
London Alexaundria is a writer and contributing editor for xoNecole. After graduating with a B.A. in mass media arts from Clark Atlanta University, London went on to work for several media outlets and started her own writing coaching business.
Joey Bada$ sat down with xoNecole for an exclusive xoMan Live interview about his views on love, relationships, and life, and during that chat, he answered the questions we all wanted to know. The Power Book III: Raising Kanan star has been making headlines with singer/ actress Serayah after rumors of them dating began swirling. He posted a photo of them together on Instagram on what looked like a date, and a day later, the singer shared a photo of them together on her page.
Serayah also stars in the rapper's new music video "Show Me," in which they play a couple. While talking about how he and the Empire actress met, he revealed whether they were lovers.
“Serayah and I- I’m trying to think when did we cross paths?" he asked himself out loud. "We have some mutual friends. I think we found ourselves at a few, like at the same events. And you know, we just became really cool, you know?"
He continues, "We got a pretty cool friendship, and I think she’s gorgeous. I think she’s talented. I proposed– you know she was in the studio with me one time and you know she heard the song and I know that like she really liked the song. When it came to shooting the video, I just kind of proposed the idea to her and she was down, you know what I’m saying? Shout out to Serayah because she really came through for me and she killed it. She killed it.”
As far as the rumors about them dating, Joey says he's single. “I’m single. To clear all that up– to clear all the confusion on that up. I don’t know; things could happen. Or have those things happened? Not necessarily. It’s not anybody’s business, but for those who are wondering, yes, I am single. The speculation and everything could you know, could die now,” he ends with a laugh.
Serayah also denied that they were dating during an interview with Baller Alert.
Joey considers himself a sapiosexual and so intelligence is important to him in a woman. And when asked if he wants a relationship, he reveals he's "ready." “I’m staying ready, so I don’t gotta get ready if that makes sense, you know what I mean. I don’t want to say that it’s anything I’m looking for, like I understand the way the law of attraction works,” he says.
The self-proclaimed “rapper’s rapper” just finished the new season of Raising Kanan and plans on releasing a lot of new music. He has a new single coming out at the end of the month and is ready to open up his horizons musically to connect more with women.
Watch our full exclusive interview with Joey Bada$$ here.
Featured image courtesy of Joey Bada$$
My first introduction to sound baths was during the pandemic thanks to Jhené Aiko. If you follow her on Instagram, you may have watched her IG Lives in which she sometimes played music using Tibetan singing bowls. I didn’t think much else about it until a couple of years later when I was dealing with stress and anxiety. I’m one of those people who can sometimes get in my head and overthink everything and then become stressed and anxious.
This time, I was stressing over my romantic life and second-guessing myself about everything. While I typically turn to meditation and my friends and family, I decided that this was the perfect time to try sound baths. Luckily, a local organization that I’m a member of announced that our upcoming event was a sound bath class. A coincidence? I think not.
But you may be thinking, what is a sound bath? A sound bath is exactly what it sounds like. Participants are bathed in sound waves that are produced by healing instruments. Sound baths are a form of energy or spiritual healing practice that dates back 2,000 years to the region of Tibet.
I walked into the class that was led by energy therapist Ki Meishon and was looking forward to the healing that was supposed to take place. I was already anxious but I became even more anxious anticipating what will happen. The class was full and we each sat down on our mats and the class began. Ki came around to those who wanted an essential oil rubbed on them to help us relax (I was one of the people that had the oil) and then I laid down on the mat. With my eyes closed, I began listening to the different sounds surrounding me.
There were chimes, gongs, Tibetan singing bowls, and more filling the air (These tools are used as a form of healing). As I continued laying there, I let myself focus on the sounds and let them come over my body. While I really wasn’t paying much attention to the time, I think the actual sound healing lasted 15 minutes. Once it was time to open my eyes, I felt like a new person. The stress and anxiety were nowhere in sight and I felt rejuvenated. I felt lighter and my aura was more positive compared to when I walked into the class. The class also gave me clarity on how to move forward in my situation.
It was a beautiful experience and I would recommend it as a great healing tool.
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Feature image by Marilyn Nieves/ Getty Images
We Need To Talk About The Dismissal Of Black Women On Reality TV Dating Shows
Ask me what are some of my favorite reality TV shows and I will immediately tell you TheReal Housewives of Atlanta and TheReal Housewives of Potomac (and honorable mention TheReal Housewives of Beverly Hills), however, I’ve been expanding my horizons a little bit and recently began engulfing myself in dating reality competition shows.
It might be the lover in me but I enjoy seeing people meet and fall in love. However, if you watch enough of those shows, you know it’s more than just falling in love. The contestants are typically competing for money; when love, money, and competition mix, there is always some drama. And I live for every second of it.
However, as a Black woman who watches these shows, it is hard to ignore some of the glaring treatment that many Black women deal with. Black Twitter has also been on fire about this topic thanks to Netflix’s latest reality TV dating show Perfect Match. The show features a cast made up of reality TV stars from the streaming giant’s other shows such asLove Is Blind andSelling Tampa.
The contestants live in a villa and they participate in competitions for a chance to have control over what new contestants they can bring in and set up on blind dates with those already living in the house. At the end of the night, contestants have to pair up and the one’s left without a partner have to leave the villa.
\u201cWhat #perfectmatch did to all the Black women\u2026..and making them pick from scraps and being \u201cBlack queen\u201ded downnnn but nobody seeing them as valuable partners\u2026.they will pay. Best believe they will pay and I\u2019ll see to it \u270d\ud83c\udffd\u201d— Tyler (@Tyler) 1677205034
*Spoilers ahead*
On the first night, Selling Tampa star Anne-Sophie Petit-Frere, who was the only Black woman on the show at that point, shared her lack of enthusiasm for matching with Zay Wilson (The Ultimatum), a Black man, because they were the only two people left without a match.
After new contestants showed up later on, she decided to take a chance on Too Hot to Handle star Chase DeMoor, a Black man, and match with him. But that didn’t last long. If you watched Chase’s season on Too Hot to Handle, then you may know that the women he paired with were of the non-melanin kind, and he decided to send Anne packing.
Her Selling Tampa co-star had even worse luck. Colony Reeves came in a few episodes later after Anne’s departure and she was set up on a blind date with Dom Gabriel, a Black man whose claim to fame is The Mole. Dom became a target of Black Twitter after he was in tears over Too Hot to Handle star Francesca Farago dumping him (chile) but he later matched with Georgia.
On his blind date with Colony, he immediately told her that he was not interested and kept raving over her being “strong.” Once they both entered the villa, he introduced her to other men as a “strong Black woman” (cringe). She, along with Izzy Fairthorne, went home that same night.
@colonyreeves @annesophiepf #perfectmatch #perfectmatchnetflix #fyp #foryoupage #sellingtampa #sellingtampanetflix #dating #relationships #sellingtampacolony #netflix #annesophieandcolony
Colony recently responded to Dom in a TikTok video alongside Anne. The caption read “Do you identify as a strong black woman?” with the “no” sound repeating in the background of the video. However, Dom’s contestants later sent him on another date with another Black woman, Diamond Jack from Love Is Blind season one and again he lets her know he’s not interested.
However, going into episode 9, it seemed like Diamond had some potential suitors as she was matched with The Mole reality star Will Richardson and had a promising blind date with Love Is Blind season 3 star Bartise Bowden. However, that night she caught Bartise locking lips with Abby Humphreys and Will confessed that he had his eyes for Francesca. Diamond ultimately made the decision to leave and strutted out of the house. And then there were no Black women left (but two Black men remained).
Perfect Match became yet another example in a long line of reality dating shows that show Black women getting the short end of the stick. Time and time again, women of other races and ethnicities seem to get picked over Black women and it is hard to watch. But I must admit, there have been some success stories.
\u201cI don\u2019t like how LIB be cutting all the black women. How come they are always in the trailer but not the show\u2026 \ud83d\udc40\u201d— Lauren Speed (@Lauren Speed) 1666653090
When the contestants who left the house came back for a last shot at love, Bartise and Izzy decided to give their relationship another chance and they made it to the end of the show. Outside of Perfect Match, there’s Dami Hope and Indiyah Polack, a Black couple from ITV2’s Love Island season 8, and Lauren Speed-Hamilton, a Black woman who found love with Cameron Hamilton, a white man in the first season of Love Is Blind. While Lauren found love on her show, it didn’t stop her from speaking out in a series of tweets in Oct. 2022 about Black women having “slim pickings” on Love Is Blind season 3.
“I know it’s slim pickings but about 85% of them couples be forced (just moving forward for entertainment purposes) anyway. Y’all could at least force some more sisters to move forward throughout the show,” she tweeted.
Hopefully, more contestants will speak out about the dismissal of Black women on these shows and fans continue to use their voices on social media as a way to spark change.
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Feature image from "Perfect Match"/ Netflix
Angela Bassett Breaks Down Her 3 Best Beauty Secrets That Keep Her Looking Flawless
While Angela Bassett doesn’t like when people tell her she looks good for her age, we can’t help but revel in her ageless appearance. At 64, the twice Oscar-nominated actress looks like she did in her breakout role as Tina Turner in the 1993 film What’s Love Got to Do with It. The internet began buzzing about her beauty again after a resurfaced clip of Angela spilling her beauty secrets began making its rounds.
The TikTok was taken from a tweet: "Angela Bassett should’ve been Oscar-nominated for this clip of her revealing the 3 things you must do to look like her.” However, the clip is from a 4-year-old interview with TV host Lalia Muhammad.
We broke down the mother of two’s beauty secrets below:
Go to an Esthetician
Angela says she loves “a good esthetician.” Estheticians can help beautify your skin through facials, chemical peels, and other skin treatments. “I wear a lot of makeup all the time but your face, your canvas, present it to the world, and you're good,” she said.
Clean Eating (Most of the Time)
Like Angela said (which is backed by science), “you can outeat any exercise routine.” She continued, “So, you gotta eat right, clean, every–at least 85% of the time. So, follow a plan. Not one that’s too restrictive. I happen to follow one that sort of cycles through.”
The Black Panther actress gave us the rundown on her eating habits. “Like Monday, Tuesday, I may eat carbs, fruit,” she said. “Tuesday, Wednesday I may do protein, veggies, veggies every day. No fats those four days and then the last three days I flood it with fat, good fat though.” Those good fats include “coconut oil, salmon, almonds, almond butter, olive oil, [and] walnut oil.” She also doesn’t eat dairy or bread flour but will do sprouted bread such as Ezekiel bread.
Fitness
Lastly, Angela works out with a personal trainer every day. “I gotta pay, so I will show up because I don’t want to waste my money,” she explained. “So I gotta be accountable and somebody’s there waiting for me ‘cause I know myself and I will talk myself out of going.”
She also described what her workouts consist of. “Monday, Tuesday I’ll do cardio,” she said. “Wednesday, Thursday because I’m eating protein I’ll do strength building, and then Thursday, Friday, Saturday, when I’m eating all that fat it’s about deep breathing, a massage, or yoga."
However, she clarified, "I don’t do yoga. I go for the massage.”
3 Things You Must Do to Look Like Angela Bassett
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Feature image by Stephane Cardinale - Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images
Erykah Badu Addresses Talk Surrounding Her Ability To Make Men Fall In Love With Her
Erykah Badu’s successful music career with hits like “Tyrone” and “Bag Lady” has made her an R&B legend but when it comes to her dating life, she has become known as an urban legend due to many people pointing to her supposed mystical power over men. She dated Andre 3000, with whom she shares 25-year-old son Seven, D.O.C. with whom she shares 18-year-old daughter Puma, Jay Electronica, with whom she shares 14-year-old daughter Mars, and who can forget Common?
Because most of the men she dated appeared to be madly in love with her, with fans joking that they even started dressing like her when they were together (i.e. Common), people began suggesting that it was her love below (shoutout to 3000) that had men stuck and many women wanted to know the secret.
While the soulful songstress made light of the ongoing conversation in the past, such as selling incense that was made to smell like her vagina, she addressed it head-on during her visit to the Tamron Hall Show. When asked how she would describe her power to make men fall for her, Erykah says, “it’s indescribable.” She continues, “and the bedroom, that’s not where you’re gonna find it because my magic doesn’t lie between my thighs, it lies between my ears.”
Period!
The Grammy award-winning artist reveals that she is currently single and at 51 years young, she is focusing on surrounding herself with things that make her happy. Two of those things, which are also highlighted in her video with Vogue, are her bells and her infrared sauna. She accredits her sauna for her youthfulness. “The benefits are amazing,” she says. “The heat is going to go inside of the body and purify you and help drain the toxins and give you the energy that you need.”
Erykah Badu’s Indescribable Power to Make People Instantly Fall in Love
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Feature image by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for BET
Rihanna has always marched to the beat of her own drum and has achieved staggering success from it. From deciding to change her sound with her pivotal 2007 album Good Girl Gone Bad to how she wears her hair and clothes, the singer has carved a path of her own that many people marvel over. As she reaches more milestones in her life, she continues to gag us with her moves in business, fashion, and motherhood. More recently, Rihanna surprised everyone during her Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show performance when she revealed her baby bump after giving birth to a baby boy last year.
And in her British Vogue March 2023 cover story, she shared her excitement about being a new mom. “Oh, my God, it’s legendary,” she says. “It’s everything. You really don’t remember life before, that’s the craziest thing ever,” she continues. “You literally try to remember it – and there are photos of my life before – but the feeling, the desires, the things that you enjoy, everything, you just don’t identify with it because you don’t even allow yourself mentally to get that far, because…. Because it doesn’t matter.” Here are three ways the singer revolutionized what motherhood looks like in her life.
Relationship with A$AP Rocky
Rihanna and A$AP Rocky
Photo by Amy Sussman/WireImage
The cover story photos featured Rihanna with her boyfriend A$AP Rocky and their son. However, the couple faced backlash once the photos began making their rounds on social media. There were many comments about the emasculation of the rapper as he is seen standing behind the pop star while holding their son. If you follow the couple's history, they have been friends for a long time and have always supported each other in fashion and in music.
After giving birth to their child, Rihanna followed Rocky on his European tour and Rocky was captured cheering on his girl during her Super Bowl LVII Halftime Show performance. From the outside looking in, the couple appears to not dim each other's light. Rihanna says that she and Rocky are “best friends with a baby.” And she also says that having a baby only made them closer. While we don’t know if marriage is on the horizon for the stunning couple, the Harlem rapper did have people questioning whether they were already married thanks to his “D.M.B.” music video that stars the Bajan singer and shows them getting married.
Starting a Family
@rihanna hacked
The 35-year-old singer has accomplished so much in her life but one thing she has always said she wanted was kids. And in a past British Vogue interview, Rihanna said that she planned to have kids with or without a man. Last year, however, she gave birth to a baby boy whose name has yet to be made public and now she is pregnant again with her second child with Rocky. In her recent British Vogue interview, Rihanna gushes over the “F**kin’ Problems” rapper’s relationship with their baby.
“I’m just sitting on the sidelines when they’re together,” she reveals. “I’m literally the girl trying to get into the boys club, waiting for my turn. He is obsessed with his father. And I’m like: ‘Didn’t I give birth to you? What is going on?’” She says laughing. “Their connection is undeniable. The second Rocky makes eye contact with him he is on fire. The whole thing they say about sons and moms, it’s a myth. Sons and fathers is crazy. I realized that the validation that you really need as a boy is from your father.”
Maternity Wear
Rihanna.
Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images
Riri’s fashion is always a sight to see and her maternity style was definitely one for the books. Luckily for us, we get to witness her maternity looks a second time around. When she was pregnant with her first child, Rihanna told Access Hollywood about redefining maternity style, “I’m trying to enjoy it [pregnancy] as much as I could and fashion is one of my favorite things so redefining what it means to even be pregnant and maternal. It can get uncomfortable at times, so you can dress the part and pretend.”
Now, with her son in tow, she is looking to redefine baby clothes. “One of my favorite outfits he has is a miniature version of one of Rocky’s,” she says in British Vogue. “I like to dress him in things that don’t look like baby clothes. I like to push it. I put him in floral stuff. I put him in hot pink. I love that. I think that fluidity in fashion is best. I always shop in the men’s department, you know.” She describes baby clothes as “sooo boring” and even teased the idea of Fenty babywear. “These kids deserve to be cool,” she says.
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Feature image by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation