Last week, hip-hop journalist and cultural critic Dream Hampton tweeted, “I hate that Beyonce is being used as a poster child for being a married mother. Her single mother sister is her role model.” Whether or not you agree the first half of her statement, the latter is absolutely true, and considering Hampton is also the co-author of Jay-Z’s New York Times Best-Selling book Decoded, her opinion might possess more validity than most on this subject.

It goes without saying that, married or not, we’re thrilled about the Bey-Z bun in the oven, and last week, VH1 News’ Janell Snowden caught up with Beyoncé’s singing and DJing kid sister Solange at Fashion’s Night Out in NYC to chat about motherhood. Solange’s precious son Julez will be turning 7-years-old next month, and considering she had him at age 17, she had some qualified, heartfelt advice for her mom-to-be, superstar sister.

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Starting at 4 p.m. ET this afternoon, VH1 will be airing six uninterrupted hours of footage from The Concert For New York City, which was originally held in New York City’s Madison Square Garden on October 20, 2001. We’ll be streaming the entire show this one-time only on VH1.com, and you’ll also be able to tune-in on your television to watch, too. As a way to help you remember this epic event, we put together this gallery of images from that unforgettable evening. We’ve got snaps from the night’s biggest performances (Paul McCartney, The Who, Bon Jovi, etc.) and some awesome backstage photographs as well.

Don’t forget, the Robin Hood 9/11 Relief Foundation could still use your assistance, too. Oh, and one last thing: If you are looking for a schedule to find out when to tune-in to see your favorite artist, we’ve got it for you here: The Concert For New York City: 10 Years Later Air Schedule

VH1.com will be streaming a special, one-time only re-broadcast of the Concert For New York City this Sunday afternoon, September 11th, starting at 4 p.m. ET; the entire broadcast will also be shown commercial-free on VH1 that afternoon, too. As a nation reflects back on the tenth anniversary of the most horrific attack to ever occur on American soil, we here at VH1 will be focused on remembering the way that the artistic community came together during the difficult days and weeks after 9/11 to not only to pay respect to those who lost their lives that day, but also to honor the heroes that emerged in the aftermath of the terrorist attack.

The Concert For New York City: 10 Years Later is being hosted by native New Yorker Ed Burns, and will feature memorable, once-in-a-lifetime performances from the likes of Paul McCartney, The Who, Bon Jovi, Billy Joel, Jay-Z, Destiny’s Child and many, many more. In order to make sure that you don’t miss the performances of your favorite artists, we’ve put together this handy schedule for you of who will be streaming/appearing on-air when. We hope you find it helpful!

And remember, even though it’s 10 years later, the Robin Hood Relief Fund could still use your assistance. Follow along for a schedule of when to tune-in to see the show’s most captivating moments…

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Last week, we filled you in on our plans to re-air The Concert For New York City in its entirety, commercial-free, on the 10th anniversary of 9/11 this Sunday. We are also excited to announce that we’ll also be simultaneously be streaming this event on VH1.com beginning at 4 p.m. ET. Featuring emotionally charged performances by the likes of Paul McCartney, The Who, Jay-Z, Destiny’s Child and more, this one-time only replay will also benefit our friends at the Robin Hood Relief foundation. More details, including a complete list of exactly what time the performances from your favorite artists and actors will be airing, to follow as the week progresses.

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Beyoncé is, without a question, a once-in-a-generation talent. Blessed with a wonderful singing voice, incredible athleticism, striking beauty and, most importantly, an unrivaled competitive spirit, she has established herself as a star of both stage and screen. In honor of her 30th birthday today, we decided to take a look back at the thirty most important moments in Beyoncé’s life that made her the person she is today. Enjoy!

DATE: September 4, 1981
EVENT: Thirty years ago today, Houston resident and aspiring music manager Matthew Knowles and his costume designer wife Tina welcomed a bouncing baby girl into the world, one they named Beyoncé Giselle Knowles. If this had never happened, well, you wouldn’t be reading this list, that’s for sure!

DATE: 1988
EVENT: At the tender age of 7, Beyoncé competed in her very first talent show. She sang a stirring rendition of John Lennon’s “Imagine,” which earned her a standing ovation, a first place prize, and the seething jealousy of the 15- and 16-year-olds she competed against.

DATE: 1990-1991
EVENT: Gaining confidence after her talent show victory, Beyoncé and five other girls were recruited to join a Houston-based group called Girl’s Tyme. It was during this time that she met her future Destiny’s Child group members Kelly Rowland, LaTavia Roberson, and LeToya Luckett (who joined in 1993). After gaining local acclaim, things turned sour after the group unsuccessfully tried out for Star Search. This would mark the first of many times that personality clashes would lead to fractures in Beyoncé’s personal and professional life.

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Late yesterday afternoon, popular gossip mill MediaTakeOut dropped one of their patented “MTO WORLD EXCLUSIVES” claiming that Rihanna has, and we quote, “decided to DROP Jay Z . . . and his RocNation team as her managers.” They cited a “ROCK SOLID INSIDER” who claimed that Rihanna was preparing to part ways with her mentor/svengali J-Hova, citing “FINANCIAL IRREGULARITIES” and insinuating that Beyoncé‘s relationship with Jigga Man was getting in the way of RiRi landing primo endorsement deals.

Well, even though we should’ve left for the Labor Day weekend “HOURS” ago—this writing in “ALL CAPS” thing is kinda fun, we’re going to try it “MORE OFTEN”!—we decided to go straight to the source instead of simply re-reporting unsubstantiated gossip. We reached out to reps at Def Jam who confirmed to us just moments ago that the news is simply “not true.”

Adding weight to this statement is a Tweet that Rihanna herself sent out. It pretty much speaks for itself:

Each Friday here on the VH1 Blog, our VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown host Jim Shearer (@jimshearer on Twitter) will be sharing his Shearer’s Spotlight with us. Be sure to tune into the Top 20 Countdown tomorrow morning when it airs on VH1 at 9 a.m. ET/PT.

The arrival of Labor Day Weekend marks the unofficial end of summer. With that, here are three things I never expected from the Summer of ’11:

1) “Party Rock Anthem” to be Summer Anthem of 2011

At the beginning of the summer there wasn’t a clear-cut favorite for the summertime jam of 2011, but I never expected LMFAO’s “Party Rock Anthem” to dominate the mainstream airwaves like it did. Club hit? Yes. Pop radio hit? Never would’ve thunk it. Sing it together now kids: Everyday I’m shufflin’.

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While NYC residents are relieved to have been spared the worst of Hurricane Irene (we’re thinking of you, Vermont), I must admit to shallow disappointment in her pulling a robbery on my social life this weekend. Forced to stay indoors, I was able to spend some time with Lil Wayne’s recently-leaked Tha Carter IV while suffering through meteorologists and weather anchors overusing words like “hunker [down]” and “pounding [wind and rain],” wanting to throw a thesaurus at my television. After closing the MTV VMAs last night, the New Orleans native, who is unfortunately all too familiar with hurricanes, officially dropped his ninth solo album digitally before running off to host an after-party that coincided with Tha Carter IV’s release.

Because it’s dropping in such close proximity to Jay-Z and Kanye’s Watch The Throne, Tha Carter IV is a an easy target for direct comparisons. Wayne is a one-man show, and despite having a bushel of features (from the likes of Andre 3000, Nas, Bun B, and Bob Rick Ross), facing off against Jay and Kanye’s well-marketed collaboration LP certainly isn’t apples to apples, but the pot will inevitably be stirred! One of the songs on Tha Carter IV contains a verse directed at Jay-Z and talks about kidnapping newly pregnant Beyoncé, so speculations were high that some sort of altercation would occur at the VMAs last night. Likely retaliation for Hov’s “baby money” verse on “H.A.M.” back in January, Wayne’s verse on the C4 track, entitled “It’s Good” (also featuring Jadakiss and Drake), sounds like it’s just come to term; the passion in Wayne’s voice and use of verbs in the present tense suggest it was recorded many months ago, not recently. That, mixed with the fact that Jay didn’t respond publicly last night, might mean it’s water under the bridge.
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LIL WAYNE SPRINGS A LEAK, THREATENS TO KIDNAP BEYONCÉ
Where’s the beef? On Lil Wayne’s just-leaked Tha Carter IV, that’s where! According to Blackbook, Weezy’s new track “It’s Good” features this bar directed towards Jay-Z: “Talkin’ ‘bout baby money, I got your baby money/Kidnap your b****, Get that ‘how much you love your lady?” This is apparently in retaliation to a verse that Jay sung on “H.A.M.” that dissed Young Money. First Game disses Jay, now Wayne? Sh*t’s about to get real, son! [Blackbook]

JOSEPH GORDON-LEVITT PAYS HOMAGE TO KURT COBAIN
The 20th anniversary of Nevermind is just around the corner, so Nirvana-mania is clearly in bloom (drum roll). At a concert in Seattle last night, the Inception star played a cover of “Lithium,” which he punctuated with this off-the-cuff dedication: “You know it seems like everytime people bring up Nirvana, people wanna talk about how Kurt Cobain killed himself. But I gotta say, it doesn’t matter to me. It doesn’t matter that he’s dead, it doesn’t matter how he died, his songs are f***ing awesome, that’s what matters.” [Everybody Loves Our Town]

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Remember when Robyn “Rihanna” Fenty was an innocent girl standing underneath an umbrella, before she was hollering at a “Rude Boy” to join her in some “S&M” on her “California King Bed”? Yeah, our memories of those days are getting fuzzier, too, especially if the rumors of a new Rihanna/J. Cole sex tape are true!

“We have seen it and we do not know what we are going to do with it yet,” said a rep from the Hustler empire told Radar Online. Odd J. Cole didn’t mention it when he played us his album last week, but the 26-year-old protege of Jay-Z will certainly benefit from this tabloid circus since Cole World: The Sideline Story drops next month.

Rihanna is, unfortunately, no stranger to scandal, accustomed to fending off rumors of secretly dating mentor Jay-Z and canoodling with Drake, not to mention having to endure the embarrassment caused when naked photos she sent to then-boyfriend Chris Brown were leaked. Like many stars in the public eye, the Barbadian pop star wears a target on her back for this kind of negative attention, and her music, as we jokingly alluded to in the beginning of this post, might make it easier to assume that the sex tape exists. But in all fairness, just because her songs can be boldly sexual in nature doesn’t mean we should jump to conclusions, even when taking into account that the Roc Nation-managed artists have toured together and are known to be friendly. Developing!

Hustler Insist They Have a Rihanna and J-Cole Sex Tape [Radar]