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Black Celebrity Blogs Dish 24/7

An X-rated photo of crooner Ne-Yo, shown here in his "Sexy Love" video, appeared on the Concrete Loop blog, which was created by a student.

By Stacy Anderson
Black College Wire

Students are turning increasingly to Web sites for news. And for breaking news on black celebrities, blogs are beating the competition.

Over the past two years, black celebrity blogs have joined such frequently visited entertainment sites as AllHipHop.com and MTVnews.com.

Concrete Loop, which celebrated its one-year anniversary in November, claims 60,000 hits per day. Its creator, a 22-year old college junior in Jacksonville, N.C., who calls herself Angel La, started the blog after noticing a lack of black celebrities in entertainment blogs.

"We need our voice out there, too. We have the same things they do, people just choose not to post about it. Blacks have events, we have drama and there's another side to it," Angel La said. "People want news right now. They don't want to wait a month, a week or day."

Angel La said she collects her information from industry insiders, e-mails from readers and what she learns surfing the Internet. "Everything is in the Net; you just need to know the right people and sites," she said.

Angel La credits one of the first black entertainment blogs, Crunk and Disorderly, as an inspiration. Although many black entertainment blogs post similar information, she said, it's all in the way each presents it.

Natasha Eubanks, 24, started a black entertainment blog last summer, Young, Black and Fabulous. Eubanks, a law student who recently relocated to the Washington area, said she gets about 99 percent of the information she posts simply from researching the Internet out of her own curiosity and interest.

Young, Black and Fabulous, which was called "a blog to watch" by Newsweek magazine, accumulated 6 million users since it started in July, Eubanks said.

Eubanks, who often consulted her law professors, has run into some legal issues, like most other blog creators. "I never cut and paste people's words; that's just not cool. It's no need to copy from other people," she said.

She has taken down leaked pictures of R&B singer Mya, as well as a song by Jennifer Hudson for the "Dreamgirls" movie.

Angel La said she was concerned after posting photos of singer Ne-Yo photographing himself in a sexual situation with a back-up dancer. She said the crooner later e-mailed her and assured he would not take any legal action, since the photos were allegedly stolen from his Sidekick device.

Critics often question the credibility and newsworthiness of some Web logs, since they can be created by virtually any user with a blog host.

Robert L. Asher, a member of the Howard University journalism faculty and an editorial writer for the Washington Post, said, "I'm not sure that most people do rely more on blogs and Web sites than TV or radio. I hope not," he said. "Anybody with a computer can babble a blog or put anything on a Web site with no proof whatsoever. Maybe some people think the blogs and sites are more personal, but it's like believing anything any stranger tells you."

Tracy Scott, a producer at BET Interactive, said readers want a human element in addition to hard-hitting news. "People want more context with their news facts," she said. "Blogs have a tendency to give that human perspective and impact that hard-news reports sometimes neglect either because of time, space limitations or dedication to objectivity."

Both blog creators agreed that some sites have posted untrue stories to spike daily hits. But they said those sites often remain viable only for a short time, since accurate blogs prevail.

Although blogging can entail hours of research and fact checking, it can be lucrative. Hollywood blogger Perez Hilton, a slightly pudgy, recently blonded 28-year-old Cuban American whose real name is Mario Lavandeira, told the Los Angeles Times in November that he makes six figures. The newspaper said he has combined his three failed occupations — actor, publicist and journalist — to strike gold.

Eubanks said blogging has opened doors for her career as well. Eubanks recently began to blog for King Magazine's Web site and Sohh.com, a hip-hop weekly news site.

Angel La said reader feedback is key.

"Industry people want to know what the fans know. Feedback is like 80 percent of the site. If it wasn't for visitors, we wouldn't have a site."

Shari Hinds, a senior pre-physical therapy major at Howard, said she visits blogs on a regular basis. "Everything is there. I don't have to visit each individual Web site to get information," she said. "Concrete Loop reviews new music and has random pictures, and shows how award shows play out. It's easy access and up to date. I tell everybody about it."

Stacy Anderson, a student at Howard University, writes for the Hilltop. To comment, e-mail [email protected]

Posted Jan. 10, 2007