Here’s a little trivia: Ne-Yo used to be in a singing group with Corey Clark, the American Idol contestant/criminal who threw Paula Abdul under the bus when his career didn’t take off. They once appeared on Amateur Night at the Apollo. And they were bad. Ne-Yo’s lucky he got off that train before it crashed.

• Ne-Yo sentenced to community service after failing to drive the speed limit. [SP]

• Hip hop photographer Jonathan Mannion says it was difficult convincing DMX to pose in a bathtub full of blood. Funny, it doesn’t seem like it would be such a tough sell. [MTV]

• Usher obviously did not take kindly to Chilli’s comments about loving him forever. [Bossip]

• Yeah, I won’t ever be shopping at Dillards. Good thing that’s not a big sacrifice. [RR]

• Smokey Robinson should sue. [C&D]

• Ne-yo tries to make himself feel better about a sure-to-be terrible song he made with Lindsay Lohan. [MG]

• Now that Mariah Carey has a new man in her life, maybe she could also get a new stylist and hairdresser? [SR]

• Madonna and David Banda will officially be together forever. [PH]

• If it didn’t seem like Usher’s TRL rant last night was in defense of himself instead of in defense of his wife, it would be sort of sweet. [NB]

• What does Brandy think of Ray J, I wonder? [C&D]

• R. Kelly asks to delay his trial again because of all the publicity that news of an alleged threesome received over the weekend. Oh, please. [MTV]

• Forest Whitaker has been stabbed a few times. Who knew? [SP]

• Kobe Bryant is MVP of the NBA this year. This is a big deal to some people, just not to me. [NB]

• What do you know about the Muslim women of hip hop? [Racialicious]

• Nicole Scherzinger and Ne-Yo? Really? [Bossip]

• Tyra Banks makes people crazy. Literally. [Jezebel]

• What’s will all these recording artists appearing on soap operas? Snoop and Mary J. Blige went on One Life to Live recently, and now Ne-Yo ha plans to guest star on All My Children. I can’t tell if it’s the stars or the soap operas that are desperate. [SP]

• Mariah Carey got caught being lazy on Good Morning America today. [SR]

• And why is Chili still talking about her relationship with Usher? [C&D]

• It’s sad when rappers have to latch onto Alicia Keys already-resolved controversy in order to get some press. [RTNY]

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT Ne-Yo is branching out into different music genres with his new album, because he’s “bored” with today’s “urban” music. That makes two of us. [Reuters]

BOO HOO R. Kelly’s been relatively quiet about his beef with Ne-Yo, who was very publicly unhappy with the “Pied Piper” after he was unceremoniously booted from their tour, presumably because his set was more popular than the pouty headliner’s. But watch out, Ne-Yo! Here comes R. Kelly with the diss track…

• Whoa! This explains why Ne-Yo wears all of those hats. But what’s the explanation for his reckless driving? [TMZ]

• Snoop smokes weed in public. Is anyone else as shocked as I am? [AHH]

• Ew, Shemar Moore. Just ew. [PH]

• Black coaches need to be a little less naive. [FH]

• Ebony throws a pre-Oscar bash. [CL]

• Ne-Yo, who is currently suing R. Kelly over their tour-gone-wrong, is now rumored to be suing Beyonce over royalties for her song “Irreplaceable,” which he wrote. [SOHH]

• South Carolina and its much-talked about statehouse grounds… All you can do is shake your head. [CT]

• Australia starts ‘em young. [MHS]

• An annual African American art exhibit in Louisville shows shifting perceptions of black art and artists. [LCJ]

Way back in 2004, a very pouty R. Kelly sued Jay-Z over their Best of Both Worlds tour, which went horribly awry when (a.) one of Jay’s entourage maced R. Kelly (to hear R. tell it) or (b.) R. Kelly got pissy and jealous when Jay-Z got more attention and decided to sue to detract attention from his child molestation case (to hear Jay-Z tell it.) Either way, he’s no stranger to concert tours ending in lawsuits. That’s where Ne-Yo comes in. He’s suing R. Kelly for booting him off of the Double Up tour, because, Ne-Yo says, Kelly was pissy and jealous of Ne-Yo’s popularity. I’m sensing a pattern here. [AHH]

Despite rumors to the contrary, Jay-Z’s 40/40 Club in Las Vegas passed inspection and opened (in typical grand style) last night for LeBron James’ 23rd birthday party. Lots of stars were in attendance, but expect more at tonight’s New Year’s Eve party — apparently, none of these people mind spending two nights in a row at Jay-Z’s club. More pictures, including one of Rev. Al “Decency in Hip Hop” Sharpton throwing up the Roc sign with Memphis Bleek and Beanie Sigel, after the jump.

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Even people who haven’t had kids will probably hate on Garcelle Beauvais for losing her baby weight in such a swift, thorough fashion. If you recall, she looked like this less than two months ago. She showed off her toned-mommy body at People’s Grammy nomination party. Check out more pics, including a special one of Solange and her tights, after the jump.

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Ne-Yo spoke to Ed Lover recently about getting kicked off the R.Kelly tour. And while the official explanation is that there was some contractual issue, Ne-Yo says the real reason is that R.Kelly is a diva who takes all the dressing rooms for himself and forbids anyone from being in a hallway when he walks down it. Well, that and the fact that he’s a big hater. Neyo pretty much sums it up with this quote:

“It probably didn’t help matters that…people had a lot of very positive things to say about my portion of the show and not as many about his portion of the show.”

[RTNY]

• Even though he’s on house arrest, T.I. helped raise $166,000 to feed the homeless. Ah, Thanksgiving! Even illegal machine gun enthusiasts have hearts. [AHH]

• Is Ne-Yo trying to save the cheerleader, save the world? [PH]

• If Wesley Snipes put as much effort into his career as he has put into his tax-evasion trial, well, he would actually have a career. [E!]

• Mary J. Blige is really putting in work to promote her new album. [Vibe]

• If the new urban jewelry trend is taking items out of a first-grader’s backpack and encrusting them with diamonds, I’m done. [Bossip]

• Historically, R. Kelly’s had a problem going on tour with talented male competition. Is that why Ne-Yo’s suddenly been kicked off his tour? [C&D]

• This new, charitable Nicole Richie is sort of endearing. [People]

• So, a lot of Kanye news today. Here he is on the cover of GQ. [Bossip]

• I’m really jealous of an audience in Macon, Ga., right about now. [Oprah]

• Michael Vick owes almost $1 million in expenses for the care of the dogs confiscated from his property. Damn, if only he had never decided to get into dog fighting… [CNN]