Admit it. You have just been dying to put an actual voice to these words you read everyday. Good news: I was a guest on NPR today. Bad news: it’s not such a great voice, and I’m going to need to retire “you know” from my repertoire.

I was joined on News & Notes‘ weekly blogger’s roundtable by Shay Riley of and Brandon Whitney of Homeland Colors. Today’s topics were the Jena Six’s BET Hip Hop Awards cameo, Bill Cosby’s Meet the Press appearance, and the acquittal of the defendants in the boot camp death case, all of which are things you pretty much know my opinions (which I’m much better at expressing in written form, unfortunately) on if you read the blog. Still, it’s fun to listen. Click here to check it out.

Don Imus found out the hard way — until things got really easy and lucrative, of course — that hair is a touchy subject in the African American community. So touchy, in fact, that if you call a group of us nappy-headed, an army of people will want your head.

But why? Well, the obvious answer is that we live in a society that has an Anglo-influenced standard of beauty. And no matter how far we’ve come on our generations-long journey to love ourselves, not only in spite of the way we look but because of it, little black girls still have to battle against fashion, beauty, and entertainment industries that teach them, either directly or indirectly, that long and straight is in and short and kinky is out. Little black boys get the same message.They become adults with these ideas still firmly implanted in their heads…and the cycle continues.

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It’s quite a rarity to have so many hip hop luminaries in one room, or one (Hammerstein) ballroom, as it was. But VH1 managed to cram as much talent as possible into their Hip Hop Honors show, which taped last night but airs Monday at 10 pm. Yes, there was a lot of talent there, but I don’t count Tracy Morgan, who hosted the awards and couldn’t quite get that teleprompter thing down. Could his SCRAM have been going off right about that time? No worries, I’m sure they’ll have that all cleaned up by Monday.

I had the pleasure of spending the evening in the press room, where the honorees and presenters came back to chat. In fact, so many VIPs were in attendance, I decided to write up my experiences in a handy superlative format. Check out the Best and Worst, plus lots and lots of pictures, after the jump.

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• TV One’s on the come-up. Watch your back, BET. []

• Advertisements, shmadvertisements, or so we say. [MD]

• South Carolina blacks may vote for the Dems, but they aren’t very liberal. [MBP]

• The Jena Six case is like 2007’s version of the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Although no one has to give up anything to say, “Free the Jena Six!” [USAT]

• My name and OJ Simpson’s mentioned in the text of the same article? A dubious distinction, at best. []

You’ve seen Zulema Griffin on Project Runway, ordering her weepy fellow contestant to “cry and cut” or ruthlessly taking someone else’s model. But you probably haven’t seen her like this: beaming over the successful presentation of her Spring ‘08 line and posing for pictures with fans — fans of Zulema Griffin, the designer, not the reality television star.

Eschewing the traditional, and often boring, runway show, Griffin presented her collection yesterday at an art gallery. Inspired by the Nigerian musician Fela and his 27 wives, Griffin used 27 black models, who walked through the crowd or lounged lazily on sofas. The clothes — African-inspired dresses, blouses, skirts and pants — will be available in a boutiques next year, if all goes as planned.

_{Models lounging at Griffin’s show}

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Six years ago today I woke up in my extra-long twin dorm bed — late, as usual — and turned on the television while I debated whether or not to go to my first class. It was African American Political Thought — cool concept, but I hated the professor. It was a struggle making myself go every Tuesday and Thursday. It turned out I didn’t need to make a decision on that particular day, which I spent the majority of on the floor, trying to get my stupid cell phone to make one successful phone call to somebody —- to my sisters, my mom, my aunts, my uncles — who could tell me that my father, who worked in the Pentagon, was okay.

He was, of course. It took so long for him to contact us because he and the rest of the medical personnel at the Pentagon were immediately dispatched to the scene to help with recovery. He later received a medal of commendation from the Army for doing things that he has never wanted to speak about. I don’t blame him.

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As controversy swirls around VH1 for capitalizing off of the worst stereotypes of black women on shows Flavor of Love and Charm School, JanJay Sherman efficiently does her work as a public relations assistant at Flirt! Cosmetics, socializes with friends, and enjoys New York City life like any normal, 22-year-old college grad.

What does one thing have to do with the other? I should mention JanJay manages to do all of this while cameras record her every move for Soapnet’s reality hit, Fashionista Diaries. But the only thing Janjay has in common with a Flavor of Love girl is starring on a cable television show. And skin color, of course.

“There is like this stigma now that [black women] argue and we’re ghetto,” Janjay told Stereohyped. “For me, being a part of corporate America, I make it point to be articulate and classy, and I don’t feel like how [the FOL girls] act affects me at all.”

On the Fashionista Diaries, which follows several other young assistants trying to make it in the NYC fashion world, it’s not all serious. JanJay, a Minnesota native and former Zac Posen intern, tries to find a balance between doing her job (and she really does public relations for Flirt!) and not being a boring working drone in front of the cameras.

It was hard initially because you have to find an equal balance between meeting your deadlines and being entertaining and making sure your producers are getting the shot that they need,” she said. “It’s work, but at the same time it is a show, and you can’t be sitting at your desk typing away.”

After the jump, the burgeoning fashionista answers a few of Stereohyped’s questions in honor of fashion week. Beyonce haters, take heed! Also, the good publicist gives us her favorite Flirt! products for brown girls.

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You like me! You really like me! Well, the Black Weblog Award judges do, anyway. And, thankfully, that was all it took for me to win a Black Weblog Award for Best New Blog.

I would say more, but I’m busy poppin’ bottles in my mind right now. Pardon me if the rest of the day’s posts come off a little loopy.

Check out the rest of the winners .

• Meagan Good will star opposite yet another non-actor in the Mike Myers film Love Guru, which has a plot that made me dizzy. []

• Remy Ma seems to think she has been blessed with both personal style and intelligence. []

• Geez, how long ago did I show y’all “Read a Book“? The MSM is just catching on. [C&D]

• I know it’s a slow news day, TMZ, but this is just ridiculous. [TMZ]

• No way. Did I really just admit to liking the TV show Dirty Jobs? []

For Stereohyped’s second launch event, we teamed up with the organizers of the tongue-in-cheek networking party, JAPS+BAPS, an event for American Princesses of all kinds in the media biz. We nibbled on delicious red velvet cupcakes from Brooklyn’s famous and sipped champagne while we perused the wares at the Elizabeth Charles boutique in NYC’s meatpacking district. That’s me with the party’s enterprising organizers, Zandile Blay and Julee Wilson. More pictures after the jump.

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