Celebrities Spotted at All-Star Game

February 16th, 2010 | By Safiyyah

The All-Star game took place on Valentine’s Day at the Dallas, Texas stadium (the new and biggest basketball stadium with about 90,000 seats). The goal of this stadium was to be the biggest stadium that allows the most viewers per game. It was a great pick for the All-Star game this past weekend, which was filled to capacity. Among the thousands of fans were many popular celebrities. If you were watching the All-Star game, you may have seen some A-Listers like Gabrielle Union, hip hop artist Jay-Z, Jamie Foxx, Sean Diddy Combs and Spike Lee, among others. Even Kobe Bryant was sitting on the sidelines — he was supposed to be in the All-Star game, but he ended up getting his foot injured, during a prior game.

Some of the All-Star players that made it include Lebron James, Jason Kidd, Dirk Norwitzki, Derrick Rose, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Dwayne Wade and Dwight Howard, among others. The West Coast was leading the game in the beginning, but the East soon caught up, tying them twice. During the fourth quarter, they were tied up. The last couple of seconds ticked by as they continued to foul one another, and finally the East Coast took the title. Dwayne Wade was granted MVP, with 28 points, 11 assists and 5 rebounds. Not bad at all. The All-Star game was the final event of a great All-Star weekend. On Friday, it was the celebrity game and Rookie vs. Sophomore game. Then on Saturday it was the slam dunk contest, three point contest, horse and two other challenges.

Jay-Z Downs Remake for M.J.’s “We are the World”

February 16th, 2010 | By Safiyyah

Eighty-one artists have come together to remake Michael Jackson’s “We are the World”. The purpose of the remake isn’t only for its iconic status, but for the symbolism of the song and for the Haitian relief fund. The celebrities that have come together are looking to raise more money for the devastation that has occurred in Haiti. This sounds like an awesome thing to many, but not so hot to some — such as Jay-Z, who didn’t want any part in the remake. He even went as far as saying that he loves the song and that it’s like “Thriller”, and never wants to see it touched. He also said that he’s a fan of music and knows the plight and everything that’s going on in Haiti — he applauds the efforts, but believes that some things are just untouchable.

Some of the artists that are associated with the Michael Jackson remake include, Pink, Wyclef Jean, Vince Vaughn, Justing Beiber, Keri Hilson, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Hudson, Robin Thicke, Kanye West, Celine Dion, Akon, Rob Thomas, Jason Mraz, Toni Braxton, Barbara Streisand, Nichole Richie, Usher, Busta Rhymes and Miley Cyrus, among a whole bunch of others. The track has a more Southern hip hop kick to it. Michael Jackson recorded the original track about 25 years ago for the African famine relief. Back then, a great connection was made for human kind, so the hopes for this remake is to have the same effect.

Classical and Hip Hop Mixed by Haitian American Violinist at Olympics

February 16th, 2010 | By Safiyyah

Not many may have heard of Daniel Bernard Roumain, but he is a very talented Haitian American violinist. Different types of music has influenced him through his upbringing in South Florida, including Haitian, reggae, Afro-Cuban and hip hop. Other genres he was introduced to include classical, Latin and Brazilian. He went on to study music in Vanderbilt University and obtained a PhD in composition from the University of Michigan. Of course, the music he was exposed to as a youngster never left his blood. Today, he mixes up everything and most recently, he mixed up hip hop with classical at the Vancouver Olympics.

Roumain says that his music is like a Creole Dish, made up with many parts. He also said that his music reflects his heritage and modern technology, which allows people to create their own playlists. Being known as a Haitian American artist has given him much unexpected spotlight these past few weeks because of the earthquake in Haiti. He’s been known as a Haitian American violinist since 1992, but because of his heritage, he has gained a lot of spotlight. He stated that he feels guilty about what happened in Haiti and that sometimes he feels helpless or that he’s not doing enough. So he’s decided to donate a portion of his merchandise sales to Haitian relief. He and his signer Emeline Michel does have plans to visit Haiti for a series of concerts and a variety of other events in order to help their ancestral homeland.

Birdman Cashin’ in on Oil

February 15th, 2010 | By Safiyyah

Birdman, Bryan Williams and his brother Slim, Ronald Williams, are best known as being the fathers of Cash Money Records. Back in the early 1990s, the Williams brothers started the record label out of their New Orleans projects and since then they have been taking the music industry by storm. Altogether, the Hot Boys have gone multiplatinum and gold, selling over 45 million albums. Some of the hip hop artists associated with the record label has included Lil Wayne, BG, Juvenile and Baby, aka Birdman. With such great success in the music industry, it only makes since for Birdman to move on to bigger things. Well, word has it that he and his brother founded a new exploration and development oil company called Bronald Oil & Gas LLC.

The oil venture company has properties in Louisiana, Florida, Texas, Oklahoma and South America. Bronald Oil & Gas has yet to gain any investors or staff, since it is still in its beginning stages. Although, they do hope to partner up with other developers to “jointly exploit significant additional assets by leveraging Bronald’s infrastructure.” It seems that Birdman is so into his oil company that he got a tattoo of an oil well on his head.

“I want to make this a full-fledged entertainment and music company for all genres of music, from pop and rock to country and gospel,” says Slim. “I also want to make the film company just as big, if not bigger, than the record label. I want it all — music, publishing, film, videogames, DVD.” Hopefully the oil investment won’t be a big regret like with his prior investment in R. Kelly.