Beyonce’s “Fake” Baby Bump and 2,200 sq ft Nursery

October 23rd, 2011 | By Safiyyah

So is Beyonce really pregnant? Everyone’s been speculating about this topic because of a TV interview she had where we saw her belly become horrifically distorted. It looked as though she were wearing a fake stomach. Then there are the instances in public where her baby bump sometimes looks big and other times a bit small. When compared to Jessica Simpson’s unreported, yet obvious pregnancy, her gut never transforms in size like Bey’s does. And they are said to be due around the same time. Some may say that she is pretending to be pregnant — maybe she can’t have children or doesn’t want to with her own body and has a surrogate, others may say this is publicity and the majority may disregard all of these rumors and believe that she is pregnant.

Well, whatever the real story may be, Beyonce and Jay-Z have been planning out the nursery for their baby. You can actually call this nursery a house, given that its 2,200 sq ft, but they won’t be the first to do drastic arrangements for their baby — Nick Cannon and Mariah Carrey and J-Lo and Marc Anthony also decked out their baby’s pads. There’s been speculation that Bey and Jay will be having a daughter, but this has yet to be confirmed.

Take a look at the video below to see what kindled the fake baby bump debate.

Ski Beatz on 90s Hip Hop and Upcoming Album, Karate School Part 3

October 2nd, 2011 | By Safiyyah

Accordin’ to Ski Beatz, a producer/rapper that’s been around for decades, the hip hop industry is repeating history. In an interview with Planetlll, he talks of how 90s music was inspired by the 70s and how today’s music is now being inspired by 90s hip hop.

“Camp Lo is a perfect example of that sound. The 90’s is like the 70’s now,” Ski Beatz explained to PlanetIll.com. “You know what I mean? A lot of [people are] getting hip to that 90’s sound. I just came back from Paris yesterday and all they wanted to hear, they didn’t want to hear anything that was on the radio, all they wanted to hear me spin was all 1990’s music. You would’ve swore I was Kid Capri in Paris.”

He’s been working with Dame, who is now independent, so a lot of the sampling Ski Beatz was doing can’t be done for budget purposes. But they came up with a solution for that:

“Well, the original reason was we [had] an independent label and I was doing like a lot of sampling when I first hooked back up with Dame and he was like ‘Yo, we independent. We not gonna be able to clear the samples. We ain’t got no budget for this.’ So I said ‘Yo, we’ll just replay them.’ We’ll find some musicians and we’ll replay it,” said Ski. “But we took it a step further we got the musicians but turned the musicians into our band, our in-house band.”

And it looks like Ski Beatz will start spittin’ rhymes again for his upcoming project, “Karate School Part 3″.

“I might do something later. I think on this Karate School Part 3 I might do a feature on a track with somebody, it all depends. [I’ve been] rhyming lately so I might do it…That’s my first love I gotta do it,” he explained.

The Diplomats Talk About Jay-Z; Dipset’s Best Buy Theater Performance in NYC

October 2nd, 2011 | By Safiyyah

Megastars and newcomers always seem to have beefs. Cam’ron and the Dipset crew vs. Jay-Z in this latest interview with The Diplomats. They go into talking about how Cam had Jigga erased off of the “Oh Boy” song, where he is dissing Nas.

“We walked into the studio, and Jay said, ‘I got a surprise for y’all,’” explained Juelz Santana. “[At this point] we was wondering why he didn’t want to jump on records that he could’ve jumped on already. So ‘Oh Boy’ is already out of this world, gettin’ probably like ten thousand spins.”

“Cam made [Guru] erase the verse…to the point where Cam told Guru, ‘You better erase that, I don’t ever want to hear that,” said Juelz Santana.

Cam’ron spoke up about the friction between Jigga man and himself, “That’s been going on with me and him forever. My first album ever, he comes in to see the Sony studio, he comes in like, ‘Yo, lemme talk to you for a minute?’” Cam continued, mimicking Jay. “‘I wanted to tell you, I didn’t know you was that nice.’ …I said, ‘I appreciate it, maybe we can do something for my album.’ He said, ‘I’m not here to lobby for a spot on your album.’”

The Diplomats also recently had a performance at the Best Buy Theater in New York City. Some of the songs that were performed include “Mic Check”, “Murda Murda”, “Down and Out”, “Speakin’ in Tongues”, “Walk it Out” and “Baby Girl”, among others. They also did a rendition of a single they released last year “Salute”. You can see the performance in the video below.

T.I. Gives First Performance and Interview After Prison Release

October 2nd, 2011 | By Safiyyah

After spending nearly a year in prison, you know T.I. had to set things off back on stage. He gave a performance in front of a star-packed audience that included B.O.B., Nelly, Maino and a variety of others. T.I.P. performed one of his most popular hits “What You Know About That” and others. The welcome home event took place in ATL at Club Esso.

T.I.P. also gave his first interview to an interview station in his hometown, Atlanta’s V-103, where he talked about his family, future and public perception. He even stated that he is going back to the old T.I. since the ones that stayed down with him throughout all this were those that were down with him during his first two albums.

“When I went through everything I was going through, [I became] the new, sophisticated, Paper Trail, upper echelon T.I.,” he said. “All of those people [who liked this new T.I.] were the ones quickest to give me their back pockets to kiss. The ones who really stayed down with me was them Bank Head natives. The ones who supported them first two albums. So I feel like I’ma stay down with who stayed down with me.”

T.I. also stated that he doesn’t feel that he owes an explanation to anyone, especially people he doesn’t even know. He says that he is going to do what he has to do for his family and will continue living his life. Looks like he is going to turn around a new leaf.

“I got to live my life for these people. For my family, for my children, and I’m going to do what’s best for them. You don’t have to believe me. And I can’t make you believe me. There’s nothing I can say to make you believe me. But I got to live my life for [my family].”

Jay-Z and Beyonce Expecting their First Child

August 30th, 2011 | By Safiyyah

If you missed the VMAs, you missed a very exciting performance by a pregnant Beyonce (yes, I said pregnant). We’ve been waiting for this day to arrive since Jay-Z and Beyonce got together. Now, it’s finally official. And if you didnn’t get to see the revealing of her baby bump on stage (and the reaction of Jigga and Kanye), then you can check it out below. Twitter received a record high of tweets at that moment (10:35 pm on Sunday) with 8,868 tweets per second.

The two are definitely excited about their new addition to the family, and the 29-year-old singer’s 30-year plan is actually falling into place.

“I feel like a woman. I feel like I’m very aware of who I am. I feel great and I feel like 30 is the ideal age [to start a family], because you’re mature enough to know who you are and to have your boundaries and your standards, and not be afraid, too polite — but you’re young enough to be a young woman,” she said. “I’m so looking forward to it. I always said I’d have a baby at 30. But I also said I’m going to retire at 30. … Only God knows.”
Then Beyonce went on talking about her husband Jay.

“Jay and I have kind of made a decision that we want to be known for our music and not our relationships or scandals. But he is amazing,” she said. “I definitely had a very natural friendship and connection with him. We’ve been together for a very long time and I’m very happy. Love is the foundation of everything, everything I do. My music is inspired by love — from my family, my husband, my sister.”

Having a little boy would be perfect so that her sister Solange’s son would have a playmate, but the two don’t care about what they have. So far, there’s no word on the sex Beyonce and Jay-Z’s baby.