Alicia Keys is spending her honeymoon in France. She was spotted aboard a yacht with her husband Swizz Beatz and good pal Queen Latifah on Wednesday.
From the looks of it, it looks like Queen Latifah brought along a special friend ‘Jeanette Jenkins‘ to join her. I guess you can say that the cat is officially out of the bag?
Check out more photos below…
Sunday night marked the 2010 BET Awards, hosted by Queen Latifah, and an all-star roster of celebrities presented, performed, and took home top honors.
Between Prince‘s Lifetime achievement award and Queen Latifah running the show, there was plenty of royalty at last night’s 10th anniversary of the BET Awards. But in the midst of the performances of accolades, the stage was also set for a few big names to make their comebacks.
Jermaine Jackson announced the first return of the evening when he introduced the tribute to his late brother, thanking everyone for their love and support over the past year. He added, “There is one tribute performance we have yet to see…here he is.”
Chris Brown was poised behind the curtain, looking like the silhouette of Michael Jackson himself. Once he came out, there was a palpable moment of tension so strong, it could almost be felt through the TV.
Brown crotch-grabbed and moon-walked his way like a pro through the Michael Jackson songs as a supportive audience cheered him on.
But then the opening bars from “Man in the Mirror” began to play, and we all braced for the irony of the words. Brown got through about one line of the song before his voice started to quiver with tears. After a few heartfelt efforts to regain composure, Brown fell to his knees sobbing and completely gave up trying to sing as the backup track took over.
But Brown wasn’t the only one returning to the stage: Kanye West opened the show on top of a mountain – literally – as he performed his latest single, “Power.” T.I gave an upbeat performance that had the whole crowd moving, and El DeBarge was also a surprising treat as he performed a new song from his upcoming album and a medley of his R&B hits.
Queen Latifah kept the show flowing as she changed outfits about 500 times, and Alicia Keys also had a good night. She won Best Female R&B artist, Best Collaboration for her work with Jay-Z in “Empire State of Mind,” and also fit in two performances: a medley set of her own songs early on in the program, and then she joined in the Prince tribute.
But probably the best Prince performance of the night came from the one and only Patti LaBelle, who sang “Purple Rain” like we’ve never heard it before. LaBelle flicked her shoes off into the audience where Prince picked one of them up and gestured in respect to the diva.
LaBelle came back and joined Chaka Khan on stage to formally present Prince with his Lifetime Achievement Award.
Overwhelmed by the amount of praise coming from the audience, Prince asked everyone to sit down and said he was “speechless.” He started by thanking Jehovah, and then remarked on the future of music. “I do believe the future is in good hands, there is so much talent here,” he said.
Then Prince offered some words of wisdom to the young talent in the room. “I was pretty wild in my younger days and you don’t have to do what I did and you don’t have to make the mistakes I made,” he said. “Thank you for a wonderful night tonight, I’ll never forget it as long I live.”
Trey Songz took home Best Male R&B Artist and Drake won Best Male Hip Hop Artist. Nicki Minaj received the award for Best Female Hip Hop Artist and thanked the female rappers who paved the way for her.
Rihanna received the coveted Viewer’s Choice Award for “Hard,” but was not there to accept it. Also not there to accept Awards were Beyonce’ and Lady Gaga, who won Video of the Year for their collaboration in “Video Phone,” and Jay-Z was absent from the show as well.
Chris Brown had the last word, at least for the night. After his Jackson tribute, he was announced as the surprise winner of BET’s Fandemonium award, a prize determined by fan votes, beating out apparent favorites like Justin Bieber, Trey Songz and Nicki Minaj.
Stepping to the stage to receive his trophy, Brown gave a quick acceptance speech. “I let you all down before, but I won’t do it again,” he said. “I promise you.”
Here’s a breakdown of all the winners…
Winners included:
Viewers’ Choice: Rihanna (not at awards ceremony)
Best Female R&B Artist: Alicia Keys
Best Male R&B Artist: Trey Songz
Best Female Hip Hop Artist: Nicki Minaj
Best Male Hip Hop Artist: Drake
Best New Artist: Nicki Minaj
Best Group: Young Money
Video of the Year: Beyonce and Lady Gaga for “Video Phone” (not at awards ceremony)
Best Actress: Mo’Nique
Best Actor: Idris Elba
Best Movie: Precious
Sportsman of the Year: Lebron James
Sportswoman of the Year: Serena Williams
Prince also won a Lifetime achievement award and John Legend won a humanitarian award.
The show’s top performances were given by Chris Brown, who paid tribute to Michael Jackson and ended sobbing on stage during “Man In The Mirror,” and Patti LaBelle’s cover of “Purple Rain” in honor of Prince.
Below is a video from Chris Brown’s Michael Jackson Tribute:
Alicia Keys Tribute to Prince:
Chris Brown sentenced in Rihanna assault case…
A judge on Tuesday sentenced Chris Brown to five years’ probation and six months’ community labor for the beating of Rihanna and ordered to stay within 100 yards away from Rihanna unless they’re attending music industry events.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Patricia Schnegg told Brown that he could be sent to state prison if he violated any terms of his sentence. Brown will serve his sentence in his home state — Virginia — and his community labor will be overseen by the police chief in Richmond.
A probation report prepared for Tuesday’s sentencing describes two previous violent incidents. It said the first happened about three months before the February beating while the couple was traveling in Europe; Rihanna slapped Brown during an argument, and he shoved her into a wall. In the second instance, Brown allegedly broke the front and passenger side windows on a Range Rover they were driving while visiting Barbados, Rihanna‘s home country. Neither attack was reported, the probation report states.
The judge said she wanted to ensure that Brown, 20, performs physical labor instead of community service, such as mentoring young people. He will also undergo a year of domestic violence counseling. Rihanna did not attend Tuesday’s sentencing.
At one point, Brown, who was accompanied by his mother, agreed to the terms of the sentence before Schnegg had finished going through them all.
The hearing had been planned for Thursday afternoon, but Brown‘s lawyer,
Mark Geragos, asked to move up the singer’s sentencing to Tuesday. A previous attempt to sentence Brown was postponed when Schnegg said she hadn’t received adequate assurances that Brown would perform physical labor if allowed to serve probation in Virginia.
The judge said she was satisfied with a letter presented by Geragos that
Richmond Police Chief Bryan T. Norwood will directly oversee Brown‘s labor program. After Brown pleaded guilty to felony assault in June, Schnegg ordered the pair to stay away from each other and to not contact one another. Her order Tuesday essentially extended that until Brown completes his sentence.
Donald Etra, Rihanna‘s attorney, has said he didn’t think the strict rules were necessary, but that he and Rihanna favored a less-stringent ruling that simply ordered Brown not to annoy, harass or molest the 21-year-old pop singer. He said after Tuesday’s hearing that Rihanna did not object to the stay-away order, which allows the former couple to be within 10 yards of each other if they are attending music industry events.
Schnegg said she was aware of reports that Brown had been spotted on several occasions in the same places as Rihanna.
“I am not amused with the chatter that has been on the airwaves and any violation of your probation in this case comes with the potential for state prison,” Schnegg told Brown.
A felony charge of making criminal threats was dropped during Tuesday’s sentencing.
“We feel that the sentence for Mr. Brown is an equitable one,” said Sandi Gibbons, a district attorney’s spokeswoman. “He has his future in his hands. He has control of his fate.”
Gibbons said Brown‘s charge could eventually be reduced to a misdemeanor if he completes his sentence.
Spotted….
After the sentencing Chris Brown was spotted that night clubbing at a popular L.A. lounge named, Guys & Dolls with friends and bodyguards. Sources say Brown stood up on a booth and got the crowd excited as he danced along to Michael Jackson’s ‘Dirty Diana’.
“He didn’t seem to care at all that everyone was watching him,” says the source. “He was in a totally good mood, just hanging out with his buddies. Then all of a sudden he decided to put on a little show. Everyone went wild.”
Let it be told, he was not alone out and about, sources say that, Rihanna was also out doing some clubbing of her own on Tuesday night after Chris Brown‘s hearing.
Rihanna and her gal pals flocked to downtown club Greenhouse, where they met Serena Williams, Queen Latifah and Paula Patton.
“Rihanna was dancing all night,” says a spy. “Chris looked like the furthest thing from her mind.”
“Your thoughts?”
Wow, what can I say about this day. Michael Jackson‘s memorial was amazing. I really liked the way Mariah Carey sang. It gave me the chills, seeing her sing her heart out to “I’ll Be There”. I was still in shock of the whole thing until I saw them bring out Michael’s casket. It was so heart breaking for me to see his brothers bring it out with their heads down. I could just imagine how it felt. 
I loved it when, Brooke Shields talked about how her and Michael acted like little kids when they were alone. It showed so much character in her. I loved the way she said that to everyone else he was this and that, but to her he was just being a human being enjoying life and smiling his way to the top. I cried so much.
Queen Latifah‘s speech from Maya Angelou, and John Mayer‘s performance was amazing. Reverand Al Sharpton, told everyone how it is. I never really paid any attention to what he had to say. Today’s speech made me see him as a total different person, he was real and loved the way he told Michael’s kids, that he was not what everyone else made him out to be.
Usher, Jermaine Jackson and Shaheen Jafargholi‘s performances were a hair raising moment for me. Usher made me cry so much when he sang the song, “Gone Too Soon” when he went down to touch the casket. Jermaine, sang “Smile. OMG! was I crying for that. It was sad to see him have the strength to even finsh the whole song. I really thought the whole Jackson 5 would perform, but hey I don’t know if they all really had the strength.
My heart-breaking moment was hearing Paris speak about her dad. Rumors had it that his son was going to sing or speak, but I never expected to see his daughter talk about her dad in such a loving way. She really let everyone know that he was the best dad, and person in the world. He was someone who cared about everyone and people just thought the worst in him.
People tend to forget that everyone is human and that everyone makes mistakes, not saying that he is guilty of those past allegations that were made against him. I never believed that any of that was true, but even if they were, he was never given the chance to bounce back from it.
This last tour that he was going to do called, “This Is It” tour, was going to be one of the best of many tours he has ever had. I was hoping to get a chance to see him in concert if it were given the opportunity to see him here in concert in the United States. I think he looked amazing in the videos they had of his practice performance he made at the Staples Center the night before he passed away. I was really sad at the thought that I will never get the chance to see him perform ever again, whether it be in concert or on TV.
Michael Jackson, I just want you to know that you are forever missed and I will never forget the true legend and icon you were and always will be. Love you always.
R.I.P. Michael Jackson
1958-2009.
Queen Latifah does not like having sex with men. She tells Shaun Robinson in a new book about female empowerment, “I [used to] ingratiate myself to him [men] and then sleep with him [them]. Afterward, I felt disgusting- really gross and nasty … and I hated myself. That feeling was so horrible, I decided I would never do that again.”
Source: HelloBeautiful
“I don’t even know what to say.”
JNEL & J. Magazine 