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Chevrolet & the 2005 Vibe Awards: Red Carpet Diaries
With the stars shining bright, it was a beautifully
mild fall evening in L.A. I showed up on the scene looking like I
belonged – my gear was “Hollywood” worthy. As I
made it down the Red Carpet, Automotive Rhythms spoke with Snoop,
LL, Pharrell and others about their night. Suge Knight was walking
up the other side of me past all the glitz and glamour, content on
smoking his stogie and getting past the crowd. The celebs were out
and dressed to impress as usual!
Oh yeah, did I mention I was on the Red Carpet of the 2004 Vibe
Awards held in Los Angeles? Our host Chevy took great care of me
and Jaime Foster Brown from Sister 2 Sister Magazine. Actually, we
were the only two media representatives on Chevy’s guest list.
Unfortunately, my LA stories have all been overshadowed by the 25-minute
melee that occurred during the taping of the show that night. Merely
minding my business while trying to get the three-second stare from
LisaRaye and her sister Da Brat, I hear everyone gasping at the all
too common displays of violence experienced at award shows these
days.
Lost in translation were the cool cats I had a chance to rap to
before the show got rowdy. Big Boi of Outkast, Twista, and my man
Spragga Benz to name a few. Even the young Jennifer Nicole Freeman’s
(My Wife and Kids) was cool enough to stop and talk for a while.
She was cute but naïve. Specifically, she thought telling Automotive
Rhythms what type of car she drove was too much info and that “they
might follow her.” Whoever “they” are; I had to
let her know AR was all about the vehicles and not the paparazzi.
Earlier in the day, we were present for the campaign launch of Chevrolet
Motors and the real life couple Boris Kudjoe and fiancée Nicole
Parker (Soul Food and Second Time Around). Chevy is a proud sponsor
of the couple’s second show and uses the pair as the face and
voice of the carmaker’s new promotional ads. Boris is a Suburban
full-size SUV man and Nicole an Equinox compact SUV woman by choice.
Nevertheless, deciding on the long-term vehicle of choice really
depends on the upcoming family size. They both have conflicting stories
on how large the family will grow to be.
Though Boris is German born and raised, and appreciates the technical
advances of his homebred vehicles, I am sure he values a promotional
vehicle from Chevy even more. That said, Boris still has his Mercedes-Benz
AMG and a Volkswagen Touareg V10 Turbo Diesel at home in Germany,
where he can enjoy the vehicles how they were meant to be driven,
on the Autobahn!
The entire day would have been great if the Vibe official after
party was not cancelled at my hotel. Nobody wanted any more trouble
or repeats of violence. Therefore, I said what the heck and headed
for my famous Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles with LisaRaye by
my side. What more could I ask for? Okay, LisaRaye was not by my
side, I could only manage the two-second stare, and not the required
three to make the eye contact official for further advancement.
G-Unit |
Sleepy Brown, Big Boi & Bubba Sparkxx |
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Big Boi & Gary Joseph
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Bubba Sparkxx & Gary Joseph
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Big Boi's Mother & Gary Joseph
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Beenie Man
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Eve
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Video Flavor
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Boris & the 2005 Corvette
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Boris Kodjoe & Nicole Parker with Chevy
SUV
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Spragga Benz & Gary Joseph
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Carolyn Normandin, Snoop & Jamie Brown
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The Fans
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