Over 400 members of New York media and bloggerati packed Kiss & Fly in the Meatpacking District Thursday to watch the premiere episode of VH1′s Love & Hip-Hop 3, which airs Monday January 7. For those not in the know, that’s the show that goes inside the lives (more personal than professional, really) of hip-hop stars.

While the show’s first outing focused mainly on rapper Jim Jones and his family and friends, this season has a lot of upstarts whose affiliations with the music world are flimsy at best. I’m still trying to figure out what it means for Rashidah Ali to be a “shoe consultant” to the stars, but, hey, whatever works for you.

Here are more photos from the event, courtesy of photographer Stephen Knight: continued…

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Jim Jones, Chrissy Lampkin, Olivia Longott, Rich Dollaz (Credit: Stephen Knight)

Monami Entertainment and Bartenura Wines hosted a private dinner and screening for Season 2 of VH1′s Love & Hip Hop at Pranna restaurant Friday, and mediabistro.com was there as cast members Jim Jones, Chrissy Lampkin, Olivia Longott and Rich Dollaz fielded questions about life in front of the cameras.

The elephant(s) in the room? Will there be a wedding this season, and what the hell happened to make Chrissy attack new cast member Kimbella in the very first episode? Well, Chrissy was sporting a very large rock on her left hand during the event. (“What ring?” she said, turning the bauble away from the crowd when a reporter asked about it. “Watch the show,” replied Jim.)

And, as for that knock-down stomping she gave Kimbella (seriously, she sent the poor girl flying off her chair and then proceeded to kick her in the face), Lampkin says she had merely acted in the moment to defend her friend and cast mate Emily Bustamante. “It happened and I’m over it,” she said.

Peep more pictures after the jump, and tune in to VH1 tonight at 9 p.m. ET for Season 2 of Love & Hip-Hop. continued…

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