Famous models, musicians, and statesmen gathered at the Royal Albert Hall in London yesterday for the Africa Rising Music and Fashion Festival. Colin Powell took the stage and performed with the Nigerian rapper Olu Maintain. No, really. In a speech, he also outlined his hopes for Africa: "As Secretary of State, I pushed for support for the continent. Aid quadrupled during my tenure. We supported the fight against HIV/AIDS with over $15 billion," he said. "However, big Africans must rise and take the responsibility for the development of the continent. They must end the wars. They must fight corruption."

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Queen Latifah has been around for a long time, and her style has gone through many different incarnations. See her journey from rapper to television star to movie star/red carpet darling after the jump.

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Tyrese, Eve, and Ludacris, all of them musicians turned actors, bonded at the 5th annual Hollywood Style Awards over the weekend. They all chose to practice their signature smolder for the photographer.

Only two of her quilts survive, but Harriet Powers still is one of the best-known, most celebrated Southern quilt makers. One is at the Smithsonian and the other is at the Boston's Museum of Fine Arts. Powers, who was born a slave near Athens, Ga., in 1837, is famous for her use of applique story-telling in her work. Her bible quilt depicts scenes from the bible, such as "Adam and Eve naming the animals." It was probably used at the time as a visual tool to teach these stories to the illiterate. Powers died in 1911.

The photo caption from WENN says it all:

Lil Wayne stunned by $1 million birthday gift
Birthday boy LIL WAYNE was left stunned when mentor and pal BIRDMAN handed him $1 million (GBP540,000) at his 26th birthday party in Miami, Florida on Tuesday night (07Oct08).
Stars like DJ Khaled and Akon looked on in amazement as the Got Money hitmaker opened a briefcase Birdman handed him and discovered it was full of crisp new bills. A stunned party guest says, "Lil Wayne was left speechless. He was almost in tears when he hugged his friend. I mean, who wouldn't like $1 million as a birthday gift?" The Club Mansion bash was a lavish affair all round - one of the party's main attractions was an ice sculpture full of frozen $100 bills.

Not only is it completely ridiculous to give a millionaire a million dollars for his birthday, it's also extremely uncreative, obnoxious, and, some would argue, insensitive, given our current economic meltdown. Didn't anyone ever tell Birdman it's the thought that counts?

This thing just never stops being weird, does it? Mariah Carey threw her hubby Nick Cannon a birthday party at Pure Nightclub in Las Vegas. They kissed over a cake. The end.

Missing a few cast members, notably Alicia Keys and Sophie Okonedo, the Los Angeles premiere of the Will Smith-produced Secret Life of Bees went down last night. Lots of laughs on the red carpet.

Fresh off of the bad publicity Tyler Perry got at the end of last week for union busting on his TBS show, House of Payne, the wildly successful filmmaker threw a star-studded, gala event in Atlanta to celebrate the opening of Tyler Perry Studios. It's the first major television and movie studio owned and operated by an African American.

But as entertainers like Will Smith and Patti LaBelle and politicians like Newark Mayor Corey Booker and Rep. John Lewis walked the red carpet, protesters formed a picket line across the street.

VH1's annual Hip Hop Honors took place in New York City last night, and surely cut into the valuable debate-watching time of many a rapper. Thank goodness for DVRs! Naughty By Nature was one of the hip hop groups honored at the show. Treach is smiling on the inside.

After following Barack Obama on the campaign trail for close to two years, one can't help but pick up on the vibe that the partnership between the candidate and his wife, Michelle, is strong and grounded in mutual respect and true love. Even if it's an act, and I certainly don't think it is, it's pretty admirable. It's also a real and positive depiction of marriage, let alone black marriage, that we don't often see.

Here are some images of the Obamas' most affectionate moments on the campaign trail for your viewing pleasure. Above, Oprah is happy to be third-wheeling it with her favorite couple at a rally. [HP]

Aaron Douglas, born in Kansas in 1899, became one of the leading visual artists of the Harlem Renaissance and is often referred to as the "father of African-American Art." Douglas was known for his murals, landscapes, black & white drawings, and portraits. His illustrations also appeared in books by Countee Cullen, James Weldon Johnson, Alain Locke, and Langston Hughes, and on the covers of Vanity Fair. Artist and African-American art scholar David C. Driskell said of Douglas: "Douglas is the leading painter of the [Harlem] Renaissance movement. A pioneering Africanist, he accepted the legacy of the ancestral arts of Africa and developed his own original style, geometric symbolism. At a time when it was unpopular to dignify the black image in white America, Douglas refused to compromise and see blacks as anything less than a proud and majestic people." Douglas would later become the head of the art department at Fisk University. He died in 1979.

The Obama-Biden rally at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Va., Saturday was just like any other… except for the fact that 26,000 people showed up (in a red state), it was raining like crazy, and I was there with my Obama-loving boyfriend and mom. The most amazing thing about the experience was watching all of those thousands of people stay put once the skies opened about an hour before the candidates even took the stage. That's dedication.

Suzanne "Africa" Engo, one of MTV and the Kaiser Foundations top 40 youth AIDS activists in the world, is running 858 miles from the UN building in NYC to Oprah Winfrey's Chicago Harpo office on a high school and university tour to raise awareness. She started on the 15th, and yesterday she completed mile 141 in Reading, Penn. Engo originally came to the United States as the daughter of the Cameroonian Ambassador to the U.S.

Horace Pippin, born in West Chester, Pa., in 1888, did not begin to paint in earnest until 1930 — after he lost the use of his right arm in World War I. The self-taught painter who drew on themes of slavery and segregation for his work. He died in 1946.

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The Emmys went down last night, and although the lovely lady to the left went home empty-handed, two of the best shows on television (according to the academy, me, and some of you) won in the best drama and comedy categories: Mad Men and 30 Rock. Click here for a full list of winners.