Carolivia Herron wrote the children’s book Nappy Hair expecting a little bit of controversy. You see, the lead character, a child named Brenda, had "the nappiest, fuzziest, the most screwed up, squeezed up, knotted hair." Brenda was special. Unique. Herron figured parents might not like that she was putting this young character on a pedestal.

“I was claiming uniqueness for my character,” Herron told Stereohyped, “rather than claiming that this child represented African American people as a whole.”

But the controversy Herron got was of an entirely different sort. In 1998, a white elementary school teacher in the predominately black and Hispanic Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY, infuriated parents after she read the book to her class and sent students home with copies. They considered Nappy Hair to be a racial slur. The administration eventually backed the book and the teacher’s decision to read it in class, but it was too late. The teacher had to request a transfer because she feared for her safety.

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It's quite a rarity to have so many hip hop luminaries in one room, or one (Hammerstein) ballroom, as it was. But VH1 managed to cram as much talent as possible into their Hip Hop Honors show, which taped last night but airs Monday at 10 pm. Yes, there was a lot of talent there, but I don't count Tracy Morgan, who hosted the awards and couldn't quite get that teleprompter thing down. Could his SCRAM have been going off right about that time? No worries, I'm sure they'll have that all cleaned up by Monday.

I had the pleasure of spending the evening in the press room, where the honorees and presenters came back to chat. In fact, so many VIPs were in attendance, I decided to write up my experiences in a handy superlative format. Check out the Best and Worst, plus lots and lots of pictures, after the jump.

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This clip from 1995's Waiting to Exhale is in honor of writer Terry McMillan, who was kind enough to grace the pages of Stereohyped with her side of the book drama involving her ex. Depending on where you are in life (and who you are) you might like this clip or you might not. Either way, try to enjoy. For Terry!

• TV One's on the come-up. Watch your back, BET. [CNN]

• Advertisements, shmadvertisements, or so we say. [MD]

• South Carolina blacks may vote for the Dems, but they aren't very liberal. [MBP]

• The Jena Six case is like 2007's version of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Although no one has to give up anything to say, "Free the Jena Six!" [USAT]

• My name and OJ Simpson's mentioned in the text of the same article? A dubious distinction, at best. [BS]

You've seen Zulema Griffin on Project Runway, ordering her weepy fellow contestant to "cry and cut" or ruthlessly taking someone else's model. But you probably haven't seen her like this: beaming over the successful presentation of her Spring '08 line and posing for pictures with fans — fans of Zulema Griffin, the designer, not the reality television star.

Eschewing the traditional, and often boring, runway show, Griffin presented her collection yesterday at an art gallery. Inspired by the Nigerian musician Fela and his 27 wives, Griffin used 27 black models, who walked through the crowd or lounged lazily on sofas. The clothes — African-inspired dresses, blouses, skirts and pants — will be available in a boutiques next year, if all goes as planned.

Models lounging at Griffin's show

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• What's the hand doing, Janet? [MG]

• African American is a perfectly nice thing to be, in my opinion, but Beyonce (who shouts her Creole heritage from the damn mountaintops at every opportunity) kind of wishes she had been born a Latina. Maybe in the next lifetime, chica. [Latina]

• Can a black women's magazine besides Essence get a foothold in the market, please? [Jezebel]

• Jamaica's not the most gay-friendly country? I never would have known… [QT]

• Thanks to everyone who came to Full Throttle Fashion on Saturday to celebrate The Fashion Bomb's anniversary with yours truly, The B-Life, Hourglass Events, Pieces Boutique, and the JI Group (phew). Plus, a special thanks to Boutique Finesse and the Rum Cake Fairy (for the insanely delicious and much-needed late-night dessert)!

As controversy swirls around VH1 for capitalizing off of the worst stereotypes of black women on shows Flavor of Love and Charm School, JanJay Sherman efficiently does her work as a public relations assistant at Flirt! Cosmetics, socializes with friends, and enjoys New York City life like any normal, 22-year-old college grad.

What does one thing have to do with the other? I should mention JanJay manages to do all of this while cameras record her every move for Soapnet's reality hit, Fashionista Diaries. But the only thing Janjay has in common with a Flavor of Love girl is starring on a cable television show. And skin color, of course.

"There is like this stigma now that [black women] argue and we’re ghetto," Janjay told Stereohyped. "For me, being a part of corporate America, I make it point to be articulate and classy, and I don’t feel like how [the FOL girls] act affects me at all."

On the Fashionista Diaries, which follows several other young assistants trying to make it in the NYC fashion world, it's not all serious. JanJay, a Minnesota native and former Zac Posen intern, tries to find a balance between doing her job (and she really does public relations for Flirt!) and not being a boring working drone in front of the cameras.

It was hard initially because you have to find an equal balance between meeting your deadlines and being entertaining and making sure your producers are getting the shot that they need," she said. "It's work, but at the same time it is a show, and you can’t be sitting at your desk typing away."

After the jump, the burgeoning fashionista answers a few of Stereohyped's questions in honor of fashion week. Beyonce haters, take heed! Also, the good publicist gives us her favorite Flirt! products for brown girls.

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• Yes, we get it. Lauryn Hill is crazy. Can Wyclef and Pras stop talking about it, please? [DL]

• Chico DeBarge apparently has not learned his lesson yet. Hey, maybe we'll get another album out of this. [C&D]

• At some point, every single man in the entertainment industry will have to field gay rumors. It's part of the business, obviously. [SR]

• A match made in heaven? Was that in poor taste? [TAN]

• If you live in NYC, I expect to see you and your friends at Katra tomorrow night, because who doesn't want to party with Stereohyped, The Fashion Bomb, and The B-Life? [FT]

You like me! You really like me! Well, the Black Weblog Award judges do, anyway. And, thankfully, that was all it took for me to win a Black Weblog Award for Best New Blog.

I would say more, but I'm busy poppin' bottles in my mind right now. Pardon me if the rest of the day's posts come off a little loopy.

Check out the rest of the winners here.

It was the era of the Supermodel — you know, when they all went by their first and last names but certainly didn't need to — think Naomi, Christy, Linda — and claimed they didn't get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day.

New York Fashion Week shows were more glamorous (read: they weren't sponsored by Olympus or Mercedes Benz and were held in lofts, clubs, and restaurants instead of tents). And Sam Fine was behind the scenes — at Geoffrey Bean, Fernando Sanchez, Tracy Reese, Todd Oldham, Isaac Mizrahi, etc. — giving the models faces to match their designer looks or rushing from show to show with Naomi and Tyra.

It was the first half of the '90s when Sam Fine both assisted the late Kevyn Aucoin and worked the shows on his own. Those were the good ol' days… that he doesn't really want to go back to.

"It's a fun gig, but I leave it to the young at heart and the ones that really love fashion," he told Stereohyped.

And it's not like being a celebrity makeup artist, which is the the job Sam Fine graduated to when he left the fashion show world, is any less glamorous. Or that much different.

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The deep pockets behind this blog aren't just trying to entertain and inform you every day — they're also trying to make a buck off your loyalty to Stereohyped.

To do that, we've gotta sell ads. And, lucky you, our advertisers want to know a bit about you. (How often you wear the same undergarments without washing? You can keep that to yourself.)

So please take a few minutes to do us the favor and take our survey. It's anonymous! And most importantly, it'll help keep our coffers filled high enough that we can keep publishing Stereohyped everyday. Which is good news for you and us.

Click to take survey

For Stereohyped's second launch event, we teamed up with the organizers of the tongue-in-cheek networking party, JAPS+BAPS, an event for American Princesses of all kinds in the media biz. We nibbled on delicious red velvet cupcakes from Brooklyn's famous Cake Man Raven and sipped champagne while we perused the wares at the Elizabeth Charles boutique in NYC's meatpacking district. That's me with the party's enterprising organizers, Zandile Blay and Julee Wilson. More pictures after the jump.

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My name's Lauren, and I'm the editor of Stereohyped, your new favorite black-interest blog.

Stereohyped isn't a gossip blog, although I'll give you a lot of it — I'm a little obsessed with celebrity news. It's not an entertainment blog, although we will discuss music, books, movies and television several times a week. This is not a racism watchdog or a doom & gloom current events blog, but I will go there on occasion (it's kind of unavoidable, this being America and all). It's also not a political blog or a fashion and beauty blog. Stereohyped is not one of these things. It's all of them.

There's not a Web site I've found that offers the latest dish on the newest hip hop and R&B couple (Omarion and Rihanna are kinda cute, Keyshia Cole and Jeezy, not so much), spring fashion trends, hot new books, and Barack Obama's energy policy all in one place. I'm sure I won't please everyone all the time, but my goal is to provide a one-stop destination where you can find info relevant to the black community that gets downplayed or completely ignored in the mainstream media. I'm sure you guys will let me know when I'm missing something.

Have fun reading, and come back!