From the opinions of his ex-wife, to the Trey Songz contrasts, to his recent wardrobe choice as the 2010 NBA All-Star Game’s lead performer, many have questioned if Usher’s sex appeal has started to wither. But music video director, TAJ Stansberry, believes the visuals he helmed for his client’s most salacious single yet, “Lil Freak,” will dispel any doubts.

“This probably has the potential to be [his sexiest video ever],” Stansberry says of the 17-hour Tuesday shoot. “As far as people talking about his sex appeal… there was a crowd on set of mostly women and when I looked at their eyes… let’s just say I think he’s going to be okay.”

The 29-year-old director—also responsible for Usher’s Raymond vs. Raymond promo video in December—revealed to VIBE how the music video’s concept will redefine the meaning of the song’s keyword: Freak. “My general idea was to take the word and show it’s many faceted sides, twisting and turning it to where there’s really no distinguishing between one freak and another. Usher went there,” he says. “When you’re engaging in sexual activity, there are many transitions and this is not about what they look like literally, but what they look like metaphorically. It’s about luring people into a situation. Because you have your thoughts on a ménage à trois, but then we’re doing it in a non-obvious way.”

As far as the song’s female feature, Young Money front woman, Nicki Minaj—who can be heard rapping about her pursuit of a belle with “a real big ol’ ghetto booty”—Stansberry says the femcee’s lyrics mirror her role on set. “[Nicki] had a few looks that I really liked. She played the part, but still was her. If you really listen to her words in the song, you can kinda visualize her outfit.”
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With an album title like Battle Of The Sexes, you’d probably expect Ludacris’ collection of new tracks to be about confrontations between men and women. There’s definitely some of that, but it’s also a great platform for female rappers. On most of Sexes’ tracks, a lady MC or singer squares off with Luda, including the likes of Trina, Nicki Minaj, Eve, Diamond, Monica and Shawnna.

With that in mind, we were curious about Ludacris’ 10 favorite female MCs. Check out the list and videos from his favorite ladies of rhyme and tell us if you agree.

By the way, if you want a taste of Ludacris’ Battle of the Sexes, check out his video for “My Chick Bad” featuring Nicki Minaj.

Check out the performance after the jump!
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BET “Rip The Runway” airs tonight at 10/9 PM CT on BET! Check your local listings for additional information.

BET “Rip The Runway”: Many Faces of Nicki Minaj

BET “Rip The Runway”: Interview Gallery

“My Chick Bad” Music Video Screen Captures

“Up Out My Face (Remix)” Music Video Screen Captures

“Roger Dat” Music Video Screen Captures

Click the thumbnails to view all of the new photos in the gallery!

As one of the longest-running young urban magazines on newsstands today, RIGHT ON!, established in 1971, has been the official bible of teen entertainment for over three decades. Now Right On! is all grown up and proud to announce the debut of the Black Entertainment Diaries. Think of the Black Entertainment Diaries (B.E.D.) as Right On!’s older, sassier and sexier sister. True to the brand’s motto, the B.E.D. will be “where gossip lies.” Part tabloid fodder, part chic fashion, entertainment and beauty bible, the B.E.D. will be like nothing else on the market, and with a hip commitment to featuring the biggest stars in the urban world, every month readers will have one question in mind: who’s in your B.E.D?

Inside the celebrity-filled pages of the sizzling premiere DOUBLE COVER ISSUE, Black Entertainment Diaries GOT intimate with Young Money’s leading lady. With a longstanding void in the female rap game, NICKI MINAJ is the next big thing.

In stores now!

Nicki Minaj is chilling on Bowery, her petite glamour neutralizing the dank of Manhattan’s original Skid Row. Buxom and physically expressive, wearing a plush black fur jacket and thigh-high patent leather stiletto pumps, she looks like a snow bunny lost in the frigid city, except instead of a designer pocketbook, she’s clutching an open box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. Half a block from her luxury room at The Bowery Hotel, a small crowd is gathering and gawking at her silhouette, a couple dudes weakly trying to holler from across the street. One 40-something Boricua with a camera phone musters the courage to ask for a picture, excited to send it to her son, and Minaj sweetly obliges. The scene’s not quite paparazzi status, but in the middle of winter, on a block half flophouse and half condo, this buzzing group of various onlookers is a testament to Nicki Minaj’s universal appeal.

The 25-year-old rapper is hanging around town after her second appearance on BET’s 106 & Park in a week, the latest, to perform “Shakin’ it for Daddy,” her cheeky strip club anthem with Robin Thicke. Though Thicke is presently the bigger star, and it is his song, the crowd (mostly young girls by the sound of it) was clearly there for Minaj, shrieking wildly when she appeared and chanting along rapt during her Thicke-hyping call and response. Immediately after the show aired, the eye-popping, red lace bodycon minidress she wore was a trending topic on Twitter, but even more people are talking about her performance, which completely eclipsed the charismatic Thicke. She was a bespandexed ball of fire, her accents weaving as they do through feminine New York bark, lilting British brogue, valley girl gangsta and the occasional wild tones that came from who knows where but sound like the dialect of a planet not yet discovered. As Minaj emerged and rapped audacious lyrics like Money in the air it’s a festival/ Cause I ba ba ba ba ball (no testicles), her eyes grew wide and wild as if temporarily possessed. But right now she’s not sweating all of that. She’s just trying to get her photo taken as quickly as possible without freezing to death. She’s also trying to snack on some cereal. “You know when I like cereal? At 2AM, right before you go to sleep,” says Minaj. “It’s not the best tip, I don’t think, if you’re trying to lose weight, but I like it right before bed. And you know what I like when I wake up? Leftovers. Like, real food.”

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Nicki Minaj brings out the golf clubs and smashes the remix to Jason Derulo’s Top 10 hit “In My Head” from his self-titled debut album. “Hit up J.R. [Rotem] and tell him to call Jason, do a pop song and stack my Caucasians,” she barks. Young Money’s rising star continues her attack, shooting a video for Usher’s new U.S. single “Lil Freak” today in Los Angeles with director TAJ.

Source: Rap-Up.com

Comments?

The Young Money crew is packing their Louis Vuitton bags and heading south of the border. Hip-hop’s first family will descend on Acapulco, Mexico, for one big spring break party later this month.

Drake and Nicki Minaj will help headline MTV Spring Break 2010, along with other members of the YM crew, performing their No. 2 single in the country “BedRock.” Drizzy will get the crowd hyped with “Over,” the first offering from his debut album Thank Me Later, while Young Money’s First Lady ambushes the stage with the first live performance of her new single “Massive Attack”, produced by Sean Garrett and Alex Da Kid.

Hip-hop’s Barbie won’t only pop up during Young Money’s set. Minaj will storm the sandy shores with Ludacris for their collaboration “My Chick Bad” from Luda’s Battle of the Sexes album.

The ATL rapper will have sprink breakers asking “how low can you go” when he performs the remix to his smash hit with Pitbull, who will get the party started with some of his own crowd pleasers.

If that wasn’t enough, the ladies will break into a sweat once Trey Songz serenades them with material from his Ready album, including the Top 10 hit “Say Aah,” while his labelmate, hip-hop freshmen B.o.B, crashes la fiesta with “Nothin’ on You,” the first single from his debut album, featuring Bruno Mars.

MTV will premiere a performance from a different artist each night at 8 p.m. from March 22-26.

( CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE FULL SET OF PHOTOS )

I don’t know where I fit in the spectrum of rap yet, I think now I’m kind of proving myself, but before, people thought of I was more of a sex symbol or wannabe sex symbol. Now they’re seeing. That’s why I make the goofiest faces, I don’t want people to think I’m up here trying to be cute. I’m trying to entertain, and entertaining is more than exuding sex appeal. I don’t think that’s fun. I don’t find it fun watching someone trying to be sexy. It’s wack.

Source: NecoleBitchie.com

Off of the new Fabolous mixtape, “There Is No Competition 2″.

“…put this p*ssy on your chipped tooth!” LOL

( CLICK HERE FOR HER PROFILE | CLICK HERE FOR THE MANY FACES OF NICKI MINAJ )

BET has added an exclusive feature for their “Rip The Runway” co-hosts which gives them their own profile & photo gallery.

With Lil’ Wayne’s scheduled day to go into prison delayed yet again, he joined Young Jeezy on Jay-Z’s BP3 Tour with Drake and Young Money’s first lady Nicki Minaj. She performed her verse from the Young Money single, “Bed Rock”.

View the video from MTV.com after the jump.
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Her first single “Massive Attack” is not the only bomb Nicki Minaj is about to drop. The lyrical assassin is loading up on some of hip-hop’s biggest names for her dangerous debut.

Young Money’s First Lady exclusively tells Rap-Up.com that one of her weapons of mass destruction is Kanye West. “I’m probably definitely going to work with Kanye,” she reveals.

She also spilled the names of other beatmakers who may grace the as-yet-untitled album. “On my debut, I worked with Sean Garrett. And probably Swizz Beatz, he’s gonna send me something.”

But it won’t only be familiar names. “I like to work with unknown producers as well, so I accept beats from everybody.”

Garrett, who is featured on and produced Minaj’s “explosive” lead single, recently told Rap-Up.com that he has contributed additional tracks. “She just wants to make it as huge as possible,” he said of the project.

The head Barbie’s first order of business is shooting a video for “Massive Attack” as well as Garrett’s first single “Get It All,” the latter of which will be directed by Gil Green.

–D.L. with reporting by Georgette Cline

Source: Rap-Up.com

New track featuring Nicki Minaj!

“We Are Young Money” is now in stores!

The rapper recently joined the social networking service to much fanfare, quickly amassing more than 172,000 followers.

The prolific MC, however, hasn’t exactly tweeted with the same fury with which he released countless mixtapes. But his sparse messages have been received well, for the most part. They typically feature poetic refrains without much context.

“If we are all here for a reason, I’m just visiting,” he wrote in one message that’s been characteristic of his output.

But a backlash was started by some fans and comedian Lil Duval, who created the topic “#LilWayneDeepTweets.” The tagged posts poke fun at the overly philosophical nature of the rapper’s messages. As a result, Lil Wayne tweeted that if he wasn’t wanted on Twitter he would leave.

Lil Wayne protégé Nicki Minaj, herself a healthy Twitter user, has some advice for the “Lollipop” superstar.

“Less poetry,” she told MTV News from the red carpet of BET’s “Rip the Runway.”

But the female MC urged Wayne not to quit the service, despite the fact that he only has a few days of freedom left; he’s set to begin his one-year jail sentence in New York this week.

“We want to hear what you have to say, Lil Tunechi,” she said, using Wayne’s Twitter handle.

From the looks of things, it doesn’t appear that Wayne will give up on Twitter just yet.

About 12 hours after tweeting that he would leave, the rapper began sending messages again.

“My problem is that I aim to please, and it seems as if [I] need a higher target,” Wayne wrote. “But for now, ‘Bullseye.’ ”

Source: MTV

It has been tweeted by several of the Young Money artists to be sure to tune into BET’s “106th & Park” tonight as the world premiere of the “Roger Dat” music video is set to debut on the show.

Now that Drake has announced his first single, Young Money’s First Lady is next to bat. Nicki Minaj has revealed details about her debut single, which is sure to make a big bang.

In an interview with Rap-Up.com, Lil Wayne’s protégée answered the question we’ve all been asking: What will be the lead single from her hotly-anticipated debut album? “The first single is called ‘Massive Attack.’ Sean Garrett produced that,” she said.

Garrett, who enlisted the hip-hop Barbie for his own single “Get It All,” dropped a few additional details about the song, which was produced by him and Alex Da Kid. “I just did Nicki’s first single featuring me. It’s gonna be a fucking bomb,” he shared. “It’s very, very explosive! It’s a club banger. It’s a lot broader than what people would expect her to come with. The record puts her in the game in a way that says she should’ve been here a long time ago.”

The songwriter behind Beyoncé’s “Diva” and Fergie’s “London Bridge” discussed how the collaboration came together. “I didn’t know but Nicki said that she had been a humongous fan of mine and that I’m the one producer she always wanted to work with. What was so crazy to me is that I was a big fan of hers,” he explained.

“When it comes to female artists, everyone knows my favorite artist in the world to work with is Beyoncé. My favorite new artist to work with was, of course, Nicki Minaj, just because she was so different and she wasn’t really trying to do the same shit that everybody else was doing. I had the same love and respect for her that she had for me, but neither one of us knew it.”

As for when the femme fatale will launch her “Attack”? “It’ll be out very soon. I don’t have an exact date, but it will drop right on time,” said Minaj, while Garrett added, “She has a real way of how she wants to do this. It’s just gonna be a surprise when it comes. She just wants to make it as huge as possible.”

Plans are already underway to shoot the accompanying visuals. “We’re actually shooting the video within a week,” she disclosed. “I can’t wait for you guys to see it.”

–D.L. with reporting by Georgette Cline

Source: Rap-Up.com

Nicki Minaj performing “My Chick Bad” with Ludacris

Check out photos from the taping of BET’s “Rip The Runway” which is set to air March 15th on BET.

( CLICK THE ABOVE THUMBNAILS TO VIEW THE PHOTOS IN THE GALLERY )

Thanks to Rap-Up.com for the photos.