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Contents

Ray J Feature

Hang over 59

Hit and MissCollabs of 201318

21 Exculsive Interview With Flo

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C.E.O Erica Vain

COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR Mariama Gregory

EDITOR Erica VainEDITORS-AT-LARGE Travis Vance, Kristen Mack

MANAGING EDITOR Tyfani McDowellCONTRIBUTORS Philisha Reid

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Terrell Anderson

GRAPHIC DESIGN DEPARTMENT Emily Berger, Shawn Banks, Katlyn Kinsey, Yuan Liao

PHOTOGRAPHER Domonick Dangerfield

INTERNS Natalie Stuppard, Aramis Harmon

SALES & MARKETING DIRECTOR Ivanti Bush

HOW TO REACH US

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OFFICE OF THE PUBLISHER:Erica Vain

P.O. Box 340Perry Hall, MD 21128

410-343-9668 or Staff@EricaVain.com

LETTERS TO THE EDITORS: mail@ericavain.comPERMISSIONS: permissions@vainllc.com

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Meets Bad Girls!

By Erica Vain Edited By: Zakiya Harris

BAD BOY

Q&A

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So far 2013 looks like a promising year for singer, songwriter, actor, and reality television show host Ray J. His most recent single, “I Hit it First” came out in April and already has over 1.5 million views. On Tuesday, May 21st at 9pm ET the “For the Love of Ray J” star will return to the reality spotlight—except this time the prize isn’t his heart but $100,000. Ray J will be hosting the new thrilling competition series “Bad Girls All Star Battle” on Oxygen, a reality show in which our fa-vorites from past seasons of “Bad Girls Club” will return to duke it out for a hefty cash prize. A notorious bad boy himself, it is only fitting that Kim K’s old partner-in-crime has been selected to keep the girls in check. But despite this admission, Ray J sees deeper into the show than just the warring personalities on the surface. “[S]ome of these girls are coming on this show to win this money for real positive reasons and reasons that I think [are] really going to connect with the view-ers,” Ray J said in an interview. The artist made it a point to express the range of motivations that the members of the show have voiced, noting one girl who is trying to help a brother out of foster care and another girl who is a single mother trying to raise her daughter. When EricaVain.com asked what made this battle different from any other reality battle show on television, Ray J put it simply, “You’ve got the baddest girls from each season of the ‘Bad Girls Club.’ We are turning it up.” And judging from all of the projects that Ray J has in the works, he is too. Read about what he’s up to career-wise, his connections with the Bad Girls, how he feels about Kim Kardashian and more in the interview with Ray J.

Q: Could you talk a little bit about the reaction that you’ve been getting to you know your new song and the music video that you put out?

Ray J: It’s been unbelievable. I mean, it charted Number 3 on the R&B charts and in the top 16 on Hip Hop and R&B. You know, for me I’m independent, so it was cool to see it blossom like this in like two weeks, and it’s even crazier that you’re seeing how it’s so opinionated. But for me, we always kept it on the surface of it you know being music, and that’s all it is.

Q&A

Q: Do you think you were chosen because bad boys know bad girls?

Ray J: Of course and I’ve been in a space that was similar to this before where you know I had to deal with a lot of girls’ emotions in one house, but this is a total step up from that. This is on a whole other level - the Bad Girls Club, the Bad Girls All Star Battle. I mean this has pushed me to the limit as far as you know my control, and my authority, and making sure everything ran right. And they got the right instructions and they were excited to go out and win the challenges, so it was definitely a great experience for me.

Q: You and Kim Kardashian both have over the years really had successful reality TV careers, but I wanted to know why you think both of you have been so successful in this genre?

Ray J: I mean you know we kind of - you know we have been there kind of from the start. Like I think when reality first started, people were a little bit afraid of it, but you know now it’s the new wave, it’s the new TV, it’s pop culture. You know it’s everything in one as far as entertainment. It has its own space now and I think we saw it from the beginning, and I think you know now, it’s just evolved, it’s so big.

You know everybody wants to do reality, everybody wants to you know have a show about you know their life or their family, and a lot of people think it’s easy, but it’s not. You know I think people are really handpicking the right people to fit this space and I just think that you know we’ve always kept it real. We’ve kept it (100) and we are still here.

Q: Is there anything that you’ve learned about yourself or you’ve been surprised to learn about yourself from hosting a show like this?

Ray J: You know what? I’ve gotten more control as far as things that I want to know. Like some-times you know in life, you kind of want to know certain things or go deep you know with some-body that you might know, or trust, or care about.

And this show with how deep I have to go with the questions, how I had to really get inside of the girls minds and understand you know what was their angle, what was the plan, you know how emotional are you, how bad do you want this. It has just helped me become more honest with the people around me and things that I want to know, so as far as control and authority, it just stepped my game up you know 1000%.

Ray J2013

Q: How does this whole thing tie into where your brand is going now? Like you’ve released new music lately, you’ve talked a lot about a lot of the projects that you are going to be dropping over the summer. It seems like you are really coming hard this summer, so how does the Bad Girls All Star tie into what Ray J is doing as a music artist?

Ray J: Well overall, I just - again, you know this is such a familiar space for me and I think people have seen me kind of in a world like this. This is just on a whole other level and I think I’ve just been staying true to what I do.

You know last year, I kind of took the whole year off you know to just get my mind right, and now you know as soon as January started, you know it was my goal to impact hard. And you know coming back with the Bad Girls All Star Battle stamps that and so many more positive things in the future as far as music and TV. But right now, my focus is you know May 21, the Bad Girls All Star Battle is going down. We are turning it all the way up.

Q: You know, someone who wanted to follow in your footsteps and do what you do, what - if they were standing in front of you, what advice would you give them? What would you tell them?

Ray J: Just stay true to what you believe in and don’t let nobody tell you can’t do what you want to do. Because in life, if you’re having fun doing what you believe in, then there’s so many longevity to that as opposed to you know doing something that you don’t want to do but being successful at it.

by Malaika Nicholas

Every artist knows that chemistry is key in making a killer collaboration. I mean, look at some of

the best collaborations of all time: Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger and David

Bowie, Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men, DMX and Marylin Manson. Okay, let’s actually forget that last

one, but we’re only halfway through 2013 and the music industry has seen some interesting collab-

orations. Check out this list of 7 collaborations that have become either a huge hit or a major miss.

Hit & Miss Collabs of

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2013

1. Skrillex and A$AP Rocky

This has to be one of the most un-expected collaborations I’ve heard this year, but Skrillex and A$AP Rocky managed to create a hit that hip-hop and electronic audienc-es will enjoy. In an interview with Fuse TV, A$AP said he was aiming for a single that will break every-one’s expectations. “We didn’t want to be predictable and do some cliche sh-t just ‘cause,” said Rocky. “It was like, ‘Let’s just hold off on that.’ But then one day we were at his show and afterwards he’s like, ‘Let’s hit the studio.’ And there’s a whole bunch of chicks around and I’m ready to have fun. But he’s like, ‘Let’s hit the studio!’ So we brought the party to the studio.” The single, “Wild For The Night,” is on A$AP’s debut album LongLiveA$AP.

2. Rihanna and Calvin Harris Bad gal RiRi shined bright when she collaborated with super-star DJ Calvin Harris for her single “We Found Love.” The single, which Harris wrote and produced, hit No. 1 in the U.S. and in the UK this Fall, spent 10 non-consecutive weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and sold over a million copies. After working with Rihanna, Harris has played at music festivals around the world, was the house DJ for the 2012 MTV Video Awards, and made other hit singles with Ne-Yo, Ellie Goulding, and Flor-ence Welch.

3. Britney Spears and Will.i.am

I’m totally digging Will.i.am pop/electronic solo act, but I think he missed the mark when he decid-ed to collab with the fallen pop star Brittney Spears for his single “Scream & Shout”. And don’t even get me started with this remix featuring Diddy, Hit Boy, Lil Wayne and Waka Flocka. Grant-ed, the lineup could be much worse, but who in their right mind thought putting Waka Flocka, Diddy and Britney Spears on the same track was a good idea?

4. Lupe Fiasco and Guy Sebastian

Lupe and who? If his name isn’t familiar to you now, learn it! The former Australian Idol winner (and cutie!) Guy Sebas-tian collaborated with Lupe for his new single, “Battle Scars” on his seventh album Armegeddon. The single also appears on Lupe’s Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1. “It was just so sick to find someone who’s really into it but not with the attitude of being a big Ameri-can rapper,” said Sebastian in an interview with Vmusic.com. “He came prepared and was really into it.”

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4. Lupe Fiasco and Guy Sebastian

Lupe and who? If his name isn’t familiar to you now, learn it! The former Australian Idol winner (and cutie!) Guy Sebas-tian collaborated with Lupe for his new single, “Battle Scars” on his seventh album Armegeddon. The single also appears on Lupe’s Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Pt. 1. “It was just so sick to find someone who’s really into it but not with the attitude of being a big Ameri-can rapper,” said Sebastian in an interview with Vmusic.com. “He came prepared and was really into it.”

5. Rihanna and Mikky Ekko

Rihanna’s on a roll with hit col-laborations this year! She re-cently teamed up with Louisiana native and singer Mikky Ekko for her somber ballad “Stay.” This record-breaking hit became RiRi’s 10th No.1 single to top the charts, making her the first artist in Billboard’s Pop Songs chart history to do so. “The track had become so special to me as well, and knowing what the track means to me and what I think it means to her too, it really worked,” said Ekko in an Q&A with Gigwise. “It speaks to such an intimate side of her that is so rare and so far removed from what people think of her.”

6. Nelly and the Florida Georgia Line

Think Nelly left his country singing says behind him? Think again! Nelly is back with another pop country song, appearing on the remix of country duo Flor-ida Georgia Line’s single “Cruise”. “We couldn’t be more excited,” Taylor Hub-bard said in an interview with Minneapolis station BUZ’N 102.9. “We grew up being fans of Nelly, riding around listening to him in middle school and high school.” I think Nelly learned his lesson this time around, considering his failed singing attempt with Tim McGraw in 2004 with his song “Over and Over.” Let’s just say I’m glad Nelly is sticking to what he does best.

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