• Robin Thicke is upset that Vibe won't put him on the cover because he's white. But he says he understands, since he lives with a black woman. [Bossip]

• Nelly thinks he shouldn't be judged for "Tip Drill" if he also does good work in the community. [BV]

• Fat Joe is pissed that Daddy Yankee has his little cousins thinking John McCain is cool. [HHDX]

• Sarah Palin came in second place in the Miss Alaska pageant back in 1984. And she'll likely come in second place come November. [US]

• Rihanna unleashes the video for "Disturbia," in which she wears different wigs and contact lenses and acts creepy. [CL]

• And here's a new video from Robin Thicke for good measure. [C&D]

• For every journalist who wants to denigrate Michelle Obama, there's one who has her back. Hard. [JJP]

• Will Detroit go from Hip Hop Mayor to NBA Mayor? [BV]

• If you're in the market for a new Jag that was driven by a deceased hip hop legend, eBay's got it. [EUR]

Paula Patton's pregnant! It's totally unconfirmed but from the looks of these pics from the 40/40 grand opening in Vegas Sunday, it's either that or a really unflattering dress. Or maybe certain blind items about her husband are causing her to seek comfort in ice cream and cake. I'm going with pregnant.

They look all chummy in the photos, but Robin Thicke almost didn't make it to Beyonce's side at the after party for their concert in Miami Sunday. Her security team shooed him away from her VIP section because they didn't recognize him, and Solange had to escort him in personally. Embarrassing, but not as embarrassing as that salsa routine he did at the BET Awards.

[24/S]

Beyonce, Chris Brown, Bow Wow, Hillary Clinton, Mary J. Blige, Frankie Beverly and Maze, Lionel Richie, and Kelly Rowland (to name a few) took the stage Friday and Saturday at the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans. Check out plenty of pictures from the final two days of the famous festival after the jump.

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Men's fashion at an award show such as this is harder to judge, because many of the attendees arrive in the same clothes they would wear to the grocery store, the club, or the annual pimp convention — none of which are good looks. Don Cheadle, who won the humanitarian award for his work in Darfur, looks pretty dapper (and he gave a great acceptance speech). I can't say the same for all of the guys in attendance. See for yourself after the jump.

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As I (and everyone else) predicted, Beyonce was a big winner at last night's BET Awards, and seemed to loosen up considerably without Jay-Z at her side. Note to anyone that didn't watch: Beyonce would like you to know she's black, proud, and very smiley.

My favorite moment had to have been the Destiny's Child reunion on stage, where Michelle Williams played her position in the background with sub par dance moves, and Kelly Rowland had the unfortunate honor of performing after Beyonce's tour-trained voice and fell embarrassingly short. She looked beautiful in that Wonder Woman get-up, though.

Other moments: TGT standing in unison in the audience to honor Gerald Levert (of LSG), Chudney Ross (what will all the other socialites think) laughing in embarrassment as Diana Ross semi-scolded hip hoppers for their bad language, T.I. apologizing for acting "unroyally" at Kevin Lile's charity brunch, Robin Thicke's ill-advised dance breakdown, 50 Cent's on-stage meltdown, and, although I do not necessarily support her proud-to-be-obese movement, Mo'nique sure compiled some limber big girls to do her back-up dancing.

I also learned that Mo'nique calls Al Sharpton Pop-Pop, if I ran into Jennifer Holliday singing Dreamgirls tunes in a back alley I would run screaming in the other direction, and proud black man Chuck D can actually still stomach sharing a stage with Flavor Flav. All-in-all quite edifying. More pics and the winners after the jump.

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It would have been asking too much to be spared a live performance from Rihanna (although I am interested to see what she's wearing on the red carpet), but I don't object to any of the other presenters and performers in the final lineup for next week's BET Awards. Oh, except for Al Sharpton, who has spent the better part of the last couple of months waging a half-assed war against some of the artists being honored by BET that night. Wouldn't the best form of protest be to stay away? Anyway, here's the lineup.

Newly-added big name celebs scheduled to appear or perform include: mega-star Beyonce’, hip-hop mogul Diddy, R&B divas Keyshia Cole, Kelly Rowland, and Alicia Keys, chart-topping ingénue Rihanna, legendary singers Gladys Knight and Chaka Khan, sultry crooners Robin Thicke and Mario, soul maven Erykah Badu, rap stars Nelly and Fabolous, actress Vivica A. Fox, funnyman Charlie Murphy, activist/political leader Al Sharpton, hip hop activist/rapper Chuck D, American Idol Jordin Sparks, writer/director/actor Tyler Perry, movie stars Nick Cannon, Michael Clark Duncan and Henry Simmons, and NFL superstar Reggie Bush.

They join previously announced show talent T.I., 50 Cent, Ne-Yo, Ciara, Terrence Howard, Queen Latifah, Yolanda Adams, Tyra Banks, Katt Williams, Big Boi of Outkast and Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

With the list above, the majority of which are performers, I don't know when there is going to be time to hand out the awards. Actually, that's what makes the BET awards so much better than all the others. Still, since it is an award show, I've listed my admittedly Beyonce-heavy picks (in bold) after the jump. They're a combination of who I want to win and who I think is going to win. I'm interested to know yours.

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As I informed you earlier, today is the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Loving vs. Virginia, which officially legalized interracial unions. A group of overly sentimental people have dubbed this day Loving Day, during which we are all supposed to celebrate our legal right to love and marry whoever we want (as long as they're of the opposite sex). Here is a smattering of some famous interracial couples, starting with two of my favorites, Paula Patton and Robin Thicke.

Despite Rihanna's rather suspect pronunciation of the word "umbrella," her song of the same name is at the top of the UK charts based on downloads alone. Apparently, this is a ground-breaking achievement, since her album is not yet "available in the shops."

She performed her downloadable hit at Z100's Zootopia concert in New York Friday, and shared the stage with Robin Thicke, Omarion, Fergie, Hilary Duff and others. Check out some pics of the other performers below.

[MTVUK]

Robin Thicke, 50 Cent, T.I. and others gathered in Hollywood yesterday to announce the nominations for the BET Awards yesterday. Afterward, 50 participated in a press conference, during which EURweb caught him spouting the following gems of wisdom. Pay close, close attention.

“Are you familiar with politics? Are you familiar with the President’s No. 2 man? You’re familiar with him resigning based on him using, maybe what we’d call a dating service? Maybe he’s hanging out with hoes that we mention in the music. If that doesn’t make you aware of a situation that exists….

“Music is a mirror, and hip hop is a reflection of the environment that we grew up in. It’s the harsh realities that end up in the music. If I ask you to paint a picture of the American flag and not use the color red, you’re gonna have a difficult time. To capture what we try to capture in the art form, I’m sure some conservative Americans can’t [identify] with it because of their lifestyle and the way they’ve actually been brought up, and they haven’t been exposed to those realities.”

Bailey used Master P as an example of a rapper who made the decision to sign positive rappers from now on who do not use the three aforementioned words in their lyrics.

“Well Master P doesn’t sell CDs anymore,” 50 said calmly, which caused the room full of reporters to burst out laughing. “You can tell him I said it. Cameras is rollin’ right? …‘Curtis,’ June 26.”

Right. 50 Cent's rambling thoughts make me dizzier than Miss Jay's do. He's right on the money about Master P, though.

[EUR]

The annual Costume Institute gala was held in NYC last night, and many of our brightest stars came out, although I'm not sure why some were invited. I've been missing the glamorous, evening gown version of Jennifer Hudson since awards season ended, so I'm thrilled to see her in formal mode.