UPDATE: 11:25 P.M. EST

First Lady Michelle Obama is currently attending Beyonce’s second night performance with daughters Sasha, 10, and Malia, 13. Newsone reports here.

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She’s baaaaaaaack…just like she never left! Five months after giving birth to Blue Ivy Carter, Beyonce Knowles — Mrs. Carter if you nasty — stunned the crowd at the new Revel casino and resort in Atlantic City in the first of four scheduled performances.

Shimmying and shaking her tail feather, the singer, who said there was no secret to her amazing weight loss in the months since giving birth “just hard work,” reminded the crowd why she’s one of the most popular, electric performers in the world.

The freshly minted journalist did not have writing on her mind as she thrilled the sold out crowd.  Beyonce’s set included “Baby Boy,” “Irreplaceable,” Freakum Dress,” “Get Me Bodied,” “Jumpin’ Jumpin,” and more.

See a clip of Beyonce performing “Baby Boy” here:

See a clip of Beyonce performing “Crazy in Love” here:

While the screams of the crowd proved that she still got it, Beyonce’s number 1 fan and Blue Ivy’s poppa, hubby S. Carter, showed how proud he was of the missus on Twitter — and was co-signed by none other than the incomparable Jill Scott:

Case closed.

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“Gosh. If I had some gift, I’d be Beyoncé, I’d be some great singer,” said arguably the most popular, accomplished and beautiful woman in the world. “The power of music, being able to play an instrument…It looks like musicians just have the most fun.”

The love-fest between the First Ladies of the Obama and Carter families have long openly expressed their love and admiration for each other. From Beyoncé’s teary rendition of “At Last” in 2009 at President Obama’s Neighborhood Inaugural Ball, to the “Video Phone” singer’s open letter to the FLOTUS on Twitter (see below), to which Mrs. Obama responded, “@Beyonce Thank you for the beautiful letter and for being a role model who kids everywhere can look up to. –mo,” they have proven to be stead-fast in their appreciation of each other.

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The First Lady, in addition to revealing that she’d be the bootylicious diva in a heartbeat, discusses her book, “American Grown,” about the White House Kitchen Garden, reports the Daily Mail. She also shares the First Couple’s evening ritual:

”We live above the store, which means 6.30pm is dinner. The first half hour, we’re talking to the girls, then we shoo them off to go walk Bo and catch a little check-in without the kids.

‘We have a ritual where he tucks me in, because I’m usually in bed before anybody. He’ll come and turn the lights out and give me a kiss and we’ll talk. He’s like, “Ready to be tucked?” I’m like, “Yes I am.”‘

It doesn’t get any cuter than that.

The People issue hits newsstands on Friday.

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“…We’re just honoring what was passed on to us,” he said. “There was no stipulation that you had to be a member of NYABJ or a writer or journalist. The current board is going to be looking at the criteria for next year.”

Well, alrighty then.

The Root reports:

Eric Deggans, media critic for the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times, who chairs the Media Monitoring Committee of the National  Association of Black Journalists, articulated some of the concern about the award to Beyoncé.

“I know there’s a lot of great practical reasons why giving Beyoncé a journalism award makes sense for this chapter,” Deggans said by email.

“But at a time when everyone from politicians to entertainers is trying to co-opt the credibility of journalists without actually adhering to the ethical standards which [make] our work trustworthy in the first place, journalists need to be the ones who stand against this stuff.

“Our awards should be the final place where we insist that work meet the highest standards. If groups that are supposed to be about maintaining journalism excellence are willing to lower the bar for a celebrity or because that’s the only entries we got for our contest, why should anyone else respect our reputations?

“If we’re willing to grade on a curve to make a celebrity look good, we’re only hurting the reputation of the awards and our own reputations as well.”

In another statement designed to distance the NYABJ from any criticism, Feeney made it very clear that the Dallas-Fort Worth Association of Black Journalists is the organization that actually selected the “Video Phone” singer for the award.

“Cheryl Smith, president of the Dallas association, said the chapter received no pressure from anywhere, overt or implied,” Feeney said. “Cheryl assured me it was the best entry that was submitted. That’s what she said, and that’s what we had to go with. I spoke with the people at Essence,” he continued, “they assured me that they believe that she wrote it.”

The scathing criticism exploding across the internet ranges from Beyonce didn’t write the piece, to she didn’t deserve the award even if she did, to the NYABJ had ulterior motives in singling out a celebrity for the honor. Feeney assures everyone that they are not taking the feedback lightly.

“We’ve heard the complaints loud and clear.”

Read more at The Root.

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Blue Ivy Carter

Appearing tonight on “Oprah’s Master Class: Special Edition,” Carter says “I imagine I’ll take things I learned from my mom and things I’ve learned from raising my nephews and apply that.”  But in the end, he realizes that the father/daughter dynamic duo will probably hit a rough spot.

“Everyone imagines they’ll be a great dad until their [kids are] teenagers, says Jay. “[They say], ‘Get away from me, Dad. You’re embarrassing me.’”

Spoiled will probably definitely be the case that they give her.

In addition to having the name “Blue Ivy” trademarked, the infant has been seen rocking a pair of Marc Jacobs shoes, already has her own “JetBlue” sneaker line, bathes in a $5,200 Swarovski crystal bathtub bought by auntie Kelly Rowland, and sleeps in $22,000 Posh Tots Fantasy Crib.

Oh, and there is that little achievement of being the youngest baby ever to be on the Billboard Charts, appearing on “Glory,” a touching song in her honor written and released by father Jay-Z hours after her birth of January 9, 2012.

Some people might call it spoiled, we call it love.

Catch the conversation tonight on OWN at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

When Knowles took a 9-month hiatus from the spotlight in 2010, she documented her va-ca for Essence Magazine‘s July 2011 cover story titled, “Eat, Play, Love,” detailing her life with business mogul husband Jay-Z, along with such adventures as “discovering her love of artichokes, jumping from yachts and going undercover as a Harajuku girl in Tokyo nightclubs,” reports the Daily News.

Beyoncé Knowles Carter

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Beyoncé, who is often referred to as “flawlessly beautiful,” is featured on the magazine’s cover, and as People Magazine writer and editor Janet Mock notes, it’s the “first time in 9 years that a Black woman lands this coveted cover.”
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Back in 2003, actress Halle Berry was named “World’s Most Beautiful Woman”; she and Beyoncé are the only two Black women to hold the honor in 22 years. Sasha Fierce has appeared in the special issue, which hits newsstands Friday, eight times prior.

Watch Beyonce’s Billboard “Run the World” performance:

But forget the prestigious honor of being a raving beauty, what matters most to the phenomenally gifted singer is that she gave birth to the joy of her life, her 3-month-old little girl, Blue Ivy Carter.  “I feel more beautiful than I’ve ever felt because I’ve given birth,” the 30-year-old tells People Magazine in an exclusive interview. “I have never felt so connected, never felt like I had such a purpose on this earth.”

Besides her busy mommy duties, Beyoncé certainly stays on top of her game career-wise, she is slated to perform in Atlantic City over Memorial Day weekend and is also said to be working on a forthcoming album.

Sound off here:

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Already a Billboard chart-topper, featured on her father’s emotional song, “Glory,” in honor of her “magic” birth after Beyonce suffered a miscarriage, her parents are eager to share their gift with the world:

“We welcome you to share in our joy,” read a hand-written note on HelloBlueIvyCarter.tumblr.com. “Thank you for respecting our privacy during this beautiful time in our lives.” — The Carter Family

See below for pictures of Blue Ivy!

Start Gallery

It’s absolutely not true that she’s the godmother, King said. She’s friends with them, of course, and likes them both very much. She’s working on sending them a baby gift. She hasn’t even had time to send a baby gift because she’s been away.

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Previously published results from Bryan Lessard, a 24-year-old researcher at Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, were recently announced on the species that had been sitting in a fly collection since it was captured in 1981 – the same year pop diva Beyonce was born.

He says he wanted to pay respect to the insect’s beauty by naming it Scaptia (Plinthina) beyonceae.

Lessard said Beyonce would be “in the nature history books forever” and that the fly now bearing her name is “pretty bootylicious” with its golden backside.

“Bootylicious” was the title of a song by Beyonce’s previous group, Destiny’s Child.

It’s unknown if the rare species is a bloodsucker like many female horse flies. Lessard says he was unable to find any live specimens when he went looking in 2010 in northeast Queensland’s Atherton Tablelands, where it was captured three decades ago. However, at least one member of the public has alerted him that he was recently bitten by what’s locally called the “gold bum fly.”

The description of the fly was earlier published in the Australian Journal of Entomology, but the results were announced last week.

Lessard says he hasn’t heard from Beyonce, who recently gave birth to her first child, but he is a fan and hopes she will take his scientific gesture as a compliment. He also said the name was picked to help draw attention to the importance of his field and the need for more researchers to catalog and study insects.

Horse flies are “vital pollinators of native plants, not just in Australia, but all over the world,” Lessard said. “It’s extremely important to name all the undescribed species so we can measure our human impact on the environment and hopefully protect it for future generations to enjoy.”

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There has been no approval from the hip-hop power couple, but none of the dispensaries have received legal notice as of yet.

A day after the Jay-Z and Beyonce’s baby was born, Jay-Z released a song, titled “Glory,” for free download. The Brooklyn rapper touches on his love for his wife and newborn, and the baby girl’s cries can be heard in the background.

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1)  Is this the second coming of Baby Jesus? No, it’s not. When Blue Ivy Carter was born, I expected the North Star to shine prominently and for Three Wise Thugs to show up at the Manhattan hospital looking for her.  I’m really, really hopeful that the Carters themselves don’t buy into the idea that the birth of their child is the most significant event in human history.

2) Shutting down an entire hospital wing? Give me a break: Some of us can partially understand the need to protect the Carter family from an ever-so-hungry media salivating over the chance to get just one photo or video clip.   But if any of the reports are true about Beyonce and Jay-Z shutting down a massive chunk of the maternity ward, then I am angry for the other parents.  The last thing I’d want to see if I were trying to deal with the stress of a newborn child are bulky security guards telling me where I can come and go.  This is silly, disrespectful and pretentious.

3) The lies and rumors: Did Beyonce have a surrogate?  Did they rent out private helicopters to fly in custom-made, solid-gold baby booties?  The rumors about this child’s birth have been beyond outrageous, and I’m sure that a few years from now, Blue Ivy will be amused to read about how crazy the world went over her birth.  By then, she’ll be 100 percent celebrity, wearing sun glasses  to kindergarten, and sporting a weave as long as her body.  Children are already born thinking that they are the center of the universe.  This poor child actually has reason to believe it.

4)  The lies in response to the lies and rumors: Beyonce and Jay-Z have announced that they had a natural birth, but they never really explained the video where Beyonce’s stomach dropped like my grandmother’s face when my daughter got her first tattoo.  The family has maintained their “silent, yet mysterious” disposition on almost every front, seeming to want the attention that their child is getting, while pretending to dislike it.

5)  Blue Ivy’s million-dollar-marketing plan: Beyonce used her pregnancy to steal the show at the MTV Music Awards the way a single man borrows his neighbor’s puppy to pick up pretty girls.   Then, of course, Jay-Z had to release a song right after the baby is born.   Pretty soon, Blue Ivy will be in the studio busting rhymes with her daddy; well actually, Jigga did use her voice on the audio already.  So, put that on the “already did that” list.  The only thing left is for Kanye West to bust into the maternity ward and demand that everyone acknowledge that Blue Ivy is, in fact, cuter than the other babies.  Kanye’s latest outburst has been scheduled for next week.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and founder of the Your Black World Coalition.  To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.

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They had received two complaints about Manhattan’s Lenox Hill Hospital, one made anonymously, the other from someone who had learned about the matter through the media, a health department spokesman said. Officials reviewed the complaints and dismissed them Wednesday night, spokesman Jeffrey Gordon said without elaborating.

The hospital, a popular choice for the rich and famous from late philanthropist Brooke Astor to “30 Rock” star Tina Fey, said it was conducting its own probe.

Beyonce gave birth to the couple’s baby, Blue Ivy Carter, at the hospital on Saturday.

Media reports said Beyonce and Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, paid $1 million to take over a floor and their security guard blocked parents from the neonatal unit for hours. The hospital denied the reports, saying the couple paid the standard rate for an executive suite without disclosing what that is.

One new mother, Rozz Nash-Coulon, told The Associated Press that her twins, born Dec. 28, were in the neonatal unit and, starting Friday, intense security measures made it a struggle to see them as guards directed hallway traffic.

“Once they checked in there was high security everywhere,” she said Monday. “It looked like the president was on our floor. The hospital’s security cameras were taped over. Internal windows from the hallways into the ward were blacked out.”

The hospital’s executive director was heading up its own inquiry into the complaints, hospital spokeswoman Barbara Osborn said. The hospital was interviewing parents who had children in the newborn wing when Jay-Z and Beyonce were there, she said.

“We have spoken to seven out of the 10,” she said. “None have reported being stopped from seeing their babies.”

She confirmed that security cameras were briefly taped over when the Carter family was being moved, “but only when a security guard was present” on the fourth floor, where the neonatal unit is located. She declined to say why they were taped over.

She said that other parents at the unit did notice “enhanced security.” But she said none felt restricted from accessing the unit or any other at the hospital.

Jay-Z confirmed the birth of the couple’s daughter in a song released on his social website Life and Times on Monday.

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People keep asking: What does Blue Ivy mean? What kind of father will Jay Z be? Will Beyonce be able to stop dancing and acting long enough to be a good mother? How long will it take her to get the baby weight off and hit the mic again? The internet is virtually aflame with talk about Blue Ivy Carter. Only a new baby by President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle could top this hype. None of that is what interests me though.

Call me old fashioned but, I’m just happy to see a Black couple that took the traditional route to family for a change. I’m not passing judgement on any lifestyle choices that anyone makes. I believe folks need to live their life the way they see fit. Still it has been a long time since I have seen a Black man love and marry a Black woman, and get such a massive response when they have a child. In fact, I have never seen such excitement about the birth of a Black child in America.

When I speak to kids today, they enjoy talking about many things in their future. However, they almost never talk about love. They talk even less about marriage. Few aspire to a life where monogamous Black love is a reality. Hopefully Jay Z and Beyonce’s marriage, and the arrival of Blue Ivy can instill more faith in our young Black boys and girls about the power of the Black family. I feel like the Black family is in a deep state of crisis (American families are as a whole). So anything that any celebrity might do to confirm the value of the Black family, is something I will champion.

For this reason alone, I’m very happy for Jay Z and Beyonce. I am lucky enough to have been married to a wonderful Black woman for 16 years now. We have three kids together, and I would not want my life any other way. There is no cheating, or violence in our household. We don’t curse one another, or call one another names when things get intense. I’m not bragging. I’m blessed and I know it.  It is nothing to be arrogant about. As time has gone on most of the Black marriages I’ve seen come together have fallen horribly apart. Its unfortunate and sad to watch. Watching any love fall apart is hard though. The number of Black married couples I personally know today (not counting my parents generation), can be counted on one hand. Its pretty wild. But I live in California. I can imagine that in New York or Atlanta the number of married Black families are much more abundant.

Love is not easy on its own. Black love in America, is purely a trial by fire. It must be very hard for them to cultivate the love they have. The pressure of whatever good and bad is in their relationship is enough stress on its own. To have everything you do magnified and scrutinzed by the media is something I can’t even begin to comprehend. Yet they have done it. Not only that they have done it with a class, and grace possibly unmatched in recent years. Rather than get too excited about what these two do, or do not do as parents, I’m reminded to focus on the love in my life. My wife,  and my kids.

So, while everybody else charts astrological graphs and rants about the potential career of  Blue Ivy, I will celebrate something else. I will toast to the beauty of their love, and the power of the Black family they represent. May they be showered with all the joy and protection The Creator can provide. Congratulations to Jay Z, Beyonce and Blue Ivy. Stay blessed y’all.

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Reportedly checking in under the name “Ingrid Jackson” on Friday evening, Beyonce is said to have rented out the entire fourth floor for $1.3 million the New York Daily News reports.

Security was said to be uber-tight, as cameras were covered with tape and staff were mandated to give in their cell phones to stop any possibility of Mother and baby photos being leaked.

Soon after the birth, fellow celebrities began congratulating the new family. Rihanna tweeted:

Welcome to the world princess Carter! Love Aunty Rih.

While Russell Simmons tweeted:

Congrats to my good friends Beyonce and Jay-Z.

While many media outlets have publicly speculated whether Beyonce was pregnant from the time she secretly married Jay-Z in April 2008, the Grammy Award-winning singer finally announced she was with child at MTV’s Video Music Awards:

Many fans celebrated the coming of Beyonce and Jay’s bundle of joy, but skeptics blew the Internet up with rumors of Beyonce employing a surrogate Mother for her child rather than actually being pregnant herself. In early December, Beyonce denied those fake pregnancy rumors in her interview with Katie Couric, saying:

I’ve been really conscious and I’ve been trying my best not to lose control because I’ve met so many people who say, ‘My second baby, my third baby, I learned my lesson,’ ” she said, calling her pregnancy “exciting.” “I haven’t been going crazy. I know that it’s important that I don’t lose myself.”

In weeks to come, we’ll see if Beyonce and Jay-Z will follow suite with fellow celebrity parents Melanie Brown and Stephen Belafonte or Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony on selling their baby pictures to magazines. If their aforementioned secret wedding is any indication, though, we’re guessing it may be a long time before we get a glimpse of the couple’s newest addition.

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According to the UK Daily Mail:

Beyoncé is said to be moments away from giving birth to her first child.

And the appearance of the star’s mother Tina, 57, sister Solange, 25, and nephew Julez in the city has certainly added weight to the report.

Nurses at New York’s St Luke’s Roosevelt hospital have allegedly been told to prepare the labour suite for the arrival of a celebrity VIP.

But the New York Post reports that Beyonce was spotted this past weekend during holiday party-hopping:

While St. Luke’s Hospital was reportedly on high alert last night, piquing suspicion that Beyoncé might give birth there, the pregnant singer apparently stopped by one more party before she went into labor. On Friday, she and husband Jay-Z were spotted at SoHo hot spot W.i.P. for a bash celebrating youth arts program Creation Nation and its Creators Club, which will meet weekly in the space. Beyoncé — who reports say is nine months pregnant — and Jay-Z were spotted sitting tight in a VIP booth and fielding greetings from friends. Beyoncé was overheard saying that her pregnancy was “the best Christmas present possible.” Our witnesses report that the rapper “was very attentive to his wife, at one point getting up to get her some water.” Beyonce has publicly announced that her baby is due in February. But reports have speculated that the diva might be due as soon as this month after she’d said during a video shoot in late September that she was then six months pregnant.

Stay tuned to NewsOne for more breaking reports.

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The couple first filed for divorce in 2009 after Matthew was given a paternity suit from another woman. After a DNA test, the child turned out to be his.

TMZ reports:

The final decree of divorce was issued last month in a Texas court, and according to documents — obtained by TMZ — Beyonce’s mom refiled on August 30. Tina’s first swing at the divorce was in November 2009 … but the matter was dropped in 2010 when they were both no-shows for court.

Read More At TMZ

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The suit, filed in April, accuses Knowles of a ““bad faith breach of contract so callous that, on what appeared to be a whim, she destroyed Gate Five’s business and drove 70 people into unemployment, the week before Christmas.”

Beyoncé’s lawyers countered that she had every right to walk because Gate Five had not secured financing for the project by a mid-November 2010 deadline.

Read more at the Grio.

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Knowles told Couric that she is keeping the due date a secret for the newborn baby’s safety.

VIDEO:

“The truth is, it’s safety. I just want to make sure I can have a peaceful day. And I want to make sure my child is protected.”

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In perhaps the most socially poignant of the parodies, Ramsey’s ”Student Loan Countdown,” highlights the trouble many U.S. college students have paying back their college loans.

In the parody, Ramsey sings:

“Oh, should I stand out on Wall Street?
would that even help me?
Not sure what I should do. Barack are you listening?
Oh, can I get a forebearance?
No help from my parents
I’m doing this on my own
Sallie Mae I can’t pay off my student loans.

Read more at Good.is

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When the story first surfaced in 2007, Jay-Z denied having any connection.

“There is no truth to these ridiculous rumors,” the rapper’s rep told AllHipHop.com.

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The rap mogul is notorious for guarding his private life. He quietly married his megastar wife Beyonce in 2008 and kept news of her pregnancy under wraps for four months until she unveiled her baby bump during an MTV awards show last month.

Read more at The New York Daily News.

“OMG Beyonce just made a huge announcement on the #vma carpet! #baby!!!!!” MTV tweeted, along with a Twitpic of Knowles holding her stomach.

MTV wrote:

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Beyonce’s other inspiration comes from her gal-pal actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who also published a cookbook. The singer has previously said that she is not the greatest cook, but is taking tips from her mom.

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If you are not among the thousands of people who have already purchased Beyonce’s new CD, 4, here is your chance to win a copy! All you have to do is:

1) Follow @NewsOneOffical on Twitter

2) Tweet this message:  I just followed @NewsOneOffical to enter for my chance to win Beyonce’s new album “4″ RT. Enter for your chance to win! http://bit.ly/iDSVyA

3) Answer one of our daily trivia questions on Twitter by replying to that tweet.

Five (5) winners will be selected at random from the entrants. See contest rules here.

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“I feel like now, at least with my career, I’ve kind of broken barriers and I don’t think people think about my race,” Beyoncé said.

“I think they look at me as an entertainer and musician. That’s how I look at people…it’s not about color and race and I’m happy that’s changing.”

Beyoncé, like many other modern Americans, may be on to something. As beaten down as the argument may be, President Obama’s election encapsulated where America stands in terms of race.

Racism is certainly no where near where it was 45 years ago. But can a post-racial society ever exist? America’s ever-changing history suggests so.

With the rising Black middle class, the election of a Black president and a plethora of Black “firsts,” the argument that race no longer matters as much holds legitimate weight. African-Americans, at least those far-removed from the post-slavery, Jim Crow age, do not approach race in the manner that was once cringing and defensive.

Today more than ever Blacks, let’s say in their twenties, do not have much reason to navigate life along the color line. Many young, middle class African-Americans, like myself, have generally lived a life uninhabited of racial prejudice — with the exception of sporadic smears found in politics.

According to a poll conducted by Gallup, 77 percent of Americans approved of Black-White marriages. Similar data was used by Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson in his book “Disintegration” to theorize that America is slowly, but surely entering an age of race acceptance.

But I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge the reality that racism is still prevalent in this country. In fact, Gallup showed, in 2008, that 78 percent of Blacks felt racism was widespread. However, I speculate that data had a lot to do with the frequent racial attacks on Obama during that time. However, another study conducted by The Washington Post shows hope. According to the poll, 20 percent of Blacks believed racial equality was achieved, and another 36 percent believed it will soon be achieved.

From my personal experiences, I think race is gradually becoming something of the past. Black entertainers, athletes and professionals like Beyoncé have been able to transcend race, and enter spheres where their race doesn’t matter as much as their contribution to society does. The cadence of racism will not cease until we can engage the conversation honestly and earnestly. When we participate in racial discourse with oversensitive ills, we miss out on an opportunity to grow as a nation.

In essence, race matters far less. But just how far can its social acceptance take us? I’d say pretty far. How far, exactly, is up to us.

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According to the NY Post, Columbia Records executives are expecting the worst, as they have grown concerned with the lack of hit songs her fans are used to. Beyonce was allegedly asked to return to the studio to re-record new tracks for the album, but refused.

The Post reports that execs have been having “quiet discussions” to reunite Destiny’s Child, the world’s top-selling female group, and have them in the studio as early as October to record a new album entitled “Family Reunion.”

Beyonce’s first single “Run The World (Girls)” failed to reach chart-topping status, and even worse, her album recently leaked before its release date on June 28.

Sources, however, suggests that former Destiny’s Child member, Kelly Rowland, may not be so eager to return to the group just yet, as her solo-career has met significant success. Her single “Motivation” reached #1 on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop chart, and she recently booked a judging gig on the UK’s Ex-Factor talent competition.

A Columbia rep for Beyonce has denied all allegations.

Read More At NYPost.com

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Writer Kia Miakka Natisse has tackled the topic today of Beyonce and the hot-button issue of her skin complexion.

Beyonce has been criticized for her skin looking lighter on magazines before, but it seems to have reached the album cover level now. She even appeared in Blackface on one cover which garnered controversy as well.

The whole Beyonce “lighter skin” issue began when a former member of Destiny’s Child said that Matthew Knowles forced them to tan to leave Beyonce as the lightest.

Read more at TheGrio

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Washington — Now kids who need extra exercise can get their dance moves straight from Beyonce as she’s joined the First Lady’s “Let’s Move” obesity campaign.

The singer has created a Swizz Beats remixed version of her hit song Get Me Bodied to serve as the beat for what’s being called the “Let’s Move! Flash Workout” video.

Read more at TheRoot

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The Grammy-winning singer and her father have parted ways “on a business level,” publicist Yvette Noel-Schure told The Associated Press in a statement.

“I am grateful for everything he has taught me,” Beyonce said in the statement. “I grew up watching both he and my mother manage and own their own businesses. They were hardworking entrepreneurs and I will continue to follow in their footsteps.”

She didn’t say what led to the split, but her father said in a separate statement to the AP late Monday that the decision was mutual.

Knowles has managed his daughter since she debuted as a teen in the multiplatinum-selling group Destiny’s Child in the late 1990s and throughout her superstar career as a solo artist.

Knowles oversaw all aspects of Beyonce, from music to movies to fashion and more. Her career includes 16 Grammy awards, top-grossing movies “Dreamgirls” and “Obsessed,” fashion ventures and lucrative endorsements.

The 29-year-old has released three multiplatinum albums – “Dangerously In Love,” “B’Day” and “I Am … Sasha Fierce” – and has 12 Top 10 hits on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, including five No. 1s. Destiny’s Child had 11 Top 10 hits on the Hot 100 chart and six No. 1s.

During Beyonce’s teen years in Houston, Knowles prepped her, her friend Kelly Rowland and two others for a rising career as an R&B girl group, and Destiny’s Child released its self-titled debut in 1998. Their sophomore album, “The Writing’s On the Wall,” came a year later and garnered multiple hits and two Grammys, but the success also shook up the band and Destiny’s Child became a trio with Beyonce, Rowland and Michelle Williams.

The three also released solo albums, all managed by Knowles. He launched his own label, World Music Entertainment, via Columbia Records, a division of Sony Music.

Rowland parted with Knowles as her manager in 2009 and Williams followed a year later.

In the statement, Beyonce stressed her devotion to her father on a personal level.

“He is my father for life and I love my dad dearly. I am grateful for everything he has taught me,” Beyonce said.

Knowles also got personal in his statement.

“Business is business and family is family. I love my daughter and am very proud of who she is and all that she has achieved. I look forward to her continued great success,” he said.

Knowles and Beyonce’s mother, Tina, divorced in 2009 after 29 years of marriage. Tina Knowles worked as a stylist for Destiny’s Child and continues to style her daughter. Together they launched a clothing line, House of Dereon.

Noel-Schure didn’t comment on who Beyonce’s new manager would be.

Knowles said his plans include focusing on his label’s work in gospel and inspirational music, where he said the company has made a “tremendous investment.”

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Beyonce caused a bit of controversy this All-Star Weekend when pictures leaked of her spread for L’Offciel Magazine in which she is in blackface.

Related: Kanye West “Soul Stealer”

The African themed spread depicts Bey with “blackened skin,” symbolizing her getting back to her roots.

For more photos check out the gallery below:

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Check out the video at TheUrbanDaily

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The 29-year-old Beyonce was surprised to learn she is in her first trimester of the pregnancy. She had wanted to finish another album but was overjoyed, the U.S. magazine said.

One of the music world’s most influential and wealthy couples, Beyonce and Jay-Z, 40, whose real name is Shawn Carter, were married in a secretive ceremony in New York in 2008.

The rapper is set to release a memoir in November called “Decoded,” while Beyonce earlier this year completed a world tour promoting her 2008 hit studio album, “I am…Sasha Fierce.”

Read entire article at ABC.com

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Beyonce Is Pregnant?

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