
LeToya Luckett Launches New YouTube Show With Her Ex Slim Thug As Her First Guest

From singing to acting to reality TV, LeToya Luckett now has her own YouTube show. The “Torn” singer premiered her new show titled Leave It to LeToya this week on the Kin network which also houses Tia Mowry’s Quick Fix, Adrienne Bailon’s All Things Adrienne, and many others. Leave It to LeToya is a lifestyle channel that will touch on the singer’s life, family, fashion, and much more.
The series already started off with a bang with her first episode featuring her ex-boyfriend Houston rapper Slim Thug. The former couple began dating in 2000 after meeting at a club in H-Town. They were on and off for 10 years and revealed that they were even engaged at one point. During their sit-down, the artists reflected on their relationship and whether or not they can give love another try.
Here are some highlights:
On How LeToya Luckett and Slim Thug Met:
They met at a club in Houston and LeToya shared that the “Like a Boss” rapper actually sent a friend over to speak to her. She reluctantly went over to meet Slim and they exchanged numbers. However, when the rapper called the Greenleaf actress the phone somehow hung up and they didn’t speak until they met at a different club much later. “You can tell she was trying to get my attention. She walked by like five times,” Slim said about seeing LeToya a second time, to which the singer denied. “He caught me in the corner when the lights came on,” LeToya explained. She was also able to clear up what happened when she hung up on him and from there that was the beginning of their relationship.
On What LeToya Liked About Slim:
The “Regret” singer said that what drew her to the “I Ain’t Hear of That” artist was his “confidence.” “He’s not shy when it comes to his artistry and his creativity. He’s a star when he walks in,” she said. She then began describing his appearance saying that his height at 6'6'' as well as his being handsome makes him stand out. “It’s a light on him when he walks in any room. It’s attractive.”
On What Slim Liked About LeToya:
Slim admitted that he was initially drawn to LeToya’s “drip.” “She always dress like she going somewhere fancy,” he said. He also shared that he was taken aback by her sense of humor saying that he didn’t know she was that funny and that they felt like “BFFs.” “We really enjoyed kickin’ it,” he said.
On Why They Broke Up:
LeToya cited the reason behind their breakup as being too young to settle down. “We tried to have something serious at a very young age,” she explained. “I met him at 20. To my surprise, he was ready to lock in, get married, have a home, kids, in our early 20s. Although his heart was probably ready for something like that, his environment–they didn’t align.” While she didn’t say whether there was cheating in the relationship, she did say Slim would often entertain the attention he got from women causing her to become frustrated and “leave a lot.” “I felt like issues we could have probably worked through, talked through if I didn’t feel that he was hearing me, or was ready to make the changes that needed to be made, I was out.”
Slim, on the other hand, believes that their small disagreements and breakups to make-ups ultimately took a toll on the entire relationship. However, he did take the blame for their relationship’s demise. “I do take the responsibility of being the person that messed up and I’m not blaming her at all. It was my mistakes that led us not being together,” he said.
On If They Will Ever Get Back Together:
The former Destiny’s Child member shared that Slim often told her they were “soul mates.” She acknowledged that they already have a foundation, friendship, and history for a possible reconciliation. “I think it would be a conversation of what do you need? What do I need? This is what I need and what do you need?” She said.
“I know and I’ve learned that you can’t make somebody happy. You have to be happy with yourself and be whole and then that person has to come in and complement that and see you and I think in my relationships moving forward, I have to be seen. The good thing about Slim is he has seen me in almost every way happy, sad, angry, confused, every state because we were a decade in so I think it would just be communication, patience for sure. This is what I want. This is what I expect. This is where I’m at.”
Having a Conversation with My Ex
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Featured image by Paras Griffin/Getty Images for Black Music Honors
'Black Girl Magic' Poet Mahogany L. Browne Talks Banned Books And The Power Of The Creative Pivot
You know you’re dealing with a truly talented and profound voice of a generation when the powers that be attempt to silence it. As a poet, educator, and cultural curator, Mahogany L. Browne has carved out a powerful space in the world of literature and beyond.
From penning the viral poem, “Black Girl Magic,” to writing Woke: A Young Poet’s Call To Justice (a book once banned from a Boston school library), to becoming the 2024 Paterson Poetry Prize winner and a poet-in-residence at Lincoln Center—her path exemplifies resilience, reinvention, and unapologetic artistry. She's published more than 40 works and paid the bills with her craft, a divine dream for many creatives seeking release, autonomy, and freedom in a tough economic climate.
A Goddard College graduate, who earned an MFA from Pratt Institute and was awarded an honorary doctorate from Marymount Manhattan College, Mahogany offers unapologetic realness with a side of grace and empowerment. "I started touring locally. I started creating chat books so that those poems will go in the hands of the people who were sitting in the rooms," she shared.
"And then I started facilitating poetry workshops, so I used my chat books as curriculum. And that, in turn, allowed me to further invest in my art and show the community and people who were hiring me that it wasn't just a one-off, that it's not just, you know, a fly by night—that I am invested in this art as much as I am invested in your community, in your children's learning, in our growth."
Mahogany has a special way of moving audiences, and her superpower sparks shifts in perspective, post-performance introspection, and strengthening of community bonds, especially among Black women. (One can undeniably recognize her gift for arousal of the spirit and mind merely from her listening to her insights from the other side of a Google Hangout call. I can only imagine the soul-stirring, top-tier sensory encounter when watching her perform in person.)
In this chat with xoNecole, Mahogany reflects on sustaining a creative career, the aftermath of writing a banned book, and using poetry for both healing, community-building, and activism.
Anthony Artis
xoNecole: What are three key things that have laid the foundation for a sustainable creative career for you?
Mahogany L Browne: What has helped me is that I'm willing to go in being an expert at knowing poetry and knowing the way in which art can change the landscape of our lives, not just as a poet, but also as a poetry facilitator. How you move through classes, those things are mastered, right? So when I go into another space that's maybe tech-heavy, I don't mind learning and being, you know, a student of the wonder of how we can make this magic, work together.
Two, you’ve got to know how to pivot. Sometimes we say, ‘Alright, this is what my life is going to be. I'm going to be a New York Times best-selling author. I'm going to, you know, have an album that's Grammy-nominated. And then, say you get dropped from your record label. That doesn't mean you can't make an album anymore. You can also still create an album that can be submitted to the Grammys. So, what does a pivot look like as an artist who doesn't have an institution behind them? Pivot being a student of the wonder.
Relationships also really help. How do I serve the community? And in turn, that tells me how the community can show up. For me, I have long-standing ties with a community that will outlast my one life. So, what does it mean to create space where these relationships can develop, can be nurtured, can be rooted, can be cultivated? Creating space—it happens through relationships.
xoN: With today’s economic challenges, what does your current creative process look like, and what are you working on?
MB: I’m always thinking five years ahead. I just reviewed the pages for two children’s books and recently released a YA novel. I’m drafting an adult fiction manuscript now.
Anything I create is founded with the root of poetry, but it can exist in captions. It can exist in commercials. It can exist as a musical. So that's where I’m at now.
xoN: You started performing "Black Girl Magic" in 2013, had an acclaimed performance of it via PBS and the work went on to viral success shortly after. Talk more about the inspiration. And what do you think about the continued relevance more than a decade later?
MB: I wrote it as a rally cry for the mothers who had been keeping themselves truly in harm's way by, you know, being a part of the community right after the death of their child or their loved one. They are usually mothers of victims of police brutality—and just seeing how they showed up in these community spaces, they are devout to the cause but obviously still grieving.
"I wanted this poem to be just a space of reclamation, of joy and of you, of your light, of your shine, of your brilliance, in any which way in which you fashion. Every room you enter is the room you deserve to be in. What does it mean to have a poem like that that exists?"
And the first time I did the poem, the Weeping that occurred, right? It was like this blood-letting of sorts. The next time I performed it, I'm moved to tears because I'm seeing how it's affecting other women who have just been waiting to hear, ‘You belong. You deserve. You are good. We see you. Thank you, despite everything that they said to make you regret being born in this beautiful brown, dark-skinned, light-skinned, but Black body.’
Black women are the backbone—period. Point blank. And so, that that poem became a necessity, not just to the fortitude of Black women in the community, but like you know, in service of healing the Black women.
xoN: One of your books was banned at a school in Boston, and it was later reinstated due to parental and activist support. What was that experience like?
MB: Well, I think it happened because they were racist. That's it. Point blank. The reversal of it was empowering, right? I realized, oh, I thought we just had to sit here and be on a banned book list. But no, parents are actually the leaders of this charge.
So to see that, the parents said, ‘Nah, we're not gonna let you take this book out of my baby’s school just because it's a Black kid on the front saying, ‘Woke’ and they're talking about being a global citizen. They're talking about accountability. They're talking about accessibility. They're talking about allyship, and you don't want them to have compassion or empathy or have even an understanding, right? So no, we rebuke that, and we want this book here anyway.’ To see that happen in that way. I was, like, reaffirmed. Absolutely.
xoN: You recently organized the Black Girl Magic Ball at the Lincoln Center in New York. Honorees included author and entrepreneur Rachel Cargle and National Black Theater CEO Sade Lythcott. What impact did it have and what expanded legacy do you hope to leave with your creative works?
MB: I was really interested in not celebrating just the book, but celebrating the community that made the book possible. And so I gave out five awards to women doing that thing, like, what does it mean to be a Black girl in this world?
I just thought it was gonna be an amazing time. Everybody's gonna dress up—we're gonna celebrate each other. And boom, I then realized that it responded to like a gaping hole. There was a missing thing for Black girls of all walks of life, all ages, right?
"It's very intergenerational. That was intentional to come together and celebrate just being us."
You have all these instances where just being you is either the butt of a joke or it's diminished and not worthy of a specific title in these larger institutions. So what does it mean to just to be loved up on and celebrated?
It felt like a self-care project at first. You know, for the first couple of years, folks were coming and they were getting that sisterhood. They were getting that tribe work that they were missing in their everyday lives.
I love the Black Girl Magic Ball because we got us. If I go out with a bang, they'll remember that Mahogany worked her a** off to make sure all the Black girls everywhere knew that she was the light. We are the blueprint.
For more information on Mahogany L. Browne, her work, and her future projects, visit her website or follow her on IG @mobrowne.
Featured image by Anthony Artis
2025 BET Awards: Ciara Lists Her Dating Non-negotiables, Jordin Sparks Talks Love & More
Last night was "culture's biggest night" in Black entertainment and all the stars came out. Hosted by Kevin Hart, the BET awards celebrated 25 years and reflected on the network's success by giving viewers a taste of nostalgia.
The network's beloved 2000s show, 106 & Park took over the stage along with the show's former hosts, including Free, Terrence J, Julissa Bermudez and Mr. 106 & Park himself, Bow Wow, who performed his hits.
Other artists who performed during that segment was Ashanti, Mýa, Keyshia Cole, Amerie, and T.I. The night continued with three icon awards presented to Jamie Foxx, Mariah Carey, and Kirk Franklin.
Prior to the show, xoNecole took to the red carpet and interviewed some of our favorite people. See who we caught up with below.
Ciara
Ciara stopped by to share her dating non-negotiables and the mother of four wasn't holding anything back.
Jordin Sparks
Jordin Sparks walked the carpet with her husband, Dana Isaiah, and together they shared how they stay connected.
Teedra Moses
Teedra Moses dished on whether she thinks she's Phylicia Rashad's doppelgänger.
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Feature image Rob Latour/ Shutterstock