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Shallow Nation

November 2nd, 2008 at 12:26 am

Photos: Beyonce Gotham Magazine November 2008

Beyonce Gotham Magazine photo shoot November 2008

Beyonce is on the cover of the November 2008 issue of Gotham Magazine and featured in a dazzling, artistic photo shoot and cover story article. See all of the photos and a video of a recent interview. The music superstar’s upcoming third studio album, I Am…Sasha Fierce will be released on November 18, 2008.

As eagerly awaited as the album is the 1950s music era movie Cadillac Records in which Beyonce stars as legendary singer Etta James alongside costars who also play legends of the era; Adrien Brodi as pioneering record executive Leonard Chess who launched the careers of Willie Dixon (Cedric the Entertainer), Chuck Berry (Mos Def), Little Walter (Columbus Short) and Muddy Waters (Jeffrey Wright). The movie will be released in theaters December 5, 2008.

These photographs of Beyonce are as engaging as the article Dimitri Ehrlich has written about Beyonce, whom he met in person and interviewed. For the Martian who has arrived on Planet Earth and knows nothing about Beyonce, much less why a Google search of her name yields more than 50 million results, this article (online in its entirety) will be a memorable introduction. Here are the opening paragraphs.

It’s raining in New York. A hot, muggy, gray rain that splashes in heavy sheets off the line of black Escalades parked outside a photo studio on the West Side. Just a few weeks ago, Hurricane Ike brought far more relentless rains to Houston, destroying the neighborhood where Beyoncé Knowles grew up. Oddly, her favorite memory is tied to a similar meteorological disaster almost 20 years ago.

“I never told anyone this story, but we lived by the bayou, and it flooded,” she explains. “My father came to pick me up from school. I thought he was so strong. And he protected me. We had to get out of the car because the water was flooding the streets. He was carrying me around and it was the most fun thing in the world. My arms were around his neck and I was laughing and it was raining, and I was like, this is great! Even though, looking back, I know he was terrified.”

Beyonce Gotham Magazine photo shoot November 2008

Two decades later, that little girl has grown up. She still spends a lot of her time with her father, Matthew Knowles. But no one has to carry Beyoncé these days. Having sold 100 million records with Destiny’s Child and another 25 million as a solo artist, she’s built a career that continues to defy even the darkest predictions about the collapse of the music business. This month, as she prepares to release her third solo album, Beyoncé herself seems to be a force of nature.

Given that she was lead singer of the best-selling girl group of all time, is married to Jay-Z, and was listed by Forbes as the second highest-earning music personality of the year in 2007 (she took in $80 million), you hear her name all the time—so it’s natural to feel like you know her. But meeting Beyoncé in person is disarming, surprising.

Beyonce Gotham Magazine photo shoot November 2008

Today she has a large blue swath of makeup across her eyes, superhero style, which will eventually be joined by bands of red and white to complete her American flag getup—just one of five countries she’ll be representing in photos at this shoot. She’s also wearing nothing but a terry-cloth robe. And finally, she’s smoking hot. Radiating fire. Blazingly gorgeous, like Brigitte Bardot in a steam bath. [Continues….]

Source: Gotham Magazine - World at Her Feet

Photo credit: Tony Duran/Gotham Magazine - via That Grape Juice - Beyonce Does Gotham Magazine

Here is the E! News report video on Beyonce’s Gotham Magazine photo shoot.