Nelly and Ashanti was caught chilling like the couple that they are and are not depending on who you ask this weekend:/ The couple along with Ashanti’s sister were seen parlaying courtside at a NBA basketball game between the Charlotte Bobcats and the Orlando Magic in Charlotte, N.C., on Saturday.

Those boots are really wassup! Oh and Nelly’s smile too– of course.

Lil Kim was in Queen’s Friday night performing her old hits and such and she made sure she addressed Nicki Minaj’s Roman’s Revenge:/ #gurlbye! It’s really not that serious–honestly. I feel like this–if Lil Kim wasn’t checking for Nicki she wouldn’t even be talking out the side of her mouth so slick and wasting her time. But, Lil Kim knows just like I know– when she responds to Nicki we are forced to think about her, which normally we don’t. I wish her well though.

“I will erase this b*tch’s social security number, first of all I don’t even need a record right now and I’d kill that b*tch with my old sh*t. My records ain’t just enter the charts, they made history. WTF is this bullsh*t, this sh*t come and go.”

Somebody needs to get a hobby!

Drake celebrated his tour finale by hosting a posh event last night at the Wynn Las Vegas inside the Tryst nightclub. Drake was joined on stage as he wrapped up his final stop on his tour, Light Dreams & Nightmares, by Lil Wayne. After the tour– word on the street is Drizzy is headed back to Canada to finish up his mixtape–It’s Never Enough. Sounds like a plan to us.

Jay-Z’s new book, Decoded, hits bookstores everywhere fast on November 16!!! Well of course we have a preview for our elite readers. Jay talks about a little of everything including being a drug dealer, his relationship with his now deceased dad–to meeting Oprah and the book they had in common. He also talks about his first hit record and befriending President Barack Obama. I will definitely pick it up and give my lollipops an indepth review. I have read a few reviews and they were all extremely pleased.

Personally– I hope the book, Decoded, does well, which will depend heavily on marketing and promotions. Albums may sell themselves, but books don’t. I only say this because the publishing industry is being overtaken by celebrities with books. However, once the big advance is spent the publishers are left stuck with books that are NOT selling AND they can’t even give away:/ That’s just what I’m hearing from publishing executives. But, hopefully Jay-Z will be the minority and sell millions because his other celeb friends can’t even sell 10,000 books. *Kanye shrug*

Almost Famous

Even though he was still dealing drugs, whenever Jay-Z came back to New York he met with his friend Jaz, another rhymer, and the two would lock themselves in a room “with a pen, a pad, and some Apple Jacks and Haagen Dazs.” Jaz got a record deal with EMI in 1989, and Jay-Z took note when the record company dropped his friend after his single flopped. “I thought to myself, ‘This business sucks.’ No honor, no integrity; it was disgusting. In some ways it was worse than the streets.” Jay-Z learned from that experience and started his own label, Roc-a-fella, in 1994, with Damon Dash and Kareem “Biggs” Burke.

His First Hit

When Jay-Z recorded the song “Hard Knock Life” in 1998 — which made him a breakout star — he borrowed from the story of Little Orphan Annie. He said he found a “mirror” between his life and that of Annie’s. “The song was the place where our experiences weren’t contradictions, just different dimensions of the same reality.” But first, he had to get clearance from the “Annie” franchise to use the “Hard Knock Life” chorus in his anthem. Initially, he was turned down. So he wrote the company a letter, making up a tale about how, when he was in the seventh grade, his teacher held an essay contest. The prize: A trip to the city to see “Annie.” This was, he writes, “A lie. I wrote that. . . I felt like I understood honey’s story.” The company believed Jay-Z’s tale and cleared the rights to what became his first mega-hit.

Dealing with Success

Jay-Z writes about the danger hip-hop stars face — mostly at the hands of other hip-hop artists — when they become famous. Of close friend the Notorious B.I.G., who, along with Tupac Shakur, who were shot and killed at their peak, he says: “They were both perfectly safe before they started rapping; they weren’t being hunted by killers until they got into music. Biggie was on the streets before he started releasing music, but he never had squads of shooters (or the Feds) coming after him until he was famous.”

He recalls meeting with Eminem in the studio in 2003 to record “Moment of Clarity” for Jay-Z’s “Black Album.” When Jay-Z went to hug his friend, he realized he was wearing a bulletproof vest. At the time, Eminem had three multiplatinum albums and a No. 1 film, “8 Mile.” Jay-Z believed Eminem should have been “on a boat somewhere” without the worry of being shot or attacked by an enemy from the underworld of rap.

Coming to Terms With Dad

The song “Moment of Clarity” deals with the abandonment by his father when Jay-Z was 11. He says he realized only later that his father, Adnis Reeves, began to unravel after his brother, Jay-Z’s Uncle Ray, was murdered outside a Brooklyn club and the cops never found the killer. “My dad swore revenge and became obsessed with hunting down Uncle Ray’s killer. The tragedy — compounded by the injustice — drove him crazy, sent him to the bottle, and ultimately became a factor in the unraveling of my parents’ marriage.” He only reunited with his dad, at his mother’s urging, three months before

his dad died of liver disease in 2003. But he writes, “By the time he left, he’d given me a lot of what I’d need to survive.”

Meeting Oprah

Jay-Z first met Oprah Winfrey at a dinner party. Winfrey disavows hip-hop for its violence, but the two got to talking and it came up that Jay-Z had read “The Seat of the Soul,” “a book that really affected the way I think about life,” he writes. Oprah had also read the book, which is about the power of positive thinking. The book’s author, Gary Zukav, had been a guest on her show a few times. “Oprah expressed surprise that I also was a fan of his work. She didn’t expect that of a rapper,” he writes.

Befriending Obama

A friend of President Obama’s helped set up a meeting with Jay-Z in 2008, he says. The two talked for hours. “I wish I could remember a specific moment when it hit me that this guy was special. But it wasn’t like that,” he writes. “It was the fact that he sought me out and then asked question after question about music, about where I’m from, about what people in my circle — the wider circle that reaches . . . all the way back to Marcy — were thinking about politically.”

When Beyoncé sang at the inauguration, he writes, he watched from the audience instead of backstage so he could “feel the energy of everyday people. It was unbelievable to see us — me, Beyoncé, Puff, and other people I’ve known for so long — sharing in this rite of passage.”

Read more:Jay-Z—From Rags To Riches

Well Diamonds and Gems, just in case y’all didn’t know T.I. or as I refer to him-Tip–has stepped away to serve his 11 month sentence. Tip sent his devoted fans as well as haters a letter via the net letting all y’all know his immediate thoughts. Check on it. He will surely be missed, and his new album drops December 7, entitled No Mercy.

Thank you to all that took the time to check out my new video GET BACK UP with my homie Chris Brown. And a bigger thanks to those of you who decided to comment (good & bad). To all of you who say “He should practice what he preaches” and “How could he do something so stupid…AGAIN?” You’re absolutely right and I couldn’t agree with you more. But you know what? As history has shown us before, I find my greatest inspiration during my darkest hours. So all fans of music, T.I. or not, should be able to agree that NO MERCY will surely be my best work yet. After all isn’t that what it’s all about? If I never went to prison, never did drugs, never f’ed up again, did everything right and never made great music….would you even care enough to comment on T.I.? Doubt it, so bear that in mind while you jump to your conclusions guys. Martin Luther King once said “Notice not the comments of your enemies but the silence of your friends.” So although I’m still in touch…watching, reading and listening, I’m not concerned with what negative people say more than I am with what positive people don’t. Guess that’s enough for now… Love you all still, whether you still love me or not. REAL TALK!!! And I would like to give a special I LOVE U to @star_omg and @tinymajormama. – Tip

source

The December 2010 issue of ESSENCE is gonna be a biggie.  It’s a split cover plastered with the full cast from Tyler Perry’s For Colored Girls movie

We’ve got the gorgeous covers of the male cast and the female cast when you read on…

Even though the movie dosn’t focus on the women’s colors like the book and play do, with a close eye, you can get hints as to who is which color while watching the movie.  And the ladies wore their corresponding “color” for the upcoming cover of ESSENCE.

Janet Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg,Thandie Newton, Anika Noni Rose,Kerry Washington, Phylicia Rashad, Kimberly Elise, Loretta Devine, and Tessa Thompson all got fabulous for the pic.

Tyler Perry, Richard Lawson, Hill Harper, Omari Hardwick, Khalil Kain, and Michael Ealy all got dapper for their cover.  And we love it all.

Anika Noni Rose said in the mag:

“I want this film to awaken people to the power of black actresses.  I want people to know there are things black women go through that aren’t slavery or hip-hop.  I want people to know Black women as Americans…”

Written by Vonda Howard/Lollipopnews.com

Former Cheetah Girl, Adrienne Bailon, celebrated her B-Day in posh style in NY at SL. A few of her BFF’s showed up ready to get it in and pose for the camera:/ Erybody can’t wear red lipstick and wear it well. I’m just saying:/ Adrienne looked fabulous the rest not so much. Check out a few glamour shots of the guests including, Fabolous, Angie Beyince (Beyonce’s cousin), Angie Martinez (DJ), Selita Ebanks (supermodel), Jessica White (supermodel that fights), and Jennifer Williams (basketball wives). Check on it.

Angie Beyince, Adrienne, and Angie Martinez

Angie Beyince and Selita Ebanks #Redlipstick I blame Trey:(

Adrienne and Fab:/

Jessica White and Jennifer Williams

Nicki Minaj killed her new video! Very intimate and personal, and I absolutely hearts the song go figure!!! Check on it:/

Supermodel Jessica White will fight you over a cab and all things in between according to several sources. After a recent night of partying like it was 1999 Jessica got into an all out brawl with another chick over a cab:/ Oh my!!! LOL This is too much drama for me! Check out the details and you decide.

Sports Illustrated supermodel Jessica White was arrested Saturday morning after she allegedly hit a woman repeatedly in the face in a vicious catfight over a taxi outside a downtown club.

White, who’s been dating Sean Penn, was charged with misdemeanor assault and released after allegedly yanking the woman’s hair and striking her face with her hand.

According to witnesses, White walked to 10th Avenue at about 4:50 a.m. to hail a taxi after leaving a Chelsea club. But while standing on the corner of West 17th Street, she got into a dispute with “a 28-year-old woman.”

Mr. West and Mr. Carter are gearing up to work on an album!!! Goodie goodie gum drops! According to reports Kanye spoke exclusively to MTV recently and spilled the chai tea!!

“We’re putting out a whole album now. We had done five songs so far, but then a few of them kind of were out there – and I put them on my album. Sorry, Jay! We’re going to the South of France at the end of this month just to record new ideas. We’ll probably be done with the album in like a day or whatever. If you think about it, it’s really easy for Jay: He only has to think of, like, 10 verses!”