Tracee Ellis Ross will be return­ing to TV with Reed Between The Lines, a new half-hour com­edy green-lit by BET that will be shot in Atlanta. In the new show, Ross plays Dr. Carla Reed, a busy psy­chi­a­trist, wife, and mother, who’s strug­gling to bal­ance career and family.

Ross will also pro­duce, along­side Arthur Har­ris and Kel­lie Grif­fin, the for­mer head-writer for Tyler Perry’s House of Payne.

Reed Between The Lines con­tin­ues BET’s re-entry into the orig­i­nal scripted series arena along­side The Queen Lat­i­fah pro­duced Let’s Stay Together and rein­car­nated Girl­friends’ spin-off The Game. Pro­duc­tion on the pilot is slated to start in Atlanta on August 11th.

Girl­friends, Ross’ last TV series, was can­celed two years ago after an 8 sea­son run on UPN and then The CW. She can next be seen in the Off-Broadway Play, “Love Loss and What I Wore,” writ­ten by Nora and Delia Ephron, as part of the rotat­ing cast along­side Rosie O’Donnell, Sherri Shep­herd, Jane Lynch, Brooke Shields, and a slew of others.

J. Lo To Replace Ellen As “American Idol” Judge?

The American Black Film Festival Completes 14th Year

In a historical move, President Barack Obama appeared on today’s episode of The View. President Obama said the only reason he had chosen this show over all the others was because his wife Michelle watched it.

Take a look:

Obama On “The View”: What Would You Ask Him?

Shirley Sherrod Plans To Sue Right Wing Blogger Andrew Breitbart

From Blackvoices.com:

Essence editor-in-chief Angela Burt-Murray told Black Voices in a written statement that Ellianna Placas, a former fashion editor at O: Home and Us Weekly, is just part of Essence’s growing fashion team.

“I understand that this issue has struck an emotional chord with our audience,” said Burt-Murray, “however I selected Ellianna, who has been contributing to the magazine on a freelance basis for the last six months, because of her creativity, vision, the positive reader response to her work and her enthusiasm and respect for the audience and our brand. We remain committed to celebrating the unique beauty and style of African-American women in Essence magazine and online at Essence.com.”

What do y’all think about all of this? Share your thoughts below!

Click here to read more.

RELATED: Essence Hires White Fashion Director

RELATED: Mary J. Blige Unveils “My Life” Fragrance At Essence Music Festival

Estelle provides an easy, breezy tune for those hot summer nights with her feel-good single “Fall in Love.”

The fashionista has released two versions of the Sanaa Hamri-directed video—one with Nas and the other with her HomeSchool label boss John Legend.

“Grey’s Anatomy” actor Jesse Williams plays a mechanic who works his way into Estelle’s heart.

SOURCE

JOHN LEGEND VERSION:

John Legend, Melanie Fiona & Common Remake “Wake Up, Everybody”

VIDEO: Robin Thicke & Estelle Go On A “Rollacoasta”

NAS VERSION:

Lorenzen Wright, a former player for the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks, has been a declared a missing person.

His sister told police that he was last heard from over a week ago when he was visiting his children in Collierville, Tennessee. Wright lives in Atlanta.

Wright began his career with the Clippers in 1996 after playing for his hometown Memphis Tigers in college. Though he went on to play for the Atlanta Hawks and Cleveland Cavaliers he spent the bulk of his career playing for the Memphis Grizzlies from 2001-2006.

Wyclef Jean is mulling over a career change.

“I can’t sing forever,” the Fugees star told CNN after a published report from Canadian publican Le Droit said that ‘Clef was considering a career in politics.

‘Clef says he’s filled out the proper paperwork in case he decides to go through with it, but he says he’s still thinking it over.

“Wyclef’s commitment to his homeland and its youth is boundless, and he will remain its greatest supporter regardless of whether he is part of the government moving forward,” said a statement released by his foundation. “At this time, Wyclef Jean has not announced his intent to run for Haitian president. If and when a decision is made, media will be alerted immediately. Please let us know if we can help with anything else.”

RELATED: Wyclef Jean Gets Honorary Doctorate Degree

RELATED: How You Can Help Haiti

From the New York Times:

By Van Jones

I UNDERSTAND how Shirley Sherrod, the Agriculture Department official who was forced to resign last week, must have felt.

Last year I, too, resigned from an administration job, after I uttered some ill-chosen words about the Republican Party and was accused — falsely — of signing my name to a petition being passed around by 9/11 conspiracy theorists. Partisan Web sites and pundits pounced, and I, too, saw my name go from obscurity to national infamy within hours.

Last year I, too, resigned from an administration job, after I uttered some ill-chosen words about the Republican Party and was accused — falsely — of signing my name to a petition being passed around by 9/11 conspiracy theorists. Partisan Web sites and pundits pounced, and I, too, saw my name go from obscurity to national infamy within hours.

Click here to read more.

RELATED: President Obama Calls Shirley Sherrod, Expresses “Regret”

RELATED: Georgia Agriculture Department Offers Shirley Sherrod New Position

RELATED: Farmer’s Wife Says Fired USDA Official “Kept Us Out Of Bankruptcy

RELATED: VIDEO: Shirley Sherrod Leaves USDA Over Racism Charge

Looks like Beyoncé ignored the “No Phone Zone” pledge that day-time talk show host Oprah Winfrey created earlier this year. According to a report, the pop singer was pulled over in New York City last month (June 23) by the NYPD for texting while driving.

A source said,

“Beyoncé was really embarrassed because she only recently got her driver’s license.”

In an effort to get out of the situation, the Texas native is said to have used her celebrity status to avoid receiving a ticket.

They continue,

“She tried to charm that cop and told him she had no idea that texting while driving was against the law. He had no idea who she was. He just slapped her with the ticket, which was worth more than $100!”

Earlier this year it was reported that Beyoncé’s husband, Jay-Z, gave her driving lessons to help her pass her road test, but looks like he may have forgotten to stress one important thing: texting while driving is against the law.

SOURCE

Beyonce Escapes Being Hit By Car

PHOTO: Jay-Z Finally Taught Beyonce How To Drive

According to Amazon.com, Jazmine Sullivan’s as-yet-titled sophomore album will be release on September 28th. The singer will go on an all-important promotional campaign when she takes to the stage at Oakland’s Summer Jam’s music festival.

The gig will take place at the Oracle Arena in Oakland on September 4th, and will also feature performances from Drake and Lloyd Banks just to name a few.

Source

September cannot come fast enough for us!!!

NEW MUSIC: Jazmine Sullivan’s “Hold You Down (Going In Circles)”

AUDIO: MJB & Jazmine Sullivan “Gonna Make It”

From the New York Times:

President Obama on Thursday urged Shirley Sherrod, the black Georgia Agriculture Department official whose firing and subsequent offer of rehiring this week renewed a conversation about politics and race, to continue “her hard work on behalf of those in need,” the White House said.

Mr. Obama reached Ms. Sherrod by telephone at about 12:30 p.m., several hours after she had said on national television that she believed she deserved a telephone call from the president. They spoke for seven minutes, during which time Mr. Obama expressed to Ms. Sherrod his “regret” about the events of the last several days and emphasized that Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack “was sincere in his apology” for her initial dismissal.

Ms. Sherrod appeared on a round of morning talk shows the day after the White House and Mr. Vilsack apologized profusely and repeatedly to her for the way she had been humiliated and forced to resign after a conservative blogger released a misleading video clip that seemed to show her admitting antipathy toward a white farmer.

Ms. Sherrod, who until Monday was the rural development director for the Agriculture Department in Georgia, said she was inclined not to return to the agency. Mr. Vilsack on Wednesday said that he would ask her to return to use her expertise to help move the department past its checkered history in race relations, but she told NBC’s “Today” that she did not want the burden of solving the department’s racial problems to rest entirely on her.

During that interview, held earlier in the day, she said that she would like to have a conversation with Mr. Obama but did not believe he owed her an apology.

“I’d like to talk to him a little bit about the experiences of people like me, people at the grass-roots level, people who live out there in rural America, people who live in the South,” she said. “I know he does not have that kind of experience. Let me help him a little bit with how we think, how we live and the things that are happening.”

The full video of Ms. Sherrod’s March speech to an N.A.A.C.P. gathering in Douglas, Ga., shows that it was a consciousness-raising story. Ms. Sherrod’s father was murdered in 1965 by white men who were never indicted; she spoke about how in response, she vowed to stay in the South and work for change. She married the Rev. Charles Sherrod, a civil rights leader and co-founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.

Later, as director of a nonprofit group in Georgia formed to help black farmers, long before she went to work for the Agriculture Department, Ms. Sherrod received a request to help a white farm couple, Roger and Eloise Spooner, and she confessed in the speech that the request had given her pause. She did help them, however, and as the fracas over her firing became public this week, the Spooners came to her defense, saying Ms. Sherrod had gone out of her way to accompany them to see a lawyer and, in effect, had helped them save their farm.

“If we hadn’t have found her, we would have lost everything, I’m afraid,” Mrs. Spooner, 82, said in a telephone interview.

Mr. Obama has shied from making race relations a major theme of his presidency, yet somehow racially charged controversies keep cropping up — as was the case last year, when the president said the Cambridge, Mass., police had “acted stupidly” in arresting a black Harvard University professor, Henry Louis Gates Jr. The upshot of that was the White House “beer summit,” in which Mr. Gates and the white arresting officer shared some cold beverages with Mr. Obama and Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.

In an interview Wednesday afternoon, shortly after Mr. Vilsack extended his public apology, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said Mr. Obama should hold another summit with Ms. Sherrod and the Spooners.

“In the end, it’s such a redemptive storybook ending,” said Mr. Jackson, who has known Charles Sherrod for decades. “I wish that Shirley Sherrod and the Spooner family could be invited to the White House and give them the credit that they’re due, because it is a great American story. A rural white family in Georgia and a black woman, overcoming years of segregation. It would be great if the president were to seize this moment.”

Read the full story here.

RELATED: Georgia Agriculture Department Offers Shirley Sherrod New Position

RELATED: Farmer’s Wife Says Fired USDA Official “Kept Us Out Of Bankruptcy

RELATED: VIDEO: Shirley Sherrod Leaves USDA Over Racism Charge

Keith Cassim Elam, son of the late legendary hip hop artist Keith “Guru” Elam, hugs his grandfather Judge Harry J. Elam Sr. during a memorial service held at UMass/Boston Sunday, July 18, 2010. (Enesto Arroyo photo)

From the Bay State Banner:

It was early in the rap game, back when lyrics were raw and the MCs outlandish, and, for the first time in his life, Big Shug was reluctant to go onstage: “I was like, ‘I don’t know, man.’ ”

The reluctance was understandable. But his partner, Keith Elam, was persistent, begging and pleading with Shug to do this one set — and things would be alright. If successful, Elam exclaimed, they would be able to pursue their dreams of making it big in the music business.

And off they went to perform their act before two people — Elam’s equally reluctant parents.

Distinguished attorney Harry J. Elam Sr., the first African American to preside as a judge in the Boston Municipal Court of Massachusetts, and his wife, Barbara, a noted educator and former director of the library system for Boston’s public schools, was part of the dignified Roxbury, the one where success was more than a goal. It was expected, and in fact, demanded of the heirs of those who had achieved.

Rap, hip hop — whatever it was called at the time — was not part of that discussion. “I thought I was going to be guilty of something,” Big Shug recalled. “But we did it, right there in his parent’s living room. And Guru was so happy that he kept telling me how much that meant to him and how he appreciated what I had done.”

Guru was right about one thing. For Big Shug, who grew up in Mattapan and would later run afoul of the law, he never feared performing before another crowd. “I think that was one of the toughest things I have ever done,” Big Shug said.

That story was shared with several hundred people gathered at UMass Boston last Sunday to celebrate the life of Keith Elam, the legendary musician who went by the name of Guru. Last summer Guru was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of cancer.

In February he was taken to the hospital after suffering from related respiratory problems and soon afterwards slipped into a coma from which he never recovered. He died in April at the age of 47.

“He died too soon,” Judge Elam told the gathering. “But he had been in a coma for a while and he would not have been the same Keith.”

It was dignified crowd of lawyers and rappers, family and fans — most with a connection to Roxbury, from Ed O.G., arguably one of Boston’s most renowned rappers to Willie Davis, the esteemed criminal defense attorney who kept a young Keith Elam focused during his days at Morehouse College.

Davis, a Morehouse man himself, told the story of Dr. Benjamin Mays, the former president of the all-male, historically black college in Atlanta. According to Davis, Mays once talked about the “air of expectancy,” where Morehouse men were expected to do well, and upon graduation to do exceptionally well and that he expected nothing less.

By all accounts, that message was not lost on a young Elam. In fact, success was already deeply rooted in his DNA. It just took a little time — and patience.

But spitting rhymes?

Even now, Judge Elam can only shake his head. His youngest son was the rebellious one, unable to flourish in a world of vigorous academic study and intellectual discipline.

“I would hesitate to tell people what he was doing, because I didn’t feel that good about it myself,” Elam once told the Boston Globe. “I used to say, ‘He’s in music,’ but I would never specify rap. When he said that this is what he wanted to do, I was very unhappy, to be totally honest. Why would he want to waste his time doing this rap thing? I just couldn’t see it. I have to admit that I was wrong. I made an improper judgment at that time. But I’ve come a long way.”

Judge Elam did the best he could. He and his wife tried. They sent Keith to the prestigious Noble & Greenough School but that didn’t work as planned. “Keith wasn’t like his older brother who was an ideal student, class president and graduated with honors,” Elam said. “Keith wanted to be his own person.”

Keith’s older brother, Harry Elam Jr. went on to Harvard and became the Olive H. Palmer Professor in the Humanities at Stanford University. A recognized authority on black theater, Elam is now Vice Provost at Stanford.

But the next stop for Keith at the time was as a Metco student at Cohasset High School. Quite naturally, the Elams received telephone calls from school officials every now and then informing them that Keith wasn’t in school. His mother knew where he was hanging out and would go to those spots, pick him up and drive him to Cohasset.

He graduated on time, as he did at Morehouse. But the last straw with his family came when he boldly pronounced that he wanted to attend a two-year fashion school in New York City.

Judge Elam was not happy but helped finance the education anyway. When Keith returned home after the first year, explaining that he no longer was interested in fashion, Judge Elam had heard enough, informing his baby boy that he would now be on his own.

It was probably the best thing that ever happened.

“You have to go for yours,” Keith would later advise young rappers. “Nobody is going to do it for you. My father used to say that all the time, but I never really learned that until I was out on my own. That’s one thing a lot of young brothers have to learn for themselves.”

Keith learned that lesson first hand. With his neighborhood partner, Big Shug, Elam initially performed in suburban talent shows and Boston clubs such as Chez Vous in Dorchester and the now-defunct Lanes Lounge in Mattapan.

But Guru’s quest for recognition came to a halt in Boston. He decided to move to Brooklyn, the heart of hip hop. The road was tough, but a break occurred when Guru teamed up with Christopher Martin, known as DJ Premier. They signed to Wild Pitch Records and, in 1986, debuted their first album, “No More Mr. Nice Guy.”

Later the pair dropped hits such as “Code of the Streets,” “Mass Appeal” and “DWYCK.” In all, they released six albums between 1989 and 2003 that were both critical and commercial successes.

“Step in the Arena” (1991) is considered a high-water mark in the genre, according to one reviewer, “as it combined Guru’s brash rhymes — filled with braggadocio, humor and social critiques — and the inventive, often jazz-laced tracks provided by Premier.”

Gang Starr’s fifth album, “Moment of Truth,” hit number one on the Billboard R&B/hip hop album charts. Along with artists such as Public Enemy, De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest, Guru helped make the late 1980s and the 1990s what Rolling Stone magazine called “Rap’s golden age.”

“Rap is way more than violent noise, which is what some people think,” Guru told an interviewer. “I’m here to demonstrate that. The philosophy of taking control of your life comes out in my lyrics because it’s what happened to me. There’s purposely no cursing, because it’s relating to and having respect for other generations.”

That respect came in part from Roxbury in general and his godfather in particular.

As a solo artist, Guru released a quartet of critically acclaimed “Jazzmatazz” albums from 1993 to 2007. Those albums, each with a different musical slant and subtitle, found the artist working with a wide variety of artists including jazz greats Branford Marsalis, Lonnie Liston Smith, Roy Ayers, Bob James, Donald Byrd, Herbie Hancock; R&B stars Erykah Badu and Macy Gray, and fellow hip hop artists Common and the Roots.

The jazz connection was learned at an early age. His uncle George Johnson, the one-time headmaster of English High School, played the greats for his nephew.

“Every time I would go to my godfather’s, he would make me sit down in his living room and listen to John Coltrane, Charlie Parker and Sonny Rollins,” Guru said. “When the Jazzmatazz concept first began, nobody had really thought to put hip hop and live jazz together. Now, all these years later, I stake my claim as the father of this genre.”

One critic who flew in from India to attend Sunday’s tribute agrees. Carolyn Martin wrote for Soul Underground, a British hip hop magazine, and was quite impressed with Guru when she first met him in the early 1990s.

“It was his degree of inner silence,” she said. “He was almost too serious, too reserve for the world of ultra-macho MCs. He was introspective, an intellectual and extremely disciplined. He was larger than self-promotion because his music wasn’t about himself.”

Guru had that rare ability to transform his music into an art form that even the reluctant ultimately embraced. Two such fans were his Dorchester neighbors. Still reluctant to call him Guru — we knew him as Keithy — Dr. Nancy Norman, the chief medical officer at the Boston Public Health Commission and her sister Patricia Green, the marketing director at Student Funding Group LLC, a New York-based college financial aid company, said they both were not fans of rap and its disrespectful language and depiction of women.

“It took me awhile, Green said. “I never liked the genre — until Jazzmatazz, the fusion of jazz and hip hop. I thought to myself, ‘Now, this makes sense.’ And I think that is Keithy’s legacy. He had the ability to merge different genres.”

And drop knowledge. Ask his nephew Justin Ruff, an aspiring actor now living in Los Angeles. Ruff said he looked up to his uncle in part because he had few older men in his life. “He taught me various things about life; he instilled wisdom,” Ruff said. “He always told me ‘Never put the two before the one.’ What that meant was never put anyone else before yourself. I carry that with me to this day.”

By all accounts, Guru was a man of honor. As Big Shug tells the story, he and Guru had several falling outs during their life-long friendship but remained tight.

“The one thing we said to each other was that if one of us makes it, and the other doesn’t, the one that made it will help the other,” Shug said. “And that’s what Guru did. He reached back for me and helped me out. He was a man of his word.”

RELATED: BET Exec Explains Why Guru Wasn’t Mentioned At BET Awards

RELATED: DJ Premier Gives Backstory On Entire Gang Starr Catalog

]]> http://majicatl.com/photos/michaelbaisdenatl/rap-legend-morehouse-grad-guru-remembered-in-hometown-of-boston/feed/ 0 http://majicatl.com/photos/michaelbaisdenatl/swizz-beatz-on-wedding-it%e2%80%99s-not-this-weekend-but-it%e2%80%99s-soon/ http://majicatl.com/photos/michaelbaisdenatl/swizz-beatz-on-wedding-it%e2%80%99s-not-this-weekend-but-it%e2%80%99s-soon/#comments Thu, 22 Jul 2010 19:45:37 +0000 Michael Baisden http://majicatl.com/?p=294351 We recently told you guys about the rumor that Swizz Beatz and his pregnant fiancée Alicia Keys are getting married this weekend, but the producer tells OK! it’s not this weekend, but it’s soon! Swizz Beatz On The Wedding Date Well its not this weekend!” Swizz Beatz says. ”But you know, were excited. Our union is... Read more..]]>

We recently told you guys about the rumor that Swizz Beatz and his pregnant fiancée Alicia Keys are getting married this weekend, but the producer tells OK! it’s not this weekend, but it’s soon!

Swizz Beatz On The Wedding Date

Well its not this weekend!” Swizz Beatz says. ”But you know, were excited. Our union is amazing. Our union is pure. Our union is positive no matter what people say or what people think, time will tell everything and you know, silence is the best thing. We just keep it private and we do our thing and just have fun with it.

Swizz also revealed that he is working with Coldplay and Lenny Kravitz and he will be dropping a single with Mary J Blige later this summer.

RUMOR: Alicia Keys & Swizz Beatz Are Getting Married This Weekend?

On Planning The Wedding

“Yeah, you know, I’m a planner!” he tells OK!. ”I like getting into the detail of things. I’m inspired by fashion, I’m inspired by art, I’m inspired by architectural things so [I like] being involved with the wedding. I’m not the person who sits back and goes, okay, well I’ll just show up. I’m actually spearheading certain plans but it’s a nice blend, a nice partnership.”

On The Wedding Not Being A Gimmick

“Just an amazing day,” he says. “Very intimate. It’s not a superstar wedding. It’s not a gimmicky wedding. It’s a true bond of love, you know, that’s not based on having the most famous person sitting there while you’re doing it. It’s about having the closest people who really understand you as a person and that really have love for you. So it’s a small situation.”

READ MORE HERE.

SNEAK PEEK: Alicia & Swizz Beatz’ NYC Love Shack

From AOLNews.com:

Middle-class black Americans dipped into their retirement accounts to stay afloat during the recession at a higher rate than their white counterparts did, broadening the “retirement gap” between whites and African-Americans, according to a new study.

Nearly half of all blacks making at least $50,000 a year dipped into savings and retirement accounts over the past two years, compared with 31 percent of whites, according to the 2010 Black Investor Survey commissioned by Ariel Investments.

Click here to read more.

RELATED:

The Recession’s Long-Term Impact On Black Kids

Recessions Forces Rappers To Cut Back On Bling

After weeks of rumors and scouring the streets for a cast, VH1 has announced the lineup for the fourth installment of Celebrity Rehab.

Signed on to work with Dr. Drew Pinksy are:

Frankie Lons (mother of singer Keyshia Cole) for alcoholism

Tiger Woods’ alleged mistress Rachel Uchitel for prescription pill abuse

“Top Model” judge/model/reality star Janice Dickinson for alcoholism as well as “Party of Five” star Jeremy London, Jason Wahler from “The Hills,” musician Leif Garrett, and oil heir/socialite Jason Davis.

The group will undergo 21 days of detox and treatment at the Pasadena Recovery Center. Episodes are set to premiere later this year.

EXCLUSIVE: Frankie Talks Rehab, Says She’s Speaking To Keyshia Cole Again

Tiger Spends Holidays With Mistress #1

GALLERY: Monica’s Album Release Party

From The New York Daily News

Mark Williams, the flamethrower leading the battle against the Ground Zero mosque, was kicked out of the National Tea Party Federation Saturday for a racist blog post.

He shrugged off the diss, calling it “grandstanding” from a “minor player on the fringe.”

A California radio host and leader of the Tea Party Express, Williams had labeled the Manhattan boro president a “Jewish Uncle Tom” and President Obama an “Indonesian Muslim turned welfare thug.”

But when he posted a satirical letter supposedly from “head Colored person,” NAACP head Ben Jealous, to President Lincoln praising slavery, that apparently crossed the line.

Click here for the full story.

RELATED:

Tea Party Spokesman Mocks NAACP As Coloreds Who Want Slavery Back

VIDEO: Tea Party Spokesman Says NAACP Is A Racist Movement

NAACP Will Propose Resolution Condemning Tea Party Racism