Alicia Keys and her now huge baby bump welcomed her celeb guests to her 7th annual Keep A Child Alive black ball tonight in NYC at the Hammerstein Ballroom.  Her new hubby Swizz Beatz was there to hold her hand and belly. 

And Whitney Houston, Usher, Sade, and others came out to support.  All the pics when you read on…

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Alicia rocked a cute and flowy black and silver strapless gown with ample space around the tummy. 

Chick is just glowing these days.

Her good friend Whitney Houston made her way on the red carpet.  I honestly think she had a flashback to her hay day because chick was doing the most on this carpet:

Oh Mama Whit.

She even brought Cissy along.

Usher rekindled his "My Boo" time with Mrs. Keys on the carpet.

Cute.

Roland and these damn Easter Sunday Best sherbert ascots…

The gorgeous Sade hit the carpet tonight in all white:

Still looking absolutely amazing these days.

Alicia’s Keep A Child Alive foundation is a therapy program for children and their families with HIV/AIDS in Africa and the rest of the developing world. Great cause.

Photogs: Mazur/Mo Barz

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Actors Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez enjoy a romantic stroll after dinner near the Eifel Tower in Olivier’s hometown of Paris, France, earlier this week.

The rumored couple appear together in next year’s shark thriller Dark Tide.

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Wayne Brady and Mike Tyson joined forces to remake Bobby Brown‘s "Every Little Step" video. Funny.Ass.Hell. Check out Iron Mike gettin’ it in when you read on…

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I have never been more compelled to petition to get someone on "Dancing With The Stars". Just to see somebody this ridiculously uncordinated try their damndest to do complicated dances would give me LIFE every week. 

These biker shorts….the surprise cameo….these dance moves…I CAN’T!  Check it.

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Singer/songwriter Pleasure P (former member of Pretty Ricky) dropped his mixtape 4 Ur Pleasure Vol. 1 hosted by DJ Ill Will & DJ Rockstar. The compilation features samples from some 90s hit songs by Ice Cube, R. Kelly, Biggie, Will Smith and more. Check out the songs below:

Pleasure P’s upcoming studio album, Suppertime is expected to be released in December.

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Singer Solange Knowles Dj’ed the Launch of GUESS Seductive at The Colony on Wednesday night (September 29) in Los Angeles, California. She is still finalizing her third album release which is expected to be out in 2011.

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In a recent interview, LeBron James said he thinks race was a factor in the intense backlash he received for trading Cleveland for the Miami Heat.  Read on to find out what else he said plus get the deets on Kassim Osgood’s ordeal involving a gun, a girl and her ex-boyfriend…

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Last night on Wednesday’s edition of "Primetime" on CNN, LeBron James told Soledad O’Brien that he thought race was a factor in the backlash to his decision to leave the Cleveland Cavaliers saying, "I think so, at times.  It’s always, you know, a race factor."

When asked to clarify his statement after Thursday morning’s practice session, LeBron said, "I’m not going to go back on my words.  I think people are looking too into it."

Maverick Carter, a 28-year-old who is one of Lebron’s closest advisers, said race "definitely played a role in some of the stuff coming out of the media, things that were written for sure."

A recent release of Q Scores, a polling system that measures popularity, appeared to support the notion.

According to James’s recent Q scores, his positive Q rating among African Americans dropped from 52 percent in January to 39 percent in September. His negative Q rating increased from 14 percent to 15 percent. Among non-blacks, James’ negative Q rating went from 24 percent to 44 after his free-agency announcement.  Some believe race plays a role in these ratings.
 

During the CNN interview, Bron Bron also talked about the widely criticized July ESPN special that revealed his decision. "It was my idea and the people around me’s idea," he said.

But it should be noted that the show raised $3 million for Boys & Girls Club of America.

"We own the advertising time. We went out and sold it to brands and we took every dime and donated it to charity," Maverick Carter said.

Frank Sanchez, a vice president of Boys & Girls Club of America, addressed that aspect.

"LeBron was using a significant moment in time to benefit young people," he said. "And a lot of people can take those opportunities and make it about them. . . . His goal was to make it about kids and make it about giving opportunities for kids."

Very true.  Though that hour did seem to be all about him….to me. Lebron ended by saying, "For me to have an opportunity to give back to the Boys & Girls Club of America, that I would never change that," he said. "And if I have to take heat to give back to kids, I would do it the same way every single time."
 

Jacksonville Jaguars receiver Kassim Osgood had to leap out of a second-floor window Monday night to escape an intruder who attacked him and 19-year-old Jaguars cheerleader Mackenzie Rae Putnal at her home.  

The intruder, now identified as Putnal’s ex-boyfriend Julian Armond Bartletto, exchanged gunfire with Putnal before putting a gun to her head, according to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. Kassim, 30, sustained some minor bruises during the attack and while fleeing.  

Kassim and Mackenzie were watching television around 11 p.m. when Julian walked in wearing a plastic bag over his face and pointed a gun at them. Julian then said, “I can’t believe you’re with that  guy,” before pulliing Mackenzie around the room by her hair.  He hit her with the gun and his fists before hitting Kassim in the head with the gun.  

Mackenzie escaped downstairs where she grabbed a gun and exchanged shots with Julian, both of them missed.  Meanwhile, Kassim jumped out the second floor window and ran to a neighbor’s house to call police.

Julian Bartletto, 20, of Jacksonville, was arrested for aggravated battery, false imprisonment, armed robbery, burglary and violation of an injunction.  He is being held without bond at the Duval County Jail.

This was like a scene right out of a Hollywood movie.  Luckily all the parties survived. When asked about Kassim, Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio said  “He’s fine.  I’m aware of it. I really can’t comment on that whole deal. He’s doing OK.”

Mackenzie however, didn’t seem to fare so well.   The Jaguars declined comment on her status as one of the team’s 32 cheerleaders,  and she is no longer on the team’s website. The team has a rule forbidding cheerleaders to date players.

Source 

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Ciara just dropped a video for her latest single, and new material seems to be surfacing as well.

“Shut Um Up” comes from the sessions of Ciara’s upcoming fourth studio album, Basic Instincts. Like the other bits of material to drop, the new track is produced and written by the dynamic duo of Tricky Stewart and The Dream, who are responsible for the album in it’s entirety.

Basic Instinct is set to hit stores November 26th.

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Well maybe Keri Hilson was right.  In her "Turnin Me On" remix ft. T-Pain and Weezy, she supposedly dissed Ciara saying "your vision cloudy if you think you the best," and now Ciara owns up to the cloudiness.  In a new interview, Ciara pretty much dismisses Keri and all their past drama saying she has better things to focus on.  I guess she can’t see Miss Hilson with her blurry vision.  Read on for the deets….

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Ciara recently opened up about the alleged beef between her and Keri Hilson saying she has more pressing matters to attend to so she won’t be beefing with Hilson.

In a recent interview with BoomBox, Ciara said:

“In reference to the Keri situation, I’m so in a different space mentally I can’t even bring myself to do that.  It’s not [important] to me. There’s just so much stuff to get out of life than that. There’s so much more for me to accomplish in my career. Personally, I’ve decided that it doesn’t make sense to do that.”

Ciara said fans shouldn’t believe everything they read:

“When you read about people having differences, it’s case by case. Sometimes there [are] songs that make people think that, sometimes there are rumors. You just never know where they come from.”

The speculations behind the suspected Ciara/Hilton beef first started with the release of Keri’s remix to "Turnin’ Me On." Hilton sings, “Your vision cloudy if you think that you da best/ You can dance, she can sing, but need to move it to the left.”

Then Ciara supposedly came back at Keri in her Basic Instinct (U Got Me) freestyle. And then there was the rumored dust-up at New York City’s Power 105.1’s Power Live show that sent Keri home a little early that night.  A mess.  I hope these ladies work it out, but it looks like CIara has moved on and squashed her side of the beef on her own.  Very grown woman of her. 

In new album news, Ciara’s Basic Instinct will hit stores in November and Hilson’s No Boys Allowed is expected to be placed on shelves around the same time. 

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Nelly hit up WGCI in Chicago this week to chat it up.  And he gets surprisingly defensive about his "non" relationship with Ashanti. 

Oh, and he also has some advice for all the single ladies out there and why there are so many single black females.  Read on for the interview…

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Nelly chopped it up with Midday host Loni Swain.  And here’s what he had to say:

When asked if he and Ashanti are 100% split after being together a long time, Nelly asked who even said they were a couple in the first place?  Nelly said:

"Who said that?   Well what have we always said?  Of course I’m single.  I’m not married, she’s not married."

"Here’s the thing.  I’ve never said I’m in a relationship, she’s never said she’s in a relationship.  I don’t know where they do that at.  But we’ve always admitted to being friends.

He then gushed about how great of a girl she is:

"We hang out.  She’s a very sweet girl.  Very pretty girl.  Very talented.  She does her thing as far as her career and I do my thing as far as mine."

Nelly also gave his views on why there are so many single, black, intelligent and beautiful women out there:

"This is just my opinion.  I think some girls want the perfect guy.  I’m not saying he doesn’t exist, he just has to exist for you.  It’s not going to exist for society…and for you to say "this is the perfect guy". 

"We interpret relationships wrong a little bit.  Instead of ‘Do we look right in society’s eyes?’, it should be ‘Does he look right in MY eyes?  Does he take care of me..make me feel special?’  He may not be 6’2 broad shoulders and all that…but I’ve seen girls turn down a great guy because he doesn’t look the part."

"Then you got the guys who look the part, but don’t act the part.  It’s just about coming up with that balance.  Society has also put us in a rut–either brothers are in jail…or don’t like girls no more.  To each his own."

He also threw in that women need to let a man be a man, but women are still everything to a man.  Hmmm.  Your thoughts?

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Ooops!  Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco tried to help out a charity while promoting his new cereal box, but things went sideways.  Find out the mishap that occurred when you read on…

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In Ohio, Ochocinco has his own line of cereal called Ochocinc’O's sold at local stores. And there is a number printed on the box that should send callers to ‘Feed The Children’ charity. But one Ohio family called the number, 1-800-HELP-FTC, looking to donate to the charity, and instead was greeted by a seductive voice for a sex line. The family was shocked that no one had discovered the misprint yet. 

Ochocinco launched the cereal September 7 and autographed boxes as well. All the boxes in stores were printed with the incorrect telephone number. Ochocinco said the error was a complete mistake and that he isn’t responsible for it.

Hmmph.  So no one thought to call and check to see if the number was correct? Plus, everyone else who bought the cereal and called the number didn’t tell anyone about it?  Funny situation…

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