Posts Tagged ‘okema t’

R&B Singer/Songwriter Olivia Longott has been through industry hell and back for much of her time in the business. But like a true artist, she pushed past the bad deals, wack contracts and non-believers and has finally made the music SHE wanted to make.

We reviewed her mixtape this spring, Under the Radar, which recieved much acclaim and rave reviews. If not for the drops and plugs, she could have very well called that project an album. However on this new album, “Show The World” we see a different Olivia. I think she finally put the wall down a bit and let us in to meet “Liv.” The writing is raw, it’s emotionally charged and it even gives you a bit of her ability to be vulnerable. The lyrics are moving and fun and flirty and sexy and best of all…honest.

In addition to a new project, Olivia will also be on a new Vh-1 reality show, tentatively titled “Married to Hip-hop.” No, O-lovely is not married, but from what I hear she will definitely be going on several…ummm…interesting dates! And knowing her a bit, I’m sure if they are weak, wack or unattractive, the entertaining blunt demeanor we love for women on reality shows to have will be in full effect!

Aside from Vh-1, her manager Rich Dollaz’ company Dollaz Unlimited, Kathy Liautaud of KLPR Group and the additional sponsors of her event, Olivia was joined by many celebs that night. From model/host Toccara to Jamal ’Gravy’ Woolard (Notorious) to Tionna Smalls and Free; everyone was out that night. Jim Jones and her co-star for “Married to Hip-Hop,” Chrissy Lampkin came through to support her, along with music execs like Michael Kyser, James A. Smith and Mona Scott. Everyone was there to celebrate Liv’s true coming out party.

I was extremely impressed by the music. Some of my faves were the club bangers “Lick, Salt, Shot, Lime” and “Boomerang.” The duet with her and Vaughn Anthony “In Your Shoes” was a great relationship song. And my all-time favorite that night (which everyone loved so much they played it TWICE!) “Ain’t Nothing Like Being In Love.” It has that feel good, love me groove to it. When I hear it I feel like I need to bump it in the car with the sunroof open as I’m cruising up the FDR on a summer night…on the way to rendezvous! The band was amazing and had us all rocking and whether Olivia was just playing us a song or singing to us, she seemed to be entranced by the music as well!

XI was on hand with photographer George Aiken and videographer Allan Volcy to capture the night’s events for our citiXIns and we had a ball. From clowning on the red carpet with Free to laughing with our very own Gift of Gab and Tionna Smalls, to wiping Liv’s tears of appreciation for the love in the room after the show; we were proud to be apart of the whole thing! I have to admit, I was even a bit jelly when James A. Smith from the YEEC and Def Jam came out with the Nanotech2010 rep and presented Olivia with a diamond encrusted GPS watch as a surprise congratulatory gift! That is one SICK timepiece!  And she is the first and only female with one right now!

All in all, we wish Olivia the best and we are so happy that she is truly at the place in her career where she is free to “Show The World.”

**Click bigger image to enlarge**

XI caught up with Eric Roberson for his tribute to Michael Jackson at SOB’s.

XI sits down with singing sensation Kimberly Nichole after her live “Dirty Diana” tribute to Michael Jackson.

In NYC there is no shortage of locations for live music and hot acts. One mainstay for such activity is the legendary SOB’s. Once per month, singer/songwriter Eric Roberson invades the place with his SOL Village event. This month…it was all about the late Gloved One – Michael Jackson.

The line-up was packed with greats; from Dreamgirls’ Chester Gregory  who sang Thriller with Eric, to famed songwriter Gordon Chambers  who gave the audience Rock Wit You, She’s Out of My Life and a piece of his hit for Micheal’s old label MJJ, If You Love Me, performed by Brownstone.  Other performances included Kimberly Nichole who SMASHED Dirty Diana!  sidebar – if Grace Jones and Janelle Monet had a baby…it would be that chick! 

Jazzy gave a soft and pretty version of Wanna Be Where You Are while Lance Drummond was suited up as he crooned Human Nature.  Everyone got on the stage and belted it out for Mike, doing their best rendition of his classics. I also got to sit down with Eric, Kimberly Nichole and Jazzy to see what else they were up to as our Director of Photography Brian Everett Francis snapped the pics and videographer Allan Volcy caught it all on tape!

Check XI TV for the vids of my interviews along with clips from the performances and click below for pics of the night.

Your star still shines bright Micheal and as you can see…we love you and will never forget what you did for music, fashion and humanity.

XI Magazine is always up on “What’s New. What’s Now. What’s Next!”  And what is next is FALL!!!!!  In the fashion world it’s already time for Cruise 2011, but on our pages, we are ready to take our XI-Fly ladies into the fall with what’s hot!

Beginning on Monday, August 30th and everyday next week,  we will publish a set of hot looks for the Fall.  We are starting…from the bottom up.  So Monday, you will get hot shoes and boots from XI’s own Kerry J.  On Tuesday itsabout what’s on the body with skirts and dresses from Kim M. Wednesday it’s how to top all that off, so we will bring you accessories to “live” for by our girl Llaren V. 

Thursday and Friday will be a special treat for you citiXIns!  We will have three haute complete fall looks from guest bloggers Krishna Davenport “the F_uitlist” and Zulema George, who teamed up with Breena Bradford to represent for chouchounette boutique!  Trust me, these ladies brought a great set of looks for you and after seeing them, I want to shop NOW! LOL

Our Fall Digi-Spread will provide you ladies with what to wear, the coinage necessary to cop it and where to score these treasures.  So make sure you check in with us all next week for your seasonal switch ideas to keep you in style this Autumn!

As XI Magazine grows and expands its reach, new contributing writers are very necessary.  Our writers are the backbone of the publication and we have some gems for sure! 

Our newest treasure is Danyelle Little, also known as “The Cubicle Chick.” 

Danyelle Little is a writer, blogger, and columnist from St. Louis, Missouri.   In the interest of mommy-dom, she recently abandoned her cubicle to be a WAHM (work-at-home-mom).  She and her two little ones are elated that she made that decision.

Danyelle manages to juggle parenting, writing, consulting, and being fabulous and this is why XI is happy to have here for you all.  She will be contributing to the fashion and beauty division and also providing lifestyle topics from time to time.

Along with XI, Danyelle writes for several blogs and online portals and contributes daily to her leading lifestyle and parenting blog, TheCubicleChick.com.  When she pushes aways from the keyboard, Danyelle enjoys fashion, travel, nightlife, and a good art show or play.

XI is hype to have this new addition to the roster and you can catch Danyelle’s first post (of many to come) on Monday!

There are times in life that you hear something that just moves you.  You don’t initially know why, how or any of those things…but you know that you are touched.  The voice of Cory Campbell was just that for me.  I was vaguely familiar with him through a good friend and fellow artist of mine, Tiffany Mynon, but it was not until I heard him up-close and personal on my radio show, Spotlite Radio, that I was like WOW!!!!

Co Campbell is an artist’s artist.  A writer, composer and singer, he’s young but talented beyond his years.  He’s written for and sang with some amazing Gospel giants.  He not only sings his music to inspire, uplift and encourage the masses, he lives the live he sings about.  His music is palletable to both the devout Christian and the seasonal Sunday-goer.  It makes you not just react…it makes you respond!  It makes you think…it makes you FEEL.

XI Magazine was fortunate enough to catch up with Co prior to the release of his album “The Good News” on August 29th and he gave us the low down on his art, his influences and his love of the Father.  So without more babbling from me…I present you citiXIns…Co Campbell, The Paper Boy!

This past week, I was fortunate enough to be featured on the website MySalonScoop.com.  I was asked to give a hair story and so I spoke of my follicle faux-pas on the set of Voices.  MySalonScoop.com is run by Veronica Woods and is the ultimate beauty matchmaker for women of color. They are an online beauty magazine and hair salon review directory and we will be featuring Veronica in XI  in our beauty section this fall.  

Until then, check my article below “Lights, Camera, Flat-Irons!”  Also, don’t forget to click on the site!

This column was originally published by MySalonScoop.com. Copyright 2010 © My Salon Scoop, LLC

Celeb hair-nista learns to come prepared for the unexpected

My name is Okema T. Moore, and I am a singer, writer and actress. Being in entertainment, my hair is the accessory I feel allows me to stand out from others. Not many young, brown sisters who rock short cuts are in the business. However, wearing a short cut on the set presents one main issue: Will the hairstylists know what they are doing?

Recently, I worked on a new pilot called Voices.  I just wanted to ensure I killed my lines and looked great on camera while doing so! On the first day we arrived in New Jersey, we were ready to turn this show out. We had a makeup artist and hairstylists available to us on set. I arrived with a freshly washed head of hair. My very fine and very soft hair was laid and ready to be coiffed. I hadn’t put any product in it since it dried. My normal regimen is to wash and deep condition my hair. Then, apply leave-in conditioner, a little pro-shine and olive oil mousse. Once I put in my concoction, I get a fine-tooth comb, part my hair on the side I want to wear my part on that week and comb back to set. Then, I cover my tresses with a silk scarf allowing my hair to air dry as I sleep.

On set that day, there were about six people on hand to do hair who were from an area beauty school. Aside from the students, there were two veteran stylists as instructors also on-hand. Once I heard “beauty school,” I gave my director the wicked side eye thinking, “Ummmmm, I don’t know about this.”

But, I was willing to try. The moment I sat down, a stylist descended upon me like a vulture. She asked me to remove my hat. I did revealing my short cut. She fingered through my hair, seeming to size me up along with my face shape and the circumference of my head. She seemed very excited and confident. After getting a character description, she stated that she was going to “work me out.” Not worrying about anything, I sat back and relaxed. That’s when the problems began!

She tugged and pulled as she combed my hair—truly upsetting me. I’m a bit tender-headed and had to tell this woman to be gentler. She took out a set of small half-inch and one-inch tourmaline plug-in flat irons and proceeded to get to work. As she curled me, I could tell that my hair was flat. I didn’t feel her adding any volume or height to the top, which was the longest part of my haircut. But again, I didn’t say anything. By the time she was “done,” and I use that term loosely, one of her more-seasoned counterparts critiqued the work. She must have seen it was poorly done because she proceeded to take a boar’s head brush and pull my hair back, sans any product. I thought of the possible flyaway strands and my stomach flipped.

Looking in the mirror, my heart sank. I dug into my bags to see if I had brought any of my personal flat irons, but found none. Now, I grew even more insecure! I marched out to the set snatching one of the team’s brushes and some gel. With some smoothing of the sides and a few quick passes of their flat irons through the top of the hair to add height and volume, I didn’t have the look I wanted, but I did have a style I could live with. Thankfully, I was able to return the following day with my own tools and products to achieve the look I wanted.

In the end, my hair turned out great! The episode was amazing and I was able to save face. However, the moral of my story—to all of my hair-nistas who have jobs that require them to leave their hair in the hands of others—always be prepared with a hair repair kit, complete with your personal favorite styling tools, products and quick fixes.

When you hear the term “Chillin On Da Corner” as it would relate to the inner city, the thought of milk crates, dice, and some brand of malt liquor is the unfortunate picture most would come up with.

…not in this case!

Ephraim Fetti Benton, McCray Media, Nicole Stoll of Chillin On Da Corner and Beyond in conjunction with the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation, Light Up Film, Brooklyn Cooperative Federal Credit Union, Stuart Films, Waterlicious, the NYILFF and others, brought awareness to the Bedford Stuyvesant Community on Tuesday, August 17th.

Gabourey Sidibe and the Each One Teach One Girls (Angelic Zambrana, Xosha Roquemore, Amina Robinson and Chyna Layne) of the movie Precious made up a panel to discuss the situations and events from the movie. Herbert Von King Park and Community Center held the panel on it’s amphitheater stage before a screening of the film. Attendees included Dr. Monica Sweeney (Assist. Commissioner of the Bureau of Mental Health & Hygiene for NYC), Actor Stephen Hill, Director Miles Maker, Tony Clomax, Actor/Artist Ohene Cornelius and a host of other notables. There were raffles, give-aways, free beverages courtesy of Waterlicious and even a mobile unit providing free health screenings, including rapid HIV/AIDS tests.

Media outlets WPIX, New 12 Brooklyn and the YBF.com were there to cover the event. However, no matter what names you tried to drop that evening, the true VIP’s were the children and families of the neighborhood. They were so excited and amped up to see the cast and that theses celebrities had actually come to do something for them in THEIR neighborhood. There were no velvet ropes, barricades or excessive security, so it felt like a chat with family. And personally, as someone who grew up and has spent most of their life in Bed Stuy, in and around these very projects and streets, this event was an endearing moment for a community that is so used to being under served and over looked.

XI got the chance to speak with the stars a bit prior to the panel and they were all so excited and honored to be there. Angelic stated that the opportunity to do a film with such strong message was amazing and that she really was proud to represent for Latinos in the film. Xosha Roquemore stressed how awesome it was to be apart of such a strong story and work with the incomparable Lee Daniels. When I spoke to Gabby, I asked her how she felt about playing this character and what she felt the character gave to the audience. She said that “this film humanized Precious and those like her and all that they go through.” She also said that she was so honored to be the person to bring this character to the forefront and that it’s opened up so many eyes. I told her that clearly it’s opened up doors as well, considering her new role on Showtime Network’s The Big C starring Laura Linney.

All of the young ladies were gorgeous, pleasant and so kind to the fans and children that were there to see them. They signed autographs, posed for pictures, laughed and even had some serious dialogue about being socially responsible and taking care of yourself. They stressed the need to do well in school and to continue to higher places of education and also that they should never give up on their dreams.

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz’ office surprised CODC CEO and event organizer, Ephraim Fetti Benton with a community leadership award for his efforts in the neighborhood. Aside from this event, his company CODC offers events, activities and after-school assistance to community youth. Fetti advocates for the streets because he is from the streets and though in his youth he did many of the same mischievous and sometimes dangerous things that are out there to do, he realized that there was more and that he deserved better. And with his company and affiliates, he’s showing these young men and women a tangible example of what that “more” is.

Fetti accepted his award and then spoke word of encouragement to the youth. Growing up in Tompkins Houses, he told the audience he’s from where they are from. He said that he’s made it by working hard, dreaming hard and going hard. “Take your life into your own hands and try to make something of yourself” he touted. And as he said it, I heard a young mother behind me say to her son, who looked to be about six or sever years old ‘you hear that? You hear what he’s saying…that means you can do whatever you want and be whatever you want to be.’ *insert tears of pride here*

The ‘Life is Precious’ event at Von King Park was a treat for the community and for myself. I look forward to more of these events in and around “urban” areas, as they definitely serve as catalysts to youth that are not as accustomed to seeing their own come back and say “you matter and I’ll show you why.”

*Photos by Director of Media and Photography, Brian Everett Francis

On Friday, August 20th at the Oberia Dempsey Center in the heart of Harlem, Jermaine “Jay Everyday” Smith in association with Reflecta-Wear, Stuart Films, FACES NY and National Income Life Insurance will throw a concert to benefit HIV/AIDS Awareness, Breast Cancer Awareness and Sickle Cell Anemia Awareness and Research.

Jermaine is an XI vet and we’ve done several stories on him and his efforts to uplift, encourage and entertain.  But this event is above and beyond!  Losing his grandmother to AIDS due to a botched blood transfusion in the 80’s before they began to check blood for the disease and a nephew to Sickle Cell, he’s very connected and dedicated to shining light on the inner city community and the need for them to be aware of their health and status.  From knowing your HIV status, to pending parents knowing if one or both carry the sickle cell trait to women of all ages being on top of self breast exams and mammograms;  Jay wants to see a healthier NY, one responsible individual at a time.

The concert will be hosted by yours truly, “O da SupaStarr” and actor/singer Steve Strickland (Strictly Hosting).  Performances include Refining Faith, Juson Williams, Tre’Jae and The Experience, BlackSteelz, Yvette Early, Staxx Cordero, Lena Soul/Adrian Roxstar and The Roxstar Band, Orlando Hanson, LC, Jelani Maleeq and several other Special Guest Performers.  It looks to be a night to remember and proceeds will benefit FACES NY, Maria Davis/I Can’t Be Silenced and various other foundations for HIV/AIDS Awareness, Breast Cancer Awareness and Sickle Cell Anemia Research (United States).

The highlight of the night will be the acknowledgement of loved ones.  Everyone attending is asked to bring a photo of a loved one that has been affected or succumb to one of the aforementioned afflictions or any other.  That will be a moment for all to reflect and celebrate their loved one’s lives and also to celebrate themselves for being so forward-thinking and selfless that they are giving back by attending this event and donating as well.

XI Magazine and Spotlight Radio commend Jermaine and all involved in this wonderful event.  For those of our citiXIns in NYC and the NY Metropolitan Area, we encourage you all to attend.  If you can not attend, feel free to reach out to Jermaine for information on making a donation!

For tickets, info and/or to donate, go to Jermaine’s website.