Category: Whats Buzzing in the Streets

Faith Jenkins is an American attorney, legal commentator and media personality. On March 11, 2014, she officially joined MSNBC as a legal analyst. She was also a television arbitrator on Judge Faith, a daytime court show, where she rendered decisions in a television courtroom. The court show ended production in 2018.

A native of Louisiana, she graduated from C. E. Byrd High School in Shreveport, Louisiana.

She attended nearby Louisiana Tech University where she earned her bachelor’s degree in political science.

Jenkins was involved in beauty pageants and won several major titles. She was the first African-American woman to win the Miss Louisiana Tech title. In 2000, she won the Miss Louisiana title and advanced to compete in the Miss America 2001 competition, where she was named first runner-up, winner of the Quality of Life award, and preliminary winner in swimsuit and talent.

Faith earned her Juris Doctor from the Southern University Law Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where she was ranked first in her class. And she don’t play.

Written by Dianne Washington

Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944), known as the “Empress of Soul”, is an American recording artist, songwriter, businesswoman, humanitarian and author. A seven-time Grammy Award-winner, she is best known for the hits she recorded during the 1960s and 1970s, for both the Motown and Buddah Records labels, with her group Gladys Knight & the Pips, the most famous incarnation of which also included her brother Merald “Bubba” Knight and her cousins Edward Patten and William Guest.

Knight was born in Oglethorpe, Georgia, the daughter of Sarah Elizabeth (née Woods) and Merald Woodlow Knight, Sr., a postal worker. She first achieved minor fame by winning Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour TV show contest at the age of 7 in 1952. The following year, she, her brother Merald, sister Brenda, and cousins William and Elenor Guest formed a musical group called The Pips (named after another cousin, James “Pip” Woods). By the end of the decade, the act had begun to tour, and had replaced Brenda Knight and Eleanor Guest with Gladys Knight’s cousin Edward Patten and friend Langston George.

Gladys Knight & the Pips joined the Motown Records roster in 1966, and, although regarded as a second-string act, scored several hit singles, including “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”, (recorded first by Marvin Gaye but released a year later), “Friendship Train” (1969), “If I Were Your Woman” (1970), “I Don’t Want To Do Wrong” (1971), the Grammy Award winning “Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)” (1972), and “Daddy Could Swear (I Declare)” (1973). In their early Motown career Gladys Knight and the Pips toured as the opening act for Diana Ross and The Supremes. Gladys Knight stated in her memoirs that Ross kicked her off the tour because the audience’s reception to Knight’s soulful performance overshadowed her. Berry Gordy later told Gladys that she was giving his act a hard time.

The act left Motown for a better deal with Buddah Records in 1973, and achieved full-fledged success that year with hits such as the Grammy-winning “Midnight Train to Georgia” (#1 on the pop and R&B chart), “I’ve Got to Use My Imagination,” and “You’re the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me”. In the summer of 1974, Knight and the Pips recorded the soundtrack to the successful film Claudine with producer Curtis Mayfield. The act was particularly successful in Europe, and especially the United Kingdom. However, a number of the Buddah singles became hits in the UK long after their success in the US. For example, “Midnight Train to Georgia” hit the UK pop charts Top 5 in the summer of 1976, a full three years after its success in the U.S.

During this period of greater recognition, Knight made her motion picture acting debut in the film Pipe Dreams, a romantic drama set in Alaska. The film failed at the box-office, but Knight did receive a Golden Globe Best New Actress nomination.

Knight and the Pips continued to have hits until the late 1970s, when they were forced to record separately due to legal issues, resulting in Knight’s first solo LP recordings–Miss Gladys Knight (1978) on Buddah and Gladys Knight (1979) on Columbia Records. Having divorced James Newman II in 1973, Knight married Barry Hankerson (future uncle of R&B singer Aaliyah), then Detroit mayor Coleman Young’s executive aide. Knight and Hankerson remained married for four years, during which time they had a son, Shanga Ali. Upon their divorce, Hankerson and Knight were embroiled in a heated custody battle over Shanga Ali.

In the early 1980s, Johnny Mathis invited Gladys to record two duets – “When A Child Is Born” (previously a hit for Mathis) and “The Lord’s Prayer”.

Signing with Columbia Records in 1980 and restored to its familiar quartet form, Gladys Knight & the Pips began releasing new material. The act enlisted former Motown producers Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson for their first two LPs–About Love (1980) and Touch (1981). During this period, Knight kicked a gambling addiction to the game baccarat.

In 1987, Knight decided to pursue a solo career, and she and the Pips recorded their final LP together, All Our Love (1987), for MCA Records. Its infectious lead single, “Love Overboard”, was a #1 R&B hit and won another Grammy for the act as well. After a successful 1988 tour, the Pips retired and Knight began her solo career. Gladys Knight & the Pips were inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame in 1989 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

While still with The Pips, Gladys joined with Dionne Warwick, Stevie Wonder, and Elton John on the 1986 AIDS benefit single, “That’s What Friends Are For”, a triple #1 mega-hit, which won a Grammy for Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal. In 1989, she recorded the title track for the James Bond movie Licence to Kill, a top 10 hit in the UK and Germany.

Gladys released her third and most successful solo LP, Good Woman, on MCA in 1991. It hit #1 on the R&B album chart and featured the #2 R&B hit “Men”. It also reached #45 on the main Billboard album chart – her all time highest showing. The album also featured “Superwoman”, written by Babyface and featuring Dionne Warwick and Patti LaBelle. Knight and LaBelle would collaborate the same year on “I Don’t Do Duets”, a duet with Patti LaBelle from LaBelle’s album Burnin’.

Her fourth solo LP, Just for You, went gold and was nominated for the 1995 Grammy Award for Best R&B Album.

In 1992 Vernon Ray Blue II, choir master of the year asked Gladys to record his first single “He Lifted Me”

Knight joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1997. She had occasionally teased LDS Church president, the late Gordon B. Hinckley, that his flock needs to inject some “pep” into their music. Knight created and now directs the Mormon-themed choir Saints Unified Voices. SUV has released a Grammy Award-winning CD titled One Voice, and occasionally performs at LDS church firesides.

In 2005, a duet between Knight and the late Ray Charles of “You Were There” was released on Charles’ duets album Genius & Friends.

In 2008, a duet between Knight and Johnny Mathis was released on Mathis’ album A Night to Remember. Knight is ranked number eighteen on VH1 network’s list of the 100 Greatest Women of Rock.

In the spring of 2008, Knight appeared alongside Chaka Khan, Patti Labelle and Diana Ross at the ‘Divas with Heart’ concert in aid of cardiac research, at New York’s Radio City Hall.

In 2008 Gladys, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr. and Ben Stiller performed on American Idol to raise money for charity. In March 2010, Randy Jackson mentioned on a new episode of the same show that he is back in the studio with Gladys Knight working on a new album.

In 2009 Knight sang “His Eye Is On The Sparrow” and “The Lord’s Prayer” at the funeral service for Michael Jackson.

On December 21, 2010, Knight released the single “Settle” on iTunes and Amazon. In September 2011, a new, updated recording of Tom Jones’ 1970 classic I (Who Have Nothing) was released on iTunes and Amazon.

In 2013, Knight recorded the Lenny Kravitz written and produced song “”You And I Ain’t Nothin’ No More” for the soundtrack from Lee Daniels’ motion picture The Butler. The song was added to the movie’s soundtrack of older songs by various artists so that the producers had a song to compete in the Best Song from a Motion Picture category at the Academy Awards.

Gladys will celebrate her 70th birthday in May of 2014. She is currently working on tracks for a new album, to be released sometime in 2014.

Knight has been married four times and has three children. In 1960, she married her high school sweetheart, James Newman. They had one son, James “Jimmy” Newman (1962–1999). She retired from the road to raise their child while The Pips toured on their own.

In 1963, after having her only daughter, Kenya, Knight returned to recording with the Pips in order to support her family.

In the early 1960s, Gladys, James, and the Pips moved to Detroit, Michigan. Knight and her family lived on Sherbourne in Sherwood Forest, then an upscale neighborhood on Detroit’s West Side. She also resided on LaSalle for a time. Her children attended Gesu Catholic Grade School.

James and Knight divorced in 1973. In 1974, Knight married producer and Blackground Records founder Barry Hankerson, who is the uncle of the late R&B singer Aaliyah, in Detroit. Around 1977, they relocated to Atlanta. (The Pips, however, remained in The Motor City.) The couple had one son, Shanga Hankerson, and divorced in 1981.

Knight married motivational speaker Les Brown in 1995, but they separated and divorced in 1997. Also in 1997, she was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, following her son and daughter.

Knight has been married four times and has three children. In 1960, she married her high school sweetheart, James Newman. They had one son, James “Jimmy” Newman (1962–1999). She retired from the road to raise their child while the Pips toured on their own. In 1963, after having her only daughter, Kenya, Knight returned to recording with the Pips in order to support her family. In the early 1960s, Gladys, James, and the Pips moved to Detroit, Michigan. Knight and her family lived on Sherbourne in Sherwood Forest, an upscale neighborhood on Detroit’s West Side. She also resided on LaSalle for a time. Her children attended Gesu Catholic Grade School. Newman and Knight divorced in 1973. In 1974, Knight married producer and Blackground Records founder Barry Hankerson, who is the uncle of the late R&B singer Aaliyah, in Detroit. Around 1977, they relocated to Atlanta. (The Pips, however, remained in Detroit.) The couple had one son, Shanga Hankerson, and divorced in 1981. Knight married motivational speaker Les Brown in 1995, but they separated and divorced in 1997.

Previously a Baptist, in 1997 she was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, following her son and daughter. She had occasionally teased LDS Church president, the late Gordon B. Hinckley, that his flock needs to inject some “pep” into their music. Knight married William McDowell in 2001. They have sixteen grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

In 2017, Knight helped raise $400,000 for the Children’s Learning Centers of Fairfield County. The April 22nd event was held at the Palace Theatre and was co-hosted by Carol Anne Riddell and Alan Kalter.

Written by Dianne Washington

André Lauren Benjamin (born May 27, 1975), better known by his stage name André 3000 (formerly known as André), is an American rapper, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and actor, best known for being part of hip hop duo Outkast alongside fellow rapper Big Boi. As an actor, Benjamin has made appearances in a number of TV series and films, including Families, The Shield, Be Cool, Revolver, Semi-Pro, Four Brothers, and the leading role of Jimi Hendrix in All Is by My Side. In addition to music and acting, Benjamin has also been an active entrepreneur. In the spring of 2008, he launched a clothing line called Benjamin Bixby. He has also been an advocate for animal rights. He is also known for his work on the Cartoon Network animated series Class of 3000.

In 2013, Complex included Benjamin on its list of the 10 best rappers of the 2000s. In 2015, Billboard included Benjamin on its list of the 10 Greatest Rappers of All Time.

Benjamin was born in Atlanta, Georgia the only child of Sharon Benjamin-Hodo (d. 2013), a single mother who sold real estate, and Lawrence Harvey Walker (d. 2014), a collections agent. He is of African-American and Native American descent. Growing up in Atlanta, Georgia, East Point, Georgia and Bankhead, Georgia, he attended Sarah Smith Elementary School, Sutton Middle School, Northside High School and Southwest DeKalb High School.

In high school, Benjamin (who was then performing as “Andre”) met Antwan “Big Boi” Patton. Benjamin and Patton teamed up to form Outkast. Shortly after graduating from high school, the duo was signed to the Atlanta-based LaFace label and released their debut album, Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik, in 1994. Buoyed by the success of the single “Player’s Ball”, the album went platinum by the end of the year and Outkast was named Best New Rap Group of the Year at the 1995 Source Awards. On their next two albums, ATLiens and Aquemini, Outkast experimented with their sound by adding elements of trip hop, soul, and jungle. The albums were also influenced by a return to traditional black music genres, funk being the prime example. With Outkast’s portrayal of themselves as out-of-place extra terrestrials in ATLiens, “the funkadelic, futuristic, and seemingly unfamiliar, weird, or eccentric persona projected by André 3000 creates the chance to transcend the more pronounced characterizations of gangstas and pimps so regularly assumed by black men rap artists.” Outkast’s distinctive southern “player” style is combined with these Afrofuturistic elements to create a new, unique space for their brand of rap within popular culture. Benjamin’s lyrics in particular took on a more surreal, space-age tinge. Within the time of his second and third albums, Benjamin took up the guitar, painting, and a new relationship with singer Erykah Badu. Outkast’s fourth album, Stankonia, introduced Benjamin’s new alias André 3000 (largely to distinguish himself from Dr. Dre and his new persona after the end of his relationship) and increased the group’s crossover appeal with the single “Ms. Jackson”, which hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was written in the aftermath of Benjamin’s breakup with Badu and was a fictionalized account of the disintegration of their relationship. In 2002, Outkast released a greatest hits album, Big Boi and Dre Present… OutKast, which contained three new tracks. One track, “The Whole World”, won a Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. Later that year, Benjamin participated in the Dungeon Family group album, which saw a number of prominent Atlanta-based hip-hop groups combine into a supergroup. In 2002, André 3000 was referenced on the song “Till I Collapse” by Eminem, who considered him one of the best rappers ever.

In 2003, Outkast released Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, a double album which highlighted the differences in the musical styles of the group’s two members. Benjamin’s half of the album, The Love Below, garnered the most attention from mainstream audiences, with the popular singles “Hey Ya!” and “Roses”. The album’s fourth single and video (Benjamin’s third), “Prototype”, was released shortly after. Big Boi’s Speakerboxxx spawned the top ten hit “The Way You Move” and the relatively successful “Ghetto Musick”. The Love Below was, unlike Speakerboxxx, an exercise in funk, jazz, and alternative music, featuring sung vocals from Benjamin (instead of rapped). Rolling Stone compared Benjamin to an indie-rock Little Richard” on Outkast’s 2003 Number 1 international hit ‘Hey Ya!” and later declared the hit one of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, In 2006, Outkast released their sixth album as a group, Idlewild. The album served as a soundtrack to the group’s musical film Idlewild. The film centered on life in a 1930s setting and the album took influences from music of that era, particularly blues. Benjamin had a few rapped verses on the album, including on the first single “Mighty O”, but mostly stuck with singing as he had on The Love Below. The album actually postponed the release of the theatrical Idlewild, as Andre 3000 and Big Boi were concentrated more on the production of the music than the movie. In an odd turn of events, the movie was finished before the album was, and because of that, the movie was postponed about a year. This was because the crew of Outkast and its associates’ had developed the idea of creating a movie before the release of one of their early albums, Aquemini. Thus, when it finally came time to collaborate as a group on the movie, they had most of the details workout, including a script, as stated by Andre 3000 himself in an interview he had conducted with Billboard in 2006.

In January 2014, it was announced that Outkast would be reuniting to celebrate their 20th anniversary by performing at more than 40 festivals worldwide during the spring/summer of 2014, beginning with a headline spot at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, California in April.

Written by Dianne Washington

Jason Phillips (born May 27, 1975), better known as Jadakiss, is an American rapper. He is a member of the group The LOX. (a member of the hip hop collective Ruff Ryders) Jadakiss is one of the three owners of the imprint known as D-Block Records. In early 2007, Jadakiss signed to Roc-a-Fella Records / Def Jam Records. Jadakiss has also released three studio albums with the most recent being The Last Kiss (2009). Recently he has been releasing mixtapes and plans to release his fourth studio album Top 5, Dead or Alive in 2014.

By age 16, Jadakiss was a freestyle rapper. He and some of his friends were given the opportunity to compete in the “Jack the Rapper Competition” in Florida, where Jadakiss had been noticed for his battle rap ability. He met Dee and Wah of the Ruff Ryders (then a management company), and began hanging out and battling outside of the Ruff Ryders’ studio where artists such as DMX made their first hits.

Jason Phillips founded the rap group The Warlocks in 1994 with friends, Sheek Louch and Styles P. They later signed to Bad Boy Entertainment, where it was suggested that they change their name simply to “The LOX”, which came to stand for Living Off eXperience.[citation needed] They made their first appearance on The Main Source’s 1994 LP Fuck What You Think on the track “Set it Off.”

The group, especially Jadakiss, developed a close relationship with The Notorious B.I.G., during which time Jadakiss was taken under Biggie’s wing. The LOX’s first hit was the tribute to The Notorious B.I.G. called “We’ll Always Love Big Poppa” (the B-side to Puff Daddy’s “I’ll Be Missing You”) in 1997. In 1998, the LOX released Money, Power & Respect. Though the record was successful, eventually going Platinum, The LOX grew unhappy with Bad Boy Records and Puffy’s glossy, radio friendly production. Following this album, they left the label to sign with Ruff Ryders Entertainment.

Written Dianne Washington

Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes, an African American singer, writer and entertainer, was born on this date in 1971.

She was Born in Philadelphia, PA, and first learned how to play songs on a toy piano she received at the age of 5. Lopes moved to Atlanta in 1992, forming the super singing group TLC with Tionne Watkins and Rozonda Thomas. As talented as She was with the group, she was very extroverted and outspoken regarding business dealings with TLC and her own career aspirations. She was also often in the news with her personal life too.

She even went so far as to burn the house down of her on-again off-again football star boyfriend, Andre’ Rison. Lopes was fined and sentenced to five years probation, then entered an alcohol rehab program. Her brother said his sister’s life had its share of turmoil, but that the changes she underwent in the last few years made her a better person. On March 20, 2002, Lopes traveled to Honduras where she visited often. She was volunteering at a children’s development center and The Usha Herbal Resource Institute, an herbal healing center.

Lopes was driving a rented SUV, a spokesperson said, when the vehicle tipped over while were traveling from La Ceiba to San Pedro Sula. Lopes died from a head injury. A capacity crowd of about 10,000 people filled New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in the Atlanta suburb of Lithonia, and hundreds more waited outside the church during the 30-year-old singer’s funeral.

A host of music industry VIPs attended, including singers Whitney Houston, Janet Jackson, Keith Sweat, and producer Kenneth “Baby Face” Edmonds.

Written by Dianne Washington

Heavy D was born on this date in 1967. He was an African American Hip Hop/Rap artist.

Born Dwight Arrington Myers in Mandeville, Jamaica, the son of Eulahlee Lee, a nurse, and Clifford Vincent Myers, a machine technician. His family moved to Mount Vernon, New York, US in the early 1970s. In 1987, Heavy D & The Boyz, the group that he fronted, was the first act signed to Uptown Records, the record company started by Andre Harrell. The group enjoyed widespread fame in the early 1990s, and scored prominent cameos on hit songs with Michael Jackson and Janet Jackson. Heavy D also appeared on the theme songs for the popular sketch comedy shows “In Living Color” and “MadTV,” and later went on to run Uptown, the record label on which he’d spent much of his career.

But tragedy found the group at the beginning of its commercial success. Troy Dixon, a member of the group known as Trouble T Roy, died in an accident after a show when he fell from an exit ramp. Dixon’s death was the inspiration for Pete Rock & C.L. Smooth’s “They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.).” Heavy D was name-checked on the Notorious B.I.G.’s first hit single, “Juicy,” in which Biggie Smalls remembered growing up and wanting the kind of fame enjoyed by rap pioneers like Heavy D and Salt ‘N Pepa. A young Biggie Smalls appeared on Heavy D’s 1992 album “Blue Funk.” Heavy D, the rapper whose real name is Dwight Arrington Myers, is dead at the young age of 44.

He was known for heavyset physique, his dancing and tongue-twisting rhymes. Beverly Hills police told the Associated Press that Heavy D died in a Los Angeles hospital November 8th 2011 after collapsing at his condominium building. Heavy D’s death came almost a month after a comeback performance at the 2011 BET Hip-Hop Awards, when he performed a medley of his best-known singles, among them “Nuttin’ But Love,” “Is It Good to You” and “Now That We Found Love.” On Twitter, he was known for posting affirming messages. His final tweet appeared early the morning he died.

Written by Dianne Washington