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Ludacris with a side of Mary J. for brunch
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Star power rarely is this subdued.
One hundred or so people were invited to Vanity Fair and Piaget’s brunch for Atlanta rapper-actor Ludacris and R&B dynamo Mary J. Blige Saturday at the Sunset Tower Hotel. And everywhere you turned on the Sunset Terrace there was entertainment might.
Someone who could give you a record deal on the spot (Island Def Jam Music Group chairman Antonio ” L.A.” Reid, his senior exec Shakir Stewart, Warner Music Group’s Kevin Liles). Someone to produce your first hit (Jimmy Jam). Someone to write it (Sean Garrett). Someone who could co-star in your music video to give it some movie or TV industry heft (Terence Howard, Nia Long, Holly Robinson-Peete). Oh yeah - and a whole lot of someones who already have record deals, hit records and accompanying flashy videos (Ne-Yo, Bow Wow).
And yet throughout the two hour-plus gathering over mimosas and made-to-order omelets, everyone was social, nobody was roped off in some VIP section and the conversations were as low-volume and easy-going as the harpist (Mariea Antoinette) who entertained the crowd.
“This is chill as hell,” Ludacris remarked with a champagne flute in his hand.
His co-honoree Blige appeared in the last hour of the event; worn out, perhaps, from partying the night before with Oprah Winfrey, Tom Cruise and Sidney Poitier at a party Will and Jada Smith threw for her.
Hours later Ludacris and Blige were together again at the Staples Center for the final rehearsal of their single “Runaway Love.” Placards on the black folding chairs in the venue marked where the celebs would sit the following evening - Blige and Beyoncé in the prime positions on opposite sides of the center aisle; Oscar nominee Jennifer Hudson just behind Beyoncé; Ludacris behind Blige. “Oooh I’m right behind Justin Timberlake,” cooed R&B veteran Natalie Cole. Also in the audience was Rep. Patrick Kennedy, who thought “Runaway Love” was “pretty cool there.”
Permalink | Comments (3) | Categories: Grammys 2007
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By uncle cracker
February 11, 2007 10:23 AM | Link to this
Yawn! And just exactly what does this mean!
By ahmari
February 11, 2007 10:36 AM | Link to this
That mean that there are alot of talent waiting in the wings for the live Grammy Awards tonight….STOP HATING!!!
By diane
February 12, 2007 5:38 AM | Link to this
I really think it was a political statement to give those awards to the Dixie Chicks more than anything else. And i leave it at that.