PHOTOS BY: SCOTT GRIES & FRANK MICELLOTA FOR GETTY IMAGES

Black Hollywood showed up and showed out at the first ever BET Honors, which were held in Washington D.C. Saturday night. The ladies glammed it up on the red carpet, and the fellas got their GQ on. Honorees included R&B star Alicia Keys and supermodel Tyra Banks, Time Warner board chairman Richard D. Parsons and Princeton professor Cornel West. “For me, I’m just a girl still from Harlem, and here I am,” Keys said. “It’s a tremendous feeling to do what you love and for people to love what you do. … People are honoring me for doing what my heart tells me to do, (and that is) so fulfilling.” Actor Blair Underwood presented Keys’ award, while her musical idol, Stevie Wonder, performed a special rendition of of “As” especially for her. John Legend, Wyclef Jean, Gladys Knight, Brian McKnight, Jill Scott and Raheem DeVaughn also performed. The show is set to air sometime in February. Check your local listings for more details. CONTINUE READING

First and foremost I want to say happy 2k8 and that I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays and whatnot. Sorry for the lateness in posts and music, I’ve been so busy with exams and finals, coming into adult life aka “the real world” and stress, you know, the usual.

The Summer of 2007 was definitely a time for Rihanna to shine, with the smash hit of “Umbrella” featuring executive producer/mentor Jay-Z, already having released two previous albums, both 2005’s Music of the Sun and 2006’s A Girl Like Me, one would question if Rihanna is moving too quickly in her natural prime. Although I do admit to actually purchasing and owning two of Rihanna’s album releases, I felt she was rushed into finding a specific identity to stick with, not just for her, but also her label. Needless to say, numbers don’t lie, “Umbrella” was indeed a hit and possibly one of my favourite records from her.

Rihanna ft. Jay-Z - Umbrella - PAGE LINK
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Alicia Keys took the title of the second biggest release of the year when her brand new album (just released last week) “As I Am” sold over 742,000  copies! Kanye West still holds the title of the biggest release, with over 957,000 “Graduation” albums sold in the first week. Jay-Z’s latest album, “American Gangster” dropped from #1 to #8 this week, while Chris Brown’s “Exclusive” fell 6 spots from #4 to #10.

In other AK news, it’s reported that she showed her support for Hollywood’s striking writers on Tuesday when she performed two songs at a rally they staged on Hollywood Boulevard. Thousands of protestors shut down the street as they took part in the Labour Solidarity March and rally outside the famous Graumann’s Chinese Theatre.

Talks between executives and the writers are set to restart next week in an effort to end the walk-out. The writers went out on strike on November 5after failing to secure a royalties agreement concerning material on the Internet and other new media. The strike has brought many TV shows and some movies to a standstill.

PHOTOS BY GREGG DEGUIRE & STEVE GRANITZ FOR WIRE IMAGE

The 2007 American Music Awards went down last night at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles. The show was telecast live on CBS and featured performances from Fergie, Chris Brown, Beyonce (and Sugarland), Rihanna & Ne-Yo, and more. Winners included Justin Timberlake, T.I., Akon, Rihanna, and Beyonce, who won the most prestigious honor of the night! Beyonce took home the “International Star of the Year” award, an honor only previously given to Michael Jackson, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, and Rod Stewart. This makes her the first female to ever win that award, which was presented by Usher (who fumbled through 95% of it I might add lol — what’s on his mind??). If you’re interested in checking out the full list of winners, check out this site. In this post, you’ll find photos from the Red Carpet, The Performances, and Random Candids from throughout the show. CONTINUE READING

Here you can view Alicia’s new video for her second single, “Like You’ll Never See Me Again,” lifted from the anticipated album As I Am in stores today! Slowly but surely this is becoming my favorite song from the whole album the more I listen to it ritually.

As I Am is the title of R&B songstress Alicia Keys’ forthcoming album set to be released November 13th off of J Records. Make sure you go pick it up once it hits stores! Or, you may pre-order it via clicking the album cover above! Well I recently had the chance to listen to the album today exclusively and I must say, this album is the shit! All I can say is growth, growth, GROWTH. Growth in vocals, harmonies, production team - everything! It’s some nice Downbeat and soulful ballads, hard breakdowns, stellar arrangements … I feel everything just comes into play with As I Am. This record is possibly, in my opinion, the R&B/Soul album of the year (material wise). I pulled a lot of my favorites from here, I heard some Prince, some Boogie (Mrs Hill), some Sam Cooke — this album brought me back to a state of nostalgia.

The soulfulness and richness is so uncanny in this day in age! Of course Keys adds her own uniqueness to sound, I surely wouldn’t doubt her much, I just appreciate her even more for this! She has definitely come a long way and you can tell by the dynamics in her powerhouse-voice! I still can’t figure out how she puts sooo much feeling into her projects, it’s almost chilling, she makes the hairs on the back of your neck stand! I’d play this album if I were painting or drawing or doing something artsy becos that’s the kind of influence this leaves.

My personal favorite tracks, and possible standouts, are “Like You’ll Never See Me Again,” “The Thing About Love,” “I Need You” and “Sure Looks Good To Me”.

[ » CLICK HERE TO PREVIEW AS I AM BEFORE IT HITS STORES 11/13! ]

“Like You’ll Never See Me Again” is a tentative second single from Keys’ forthcoming LP, As I Am, which releases November 13th. I just knew I wasn’t going crazy, obviously there was a bit of “Purple Rain” influence in this song. It took me a couple of listens to get into this, which isn’t so bad, although I oh so hate LOVE when artists do Prince tributes, it usually does not do him any justice. Next to Britney Spears, of course, Prince is my toooop Entertainer that will ALWAYS be relevant (apparently) in music!

“Like You’ll Never See Me Again” • ( FULL )

IMAGES COURTESY OF COMPLEX.COM // BY RANDALL SLAVIN

If you haven’t peeped Alicia Keys’ cover for the latest issue of Complex Magazine, you can do so by checking out THIS POST. Below (and after the cut) you can check out some shots that you’ll find inside of the issue. And to check out a snippet of the interview, CLICK HERE.

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Alicia Keys looks absolutely stunning on the covers of Complex, Ebony, and Uptown Magazines! What the hell was T-PAIN talking about?? Check out the other two covers after the cut. All cover scans courtesy of my homegirl Roxi over at ALICIA-KEYS.NET! CONTINUE READING

ALL PHOTOS BY BRYAN BEDDER FOR GETTY IMAGES

Yesterday, Alicia Keys hit up BET’s 106 & Park to premiere her video for “No One.” If you haven’t had a chance to check it out, you can do so HERE.

Keyshia Cole’s new album hit stores yesterday, and she, Missy, and Lil Kim performed “Let it Go” on 106 and Park’s stage Monday. And Jamie Foxx was even there to talk about his role in his latest movie “The Kingdom.” Check out all of the pics after the cut.

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