OpenEntrance - What’s Really Going OnWhat’s Really Going On

When I started writing this post it was going to be a post about Ray J and Lil’ Kim dating.  But then I thought…”WHO CARES?!”  I sure as hell don’t.  It did however make me think about celebrity relationships.  Are they really based on love or are they just publicity stunts?  I say that because most of them tend to get into a hot and heavy relationship when they’re close to releasing a new movie or album. 

Right off the top of my head Will and Jada (For some reason I’m not sold on Jay-Z and Beyonce) is the only celebrity couple I can think of who have been together over time.

Now I know there are countless others who are married to someone who is not in the spotlight and that’s wonderful.  I guess my problem is I think some of our celebrities are using “love” and “marriage” as a tool to make money and I think it needs to be addressed.  We’re in a time where there are so many broken homes and  families in our community, and when are kids turn on the idiot box they’re seeing our stars jumping from one person to the next.  One day this brother is dating sister girl, but the next day another sister is having that brothers baby.

Leave it to some folks and they’ll find a way to blame this on hip hop (if they haven’t already), but isn’t this phenomenon happening with our actors and actresses, musicians and athletes as well?  Has our true commitment, love and dedication to one another as black men and women died or has it just changed with the times? Am I way off here?  Let me know.

Is what fell through my household as Eddie LeVert, Gladys Knight, Yolanda Adams and Patti LaBelle paid tribute to the late, great Gerald LeVert. I’ll be honest, I’m not big on award show performances these days. Mainly because I get tired of watching rappers prancing around stage and I can’t understand a single word they’re saying. And singers who can sing and dance, but can’t do them both at the same time (Usher and Beyonce are about the only ones I can think of that can). After years of that it just gets old. The BET Awards, however, always forces me to tune in because I know there will be at least one memorable moment, if not more, worth watching for. And last night, for me, it was the tribute to Gerald Levert.

As I looked on, I sat in complete silence as an unforgettable tingle ran through my entire body. I watched four great singers pour out their love for a son, a brother, a friend and a true singer. It made me reflect a little on what music used to be and what it is now. I’m not saying that everything out there these days is a mess, but if you can “wipe me down” while my “Krispy” self says “A Bay Bay…” well I think you know what I’m getting at.

Is it fair to call Gerald LeVert a legend, I don’t know. If not now he will be in that category one day. He always held it down whether he was “Just Coolin” or answering his “Private Line.” And Gerald LeVert didn’t have a problem telling his “Baby Hold On To Me” or admitting that he wasn’t much on “Casanova.” What he did was without a doubt music that made you dance or grab hold to the one you loved, and his sound will be missed.

Thanks BET for that tribute. It was obvious that Gerald LeVert touched so many of his peers and fans alike with his music, personality and unforgettable smile. It’s a shame he had to go so young, but he will not be forgotten…missed but definitely not forgotten.

It must be nice!! Jay-Z and Beyonce spent some time this week on a yacht while vacationing in the South of France.  

There is quite a bit of speculation around the blogosphere, that the kid in the pictures is Jay-Z kid.

The Ethel Waters Show, a variety special, appears on NBC in 1939. It is the first time an African American appears on television. Ethel Waters was the first black Superstar who opened all the theatrical doors hitherto closed to black performers of her day, to attain the towering position she reached as a headliner. She fought hard and long to achieve solo star status in the white world of vaudeville, night clubs, Broadway theater, radio, films and television. More than any other black performer of the century, Ethel Waters was a woman of the theater, and the celebrity she attained in maturity as an actress tended at times to overshadow-at least in memory-the importance of her accomplishments and influence as a singer.

It was Waters’ struggles that opened the doors for many of today’s superstars such as Beyonce, Mary J. Blige and Tyra Banks, to name a few.

Also on this date: 

1864 Congress votes that Black soldiers should receive equal pay.    

1921 Georgianna R. Simpson became the first Black woman to receive a PhD from the University of Chicago.

1970 Cheryl Adrienne Brown wins the Miss Iowa pageant and becomes the first African American to compete in the Miss America beauty pageant.

To promote the 13th release of her same album B’Day, Beyonce had performances on the Today Show and the Early Show in New York. More power to her for squeezing all she can get out of that album.

What I find most interesting is she is releasing many of the songs in Spanish……But she does not speak spanish!! What the @#*@

The Arabic version will be released sometime this summer

New Video for Upgrade You” from Beyonce featuring Jay-Z. This is clearly a video that was only made to ramp up the sales of the album because the video has no creativity.

The song is hot, but we have been listening to that for months. The video at best gets a yawn.

Am I being too hard on this video?

Also see Beyonce’s New Video with Shakira - Beautiful Liar, that also premiered yesterday.