Ashanti sure is looking good these days! It’s hard to believe Nelly let all of that go. She and Ja Rule reunited on stage at the 2009 VH1 Hip Hop Honors Wednesday night (Sep 23), which saw performances from Wale, Kid Rock, Method Man & Redman, Eminem and more. The ceremony honored the pioneers of Def Jam along with the people, past and present, who helped create the label and build it into what it is today. Hosted by comedian Tracy Morgan, the show is set to make its television debut only on VH1 on Tuesday, October 13th at 9 pm.

It’s only right that the first Def Jam artist to be honored was the label’s foundation and face for so many years, LL Cool J. The Roots started it off with “Rock the Bells.” Black Thought ripped the first verse of the record, then gave way for a special guest: Eminem. Last year, Slim Shady publicly expressed his love for LL during a phone prank on DJ Tony Touch’s Shade 45 radio show. Spitting the second verse of “Rock the Bells” on Wednesday night, Em sounded almost exactly like the legend who inspired him. “Now I’m worldwide known/ Whether you like it or not/ My one-man band is Cut Creator…/ When he’s on the fader/ What’s my DJ’s name?” “Cut Creator!” The crowd yelled. Later, Kid Rock paid tribute to LL with “I’m Bad.” The Kid also DJed during the show, as did Ed Lover.

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VH1’s Divas 2009 aired live from the Brooklyn Academy of Music Thursday night (Sep 17) in New York City and was hosted by former American Idol judge Paula Abdul. The “divas” for this year’s concert were Jennifer Hudson, Miley Cyrus, Leona Lewis, Adele, Jordin Sparks and Kelly Clarkson.

Other celebrities at the show who either performed or presented included India.Arie, Stevie Wonder, Toni Braxton, Sheryl Crow and more.

For a full recap of the ceremony, check out our friends over at Tha Feedback! And continue reading for the rest of the pictures from the Red Carpet and inside of the show.
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Paula Abdul has a new gig! The former American Idol judge has officially signed a deal to host “VH1 Divas,” set to air live on September 17th at 9 P.M. She expressed her excitement for her one night gig to her 1,000,000+ followers on Twitter:

Hi guys! im really excited 2 announce ill b hosting this year’s “Vh1 Divas”!The show will be live on Sept 17th @ 9 pm EST

This year’s VH1 Divas show will honor Adele, Kelly Clarkson, Jordin Sparks, Leona Lewis and Miley Cyrus- I am so excited!!

In related news, American Idol alum Jordin Sparks was announced as the latest performer to appear on the show. She will be joining Leona Lewis, Adele, Miley Cyrus and Kelly Clarkson. Additional performers and participants will be announced in the coming weeks before the show airs.

The man charged with brutally murdering his wife and stuffing her mutilated body into a suitcase was found dead Sunday morning (Aug 23) from an apparent suicide in his hotel room in Hope, British Columbia (Canada). 32-year-old Ryan Jenkins was found hanging from a belt in his room at the Thunderbird Motel after a hotel manager decided to check on the room, which had been rented just three days prior.

According to police, Jenkins was assisted by a woman police have identified but haven’t yet released her name. She apparently helped the former reality show contestant check into the motel he later killed himself in. The motel manager says Jenkins stayed in the vehicle while the woman checked them in on Thursday (Aug 20). The woman is not in custody yet.

Jenkins was a contestant on two VH1 reality shows: “Megan Wants a Millionaire” and “I Love Money 3.” MWAM was ended before the winner, who was believed to be Jenkins, was announced and ILM3 will never be aired.

UPDATE: The man authorities arrested at an airport in Toronto, Canada was NOT Ryan Jenkins. As of right now, Jenkins is still on the loose…

TMZ is reporting that Ryan Jenkins, a former contestant on VH1’s “Megan Wants a Millionaire” reality series, was arrested at an airport in Toronto, Canada. Jenkins was charged with the murder of his wife, Jasmine Fiore Thursday (Aug 20), which is 5 days after the super model’s mutilated body was found stuffed into a briefcase.

According to reports, Jenkins strangled and beat Flore before stuffing her naked body into a suitcase and placing it inside a dumpster in the Buena Park area of Southern California on the morning of August 15th 2009. Police also say her teeth and fingers had been removed in an obvious effort to evade investigators attempting to identify the remains. Investigators ended up identifying Fiore, who was last seen alive with Jenkins in San Diego, by using the serial numbers from her breast implants.

Ryan and Jasmine checked into the Lauberge Del Mar hotel last Friday night (Aug 14). Investigators say Jenkins left the hotel that following Saturday morning (Aug 15) with a grey suitcase, and later that day Ryan Jenkins reported her missing. Fiore hasn’t been seen alive since.

Upon hearing the news, VH1 halted all future airings of Megan Hauserman’s show, “Megan Wants a Millionaire,” where 32-year-old Ryan Jenkins was originally a contestant and supposed overall winner of the show, though VH1 hasn’t yet confirmed who actually won. But there are rumors floating around saying Ryan told his friends he won $250,000 after being chosen as the winner. So VH1 decided it’d be best to pull the plug on the show as it would put them in a very bad position to continue to air it in light of the charges recently brought against him. They’ve even removed the show completely from VH1.com.