Nicki Minaj

Legendary singer and songwriter Neil Diamond will receive the 2011 Billboard Icon Award at this weekend's Billboard Music Awards. Diamond will also take to the stage and perform. The award, which honors the cultural impact of an artist whose extraordinary talent as a creator, writer, and entertainer has stood the test of time, will be presented at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards. Hosted by Ken Jeong, the awards will air live from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas on Sunday from 8-11 p.m. on 6ABC.

In an era of fashionista rappers with gangsta attitude, such as Nicki Minaj and Azealia Banks, it's awesome — even necessary — that Eve make her return. At 33, Philly's self-proclaimed "pit bull in a skirt" can show up any of her imitators. She proved as much during an intimate (200 people) gig Wednesday at Fishtown's funky Kung Fu Necktie. From her earliest days as one of the Ruff Ryders to her own pop-hop hits ("Who's That Girl?") and a klatch of smash collaborations with Gwen Stefani, Eve was always the queen of swagger.

"I am the greatest entertainer the world has ever seen," Lil Wayne told the crowd near the end of his show at the Wells Fargo Center on Saturday night. In different circumstances, that might seem a bit of a stretch, but in that moment, it would have been difficult to argue the point. Stoked in no small part by Dwayne Carter's own claims, the debate over whether he is the best rapper alive rages on, but at the top of his game, he is the top of the game. After an eight-month prison term on weapons charges and a middling attempt to incorporate rock elements into his sparse, sweaty Southern hip-hop, he headed back to his roots.

LOS ANGELES - Justin Bieber thanked his haters after winning the first award at the American Music Awards, while Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift performed their new singles. The 18-year-old won favorite pop/rock male artist in the first award handed out at Sunday's American Music Awards and gave a shout-out to those who didn't think he would last on the music scene. "I want to say this is for all the haters. . .," he said. "I feel like I'm going to be here for a very long time," he said, also thanking his mother, manager, family, and his "beautiful, beautiful fans.

"I am the last thing on this planet as far as being a racist," Steven Tyler said on Canadian TV in a quasi-apology to Nicki Minaj , we hope the last salvo in one of the sadder media smackdowns in recent memory. It began when Tyler, an American Idol alum, attacked the show's new judges as ignorant. "You just have to give your opinion. It wasn't hard for me," Tyler told MTV. "If it was Bob Dylan [competing], Nicki Minaj would have had him sent to the cornfield!" He added, "Whereas, if it was Bob Dylan with us, we would have brought the best of him out. " This put Minaj out of sorts.

NORTH PHILLY-raised comedian/actor Kevin Hart on Saturday hosts Power 99 DJ Diamond Kuts' birthday party at Shampoo (8th & Willow). Kuts, raised in West Oak Lane and regularly seen on BET's "106 & Park," is also involved in MTV's Dove Fresh Spin video series. She recently came off a tour with Nicki Minaj, and has released a mix tape, "Herstory in the Making. " The party starts at 10 and costs $30 at the door. Kuts, a/k/a Tina Dunham , is the daughter of the late Philly rap artist Grand Tone . She gets a break from spinning her own party.

Beyonce Knowles stole the show before it even started. The soon-to-be-30 superstar arrived at Sunday night's MTV Video Music Awards holding her bulging belly while dressed in a loose-fitting, flowing red gown. MTV tweeted the news, and photos confirming her motherly status soon circulated. Suddenly Lady Gaga's much-hyped opening number, during which she performed as a greasy, leather-jacketed male alter ego, became less important. Britney Spears was the night's first award winner; others included Nicki Minaj and Katy Perry , who won a trophy with Kanye West for her video "E.T.

She did the red carpet as Little Red Riding Hood (in a blood-red Atelier Versace nun-inspired satin robe) with a pope-alike in full faux-Vatican regalia on her arm. Nicki Minaj at the Grammys. So scandalous! Minaj, 29, later performed "Roman Reloaded," with a stage show out of The Exorcist : She was strapped to a leather table, levitated, surrounded by roaring flames, and did a mock self-exorcism. The spectacle disgusted The View' s Sherri Shepherd . "I didn't know whether to dance or pull out my Bible and lay hands on the tv," she tweeted.

LOS ANGELES - Adele won six Grammys, including song of the year, record of the year and album of the year, and Foo Fighters captured five at a Grammy ceremony that had the difficult task of celebrating music's best while mourning the loss of one of their greatest. Whitney Houston's death on the eve of the awards forced a delicate balance between the exuberance of the show's winners and performances with the loss. Adele, who owned the year's best-selling album with "21," was triumphant in her first performance since vocal-cord surgery forced the cancellation of a tour and months of vocal rest.

Anyone can take the road to fame and fortune. Anyone. Just ask Muhammad Shahid Nazir , a Pakistani-born fishmonger who became an overnight sensation while hawking frozen snapper and mackerel for one British pound ($1.61) at a London market. Following in the well-trodden footsteps of that adorable Canadian teen Justin Bieber , Nazir, 31, found a massive audience after a video showing him singing a catchy tune was posted on YouTube. Unlike Justin, Nazir performed not a love song, but a tune about selling fish.