Brown Sista

As a teen, Fantasia Barrino seemed destined to become another statistic—a wayward youth succumbing to her circumstances, which included being a ninth-grade dropout, a functional illiterate, a victim of child molestation, and a mom at age 16. But instead, as the world looked on, Barrino became a superstar with first-name-only recognition. In 2004, on the finale night of American Idol , 65 million votes were cast, more than President Bush received in the federal election that year. Fantasia received more than half of those votes. Her straight-from-the-streets soul spawned platinum record sales, four Grammy nods, one Billboard Music Award and one NAACP award.

Despite her success, Barrino, who grew up in High Point, North Carolina, refuses to forget those early struggles. In fact, she’s hoping others can learn from her mistakes. “I want to use my story as a testimony,” she says. “I want to tell people you don’t have to be perfect to be what you want to be. You want to be a lawyer or a banker? Pick yourself up and go get it.” This month Lifetime Television premieres Life Is Not a Fairy Tale: The Fantasia Barrino Story, based on her gritty New York Times best-selling autobiography.
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I was on the West Side Highway in a 4Runner Jeep, on my way to the Bronx, when I first heard my first record ‘You Remind Me’ on the radio. I thanked the Lord immediately and the next thing that came to my head was, ‘I’m going to be able to get my mother out of the projects.’ She was living in Yonkers’ Schlobohm Projects. I believe I was 19.

I purchased her a house in Jersey. I was so happy for her, because I wanted her out of that environment. She was very, very, very happy. Just happy and confused at the same time, because stuff like that never comes true where we lived. She didn’t know what to do, but she seemed kind of pleasant and at peace.

I don’t think there’s ever been any real sun after that. I had been doing drugs since I was 16 years-old. I was already consumed with the whole thing. That was just a day that was a good day; you have good days and bad days. That was a great day.
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Kierra “KiKi” Sheard is ready for her close up… again.

The 19-year-old daughter of gospel pioneer Karen Clark Sheard released her sophomore opus, ‘This Is Me,’ this week.

“It’s much more of myself behind the scenes, and just being involved,” the Detroit native told Black Voices of the new project, which follows her chart-topping debut ‘I Owe You.’

“It shows my maturity, me growing spiritually and naturally,” she added.
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At New York City’s trendy Coffee Shop restaurant—where model-esque servers sashay between tables and smartly-attired diners sip midday cocktails—Yaya DaCosta is in control.

“I don’t want to focus too much on the show,” begins the young model/ actress, just minutes after slipping her slight 5′ 8″ frame into a booth and ordering a caipirinha, a drink she fell in love with when she studied abroad in Brazil. “I’m grateful for it,” she continues carefully, “but it’s just that it happened over a year ago and there’s other stuff going on.”
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Jermaine Dupri has begun posting messages under the nickname “SOSODEF” on the official Janet-Jackson.com message board.This has not been officially confirmed yet.

In addition to the exclusive photo from the set of the “Call On Me” video that he posted early this morning (as seen on here the left), so far Jermaine has shared, through a number of postings, the following new information concerning Janet and the release of her new album:

Sorry These Pics Are No Longer Available

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Fans living in the Houston, Texas area can come get beautiful with R&B singer Mary J. Blige this weekend at Sephora.

The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul will be making a special appearance at the Sephora store located in the Galleria shopping mall (5015 Westheimer), where she’ll be helping to promote Carol’s Daughter – a new celebrity line of hair and skin treats founded by Lisa Price.
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Ms. Jackson continues to shock and amaze with this newly released promotional pic for her upcoming “20 Years Old” album.All I can say is DAMN!

Meagan Monique Good was born on August 8, 1981 in Panorama, California which is where she developed her interest in show business at a very early age. Meagan began doing TV commercials at the age of four, and added acting to her repertoire by 1994, when she made her feature film debut in House Party 3.

But her spellbinding performance as Cicely Batiste in Eve�s Bayou proved to be the breakout role which would really kickstart the talented teenager�s career. From there, the photogenic phenom landed on such popular television series as Touched by an Angel, the Parent �Hood, Moesha, The Steve Harvey Show, Raising Dad, The Division and My Wife and Kids. And Meagan has met with even more success on the big screen, landing appearances in a wide variety of films which has ranged from Roll Bounce to Venom to D.E.B.S. to The Cookout to You Got Served to 3 Strikes to House Party 4 to Biker Boyz and beyond.
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At the start of her recent tour, it had been nearly ten years since Toni Braxton has been in concert. She had a new album and plenty to talk about � but the first thing she mentioned was how fans at her first show in Atlantic City, N.J., almost got more of her than they bargained for.

Braxton said she left the stage for a quickie costume change. But in the eight seconds allotted to swap outfits, she forgot something: her panties. She was about to head back on stage wearing �just pantyhose and a top� when an alert member of the stage crew caught the faux pas.
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