ash magazine: beauty, music, lifestyle

To celebrate its 100th year anniversary, Mattel has created an Alpha Kappa Alpha Barbie doll. All dressed in pink and green, this barbie will be available in stores soon. If you didn’t know, Alpha Kappa Alpha is the first African-American sorority, established in 1908 at Howard University. Out of the sororities I’ve seen Alpha Kappa Alpha or  Mu Sigma Upsilon) are among my favorites, (although my friend Deborah and cousin Betty would rather me like Delta Sigma Theta)  though I doubt I’d join them. The sisterhood I can deal with, but the stepping I can’t (I’m not that good at dancing).

Although I’m not a big fan of musics ( I really can’t tolerate the singing), I have seen parts of both High-school Musical 1 and High-school Musical 2 and actually liked it. This fall, High schoolMusical 3 is coming to a theatre near you and I have a good feeling its going to be a box office hit.  Above is the trailer for the High-school Musical 3.

 I can’t get this song out of my head. Colby O’Donis is a pop/R&B sensation, whose single “What You Got”, has become a hit, peaking at #14 on the Billboards’ Hot 100. Here are the lyrics to his hit song “What You Got”, featuring Akon.

  “What You Got”

(feat. Akon)

Colby:
I peeped you on the phone
Just showin’ off your stone
And noticed that, that pinky ring
Is right enough baby
I know you’re not alone
But I could just be wrong
The way them fellas houndin’
And sizing you up baby

And I like the way you take advantage
Of every man you love
I see, and I know your game girl
But I don’t mind if you come and play with us, just don’t talk too much
I see you, you’re so cute, you don’t have to say a word

Hook:
Yeah those guys wanna come treat ya right
Cause you sweeter than apple pie
Everything that you want you got
Girl you know that you need to stop
Most beautiful thing in sight
Always Taking on the spotlight
Always in the club lookin hot
Girl you know that you need to stop

Chorus:
Always talking bout what you got
Always talking bout what you got
Always talking bout what you got
Girl you know that you need to stop
Always talking bout what you got
Always talking bout what you got
Always talking bout what you got
Girl you know that you need to stop

Colby:

Girl I can tell you want somethin’ to love
That’s why you hold on to everything
that pass you by
Can’t resist girl, and I cant lie and I can tell if you are here for me
Or everybody watchin’ you shake
from left to right
The way you move got me hypnotized

And I like the way you take advantage
Of every man you love
I see, and I know your game girl
But I don’t mind if you come and play with us, just don’t talk too much
I see, (I see it) so you don’t have to say a word

Hook:
Yeah those guys wanna come treat ya right
Cause you sweeter than apple pie
Everything that you want you got
Girl you know that you need to stop
Most beautiful thing in sight
Always taking on the spotlight
Always in the club lookin hot
Girl you know that you need to stop

Chorus

Always talking bout what you got
Always talking bout what you got
Always talking bout what you got
Girl you know that you need to stop
Always talking bout what you got
Always talking bout what you got
Always talking bout what you got
Girl you know that you need to stop

Akon:
Can’t keep my eyes away from you girl
When you get on the flo’
And do what you do
And everybody want to come back
To that body and kind of remind myself I’m like you
Be sure that type drive a man crazy and snatch him away from his lady
No matter how hard the man hold back
He’ll end up callin’you baby
And they never really know what to do
Once you expose that thing you do
Ya had him crawlin’ on his hands and knees
And ya find a way to get him out of that cheese
And why you thinkin’ you’re the only dude
She off in the mall livin’ off of you
Lettin’ everybody know she got you
And now you feel like a fool

Savage Garden “I Want You”

Savage Garden was an pop duo that composed of Darren Hayes and Daniel Jones. They came on the scene with their debut album, Savage Garden, in 1997 from their native Australia and instantly became a hit with their first single, “I Want You”. Some of you might remember them from their hit“Truly, Madly, Deeply”, which was “The song” for weddings of the late 90’s. In 1999 they released their sophomore album, “Affirmation”, which featured the hit “I Knew I Loved You” (Kristen Dunst made played a love interest in its video). Roughly after Affirmation, they split up. Currently Jones is working at his production company, Level 7 Studio. Hayes is a succesful pop singer and has released several albums, His most recent album, “This Delicate Thing We’ve Made”, features the dance single “The Start of the Something Wonderful”-which has be shown on  New Now Next , a show on LOGO that features new music from new artists of pop, rock, hip-hop, and R&B genres.

Why should you check out Diva Speak TV?  Its hosted by the Diva of All Trades, Amanda Diva. You remember her from MTV2, Def Poetry Jam and Sirius Satellite Radio, and know that she has so much talent and is very talented in all types of media (and now music). Diva Speak TV are webisodes that feature Amanda telling her opinion on Hip-Hop culture, crazy celeb antics and current events. My fave segment is “the Supa-Woman of the Week”, where she profiles a woman who is “doing the damn thing”, a woman who is doing something to benefit her community and others, and who has a positive impact on society. Currently, the last episode for now (she’s going on a break soon) features news about Suzy Orman (Supa-Woman of the Week) and a Big-Up (Auction Block to Hip-Hop) and a Let Down (BET’s Hip-Hop vs. America). Check it out:

Diva Speak TV

      If you’re looking for an alternative to R&B played on the radio and tv, you should check out Hasina. The New York City native has a sound with an ecletci mix of R&B, Soul and Rock and is promoting her new album “Facing The Night”. Currently, her first single is “Honey”, which is a sultry song, but my faves are the more upbeat flirty singles “Just” & “Are You Ready” and the slow and mellow ” Invisible”. To Hear more of her music, checkout her myspace page: Hasina

She has a show tonight in NYC. So if you’re in the NYC area, be sure to check her out:  HASINA HASINA LIVE @ NUBLU THURSDAY, JULY 3, 2008 9PM SHARP! $5 NUBLU 62 AVENUE C BTW. 4th & 5th STREETS F TRAIN TO 2nd AVENUE

 On a visit in NYC during spring break, my friend Deborah and her friend Thelma took me to Duane Reade, ins search of a foundation close to my skin color. Deborah recommended L’Oreal, because she uses one of their foundations, and we decided on L’Oreal’s True Match Super-blendable Make-Up. Foundations are complicated for me, mostly because my skin breaks out with certain foundations and very few shades are similar to my skin tone. But True Match is becoming a new favorite of mine. It has SPF 17, which is beneficial now, with the summer heat protection for skin cancer and Cappuccino (my shade) actually blends in with my skin and doesn’t give me that “cakey/pasty” look. Although L’Oreal is on the expensive side in drugstores (it costs about $11), the price is worth it.

Will Smith, “Summertime”

I’m sure “Summertime” will be on the radios of many back yard BBQ’s.

I’m taking a break for the 4th of July three day weekend. Like most of the U.S., I will probably see Will Smith’s new movie Hancock. It looks like a different take on the super hero, and despite bad reviews, I bet it’ll be another box-office hit for Mr. Smith (he is the king of the box office movies: Independence, Men in Black, I am Legend, Bad Boys, etc.).

P.S. Happy 4th of July Weekend!!!!

Last Saturday, I finally saw Sex And The City!!!! I know, its been an entire month since it first came out, but it was worth the wait. I loved it! From the trailer a while back, I was expecting certain things to happen and some not to happen. But I still love it, I give it 4.5/5 stars. I will definetly post my review later during the week, but I had to write about one thing I couldn’t believe to be true. In the movie, Jennifer Hudson plays Louise, a native of St. Louis who moves to NYC to find love and works as Carrie’s assistant. Since she has a degree in Computer Science, Louise was able to fix Carrie’s website. I thought that her website was only featured in the movie, but I googled it and its real. Its an real website for the fictional Carrie Bradshaw, featuring the three novels she’s written since Sex and The City’s series finale, and photos of the cast through out the movie. If you’re a fan of Sex and the City & Carrie Bradshaw,  check it out!!!!

Last night, the 8th annual BET Awards came on, and to my surprise, it was an excellent show. I’ve been watching the BET awards since its premiere in 2001, and the performances have always been good, but this year was the best.  From Alicia Keys bringing out SWV, En Vogue and TLC to Al Green’s performance of “Let’s Stay Together” & “Love & Happiness” to Ne-Yo’s performance featuring the Jabawockeez!!!!!, it was a really good night.

Alicia Keys Featuring SWV, En Vogue & TLC

Maxwell, singing “Simply Beautiful” In Tribute to Rev. Al Green

Al Green singing “Love & Happiness”