[Gina1201]

Beyoncé Knowles will do her hometown proud when she returns to Houston to sing the national anthem at Super Bowl XXXVIII on February 1. Janet Jackson has already been announced as part of the game's halftime show. ...

Russell Simmons is calling on the big guns to help kick off his first Hip-Hop Summit of 2004, to be held in Houston. P. Diddy; Master P and Lil' Romeo; Beyoncé and her father, Mathew Knowles; Erykah Badu; Run and DMC; and the king of H-Town, Scarface, will all be participating at the January 31 event at Texas Southern University. ...

Kanye West, Memphis Bleek, M.O.P., Freeway and the Young Gunz will play in a celebrity basketball game as part of the 2004 Freedom Classic national, a weekend celebration of Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday in Richmond, Virginia. Co-sponsored by Roc-A-Fella Records, the January 17 and 18 events will also include a Roc-A-Wear fashion show, entertainment industry seminars and a voter-registration drive. ...

A thousand pairs of Pharrell Williams-designed Nike shoes sold out of select stores in New York and Los Angeles over the weekend. The limited-edition kicks are part of a series of Nike commissions from artists in different creative media. The Neptune reworked the classic black Nike "Dunk Hi" shoes, fitting them with black leather and a N.E.R.D. brain logo on the side. At New York's Niketown, people began lining up on Friday at 7 a.m. to purchase the sneakers, 26 hours before they went on sale. All proceeds from Pharrell's shoe go to Goodwill's Good Books program, which provides free books to kids. Graffiti artist ESPO and actress Halle Berry also designed shoes that went on sale over the weekend. ...