Hip-Hop Lives Here
Hip-Hop Lives Here
Beyoncé‘s seminal debut solo album Dangerously in Love turns 20 this month, and to celebrate the milestone anniversary, photographer Markus Klinko opened up about shooting the cover.
Klinko told Insider that he first met Bey when shooting Destiny’s Child for Vibe back in 2000. “I had no idea who they were until I got the call from Vibe,” he recalled. “Her mom was styling it. And I remember pointing at Beyoncé and saying, ‘This one in the middle here, she’s going to be huge. She has a lot of charisma.’ Her mom just said, ‘Yeah, we know.'”
For the Dangerously in Love cover, Bey was inspired by a photo Klinko took of Laetitia Casta for a diamond advertisement, in which the model in tangled up across a glimmering spiderweb. “She said she really loved that image and if we could do something like that, just smaller, on her. And I didn’t really know how to interpret that,” he said. “That image is very blue, mainly blue, dark blue. When she said it, I didn’t really immediately know what to do about it.”
Beyoncé’s mom Tina Knowles-Lawson ended up bringing the now-iconic diamond top on the cover with her to the shoot, though the “Break My Soul” singer wasn’t immediately on board. “She said she didn’t like it,” he said. “She didn’t think it worked because her mom wanted to pair it with these long skirts. Beyoncé said, ‘This is going to look very prom or red carpet and I don’t want to do that.'”
Klinko then suggested a pair of jeans. “Beyoncé said, ‘Well, we don’t have any denim. We didn’t bring any.’ I said, ‘You might fit my own jeans that I’m wearing,'” he explained. “She said, ‘OK, let’s try.’ So we did.”
And the Dangerously in Love album cover was born. “Beyoncé contributed a lot because she worked it,” Klinko said. “She worked a piece — that’s not easy to do. She found the exact right movement. That wasn’t my idea to put the arms up. That was her idea, and I don’t even know if it was an idea. It was her instinct. And I knew: ‘That’s the cover.'”
Musically, her debut solo effort not only debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, but it spawned multiple classic hits including “Crazy in Love,” “Baby Boy,” “Naughty Girl” and “Me, Myself & I.”
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Usher, one of R&B's greatest showmen, might have just gotten shown up by a special guest at his recent concert. The Dallas, Texas-born singer is still trekking all across North America right now for his Past Present Future tour. There are a few reasons for this, including a neck injury and Hurricane Milton. The physical issue happened in August, and Mother Nature halted his plans in October. This led Usher to move these dates back. In fact, all of them were rescheduled for this month. The first three missed dates have already gone by, and the Miami shows are currently being knocked out. Last night (December 16) kicked things off and they began with a bang.
If you know Usher's routines at his performances, you know he loves to interact with the audience. That's especially true when it comes to his female concertgoers. Just a few days ago, the "Yeah!" hitmaker granted a birthday girl in the crowd to eat two cherries out of his hand mid-show. However, she didn't simply gobble them up. Instead, she got really sexual and raunchy with it before giving him a little booty shaking show.
He was left quite surprised, with his facial reaction on the big screen at the venue in a hilarious moment. Well, yesterday at the Kaseya Center was no different, but this time a celebrity was in the stands. Rubi Rose, model, entrepreneur, and rapper, made her way out to support Usher. He's got a history of tracking down women like her and creating viral memories, and trust us, they managed to make one.
Instead of two cherries, the star attraction dangled one in front of Rubi's face. She began to lick it (again a suggestive manner), but she stopped. Instead of going it alone, she called on a friend that was with her, and they both did their thing on it right in front of Usher. As you can see in the video above, his reaction was utterly priceless with the crowd laughing at his facial expression. Rubi wound up sharing the video on her Twitter, captioning the post, "When u shy but a real eater." Fans were similarly stunned but the stunt, with one writing, "Usher face is sending me bc I made the EXACT same face
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