Diddy Wants to Anoint You With Fragrant Oils

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Do you feel kingly yet?
Photo: Courtesy of Sean John

We know we're not alone when we say this, but we completely heart Diddy. His brazen love of self, propensity for speaking in the third person, how much he enjoys being rich. Some have called him "arrogant," and his grand displays of nouveau riche wealth "vulgar" but, to paraphrase Diana Vreeland, better to be vulgar than boring. And Diddy is definitely not boring (case in point: his recent YouTube dispatch warning that levels of global "bitchassness" are reaching record highs).

So we weren't surprised to hear that he was naming his new fragrance I Am King. (Though we were surprised to hear it's expected to make more than $100 million globally in its first year alone. For reals? Damn!) WWD reports that the new cologne will launch exclusively at Macy's in December before going global in February, to be followed by an I Am Queen perfume for all the lay days in 2009.
What's in a name? "I believe in positive affirmations," Diddy says. "If I say, 'I am not going to succeed, I'm a loser,' then that's what I am going to be. If we say we're kings and we say we're queens, that's what we're going to be. It has nothing to do with being arrogant."

The print and TV campaign for I Am King portray Combs as a mogul in a suit, cavorting around Monaco and Saint-Tropez with models Bar Refaeli and Ana Paula, on jet skis around the French Riviera, lounging aboard his palatial yacht and playing the tables inside the Casino de Paris in Monte Carlo. So, you know, his everyday life. According to Diana Espino, vice-president and general manager of Sean John Fragrances, "This is a story that needs to be told." Like the story of Jesus! Who was, coincidentally, also a king, and we bet would've totally dominated at the craps table as well. He would've passed on the jet skis, though: "No thanks, Diddy, I'll walk." —Noelle Hancock

Combs Crowns New Men's Scent [WWD]

Jay-Z!!! Summer Streets!! Read about IT!

Jay-Z and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the kick off of Summer Streets, a program that will turn NYC streets into a traffic free playground for kids. Seven miles from the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park, along Lafayette St, 4th Ave, Park Ave, up to East 72nd St. will be closed and made available every Saturday over the next three weeks from 7am to 1pm. The route will include activities such as, dance classes, bike rentals, and children's games with rest stops along the route and live music performances. Jay-Z hopes the event encourages kids to get involved in positive activities, and recalls one of his proudest moments is when he learned to ride a bike at the age of four. In other Jay news, he recently told Vibe that parts of your life are sacred for you and the people around you. In other words, his marriage is not up for discussion, and that will remain between the people close to him.

DO IT JAY!!!

Story pulled from Kredible Alerts

adidas Nations hits Big D

adidas Nations, the global grassroots basketball program which first launched in 2007, is set to kickoff its final camp, adidas Basketball Experience in Dallas at the Integrated Athletic Development (IAD) facility August 7 – 12.

The camp will feature eight international teams – Africa, Asia Red, Asia Blue, Canada, Europe, Latin America, US 2009 and US 2010 – along with sixteen NBA players and coaches acting as adidas Nations Head Coaches and NBA Mentors.

NBA players Antawn Jamison, TJ Ford, Josh Smith, Kyle Lowry, Desmond Mason, Raymond Felton and Antonio Daniels will be on-site to assist the young players and mentor them throughout the camp.

Paul Silas, Detlef Schrempf, Terry Stotts, Larry Krystowiak, Lionel Hollins, Frank Johnson, Ed Schilling and Dwane Casey will act as regional Head Coaches. The addition of NBA staffing will offer players first rate guidance from highly esteemed league veterans and current coaches and players.

adidas Nations is designed to emphasize and focus on adidas’ core belief that real success in the game of basketball comes from playing as a team. The training and educational activities are designed to provide insight on what it takes to elevate their basketball careers to collegiate and NBA-levels.

All eight participating teams will take part in daily practices, workout rotations and games at the IAD facility located at 2800 North Interstate 35E, Carrollton, Texas.

There's also a community outreach program built around adidas’ long-term relationship with Peace Players International – a global not-for-profit organization and 2007 ESPN Arthur Ashe Courage Award ESPY recipient – the will grant players a first hand experience with community outreach and social responsibility.

Here's the info:
WHAT: Free youth basketball clinic for local youth
WHO: adidas Nations players
WHEN: August 11 from 9:30am-11am
WHERE: Preston Wood Baptist Church (6801 W. Park Blvd, Plano, TX).
MORE: The clinic is open and free of charge to both boys and girls ages 9-14.

Keeping the Promise at the XVII Internat'l AIDS Conference

UNICEF: Keeping the Promise at the XVII Internat'l AIDS Conf

BLUEPRINT 3!!!

NEW YORK — Kanye West closed his Glow in the Dark show at Madison Square Garden Wednesday night with a major announcement: He's producing tracks for Jay-Z's next album, Blueprint 3. And Hova just so happened to be on hand to premiere one of the album's tracks.

After the last song of his performance, Kanye told the crowd that 20 years from now, they would be recognizing him and some of his peers, such as Glow in the Dark tourmate Pharrell Williams, as some of the all-time greats. Acknowledging his great success and loss in the past year, he told the audience — which included Q-Tip and Andre 3000 — that he was evolving and not going to be as selfish as he was in the past. ('Ye gave another reflective speech during Tuesday's MSG show.)

A story followed of how when he's in the studio producing tracks, he'll usually snatch the beat for himself, unless his friend and G.O.O.D. Music act Common is there. But on a recent trip to Hawaii, West said he changed his M.O. While in the studio in paradise, he told himself, "Every beat I do is for this person."

He promised to play a track for the concertgoers, but didn't tell them he had a bonus. As the bass kicked in for a song that is sure to heat up the clubs and streets before the summer is done, Jay-Z walked out and started to rap. (Kanye has posted video of the song on his blog.)

You would have needed the computer-chip-enhanced hearing of the Bionic Woman to make out everything the Brooklyn native was saying over the roar of the crowd. But his rap started off with a reference to his recent verbal dust-up with Oasis leader Noel Gallagher, who objected to a hip-hop artist (Jay) headlining England's traditionally rock-oriented Glastonbury festival earlier this summer: "That bloke from Oasis said I couldn't play guitar / Somebody shoulda told him I'm a f---in' rock star." He went on to rap about his female fans, including the line, "I'm like, 'Life ain't fair/ Chill, baby girl, my girl is here.' "

Kanye kept yelling a chorus that sounded like "Jockin' Jay-Z, jockin' Jay-Z." And there was no mistaking Jigga's call of "Blueprint 3," getting the crowd excited for the second sequel to one of the cornerstones of his lauded catalog of classics. Rumors of the album began this January, when a track called "Ain't I" leaked, but Jay's reps denied that the song was new.

Jay and Kanye gave no other details about the project before exiting. The spectators mixed chants of "Kaaan-yaaaay!" and "Hov-vvvvvaaaaah!" well after the house lights came on.

"I really went to see the show," Jay explained to Angela Yee and Elliott Wilson on Sirius radio's Shade 45 morning show Thursday. "I walk into the dressing room, and [Kanye's] like, 'Let's do a record. Let's do this.' I'm like, 'C'mon, man.' But you know, I couldn't tell him no. It's his show. That was the idea; he wanted to [perform] a new record."

Hov said he didn't know if the Blueprint 3 would be coming out this year, but there are tracks for it in the can. He also acknowledged a recent MTV News article in which Timbaland said the two of them had talked about making an entire album together.

"We spoke about doing an album; it just was premature," Jay explained.

When the first Blueprint came out in 2001, some critics and fans said it was as good or even better than his discography's crown jewel, Reasonable Doubt. West's production on Blueprint, for records such as "Never Change," "The Takeover" and lead cut "Izzo," was his conduit to eventual superstardom. Oddly enough, Jay premiered the first record from that LP while performing onstage as well, at the 2001 BET Awards.

[This story was originally published at 9:00 a.m. ET on 08.07.2007]


This report is provided by MTV News!!

I DON'T THINK THEY READY!!! WOW!!! KANYE AND....

BLUEPRINT 3 from kwest on Vimeo.

Sean John - Special Announcement!

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Don Cheadle play Poker for charity

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