Posts Tagged ‘Brian McKnight’

Velvet ropes hung gingerly from metal stanchions throughout Nokia Plaza. Satellite lots bordering Staples Center transformed into gifting suites and production base camps.   And if you followed stars’ Tweets, then you know that many of them descended upon Los Angeles for the summer’s biggest awards show.

My regrets, movie and tv junkies –  this awards shindig was of course, for the athletes. With Seth Meyers hosting, the 2011 ESPYs aired last night from the Nokia Theatre at LA Live in downtown Los Angeles.

There were many highlights from the night, especially the music scene — featuring funky soul man, Raphael Saadiq, as the leader of the house band …

… and N’Sync-er turned actor, Justin Timberlake, as a presenter.

Because the worlds of music and sports are so intertwined, Positively Celebrity is celebrating this annual gathering of modern day Goliaths by saluting athletes’ major contributions to music!

Lakers megastar Kobe Bryant had humble beginnings as a rapper. Long before he donned the “24,” Bryant joined forces with R&B singer, Brian McKnight, on “Hold Me” back in 1998 (see Kobe’s rap at the 2:39 mark).

You’d have better luck winning the lottery twice than beating Carl Lewis in a foot race when he was in his prime.  Lewis left competitors in the dust during his track & field days, but his Star Spangled Banner performance at an NBA game in the early 90s left people plain confused.

Unfortunately, Carlos Arroyo’s stint with the Celtics has been uneventful, but at least his music career is seeing some success.  Last year, Arroyo released “Se Va Conmigo,” and the single made a big impression on reggaeton charts.  Check out the remix featuring Ivy Queen.

Without Michael Jordan, the movie, Space Jam, would have never existed. And without the movie, we would have never known the awesomeness that is the Space Jam soundtrack. So thank you, Michael Jordan, for making it possible to enjoy the music of Monica, Seal, and the Quad City DJs on one CD.

For more of the latest music news and reviews from Erica Renee Davis, check back often right here on Positively Celebrity.

Who knew? After three weeks of getting slammed by the women’s team, the guys finally broke the curse. Or rather, Brian McKnight finally broke the curse.

After chillin’ in the background for the past three weeks (hardly audible) McKnight stepped up to the plate and pretty much single-handedly sunk the nearly-unsinkable Athena women. In what could only be termed as disarray, the women’s team was all over the place under Claudia Jordan’s leadership. Too bad. I like Claudia, but she was out of her element here – especially when pitted against the Rivers (Joan and Melissa), two strong personalities. (Note: I still can’t understand why both are on the show, and it seems an unfair advantage to have both on the same team – but that’s my own personal peeve.)

Anyway, McKnight took the helm of the men’s team (finally, a worthy leader). His first wise decision was not to use Dennis Rodman. He was right. It takes far more energy to keep tabs on and try to control Rodman than simply ignore him. Second-best decision made by McKnight: do what it is you do best. And he did – to the Nth degree!

This week’s challenge was to present ACN’s video phone at an ACN convention. The convention’s attendees would decide the winning team. While the women put on a commercial of sorts, introduced by Joan Rivers, something got lost in translation.

Team Athena forgot the first rule of entertainment: it’s simple – entertain. They tried. But the (supposedly impromptu) proposal, before the crowd of hundreds, just fell flat. While attempting to appeal to the crowd’s emotions, Athena neglected to understand that folks stuck at a convention … just…want … to … party! This fact was not lost on McKnight, who put on his own mini-concert. He played his strength – and he didn’t try to appease his teammates in the process. The rest of the boys only needed to give him room. That voice, the energy – the crowd went mad! Nevermind that the product was vaguely used – and then only by women dancing and spinning on stage. McKnight gave them what they wanted and they voted in his favor.

In fact, the men won 85 percent of the vote. Poor Claudia. While she tried to blame Melissa for not giving her support, she was little girl lost, even while in the boardroom when she chose to also face-off with Khloe Kardasian, a move that gave both Khloe (and me) whiplash. (Seriously, where did THAT one come from?). Her fate was sealed. She got the boot…And Rodman’s still there. Go figure.

On March 2, 2009, Donald Trump uttered those infamous words, “You’re fired!” to this season’s first casualty.

This year the women’s team (Athena) is made up of poker champion Annie Duke; golf champion Natalie Gulbis; Deal or No Deal’s Claudia Jordan; reality star Khloe Kardashian; comedienne Joan Rivers and daughter Melissa; Playboy’s Brande Roderick; and T-Boz of the R&B singing group TLC.

Rounding out the men’s team (Kotu) are: country star Clint Black; comedians Andrew Dice Clay and Tom Green; figure skater Scott Hamilton; TV star Jesse James; R&B singer Brian McKnight; NBA player Dennis Rodman; and Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker.

The first show of the season featured the celebrities in a cupcake contest. Giving no support whatever to his team, Dennis Rodman pretty much single-handedly turned the win over to the women – who may not have always seen eye-to-eye but were, at leased, focused on a goal.

Joan Rivers served as team leader and really showed her entrepreneurial savvy – much to my surprise. The men’s team was led by Herschel Walker, who is apparently much better on the field then in the boardroom. Nice guy, just not a motivator, a fact made abundantly clear by Rodman, who paid absolutely no attention to Walker’s direction (or lack of, depending on who you ask) – in fact, it would seem Rodman’s only purpose on the show is to sit behind the scenes while he reaches out to somebody much more important on his cell.

Not surprisingly the men lost. In the boardroom Walker faced off with Rodman and Clay – who was out of his element from “go.” For reasons only The Donald knows, Clay got the boot. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not losing sleep over it; I just don’t know why Rodman’s still there. Maybe he’ll be next. (One can only hope.)