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SNAPS: CIARA & EVE PARTY WITH LEONA LEWIS

J'More — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:15:43 +0000

SNAPS: CIARA & EVE PARTY WITH LEONA LEWIS

Last night, a few stars including Justin Timberlake, Ciara and “pitbull in a skirt” Eve came out to celebrate Leona Lewis’ album Echo at Hyde Lounge in L.A.

Oh come on’ Eve… *sigh*

Looks like Ciara had herself a grand ole’ time…the DJ must have spinned all of her hits!

JORDIN SPARKS x ALLSTATE KICK OFF “X THE TEXT” TOUR!

J'More — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:17:36 +0000

JORDIN SPARKS x ALLSTATE KICK OFF “X THE TEXT” TOUR!

Yesterday, singing sensation Jordin Sparks and her mom, Jodi Sparks pledged not to text and drive by leaving their thumbprints on a pledge banner making its way around the country this holiday season. Jordin and her mom have teamed up with Allstate Insurance Company’s “X the TXT: Thumbs Up to the Safest Holiday Ever”, a 30 city tour in which teens and their families will be asked to add their thumbprint to the banner as a public pledge not to text and drive.

“Unfortunately, it can be easy to forget the dangers of texting and driving when you get behind the wheel. That’s why it is important for teens, their friends and families to acknowledge its risks and pledge together not to do it. I’m glad to take this public pledge with Allstate, because sending a text isn’t worth taking a life, said Jordin.”

The tour will also include live pledge events in each tour city throughout the holiday season and a “Top the Tally” competition to see which city can gather the most thumb pledges. You can also get involved by joining a Facebook cause page and taking a virtual pledge not to text and drive. For every Facebook “Thumbs Up” pledge supporter, Allstate will donate $1 to the National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS). For more information on how you can get involved visit www. Facebook.com/thumbsuppledge.

And remember DON’T TEXT & DRIVE!

ASHANTI SET TO APPEAR ON “EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION”

J'More — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 15:21:05 +0000

ASHANTI SET TO APPEAR ON “EXTREME MAKEOVER: HOME EDITION”

Wondering what Ashanti’s been up to? The R&B singer has been keeping herself busy by helping a Buffalo, NY family’s dreams come true! Ashanti will make an special appearance on an episode of ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” which will air next year, however taping for the episode took place yesterday. Buffalo’s Eyewitness News cameras caught up with the songstress who was in a hurry to get on the set to get her hands dirty.

Peep the clip below of Ashanti surprising the “Extreme Makover” family at a high school football game.

Glad to see Ashanti’s keeping busy by giving back!

ALICIA KEYS PERFORMS AT LATIN GRAMMY AWARDS 2009

J'More — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:27:43 +0000

ALICIA KEYS PERFORMS AT LATIN GRAMMY AWARDS 2009

Last night was an important night for the hardest working entertainers in Latin Music. It all went down at the 10th Annual Latin Grammy Awards held in Sin City at Mandalay Bay. Grammy-award winner Alicia Keys tore the house down with her performance of “Looking for Paradise” with Alejandro Sanz from his latest album Paraiso Express.

RUMOR CONTROL: MARY J. BLIGE AIN’T PREGGO!

J'More — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:12:55 +0000

RUMOR CONTROL: MARY J. BLIGE AIN’T PREGGO!

Looks like MediaFakeOut is still up to its no-good tricks—making up stories. Back in September the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul, Mary J. Blige revealed that she had no plans to adopt children because her hectic schedule would make her a “poor parent”. Well, the folks over at MediaTakeOut now have Mary on preggo watch. Apparently, this all began because Mary opted to leave her form fitting clothes at home and wore a maxi dress to the AFI Fest 2009 Screening of “Precious” earlier this week. According to Mary’s mouthpiece, there isn’t a “slight” bit of truth to the story…it’s simply “not true”. Check out the pic in question below.

What baby bump?! Either I’m blind or there isn’t one to begin with.

In related news, Mary will be belting out the “Star Spangled Banner” at Game 6 of the World Series matchup between the Yankees and the Phillies at Yankee Stadium tonight!

50 CENT BUYS UP THE BAR! x “DEAD MAN RUNNING” UK PREMIERE

J'More — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:34:48 +0000

50 CENT BUYS UP THE BAR! x “DEAD MAN RUNNING” UK PREMIERE

Last night rapper 50 cent was the life and bonafied baller of the party after dropping 75,000 EU which is equivalent to $112, 613.00 at the afterparty of “Dead Man Running” at Alto club in the UK. Word is Fifty coughed up bread for the club’s entire VIP area for his goons, homies and film colleagues. Check this, he’s not even the star of the movie! A snitch reveals,

“When he arrived at the club it was mayhem. The area was cleared for him and security ushered him straight through. On his table were bottles of champagne but he wanted a magnum bottle of Ace Of Spades champagne. You could tell that he was loving all the attention as people were trying to take pictures on their phones and were shouting his name.”

Moments after Fifty stepped onto the scene, all hell broke out. Security had a serious “groupie” problem on their hands ’cause a ton of crazy b*itches tried to break into the VIP area just to meet Pimpin’ Curly. And of course a party ain’t a party without getting wasted with a bunch of hoes groupies! Out of the hundreds of chicks that were pushing to get in only, 15 lucky groupies managed to sneak in. And like the gentleman he is, Fifty allowed them to sit at his table for the remainder of the night.

“50 has never been one to turn a lady away, so when he saw that a few ladies had made it into his VIP area he allowed them to sit with him. They were drinking his champagne from the bottle and they were obviously in their element. 50 was chatting away to them and the girls were giggling and dancing around his table.”

Guess Fifty didn’t see any groupies that were worth taking back to his hotel room ’cause he left the club alone after 3 a.m.

PICS OF UK PREMIERE “DEAD MAN RUNNING” UNDER THE HOOD!

LLOYD EXPLAINS WHY HE CALLED CIARA A “HOLLYWOOD BITCH”!

LexAve — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 15:46:56 +0000

LLOYD EXPLAINS WHY HE CALLED CIARA A “HOLLYWOOD BITCH”!

Last month we broke the news of Lloyd calling Ciara a bitch, check out this video where Lloyd explains to Jenny Boom Boom why Ciara’s “phony & fake”…it all stemmed from an incident where Ciara had her people kick Lloyd and his people out of a studio session. Really?!

He’s starting this new thing now, where he’s being real…really, how ’bout being real from jump, I’m just saying.
Is Lloyd being a bit too sensitive & petty?!
Thoughts?!

EXCLUSIVE: WILDIN’ OUT WITH AFFION CROCKETT + RUSSELL SIMMONS SPOOF!

J'More — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:30:37 +0000

EXCLUSIVE: WILDIN’ OUT WITH AFFION CROCKETT + RUSSELL SIMMONS SPOOF!

Photos provided by BleuEntertainment PR, Interviewed by J’More

Making people laugh is an art form funnyman Affion Crockett knows all too well! Perhaps you’ve seen him on MTV’s “Wild ‘N’ Out” or more recently the Wayans Brothers blockbuster “Dance Flick”. But lately his youtube spoofs are taking the internet by storm. Affion has taken his impersonations of some of today’s biggest star to the next level. With his hilarious spoofs of some of your favorite celebrities including Kanye West, Chris Brown, Drake and even the Mike Jordan of rap, Jay-Z; Affion is just getting started. But don’t be fooled, there’s definitely more to Affion than just making people laugh…check out Affion chopping it up with Str8NYC.com about working w/ Nick Cannon on “Wild ‘N Out”, the making of “Hunt Chris Brown”, being a triple threat (rapper, actor, comedian), future projects, plus his new and latest spoof on Russell Simmons…HILARIOUS!

POP THE HOOD FOR INTERVIEW

Str8NYC: Where are you from?

Affion Crockett: I’m an army brat. So I’m kind of from everywhere. I grew up in Germany for about ten years. [Lived in] Fayetteville, North Carolina and my family lives in [New] Jersey.

Str8NYC: How did you get into comedy?

Affion Crockett: When I was still in [North] Carolina I went to Charlotte, they got a spot called the “Comedy Zone” and I found out about open mic night and all of that. You know back in the day, when Def Comedy Jam was poppin’ and it was hot, I was a young fan of the whole Hip-hop comedy genre. So I said ‘Well let me give it a shot’. I was always able to do impressions and I’m a dancer first. So, I took the stage presence that I have from being a dancer and my impressions and put them together on stage and it was poppin’ ever since.

Str8NYC: You were casted on MTV’s “Wild ‘N’ Out”, what was it like working with Nick Cannon?

Affion Crockett: It was cool man ‘cause a lot of people don’t understand the genius that Nick is. And it was cool to watch him; being a young cat come in and do so much. He had a lot of responsibility, but he was still able to jump on stage and be funny when he needed to and he was able to do the executive thing when he needed to. It was a good experience for me.

Str8NYC: Did teaming up with Nick Cannon help your career?

Affion Crockett: Oh of course! I was doing a lot of work before “Wild ‘N’ Out”…like “CSI NY”, “Curb Your Enthusiasm [and] I was doing a couple movies and stuff. But “Wild ‘N’ Out” is the thing that gave me more of a name. People knowing me as Affion Crockett as opposed to ‘That dude I saw on the TV show the other day’.

Str8NYC: Whatever happened to the show?

Affion Crockett: (laughs) Nah, we had four successful seasons of the show and we also had a spin-off show called “Short Circuitz”. So in essence we had five seasons on MTV and it was time to do other things. I went on to do my movie thing. I was in “Dance Flick” with the Wayans Brothers. Right before that I did “Soul Men” with Bernie Mac and Sam Jackson. So I’m not complaining at all (laughs). Nick obviously is on to bigger and better things as well. So it’s all love. We’re doing our thing.

Str8NYC: Everyone knows you online for your spoofs. I recently saw the “Hunt Chris Brown” spoof. How do you come up with these ideas? Do you have a writing team?

Affion Crockett: Nah, it’s just certain things will hit me and if it makes me laugh when I first think about it, chances are it’s gonna be funny. So I just take a gamble on the fact that I think it’s funny and just run with it. Literally with the “Hunt Chris Brown” [spoof] once I thought of a title…the rest was a wrap! I said ‘Yo that’s funny enough to build something on’, so I just started doing it.

Str8NYC: How do you prepare yourself for these spoofs? To get into the minds of these artists does it come natural to you or do you rehearse?

Affion Crockett: Nah, it comes natural to me once I start writing. The first thing I normally do with a music spoof is I sit down and I make the beat over. I start producing the beat and I listen to the original and I mimic everything in the beat. So I’m even doing an impression of the beat. So I did the track first. Then I start writing the lyrics. I’ll listen to Jay’s [Jay-Z] verse, listen to Kanye’s verse, listen to Rihanna’s verse and I just mimic everything they say– but I make it apply to the joke that I’m going for to change up their words.

Str8NYC: You did a really good impression of Jay-Z and Kanye, have you ever considered taking rapping seriously?

Affion Crockett: Umm..I thought about it a while back when we were doing “Wild ‘N’ Out” I was in that mode of trying to put out some serious stuff ‘cause I have some stuff online that I’ve done; collaborations with real rappers like Talib (Kwali) and Strong Armsteady and people like that. But, because of where rap is right now I don’t love it anymore from an industry aspect. I love Hip-hop, but I kinda don’t like rap. You see what I’m saying? So I really don’t desire to be in it [music industry]. I’m happy doing comedy and I make a good living at it, so I’m not really in a rush to be a rapper. Most rappers are trying to rap anyway, so I’m obviously in the right business.

Str8NYC: True.

Affion Crockett: Laughs.

Str8NYC: When you do these spoofs how do the artists react? Kanye West, Drake, Lil Wayne etc…?

Affion Crockett: The thing about it, I haven’t ran into [Lil] Wayne or Drake or any of these guys. But, I know Kanye [and] I know Chris. Chris Brown, we talked days after I put the spoof up and he was lovin’ it…him [and] his road manager. He put it on his Twitter page. Chris Brown loved it! For the most part these dudes know that I’m not coming at them sideways. They know that I’m just funny and I got the respect from “Wild ‘N’ Out” and they know what I do. So I hope they didn’t take any hard feelings to it ‘cause I don’t mean for it to be hard. I just mean for it to be funny and you know everybody laughs and we just move on.

Str8NYC: How did you come up with the “Hunt Chris Brown” spoof? I’m pretty sure you didn’t just wake up one morning and said ‘I’m going to make fun of Chris Brown today’.

Affion Crockett: (Laughs) Well, like I said, when I’m listening to the song and I say ‘Well you know what I can do Kanye pretty well, a lot of people don’t know that, but I’mma introduce it’. Everyone knows that I do Jay, I can do Chris Brown and people didn’t know that either. So when I listened to the song I said ‘The only thing that really fits “Run This Town” is “Hunt Chris Brown”’ and it was real appropriate (laughs). Especially with Rihanna on the hook. The video looked like everybody was warriors, they had fire, gang members and all that stuff. And then the Chris Brown/Larry King interview had just happened…I mean a couple weeks before that. So I was like ‘You know what it’s a good time to just finally put a button on this whole Rihanna/Chris drama’ and that’s just what came out. The Kanye verse I did, he’s really addressing some real issues with you know…relationships. How women choose men; it’s like sometimes you can’t be mad at what happens based on who you chase. Not to condone it [domestic violence], but you know at the end of the day it ain’t the nice guy that’s going to get the girl.

Str8NYC: Do you ever intend to step out of the comedic realm and become a serious actor?

Affion Crockett: Even though I do comedy, I’m already a serious actor. You mean like a dramatic actor?

Str8NYC: Yeah, you know how Jamie Foxx switched up his flow? Steve Harvey is like a relationship guru now and Monique has completely stepped out of the comedic scene and is hosting shows and doing very serious films. Do you ever see yourself doing that?

Affion Crockett: Oh yeah! I’ve already done some of that type of stuff. So it’s only going to get bigger and better. I’m going for that Will Smith status, you know what I mean? That Brat Pitt status–being able to do everything. Being able to do crazy drama characters; back to comedy. It’s wide open.

Str8NYC: Hollywood is crazy and people just end up breaking down because the pressure is just too much. Why do u think comedians such as Martin Lawrence and Dave Chappelle ended up breaking down. Do you ever see yourself in that position?

Affion Crockett: Nah, I keep myself pretty level headed. But, I understand why someone would break up or breakdown rather because if you don’t know this Hollywood thing and you haven’t really walked in their shoes, you can’t really judge them. Especially Dave and Martin, they put it down so well so you just gotta imagine all of the behind-the-scenes politics as a Black man that you gotta break through and it can definitely get to you.

Str8NYC: Are you currently working on any projects? If so, what are they?

Affion Crockett: Yeah I am. I can’t even talk about that because it’s just so big! I’m like a kid waiting to open up a present.

Str8NYC: Where do you see yourself ten years from now?

Affion Crockett: It’s hard to say. Like I said Will Smith status is the best I can describe it. Here’s a good thing for me ten years from now, you know where Adam Sandler is right now? Where he has a production company, ‘Happy Madison’, he’s producing a lot of movies, he put some of his friends on, he’s discovering talent, he’s making blockbuster movies–a hundred million plus at the box office. That’s going to be me. Or even Will Smith, he’s producing with Overbrook and discovering more talent, putting out movies, and producing his own blockbusters…that’s me! I’mma be in that lane. I’mma have my hands in a little bit of everything. I might even go Russell Simmons for some of that stuff. Talking to kids, philanthropy…all of that stuff.

Str8NYC: What do you want the world to know about Affion Crockett?

Affion Crockett: I have a good heart! So don’t mess with me (laughs)!

Thinking about searching for Affion on Facebook, think again because you’re search will come up empty! Affion’s reason for being absent from the social site is primarily because Facebook only allows one to have a maximum of 5,000 friends and he’s a busy guy who needs people to know what’s he up to. Affion refers to YouTube as his “mixtape”, so make sure you subscribe to Youtube.com/affioncrockett to stay in the loop! To keep up with Affion you can also follow him on Twitter @affioncrockett.

Be sure to check out his latest spoof on Hip Hop DIShonors where Russell Simmons & Rick Rubin talk about Def Jam 25 VH1 Hip Hop honors. The yoga poses to the slurred speech had us dying!

LISA RAYE TALKS ROSCI’S HUBBY SNATCHING WAYS ON BIG BOY’S NEIGHBORHOOD…

LexAve — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:40:52 +0000

LISA RAYE TALKS ROSCI’S HUBBY SNATCHING WAYS ON BIG BOY’S NEIGHBORHOOD…

Lisa Raye stopped by Big Boy’s neighborhood and Co. to promote her new reality show and right before she bounced off the air, Big Boy just had to ask Lisa about the whole Rosci snatching her prime minister hubby. Though Lisa couldn’t delve into the topic for too long, she did mention finding out about their affair when she came across pictures on the net of Rosci chillin’ in their house. WOW! And she offered these parting words to Miss 106 & Park…

“She’s a kid to me. She could be my daughter. I just hope she knows what she’s getting herself into, and if she don’t then she’ll learn just like I did!”

OUCH! Now that’s real talk.

FLICKS: CELEBRITIES BALL OUTTA CONTROL LAST NIGHT IN NYC…

LexAve — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:14:04 +0000

FLICKS: CELEBRITIES BALL OUTTA CONTROL LAST NIGHT IN NYC…

Last night in NYC was all about the balls. Toni Braxton performed at the “Breakthrough Ball” Fundraising Gala at the Plaza Hotel in NYC. Check out that beautiful red ensemble…I had no idea Toni was so tiny. Meanwhile further downtown Denise Rich hosted 2009 Angel Ball to Benefit Gabrielle’s Angel Foundation, where Estelle performed for some industry friends like Jennifer Hudson, Paula Patton & Robin Thicke, part of the “Gossip Girl” crew, Russell Simmons, Ivana Trump, Swizz Beatz, Debra Lee, DJ Cassidy, Star Jones and a room full of Hollywood-ites and models.

POP THE HOOD FOR MORE PICS…