Janelle Monae is to be Featured in "Women Who Rock" Exhibit!

Congratulations to Janelle Monae on her inclusion in the prestigious Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum! The first ever "Women Who Rock" exhibit will open to the public on Friday, May 3rd.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum will open a ground-breaking and provocative new exhibit that will illustrate the important roles women have played in rock and roll, from its inception through today. Women Who Rock: Vision, Passion, Power will highlight the flashpoints, the firsts, the best, the celebrated and sometimes lesser-known women who moved rock and roll music and American culture forward. The exhibit is sponsored by PNC and Time Warner Cable. Women Who Rock will open to the public on Friday, May 13, 2011.

Janelle will be featured in the Ladies First: the 90's and the New Millenium section of the exhibit. Check out the official excerpt below. Highlighted artists will include Bikini Kill, Meg White, Taylor Swift, Queen Latifah, Janelle Monae, Alicia Keys and Lady Gaga.

Read more about it here.

Alicia Keys - Reminisces on her Beginnings with HP

Alicia Keys shares how and where her first album "Songs in A Minor" was created. It's a very insightful look into the beginnings of this incredibly talented artist. This video was created by HP in a campaign for HP Computer’s Everybody On. The campaign aims to demonstrate how people around the world use HP products and technology to pursue their personal and professional dreams.

Besides revealing her beginnings in Harlem in a small one bedroom apartment, Alicia Keys also talks about the ‘Alicia’s Keys’ virtual piano computer software and how she “loves” that HP let’s people listen to her music in the way that she intended.

Alicia Keys is nominated for three Grammys in the categories of "Record of the Year", "Best Rap/Sung Collaboration", and "Best Rap Song". The Grammy Awards will air tonight.

Alicia Keys and Swizz Beats Wed in Corsica

Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz (Kasseem Dean) gathered with family and friends, Saturday, on the French island of Corsica.

As usual Alicia was gorgeous, she wore a Vera Wang gown and Swizz Beatz wore a Tom Ford tux and Christian Louboutin Oxfords.

Bono, Queen Latifah and Mr. Louboutin were among the VIP guests. Other guests included Alicia's mother Terry Augello and Swizz' son Prince Nasir Dean. Dr. Deepak Chopra presided over the ceremony.

“Wowwwwwwwwww,” tweeted Swizzy on the big day. “It’s a brand new day :) I feel like Nas and Diddy song :) love y’all and blessing!”

We all wish Alicia and Swizz a long and blissful marriage!

Alicia Keys Honors Lena Horne in EW Magazine

Alicia Keys wrote a moving tribute to the late Lena Horne for Entertainment Weekly magazine. She recently started researching Lena’s life and became an overnight fan! Keys admits that she often listens to her songs on Sunday mornings, in particular “Stormy Weather”. 

"I've never been able to ask her directly, but I've read that she was very insecure about her voice. She didn't feel that she had a beautiful voice. I feel totally differently: she had a very special and unique voice and style and quality. "I hear a lot of sadness in her voice. I just love that melancholy tone that she has." Says Keys.

She also admires what Horne was able to do as an African-American woman living when "the options and opportunities for black women were very limited."

She notes, "Lena Horne opened doors for all of us. That's a major legacy she's leaving behind." 

Lena Horne passed away this week, on May 10th.

Listen to Alicia keys’ Sex and the City 2 Song “Rapture”

 Yesterday, I shared Jennifer Hudson and Leona Lewis’ collaboration for “Sex and the City 2”, today another great “Sex and the City 2” track merged on the net. It’s titled “Rapture” and it is covered by Alicia Keys.  The song was initially performed by Blondie.

“Rapture” was one of the first pop hits heavily-influenced by early hip-hop production when it hit the airwaves almost 30 years ago.

So far the second album for “Sex and the City” sounds a lot more fun, cool, just better than the first one. Having said that, being an eternal fan of the 70s and 80s, i will always prefer the original.

New Lupe Fiasco ft. Alicia Keys – Love Letter To The Beat

Lupe Fiasco and Alicia Keys have collaborated on a new song titled “Love Letter to the Beat”, and the result is amazing! It sounds like there are some beats from the 70s in the song, something which would definitely be great to hear more of in other songs. The vibe of the song is very catchy, and instantly makes you want to get up and dance.

The track will most likely be on Lupe Fiasco’s next album “Lasers”, which doesn’t have any official release date yet. "It's one of the sadder parts of being on a major record label," Fiasco told a radio station in Australia. "At a certain point it's out of your hands. About a date for Lasers, it's truly on them. I have no idea what they're going to do."

Looks like once again, a record label is holding too much power over their artist. It must be frustrating at times for artists who can’t be independent. On the other hand, they can also put them on the map, when they’re struggling to make it in the music business.

Alicia Keys Shoots and Tweets “Un-Thinkable (I’m ready)”

Alicia Keys revealed two pictures from her upcoming video "Un-Thinkable (I’m ready)" on her Twitter account. Here are some of her most recent tweets:

One of the Many video looks! This is turning out crraaaazzzyyyy!! If u ask me "I'm Ready!!" ;-) http://twitpic.com/1gyc5f

1950's unthinkable..this is so deep, wait until u witness the vibe !Super excited over here. Snding luv wrever u http://twitpic.com/1gzcpf

From the monitor of the unthinkable shoot! Are u excited yet??;-) http://twitpic.com/1hdodd

The video was directed by Jake Nava (famous for doing the clips for Beyonce's "Crazy in Love or "Single Ladies) and shot in Los Angeles. The original version features background vocals by rapper Drake but it's confirmed he won't be appearing in the video.

Alicia will release the video for “Put It In a Love Song” (Beyonce collaboration) after “Un-Thinkable (I’m ready)” sometime during the summer.

Sex and the City 2 Official Soundtrack Details

Details about the soundtrack of “Sex and the City 2” have been revealed today. This time the “girls” Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristen Davis, and Cynthia Nixon will also feature on the soundtrack. They will sing Helen Reddy’s "I Am Woman." Liza Minnelli will also appear on the album and will sing Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” and Cole Porter’s “Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye”.

The line up of stars doesn’t stop there, Alicia Keys will cover Blondie’s “Rapture”, Leona Lewis and Jennifer Hudson will sing a new tune titled “Love Is Your Color”.

The soundtrack, which also has new music from Dido and Cee Lo, will be released on May 25, just two days before SATC hits theaters. If you haven’t seen the official soundtrack for “Sex and the City 2”, watch it below it’s awesome!

Alicia Keys Wants You To Work For Her!

Alicia Keys is my superwoman! She is giving away an amazing job offer to become her Head Blogger for her new website IamaSuperWoman.com. This is truly a life changing opportunity, and an honor to write for a blog about women and Alicia Keys. It also is an incredibly creative offer, there is so much that can be done for this type of blog. Here is Alicia’s vision about the new blog:

“IAAS.com (I Am A SuperWoman.com) will ignite super women with empowering content, delivering vibrant and optimistic news, opinion, and entertainment at a supersonic pace. IAAS (I Am A SuperWoman) will give powerhouses everywhere one source to connect with each other--and the world.”

Find out how to apply for Alicia’s generous job offer here.

Even though I won’t be able to apply, I want to thank Alicia Keys for giving this opportunity, she’s such a humble artist. There should be many more like her, she gives so much strength and energy to her surroundings, it is truly empowering.

Alicia Keys Delays “Put It in a Love Song” Video for Drake

Alicia Keys is currently working on a new single and video for "Un-thinkable (I’m Ready)" a new single from “Element of Freedom”, which features Drake.

Alicia was recently asked when her video for "Put It in a Love Song" will be released and here’s what she said: “Expect it right after my ‘Un-thinkable’ video. It’s kind of nice that I have such a great video and such a great artist in the can,” she said. “They’re going to be able to see the ‘Un-thinkable’ video first and then see ‘Put It in a Love Song,’ but it probably won’t come until closer to this summer.”

The video for "Un-thinkable (I’m Ready)" will be shot in L.A. in April, and will be directed by Jake Nava. Drake won’t appear in the video, as Alicia says “No, he won’t be in the video. That’s too obvious.”

For those of you who can’t wait to see the video for "Put It in a Love Song", here’s a photo montage of the video:

Alicia Keys and the Black Eyed Peas – To Kick Off World Cup!

The World Cup soccer tournament in South Africa is getting nearer and with such a huge event there will be a huge celebration. Alicia Keys, the Black Eyed Peas will officially kick off the tournament.

Shakira, John Legend, and Angelique Kidjo will also perform at the concert which will be held in Johannesburg on June 10th. Jerome Valcke, of the soccer governing body Fifa, said the pop concert would be a "testament to the universal and unifying power of football and music". "We are thrilled to have a concert of such magnitude and performing talent raise the curtain on the first Fifa World Cup in Africa."

The organizers are also including popular African artists in addition to past and present soccer legends. The proceeds of this event will go towards 20 Centres for 2010, which is an official charity campaign aiming at building 20 public health centres across Africa.

The 2010 World Cup starts on June 11th.

Beyonce, Jay-Z, Swizz Beats Perform With Alicia Keys!

Beyonce, Jay-Z, and Swizz Beats joined Alicia Keys last night at her concert in New York at Madison Square Garden. Beyonce sang “Put It In A Love Song”, Jay-Z and joined Alicia as she started singing “Empire State of Mind”, and her main man Swizz Beats performed “On To The Next One”.

It was the first time that Beyonce and Alicia Keys performed together in a concert, you can only imagine people’s excitement when they saw B going down the stairs. The video for “Put It In A Love Song” was supposed to be released yesterday, however it was delayed once again. Well Alicia did make up for it with this amazing concert! Enjoy the videos and pictures!