Akon, Mary J. Blige and Nick Cannon Help VH1 Celebrate Black History Month

VH1 is celebrating Black History Month by getting some of music businesses top acts. On a new series called "Rags To Riches," artists will recall how they achieved the American dream. Tonights episode will feature Akon and Nick Cannon. Mary J Blige will featured on a program called "Storytellers" on the 25th, while Erykah Badu will follow on the 26th on a show entitled "SoulStage." Jay-Z has already been featured on "Storytellers", which will re-run on VH1's HD channel on the 11th at 8 p.m. The hour long show features Jay performing and talking about the music of his latest album, American Gangster.

VH1 isn't stopping there... They teamed up with Ebony and Jet Magazines to introduce their "Soul Influences" campaign which talks about connections between past and present icons, among which are Stevie Wonder, George Clinton and Tina Turner.