Nov. 13, 2006

Bright Star

It's no wonder Romeo Miller (formerly Lil' Romeo) has dropped the "Lil" from his name: the 17-year-old son of hip-hop mogul/rapper Master P is almost grown. Intelligent, articulate and rather grounded, despite his and his father's success, I was surprisingly impressed when I recently sat down with Romeo for our interview at Elixir Tonic & Tea in West Hollywood.

Before Hurricane Katrina, Romeo had been dividing his time between his native New Orleans and Hollywood, where he shoots his Nickelodeon series 'Romeo!' He was in Hollywood when Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast and the rapper/actor said watching the natural disaster was surreal.

"It's like real hard to think back to that time. When I first saw it on TV, I thought it was a joke 'cause it seemed like something that couldn't be real. We had family members down there and we called them and checked up on them and they was like, 'This is really happening.' While it was happening it was like it was a big dream," he shared.

Facing the reality of Katrina was even harder when Romeo returned to New Orleans to view the damage firsthand. "I mean how somewhere you live just get destroyed? We went back down there and just seeing it, it like really hit us. All our memories just gone. It's unreal. It'll hit me once in a while," he added.

Many of Romeo's relatives moved to Los Angeles after being displaced by the hurricane. The entertainer decided the he would attend public school with them. "The one I am at right now is a big public school. The one I was at before, it was a private school and Denzel Washington's kids go there so they were used to [celebrities and all]. The one I'm at now they're not really used to seeing anybody like me over there," he explained.

Romeo plays high school basketball and he and his pal, Demar Rozan, are ranked nationally for their hoop skills. "We're best friends, and we're number one and number two in the state of California and in the top 20 in the nation," said Romeo, who's been playing AAU basketball since he was nine years old.

With plans of going to college and then to the NBA, Romeo aims to balance his career in professional sports and the entertainment business and ultimately become an all-around talent like Will Smith. "That's one of my role models. I know everything he's done," he said.

Next up for Romeo is the CD/DVD combo release 'God's Gift.' The innovative concept packages a straight-to-DVD movie and music release together for single purchase and is being released by UrbanWorks/Gut Entertainment.

"It's crazy; we wanted to do something different. The thing my dad do is, whenever he come out, he always reinvents himself. So I wanted to do something different. I did the DVD so that they could have a visual with the CD. We're giving ya'll the CD for free. It's just basically a DVD about this kid, kind of like me, just trying to get through life. It's just this kid going through everyday life, living in the hood in the streets of Cali, and he's just trying to make it to college," said Romeo.

The CD 'God's Gift' is Romeo's fifth release, and the DVD component features appearances by Tony Cox, John Witherspoon, Lil' JJ, Silk The Shocker and, of course, his father. The dual disc offering hits stores this week.

Gossip For Dummies

Many of you have heard or read somewhere about a Brandy story I broke on the nationally syndicated 'Tom Joyner Morning Show' in my weekly entertainment report. It had to do with an alleged brawl at a Bible study at a popular mega-church in Los Angeles. The story was a firsthand account from a member-as was stated during the original report. There were numerous calls to the church that went unanswered and there was some correspondence with Brandy's camp that didn't offer anything substantial to make me question the report I received. Furthermore, several colleagues in the entertainment news and gossip game had received the same tip and were working on their end to flesh the story out as well.

Some may be surprised to know this, but I have (or had) a great rapport with Brandy's camp. (Those who have followed my columns over the years are scratching their heads right now!) I'm actually very fond of Brandy's mother Sonja Norwood and over the last several years, I've had a quite pleasant experience speaking with her. More so, because I am usually privy to information and stories that are about to break, particularly as it pertains to Black celebrities, I would occasionally tip her off to the fact that there was something brewing with one of her kids. That's exactly what I did when I caught wind of Brandy's alleged Bible study brouhaha.

Since then, the crap has hit the fan. Brandy's pariah of a publicist did an interview with media veteran Lee Bailey's EUR Report offering his version of the situation and denying most of my report. I did a follow-up interview on-air during the 'Tom Joyner Morning Show' with an official from the church who's story didn't exactly line up with unctuous rep's recap either. (Yep, the church finally reached back out after my original report ran.) Yes folks, the alleged "mentally challenged person" is what we call spin! But I jokingly summed the whole situation up on-air by saying that Brandy's next album, if she ever gets a new record deal, should be called 'Three Sides To The Story.'

Read Page 2 of The BV Buzz