page contents data-tablet-width="1100" data-tablet-small-width="840" data-mobile-width="640">
Log in

Brooklyn Nets Get Royal Beat Down by Cleveland Cavaliers

Nets Lose to Cavaliers 110-88

On a night when the Barclays Center hosted a king, a prince, and a basketball game, the Brooklyn Nets picked the worst day to not prevail. On an historic night, the Nets received a royal beat down in front overseas company, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

LeBron James aka "King James" and his royal court, the Cleveland Cavaliers, came to the Barclays Center to win a battle, and win they did, 110-88. One could argue that the short-handed Nets made it easy for the Cavs. The Nets missing troop members were: center Brook Lopez, out with a bad back, and shooting guard Joe Johnson; he has the flu.

The first two quarters, the Nets played competitively, but during the third quarter, the tide changed. The Nets were leading 61-60; Kevin Love attempted a pair of free throws made one and tied the game and turned around on the next possession to put the Cavs up 63-61. The Cavs ended the period with a 24-6 run.

At the start of the fourth quarter, the Cavs were up 85-67. And, in a flash, something happened that has never happened at any NBA basketball game. British royalty was introduced to American musical royalty. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Prince William and Kate Middleton, were ushered onto the court to meet Jay Z and Beyonce.

Jay-z-Beyonce Prince-William-Kate on-court-meeting.Still002 resized 700x394

From that point on, the chatter in the arena was less about the game and more about the meeting of two power couples.

Directly following the game, LeBron James gave Prince William and Kate Middleton a gift that included a box of cupcakes and a jersey for the baby on the way.

Prince-William Kate-Middleton Lebron-James.Still002 resized 700x394

There were no photo opps with Nets players, just LeBron.

Well, LeBron is the greatest NBA basketball player of our time, but can you imagine a party going on in your house and you're not invited.

Beyonce Coming Forth With Platinum Edition Box Set

Get ready for the global release of BEYONCE Platinum Edition Box Set. The 2 CD/2 DVD limited edition package will include new songs, "7/11" and "Ring Off" plus four new and unreleased remixes with some superstar collaborators. The original, critically acclaimed self-titled visual album, featuring 14 songs and 17 videos, is also included. The BEYONCE Platinum Edition Box Set is set for release on November 24.

The special edition box set features a live performance DVD that chronicles the year-long "Mrs. Carter Show World Tour," a mini version of the official 2015 Beyonce calendar, and more.

Beyonce Platinum-Edition-Box-Set

BEYONCE PLATINUM EDITION BOX SET TO RELEASE NOVEMBER 24, 2014

Each PLATINUM EDITION BOX SET contains:
• MORE audio CD with two brand new songs and four unreleased remixes with collaborations from Kanye West, Nicki Minaj, Mr. Vegas and Pharrell Williams
• " LIVE" DVD featuring 10 live performances from the "Mrs. Carter Show World Tour" with artist commentary and an accompanying photo booklet
• BEYONCE Original audio CD featuring 14 songs and accompanying photo booklet
• BEYONCE Original DVD featuring 17 music videos
• The official 2015 Beyonce mini calendar

MORE AUDIO CD
7/11
Flawless Remix (Featuring Nicki Minaj)
Drunk in Love Remix (Featuring JAY Z & Kanye West)
Ring Off
Blow Remix (Featuring Pharrell Williams)
Standing on the Sun Remix (Featuring Mr. Vegas)

"LIVE" DVD
Run The World (Girls)
***Flawless
Get Me Bodied
Blow
Haunted
Drunk In Love (Featuring JAY Z)
1 + 1
Partition
Heaven
XO

ORIGINAL CD
Pretty Hurts
Haunted
Drunk in Love (Featuring JAY Z)
Blow
Angel
Partition
Jealous
Rocket
Mine (Featuring Drake)
XO
***Flawless (Featuring Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie)
Superpower (Featuring Frank Ocean)
Heaven
Blue (Featuring Blue Ivy)

ORIGINAL DVD
Pretty Hurts
Ghost/Haunted
Drunk In Love
Blow
Angel
Yonce/Partition
Jealous
Rocket
Mine
XO
***Flawless
Superpower
Heaven
Blue
Grown Woman

What’s The 411 Celebrates 20 Years with New Format and New Hosts

What's The 411, a weekly celebrity-driven urban entertainment and lifestyle television show, celebrates its 20th year with a change in format.

What's The 411's leaves behind a straight magazine format and embraces a format of news, commentary, and featured interviews.

The first episode of this new format also sports three new hosts BIANCA PEART, GLENN GILLIAM, and JACINDA MOTTON. A search is on for the fourth host and will join the show in a couple of weeks.

This episode featured a conversation about Hollywood couple ROBIN THICKE and PAULA PATTON'S split; the NAACP Image Awards; NICKI MINAJI'S inappropriate use of a MALCOLM X'S photo; KEVIN HART'S seemingly meteoric rise; BEYONCE'S position of top of the earnings heap; DENZEL WASHINGTON and LATANYA RICHARDSON in the Broadway production of LORRAINE HANSBERRY'S A Raisin in the Sun; MICHAEL B. JORDAN'S upcoming role in the Fantastic Four.

The celebrity-laden red carpet at the NFL's Super Bowl Gospel Celebration founded by MELANIE FEW-HARRISON is the featured interview. What's the 411 reporter CRISTINA TWITTY hosts this video package, which includes gospel sister duo MARY MARY, American Idol Season 12 Winner, CANDICE GLOVER; AJ CALLOWAY, former host of BET's 106th & Park; gospel singer NATALIE GRANT; and members of the NFL Football Players Gospel Choir: JASON AVANT, TRENT SHELTON; and QUINTIN DEMPS.

The NFL Super Bowl Gospel Celebration was hosted by WENDY WILLIAMS and AJ CALLOWAY. R&B songbird PATTI LABELLE was the featured singer.

Check out video of new episode here:

MTV VMAs Fans Ready for the Show’s Brooklyn Arrival

VIDEO: Talking with MTV VMA Fans in Brooklyn

What's The 411TV correspondents Anisha Robertson and Bianca Peart took to the streets to scout out MTV VMA fans.

Standing in front of the Barclays Center, Anisha and Bianca talked to MTV VMA fans about which recording artists they were looking to see this year, who they wanted to win, and their favorite VMA moment.

MTV MOS Kiara Kiana Tori Brooklynites-and-MTV-VMA-Fans

Photo Credits: Jesse Whitehead/What's The 411 Networks

Videographer: Jesse Whitehead

Video Editor: Ruth J. Morrison

 

10 Reasons Why Fans Were Disappointed With Hot 97 Summer Jam

Hot 97’s Summer Jam XX Recap

On Sunday, June 2, I witnessed my first HOT 97 Summer Jam and please believe me when I say, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Along the 2-mile walk from where the Port Authority bus dropped me off in MetLife Stadium to the press entrance, I walked past a huge parade filled with people from all types of backgrounds.

Hip-hop heads gathered as one in the parking lot, celebrating like it was a major summer holiday--tailgating and barbecuing food; they were really getting ready for a great night.

Summer Jam was too good on paper. It gave us good music and a decent show, but it felt too much like a high school performance—safe, organized and fluent. Don't get me wrong, safety and organization are great attributes for a concert, particularly one the size of Hot 97 Summer Jam. However, we all wanted to see more than the ordinary production; i.e., last-minute surprises and performances outside the box.

It was evident that some fans left Summer Jam XX disappointed and here are 10 reasons why:

1. Joe Budden did a great job kicking off Summer Jam, but bringing out Tank was the highlight of his performance. (Not really a disappointment about Tank, I just love Tank.)

Joe Budden 1 resized 500x333

Joe Budden

2. Miguel performed a relevant performance by bringing out Mariah Carey and J. Cole, but I wanted him to do more like jumping into the crowd to make up for the 2013 Billboard Awards.

Miguel 1 resized 500x333

Miguel

J Cole 1 resized 500x333J-Cole

3. Chris Brown's performance was way too long. Although he electrified some of the women in the audience, he shifted the momentum of the crowd starting off his set with Beautiful People. That was a huge mistake! Summer Jam equals Hip Hop, not Pop. We wanted to hear Look At Me Now first. He could've preserved his opening act for the BET Awards coming up in a few weeks. Breezy's vocals were on point though, but he should've just gone before Miguel.

Chris Brown 1 resized 500x333Chris-Brown

4. There was the 'almost' highlight of the night when Fabolous brought Lil Kim onto the stage. At the end of the duo's performance, Fab appeared to have been introducing another female artist, who many rumored to be Foxy Brown, but didn't. Ebro of Hot 97 claimed that Foxy showed up late, while other bloggers said she couldn't find her earpiece. Nonetheless, Foxy should've been on that stage!!!!!

Lil Kim Fabolous 1 resized 500x333Lil-Kim and Fabolous

 

5. Now on to Nicki Minaj. 2 Chainz's performance with Nicki Minaj was way too short. First off, Nicki skipped out on Summer Jam last year, so why not SHUT the stage down this year with a song of your own? Nicki--How can you come out for 1.5 minutes, then just bounce like that?

Nikki Minaj 2 Chainz 1 resized 500x333Nikki-Minaj and 2-Chainz 

 

6. Okay, back to Foxy. All night, Hot 97's DJ's and personalities were teasing who was backstage. Rosenberg alluded to the fact that women were going to dominate Summer Jam, but that never happened. 

Nikki Minaj resized 500x333

I may have been the only one daydreaming, but I was hoping Foxy, Lil Kim and Nicki would all be on the stage at one time. I'm still dreaming....

 

7. Kendrick Lamar was by far the best performer at Summer Stage, but he should've brought out Jay-Z. When word got around that Beyonce and Jay-Z were in the building, everyone was pretty much convinced that the royal couple was going to hit the stage. Well, that didn't happen either. Seriously, this was the 20th anniversary of Summer Jam, Hov could have rapped his verse to B**** Don't Kill My Vibe?

Kendrick Lamar 1 resized 500x333Kendrick-Lamar

 

8. Everyone seemed to have been upset that Papoose took the stage, but he was actually the highlight of the night. I don't know why he felt the need to say "Free Remy Ma," because no one cared.

 

9. I respect WuTang for their contributions to hip-hop, but for the generation that I witnessed in the crowd, they seemed far less interested. I think they would've been a better closing act.

Wu Tang 1 resized 500x333Wu-Tang 1 resized 500x333

 

10. French Montana, the headliner of Summer Jam closed out the five-hour concert and was probably on stage for less than ten minutes (okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but it was brief.) The highlight of his set was when fellow rap artists Rick Ross and Lil Wayne ran out and performed the hit single, Pop That. The crowd went crazy, of course. But moments later, the lights came on and Summer Jam was over, just like that. Fans exited the stadium in a somber mood, and so did I. Personally, I rode the bus home still wishing that Foxy and Jay would've graced the stage. Maybe it's just the Brooklyn sentimentality in me.

French Montana Lil Wayne Rick Ross 1 resizedx500x333

French Montana, Lil-Wayne, and Rick-Ross

But, until next time...

 

Congratulations to New York Association of Black Journalists (NYABJ)

NYABJ Named a Finalist for NABJ Professional Chapter of the Year

The NY Chapter of the Association of Black Journalist, representing the nation's largest media market also had a strong year of membership growth and program development.

Michael Feeney, a reporter with New York Daily News and 2010's NABJ Emerging Journalist of the Year, credits the chapter’s networking events as one of the reasons NYABJ's paid memberships has grown to more than 140 members. This includes its hugely successful Late Summer Mixer, at Neely's Barbecue Parlor in Manhattan. The mixers have become such a draw that RSVP is required.

NYABJ remained on the political forefront of the 2012 election season by teaming up with Young Professionals United for Change for a Vice Presidential debate watch party, with remarks from Roland Martin and Keli Goff. Feeney said Actress Lynn Whitfield also attended; and the chapter also hosted a Presidential Election panel, Campaigns through the Lens of the Media on the night before the elections.

NYABJ's signature annual Scholarship & Awards Banquet increased in notoriety and recognition in 2012.

"We honored the work of more than 40 journalists,” said Feeney. “The event also garnered widespread media attention because Beyoncé was among the award winners. She thanked NYABJ in a video posted online."

Beyoncé was honored for Essence article "Eat, Play, Love," about how a nine-month break changed her life.

NYABJ also kept true to its purpose of honoring pioneers in journalism and grooming the next generation.

"We also honored WNBC anchor Sue Simmons in a special awards ceremony," Feeney added.

He also praised NYABJ's FIRST TAKE, a free eight-week high school journalism workshop that meets once a week at Brooklyn's Long Island University campus. It trains some 20 students in reporting and producing stories in multimedia formats under the tutelage of NYC's top journalists.

"We know that the workshop is giving city kids something positive to do and it's helping to mold the next wave of journalists. We're so proud of this program and the kids amaze us every year," Feeney continued.

What's The 411 TV Promo Reel

What's The 411 Celebrity Guest List

This What's The 411TV promo video is a slice of video interviews that were conducted by the "411" team for our flagship television show, What's The 411. The video consists of the following celebrated personalities:
Jamie Foxx
Denzel Washington
Kerry Washington
Halle Berry
Regina King
Mos Def
Alicia Keys

  • Published in 411TV2
Subscribe to this RSS feed