Wale assisted Def Jam’s soul singer Chrisette Michele on the remix of her latest single, Fragile. 

The video had its world debut on Chrisette’s official IMEEM page this Tuesday Novembe 2nd and it shortly after appeared on urban/music blogs.

Wale definitely added a little funk to the track and you gotta love Chrisette’s raspy vocals.

Check it out…

The video was shot on location down on the streets of New York City (Harlem???), a hair salon, and Chrisette’s entrance to her concert gig (wild guess).  (Did Wale give Chrisette the cold shoulder in the opening shot??? The song plays into that factor when you read the lyrics.)

If you’re keeping up with Chrisette, she had her first number one record thanks to the release of her sophmore album, Epiphany. Wale’s debut record Attention: Deficit has its album release date on November 10th. Wale has been said to be the rap industry’s next Kanye West.

Chrisette released a 3-part making of featurette onto her official website, THISISCHRISETTE.COM.

In case you missed Wale and Chrisette on their previous musical teamwork, check out them out on The Roots’ go go infused song, Rising Up.

British-Nigerian* author Lola Jaye joined the heated discussion on the very short/ bald head trend hitting Hollywood in a interview with Essence. Fashionistas like Solange Knowles, Amber Rose, Nia Long and Rihanna are all into this trendy hair look  and Lola talked about her own hair experience to the urban publication earlier today.

I like ‘em fro’ed, relaxed, weaved, braided, wavy, straight, curly… Yes, I happen to be one of those women who just loves being able to switch up hairstyles whenever the mood grabs. Even as I write this article, I’m enjoying the shadow my current ‘Afro’ is making on my wall, whilst my mind is brimming with the possibility of yet another new style.

So waking up one day and shaving off my hair is unthinkable. Yet it was exactly what I decided to do one misty morning a few years back.

What led me to this, perhaps had less to do with temporary insanity and more to do with high costs both in time and money. Besides, after years of ‘pulling’ and ’sowing’, my head was crying out for a break – so the hair had to go.

I enlisted the help of The Hunk who after a false start and me squeaking; ‘I’m not ready yet!!’ placed the shears at the starting point before calmly shaving the lot off. To this day, all I recall is The Hunk placing a mirror in front of me as my eyes chose to focus on the sorry sight of my hair gathered roughly on the floor beside me. It took a while to pluck up enough courage to take a peep into the mirror and what I felt surprised me, this feeling of utter freedom.
Having my hair taken off was cathartic and amazing!

I was grabbing back control. No more arduous trips to the hairdressers, no more emergency overdrafts to pay the hair bill… I was bald! Ready to face the new world that was now a bigger and brighter place. This was the new me, the old me, whatever! But another peep into the mirror started to breed insecurities as I began to notice just how BIG my head was. I mean it was HUGE! (I was clearly no Solange or Erykah) – I resembled an alien. Instead of ‘take me to your leader’ it was more a case of ‘take me to your dealer (of wigs!)’.

As quickly as the tresses had disappeared, so had my new found ‘hair confidence’.
So what to do? I grabbed The hunk’s cap and found myself as if by magic, inside a nice warm hair shop with a very reasonably priced wig department… Exhale, exhale, exhale.

Chris Rock may have a film out called ‘Good Hair’ – but for a few short liberating moments, I had NO HAIR and it felt great! ESSENCE

My two cents: Sitting under a hair dryer for a hour just for deep conditioning treatments every two weeks can be tiresome to a single girl’s wallet. Sitting for three to four hours to get box braids can be numbing. However nothing beats rocking your own hair like Michelle Obama, Estelle, Alek Wek, and India.Arie surely beats having to decide what to do with y0ur hair first thing in the morning.

Quick Facts on Lola Jaye

• Born and raised in London but lived in Nigeria
• Author of three novels http://lolajaye.com/books.html While You Were Dreaming, By The Time You Read This, and Reaching for the Stars – How to make your Dreams Come True
• Obtained a BSC Degree in Psychology from The University of East London
• Has a Masters in Psychotherapy and Counseling from Regents College
• Has a twitter page http://www.twitter.com/lolajaye
• Has a blog http://www.lolajaye.com/blog/

*Lola is a common nickname for Funmilola which is Yoruba in Nigeria. So is she Nigerian??

photos: zimbio///lola jaye//amazon//getty

Halloween 2009 was celebrated by power couples US President Barack Obama & First Lady Michelle Obama + soul singer Seal and fashion icon Heidi Klum. (Barack decided to go as himself – POTUS!)

The Obamas held their first Halloween celebration at the White House with 2,000 students and military children outside  the North Portico, reports The Huffington Post. Each kid was presented with a goody bag filled with sweet dough butter cookie.

First Lady was dressed up as catwoman (wild guess) with fierce eye makeup and furry kitten ears as she and her husband passed out candy for a half-hour to trick-or-treaters.

Obama thanked the military members and their families. “We are so grateful to you,” he said. “Especially now, a lot of the times, you guys are separated. It’s tough. The spouses who are at home are serving just as much as folks who are deployed. So we are just so thrilled that you guys could be here and we could say personally ‘thank you’ to all of you.”
Michelle Obama said the kids were “just so cute.”
Obama added: “They’re adorable, as is, by the way, my wife, a very nice looking catwoman.” thehuffingtonpost

Over at West Hollywood’s Voyeur, Seal supported his wife Heidi’s held their 10th annual Halloween bash where this year they were dressed as black crows. Can you believe Heidi seems to have adopted her pre-pregnancy figure in less than three weeks since the birth of her daughter Lou???

Photos: daylife///life//just jared//getty//huffingtonpost

British-Nigerian painter Chris Ofili has a four page feature in the latest edition of GIANT magazine (the one with actress Paula Patton on the cover.) So I decided to do a “Get To Know” feature on him for FG2BH.

Ofili became famous for his portrait of the Virgin Mary that was filled with (wait for it) porn and elephant dung. The painting spark controversy when it was showcased at the Brooklyn Musuem of Art in 1999. Former NY mayor Rudy Giuliani proclaimed in reponse to the painting – “There’s nothing in the First Amendment that supports horrible and disgusting projects.” (Quite interesting, isn’t it?)

Ofili talked about that incident to Giant: “It is the most exciting thing to some people to wake up in the morning to check and see if people still recognize you. But that’s not really what I’m about. For me, it’s always been about the work and to continue to be inspired by the work. I have a fear of ever feeling mediocre.” giant mag

Ofili has moved to Trinidad from his native London because “it felt like I’d be moving right into the heart of my subject. The things that I see now that interest me are right there and so close, like sitting in the first row of a cinema.” giant mag Ofili’s artwork has references to traditional African art, popular culture images and hip-hop music.

Quick facts on Chris Ofili via Wikipedia & BBC News

• Born in Manhester on October 10, 1968
• Uses blaxploitation films and gangsta rap references to question racial & sexual stereotypes in a humorous way.
• Studied Fine Art at Chelsea School of Art
• Obtained Masters degree in painting from Royal College of Art
• Awarded a British Council Travel scholarship to Zimbabwe in 1992
• His trip to Zimbabwe influenced his artwork style.

Below is a must-see YouTube clip of Chris Ofili artwork…

Below is two of Chris Ofili’s most famous artwork…

Left: The Holy Virgin Mary (1996)//Right: No Woman No Cry (1998)

photo credits: Guardian Arts 1 & 2

First Lady Michelle Obama struck a radiant pose in a scarlet red Jason Wu drop waist dress (from her closet) for the December 2009 cover edition of GLAMOUR magazine. Instant reaction: What a lucky man Barack is! Educated and fab that Michelle is! 

The lifestyle women publication also awarded Barack’s number one fan (re: Mrs. Michelle Obama, if you don’t get my sense of humor) the coveted Woman of The Year for mentorship of young women. Pretty cool, isn’t it?

For her candid interview, Michelle discussed various topics including Barack, love, her sanity, mentoring, and dating advice.
On how she keeps her sanity: “I have always tried to put my kids first, and then…put myself a really close second, as opposed to fifth or seventh. One thing that I’ve learned from male role models is that they don’t hesitate to invest in themselves.”

On how she deals with public scrutiny of her appearance: “People are always going to have opinions, and people have a right to their opinions, particularly when you’re the First Lady; you’re representing the nation. So I can’t be surprised that people are interested. But I’ve tried to be at peace with the choices that I make first, and then be open to everyone else’s reflection.”

On her dating advice for women: “Cute’s good. But cute only lasts for so long, and then it’s, Who are you as a person? Don’t look at the bankbook or the title. Look at the heart. Look at the soul.. When you’re dating a man, you should always feel good… You shouldn’t be in a relationship with somebody who doesn’t make you completely happy and make you feel whole.”

On mentoring: “I think that mentoring is such a critical part of the role I can play in this position. I see how little bits of exposure and big bits of exposure really change my girls significantly, and I want that for more girls around the country and the world.” glamour

On the fashion tip, Jason Wu has quickly become Mrs. Obama’s go-to designer of choice….notably from the day of the Inauguration to her Barbara Walters TV Special to this recent newsstand cover. The writing’s on the wall that Jason Wu and Michelle Obama are fashion best combination…and if I must pick a favorite. That honor has to be this yellow one with the Alaia belt as she stepped off Air Force One in London holding hands with her husband.

Jason Wu also made history with Michelle via her first Vogue cover feature that she did earlier this year for her daughters Sasha and Malia as she told Vogue editor at large Andre Leon Talley.

This all means more Wu-Obama collaborations in the near future. Be sure to pick up a copy of Glamour at your closest newsstand…

Photo credits: glamour//AP//zimbio//wwd//abc news

Based on the true story of Sandra Laing a black South African girl born to white Afrikaners in the 1950s, Academy Award-nominee Sophie Okonedo can be seen as the lead actress in the upcoming inspirational film called SKIN. Okonedo (best known for her critically-acclaimed roles in The Secret Life Of Bees and Hotel Rwanda) portrayed Laing during the apartheid era which at that time classified Laing as coloured. The film showcase how Laing communicate between being born black to white Afrikaners while on the road from rejection to acceptance.
SKIN is one of the most moving stories to emerge from apartheid South Africa: Sandra Laing is a black child born in the 1950s to white Afrikaners, unaware of their black ancestry. Her parents are rural shopkeepers serving the local black community, who lovingly bring her up as their white little girl. But at the age of ten, Sandra is driven out of white society. The film follows Sandras thirty-year journey from rejection to acceptance, betrayal to reconciliation, as she struggles to define her place in a changing world – and triumphs against all odds. IMDB

Online African-American lifestyle & culture magazine, Clutch recently caught up with the English-Nigerian mother Okonedo to discuss her SKIN role and the challenges she faced. (FYI: Skin was filmed primarily around Johannesburg from September to November 2007 to give the storyline its authenicity.)

Clutch: The life of Sandra Laing was full of so much pain and confusion. Was it challenging portraying her?
Sophie: Yeah, I think that’s hard to find such the nuances because so many bad things happened to her kind of relentlessly. It was also difficult because I was trying to imagine what her life was like because she was so isolated. There was no one to really talk to her about it because her story isn’t typical.
Clutch: Had you heard of Sandra’s story prior to taking on the role?
Sophie: I hadn’t heard. I know some South Africans who remembered her story when I mentioned her name to them. It was something that was well- known in South Africa. CLUTCH

Throughout her interview with Clutch, Sophie spoke about her bi-racial heritage, meeting Sandra Laing (see her photo below), and her life philosophy. The true story won over critics and it helped to earn the film 9 wins including praise from the Toronto International Film Festival. Okonedo already heated up her promotional campaign as evident by her recent GMTV interview on the film.

Next up for Sophie is the much-buzzed about role as the first African first lady Winnie Mandela in the upcoming biopic for BBC Four drama project, Mrs. Mandela. Anyone else pleased to know that an African actress was cast to portray South Africa’s former first lady??? Okonedo had the following to say about portraying Mrs. Mandela to The Guardian….

Later this year you’re playing Winnie Mandela in the BBC drama Mrs Mandela. Did you meet Winnie?

No. I wasn’t trying to do an impersonation of her. I just went by the script. I did read a lot about South African history. It was great to play a real strong woman. She’s got balls. I had no idea what an incredibly tough life she’d had; it’s extraordinary she survived at all. I don’t know how she got through a day in that kind of life. I couldn’t have borne it. I would have gone crackers. They hounded her. GUARDIAN

Mrs. Mandela, shot around Soweto, centered on the Winnie’s childhood, her brief courtship with Nelson Mandela and the aftermath of Nelson’s release from prison in 1990, reports BBC. The 90-minute drama (written and produced by Michael Samuels and Jolyn Symonds) also co-stars David Harewood as Nelson and David Morrissey as notorious police interrogator Theunis Swanepoel.

This film definitely is a must-see for all curious about Winnie Nelson and her rise to becoming African’s first lady.

photo credits: ITPWORLD//IMDB//Daily Mail UK

Check out Wale’s TV spot for his upcoming debut record, Attention Deficit. The album hits stores on November 10th with features from Lady Gaga, Jazmine Sullivan, Rihanna, Bun B, , Marsha Ambrosius, Melanie Fiona, K’Naan, J. Cole, Dap-Kings, and Travis Barker. [PREVIEW THE ALBUM AT AMAZON]

Born Olubowale Victor Akintimehin, Wale has had his taste of the limelight with a rumor tagging him with Solange Knowles, his boss Jay-Z’s sister-in-law. To this date, that blog post remains one of the most read items on FG2BH. (Bloggers love their gossip, huh?) Truth be told Wale’s simply friends with the younger Knowles sibling…just as he’s close with Lindsay Lohan, a self-proclaimed fan. I wonder who Wale would be linked to next?

In the meantime, Wale has been busy promoting his new single, Pretty Girls featuring Gucci Mane & Weensey. The song contains an infectious go-go sample and tight beat that you can’t resist getting your dance game on. Side note: Gucci has become the Lil’ Wayne of 2009, huh? He’s on the Mariah Carey track “Obsessed” and he just teamed up with Usher on “Spotlight.”

Sing along with the lyrics…

Girls, I ask em do they smoke?
Ask em what do they know?
Ask em can we go? Pretty girls..
Sunshine in the air, perfume everywhere
Girls are everywhere

Thanks to the flow right now what up
A lime to a lemon remind you of the sky when im fuckin and we on cloud nine for that minute
Admire your style and your physique
and I aint trying to critique but you deserve a good drink, so whats up?
What you sippin on? Its no problem
Black and gold models like im pro-New Orleans
but shawty im far from a saint but I got two A-mex’s that look the same way
Wale, D.C. thats me huh, my Prada say Prada and they Prada say Fela
I aint gotta tell ya they know about me huh
Come to D.C. and I can make you a believer
See baby im a leader they always from a Libra
And I aint trying to lead you wrong sugar I need ya
So would you please listen to what Imma need from you
Not for tonight, but for tomorrow’s amnesia

Girls, I ask em do they smoke?
Ask em what do they know?
Ask em can we go? Pretty girls..
Sunshine in the air( ey shawty you gotta take your purse off for this one baby) perfume everywhere(No matter where you from we goin to D.C. right now)
Girls are everywhere( what up)
Pretty Girls

x2
Ugly girls be quiet (quiet), pretty girls clap like this
Ugly girls be quiet (quiet), pretty girls clap(clap) like this

Okay you have em in amazement switchin four lanes in that 09′ range
while im singing oh trey shit
Its like this all day
Okay my names Wale they probably know me from the you know
Boss in my Hugo, Floss like my two fer
My flow is on Pluto, them rollins aint plutons
Ha, Ya shawty thats G-shit, tokyo spinners, ya shawty thats G-shit
Please give head to that new D.C. shit, Im a PG shit, I aint finna keep it
And i be with so I got B.B.C. shit, even if I didnt I would ball like ,arenus, swish
Now shawty this is what Imma need from you
Not for tonight, but for tomorrow’s amnesia

Girls, I ask em do they smoke?
Ask em what do they know?
Ask em can we go? Pretty girls..
Sunshine in the air, perfume everywhere
Girls are everywhere
Pretty Girls

x2
Ugly girls be quiet (quiet), pretty girls clap like this
Ugly girls be quiet (quiet), pretty girls clap(clap) like this

This song with a go-go melody (example: fellow DC native Amerie’s 1 Thing) would be perfect for a party…or a fun time at the club. Needless to say I cannot wait for this album to drop. He sounds promising and driven. I’ll leave you all with this mixtape edition of Wale and Lupe Fiaso called “Let’s Ride.”

Thanks to ThinkTank Marketing!

The ever busy fashion-savvy businesswoman*  Liya Kebede has become the new face of H&M knitwear Fall 2009 collection, reports Nitrolicious.

Time for me to visit H&M…

On the fashion aspect of her career, Liya also has a contract with Jones New York….and she recently did a fun photo shoot for Fashion’s Night Out.

*Kebede is a proud mother of two, happily married, fashion owner of LemLem**, Tom Ford’s beloved muse, proud to be from Ethiopia, the first black model for J. Crew, rising actress (Desert Flower), Tiffany & Co spokesmodel, and Estee Lauder’s first African model. Needless to say she earned that title!

**LemLem (a children’s clothing line made entirely in Ethiopia) also has Liya’s daughter Raee as the main spokesmodel….and the old saying like mother like daughter rings true. Raee already has her mother’s fashion swagger!

On her giving back efforts, Liya talked on a panel discussion board at the United Nations about (and I quote) her struggle to end maternal mortality through her charity organization, Liya Kebede Foundation.  Check it out…

photo credits: H&M//Nitrolicious//LemLem

President Barack Obama, First Lady Michelle Obama, and their daughters Sasha and Malia pose for the first official family portrait done by fame photographer Annie Leibovitz.

Random thoughts: Isn’t this family photo done just in time for the upcoming holiday season, huh? Inspiration for Christmas/New Year’s cards is much appreciated. However where is Bo, the Obama dog?? Okay am I the only one who thought that???

Incidentally the photo was first snapped on September 1, 2009 but was now released to the public via the White House’s Flickr Page. Their body language shows how close the Obama family are.

However this was NOT the first time Leibovitz photographed members of the Obama Family. Leibovitz was responsible for Michelle’s historic Vogue March 2009 magazine cover…and her 2007 Vogue feature.  She also snapped Barack’s Vanity Fair cover feature AND his Men’s Vogue cover editorial.

Needless to say the fame photographer Annie enjoys capturing kodak moments from The First Family.

photo: White House Flickr

When fashionistas get into a style runt they can easily rely on American Apparel to step it up for them on and off the red carpet.

Just ask R&B songbird Teairra Mari, Sheree Whitfield from Real Housewives of Atlanta, and Pastry co-founder Vanessa Simmons.

Teairra favors the skin-tight disco shorts while Sheree and Vanessa loves the Strapless Chambray Jumpsuit.  Out of the three I’m definitely into the jumpsuit. (Vanessa and Sheree both dressed up their jumpsuit with eye-catching necklaces.)

Would you dare to rock Teairra Mari’s high-waist disco shorts out and about??? (Notice how she matched her shorts with her Stephen Sprouse for Louis Vuitton scarf?)

Bottom line/lesson learned: American Apparel equals affordable style….as evident by their blog press page.  And yet another new fashion crush is born. Time to shop at American Apparel….

photos: Teairra Mari’s Twitter///wireimage///getty//