Nona Gaye: Enigma

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Akoo model: People 'overreacting' to sexy ad

The model from the controversial Akoo advertisement that has enraged an otherwise lackadaisical nation says the brouhaha is much about nothing.
Dawn Montgomery, 26, a communications major from Atlanta's Oglethorpe University, says even her 4-year-old son questioned her suggestive positioning in the ad, according to Essence.com.

"I feel it's my parental duty to explain certain images to my child," Montgomery says. "At his age, my son can't necessarily comprehend the concept behind the image, but the first thing he said to me when he saw it is, 'Mommy, you're on that man's leg, and you don't know that man.' That's what came out of his mouth. As a model and a mother I put him first when I make my decisions. After I make my decisions, just like this shoot, I stand by it. When he gets older he may or may not have to defend his mother, but he will be equipped."
Let's be honest, the ad is suggestive but so is 99% of mainstream advertising these days. Akoo said they tried to be lke Calvin Klein, the granddaddy of controversial ad sleaze. What can we expect?
Akoo, for their part, has taken the billboard down, but what about the other suggestive eyesores in our major cities?


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Meagan Good to produce 'Video Girl'

Hollywood actress Meagan Good will take a turn behind the cameras, producing "Video Girl," a film about, well, video girls. The film will star such highly esteemed video stars (I'm using the words loosely here) as Esther Baxter, who's claim to fame is Petey Pablo's "Freak-A-Leek" and Hollywood socialite Claudia Jordan, the black Kardashian. The film sounds like a vanity project, but who knows? Could Meagan bring home an Oscar? Meyer? Weiner?


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Lil Kim's Fans Mad as Hell, Shut Down Site

It seems that Lil Kim's fans are fed up and are not going to take it anymore. Wanna rumble with the Queen Bees fans? Apparently, Kim's personal assistant and handler, Bryant McKinnie, does. McKinnie, an NFL player and socialite in his own right, and Kim's "new team" as her fans at LilKimZone.net call them, have destroyed Kim's career and appearance, they say. The fans, many of whom, claim to have been down with Kim for 15 years, say that the defensive stance taken by Kim's handlers over questions about how she looks and alleged drug use, played out in an irate Twitter conversation, was the last straw. They're taking the site down.
Some people feel that the meteoric rise of rapper Nicki Minaj, who started off on some Kim stuff, may have played a role in fans' disappointment with the former Bad Boy emcee.
No word on how lil Kim herself feels about the drama, but we all know Kim has been going under the knife more than a Thanksgiving turkey, but that's beside the point, right? I mean, Michael Jackson did ungodly things to his face, but if you put "Thriller" on you'll see people dropping whatever they're doing and start moonwalking. It's about the music, people. Well, isn't it?


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Will 'Precious' rep for the big girls?

The Notorious B.I.G. summed up his public persona as well as anyone when he rapped the immortal words, "Heartthrob? Never. Black and ugly as ever. However ...". He didn't back down on stereotypical perceptions of skin tone or even obesity. He wanted you to know that he was what he looked like. And more.
So it is with the star of "Precious" Gabby Sidibe, a plus-sized actress who portrays an HIV-positive young mother with a demonic parent.
The catch with "Precious" is that you would think that Sidibe identified with the title character just a little bit. The only thing is, she doesn't.
In a recent interview she said, that all it took was "one conversation. One sentence from me to know that I'm not that girl."
Biggie Smalls, who terrorized rap when he was alive, traded on the fact that he was a big guy, and dark-skinned and the antitypical ladies man. He had women in spite of that fact.
He rapped for you, but he repped for the big, black guys. Like him.
Will Sidibe try to separate herself from the millions of "Preciouses" out there that perhaps look up to her in some way now? She has a right too, but will she? It's entirely her call.
She is a very talented and happy woman who is obviously comfortable and confident in her skin.
And that, in a very important way, is precious.


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Efff Who Pumps, anyone?

Despite the vulgar term, which we will happily pronounce as "Eff U pumps" fierce stiletto heels, I'm told, hurt something awful.
I used to work in ladies shoes (at a department store that will remain anonymous for now) and I can tell you that women, despite cruxificion-like pain, will do what they need to do to make it happen.
The term "Eff U pumps" has been around for a few years, but most people heard about it when British singer Amy Winehouse put it in a song.

It is, according to Wikipedia, "a slang expression for sexy women's shoes, particularly those featuring bare heels."
The thing is, some women can barely walk in said shoes. Truthfully, men don't need to see a type of shoe to know when it's "that" time. In fact, barefoot may do more for the libido.
But you do what you have to do, don't cha?



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J-Lo goes at Rihanna on SNL

Jenny from the Blockster Jennifer Lopez kind of went at Rihanna in a skit on this weekend's "Saturday Night Live". It was a hilarious dig at the "We Are the World 25" song and video put together by Lionel Ritchie and Quincy Jones.
J-Lo's imitation of Riri was crazy. See it below:




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Alicia Keys: Tough streets made me wise up

Alicia Keys says she was scared straight by "drugs, sex, alcohol and death" as a youngster, according to media reports.
The "Element of Freedom" artist says she has taken pains not to fall victim to the vices of the world because of how she was brought up.
"I always make sure I stay connected to the real world." Alicia told You.
Keys, who recently moved into a New York City loft with longtime collaborator Swizz Beats, said seeing the underbelly of NYC streetlife made her want to stay away from it.
"I think that when you see that in your life, you know what it does to you and have no desire to do it."
Keys, whose hit song "Empire State of Mind," sings of the hardscrabble streets of NYC, was born Alicia Augello Cook in Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan. It's a good thing she's learned how to scrap too, because when Mashonda (Swizz's ex-wife) ever catches her in the same time zone ... I think that piano will be out of key for a bit. #justsaying:)


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Is Everybody a Model Now?

Just a few short years ago you had to actually be working for a talent agency to be considered a model. I mean, you had to actually have face shots, and in most cases, a real, live, walking, talking agent.
But along came Myspace, Facebook, Bebo, Black Planet, and Xango, or whatever.
"Models" exploded out of the woodwork. Their credits were simply club shots that somebody took of them with a group of people on the dance floor. Some simply bought a new bikini, a lace front and slapped it on the Internet -- POW -- a model, just like that.
I mean, what would Tyra Banks say?
Now, don't get me wrong a person can choose to make a living or be as entrepreneurial as their work ethic allows, but com'on. All of a sudden the Internet is filled with fiddyleven models?
And the only pose they know? The booty pose, that's it.
Is it me, or can anybody be a model nowadays?


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The Man Your Man Could Smell Like

During an already zany Super Bowl last month (Geaux Saints), a commercial came on that rocked the socks out of fans everywhere for not only it's strong character, but it's hilarious ending.
Former NFL player Isaiah Mustafa plays the part of "the man your man could smell like" and kills it.
It's been said that his Myspace, which had only a handful of friends, shot up to the thousands after the commercial aired. Mustafa's brash character came about while playing around on an answering machine with college buddy Jake Plummer, whom he played with at Arizona State. The supremely confident guy is clever, sharp but what makes the commercial work is a wicked ending, where producers used a mechanized device to slide him upon a beast of burden at the very end.
It's cool, it's sleek, and people are probably walking around smelling like Old Spice right about now.
The viewer is left wide-eyed and drop-jawwed. And women have a new idol to worship.
Oh, and, he's "on a horse."


p.s. Watch the making of the Old Spice commercial here.


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