article by Sidnee Michelle via forbes.com
It’s a snowy Friday morning as Ericka Pittman, vice president of Combs Enterprises, settles down, coffee in hand, and begins prepping for her busy day in New York City. After traveling on a 2 a.m. red-eye flight, she explains how although she is extremely fatigued, the show must go on. Her successes at major media outlets like Time, Inc. and Conde Nast caught the attention of business mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, who hand-selected Pittman as vice president of his companies.
As Sean P. Diddy Combs’ “Sheryl Sandburg,” Pittman’s creative mind and strategic way of thinking make her one of the best brand developers in the business. As the VP, she sits at the helm of the executive team, overseeing the growth and direction of the Combs portfolio and overseeing Combs’ businesses, including Aquahydrate, Combs Wines & Spirits (CIROC, Deleon Tequila), Revolt TV and Sean John.
Besides her love of her career, Pittman has invested herself in propelling women from different walks of life to reach their highest potential. As a part of Women’s History Month, we followed her throughout her day in New York City as she discussed her journey and crucial advice to all Millennials.
Sidnee Michelle: What is your favorite thing about being Ericka Pittman?
Ericka Pittman: My heart. I have a very gum-drops-and-rainbows approach to life. I’m one of those people who will put a coin in an expired meter so no one gets a ticket or towed; I’m one of those types in my heart and in my core. Most people who have known me and know my heart see that side often, but I feel in business I’m not able to be that person 100% of the time – so I try to keep that balance.
SM: What is the most fulfilling aspect of being a woman of your stature?
EP: That giving back element – when I elevate those around me, it just feels good. For me, I try to give back even in business. Doing well by doing good is very important to me. The same way I was blessed in my career, I try and pass on the good karma by doing everything in my power to advance the next woman that deserves it.
SM: What influence does Sean P. Diddy Combs have on your career? What did he teach you early on?
EP: Sean Combs has taught me to utilize every tool in my tool box, to make the impossible possible. He taught me how not to take no as an answer – that no is the beginning of negotiations to get what you want. He also taught me to be strategic about how you go about getting what you want – with class elegance urgency and fine execution. If I didn’t have that leadership in my life early on, I’m not sure I’d be where I am today.
SM: Besides Sean P. Diddy Combs, who are some of your influences and mentors?
EP: Just recently I started to acquire female mentors. I discovered as I was growing in my career there was a need of a feminine aspect and guidance in business that I was lacking. I’ll walk into a high intensity board room like a bull in a china shop – stern and aggressive, because that’s what I learned from my male mentors and counterparts. I realized that I had to learn how to finesse my approach from female mentors like Susan De’Passe , who worked with Motown and had hands in discovering the Jackson 5.
SM: How did you rise to the top in such a male dominated industry?
EP: I think I there is a certain level of integrity I have. I demand a certain amount of respect because of the way I present myself in business and personal life. You have to conduct yourself a certain way in both realms – while still being able to maintain your identity and a strong and powerful woman.
SM: How do you maintain a healthy work/personal life balance?
EP: It’s tricky at this company because of the brands/companies I work with. Celebration is our core tenant, so we do awesome activations, parties and events. Things like those bleed into my personal time because of the frequency and late hours of these events. To combat that I think it’s important to be 100% present in the moment that you are in.
To read more and see video of Ericka Pittman, go to: http://www.forbes.com/sites/sidneedouyon/2016/03/17/meet-vice-president-of-combs-enterprises-power-woman-ericka-pittman/#1bf4b5377a84
Posts published in “Music”
article by Sarah Larson via newyorker.com
Dearly beloved, Prince is writing a memoir. Last night, at Avenue, the club on Tenth Avenue, in the Meatpacking District, he announced the news to a group of admirers who’d been alerted that afternoon. Before he arrived, editors, journalists, and friends of Prince danced to Q-Tip and Diana Ross under orange lights and a mirrored disco ball, and waitresses in stretchy, zippered minidresses carried trays of champagne flutes. Gayle King showed up, then Trevor Noah, of “The Daily Show.” Noah told me that his favorite Prince song was “Purple Rain.” In his youth in South Africa, he said, he’d discovered Prince after becoming a fan of Michael Jackson. “Prince is our generation’s classical music,” he said.
“Billie Jean” began playing. People screamed. Prince appeared on a glass-lined balcony, descending a staircase and standing a few feet above us like a pastor or a king. He had a roundish cloud of hair and wore a gleaming gold-and-purple striped pajama suit. “The good people of Random House have made me an offer I can’t refuse!” he said. He was writing a book, he told us. “It’s going to be called ‘The Beautiful Ones.’ ” We cheered. “I literally just got off the plane. I’m going to go home and change and put some dancing clothes on. Props to my brother Harry Belafonte.” People looked around. Prince put large, insectile sunglasses on. “Now I can see,” he said.
Spiegel & Grau, the Random House imprint, is scheduled to publish “The Beautiful Ones” in fall 2017. “You all still read books, right?” Prince asked. “My brother Dan”—Dan Piepenbring of the Paris Review—“is helping with it. He’s a good critic. That’s what I need. Not a yes man.” Prince said that the book would begin with his first memory and go “all the way to the Super Bowl.” He played the Super Bowl in 2007, in a torrential storm, singing “Let’s Go Crazy,” “Baby I’m a Star,” and “Purple Rain” on an enormous illuminated Love Symbol, accompanied by dancers, fireworks, a glowing marching band, and a stadium full of backup singers. Like everything Prince does, it felt strangely mythic.
To read more, go to: http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/prince-announces-his-memoir-funkily?mbid=rss
article by Desire Thompson via newsone.com
The Maryland Senate voted on Thursday in favor of removing lyrics connected to the Confederacy from their state song, The Washington Post reports.
The 38-to-8 decision occurred Thursday after debate about the song, “Maryland, My Maryland.” It was penned by James Ryder Randall in 1861 following the death of his friend, who was shot while protesting against Union troops. The lyrics represent the anger Randall felt towards the North and calls on Marylanders to join the South’s battle against the Union.
Lyrics from the song (including those calling Northerners “scum”) will be replaced with a poem by John T. White about the state’s appearance and natural beauty.
Via The Washington Post:
“I think it’s time to get rid of the verse that basically criticizes and makes us look bad,” said Sen. Ronald N. Young (D-Frederick). “The [song] is degrading to Maryland and should not represent us moving forward.”
However, Sen. Robert G. Cassilly (R-Harford) said Maryland should use the opportunity as a teaching lesson, instead of erasing bad moments from history.
Listen to “Maryland, My Maryland” by clicking here and read the poem here.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (@lakinhutcherson)
Former MTV News reporter and radio DJ Sway Calloway has signed with cable channel VH1 as an on-air personality and producer. Calloway will appear in VH1’s tentpole events, executive produce specials and events and bring new programming ideas to the channel.
As a TV star and host of his own national Sirius XM/Shade 45 radio show “Sway in the Morning,” Calloway has interviewed every global hip hop and pop artist of the last 15 years as well as U.S. senators, governors, President Bill Clinton, Vice President Joseph Biden and President Barack Obama – four times. And now, with a recurring role in the hit TV series “Empire,” Sway has become a pop culture icon himself. He continues to host “Sway In The Morning” and connect with fans at SwaysUniverse.com.
Sway’s first partnership with VH1 will be on the new series “Behind The…,” an expansion of the renowned VH1 “Behind The Music” franchise that will explore all facets of pop culture and its intersection with current cultural and political issues. Calloway will host and serve as executive producer of the “Behind The…” series.
article by Alana Vaggianos via huffingtonpost.com
As a follow up to her #62MillionGirls social media campaign, First Lady Michelle Obama is encouraging people to take the Change.Org 62 Million Girls pledge to help support more girls in school. Obama announced the pledge in an essay featured in Wednesday morning’s Lenny Letter just hours before she took the stage for her SXSW keynote event in Austin.
“So often when people talk about the issue of global girls’ education, they dive right into the policy weeds,” Obama began her essay. And while policy is important, the First Lady explained why experience is just as integral to the conversation.
“It’s also very much about attitudes and beliefs,” Obama wrote. “The belief that girls should be valued for their bodies, not their minds; the belief that girls simply aren’t worthy of an education, and their best chance in life is to be married off when they’re barely even teenagers and start having children of their own.”
Obama explained that the issue is personal to her because she’s met many of these young girls while traveling as First Lady. “They are so smart and hardworking, and so hungry for an education,” she wrote. “I’ve met girls who make long, dangerous journeys each day to school and then come home and study for hours each night. I’ve met girls studying at rickety desks in bare concrete classrooms who are raising their hands so hard they’re almost falling out of their chairs.”
Big stars like Kelly Clarkson, Janelle Monae, Missy Elliot and more have already signed the 62 Million Girls pledge. Obama commissioned the artists to create a song about women’s empowerment titled “This Is For My Girls,” produced by MAKERS, AOL’s digital platform that highlights women’s stories.
To Preview “This Is For My Girls”: https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/this-is-for-my-girls-single/id1093266044
article by Jeff Sneider via thewrap.com
Pop star Janelle Monae has landed the third lead alongside Taraji P. Henson and Octavia Spencer in the Fox 2000 drama “Hidden Figures.”
Pop star Janelle Monae has landed the third lead alongside Taraji P. Henson and Octavia Spencer in the Fox 2000 drama “Hidden Figures.”
Ted Melfi is directing the movie and producing with Chernin Entertainment and Donna Gigliotti of Levantine Films. The film is based on Margot Lee Shetterly’s upcoming book “Hidden Figures: The Story of the African-American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race,” which will be published in September by HarperCollins.
The story follows three African-American women who served as the brains behind NASA’s Friendship 7 mission, which saw astronaut John Glenn become the first American to orbit the Earth in February 1962.
Henson will play Katherine Johnson, Spencer will play Dorothy Vaughan and Monae will play the youngest member of the trio, Mary Jackson. Kevin Costner will co-star as the head of the space program.
To read more, go to: http://www.thewrap.com/janelle-monae-joins-taraji-p-henson-octavia-spencer-in-fox-2000s-hidden-figures-exclusive/
article by Maeve McDermott via usatoday.com
Before last year, Kennedy Center hosting hip hop shows seemed like an unlikely prospect.
But after hosting Kendrick Lamar’s sold-out performance with the National Symphony Orchestra last year, the center’s 2016 season includes its first hip hop culture series, bringing on rapper and producer Q-Tip as their first artistic director of hip hop.
The social justice-oriented rapper is best known as a founding member of the seminal hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest, and has worked with many of music’s biggest names, including Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, the Beastie Boys, Janet Jackson, Mary J. Blige and Pharrell Williams.
The Kennedy Center, which celebrates John F. Kennedy’s 100th birthday this year, announced details of six events celebrating different facets of hip hop culture, including a poetry slam, a teach-in and a dance competition. Cellist Yo-Yo Ma and soprano Renee Fleming were also appointed at-large artistic advisers for the 2016-2017 season, according to the AP.
“This new programmatic platform recognizes Hip Hop’s contributions to global culture and its role in promoting values such as courage, freedom, justice, and service,” the center announced in a release.
To read more, go to: http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2016/03/08/q-tip-named-kennedy-center-first-hip-hop-director/81485882/
article by Diana Ozemebhoya Eromosele via theroot.com
Grammy Award-winning jazz singer Sarah Vaughan is being honored with a Forever stamp by the U.S. Postal Service, the Amsterdam News reports.
The unveiling will take place March 29 in Newark, New Jersey—where Vaughan was born. The image on the stamp is an oil painting of Vaughan’s face during a performance. It’s based on a photograph taken by Hugh Bell in 1955, according to the Amsterdam News.
article by Taylor Lewis via essence.com
It’s four months out from this year’s ESSENCE Festival in New Orleans, and ESSENCE has just revealed its first look at the 2016 lineup.
For the 22nd year, ESSENCE Fest is bringing sure-to-be-lit nighttime concerts featuring more than 30 of today’s hottest hip-hop and R&B stars. This year’s lineup is a mix of old and new: soul and R&B, hip hop and pop—from Kendrick Lamar to Mariah Carey to Maxwell to Lion Babe.
“The ESSENCE Festival is back in New Orleans with an extraordinary roster of the biggest names and best performers in entertainment—from global music icons to the industry’s rising stars,” said ESSENCE President Michelle Ebanks. “We are welcoming Mariah Carey, Kendrick Lamar and Maxwell to headline the Superdome main stage. In addition, we will be embracing newcomers like Leon Bridges, Jeremih, Lion Babe, Dej Loaf and The Internet, as well as fan favorite Charlie Wilson for the ultimate cultural experience in New Orleans this July 4th weekend.”
Click through to see a full list of performers, and be sure to check back for updates.
Get your tickets here.
To read original article, go to: http://www.essence.com/2016/03/01/2016-essence-festival-lineup-revealed-kendrick-mariah-maxwell-oh-my
article by AP via blackamericaweb.com
NEW YORK (AP) — Fresh off his Grammy triumph, Kendrick Lamar has released a new batch of old music. The eight-song collection titled “untitled unmastered.” was made available Friday on iTunes, Apple Music, Tidal, Spotify and GooglePlay. None of the songs has a title, just what seem to be dates, ranging from 2013 to 2016.
Top Dawg Entertainment, the independent hip-hop label Lamar is signed to, said the collection “features studio versions of the untitled songs” that Lamar performed on “The Colbert Report,” ”The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” and last month’s Grammy Awards.
Many of the songs have a spacy, groovy feel and sound highly produced, including the standout funky “untitled 08 09.06.2014.” But “untitled 07 2014-2016” is a meandering, eight-minute song that ends with artists collaborating in a studio, complete with jokes and laughing.
The collection, which totals 34 minutes of music, was publicized around midnight from Lamar’s Twitter account.
Lamar won best rap album for “To Pimp a Butterfly” as well as rap performance, rap song, rap/sung performance and music video. Along with his wins, Lamar also had a show-stopping moment when he took the stage to perform “The Blacker the Berry” and “Alright.”
To read more, go to: http://blackamericaweb.com/2016/03/05/new-collection-of-kendrick-lamar-music-appears-online/