Baby sister Solange Knowles and her "eccentric little self" was getting her DJ at Tao in Las Vegas this weekend

Beyonce looks like the creature from the black lagoon in these pics taken yesterday afternoon not far from Barack Obama's bungalow in Hawaii. It must be boring have oodles of money if you have to break the monotony by vacationing every other week.

Jay-Z, Solange and her son Jules buried Beyonce up to her neck in the sand. Jigga was overheard asking his wife, "are you having fun yet?"

Beyoncé's mother and costume designer, Tina Knowles, has reportedly filed divorce papers against the singer's dad and longtime manager, Mathew Knowles. According to TMZ, Tina Knowles filed the papers last month in Texas, seeking an end to the couple's 29-year marriage. A spokesperson for Knowles could not be reached for comment on the claims at press time.

Both parents have played a pivotal role in Beyoncé's career, with Mathew quitting his job at IBM nearly 20 years ago to begin managing the singer's early group, Girl's Tyme, which eventually morphed into Destiny's Child. He has had producer credits on many of Beyoncé's projects, including the 2009 film "Obsessed," and he is the founder of Music World Entertainment, a label that, through Columbia Records, has released albums by Beyoncé, sister Solange Knowles, Sunshine Anderson, and former DC members Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams.

Tina Knowles is a stylist and one of the principals in House of Dereon, a fashion line she helped launched in 2004 with Beyoncé. She also designed many of DC's one-of-a-kind costumes early in their career.

Mathew was reportedly hit with...More TINA KNOWLES


Tina and Beyonce Knowle

Good Hair - Chris Rock

Halle Berry

Beyonce's little sister Solange showed up at the recent MTV Video Music Awards with locks shorn very close to the grain.

Though she rocked the 'do well, it made me think that Beyonce - who is arguably somewhere near the peak of her career - couldn't get away with such a radical hair change at this point. Though she's a bit better looking than her little sis and could likely pull off a short coif, I don't think America is ready for its premier mainstream black diva to abandon the horse hair just yet.

And then I watched the Chris Rock documentary Good Hair this past weekend. After viewing the movie - which focuses primarily on black women and their obsession with weaves, perms and all manner of faux follicles - I find myself even more deep rooted in my outlook.

I am not sure how a black woman could walk away from the film, which I highly recommend for its humor first and social commentary second, without feeling a bit of social deference and a tad moral uneasiness for subjecting herself to the process of hair enhancement for a litany of reasons.

Despite the film's rousing humor, it serves as the Fast Food Nation for the weaved-out set: an indictment of an industry and the folks who pour money into it. Good Hair reveals that the multi-billion-dollar hair industry (which, despite thriving off of black folks, is owned largely by whites and Asians) has dubious characteristics that play out like a less-violent version of the blood diamond trade.

Rock shed light on an issue I've pondered since I was quite young: Black folks who grew up in or around the hood all know ladies who stayed noggin-deep in costly hairdos while simultaneously collecting welfare and living on a shoestring budget. Jacked-up weight, credit health or dental issues be damned -- the hair was on point, if nothing else!

Maybe it's a straight male, $20-for-a-haircut-and-shave thing, but I can't understand the practicality of spending upwards of thousands of dollars on something that goes on your head. A memorable vacation around the world? Okay. A colossal-ass television? Sure. Something that's ruined the moment you slide too far backwards in the bathtub? Yeah...no.




I am, and always have been, a proponent of self-expression. But there's something fundamentally wrong with the level of importance that women place into what's jumping off atop the scalp...especially considering their reasons.

Sure, I do think American men of all races tend to gravitate toward longer hair. But I'm strongly of the belief that it's not requisite for black men - the group to whom black women are most interested in appealing. If you're attractive anyway, we don't care as much how your hair is sitting as mainstream America might. Case in point: ask most black men who they think the most attractive woman in the world is, and I'll wager over 50 percent will say Send Blog   ·     Share on Facebook   ·     Bookmark on Delicious