We are big fans of our girl Tamron Hall because she always manages to come across smart, sophisticated and sexy while reporting the news on MSNBC. I watch MSNBC during the day and sometimes at night when I am home and I always get the sense that Tamron had it in her to verbally lay someone out if they pushed her hard enough, and it looks like someone did.

Via The Huffington Post
MSNBC’s Tamron Hall handily shut down guest Tim Carney on Friday, in an exchange so fiery that she immediately began trending on Twitter.

Hall asked Carney about Mitt Romney’s testy reaction to a reporter asking about marijuana on Thursday. Before addressing the question, he alleged that she and the rest of the media were focusing too much attention on the candidate’s past — including his bullying of two classmates in high school.

“What you’re doing here is a typical media trick,” Carney charged. “You hype up a story and justify the second-day coverage of the story.”

That set Hall off. She began to tell him that he didn’t have to “answer a single question” she asked or “accept the invitation to come on” and speak. Carney tried to interject, but she told him, “You’re kind of in my house,” and proceeded to smack him down for over a minute.

“You’re not gonna come on and insult me, you’re not gonna come on and insult the network when you knew what we were gonna talk about,” she concluded. “Done.” With that, she cut to another guest.

Hall immediately became a trending topic on Twitter, as people reacted to the segment. Viewers called her a “badass” and a “hero,” and said that she “schooled,” “filleted,” “checked” and “ripped a layer of skin off” Carney

Related posts:

1. MSNBC’s Lawerence O’Donnell is down with the swirl? Reportedly dating Tamron Hall!
2. Tamron Hall nipples show through sheer dress on live broadcast
3. Classic 1994 clip of Tupac Shakur Arsenio Hall Interview

[ See some amazing behind the scenes photos of Rihanna's video shoot here. ]

Related posts:

1. Rihanna: ‘You Da One’ Video Shoot in London!
2. Video Premiere: Nicki Minaj’s ‘Fly’ Ft. Rihanna
3. The hottest, most stylish Black celebrities of 2011

Back in 2007, Jay-Z, Diddy and 50 Cent released “I Get Money (The Forbes 1-2-3 Billionaire Remix).” The song was a celebration of the artists’ inclusion atop the first-ever Forbes Hip-Hop Cash Kings list, now an annual package on the genre’s top-earning artists.

It seems fitting that those same three artists find themselves in an even more exclusive group—the Forbes Five, a short list of hip-hop’s wealthiest moguls. Indeed, the original trio boasts a combined net worth well over a billion dollars, rendering their lyrical prognostications accurate. They’re joined by Dr. Dre, flush with cash from his Beats headphone line, and Cash Money Records cofounder Bryan “Birdman” Williams.

“One of my motivations in life is to be a billionaire,” said Birdman in a telephone interview with FORBES. “We’re going to keep working hard until we get our brand to be as big as possible. That’s the goal in life, that’s what I live for.”

Diddy is the closest to becoming a billionaire, leading the pack with a net worth of $550 million. The Bad Boy Records founder has remained a mainstream mainstay for 15 years thanks to his knack for self-promotion. Lately, he’s been channeling that energy toward Diageo-backed Ciroc vodka, much to the benefit of his bank account: he receives double-digit millions annually as a share of profits. Sales of the spirit spiked 122% last year in the wake of strong demand for new flavor Ciroc Peach; he is entitled to a nine-figure chunk of cash if the brand is ever sold.

Diddy also boasts stakes in clothing lines Sean John and Enyce, marketing firm Blue Flame, record label Bad Boy and a handful of tech startups. But it’s his deal with Comcast to launch cable channel Revolt in 2013 that could push him into billionaire territory. He’ll own the channel outright, and based on projected viewership totals, its value could soar into the low-to-mid nine figures within the next few years.

Jay-Z is #2 on the listNext up is Jay-Z at $460 million. Unlike his fellow Forbes Five members, Jay-Z still churns out music and goes on tour—most recently with pal Kanye West—adding to his considerable war chest. He sold his Rocawear clothing label for $204 million in 2007 and signed 10-year $150 million deal with Live Nation in 2008, and also holds stakes in the New Jersey Nets, his 40/40 Club chain, ad firm Translation, cosmetics company Carol’s Daughter and other businesses.

“Who’s going to be hip-hop’s first billionaire is still to be determined,” says Steve Stoute, the advertising guru who founded and co-owns Translation with Jay-Z. “But clearly Jay and Puffy are far and away positioned to surpass that.”

 

Dr. Dre ranks third with $270 million, doubling from a year ago thanks to a major sale. In August, handset maker HTC paid $300m to buy a 51% stake in Beats Electronics, the company founded by Dr. Dre and Interscope chief Jimmy Iovine in 2008.

Sources say each owned a third of the company before the deal, placing Dre’s cut at $85 million after taxes. The agreement also values Dre’s remaining stake at $100 million, which could increase rapidly as the company continues to expand.

Celebrity 100: The World’s Most Powerful Celebrities

Birdman clocks in at No. 4 with a fortune of $125 million. He cofounded Cash Money Records with brother Ronald “Slim” Williams two decades ago, inking very favorable $30 million distribution deal with Universal in 1998. The label’s value is increasing with the success of rappers Drake, Nicki Minaj and Lil Wayne (who shares ownership of sub-label Young Money).

The World’s 25 Highest-Paid Musicians

There’s even more cash on the horizon: Cash Money’s deal with Universal is up this summer, raising the prospect of a bidding war for the right to distribute the label’s releases.

“Right now we are with Universal and we’re just trying to do the best music possible,” Birdman told me. “I’m loyal to my team, and to success. Whoever gives the most benefit to my team, which isf irst, and to its success, that’s where we’ll end up at.”

Full Coverage: Hip-Hop’s Most Valuable Artists

Rounding out the Forbes Five is Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson at $110 million. The Queens-born rapper earned $100 million for his Vitaminwater stake in 2007—and tens of millions more from touring, record sales and clothing—but spent freely on cars and renovations to his mansion, formerly owned by Mike Tyson. Still, a nice cushion remains from his back catalog, acting gigs and 50 Cent-themed videogames, shoes and books, as well as his new headphone line SMS. Next up: an energy shot called Street King, which promises to feed hungry children—and 50′s bank account.

Still, there’s no guarantee that hip-hop’s first billionaire will come from this group of five.

“As much as it’s easy to say it’ll be Diddy or Jay, you don’t necessarily know, given what a guy like Kanye or Will.i.am is capable of doing,” says Stoute. “In a world where people are creating applications that sell for a billion dollars, you never know who’s going to come out of left field.”

Related posts:

1. Another example that proves Hip-Hop is dead
2. What TI and Tupac Have in Common: Hip Hop and Incarceration
3. Jay-Z, Tyler Perry Among Vanity Fair’s ‘New Establishment’

Silvio Carrasquilla, an Afro-Colombian and a former mayor of the northern town of Turbaco, says he hopes to present the US leader with a young donkey named “Demo.” The donkey is the symbol of Obama’s Democratic Party.

Demo “has already been given all its vaccinations and is small enough to fit in Air Force One,” the ex-mayor said Thursday.

Obama was due in Colombia’s Caribbean resort city of Cartagena Friday with 32 fellow leaders of the Western Hemisphere for a summit focused on regional integration, the drug scourge and issues surrounding Cuba and Argentina’s claim on the British-ruled Falklands.

Carrasquilla made headlines in 2004 when at the age of 23 he became the country’s youngest mayor to lead the city of 70,000 people with a large Afro-Colombian community.

This son of an elected municipal official is a fervent admirer of the first US black president, whom he describes as “a source of hope to all our brothers.”

This week, Carrasquilla, behind the Star and Stripes, led dozens of Turbaco residents on a donkey ride across town.

Many of the locals started to believe that a visit by the US leader was imminent. Various gifts, books and paintings have been prepared for him.

Inside his residence, which was repainted in white when Obama was elected in 2008, Carrasquilla proudly shows off his own “Oval Office,” complete with a desk with the Great Seal of the United States and a huge portrait of the Obama family.

Donning an Uncle Sam hat, Carrasquilla draped a row of US and Colombian flags on his house’s balcony, above giant portraits of Obama and a banner proclaiming “Welcome to Turbaco, Obama.”

“He (Obama) is an example. He defied the odds by running for the leadership of the world’s most powerful country. He had no power, no money nor the right color,” he told AFP.

During the 2008 US presidential election, Carrasquilla organized his own vote in front of his “White House” where a polling booth containing more than 1,400 ballots for Obama has been preserved.

And when the US president was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, the ex-mayor invited the neighborhood to a dove release.

Carrasquilla gained further notoriety by taking part in a television reality show and by breaking into a singing career with a hit song called “Obama.”

His proud mother said her son had already succeeded in getting residents to “open their hearts to Obama” although some say they object to Carrasquilla’s tribute to “US imperialism.”

“Every day I am being asked when the president will come. Some even think he will land on Air Force One on the square outside our house,” the 57-year-old former social worker added with a smile.

Related posts:

1. Michelle Obama in Moscow *Photos*

With all of that, I must say I am totally impressed by the way Ms. Corey’s is able to communicate directly, and with great intelligence and confidence her interpretation on how this case will be handled. So far, I am very happy with what I see, she is handling this masterfully.

It’s obvious that after this case Ms. Corey will be running for some kind of public office whether it’s mayor, the senate or the house. She has got complete political rock star potential in the making. Trayvon Martin’s family is in really good hands!

Related posts:

1. Obama’s Speaking Indonesian Dazzles at State Dept.

“A photo came to me in the mail that I’ve kept for myself for over a week, but now it’s time to share it with Trekkers everywhere -,” she tweeted.

“Taken 2/29/12 in the Oval Office – Live Long & Prosper!” http://twitpic.com/95b6ki” she tweeted, linking to the photo.

The photo is now Nichols’ Twitter profile photo and, according to her tweets after meeting the president, proudly displayed on her wall as well.

But it seems the Star Trek star was not the only one stoked about her White House visit. Nichols tweeted that the president said he was a “trekker” and had a crush on her Star Trek character as a child.

“Months ago Pres Obama was quoted as saying that he’d had a crush on me when he was younger. I asked about that & he proudly confirmed it!” Nichols tweeted the day of her White House meeting.

“President Obama also confirmed for me that he was defintely a Trekker! How wonderful is that?” read her next tweet.

In a December interview with ABC’s Barbara Walters, Obama proved his trekker-ness by dropping a reference to the emotion-less Mr. Spok. When Walters asked the president what he thought the “biggest misconception” about him was, Obama responded, “Me being detached, or Spock-like, or very analytical.”

Related posts:

1. Nichelle Nichols On ‘Star Trek’ And TV’s First Interracial Kiss
2. Michelle Obama in Moscow *Photos*
3. Obama’s Speaking Indonesian Dazzles at State Dept.

Weather service advisories issued Tuesday said storm spotters and radar revealed separate tornadoes south of Dallas and Fort Worth. The weather service says the tornado south of Fort Worth caused “considerable damage” near Cleburne.

Local television footage shows a large funnel cloud on the ground near Interstate 35 south of Dallas. The weather service says the “large and extremely dangerous” tornado was near Lancaster about 20 miles south of Dallas and moving north.

The weather service is also reporting other developing tornadoes as a band of severe storms moves through the area.

A tornado watch is in effect for most of the counties in north Texas.

No related posts.

The bizarre got even more bizarre. Just after we learned that Coolio’s 22-year-old son is currently in jail for a crime involving a call girl and robbery with a deadly weapon, the 48-year-old rapper has reportedly been arrested himself today. What’s more, Coolio is being housed at the same Nevada jail as his son.

According to TMZ, Coolio was arrested in Las Vegas Friday, when he was a passenger in a car that was pulled over for a routine check. Shortly thereafter, it was discovered that Coolio had two bench warrants out for his arrest that were the results of multiple traffic violations. He was transported to Clark County Detention Center (where son Grtis Ivey has been residing since November of last year), with bail set at $5,850.

Meanwhile, Grtis awaits a judge hearing on Monday.

Related posts:

1. Students Paddled For Wearing Ghetto Prom Attire

This year, The Heart Truth’s Red Dress show marked the start of this season’s New York City Fashion Week. An event that often features many African-American stars, Chaka Khan, television presenter Aisha Tyler, and TV host LaLa Anthony walked the runway for 2012 along with big names like Minka Kelly. Black luminaries Vivica A. Fox, Phylicia Rashad, and B. Smith (a notable lifestyle maven) also lent their presence to the charity affair, now in its tenth year.

The Heart Truth’s Red Dress Collection was created by “Million Hearts, a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services initiative to try to prevent one million heart attacks and strokes by 2017,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute states that heart disease is the number one killer of women in the United States, and “[f]or African American women, the risk of heart disease is especially great.”

To learn more about heart disease prevention for black women, please visit The Heart Truth® for African American Women web site.

Related posts:

1. Grace Jones, Chaka Khan, Sister Sledge And Gloria Gaynor Perform At Etam Spring/Summer 2012 Fashion
2. Tamron Hall nipples show through sheer dress on live broadcast
3. Celebs Show Off there Natural Tresses

Houston’s publicist, Kristen Foster, said Saturday that the singer had died, but the cause and the location of her death were unknown.

News of Houston’s death came on the eve of music’s biggest night — the Grammy Awards. It’s a showcase where she once reigned, and her death was sure to case a heavy pall on Sunday’s ceremony. Houston’s longtime mentor Clive Davis was to hold his annual concert and dinner Saturday; it was unclear if it was going to go forward.

At her peak, Houston the golden girl of the music industry. From the middle 1980s to the late 1990s, she was one of the world’s best-selling artists. She wowed audiences with effortless, powerful, and peerless vocals that were rooted in the black church but made palatable to the masses with a pop sheen.

Her success carried her beyond music to movies, where she starred in hits like “The Bodyguard” and “Waiting to Exhale.”

She had the he perfect voice, and the perfect image: a gorgeous singer who had sex appeal but was never overtly sexual, who maintained perfect poise.

She influenced a generation of younger singers, from Christina Aguilera to Mariah Carey, who when she first came out sounded so much like Houston that many thought it was Houston.

But by the end of her career, Houston became a stunning cautionary tale of the toll of drug use. Her album sales plummeted and the hits stopped coming; her once serene image was shattered by a wild demeanor and bizarre public appearances. She confessed to abusing cocaine, marijuana and pills, and her once pristine voice became raspy and hoarse, unable to hit the high notes as she had during her prime.

“The biggest devil is me. I’m either my best friend or my worst enemy,” Houston told ABC’s Diane Sawyer in an infamous 2002 interview with then-husband Brown by her side.

It was a tragic fall for a superstar who was one of the top-selling artists in pop music history, with more than 55 million records sold in the United States alone.

She seemed to be born into greatness. She was the daughter of gospel singer Cissy Houston, the cousin of 1960s pop diva Dionne Warwick and the goddaughter of Aretha Franklin.

Houston first started singing in the church as a child. In her teens, she sang backup for Chaka Khan, Jermaine Jackson and others, in addition to modeling. It was around that time when music mogul Clive Davis first heard Houston perform.

“The time that I first saw her singing in her mother’s act in a club … it was such a stunning impact,” Davis told “Good Morning America.”

“To hear this young girl breathe such fire into this song. I mean, it really sent the proverbial tingles up my spine,” he added.

Before long, the rest of the country would feel it, too. Houston made her album debut in 1985 with “Whitney Houston,” which sold millions and spawned hit after hit. “Saving All My Love for You” brought her her first Grammy, for best female pop vocal. “How Will I Know,” ”You Give Good Love” and “The Greatest Love of All” also became hit singles.

Another multiplatinum album, “Whitney,” came out in 1987 and included hits like “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” and “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.”

The New York Times wrote that Houston “possesses one of her generation’s most powerful gospel-trained voices, but she eschews many of the churchier mannerisms of her forerunners. She uses ornamental gospel phrasing only sparingly, and instead of projecting an earthy, tearful vulnerability, communicates cool self-assurance and strength, building pop ballads to majestic, sustained peaks of intensity.”

Her decision not to follow the more soulful inflections of singers like Franklin drew criticism by some who saw her as playing down her black roots to go pop and reach white audiences. The criticism would become a constant refrain through much of her career. She was even booed during the “Soul Train Awards” in 1989.

“Sometimes it gets down to that, you know?” she told Katie Couric in 1996. “You’re not black enough for them. I don’t know. You’re not R&B enough. You’re very pop. The white audience has taken you away from them.”

Some saw her 1992 marriage to former New Edition member and soul crooner Bobby Brown as an attempt to refute those critics. It seemed to be an odd union; she was seen as pop’s pure princess while he had a bad-boy image, and already had children of his own. (The couple had a daughter, Bobbi Kristina, in 1993.) Over the years, he would be arrested several times, on charges ranging from DUI to failure to pay child support.

But Houston said their true personalities were not as far apart as people may have believed.

“When you love, you love. I mean, do you stop loving somebody because you have different images? You know, Bobby and I basically come from the same place,” she told Rolling Stone in 1993. “You see somebody, and you deal with their image, that’s their image. It’s part of them, it’s not the whole picture. I am not always in a sequined gown. I am nobody’s angel. I can get down and dirty. I can get raunchy.”

It would take several years, however, for the public to see that side of Houston. Her moving 1991 rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” at the Super Bowl, amid the first Gulf War, set a new standard and once again reaffirmed her as America’s sweetheart.

In 1992, she became a star in the acting world with “The Bodyguard.” Despite mixed reviews, the story of a singer (Houston) guarded by a former Secret Service agent (Kevin Costner) was an international success.

It also gave her perhaps her most memorable hit: a searing, stunning rendition of Dolly Parton’s “I Will Always Love You,” which sat atop the charts for weeks. It was Grammy’s record of the year and best female pop vocal, and the “Bodyguard” soundtrack was named album of the year.

She returned to the big screen in 1995-96 with “Waiting to Exhale” and “The Preacher’s Wife.” Both spawned soundtrack albums, and another hit studio album, “My Love Is Your Love,” in 1998, brought her a Grammy for best female R&B vocal for the cut “It’s Not Right But It’s Okay.”

But during these career and personal highs, Houston was using drugs. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2010, she said by the time “The Preacher’s Wife” was released, “(doing drugs) was an everyday thing. … I would do my work, but after I did my work, for a whole year or two, it was every day. … I wasn’t happy by that point in time. I was losing myself.”

In the interview, Houston blamed her rocky marriage to Brown, which included a charge of domestic abuse against Brown in 1993. They divorced in 2007.

Houston would go to rehab twice before she would declare herself drug-free to Winfrey in 2010. But in the interim, there were missed concert dates, a stop at an airport due to drugs, and public meltdowns.

She was so startlingly thin during a 2001 Michael Jackson tribute concert that rumors spread she had died the next day. Her crude behavior and jittery appearance on Brown’s reality show, “Being Bobby Brown,” was an example of her sad decline. Her Sawyer interview, where she declared “crack is whack,” was often parodied. She dropped out of the spotlight for a few years.

Houston staged what seemed to be a successful comeback with the 2009 album “I Look To You.” The album debuted on the top of the charts, and would eventually go platinum.

Things soon fell apart. A concert to promote the album on “Good Morning America” went awry as Houston’s voice sounded ragged and off-key. She blamed an interview with Winfrey for straining her voice.

A world tour launched overseas, however, only confirmed suspicions that Houston had lost her treasured gift, as she failed to hit notes and left many fans unimpressed; some walked out. Canceled concert dates raised speculation that she may have been abusing drugs, but she denied those claims and said she was in great shape, blaming illness for cancellations.

Related posts:

1. *Unreal Shock* Michael Jackson dies suddenly at 50: Photos & Video
2. RIP: Music Legend Nick Ashford dies at 70