W/C January 9, 2006

Kanye West, Mariah Carey, and Alicia Keys came away with four NAACP Image Awards nominations apiece this year; other multiple nominees included Destiny's Child and Mary J. Blige with three, and Common and Kem with two.

Britney Spears is working with the Neptunes on her next project.

Morgan Freeman will interview eight gifted blues singers in a new special to air on the cable channel Starz InBlack. Blues Divas, featuring conversations and performances by Mavis Staples, Irma Thomas, Denise LaSalle and others, was taped over three days at Freeman's own Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, Mississippi and is scheduled to premiere on February 5th @ 8pm, with additional airdates throughout the month.

Rapper Scarface is the latest artist selected by New Era to design his own custom-fitted cap. He is the latest in a long list of celebrities who have designed their own fitted caps for the company, including: Spike Lee, Cam'ron, Dizzee Rascal, Chris Webber, Fat Joe, the Game and Fabolous to name a few.

George Clooney has revealed the qualities he looks for in a woman. The actor told OK! Magazine: "The ideal woman is a mixture. She should have Nicole Kidman's laughter, then the personality of Julia Roberts and the aspect of Michelle Pfeiffer, the quintessence of beauty. And finally the ambition of Jennifer Lopez. "I'll buy into the idea of finding the woman of my dreams. Who knows? Maybe one day."

Lil' Kim's reality show Lil' Kim: Countdown To Lockdown is one of several new shows that BET has picked up. Allhiphop.com reports that the reality show begins before the rapper was found guilty of lying to a grand jury and sentenced to 366 days behind bars and culminates with the recording sessions, listening parties, and the farewells the rapper shares with family and friends before entering the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia last September.

Pink ’s next CD will feature production from the Wu-Tang’s RZA.

The Game’s Hurricane sneaker, released by 310 Motoring on December 26 th is apparently flying off shelves according to industry analysts. In addition, stock prices for the sneaker's manufacturer, Sketchers, rose to $17.37 a share, showing a $1.24 hike.

J K Rowling says she began writing the Harry Potter stories at the time her mother died of multiple sclerosis. The author says she never told her mother Anne about Harry Potter but says she was a big influence on the books. Rowling, has sold more than 300 million books worldwide, lost her mother on New Year's Eve 1990, when she was 25 and her mother was 45. She told Tatler Magazine that the death left her "a wreck", she says, and was the inspiration for Harry's orphan status.

UPN is teaming up with Alicia Keys to develop a new television series loosely based on the singer's life story. The new drama will be about a young girl who, like Keys, comes from a biracial family. Keys is set to executive produce the series and the script will be written by Felicia Henderson, who's written for Showtime's Soul Food, UPN's Moesha, and NBC's The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Jermaine Dupri is apparently looking for a book deal. He’s reportedly circulating a proposal for a book titled, Young, Rich and Dangerous, which would feature his thoughts on everyone from Janet Jackson, Usher and Mariah Carey, to Bow Wow and Kris Kross.