Keshawnta's Insert
.. more blurbs, delivered every Thursday to your curb 10-03-02
Ashanti Talks Back
Murder Inc's Princess Ashanti is on the cover of the November issue of Honey
Magazine and she finally has something to say. Now, if we recall, Tweet was
on Honey's October cover spitting venom at Ashanti and her success. Well
Ashanti had a few things to say about that. She says, "I think Tweet is a
good artist. I am rooting for young black females and males doing positive
things and being successful. But as far as her saying she is more original
than Ashanti and thinking she is better than me- I mean that's all good.
She's confident in herself and has her own opinion, great, but I ain't never
gonna bow down to Tweet." One other highlight of the article was the fact
that Ashanti can't sing. When approached about all the nay sayers Ashanti
responded, "If I couldn't sing, why would I be doing this? No one has ever
come up to me and said,'Oh you can't sing, you sound horrible.' It's being
said, but not to my face. She also claims that the fact that she can't sing
is Irv Gotti's fault. Ashanti went on to say, "There is a level that we
didn't even touch as far as vocal ability. Halfway into the album, I
explained that to Irv" 'We need some joints that showcase vocals, because
people are going to say 'Can she really sing? But this being the first R&B
joint that Irv had done, he was like, 'Yo, don't worry- you'll have time for
that. The album is a classic and we need to keep the vibe going. We are
making hit records.'" She went on to talk about other issues, one of which
being all the haters "throwing salt." This issue is on newsstands now, so
you should run out and pick it up, if you're interested in what else the
"princess" has to say.
It was good to finally read an article where some real issues were brought
to Ashanti and she actually tried to defend herself. She didn't do a very
good job, in her own defense, but she gets an E for effort. She was not rude
and she tried to be diplomatic. She could have ranted and raved about
Tweet's record sales and if she's so great why isn't she at over 3 million
albums sold too. Well, that's what I would have done. Damn if she was the
better artist or not. You do not let that girl publicly bash you like that
and try to be nice. Then again with the politics of the industry, a statement
like that will definitely have Ashanti coming out looking like the better
person. Ashanti has got to know that Tweet is way more artistic. Without a
track Ashanti is out of there. Not only a track, but a track of something
that has already been successful a time or two in the past. I'm sure Tweet
won't pay that comment too much attention, because she didn't say anything
derogatory, nor did she dis her. She certainly didn't say she was the
better artist, just that she wouldn't bow down. She sounds like someone out
of the Death Row camp circa 1995.
My favorite part of the interview was this woman defending her voice.
That was just bad. Why would she do this if she couldn't sing? I can come up
with 4080 reasons. For one, she's doing it because she can-can and it's
working for her right now, so more power to her; second, everyone else is doing
it; and third, because her mother will straight go Joe Jackson on her if she
doesn't. Irv must have told her to pass the blame to him. Either you can
sing or you can't. No one sets out to make an album with flat vocals without
range, when they can obviously do better. No one is buying that one. As far
as her album being a classic, well sure thanks to El Debarge and numerous
other blasts from the pasts. She should have just left that one alone. The
mother now has Ashanti's little sister, Shi Shi out in the world sharing her
vocals. Ashanti and the little girl Shi Shi are remaking the Vanessa
Williams song, "Colors of the Wind" from the Pocahantas soundtrack. Vanessa
Williams should sue these girls. If you think Ashanti sounds good, then you
can rest assured that her sister is out there sounding just like her. Now if
you feel that Ashanti cannot sing, well the sister sounds just like her,
only worse, if you can even imagine that. Her voice is flatter and lacks any
range. It is nor melodious or harmonious, but she better hop on Ashanti's
skirt tail while she still can. I just don't see Ashanti being around too
far into the future as a singer, even if her album is a "classic."
Alicia Keys
J Records First Lady, Alicia Keys is really having a rough time right now.
To begin she is being worked to death. She is reportedly going on vacation
for an undisclosed amount of time to work on songs and just "be herself,"
because she has not had an actual vacation since she began promoting her
debut album,
Songs In A Minor. Alicia is in Europe right now touring and
late last week her voice gave out on her while in Amsterdam, causing her to
have to cancel a few shows to give it proper rest. As if all that is not
enough, Alicia is reportedly sick of being forced to dress up all sexy. She
told a reporter, "The amount of pressure I’m under to look good and be an
object of desire is really sickening. I fight against it by saying ‘No,
goddammit, I won’t wear that’ and ‘No, I won’t do that.’ And I’ll probably
have to keep doing this because people try to make you into what they want
you to be."
I really hope she gets proper rest before she does a Mariah. She's actually
one artist that is probably worn out from constant work, where as most of
the other artists that are on the brink of mental instability are usually
trying to be seen at every party or event across the world. I believe that
she has been working herself to death and she probably hasn't had time to
enjoy the fruits of her labor. The girl sings her ass off at each and every
performance, so I'm surprised her voice hasn't given out long before this.
As far as her dressing all sexy, well damn. I have already gone into her
mannerisms and the fact that she always looks out of place in her clothing,
and obviously I was onto something - about the clothes, I mean. Prior to
Alicia being signed to J Records, back when she was signed to Sony, for
appearances she always had on sweatsuits and Tims and she seemed very much
in her element that way. The next thing you know, she's runnin' with Clive
Davis and she's all sexied out. At least they have her fully covered and not
hanging out left and right like some other artists who shall remain
nameless (Destiny's Child). If she isn't comfortable with it, she really
should put her foot down. She made J Records what it is today, so what are
they gonna do to her? Hold her next release? Drop her? Highly unlikely. I
wish her the best and I hope she's back and doing her thing before the world
has time to miss her. We all know how fickle music fans are. Out of sight,
out of mind.
Jermaine Dupri Leaving Columbia
So So Def imprint owner, Jermaine Dupri is leaving Columbia Records. Jermaine
says, "I’m leaving that situation. It’s a lot of people in the mix trying to
get me aboard at their company -- Def Jam, Arista. I don’t know where I’m
going yet. I should know in about a week though. Jermaine will not be taking
his two hottest selling acts, Bow Wow and Jagged Edge with him to a new
parent company. He says, "Columbia put up a ridiculous amount of money for
them. For me to take Bow Wow and Jagged Edge that really ain’t worth it.
Well JD's move from Columbia has been speculated for some time, so I guess
he will be well on his way. He's not been happy with Columbia for a while,
so I'm sure it's in his best interest to move on. If Def Jam snatches him
up, they will pretty much have r&b and hip-hop music locked down for the
moment. I can't believe he says that it would not be worth it to take Bow
Wow and Jagged Edge. So I guess it's safe to assume he feels it's worth it
to take Da Brat and Fundisha, who has yet to even release an album? Well, I
guess he means it wouldn't be worth the money he'd have to pay to buy Bow
Weezy and JE out of their contracts with Columbia. By the time he paid that,
there would be no more So So Def. I don't much care what Jermaine Dupri is
doing, but I like him just the same and I wish him success, where ever he
ends up.
Naturi
Former 3LW member, Naturi called into TRL this Wednesday to allow fans to
listen to a song that she just finished working on. I didn't see TRL, so I
have no idea what the song sounds like. I got this information from
rnbdirt.com. Naturi was recently flown to Atlanta by Jermaine Dupri. No
songs were worked on, they were just vibing. Nelly also flew Naturi out to
St. Louis to talk about future collaborations. Though she says she hasn't
signed a solo deal as of yet, many artists are reaching out to her and they
want to work with her. She says she may collaborate with Nelly, Jermaine
Dupri, Bow Wow, and Jay-Z in the future.
I'm glad to see Naturi land on her feet and begin working on solo projects
already. She definitely needs to do it now, while the controversy is still
fresh. We all know how that sells albums. I believe she'll do well. Now if
she waited too long, she would be like those ousted members of Destiny's
Child that are still trying to get a record deal and no one even cares
about them anymore.
Kobe Bryant
LA Laker guard, Kobe Bryant recently announced that he and his wife Vanessa
Lane are expecting a baby girl that is due in February. It's been reported
that his teammate and sometimes friend, Shaquille O'Neal offered to be the
godfather, but Kobe turned him down as he already had family members in mind
for the role.
Well congrats to Kobe and his golddigger wife. She has definitely sealed
the deal with this baby. God forbid he ever divorces her, he'll be
penniless. Now what is with Shaq offering to be the godfather? If you have
to ask, the shit ain't for you. Let's all keep in mind that Shaq has 5 damn
kids of his own and needs not worry about anyone elses.
Diddy Really?
At the Universal screening of the movie
Red Dragon, P-Diddy and his
entourage stole seats from director Brett Ratner's grandparents. He arrived
at the premiere and was dissatisfied with the seats assigned to himself and
crew so he decided to sit elsewhere. Unbeknownst to Diddy, he and his crew
plopped themselves down in seats reserved for the director's grandparents.
When Ratner's grandparents arrived they found Diddy & company in their
seats. Security was baffled as to what should be done about the situation
and seated the grandparents elsewhere. It's said that once Diddy seats
himself he's not moving. A rep for Universal who was furious was quoted as
saying, "His sense of entitlement is unbelievable."
This is ridiculous. Does he have that much money that no one could have told
his little ass to get up? That's crazy, Brett Ratner should have personally
escorted his ass out of the seats. Puffy is way out of sorts. It's one thing
to be rich, but his arrogance is out of control. Those security guards that
seated the grandparents elsewhere should be fired. If his ass was in Suge
Knight's seat he would have graciously got up for Suge and went and got his
ass a drink. Somebody needs to stop this man before he self destructs.
Damon Wayans vs Bernie Mac
Earlier this summer the Fox network announced that it would pit
The Bernie
Mac Show up against Damon Wayan's
My Wife and Kids which airs on ABC on
Wednesday night at 8. Prior to this new scheduling
The Bernie Mac Show was
on Fox on Wednesdays at 9 and/or 9:30, depending on how they felt at the
network. When the time change was announced Damon Wayans was highly upset,
as he saw it as the networks pitting the two "black" shows up against one
another. He reached out to Bernie Mac to take a stand against the networks
with him and Bernie declined. Bernie said the friendly competition would be
good and he didn't see a problem with it. Well, Bernie Mac should have shut
the hell up and joined Damon in protest. The season premiere ratings for the
Damon Wayans show were 13.9 million viewers in comparison to Bernie Mac's
8.9 million viewers. I don't know if Damon will continue to kill Bernie Mac
in the ratings game, but it's more likely than not. Personally, I can not
get into
The Bernie Mac Show. It just doesn't make me laugh. It's really
dry. I think the Damon Wayans show is much better, but that's just me. I
hope neither of the two shows are canceled, and maybe now Fox will think
about moving Bernie Mac back to one of it's original time slots.
Blood of a slave...Heart of a king-Nas
- reported by Keshawnta J.
whudat.com