Nicki Minaj Blames Lil Wayne For The Reason Why She Got Butt Injections
In a new interview released on Wednesday, Nicki Minaj joined the Joe Budden Podcast to talk about the inception of her career, in which her butt injections shifted to the topic of discussion.
“I was a lot of people’s guinea pig… ‘Til this day I realize even what I did, and even with not consulting with anyone to do something like that, how insane that was,” she starts off the episode. She explains how she did not go to a doctor or a medical professional, but the injections were done by “some random person” in Atlanta.
After signing with Lil Wayne‘s Young Money Record label in 2009, voluptuous butts would be all she would be surrounded by, eventually taking a toll on her self-image.
“Wayne, he was always talking about big booties. Wayne would have a new chick in the studio every session. It was always a new big booty there. They were his muses,” the rap star said.
She continues to detail how that is the type of image rap culture demands and how she didn’t look like that. Wayne and his YMCMB crew would say things to her jokingly about her physique, but being a young aspiring rapper, when it’s from someone like Wayne, the jokes matter and ultimately it wasn’t a joke to her.
“A lot of times, you don’t know how insecure a person is or what their insecurities are. So when you say certain things, around women especially, you can never take them back,” Minaj said. “So where they might have been playing with me probably thinking ‘she’s confident, she’s good in her own skin,’ they don’t know that I always had that insecurity.”
Budden goes on to ask the Super Bass rapper if she feels accountable for this trend, to which she responds that she does, looking at it from a different point of view now.
“Because superstars inadvertently become role models no matter what,” Minaj said.
Ex-Goldman Sachs Banker Tim Leissner Posed As His Ex-Wife When He Was Dating Kimora Lee Simmons
In a bizarre turn of events, former Goldman Sachs banker Tim Leissner admitted he impersonated his then-wife, Chinese heiress Judy Chan to convince his now estranged wife, businesswoman Kimora Lee Simmons, that his marriage to Chan was over, Bloomberg reports.
The German-born investment banker testified under oath on Tuesday as a witness against former Goldman banker Roger Ng, who is on trial for his involvement in the 1MDB scandal.
Leissner corroborated that NG conspired with him to assist Malaysian financier Jho Low to launder billions of dollars from the Malaysian government into a fraudulent government development 1MDB fund, according to Bloomberg.
Leissner revealed in court how he created a fake email account using Chan, his ex-wife’s, name to court Simmons and convince the former model and reality star that he was divorced. His duplicitous actions paid off when he eventually married Simmons.
Simmons even invited the wine heiress Chan on vacation with her. However, Leissner electronically posing as his ex-wife, declined, TMZ reports.
Leissner, while portraying Chan in an email, told Simmons that a car accident prevented her from visiting, according to Bloomberg.
Marc Agnifilo, Ng’s lawyer, wanted the jury to question Leissner’s trustworthiness by showing he’s a “rare cunning liar,” Agnifilo said to the judge.
“It was an entire life you completely falsified because you made the whole thing up?” said Agnifilo accusing the 52-year old banker.
“The correspondence, yes,” Leissner confirmed. “But an entire life may be too far.”
On Thursday, the two-time bigamist also admitted in a Brooklyn federal court that he forged divorce documents twice, from Chan and another unidentified woman, to marry Simmons. At the same time, he was still legally married to Chan, according to the New York Post.
Leissner also confessed he used a fake email address to communicate with Low when the financier contacted Chan in 2016 to sell fine art to her family, he said, according to Bloomberg.
“Jho was trying to monetize the painting and several others, and he wanted to see if Judy or her family could be of help,” recalled Leissner.
Agnifilo pressed Simmons’ estranged husband and asked why he pretended to be Chan while corresponding with Low.
“I wanted to protect Judy from him,” Leissner said. “I wanted to pacify him or be friends. I wanted to make an effort or appear I was attempting to help him.”
Traci Braxton, younger sister of Toni Braxton has died, according to TMZ.
Traci was living with cancer for a year and never made her illness public. She succumbed to the disease on Saturday morning according to her sister Toni Braxton.
Traci’s Husband Kevin Surratt told TMZ:
“We have come to a time where we must inform the public that after a year of privately undergoing a series of treatments for Esophageal cancer our beloved Traci Braxton has gone on to glory.”
Traci transitioned with her family by her side, she was 50.
She is best known for appearing on the family’s reality show, “Braxton Family Values” and recorded a song “Broken Things” with her sisters, Toni, Towanda, and Trina.
Traci’s sister, singer Toni released a heartfelt statement confirming her dear sister’s untimely death.
Singer Toni Braxton took her family life public with WE tv’s Braxton Family Values, giving the world a view into the bonds –and conflicts — between sisters, Traci, Towanda, Trina, and Tamar.
Having struggled through health issues, bankruptcy and marital separation, the superstar and her siblings all support one another through their own personal storms — from Tamar’s “new money” antics and struggle to capture the spotlight, to Trina’s alchoholism to Towanda’s plea for her husband to become a breadwinner. Here are a few key moments where money and love were the focus of drama on the show.
Saddened by the passing of Traci Braxton. I’ve known she was quietly battling cancer for a while & the truth is, God gave her more time than the doctors had projected.
During the interview, Thandiwe Newton’s viral video of her expressing her thoughts on how Hollywood prefers her over darker skin actresses opened a deluge of opinions from the Queen & Slim actress.
Smith said she watched Newton’s interview and sympathized with her pain. However, she also noted some areas were not helpful to further the conversation about colorism.
“I love Thandiwe… I think that it’s unfortunate that she chose this medium to work through what she’s working through,” said Smith regarding Newton’s take on the preferential treatment she receives in Hollywood because she is light-skinned.
“She’s talked about [colorism] many times. She’s talked about what seeing me on screen means to her and so on and so forth. I think colorism hurts all of us, and we all have a lot of stuff to work on,”
“At the end of the day, I am raising a biracial daughter. I’m raising a girl who does not look exactly like me, who is lighter than me. I want to figure out how I can raise her to have an understanding of white supremacy, of colorism, of how she benefits from that, of how she does not benefit from that…,” said Smith.
She continues: “I hate to be that person who’s like, “she has good intentions,” but I think that she is on a healing journey. She has a lot more healing to do, as we all do,” said the British-born star.
Unlike Newton when Smith spoke about colorism in Hollywood, people tried to mute her and accused the former model of lying.
“When I did Queen & Slim and tried to talk about colorism, people told me to sit the f*ck down and that I didn’t know what I was talking about and that I was lying. When I said, ‘This is how I’ve been perceived in life as a dark-skinned Black woman,’ people literally told me that I was lying. So, you don’t want to hear it from dark-skinned women. You don’t want to hear it from light-skinned women. When do we get to have a conversation about it? Without people telling us to sit down and shut up?” said a furious Smith.
She also pointed out that colorism affects mixed-race people even if they possess European phenotypes like lighter skin, straighter hair, and Euro-centric features like Megan Markle.
“It’s like, sis, what do you mean? She wasn’t aware of the experience that she was having because of her proximity to whiteness. She thought that because of that proximity to whiteness and being one of the “good Negroes,” they wouldn’t treat her like that. And then she found out,” Smith says, taking issue with Markle’s Oprah interview.
In the end, Smith said everyone must work together to get out of the “quagmire that is white supremacy and its effects.”
Gabrielle Union Relaunches Plus-Size Spring Collection with Fashion to Figure
Gabrielle Union, 49, is more than just an actress, producer, author, or the wife of an NBA superstar; she’s also a change agent in the fashion industry.
Following her introductory December 2019 limited edition line, Union renewed her partnership with Fashion to Figure, a plus-size women’s retailer, to relaunch the brand’s plus-size spring capsule collection with sizes ranging up to size 4X/U.S. 26-28 available starting March 10.
The price points for the apparel vary from $79.95 to $149.95. To purchase items, they are for sale on the Fashion to Figure website and at Lord & Taylor, according to the Fashionista.
“There shouldn’t be a divide in what’s offered to straight-size customers versus plus. Inclusivity means all, and that’s what’s driven my return to Fashion to Figure and the Saadia Group. We didn’t want to just extend sizes, or to create a new collection specifically for curves,” Union said to Women’s Wear Daily.
Saadia Group houses New York & Company and Fashion to Figure, where Union will also launch straight sizes at New York & Company, and “an edit of my collection is available in true plus sizes at @fashiontofigure,” she wrote on her Instagram.
“We wanted to give all of our customers — across New York & Company and Fashion to Figure — the same offerings,” she added. “Because that’s what fashion equality is all about.”
Union’s spring collection will flaunt a “variety of daytime, dressy and special occasion pieces, created with unique fabrics, standout silhouettes and patterns,” WWD reports.
The theme for the capsule is “feminine meets boss,” which Union undoubtedly drew from her life as the owner of I’ll Have Another production company. She is also the co-founder of Bitsy, an organic snack food line, her natural hair care product company Flawless by Gabrielle Union, according to Variety.
As previously reported by Black Enterprise, a month ago, Union, her husband Dwayne Wade, and their 3-year old daughter also released the Kaavia James Union-Wade x Janie and Jack collection.
Union’s many entrepreneurial ventures strive to include various consumers, which helped shape her new line and clothing offerings.
“What’s really exciting about this is that the Fashion to Figure team was able to translate these designs into the plus fit, rather than simply grading up from New York & Company’s size range,” Union said.
“This ensures that we’ll be able to serve both communities as one, which is the ultimate end goal of fashion inclusivity and equality.”
Nick Kaplan, chief growth and innovation officer at the Saadia Group, added: “Working with Gabrielle Union is just another step in that journey. Having Gabrielle as part of our family and allowing her style to be shared with the community is just another barrier we have broken through.”
Catch Union and Zach Braff in their latest Disney+ movie, Cheaper by the Dozen streaming March 18.
WTH? Playwright Centers Fictional White Woman In Opera Based On Emmett Till’s Death
A white playwright and librettist has created a theatrical production based on the brutal killing of 14-year-old Emmett Till.
Clare Coss is set to premiere “Emmett Till, A New American Opera” at John Jay College’s Gerald W. Lynch Theatre on March 23. An encore performance of the production will follow on March 24.
The play will audaciously tell Till’s story through the eyes of a fictional white high school teacher in Mississippi, Roanne Taylor. Roanne is portrayed as progressive as the character “is against Jim Crow laws, segregation and the racial inequality.”
The play will chronicle how Roanne feels horrible as she navigates racism, but she keeps her mouth shut.
Coss reportedly felt inspired to turn her play “Emmett, Down In My Heart” into a libretto by her longtime friends Lucille Field (who passed away in September 2021) and Patsy Rogers. The two white composers and singers introduced Coss to Mary D. Watkins (an accomplished Black composer), and the opera was conceived.
Seemingly centering herself, Coss stated that Till’s death significantly impacted her while she was a student at Louisiana State University Baton Rouge campus. She said she felt “compelled” to “keep telling Emmett’s story.”
Ok, girl.
Photo Courtesy of Clare Coss Website
“Emmett Till was murdered not far upriver from where I was a junior at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. No one in my largely white world would talk about what happened. A child brutally tortured and lynched—the breakdown of justice. White supremacy and Jim Crow ruled. Over the years, the pain of Emmett’s murder continued to plague my heart.”
Coss continued, saying, “In 1992, I awoke one morning with a spiritual mandate to write a play about Emmett Till. I approached writing about him through my conviction that this tragedy is shared in the way the tragic history of this country is shared. White people as perpetrators and witnesses of white supremacy have a stake in this story. I want people to understand that it was not so long ago.”
“Emmett Till is in our lifetime. He is in MY lifetime. I want people to understand the grave parallels between the world over 60 years ago to today’s world, from Emmett Till to Trayvon Martin to Daunte Wright. It is still happening, and we must continue to shed light on these stories. I am reminded of Mamie Till-Mobley’s words, ‘The world must see what was done to my son. The world must help me tell the story.’ And so we will.”
Playbill’s posted the announcement on social media on March 7, to the chagrin of Black Twitter.
Black folks on Twitter, rightfully, gave Coss the business for even creating “Emmett Till, A New American Opera.”
An opera … about Emmett Till … a REAL Black boy who was tortured & murdered after being falsely accused by a white woman… written by a white woman… centering a white woman … who ISN’T real… so she can
— Part of the Rebel Alliance and a Traitor (@HerRoyalDykness) March 8, 2022
Wait wait wait…She managed to make the murder of a black child about a white woman???
— I Married A Muggle ♀️ (@hagridirongang) March 8, 2022
Having 14 y/o Emmett Till played by an adult tenor instead of a boy soprano reinforces the idea that Black kids are somehow older and shouldn’t be treated like children.
This seems insidious.
— this is a subtweet (@Onefourfiveone) March 8, 2022
Maybe this play should be canceled and the story told through the lens of Black people and not some fictional white woman, especially since we know that his murder was caused by an accusation from a white woman. Beyond ridiculous this was funded.
Coss’s “Emmett Till, A New American Opera” cast consists of white and Black singers. Tania León, an Afro-Cuban woman, is the conductor. Label Noir, an Afro-German artist collective, has created a film for the play. The opera also features Lucia Bradford (mezzo-soprano) as Mamie Till, Justin Ryan (baritone) as Roy Bryant, Robert Mack (tenor) as Emmett Till, Karmesha Peake (contralto) as Aunt Lizzy, Abigail Wright (mezzo-soprano) as Roanne Taylor, Amanda Rose Austin (soprano) as Carolyn Bryant, Markell Reed (baritone) as Maurice Wright.
She touts herself as a “playwright, librettist, and activist.” The 86-year-old artist believes “White people as perpetrators and witnesses of white supremacy have a stake in this story.”
It’s uncertain why she thinks she can tell our stories, but this isn’t a lane any white person should enter– no matter how many Black folks they get to buy in.
Till’s death is synonymous with the very plague that continues to harm Black people. Instead of insisting on telling our stories, maybe progressive white people would fare better centering the atrocities of their people without involving us.
Ludacris Continues the Work of Uplifting Black Girls With the Second Season of Netflix Series, Karma’s World
Self-proclaimed girl dad Hip-Hop artist and actor Ludacris created an animated series, Karma’s Worldfor Netflix back in 2020.
The storyline for Karma’s World follows 10-year-old Karma Grant, who is an aspiring musical artist and rapper.
She is smart, resilient, and deeply empathetic, and puts her all into her songwriting. While she is pursuing her dreams, she is just starting to understand the emotional power that words and music can have.
According to NBC News, the second series just debuted this week and Ludacris spoke to the news outlet about the importance of the animated series.
“For my own daughters, I would love for them to see a show like the one I’ve created,” Bridges said, “where they can see their hair represented and the texture represented, and hear about real-life situations that they’re going through … and just constantly reminding kids that the sky’s the limit — and they can go after their dreams, and they can make change, no matter how young they are, starting in their own neighborhood.”
The animated series is geared toward children ages 6-9 and is a coming-of-age story about a young Black girl finding her voice and using it to change her world. Karma’s World is inspired by Ludacris’ oldest daughter, Karma, and based on the interactive educational website of the same name created by Karma’s World Entertainment back in 2009.
Ludacris is the father of four girls. The youngest being 7 months and the oldest 20. Karma, his first-born who inspired Karma’s World furnishes most of the ideas and themes for the series.
The Fast & Furious cast member also is the voice of Karma’s father, Conrad.
“I love being a girl dad,” Ludacris said. “I’m just the portal for what the most high wants to give me. So we’re going to have some more empowered, extremely intelligent and strong Black women in the world today because they have chosen me to be their father.”
Nicki Minaj Working Toward Starting Own Record Label and Management Company
In an interview with former rapper turned podcaster Joe Budden, Nicki Minaj revealed plans to focus on her entrepreneurial endeavors.
Her business aspirations include following in the footsteps of Lil Wayne, who signed her to his record label, Young Money. Not only does she intend on starting her own record label, but she also plans on managing other artists as well.
“I am creating my own management company,” Minaj told Budden. “I’m also doing my record company. I have a couple of artists that I will start the record company with. I’ll speak on that closer to album time.” She also disclose that her show Queen Radio is returning on another platform.
Minaj does have aspirations to be as successful in business as Jay-Z.
“The female rappers before me, I would always say they should have retired as moguls. And I would say, ‘Why isn’t there a female version of Jay-Z, who at that time, even when I was coming in, we could see that he was on mogul status,” she said. “So I was like, ‘I’m gonna be that person, I’m gonna do that.’ Even what I’ve done, I haven’t done what I want to do, what I need to do, what I will do yet.”
The Queens-bred rapper also spoke of giving respect to the female rappers who came before her and explained the reason she chose to get cosmetic surgery at the beginning of her career. The conversation also incorporated her fashion sense, being a trendsetter, and her questioning why she or any other rapper, specifically Lil Kim, haven’t gotten the chance to be on the cover of Vogue.
Budden also asked about her doing the Swizz Beats/Timbaland Verzuz competition and who she would go up against. She also spoke of upcoming projects, which include a documentary and potential movie role.
Jasmine McCall Turned Around Her Bad Credit And Is Now Helping Others Do the Same
Jasmine McCall was headed to college when she tried to open her first bank account, but she forgot to pay her first credit card bill, which left her with a bad score and an inability to open the account.
McCall was raised by a single mother along with her four siblings, and like most Black Americans, didn’t learn much about money, credit, and other financial literacy tools.
“At this point in my life, I’ve done really well for myself, but I will never forget the feeling of constantly being rejected because my mom had bad credit,” she told The Sun.
McCall decided to take on her bad credit head-on, writing letters to collection agencies after realizing she racked up additional fees that she didn’t owe. She also began paying attention to her daily transactions and eventually the dispute letters worked in her favor as credit bureaus removed the extra charges from her credit report and forgave the fees, resulting in a 100 point jump in her credit.
McCall then began coaching her family and friends with their credit scores and last summer when she was looking for a way to earn extra money after her job notified her that it would be cutting her salary, she began to think of a way to make up for it, not realizing she has a gem in her pocket.
Rather than helping people on a one-on-one basis, McCall began building a plan for a digital package of credit repair services. The package included dispute letter templates for people to use to clear up their own credit issues.
McCall’s business took off and became a success, but she didn’t stop there, creating a YouTube channel, Life With Jazzy. The channel includes McCall speaking on a range of financial topics, including collections, credit cards for kids, medical debt, and even down payments and how to raise your credit score.
“I wanted to widely share my credit boosting tips, as opposed to solely working with clients one on one. It was supposed to be a one-time thing, but there seemed to be an audience for the videos,” McCall recounted, according to The Sun.
“August of 2021 was the first time I made money from YouTube via ad revenue, a payout of $3,199, and those earnings have increased over time, up to $6,800 in one month.”
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