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DeJ Loaf has hatched a plan to go horseback riding. It’s a little past noon on a Saturday in Atlanta, and DeJ, a big animal lover, is ready to cross horses off her bucket list. She’s dressed for the occasion, wearing a sleek version of a jockey outfit: beige patch riding pants from Zara, a long coat over a chocolate blazer, and Hermès boots. Pincurls peek out from a small cowgirl hat. She’s also packed a Canon DSLR so someone can capture the experience in hi-def, both for social media and personal archives.

She sits in the passenger seat of a black Suburban for the 45-minute drive to Lanier Islands, a cluster of resorts and vacation attractions north of Atlanta. She’s quiet the entire time, reviewing some of the moodier, explicitly sexual tracks she’s recorded for Liberated, the debut album fans have been waiting for since 2014’s “Try Me,”a surprise breakout single on which DeJ casts a small yet imposing shadow. Pulling up to the stables, a small black goat greets us. We pass a miniature rock waterfall and a light post with a sign that reads: “Are you up to the challenge?”

Our appointed instructor, an attentive and jovial woman in jeans and a tee, introduces DeJ to a 700-pound Welsh pony. To begin, she has DeJ lead the horse around a small pen to build her confidence. The instructor is a pro at stroking egos, but seems legitimately impressed with her swift grasp of riding. Whenever she asks if DeJ wants to proceed to the next level — onto the dirt trail, and then over near the lake — DeJ accepts, with no signs of panic or anxiety.

After a lesson about posture in the saddle, DeJ learns to direct the horse into a quicker trot. At her request, I stand off to the side with her iPhone and capture footage of the ride for Snapchat. The instructor graciously pauses during picturesque moments to snap photos of DeJ on the Canon. “Anybody who’s got rhythm finds trotting a lot easier because of the beat,” she tells DeJ, before instructing her: “Up, down, up, down, up, down, up, down.” DeJ spends 45 minutes riding; I spend five. Hours later, I search Twitter for DeJ’s name. One user has already reposted the shot of her on a horse, which she uploaded to Instagram, along with a joke: “dej loaf said fuck rap.”

[Dej Loaf, Fader]

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Lee Daniels Q&A, Wired

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Reading The Bluest Eye last year, for the third or fourth time, I saw the world through Pecola and her family again. And I felt their ugliness. I stopped on a passage and it froze me like it always does: “It was as though some mysterious all-knowing master had given each one a cloak of ugliness to wear, and they had each accepted it without question,” Toni Morrison writes. “The master had said, ‘You are ugly people.’ They had looked about themselves and saw nothing to contradict the statement; saw, in fact, support for it leaning at them from every billboard, every movie, every glance. ‘Yes,’ they had said. ‘You are right.’ And they took the ugliness in their hands, threw it as a mantle over them, and went about the world with it.”

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When Friends hit Netflix in January, a nonstop, nauseating celebration followed. When A Different World got added in March, there was much quieter jubilation, mostly in black circles.This was a series that had as much influence—if not more—than its precursor, The Cosby Show,and found a space for an audience of black kids with a future fantasy. For any pre-collegiate viewer, it was just as iconic and aspirational—even if you were light years from that place in life.

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Vulture | Power Ranking the 15 Most Successful America's Next Top Model Contestants

People — cruel people — love to joke that winning America’s Next Top Model is essentially like getting a pat on the back and a gold star. Roughly zero contestants on Tyra Banks’s long-running series (we’re on Cycle 21 now) have gone on to become supermodels. Instead, maybe they earn a modest living doing runway shows, ad campaigns, and music videos; sometimes they fall to pieces and end up seeking Dr. Phil. Part of the irony in watching ANTM: Knowing that their smizes will soon disintegrate into crying emojis. Some, however, defy the odds and flip their quasi-fame into movie roles (those acting challenges really pay off), non-modeling gigs, and more reality TV. SinceANTM (Boys & Girls 2) returns tonight, Vulture created a power ranking of the show’s most enterprising contestants based on their biggest achievements.

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Nylon Guys > YG Feature

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OITNB Star Selenis Leyva: "I Grew Up Around Racial Tension"

Cosmopolitan.com

Litchfield's iron chef, Gloria Mendoza, has zero sympathy for wheat allergies. ("Prison is gluten. Don't commit the crime if you can't fucking have flour!") The perpetually irked yet comical maternal figure has her hands full in season two ofOrange Is the New Black. As the successor to ousted kitchen queenpin Red, Mendoza assumes the role of managing the cook staff. In between brewing constipation-relief concoctions and launching salt attacks (see episode five), all she wants is to stay neutral in the war between nemeses Red and Vee.

Behind her frosty retorts, there's a painful past: Her boyfriend Arturo physically and emotionally abused her. Flashbacks also reveal that food stamp fraud landed her in prison, and that her religious beliefs (a practice known as Santeria) may have deadly effects. (SPOILER: In a wonderful twist of fate, Arturo ends up locked in a storeroom full of her candles and burns to death.)Cosmopolitan.com spoke to Bronx-bred actress Selenis Leyva about her character's tough facade, the religious undertones, and Leyva'sSaturday Night Live ambitions.

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Talking to Orange Is the New Black BFFs Taystee and Poussey, IRL

Cosmopolitan.com

Taystee and Poussey, the hilarious besties of Orange Is the New Black, share the type of bond that can only be broken by a psycho drug lord. Besides serving as each other's support systems while incarcerated, they also happen to be avid bookworms and masters at Celebrity. (Taystee: "Crazy dude who believes in aliens?" Poussey: "Tom Cruise!") But PoussTay lovers had to brace themselves for season two, when Vee Parker, Taystee's diabolical maternal figure, re-invaded Litchfield. In the midst of recruiting T's crew for her tobacco empire, Vee also threatens a friendship everyone previously thought unbreakable. Luckily, Cosmo's No. 1 imaginary BFF, Poussey (the military kid with a tragic love life) refuses Vee's slimy, Funfetti-baited leadership.

In the real world, actresses Danielle Brooks (who plays Taystee) and Samira Wiley (Poussey) are giggly longtime friends who tend to finish each other's sentences. Cosmopolitan.com spoke to the pair about that awkward kissing/cuddling scene, their secret talents, regrettable hairstyles, and weirdest obsessions.

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Billboard | Robin Thicke 'Paula' Review

The begging begins about 55 seconds into "You're My Fantasy," the opening track on "Paula." Over gentle salsa strums, Robin Thicke pleads "please" seven times in a row to a woman whose absence feels ghostlike ("I can smell your perfume/-Your legs are on my walls/Your body's on my ceiling/Your giggle down the hall"). "Paula," Thicke's seventh album, is a post-breakup record, named after his high school sweetheart and now estranged wife, actress Paula Patton. And it's a sharp departure from the blithe mood of 2013's "Blurred Lines," which gave him a No. 1 smash.

The couple separated in February, with some tabloids blaming Thicke's alleged infidelity. "Paula" is his chance to atone and, as the lead single is titled, "Get Her Back." But an apology album from an already emotionally exposed singer, who wrote about male insecurity on "Lost Without U," isn't that riveting. In the pantheon of male R&B divorcé music, ego and rage tend to be much more compelling. Marvin Gaye's 1978 "Hear, My Dear" — a bitter ode to his ex-wife, Anna Gordy — was selfish yet vulnerable, inspiring a lifetime of imitators. On the thrilling "Terius Nash: 1977," a scorned The-Dream depicted ex-wife Christina Milian as a gold digger and threatened to crash her next wedding. Usher practically flung divorce papers at his ex, Tameka Raymond, on 2010's "Raymond v. Raymond."

Rather than fury, "Paula" is all guilt. On "The Opposite of Me," he sadly examines his faults: "All that she needed was a true friend/All that she received was a troubled man/She couldn't be with someone like her dad/And I just rewarded her with my drunken rants." Even when he's taking some pleasure in mischief ("Something Bad"), he seems to say it wasn't worth it.

Like Thicke's candor, the music occasionally comes off stunt-ish. Thicke's brand of affable, breezy R&B is supplanted with kitschy sock hop ("Tippy Toes") and melodramatic narrations on songs that could moonlight as off-Broadway musical numbers. It's either oddly catchy ("Something Bad") or way too hammy (the James Brown impressions on "Living in New York City").

Of course, the real-life drama adds intrigue. Thicke refreshingly lets a woman's voice chime in on "Lock the Door," where a backup vocalist sings, "I kept trying to warn you, you were slowly breaking my heart." Is that supposed to be Patton? And did she really try to hit him with his "favorite golf club," as he sings on "Black Tar Cloud"? ("Yelling and screaming and smacking me/How could you do this, you spoiled little rich kid?")

If it sounds like TMI, that's because it is. "Paula" plays off how invasive and uncomfortable a celebrity breakup is — not just for the couple involved, but for those watching and, in this case, listening. Fans want to know, but maybe not this much. After the devil-may-care disco of "Blurred Lines," Thicke's career peak, "Paula's" introspection seems half-baked. It is Thicke's personal love letter for Patton — and comes off as relevant mostly just to the two of them.

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VIBE > How Mona Scott-Young Became Reality TV's Drama Queen

Stevie J and Joseline Hernandez have their game faces on. The Love & Hip-Hop Atlantacouple are at Hot 97’s Manhattan office, crashing a poker match between the radio station’s staff. And despite a series of losing hands, Stevie’s being his usual obnoxious self, bragging about his net worth (he’s got 10-grand to spare) and quoting Jay Z (that "D'usse so myself" line). Worst of all, he's trashing his ex-girlfriend/daughter’s mother, Mimi Faust. The Atlanta cast member’s shower rod calisthenics in a sex tape with her boyfriend, Nikko, has been a trending topic lately. Stevie isn’t impressed. Joseline’s “got way more curves,” he says. His personal corner woman, Joseline, massages his shoulders and participates in the smack talking via one-liners. They’re both built for this. “I’m an actress,” she says.

None of this is real. Stevie and Joseline blew in from Atlanta to tape a cameo for Mona Scott-Young’s latest TV venture, This Is Hot 97, which is more an Office-like mockumentary than the chicks behaving badly programming that’s become Mona’s bread and butter. The made-up scenario for this episode: a poker game gone awry. From the sidelines, next to a conference table cluttered with camera equipment and stray phones, Mona plays point. “I want Joseline to be more playful and funny,” she tells the executive producer, Ian Gelfand. Her tone is warm but authoritative. The entire scene is taped multiple times with different improv lines. “It’s not as exciting as people think it is, huh?” says Mona.

Since the original Love & Hip-Hop premiered in 2010—with Dipset’s Jim Jones, singer Olivia Longott and Fabolous’ girlfriend Emily B. among its cast—Mona has been cross-examined about her role in the madness. She's been painted as a puppeteer for exhibitionists who live by the motto, “Turn down for what?” The drama seems too outrageous to be real. And none of the incessant backlash has forced her to cancel any of the shows. It's remained Vh1's top-rated program. (Love & Hip-Hop Atlanta season 2 was the No. 1 cable series among women ages 18-49, averaging 3.3 million viewers.) She may not bust a Nae Nae when ratings slide in, but she does profit from a series that feeds off brawls and stereotypes. Yet, she’s confident in her good intentions and her platform. Her conscience is clear. And that's the part that pisses people off the most.

Full Story

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Cosmo > Nicki Minaj Isn't Bringing Her Crazy Wigs Back Anytime Soon

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Nylon Guys | Future profile

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Billboard > Kelis 'Food' Album Review

A tamer Kelis would've been hard to imagine in 1999. At the time, the singer's Virgin Records debut, "Kaleidoscope" -- a carnival of offbeat sounds carved by The Neptunes, and the home of her introductory, scorned-ex anthem "Caught Out There" -- was finding its base with the irregulars of R&B. In the span of five albums, Kelis has hung on those hip-girl outskirts, openly averting fame and, with it, commercial success for the most part, aside from 2003's sassy come-on "Milkshake," which hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

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On Beyoncé’s 17 Music Videos, Our Image Obsession And The Future Of Visual Albums

You might've heard about it via text or through hyperventilating fans on Twitter. But seeing is believing. Initial proof that Beyoncé's surprise! album was indeed real (and readily available on iTunes) came in the form of photos jetting across timelines: Beyoncé adorably mean-mugging over Jay Z’s shoulder; Beyoncé flaunting perfect cheeks in a black, geometric thong; Beyoncé just minding her business while floating onto a bed—video stills that compelled people to purchase it so they could hear, watch repeatedly, update statuses and join the conversation (aka confirm that yes that's Beyoncé’s bare ass), all the while driving up her sales, which are currently edging toward 600K.

If Nielsen also calculated the number of home viewings on her 17 music videos, some of us might be slightly embarrassed. Did you watch "Drunk in Love" back to back? Did your heart not puddle at the sight of Bey carrying Blue Ivy on her hip? Were you a little frightened at the Drake-Yoncé face fusion in "Mine"? Is THIS your laptop wallpaper?

Yes it is. Because as much as the success of her anti-marketing plan relied heavily on the fact that Beyoncé is Beyoncé, the effectiveness of the videos did, too. She needed you to care to even watch, not exactly a tall fete for an artist with a high performance acumen and more than a few deranged fans. Still, it had to be executed well. As a visual album in a very visual era, Beyoncé successfully extended Vine-length attention spans. Feeding our FOMO, coupled with our image obsession, she ensured that her album will live eternally as video stills and gifs.

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VIBE Review: The Happiest Moments Of Drake’s ‘Would You Like A Tour?’ Show In Brooklyn

During a sit-down interview with Canadian journalist Jian Ghomeshi, Drake shared an unexpected gripe: he’s not the rap game Eeyore some make him out to be. “’I’m so sick of people saying that I’m lonely and emotional, and associating me with this longing for a woman,” he said. “I hate that. It bothers me so much ‘cause I do make music that makes you feel something [ED NOTE: Loneliness? Emotion?], but I’m actually not that guy in real life. I’m a happy person.”

Disagree if you will, but last night (Oct. 28) on the Brooklyn stop of his Would You Like A Tour? at Barclays Center, the rap star was all stage leaps, graciousness, Drake-hands and euphoria. He was all about making you feel good.

We went into his concert fully expecting to pen a list of reasons a Drake show will have you all in your feelings. There will be tears, we’d said. But the underlying sentiment of his minimalist statement-show had less to do with unbridled emotion (see Yeezus tour for contrast), more with Drake “making it” and the exuberance that begets.

Before that could happen:

1) PartyNextDoor performed an abridged set to a sparse crowd. Guy who came late: “Did Future go on yet?” ME: “No, just PartyNextDoor.” HIM: Who’s that? [Awkward silence] So Future didn’t go on?

2) Future made us turn up and want to tear up to the tunes of “Racks on Racks,” “Tony Montana,” “Neva End,” et. al

3) Though less physically effervescent than usual, Miguel was magical nonetheless, closing his lengthy set with a little known modern classic called “Adorn.”

Drake, meanwhile, spent a lot of time cheesing, playfully mean-mugging, basking in the light of the Center that gentrification built and telling us why he was so happy to be there. Here, a few things that made Drake happy.

He was happy to celebrate his belated birthday with New York City.

Drake already extinguished his candles in his hometown on Oct. 24. His birthday conveniently fell on the day of his Toronto show. But we all know black birthday celebrations can last days, months even. Drake took this time to make the BK show his official party because “New York is one of the first places to ever support my music.”

He was happy to perform every track on Nothing Was The Same.

Drake kicked off his fake-birthday-concert-just-for-Brooklyn with the album opener “Tuscan Leather” and ran through his latest project in full, including “Furthest Thing,” “Own It” and the cuffing season bat-signal “Come Thru.” Of course, “Started From The Bottom” was planted toward the end of the show because… listen to the hook.

He was so happy when he performed “Pop That.”

He was happy to gaze upon Jhene Aiko, who was barefoot and dressed in a see-through get-up.

As the R&B newcomer spread her light vocals over the latter half of “Come Thru” and “From Time,” Drake sat and soaked it in, later kissing her on the forehead and letting her rock solo, center-stage and fairy-like. He also clarified that “you deserve rounds” “means we’re having sex more than one time.”

He was happy to gyrate with Dominican Shayla.

He brought her to the stage after “Hold On, We’re Going Home.” She fondled him. He was sad to see her leave, happy to watch her walk away.

He was happy to have friends in high places.

Like Busta Rhymes, who performed one song, rather winded, to help celebrate Drake’s b-day. And Jay-Z. Drake told Hov before the show: “I’ma go to Brooklyn tonight and do it justice.”

He was happy to tease us with some of his best hits.

The intermission saw his DJ Future the Prince playing (relatively) older tracks like “Successful” and “Over,” reminding us that Drake can, in fact, feature Drake.

He was happy to gift NYC with a new track, “Trophies.”

He was happy to make like Hov and shout out audience members (for eternity) while floating in the middle of the arena. A sampling:

"I see this whole row sitting down like you’re too cool for school."

"I see you with the ‘We love C. Papi’ sign."

"I see you throwing up the OVO."

"Is this like a couples’ outing right here?"

"I see you with the New York University sweater."

"You right there in the orange…"

"You with the Canada flag…"

He was happy to let us in.

The sob stories weren’t glaring, but it wouldn’t be a Drake show without heartstrings. “Too Much” is still beautiful in its simplicity and candidness, though we only got the first verse.

He was happy to bring out A$AP Mob to rep Harlem.

And they, in turn, were elated. A fitted fell to the stage, elbows bumped, and both A$AP Ferg (“Work,” “Shabba Ranks”) and Rocky (in what looked like an ankle-length scarf) brought the energy back. At one point, Drake dubbed Rocky both “iconic” and “legendary,” something you’re free to contest.

He was happy we all could’ve been anywhere in the world, but we chose to be there.

He said the Brooklyn stop was unlike any other, that he’d remember it forever. “I know it might be a while before we see each other again,” he said, knowing very well that it’s the furthest thing from truth and he was just being nice.