The Last Word: Beyoncé Jacks Leona Lewis, Talks Wonder Woman, George Clinton Goes Country/Cloning, and Salma Hayek is Addicted to Breastfeeding?

What’s the deal, true believers? It’s been a slow five and I’m ready to get on with my weekend after hearing rumblings of a government bailout for the auto industry and Obama and family getting oriented with the White House and his Presidential duties from an outgoing president Bush.   Condolences go out to South […]

What’s the deal, true believers? It’s been a slow five and

I’m ready to get on with my weekend after hearing rumblings of a government

bailout for the auto industry and Obama and family getting oriented with the

White House and his Presidential duties from an outgoing president Bush.

 

Condolences go out to South African singer/activist “Mama

Africa” Miriam Makeba, who died Monday (Nov. 10) and Jimi Hendrix Experience

drummer Mitch Mitchell, who died Wednesday (Nov. 12). Shout out to all the

veterans who served and sacrificed for our country as well as those currently

serving in the military, and the sounding boards for making it a better place

to be for you and me.

 

Well my friends let me introduce you to…the Last Word for

the week ending Nov. 14, 2008: The Hero Takeover.

 

1. Beyoncé Plays Hero and Villain with Wonder Woman

Desires and Stolen Leona Lewis Song

 

With the success of Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and

The Dark Knight, it’s a

no-brainer that superhero films are box office gold as entertainers voice their

desire to save the world on the big screen. Enter Beyoncé, who is making it

known that she wants to bring one of DC Comics’ iconic heroes to life.

 

“I want to do a superhero movie and what would be better

than Wonder Woman?” the singer told the Los

Angeles Times, adding that she met with

representatives of DC and Warner Bros. to express her interest in portraying

the Amazonian princess. “It would be great. And it would be a very bold choice.

A Black Wonder Woman would be a powerful thing. It’s time for that, right?”

 

With all the talk about turning White superheroes Black, it

wouldn’t be too much of a stretch for B to take up the mantle. But she may want

to calm down Simon Cowell, who’s not too happy she got her hands on a song that

was originally written for his protégé Leona Lewis.

 

Media sources report, the track, which is called “Halo,” was

written by One Republic frontman Ryan Tedder. According to insiders, Cowell and

Tedder had agreed to let Lewis sing the song for her second album, but Beyoncé has

since recorded the track for herself and plans on including it on her

forthcoming album I AM…Sasha Fierce.

 

In light of plans that call for Lewis’ album to hit stores

in 2009, Tedder decided to peddle the song elsewhere.

 

“Leona’s diary is so rammed it didn’t look like she could

record it until next year,” said a source at SonyBMG. “Ryan didn’t want to hang

around, so he gave it to Beyoncé.”

 

Sounds like some diabolical trickery going on here. Maybe

they should get Wonder Woman’s magic lasso to see what the real story is with

all this. As far as Diana Prince goes, if Beyoncé isn’t your choice, who do you

think should portray the heroine when DC and Warner finally get the Justice

League member’s film off the ground?

 

I nominate Meagan Good, Scarlett Johanssen and Kerry

Washington. What say you?

 

2. George Clinton Goes Country with Sheila E; Subscribes

to Human Cloning

 

First, it was Bobby Brown and Sisqo. Then it was Jermaine

Jackson. Now, we got George Clinton and Sheila E. making a musical switch as

the newest cast members for the CMT reality show Gone Country.

 

The pair will join singer Taylor Dayne, American Idol first-season runner-up Justin Guarini, actor Richard

Grieco, Monkees lead vocalist/drummer Micky Dolenz and former Miss USA Tara

Conner for the third season of the series. Gone Country centers on a group of contestants who spend two

weeks working with songwriters on a country song. At the end of the two weeks,

the show’s host, John Rich, will decide which celebrity is most prepared to

impress a country audience. Afterwards, the winner will record and release

their single to country radio.

 

And while seeing Clinton bring the P-funk to country music

lovers will make for interesting TV, the most interesting thing right now for

music pioneer proved appears to be the idea of cloning human beings, which

Clinton says has been practiced for years. 

 

“Cloning – we got generations of that s***,” the

Parliament Funkadelic frontman told Details

magazine. “The pyramids? They was for cloning. That’s why embalming lasts so

long. Get the DNA and pull ‘em back. So somebody been cloned already, but not

me. Not yet.”

 

“I’ve got my DNA stashed in the bank. And I got 14 kids,”

continued Clinton, who is open to being cloned one day. “So there’s plenty of

volunteers to take my DNA. It’s funky but they take it.”

 

Not that I don’t believe that human cloning is taking place,

but George Clinton, what the funk are you talking about? It seems like all the

rappers have taken your DNA to make classic hits. Calling Dr. Dre.

 

3. Former and Current James Bonds Picture Obama among

Black 007s

 

A few Words back, I mentioned that Marvel Comics founder

Stan Lee was open to casting Will Smith as the first Black Captain America for

the red, white and blue Avenger’s forthcoming film. That depended on whether or

not Barack Obama would be elected president.

 

Now that the election is over and Obama is our

President-Elect, the opportunity seems right to give iconic characters a new

look. According to WENN, James Bond himself, Daniel Craig, believes the Chicago

senator’s historic victory has opened the door for the possibility of a Black

007.

 

“I think the role could easily be played by a Black actor,

because the character created by Ian Fleming in the ‘50s has undergone a great

deal of evolution and continues to be updated,” said the actor and Obama fan,

who will reprise his role as Bond for the upcoming film Quantum of Solace.

 

While Craig believes Obama has opened the path for a Black

Bond on the big screen, former 007 Pierce Brosnan is confident that the

President-Elect could easily carry on the legacy of the fictional adventurer.

 

“He’s cool enough,” Brosnan told People magazine. “He’s definitely got the walk and the

talk, yes, but I think he’s going to make a greater President.”

 

I’m not sure if Barack could take time out of running the

country to get his license to kill, but Wesley Snipes could use always use the

paycheck. 

 

4. Salma Hayek Confesses to Breastfeeding Addiction

 

Within her 42 years of existence, Salma Hayek has

accomplished a lot as an Oscar-nominated actress, director, producer and

activist. But the most important accomplishment for Hayek comes with raising

her 13 ½-month old daughter Valentina Paloma, a feat that includes

breastfeeding.

 

To hear her tell it, Hayek is in no hurry to wean Valentina

off the natural food source as she admits that nursing is “a very powerful

thing” that she does not intend to give up breastfeeding anytime soon.

 

“I’m like an alcoholic,” Salma told the Times Online. “It’s like, I don’t care if I cry, I don’t

care if I’m fat, I’m just gonna do it for one more week, one more month, and

then, when I see how much good it is doing her, I can’t stop.”

 

Despite her love of nursing, it was anything but for the

actress, who revealed how difficult it was when she first started breastfeeding

her newborn. “It’s tough. You don’t know what pain I’m in after two hours.”

 

And if you’re wondering if talk about breastfeeding helping

women lose weight is true, think again. Salma deads what she called “the myth”

by saying that it’s “sooo not true” as she grabbed her stomach during her

interview. “It’s like, ‘Please, everyone, can you stop telling me I look really

well?’”

 

In Other Words…

 

Some people may look good when playing a good game of

whatever, but Rihanna is looking good while supporting a worthy cause. The

singer has joined forces with Gucci to appear in a series of ads for the

brand’s fourth annual campaign to benefit UNICEF. According to reports, Rihanna

will model luxe goods from Gucci’s Tattoo Heart collection. Ads for the

all-white Tattoo Heart line are slated to hit magazines in December.

 

* Fans of Jamie Foxx will have another collection of tunes

to enjoy from the Oscar-winning actor. Media sources report that Foxx is set to

release his third album Intuition.

Contributors include Timbaland, Ne-Yo, Sean Garrett, Salaam Remi, Carlos

McKinney and T.I. who is featured on the lead single “Just Like Me.”

 

Look for the album to hit stores Dec. 16. Those wondering

about Foxx’s other job can catch the entertainer on the big screen when he

teams up with Robert Downey Jr. for the upcoming movie The Soloist, which hits theaters March 13.

 

* Kevin Rudolf may strike some as strictly a rock n roller,

but he maintains a strong desire to incorporate elements of other genres in his

music. According to the Cash Money Records vocalist in an upcoming AllHipHop

Alternatives interview, a trendy mash-up of previously recorded material can’t

replace a natural collaboration between talented musicians.

 

“To tell you the truth, I really don’t like rap and rock

together so much.  To me when I do

my album I do more like a fusion,” Rudolf told AllHipHop.com Alternatives. “I

try to take what’s authentic by Hip-Hop and what’s authentic about rock and

combine them.  Doing stuff like

peanut butter and jelly, let’s put rap with rock, let’s sit this with that,

they do that like it’s a gimmick. Let’s put a rock band with a rapper and it’s

fresh and new.”

 

“I got some crazy sh*t in my album,” Rudolf continued about

his forthcoming project In the City. “We

got Nas on the album, Rick Ross on the album, BirdMan, and they’re not mashups.

They are honest collaborations with great rappers and good music and it’s a

real thing, you know? It’s not like, “Slap them together.” To me, this is my

world, so it feels natural, you know what I mean?

 

As music fans await the follow-up to Nina Sky’s

self-titled debut album, one half of the hitmaking duo is making waves in the

world of fashion. Natalie Albino is gearing up to join forces with designer

Erin Magee for an exclusive MadeMe Holiday ’08 tee. The **NA SKY tee, which was

inspired by Albino’s musical background, will feature the company’s logo

written in graffiti style musical notes.

 

Shoppers can purchase the tee, which will be released in

black, white and purple, by visiting www.mademeclothing.com. For Albino, the

clothing illustrates her love of graffiti since she’s been tagging Astoria,

Queens with “**NA SKY” for years. Musically, the singer and her sister Nicole

are putting the finishing touches on Nina Sky’s sophomore album The Musical, which will feature production from Salaam Remi,

Ryan Leslie, and Cool & Dre.

 

* Everybody wants to get into the superhero business. Now,

BET wants to put itself in the mix with its upcoming animated series The

Black Panther. The show, which is adapted

from a 2005 six issue Marvel Comics Black Panther limited series written

by  former BET president Reginald

Hudlin, will feature Amistad and Blood

Diamond star Djimon Hounsou as the voice of

the title character.  

 

With his latest role, Hounsou considers it “a blessing for

African Americans and minorities to have a superhero they can identify with.”

 

* Samuel L. Jackson is gearing up to ride the buzz he

created with his surprise cameo as S.H.I.E.L.D. head Nick Fury in Iron Man. MTV reports the entertainer has his sights set on

playing Fury in Iron Man 2 with

hopes of bringing the character back for the string of Marvel Studio films that

set the stage for 2011’s The Avengers.

 

“They sorta gave me a master plan about how they want it to

work…[But] I’ll do every movie they wanna do. I’m down.”

 

Most heroes aren’t looking for any reward for their work,

but Sam looks to get more than his slice of the million dollar pie for his

role. Crime may pay, but it’s the good guys that will finish first in this,

with plenty of chump change to spend.