Beyonce, tell them to leave Gwyneth Paltrow alone..

                                


If they want to go after somebody for the use of the stupid "N-word", go after JayZee and/or Kanye.

These two clowns appear to have been given a bye on the use of the stupid "N-word." JayZee is glorified by Forbes Magazine, while Kanye is the darling of all media. Even though, there was supposed to be some kind of agreement among right thinking folks to phase the "N-word" out, these two still continue to use it - every doggone chance they get.

Buffet throwing up Jay Z's diamond symbol

These two artist have crossed over the great divide; they are now accepted in all social circles; they hang with the President and Warren Buffet. JayZee is treated as if he is the coolest, most respectable, black business man that ever lived. 

Many folks can recite every JayZee track (black, white, young, old). I am always amused when I see some accomplished, college educated, professional talk about JayZee, as if that makes them cool. NOT.

People in Paris for the "Watch the Throne" concert

As far as I am concerned, JayZee ain't cool and he needs to retire his bourgeoisie, thug shtick.

We all know that when we are around our friends, if we use particular words and don't consider them offensive, there is a possibility that friend might get around somebody else and use that word, not knowing that it will offend.

The night that Beyonce's (Jay's wife) bestie, Gwyneth was at the concert, hanging with all the VIPs and she tweeted the comment... JayZee and Kanye had just performed the track "N***a's in Paris" ELEVEN TIMES STRAIGHT... "that ish kray."

So again, if you wanna go after somebody for the use of the stupid "N-Word", when will we be going after JayZee and Kanye?

          

All of this shooting and killing for a GIRL!

Who is she Beyonce, Jennifer Lopez, Pippa Middelton!

From MSNBC: Many believe Thursday's shootings and murder date back to December 2010, when police say Keith Long shot Terry Nichols at the Village Green Apartments because of a fight over a girlfriend.

Police say several acts of violence have come from the feud between Nichols and Long.

In December, a drive-by shooting at 1311 N. North Street nearly killed Kenya Wilson's 3-year-old after he was shot in head while sleeping.

Police say Wilson dated Keith Long's brother and that the bullet was intended for Long.

Then on Thursday the same home on North Street shot at again, this time no one injured.

Instead, a bullet from the drive-by at 1031 E. Behrends Ave. tears through the upstairs wall, killing 8-year-old Albert Billups-Wilson while he was sleeping.

Neighbors say Billup's mother, Latisha Wilson is related to Kenya Wilson. Police recovered shot-gun casings from both scenes Thursday.

Today's lesson: Fake cake don't shake

I come from a family that grew up singing and dancing to all the greats. Aretha, James Brown, O’Jays, BBKing, Bobby Blue Bland, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye. There were records out back then that were considered off limits, or that would get us in trouble. Stuff like, Let’s Get it On, Sexual Healing, Say it Loud I’m Black and I’m Proud (we always had to lower our voice) and Shake Your Money Maker.

I had an auntie who loved the song called Shake Your Money Maker. I never heard the actual record (it was off limits), but she was on the regular trying to sing it – sometimes in earshot of us kids. That is, until my mother heard her. She got a check and so did we. Not cute and not in her house. Done.

It’s not a stretch for a kid to figure out what shake your money maker means – especially if there is a dance that goes along with it. Point blank - they talking about the all mighty booty. It’s big time currency these days you know. Young “ladies” from the hood to Hollywood are growing it, purchasing it, branding it and selling it.

There are some entertainers who have no problem shaking the old money maker (booty). Tina Turner, Beyonce, J-Lo, all possess and shake natural booty, which has consequently made them mucho dinero. However, today’s master marketeer of the booT is Kim Kardashian. (Don’t’ even front, I know everybody reading the blog knows who this individual is.) Kim purchased her booT and she has successfully branded it AND marketed it all without having to shake it.

Butt you can only get away with a fake booty for so long. Kim forgot the fact that with that “booT” comes certain expectations... One must be able to shake one's money maker and if one can not one MUST “get off the stage”.

The Prince has spoken. Thank you kind Sir.

2008's Best and Worst selling magazine covers

W Magazines 2008 list of the best and worst selling magazine covers are out. I’m always interested in seeing these lists just to see who is selling. A recent visit to my local magazine rack reveals that once again, there are very few, if any African Americans on the cover of the major glossises this month. The only one I saw was Will Smith’s wife on the cover of Shape Magazine…

Whenever African Americans (or models of color) do appear on the cover of major glossies or major advertising campaigns, they always appear to be magically lighter – some may even say white…

As I reviewed the W. Magazine list I could not help but notice that of the few magazine covers that black folks did appear on in 2008 – none of them were on the Worst list...

Vogue 4/08 Gisele/LeBron James
Bazaar 9/08 Tyra Banks
ELLE 6/2008 Rihanna
Cosmo 3/2008 Rihanna
IN Style 8/08 Rihanna
IN Style 2/08 Halle
IN Style 11/08 Beyonce

I found it interesting that the so called “hottest chick”, Tom Brady's homewrecker, a/k/a the highest paid supermodel in the world and former Victoria Secret underwear model, Giselle Bundchen’s covers of Vanity Fair and Harper’s Bazaar have both been their worst-performing of the year, so far. Even more interesting is that fact that – she continues to get covers.

2008 Worst Selling Women's Magazines
Vogue
Best-Selling Cover: Keira Knightley (559,000 copies)
Worst-Selling Cover: Rachel Weisz (276,000 copies)
Vanity Fair
Best-Selling Cover: Angelina Jolie (504,000 copies)
Worst-Selling Cover: Katherine Heigl (314,000 copies)
Elle
Best-Selling Cover: Victoria Beckham (413,000 copies)
Worst-Selling Covers: Carrie Underwood (253,000 copies)
Glamour
Best-Selling Cover: Jessica Simpson (775,000 copies)
Worst-Selling Cover: Nicole Kidman (460,000 copies)
Cosmopolitan
Best-Selling Cover: Scarlett Johansson (2 million copies)
Worst-Selling Cover: Jessica Simpson (1.5 million copies)
W
Best-Selling Cover: Angelina Jolie (78,000 copies)
Worst-Selling Cover: Hilary Swank (27,000 copies)
InStyle
Best-Selling Cover: Eva Longoria-Parker (889,000 copies)
Worst-Selling Cover: Anne Hathaway (585,000 copies)
Marie Claire
Best-Selling Cover: Women of “Sex and the City” (440,948 copies)
Worst-Selling Cover: Jennifer Connelly (191,000 copies)
Harper’s Bazaar
Best-Selling Cover: Lindsay Lohan (213,000 copies)
Worst-Selling Cover: Drew Barrymore (120,000 copies)

Illinois Sues Wells Fargo for Discrimination

The state of Illinois is taking Wells Fargo to court for discriminatory practices. According to the State Attorney General Lisa Madigan, the bank's lending company illegally discriminated against minority borrowers. Madigan claims that the bank, “disproportionately sold African-American and Hispanic borrowers high-cost, subprime mortgages, while white borrowers with similar incomes received mortgages with more favorable terms.”

The attorney general accused Wells Fargo of “reverse redlining” at a Press Conference Friday saying,

"As a result of its discriminatory and illegal mortgage-lending practices, Wells Fargo transformed our cities' predominantly African-American and Latino neighborhoods into ground zero for subprime lending.” Source

Wells Fargo the Predator
Loan officers frequently and fraudulently told black customers that sub prime was sometimes their only option. In an affidavit, prominent Wells Fargo loan officer, Elizabeth Jacobson, wrote that, the lender had an unwritten policy of omitting information concerning fees and penalties but instead sold black people on the more expensive loans by saying it would simply mean less paperwork, less documentation and a lower down payment.

There was a rampant amount of fraud going on in order to give blacks loans they could not afford. The bank in fact set up an entire division, called the mortgage resources division or MORE, that was designed to target black ZIP codes. In this division, loan officers were only allowed to authorize subprime loans. They received incentives for steering prime customers into subprime products and they were reportedly reprimanded when they didn't, according to court reports.

The Wells Fargo Trojan

Tavis Smiley is the host of a late night talk show on PBS (which I refuse to watch). Tavis is also the highly acclaimed author of The Covenant with Black America. The Covenant, is a collection of essays by black scholars and professionals, covering topics from education to health care. The Covenant spawned the "State of the Black Union" forums which are held annually and gave Tavis the foothold in the black forum/speaker market.

The forums were originally touted as an opportunity to advance a national plan of action, to address the primary concerns of African-Americans related to social and economic disparities. There was/is no denying the forums were necessary and had huge potential. Tavis was well respected in the black community (being a friend of the Fly Jock didn't hurt), he was on the up and he was most certainly on his grind. In short, Tavis was a perfect candidate to be a Trojan Horse for Wells Fargo.

From a 2005 press release:
Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Joins With Tavis Smiley to Offer Free Wealth Building Strategies Seminar in Washington, DC

WASHINGTON, Aug. 25 -Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, the nation's leading originator of home loans to ethnic minority customers, has joined forces with talk show host and author, Tavis Smiley; and several financial affairs experts to provide free Wealth Building Strategies Seminars in eight cities across the country, including Washington, D.C. Additional seminars featuring other popular panelists also will be offered in 12 more cities, nationwide.

"All families dream about home ownership, college education, world travel and more but may not know the best steps to becoming financially independent. I am thrilled to be a part of the Wells Fargo Wealth Building Strategies Seminars tour because I truly believe this event offers attendees the fundamental tools they need to make their dreams a reality." - Tavis Smiley -

Read the entire press release here…

Full disclosure.
I don’t like Tavis Smiley, never have. I have never understood why the Fly Jock put him on; his slam of the Obamas was way out of line; and this group of so called, “black intelligentsia” (see video below) he hangs with, as he travels across country on his speaking tours, seem to be incredibly out of touch. Debating Beyonce vs. Aretha, while never missing an opportunity to take a swing at President Obama.



Ain't nothing wrong with getting yours.
You have to admire the ability of a professional to make it happen. I’m not mad at Beyonce for handling her business. Kanye has every right to brand himself as the best at what he does. Steven A. Smith, well, he’s pushing it with this political journalist crap, but hey, his career is evolving and he is out there making it happen. Now Tavis, because of the nature of his grind, he owes the public a little more accountability than the others.

Is Tavis a victim too?
Do you think that there is a possibility that while Tavis was so busy getting his, that Wells Fargo took advantage of his drive and ambition and used him? Perhaps Tavis is a victim of Wells Fargo’s predatory lending practices just like so many others... Hardly. I wanted to give Tavis the benefit of the doubt, so I looked for his response to Well’s Fargo practices. I found it – he offers no apologies for partnering with Wells Fargo, nor does he condemn their behavior:

Tavis Smiley on Wells Fargo

"In this economic climate we continue to be reminded every day that there is no perfect company. Part of the process of accountability is making sure that companies are taking steps to do the right thing, and that includes appropriate outreach to communities of color.

Our relationship with Wells Fargo began in 2005 as part of its commitment to increase financial literacy among African Americans. Those efforts included free wealth-building strategy seminars designed to help prepare attendees for their families’ futures through credit management, home ownership, investing and entrepreneurship. […] All of these programs have been free and open to the public. And, at no time has The Smiley Group, Inc. ("TSG") nor yours truly served as a spokesperson or representative for any company."

Read more Tavis on Wells Fargo here…

A message for Tavis Smiley:

The TSG brand is eroding and you show no sign of getting a clue. Have you no righteous indignation for being clowned by Wells Fargo? Shouldn't you be a little upset about the mortgage fraud the Predator known as Wells Fargo has reaped upon the black community? Shouldn't you be taking Wells Fargo to task and using those Community Reinvestment Act dollars that is instrumental in making you and your friends wealthy, to educate the public on predatory lenders?

You are so busy getting yours, that you failed to notice that because of your association with Wells Fargo, any community building and good will that may have been started by the Covenant with Black America, has been successfully and thoroughly... ravaged by Wells Fargo.

Is this a painting of Michael Spinks?

A painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat has been sold for $13.5 million at an auction in New York City. The acrylic and oil painting, entitled the "Boxer" (shown above), was painted in 1982 and depicts a black heavyweight fighter with his arms in the air against a white graffiti-filled background. Not exactly what I would spend my savings on, but to each it's own.

Born to a Haitian father and Puerto Rican-American mother, Basquiat drew on his parents' cultures as well as his own upbringing in Brooklyn, New York. When he was 17, Basquiat emerged in New York's East Village, under the pseudonym SAMO, he became infamous for his cryptic graffiti.

By the age of 20, Jean-Michel Basquiat had already become a recognized street artist, poet and painter, starred in a semi-autobiographical film and befriended Andy Warhol (shown together here in this photo), one of the most infamous characters of the postmodern art era. To sum it up, Basquiat was moving fast.

Basquiat, who died at 27 years old from a heroin overdose in 1988, had a professional career that lasted approximately 10 years.

Basquiat is just one of many unsung heroes in the African-American community. His art grew along with the hip-hop culture. I remember reading a couple of years back that Jay-Z purchased a Basquiat for Beyonce Knowles (this is before they were married). It may not be a bad bet, that now that she is actually his wife, Jay-Z may have purchased this Basquiat for her as well. Lord knows he can afford it.