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PHOTOS: 2011 Esteem Awards Celebrates Black LGBT Pride

PHOTOS: Rod McCullom

The 2011 Esteem Awards were held in Chicago over Black Pride Weekend. The event was the fifth annual celebration sponsored by PrideIndex.com.

This year's honorees included Emil Wilbekin, playwright Tarrell Alvin McCraney, Chicago's Howard Brown Health Center CEO Jamal Edwards, HIV/AIDS educator and prevention leader Curtis Lipscomb,  author and photographer Michael-Christopher, filmmaker Mary Morten, transgender activists Monica Roberts and Joy Morris, Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mary Mitchell and many others. Rod 2.0 was honored in 2008.

"I created the Esteem Awards as my own special way to honor individuals and organizations in the African American and LGBT community," Esteem Awards founder Philip Esteem tells R20.

It was a beautiful ceremony. Such a pleasure to spend time with so many inspiring people. The ceremony includes performances by poet Yolo Akili and Love the Poet.

Some images from the event are HERE.

Emil Wilbekin Profiles Kid Cudi (And His Skinny Jeans) for "Paper"

PAPER celebrates its 25-year-anniversary with 25 25-year olds. One of the featured movers and shakers is hip hop prodigy and fashion scene-stealer Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi aka Kid Cudi, who is profiled by out former VIBE editor Emil Wilbekin and lensed in a beautiful two page editorial.

Wilbekin writes: "In this postmodern, digital Obama era, Kid Cudi may well be the next voice of hip-hop.. Mescudi, who is most of the time clad in skinny jeans, schoolboy glasses and a G.O.O.D. Music chain, is a skillful lyricist with a deep understanding of metaphor, analogy and brand-building. ... "

Speaking of Cudi's omnipresent tight and skinny jeans—he's determined to wrestle that calling card from Omarion and Pharrell Williams—a few days ago he mocked his critics on Twitter before appearing in Lettgerman to perform "Pursuit of Happiness". "Mann haha my haters sooo mad i was wearin my skinnys performin wit [Jay-Z]," Cudi replied after seeing the flood of criticism on Twitter. "HA! catch me on Letterman in a few with the EXACT same pair :)."

Kid Cudi’s debut album, Man on the Moon: The End of the Day, dropped yesterday.