Christmas and Kwanzaa are around the corner! Here are some last minute gift ideas, inspired by some of your favorite celebrities.

1. Beyonce’s Tour Experience

Beyonce stans will love this DVD which features performances from her world tour as well as behind the scenes footage.

2. Jay-Z’s Bestselling Book

Part memoir, part breakdown of lyrics and way more than just a coffee table book,  Jay-Z’s New York Times Bestseller Decoded is sure to be a hit with any Hov fan on your shopping list.

3. Nicki’s Booty

The holidays is all about helping people in need. For your home girl who has “Noassatall” Syndrome. Buy Booty Pop Panties for only $20 — your secret’s safe with me!

4. Chris Brown’s Bow-tie

Step your tie-giving game up. It’s all about the bow-tie these days as illustrated by your boy Breezy during his interview on Larry King Live. The Brooks Brothers bow-tie goes for $50.

5. Patti’s Cooking

Everyone has that one family member who can’t cook. Break them from bringing the nasty fruit cake to the party with these recipes from singing icon Patti LaBelle.

6. Kanye’s New Christmas Hit

I LOVE Christmas music and it’s refreshing to hear new hits once in awhile. ’Ye’s “Christmas in Harlem” collab with Prynce Cy Hi & Teyana Taylor is fresh and festive and have a feeling it’ll be a song we’ll rock to for years to come.

7. MJ’s Dance Moves

Forget teaching someone how to Dougie, get a gift that’ll help someone master  Michael Jackson’s legendary moves while they grove to hits like Beat It and Billie Jean.  Click here for a review of the Nintendo DS version.

8. Dr. Dre’s ‘Beats’ Headphones

Dr. Dre said people can’t really hear the music that artists and producers create because “most headphones can’t handle the bass, the detail, the dynamics” so he created a line of studio-definition headphones. All the better to jam to!

9. Steve Harvey’s Relationship Advice

For the woman in your life who has more relationship drama than a Spotlight blog post, the funny man’s latest book might be what the doctor ordered. Straight Talk No Chaser by Steve Harvey is available now!

10. Oprah’s Favorite Things

When in doubt, listen to Oprah. You can’t go wrong with one of her “favorite things” and her site’s got them all listed from this year going back to 1997.  Your friends and fam will get a kick out of you using the Big O’s crazy, deep voice to hand their presents out: YOU get a gift, and YOU get a gift!  Go to Oprah.com for details!

Add your own gift ideas in the comment section.

Happy Holidays!

Though she did a bunch of rhymes with bisexual references, Nicki Minaj has since said she isn’t gay.

But: That hasn’t stopped her from teasing folks with talks of how Rihanna is “the best fondler ever.”

Rih-Rih has grabbed Nicki’s butt quite a few times in recent weeks and Nicki doesn’t seem to mind.

She tells RWD magazine:

“She didn’t wind up using the things that I sent for that album at that time, but we wound up having a mutual respect for each other. So I knew eventually something would happen. And so now when she sees me she fondles me and stuff like that. She fondled me at the MTV Video Music Awards and the American Music Awards. I love her. Right now she’s the girl that everybody loves. I’m so proud to have worked with her. Let’s just say she’s the best fondler ever.”

“The best fondler ever”? I don’t like when women tease about being gay-light. You either like women sometimes or you don’t.

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I’ve tried to hold my tongue on the whole Nicki Minaj vs. Lil Kim cat fight because like Drake said, “I really don’t care” and I’ve been known to jam to both of their music, but Kim’s really doing the most with her latest installation to the saga. Did you hear her on Hot 97 on Friday talking to Angie Martinez about the beef? It went a little something like this:

“In this industry what I’ve learned is that you never know and that’s that I’ve learned in this industry, you just don’t pick fights. You don’t pick fights with Kimmy Blanco cause I’m not taking my foot off her neck.

Now I would do a song with her for the right price. I’m a hustler….Seven million a song and it’s going to be on my album. They have to pay me to be on my album.”

Girl have a seat! When’s the last time anyone got paid 7 million for one song? Plus, did she not see the chart numbers: Nicki’s outselling Kanye! But besides all that this rap beef just got weak because Kim admitted she’d back down for the Benjamins. So you’re not really mad, Queen B, just throwing shade cause you can’t get paid? SMH.

After admitting for the right price she’d change her tune, ‘Lil Kim goes on to go in on Diddy for being down with Nicki just for the money:

“I’m sick of it. I’m sick of him not being loyal to at least ONE person. Show me one person and maybe I can open my arms back up to you and embrace you,” she said. She added: “He just over there for the money, for the time being to do what he do until the time comes and he can jump ship.”

It seems like Kim’s doing the same with this feud, letting it do what it do until the time comes that she can be in the news for something else (hmmm maybe a hot album, finally?!).

Watch clips from the interview below, then tell us your thoughts!

In an interview with Power 105.1 FM’s new morning show, “The Breakfast Club,” Ray J clarified past comments he made in reference to the beef between Lil’ Kim and Nicki Minaj.

Ray J took the stage earlier this year with Kimberly and not so subliminally called out Nicki for being an alleged copycat.

But while speaking to Charlamagne The God, Ray denied starting the beef and then leaving Kim stranded.

He said:

“I’m reaching out to the whole world….to the whole hip hop community because that’s just how I felt at the time. Never once did I mention anybody. That’s what you do in hip hop, you throw it out there, you have a little friendly competition…it is what it is.”

It appears he’s had a bit of a change of heart on Nicki thanks to his sister, Brandy:

“I like Nicki Minaj. I don’t [have her album] but my sister is like the number one Nicki Minaj fan.”

When asked who’s the better rapper, Lil’ Kim or Nicki Minaj, Ray said:

“I got to pay my respects to Kim and truly say after listening to a lot of the stuff Nicki has done, I’m very impressed. I’m very impressed. From how I felt in the beginning until now…night and day…I love what she’s doing and I can be a man and just say at first I was cool, it was alright then it started getting better, now it’s just really on point.”

Here’s Ray in his own words:

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You have to pay to see Nicki Minaj play, but government officials in her hometown of Trinidad and Tobago weren’t feeling the price tag for a concert the rapper did back in October.

The concert, which appeared on Nicki’s MTV documentary “My Time Now,” was organized by Sport and Youth Affairs Minister Anil Roberts as a part of the country’s “Localise It” initiative which featured a fashion show and other live performances. Over $800,000 was spent on the festivities and according to Roberts budget, Nicki used up $382,000 which included a $60,000 Hilton Hotel bill for the rapper and her entourage. Other expenses included $150,000 for advertising, $75,000 for the venue,, $60,000 to produce the fashion show, $40,000 for the local acts and $32,000 to the Copyright Organization of Trinidad and Tobago and $26,000 for “cultural acts.”

Seeing the Barbie perform live, priceless? Well, not so much. Diego Martin Central MP Dr. Amery Browne has called for an audit into the show and has alleged that the pricey costs took away money from youth programs. “All allegations are that a private individual is benefiting at the end of the day and putting money in his own pocket,” he said. “That must be a concern to every single citizen and it is something the Government has to respond to.”

Yikes! For all that I hope the concert was a banger.
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The new queen of rap (it hurts huh, Kim?) is celebrating her 26^th birthday today.

In honor of Nicki Minaj, Roman Zolanksi, Nicki Lewinsky, Rosa and her growing list of alter egos, we’d like to wish them all a happy birthday and share ten things we hope to see in the next year from Nicki.

1. Set up a retirement home for angry and embittered ex-superstar female rappers.

2. Live singing!  If you’re going to sing, you have to do it up live on stage!

3. More boom-kack!  We see you out there trying to get your choreography on thanks to Laurieann Gibson. That’s cool, just put more of your back into it. No pun intended.

4. More accents please.

5. More Roman Zolanksi!  We like you when you’re rapping with a vengeance.

6. Do a feature with Beyoncé. Please and thanks.

7. Ignore Lil’ Kim. That is, unless you know…don’t.

8. Hurry up and tell us whose tour you’re joining.

9. More features.

10. Bury that wig you wore in the “Right Thru Me” video.

All with love — happy birthday, Nicki!

In a new feature for the New York Times’ T magazine, Nicki Minaj was asked yet again but about her beef with Lil’ Kim.

Of course, Kimberly Jones is the one who started it but nevertheless it remains a topic of discussion.

The feature was centered on Nicki’s style, but the current hottest female rapper on the planet was asked if their rift hurts female rappers overall:

NYT: I thought it was also very important to show you in the studio, producing, writing on the fly, showing yourself as a creative person.

Well, it’s hard to be a female rapper but it’s more tough being credited with the work that you put in as a female rapper because people assume that you’re not the brains behind the operation or that you’re not the one doing writing these lyrics. So letting people come into my world and see that I am doing these things is good for all girls.

NYT: That brings up an interesting point because I would be pretty remiss not to mention your spat with Lil’ Kim. When she badmouths you and others doesn’t that just make it even harder for female rappers?

It does, it does. But the thing that I want to promote is that if you see someone doing their thing, give them their props. We all have it hard and face the same challenges as female emcees. Show some mutual love and respect for each other so that it doesn’t get nasty. And she can be a nasty character.

Another point for Nicki.

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Image courtesy of the New York Times.

No matter what people like Lil’ Kim have to say, there is in fact a new day in rap.

No longer are hip-hop heavyweights bound to perpetuate a thugged out or drug-slinging image in order to gain the attention of casual rap fans.

There’s no greater sign of this than the suburban rapper Kanye West, the thespian Drake, and the mighty theatrical Nicki Minaj.

In her new Rolling Stone feature entitled, “The New Queen of Hip-Hop and Rap,” Nicki Minaj says she’s proud to have never moved a brick or sold an ounce a day in her life in order to get ahead in rap.

She argues the likes of she and Drake are adding a positive image to the genre.

As she explained to the magazine:

“At one point you had to sell a few kilos to be considered a credible rapper. But now it’s like Drake and I are embracing the fact that we went to school, we love acting, we love theatre, and that’s ok – and it’s especially good for the black community to know that’s ok, that’s embraced.”

One of the subjects Nicki actually does talk about in her music is her father, who suffered from crack addiction. Though she admits he objects to him being referenced in her songs, she finds it to be a bit of karma and a lesson to dads everywhere.

She added:

“It’s the price you pay when you abuse drugs and alcohol. Maybe one day your daughter will be famous and talk to every magazine about it, so think about that, dads out there who want to be crazy.”

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You know, I had forgotten all about Kanye West’s apparent addiction to porn.

But, in his new cover story with Complex magazine, one of his most recent collaborators reminded me of that fun fact.

Yes, on discussing her studio sessions with ‘Ye, Nicki Minaj recalled the rapper-producer’s studio being decked out with ‘artistic’ pictures of naked women all over.

Oh and he watched porn right in front of her.

Nicki explained:

NICKI MINAJ: “I heard through Drake that Kanye wanted me on his album, and I got on the next thing smokin’ to Hawaii. I didn’t think that he was gonna like me. I always figured that he was one of those conscious rappers, so I thought that he wouldn’t want girls to be dressed overtly sexy—and I go to the studio and he has nothing but pictures of naked women on his computer that he’d invite me to look at. They were really artsy pictures, but you know he loves nudity, so it was a complete shock to me, ’cause I thought I had him all figured out, but I didn’t. He was watching porn when we were in the studio—no shame in his game. Kanye kept askin’ me to come and eat breakfast, but I like to record in the morning. So, when they were eating breakfast, I was in the studio listening to music and writing. And he would always be like, ‘Yo, why you ain’t never come over for breakfast, yo?’ But I never went. I would get to the studio at like 10:30 in the morning and he’d be leaving to go home and eat breakfast and I’d be getting to the studio to just write and record. I stayed late sometimes, but I was always getting sleepy. I get up at 6 in the morning, so midnight is late for me. One time he caught me nodding off, and I thought maybe he would kick me out. I’ve never been so embarrassed in my life. You know how you’re sitting up and you don’t realize that you’ve just fallen asleep, but it feels like an eternity? When I picked up my head from sleeping, he was looking at me in the strangest way I’ve ever been looked at by a human being. He pulled his shades down and he looked and said, ‘Oh, she’s sleeping?’ I wanted to crawl under a rock and die. [Laughs.]

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