Word on the street is Paula is about to roll out or in the politically correct term, is about to “transition” from Fox’s “American Idol” to begin working on several new TV projects.

Now whether the fans have been dogging her or she has been getting on the executives last nerves remains to be uncovered. Right now she is filming “Paula Abdul’s RAH Cheerleading Bowl,” a competition program that will air New Year’s Day on MTV.

Now in case you haven’t heard, right in front of Paula’s house last week in Beverly Hill’s an obsessed fan, Paula Goodspeed, committed suicide outside of her home and now Paula considers her house to be “haunted,” and even after hiring “healers” to cleanse the house of ghosts. Paula’s rep says, “Paula Goodspeed was a deranged stalker who sent her (Paula Abdul) death threats.”

OUTKAST BRINGING THE GOODS IN 2009
Well, it’s about damn time. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been feenin’ for a new Outkast joint. Yeah, the solo projects are “cute’ but the dynamic duo is the truth! Word is that Big Boi and Andre 3000 will finally release two solo albums and one collective project in 2009.

Hard to believe that their last album “Speakerboxxx/The Love Below” was released ions ago back in September 2003. Dang how time flies. Big Boi said his second solo joint will be called, “Sir Lucious Leftfoot: The Son of Chico Dusty,” either in January or February, and Andre 3000 releasing his creation soon after. The pair will then begin recording the Outkast project for release later in 2009.

Personally, I wish it was the other way around, gimme the Outkast album first, then the solo joints.

PRINCE GETS SUED
Now, as tight as Prince’s pants are, look at who’s trying to get their hands in his pockets. A perfume company is claiming Prince and his music publisher failed to honor a contract to help market a fragrance named for the album “3121.”

The breach-of-contract lawsuit was filed by Revelations Perfume and Cosmetics Inc. in New York. The company says it licensed Prince’s name, likeness and the album title “3121″ to market its fragrance.

Revelations says it spent $2.5 million and agreed to pay Universal half of net profits from sales of the perfume. But it claims Universal and Prince haven’t participated in various promotions since the fragrance launch in July 2007.

Of course Prince and his 20 people have no words for anyone regarding this!

MICHAEL JACKSON SUED….AGAIN
I don’t know why folks keep going after this man. At this point all he has left to give are body parts, but he probably willed them to the Smithsonian or something.

This time, the son of an Arab monarch took the King of Pop to court, charging that Michael Jackson took $7 million as an advance on an album and an autobiography that he never produced.

Lawyers for Sheikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa say that Michael Jackson took expenses as an advance on the book and joint recording project with the sheikh, who is an amateur songwriter. Michael “claims” the money was a gift. I like the “ole gift routine;” it never works on the “People’s Court.”

Check out the “gift” breakdown:

1. Al Khalifa’s first payment, for $35,000, went toward paying the utility bills at Neverland, Jackson’s 2,500-acre (1,000 hectare) ranch and miniature amusement park in California…

2. Then when Jackson was found innocent of the molestation charges in June 2005, Al Khalifa footed $2.2 million in legal bills, the lawyer said.

3. Al Khalifa moved Michael and his entourage to Bahrain right after the molestation trial, setting up a recording studio for him in Manama. The sheikh, who is the governor of Bahrain’s Southern Province, hooked Mike up with $500,000 in cash to subsidize his lifestyle and splashed out on a $350,000 European vacation for Michael and his crew in February of 2006.

4. “The costs even included the expenses of bringing out Mr. Jackson’s hairdresser.”

Damn I wish I could do weaves. Don’t hold your breathe boys, consider it a tax right off!

NEWS BLAST
MARY J. BLIGE LAUNCHES FRAGRANCE CALLED “MY LIFE” through Carol’s
Daughter…

MICHAEL JACKSON’S “THRILLER” IS HEADED TO BROADWAY…

USHER OPENS WINE RESTAURANT IN LAS VEGAS…

LIL WAYNE, T-PAIN TOUR featuring Keyshia Cole, & Gym Class Heroes begins December 18…

SEAL ALBUM “SOUL” Covers Sam Cooke, Al Green, Curtis Mayfield, and Otis
Redding (very HOT!)…

CLIPSE CLOTHING LINE “Play Clothes” in stores this week. New album “Til’
The Casket Drops” due March 2009…

Big Lez has interviewed everyone from Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G. to Mary J. Blige and Tom Cruise. She was host of and producer of BET’s landmark show “Rap City” and has enjoyed an extensive tenure in radio as co-host of The Steve Harvey Morning Show in Los Angeles, plus stints at New York’s WQHT/Hot 97, Atlanta’s WAOK/V103, LA’s Big Boy Morning Show at KPWR/Power 106 and Sirius Satellite Radio. Currently, Lez is partnered with DVA Media + Marketing as producer and host of the syndicated urban radio report, “The Urban Eye,” which launches nationwide first quarter of 2009.

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In the last two weeks, Jackson made national headlines disgracing himself. He didn’t need my help. He has single handedly eroded his tainted legacy with his crude comments about wanting to surgically remove Sen. Obama’s lower anatomy. Now there is the newly revealed news that Jesse also had the audacity to use the N-word!

A reputable source received a partial transcript of the rest of Jackson’s comments on Fox News and confirmed the transcript was authentic. That’s right, Jesse called black people niggers! This is a huge issue for me because I was there when Jesse came to Los Angeles on November 26, 2006 and held a press conference denouncing comedian Michael Richards, AKA Kramer of Seinfeld fame. Jesse insisted that the word not be used publicly or privately due its offensive nature.

In fact, Jackson called for a boycott of all entertainment media that used the word. Jesse used the incident with Richards to call on the entertainment industry to ban the n-word, including rap artists that use it in the lyrics, actors and major television and movie studios. This campaign was felt in cities around the country, with the New York City Council agreeing to ban it.

Jesse’s press conference in Los Angeles was attended by every major Black leader and organization in the city. He stated: “We will challenge and urge all artists and comics to stop using this (N) word. What other group is subjected to such a degrading terminology?” As Jesse spoke, I agreed with everything he said. As a Muslim, I call Black people either brother or sister in public and privately. In fact, my friends have made the mistake of calling me the N-word as a term of endearment or just using it in my presence. A quick friendly glare and disapproving look quickly corrects them.

As an activist, my group has lead high profile campaigns against the use of the N-word, ranging from protests of gangster rappers to foul mouthed comedians. Even Aaron McGruder (creator of “The Boondocks”), who I respect and love, didn’t escape my criticism.

Which brings me to the question of hypocrisy. We believe it’s very hypocritical for Jackson to have tried to get rappers such as Nas, the entertainment industry and the general public to ban and not use a word that he utilizes himself. Jackson’s already apologized to Obama, but since he wasn’t the target of Jackson’s slur, Jackson should immediately apologize to Blacks for not only berating them, but also apologize for his hypocrisy. I’m realistic. Just because the NAACP symbolically buried the N-word doesn’t mean its dead. In fact, you can hear it all the time with a younger generation whose use of it has a different meaning according to those that use it.

Jesse has no excuse. Anytime you voluntarily advocate on an issue or cause, you can’t engage in what you are advocating against. When former President Bill Clinton received spiritual counseling from Jackson in the middle of the Monica Lewinsky scandal in an attempt to repair his troubled marriage, Jesse was in the middle of his affair and had a child hidden away that the majority of the world was unaware of.

This is the pure definitely of hypocrisy! Jesse has a long history of it. His use of the N-word and his do-as-I-say-and-not-as-I-do attitude is just one more chapter in the sad story of a fallen leader.

Najee Ali is Executive Director of Project Islamic H.O.P.E, a national civil rights organization that advocates for the human rights of oppressed people regardless of race, gender or religion. He was selected by Wave Newspapers and Our Weekly Newspaper as one of the 25 most influential black leaders in Los Angeles. More information is available at: www.islamichope.org.

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The recording was going to be aired on Bill O’Reilly’s show when Jackson apologized. He issued a statement saying, “For any harm or hurt that this hot mic conversation may have caused, I apologize.” He also had a lapse in memory because he couldn’t recall all that he had said, but knew it occurred while making another comment about Obama, “talking down” to church goers.

Well, isn’t that nice. Jackson apologized. Well, I say that’s not good enough.

Sometimes an apology just isn’t enough, especially when there seems to be a pattern of poor behavior. Stop apologizing and change the behavior.

If you will recall, Jackson, who claims to support Obama, was also reported to have said that Barack was, “acting like he is White.” Now this all seems a bit contradictory. How can you truly support someone, but have so much negative stuff to say about them behind their back? How about … be consistent as a human being. How about … be the same in a person’s face as you are behind their back. How about … try to stop doing and saying things that you need to apologize for.

Truth Be Told …We could all learn something from Jackson’s little “miss-speak”.

I often see this in my everyday life among friends and even family. People smile in someone’s face and AS SOON as they turn their back or walk away they talk “bad” about them. I think on so many levels it speaks to a lack of integrity.

I say that we all need to make sure that we aren’t behaving in this ugly and unnecessary manner.

My mother taught me that if you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say anything at all. My father taught me to always speak the truth.

I now believe that there is a way to speak the truth and find a kind way to say it. But if you want to say something about someone you need to have enough courage to say it to their face. You can have an opinion, but if it involves something hurtful or harmful then maybe you need to check yourself and keep it to yourself.

I say we ALL start today being consistent human beings who speak the truth with integrity.

Who’s with me?

Remember…It’s Always Love.

ReNina Minter is a former elementary school teacher who followed her passion and earned a Masters in Clinical Psychology. Minter is now a Certified Life Coach. Check out her website at www.CoachReNina.com. Her editorials are exclusive to Urban Thought Collective.

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This town and its residents are described as Catholic and blue collar. I sat in amazement as the media spun a tale that portrayed the Gloucester teens as sympathetic victims who may have been caught up in a teen celebrity culture that glorifies pregnancy and identifies with teens such as Jaime Lynn Spears.

I can’t help but feel that if this same situation were being played out in a high school in South Central Los Angeles, Harlem, Detroit, Chicago or in any urban city in America that the media would not have been as friendly. Black teens would have continued to be portrayed as reckless, immoral, and irresponsible. There would have been howls and shouts of “where was the parental responsibility of black parents?” by Fox News reporter Bill O’Reilly, white conservatives and probably even our own Bill Cosby.

I’m not an advocate for anyone to have a child – adult, teen, white, black or otherwise – who is not capable of providing a financially stable and loving home. But because the teens in question were white and not black, I feel there was a racial double standard in how much sympathy they received and how it was reported.

The Gloucester teens are now going to have to face a huge hurdle in life being young mothers. I hope they are successful for their sake, and for the children they will have to raise. Fortunately for them, they escaped the sting and criticism of the media who didn’t barrage them with a string of questions about the morals. For black teens who continue to have early pregnancies, they unfortunately will more than likely continue to receive ridicule by the media, pundits and others about with whom and where their baby’s father is. This is most certainly another racial double standard. And unfortunate one to say the least.

Najee Ali is Executive Director of Project Islamic H.O.P.E, a national civil rights organization that advocates for the human rights of oppressed people regardless of race, gender or religion. He was selected by Wave Newspapers and Our Weekly Newspaper as one of the 25 most influential black leaders in Los Angeles. More information is available at: www.islamichope.org.

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