3.” Cube and Hart are expected to reprise their roles.
Universal is opening Hart’s comedy concert movie “Kevin Hart: What Now?” this weekend at 2,568 North American locations. Cube will be seen next in the New Line high-school comedy “Fist Fight” with Charlie Day.
Story directed both “Think Like a Man” movies and “Hurricane Season.” The news was first reported by The Wrap.
#EGGPLANT NATION! Meet Mr Dark Chocolate Dave!
Meet Mr Dark Chocolate Dave! To see more you can GO HERE TO SEE THE PICS! And remember they’re NSWF!
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ENJOY!
AND FINALLY FROM “THE CRAZY PEOPLE SHOPPING AT WALMART” FILES?
‘Jurassic Park’
HAVE A GREAT DAY ALL!!!
EFREM
