Producer/rapper Swizz Beatz has been in the news recently after news broke that he and his wife Mashonda were divorcing. There were rumors of an affair between Swizz and Grammy winning singer Alicia Keys. We all know Alicia to be a respectful and intelligent woman which made the rumors very hard to believe. Though we see Alicia constantly in the press because of her successful music and film careers, we don’t see much of Mashonda. Here are a few pics of her so that we can see what Swizz is about to lose. So who’s hotter — Mashonda or Alicia ???

The beautiful Ms. Keys is having one great year:

R&B singer Alicia Keys picked up five nominations for the American Music Awards, while rock bands Coldplay and the Eagles scored four each, organizers said on Tuesday.

All three will compete for artist of the year, alongside rapper Lil Wayne and R&B star Chris Brown, who have three nominations each.

The 36th annual American Music Awards will be held at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles on November 23, with comedian Jimmy Kimmel returning as host. ABC will broadcast in the United States. Scheduled performers include teen idols the Jonas Brothers, pop singer Pink and reunited boy band New Kids on the Block.

For the second year, winners will be determined by online voting. They used to be decided by a poll of 20,000 music buyers, but producers decided to make the event more inclusive in the wake of slumping ratings. The move seemed to work, with last year’s show attracting 11.8 million viewers, up from 10.9 million the year before.

Keys was recognized for her album, “As I Am,” which opened at No. 1 on the U.S. pop chart last November. It was cited for favorite album in the pop/rock and soul/R&B categories, and she was nominated for favorite artist in both those categories.

Coldplay and the Eagles will also go head-to-head for both favorite artist and favorite album in the pop/rock category. Additionally, Coldplay was cited for favorite alternative artist, and the Eagles for favorite adult contemporary artist.

Coldplay ruled the charts for two weeks during the summer with their fifth album, “Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends,” and the Eagles went to the top last November with their first album in 27 years, “Long Road Out of Eden.”

Enjoy this album because Ms. Keys recently announced that she will take a break from singing to concentrate on her acting.

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Alicia Keys’ fans better get used to listening to her latest CD because according to Alicia, she’s ready to “take a break” from singing to concentrate on acting.

“No, I need a break, dammit,” Keys told NY Daily News recently when asked if she’s working on her next album.

The film, cast in 1960s, is about a 14-year-old girl (played Dakota Fanning), who runs away from home with her caregiver and friend to a South Carolina town that holds the secret to her deceased mother’s past.

She arrives on a honey-farm run by Boatwright sisters, August, May and June (played by Queen Latifah, Sophie Okonedo and Alicia Keys respectively), where she forms a bond with the sisters who help her reconcile the loss of her mother.

Keys said that she fell in the love with the story and one not often told, which is the reason that she took the role.

“I just fell in love with it. It’s a beautiful story, one not often told about this time in the civil rights movement,” said Keys. “I just felt you knew the people in that book.”

The Secret Life of Bees belongs in part to the troubled genre of “magical Negro” stories, in which a white protagonist is somehow enlightened or rescued by a particularly special black person (Jim in Huck Finn is an early example). But happily, Sue Monk Kidd’s novel and its adaptation by Gina Prince-Bythewood avoids stereotyping and easy answers, presenting a coming-of-age story that goes easy on the life lessons and forced moments of racial understanding. Crowded with vibrant characters and a wealth of talent, Secret Life of Bees is cuddly enough for Oprah but never cloying, a refreshing take on the more standard, calculated stories of female empowerment.

Dakota Fanning stars as Lily, a 14-year-old who grew up only with her abusive father, T. Ray (Paul Bettany, a surprisingly convincing Southerner), after she accidentally shot her mother at the age of four. When Lily’s nanny Rosaleen (Jennifer Hudson) is beaten by a white mob one her way to register to vote, Lily takes the opportunity to run away from home. She and Rosaleen make their way to the nearby town of Tiburon, South Carolina, where Lily’s only remaining mementoes of her mother suggest she’ll find a home.

That’s precisely what Lily finds at the Pepto Bismol-pink home of the Boatwright sisters, a trio of black women who run a beekeeping business on their property. The oldest, August (Queen Latifah), immediately accepts Lily into her maternal embrace, while youngest sister June (Alicia Keys), a burgeoning Black Power activist, is more skeptical of the white runaway. Also in the house is May (Sophie Okonedo), emotionally damaged by the death of her twin sister some years earlier, who forms an immediate bond with Rosaleen.

The story then follows a series of episodes with each character, as Lily tentatively falls for August’s godson Zach (Tristan Wilds), June repeatedly turns down proposals from her boyfriend Neil (Nate Parker, as charming here as he was in his breakout Great Debaters role), and Lily slowly decides to tell August the real reason she’s arrived on her doorstep. There’s tragedy and a racially-motivated mob attack, but for the most part Secret Life of Bees brings more tears of joy than sadness.

The bees of the title don’t amount to much more than a story gimmick– the Boatwrights could just as easily have been jelly makers or tomato farmers– and you get the feeling that some characters, May and Rosaleen in particular, were better fleshed out in the book. But each of the actresses stake out their characters as defined individuals, aided greatly by Prince-Bythewood’s unwillingness to take the easy way out and make the whole thing about one white girl’s coming-of-age. Okonedo is plainly transformed as the childlike May, and even Hudson, who hadn’t really demonstrated acting talent to this point, holds her own. Fanning has grown well into adolescent roles, even if she’s still over-reliant on wide-eyed stares, and Keys is fierce and funny as the modern June. Latifah, in a role that leans dangerously close to the stereotypical Mammy, brings unusual warmth and intelligence to August.

In fact, it’s unusual warmth and intelligence overall that makes Bees such a pleasure, a cut above the sappiness and schmaltz so many directors think women demand in their movies. Filmed beautifully on location in rural North Carolina, Secret Life of Bees captures a South that contains kindness and beauty even in a time of hate, moving beyond some of the usual preconceptions about the Jim Crow era. As a coming-of-age story, the movie is mostly the usual stuff, but it’s a rare opportunity to see a group of fantastic actresses in a story that, for once, doesn’t revolve entirely around men.

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Rumors are swirling again about Ms. Keys being the Other Woman:

Alicia Keys could be named as “the other woman” in the divorce of hip-hop producer Swizz Beatz and R&B singer Mashonda, sources tell us.

Swizz has been brushing off rumors that Grammy-winner Alicia had anything to do with his split from Mashonda, his wife of almost five years and mother of his 1-year-old son, Kasseem Dean Jr.

But Mashonda isn’t buying it. Last week, she was incensed when she heard about the birthday party Alicia threw for Swizz at midtown’s Louis Vuitton store, where guests included Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony and Robin Thicke.

“Alicia introduced Swizz as ‘The man of the hour and my boo,’” says an insider. “Mashonda has had enough. She put her career on hold to be a wife and mother. She’s tired of pretending she’s deaf, dumb and blind to what’s going on. She can’t believe how disrespectful Alicia is being.”

Word that Swizz and Mashonda were separating came in April in a statement issued by a rep for the couple.

A friend of Mashonda argues, “That was his announcement. She got sucked into it. She thought they were trying to put their marriage back together. Meanwhile, he’s apparently been telling Alicia that his marriage was over.”

Though he accompanied Alicia on her European tour last summer, Swizz has continued to live, off and on, with Mashonda and Kasseem Jr. at their Westchester mansion, says a friend.

Mashonda is said to have exploded when she found a flirty e-mail from Alicia on Swizz’s BlackBerry. According to sources, she fired back a reply, reminding the singer he was still her husband.

Mashonda has now hired powerhouse matrimonial lawyer Bernard Clair.

“This could have been handled quietly,” said a friend. “But now Mashonda has taken the gloves off.”

Clair declined to comment. Keys’ rep didn’t return a call.

A friend of Swizz said, “His relationship with Alicia began after their separation. He hasn’t kept it a secret. He still has great love for Mashonda and has promised to take care of her and their son and support her career.”

Swiss Beatz made the following statements about the rumors to US Magazine:

“I can no longer ignore the harmful rumors, that my friend Alicia Keys is in any way linked to my marital circumstances or to the decision that [my wife] Mashonda and I have made to separate,” Beatz tells Us.

“I am disappointed that some have chosen to try and tarnish Alicia’s reputation by irresponsibly implicating her in a situation that she has absolutely nothing to do with,” Beatz, a father of two, says.

“This experience has been one of the most difficult times in my life, and as was stated when we announced our separation several months ago, I ask that you continue to respect my privacy in dealing with this personal matter.”

Alicia seems like a very deep and spiritual woman that has always carried herself like a lady. It is hard for us to believe that she would get involved with a married man. Especially one that looks like Humpty from Digital Underground. SMH.

Source: http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2008/09/15/2008-09-15_alicia_is_the_ms_in_the_swizz_beatz_spli.html

Source: http://www.usmagazine.com/news/swizz-beatz-denies-affair-with-alicia-keys

Some people wear it all. The only excuse for those shoes with that outfit would be that she just got out of the salon, post-pedicure.

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Philip Morris International has pulled down billboards and posters promoting an Alicia Keys concert Thursday in Indonesia’s capital after the singer protested the cigarette company’s sponsorship.The logo and slogans of A Mild cigarettes, produced by a Philip Morris affiliate, featured prominently in promotional materials for the concert.

The Washington-based Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids anti-smoking organization initially drew Keys’ attention to the company’s association with the show.

In a letter released by her record company, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Keys said she had asked the company to stop the branding

“I am an unyielding advocate for the well-being of children around the world and do not condone or endorse smoking,” she said.

Philip Morris International did not say whether it was demanding its money back, nor would it reveal how much it had paid to sponsor the event.

“Whether tobacco sponsorship of music events leads to youth smoking is a matter of serious debate,” the company said in a statement received Thursday. “Having considered the facts in this specific instance, we have decided to withdraw all branding associated with this concert.”

More than 30 percent of Indonesia’s 220 million people smoke, making it the fifth-largest tobacco market in the world, according to the World Health Organization.

In the United States, Philip Morris USA and other major tobacco companies are prohibited from sponsorships of concerts, but there are no such regulations in Indonesia. The affiliate, HM Sampoerna, regularly sponsors sports events and pop concerts in Indonesia.

Philip Morris was not the sole sponsor of the concert, but the event is billed as an “A Mild Live Production,” suggesting it is a major backer.

With health campaigns taking a toll on cigarette sales in the West, tobacco companies are focusing marketing campaigns on developing countries such as Indonesia, behind China, the United States, Russia and Japan.