The end of Lauryn Hill’s Rock The Bells set at NY’s Governors Island turned into a love fest as backstage guests Mary J Blige, Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, Swizz Beatz, Chris Rock, Jay-Z and John Legend all came out to hug it out with the enigma. Black star power.

When an entertainer passes, as fans of their work, we tend to feel the loss in different degrees. Sometimes it is simply acknowledging their passing with a “damn..so and so is gone?” or  ”RIP so and so”. In other cases, the loss is felt so strongly that is feels like we have just lost  a close friend or family member. Personally, up until the death of Michael Jackson, I think the untimely death of songstress Aaliyah had the single greatest impact on me. To me, it felt like I lost a close friend. I clearly remember sitting in utter disbelief upon hearing the news and refusing to listen to any of her music for over a year. In retrospect, I’m not quite sure why I took the loss so hard. I liked her music but I wouldn’t consider myself her BIGGEST FAN? Maybe it was because she was such a beautiful spirit and talent and in an unfortunate turn of events she was just…gone. In the blink of an eye her life was just snubbed out.  It just seemed so unfair?!

I often wonder what her music would sound like today? How she would have evolved musically? Would there have been an Aaliyah clothing line at Target or would she be part of ROC-A-WEAR? Would she have had major endorsements for make up or sports apparel? (Yeah probably cover girl and Nike.) Would the relationship with Damon Dash have lasted? Would Jay z and Damon Dash still be together? (I’m not saying she was the cause of their break up, I’m just wondering out loud.) So many questions, that we will never have answers to; nevertheless, we do have the greatest gift to celebrate her life – her music. On the 9^th anniversary of her passing I wanted to post one of my favorite Aaliyah songs. It is a true testament to life, “If first you don’t succeed, dust yourself and try again”… RIP Baby Girl!

With the launch of the Curve ID line, Levi’s has set out to tackle the age-old dilemma (and clever tag line) “All Asses Are Not Created Equal” when finding the perfect jean fit for female ASSets. The jeans are designed in three fits: slight curve, demi curve, and bold curve in order to accommodate various body types.  Waist to hip assessments are performed to address shape rather than size in order to obtain the perfect fit. Congratulations Levi’s (raises glasses) it only took 75 years to make Women (and Men) very happy!  (bottoms up!) Now if we can only work on a (ethnically) diverse marketing campaign?!

Attention all aspiring photogs, Nikon has released an upgrade to the entry level DSLR. Retailing for under $1000, the Nikon 3100 has many of the same (as well as some upgraded) features of its more expensive bigger brother D5000. Some notable features include higher resolution at 14.2 MP, live view and the ability to shoot 1080 HD movies. A great investment for all the wanna be Tarantino’s and Leibovitz’s out there!

Soon you will be able to take an in-depth journey through the trails and tribulations of notably one of (if not) the greatest groups to emerge in Hop Hip, the iconic Wu-Tang Clan. Wu-Tang Clan Revealed, created by one of the original members, GZA (the Genius), is a documentary that spans a decades worth of behind-the-scenes footage of the Wu-Tang Killa Beez.  The recently released trailer provides a glimpse of the raw and unscripted footage comprised in what will almost undoubtedly be one of the best bio-documentaries to be released about the Clan; however, no official date has been set for it’s release. (viewer discretion is advised)

The Nikon Coolpix S1100pj Projector Camera ($350) is the company’s second-generation pocketable projector cam, bringing improvements like a 40 percent brighter projector with a built-in stand, the ability to display the screen of a computer connected via USB, one-touch 720p movie recording, a 14.1-megapixel sensor, 5-way image stabilization, a 5x optical zoom lens, and a 3-inch touchscreen. Boring your guests with family photos has never been so easy.