Karu F. Daniels, BV Entertainment News Producer,
Last summer's release of the best-selling memoir 'Confessions of a Video Vixen' hit the hip-hop industry hard and brought its author Karrine Steffans a.k.a. "Superhead" a certain level of notoriety.
Steffans alleges she has had sexual encounters with Vin Diesel, Sean "Diddy" Combs, Ja Rule, Bobby Brown, Shaquille O'Neal, DMX and Jay-Z --which has the Caribbean-born beauty drawing the ire of journalists and media personalities. While promoting the book, Steffans was lambasted and lampooned during interviews with New York City radio personalities and shock jocks.
In the November issue of the men's magazine, 'Smooth,' the temptress talks candidly about her treatment by the press. "The one thing that I learned about New York's urban radio is that it is a very ignorant society," Steffans told the mag's entertainment editor, Jawn Murray, who writes a weekly column for Black Voices. "They speak to their audience and to the people on their shows in an ignorant manner. I think it perpetuates a cycle of ignorance within our communities, and urban radio has a burden to bear for the state that our society is in."
"They have a social responsibility to uplift our communities, and they're not," she added.
During one particular incident on the HOT 97 Morning Show, the show's host Miss Jones (nee Tarsha Nicole Jones) --a former recording artist on Motown Records - went to the extreme of ambushing Steffans with a surprise call from her ex-husband, whom she claims abused her in 'Confessions.' Rap legend Kool G. Rap and his new wife Ma Barker, an underground rapper, revealed many of Steffans' alleged indiscretions, that weren't included in the tell-all book.
"It certainly wasn't '20/20' and that wasn't investigative work," she said, adding, "It just reaffirmed my point that Kool G. Rap was an abusive man...The only thing [Miss Jones] did was to bring to light some points I conveyed about the man on-air."
A paperback of 'Confessions' is due next summer. There, she says, she will reveal details that didn't make the first book, including an arrest for prostitution and her involvement in an underground porn film with adult film star, Mr. Marcus. She is currently working on a novel and is also appearing as a life coach on the NBC daytime reality show 'Starting Over.'
Vibe Coming On
The third annual 'VIBE Awards' are being presented on Saturday in Culver City, Ca. at the Sony Studios. The awards will air on UPN on Nov. 15, and will be hosted by actors Tracee Ellis Ross and Anthony Anderson. According to a publicist for the production, celebrities such as Nia Long, Nick Cannon, Tichina Arnold, Terry Crews, Mehcad Brooks, Sanaa Lathan, Holly Robinson Peete, T.I., Michael Rapaport, Kimora Lee Simmons, The Black Eyed Peas' Will I. Am, Rihanna, George Clinton, Taraji Henson and Derek Luke have been confirmed as presenters for this year's show. The 'VIBE Awards,' a two-hour special event, celebrates innovation, cutting-edge presentation, and genre-expanding work in urban music.
Recording artists Ciara, Ludacris, Pharrell, Young Jeezy, Keyshia Cole, Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley, David Banner, Paul Wall and newcomer Chris Brown are among this year's performers. Grammy Award winning singer Mary J. Blige will receive this year's VLegend Award, which recognizes lifetime achievement.
Mary J. appears on the cover of the December issue of the Quincy Jones-founded magazine. This is the seventh time she has graced the cover in the magazine's 12-year history. In a feature story written by writer Ayana Bird, Blige says: "When I'm called a legend, I say thank you, and I thank the Lord for the favor and keep it moving. I don't let myself absorb it because I want no man idolizing me."
Jamie Foxx Picks Up 'Leaves'
Academy Award winning actor Jamie Foxx has acquired the film rights to the Jeff Stetson novel 'Blood on the Leaves.' The paperback version of the book was published in August by Warner Books. The story is set in contemporary Mississippi and centers around the vengeful murders of white lynch mobs, who were never tried for their civil right era crimes. Stetson, an award-winning playwright-turned-novelist, has been tapped to write the script for the motion picture. Foxx will star.
