• Have a fear of needles, Jamie? [MG]

• Oh, the young R&B divas. Always biting each other’s style. []

• R. Kelly is going on tour, his trial be damned. Real talk! [MTV]

• How BET’s controversial “Read A Book” skit came to life. [King]

• VH1 is quickly becoming the blackest network on television, for better or worse. [SOHH]

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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Mariah Carey looks amazing when she is fully clothed in an outfit that fits her and not making mysterious appearances at ceremonies for jury duty commemorative stamps. She was honored at last night’s VH1 Save The Music 10th Anniversary Gala and chose her look accordingly. After hearing Mariah was going to do the full-coverage thing, Mya might have felt like she needed to bring some skin to the classy affair. Check out the possible Broadway star and other attendees, including one saxaphone-playing former president, below.

See, this is why I can’t boycott VH1, people. The new Salt ‘n’ Pepa reality show premieres tonight, and the sneak peek from VH1 has me semi-hooked already. The premise of the show is that Pepa is, perhaps ill-advisedly, ready to took the S’n'P train going in perpetuity, and Salt has grown up, matured, and become really conservative. So conservative that she no longer feels comfortable with the lyrics of “Shoop” and “Push It,” which Pepa insists a completely misunderstood song. In many ways. Watch for yourself.

But where’s Spinderella?

[]

Dear VH1,
Some people want to boycott you because your “reality” shows, like Flavor of Love, I Love New York, and Charm School, portray black people, specifically black women, in a negative light. I don’t blame them. I mean, the people on those shows are pretty awful. Even you have to admit that. I won’t be boycotting you, because, as that whole BET controversy may have shown you, I have a hard time boycotting Viacom channels. No will power.

Although there’s nothing on your channel right now that I am currently addicted to, there could be in the near future. Plus, sometimes you have those America’s Next Top Model marathons. I like those. So, no boycott. But I can be critical. Those shows suck. Sure tons of people watch them — tons of people I know watch them — but I haven’t been able to stomach an episode since that girl took a shit on the floor. Quality television it ain’t.

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Disregarding the fact that a dating show called Interracial Love seems to be of highly questionable taste to begin with, an anonymous employee of VH1 said that execs nixed the reality show idea because it wasn’t “ghetto” enough. This is VH1, home of Flavor of Love and all its spin-offs we’re talking about, here? Sounds about right.

An employee of the network leaked information about a production meeting regarding a potential new show titled “Interracial Love.” According to the employee, network execs passed on the idea because it would feature professional black women who choose to look beyond race to find true love. The images would be in direct contrast to those shown on such shows as “Flavor of Love” and its spawns “I Love New York” and “Flavor of Love: Charm School.”

In a letter written to Black Press Radio, the employee shared what she was told went down behind closed doors in a meeting about the show. According to the employee, the exec said: “It is our thoughts that the viewers are more interested in seeing black people in a ghetto role. This show will not sell.”

According to EURweb, Black Media News has launched a boycott of VH1 due to the negative portrayal of black people, in particular black women, on the channel.

These shows make me cringe, yes. But people of all races watch them, and there is no shortage of women dying at a chance to make it on a show and embarrass themselves, their gender, and their race. A part of me hates VH1 for putting these programs on the air, but it’s us (as in the viewers), not them, that made the formula a success.

[EUR]

Struggling music producers out there, take heart. You can enter “The Score,” an online competition where undiscovered producers vie to have their original piece used as the score for VH1’s “Hip Hop Honors,” which airs October 8.

Not only does the winner get his score professionally produced and played on air, but he or she gets a mentoring session with ?uestlove and a trip to the live taping of the show, hosted by Tracy “SCRAM” Morgan.

Upload your beats and listen to the submissions of others here.

You know, this is how the Neptunes started out in the biz. Well, not really. But you could still be the next Pharrell!

Well, not really.

Someone, perhaps one of Irv Gotti’s representatives or maybe the man himself, has convinced VH1 that Irv deserves his own reality show. Who am I kidding, this is a network that gave a sanity-challenged reject from a former rap group hype man’s dating competition show her own series. They didn’t need much convincing. But now that Irv Gotti and his Murder, Inc. are completely irrelevant, what will the show be about?

He explains, “I think women are going to identify with me and (estranged wife) Deb’s relationship. I’m going to love her until I’m dead and gone.
“She’s legally still my wife but we’ve been separated for like six, seven years.” But Gotti insists his reality series won’t be as pleasant to watch as ones featuring Flav and former Run-DMC star Joseph ‘Rev Run’ Simmons.
He explains, “After a few episodes, they (producers) said (Simmons’ reality series) Run’s House is like a hip-hop Cosby Show, and I love Run’s House, but they said my s**t is more like The Sopranos.

You hear that? Stop lamenting the loss of The Sopranos. We now have the Gottis (not the actual crime family the wannabe one) to keep us entertained.

[PRI]

VH1 is continuing their complete obsession with documenting reemergence of has-been celebs with their latest reality show about Salt ‘n Pepa. The show will follow the erstwhile rap divas as they reunite and try recreate the magic.

Let’s face it — we already know that magic needs to stay back in the 80’s and early 90s where it belongs. But I’m sure they’ll try their hardest in the name of reality TV. According to AOL Black Voices, the former friends aren’t just fighting old age and loss of relevance, they’re also fighting each other. We’ll see. As with all VH1 Celebreality (although I drew the line at Charm School), I make fun, but I also watch.

[]

It’s no secret that lots of reality television whores jump from show to show like it’s nothing — several Flavor of Love girls also appeared on Blind Date, and don’t think I didn’t notice Melissa S. from Search For The Next Pussycat Doll (shut up, it’s an entertaining show) was also vying to be a member of Danity Kane way back when. But I swear, if Sanjaya Malakar becomes a contestant on the second season of I Love New York as TMZ predicts, I’m canceling my cable and throwing the TV out the window.

[TMZ]