Confessions of An Overactive Mind

99 problems but your attitude ain't one

2011-11-22T07:17:00.003-05:00

I learned a long time ago back in high school when a school friend that we'll call John put me in a bad mood one day because he was in a bad mood and said something really sarcastic. Now, John was not a bad person and usually was funny and approachable, but the point was that I almost carried that bad mood with me all day until I realized I was making his problem MY problem. Why should I walk around upset all day just because he was? Even though what he said bothered me and I couldn't control what he said or did, I didn't have to take ownership of his problem. Now, how does that translate to adulthood?

I've slowly began to accept the idea that if a person has a problem with me that's their problem, not mine. I know, it's not rocket science but it's a hard thing to practice. We all care what people think about us, but we all know that we can't make the whole world happy, fine. Yet, sometimes I'd find myself trying to rationalize why a person isn't nice to me one day when they usually are, or why someone has this imaginary issue with me that each time I see them they avoid eye contact. These mysteries that I debate over in my head are just not that worth it. I've learned to keep it moving. That doesn't mean I don't notice when a person is acting a certain way toward me, but if I attempt to be civil, and know I've done nothing wrong I really don't give a flying vampire bat about it.

You have to learn not to care. That's hard for a person like me who likes genuine relationships, and I'm not a people pleaser but I like to communicate even if briefly with most people. I must say I've even gotten better at small talk (hold the applause).

I've decided to ease the burden off my shoulders and my mind. Of course I care about my reputation and how people view me, but when a person has no reason to have an issue yet creates one with me with passive aggressive antics I choose not to care. If I offend someone or did something wrong bad enough they decide to act like they don't want to be civil, then they can be adult enough to discuss it with me. It's not MY problem even if it's directed at me. Sure, I can address it but I've learned not to make it my issue.

I have TOO many problems to overcome than to take on someone else's problem even if their problem is with me.

Rise of the Planet of the Inconsiderate Movie-Goers

2011-08-08T15:46:00.003-04:00

I haven't been to the movies in almost two years. Of course, I've seen many recent movies courtesy of Netflix, but since moving to Philly I haven't actually gone to the theater.

We went Friday to see Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Decent movie, but what was even more painfully entertaining is how I forgot partly why I hate going to the movies. People seem to lose all sorts of etiquette. Now, granted it could have been much worse but here are the lowlights of my movie-going experience.

1. My pet peeve is when there are a plethora of seats yet a group of people decide to make you get up to let them in so they can sit in the middle of your row. I always choose an end seat because I don't want to have to climb over people's laps if I need to leave the theater - some people don't seem to mind that. With dozens of rows left and empty, a couple (who were nice and courteous) proceeded to excuse themselves as they moved their way through to the middle of our row. I wasn't mad, just confused. I like my space, and don't understand why others want to be all next to a stranger.

2. Then fifteen minutes later a group of older women do the same thing only this lady has the nerve to not ask us or say "excuse me" like the couple but the lady stops near our row and says. "I guess we'll have to get in here", then says something else I can't recall of the same nature. Yes, I stalled on letting them in because COMMON courtesy is to say excuse not say some vague sentence in hopes I'll spring up to let you in. All four of y'all were old enough to have manners. Shame on you all.

*Also, I don't know if the lady next to the empty seat in between us was scared of us or what. Usually women leave their purse on the floor (or tucked between their feet, as I do), or casually put it in their lap. This woman was holding onto her purse for dear life. Poor woman, she could not have possibly enjoyed the movie if she felt the need to clutch her purse the whole time.

3. This older man was sitting in front of us the whole time. At one point before the movie began the previews were on so he goes up to a row of dudes that had seated in front of him and apparently tells the guy to put his phone away. When the man returns to his seat he's mumbling something, so I presume he thought the guy was trying to record/bootleg the movie. I don't know if the man worked for the theater or was just nosy. I hope he worked there because if not he really should have minded his business. The guy had a cell phone not a camera, I doubt he was going to capture a master bootleg. Oh, and the other guy told him to mind his (won't right the word on my blog) business. I wasn't hoping it wouldn't spill into drama, it didn't.

4. Sorry, but every time I see a large group of inner-city youth I think flashmob. I live in Philly so I preserve the right to have that thought. Of course the large group of teens enter the theater, loudly so that everyone knows they've stepped in the building. Luckily, they sat nowhere near us. Hey, they're entitled to go to a movie and have fun, but in recently events in this area you do have to be somewhat wary of a large group of teens swarming around.

5. I hate when people clap during the movie at a pivotal moment, or when it's over. I'm not saying people can't show their reaction but I find it kind of cheesy.

All in all, not a bad movie, not a completely bad experience.

It's Bigger than the 27 Club

2011-07-25T10:10:00.004-04:00

When reports surfaced that British singer Amy Winehouse had died, it didn't take long before stories circulated comparing her death at 27 to iconic musicians who also died at the same age such as, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and Kurt Cobain.

Titles like, "Amy Joins the 27 Club: Who Are the Other Members", "Winehouse just latest to musician to die at 27" which permeate the web seem to trivialize the overall seriousness of the situation and fail at the opportunity to go deeper into who the artist was besides the drug-induced antics and rumors that circulated her, in her last years.

We're all just ordinary people

When an artist has talent it becomes hard for some of us to understand why they choose the path of drugs. When an artist has millions, it becomes hard for us on the outside to really understand why they would choose to water down their reputation with pills, crack, or alcohol. The reality may be a tough pill for some to swallow, so here goes: they're humans, they just have a talent they have been able to make money off of. Yes, some artists are extraordinary and unbelievably talented, but nearly everyone has met someone who is extraordinary in their lives, they just may not be famous.

We shouldn't be surprised when celebrities have "normal people problems", and addictions. We wouldn't make fun of the drug addict down the street who struggles with an addition, or an alcoholic in our family, yet when it comes to celebrities it's open season.

Why do some artists not get the chance to truly prove their artistry?

Amy Winehouse was a talented vocalist, bellowing out soulful tunes who quickly moved on the industry radar after her 2003. Her addiction quickly overshadowed her talent and started to sabotage attempts for her to revive her career.

It's easy to celebrate someone more after death than we did while they were alive. There's a reason why today Winehouse's Back to Black moved to the number one spot on iTunes. Some may have been dear fans, while others may want to celebrate the music of a woman whose troubles prevented her from being the star she could have been, and others who never listened to her music may want to experience the music that garnered her so many fans.

Unfortunately, like many artists before her, we tend to nurture their legacy after they're gone and ridicule them while they're alive if they stray from perfection. Now, we'll retire the unflattering, embarrassing photos snapped of Winehouse to be placed on the biggest gossip sites, and replace them with the classier photos of her better days. That's the way the story goes.

As of yet, the cause of death has not been released as a post-mortem examination will be performed today.

Mary J. Blige Just Fine

2011-07-24T14:42:00.002-04:00

We all know the story about Mary J. Blige’s harsh beginnings, difficult childhood, and drug abuse that chronicled her personal life in the 90s. While we respect the struggle, we also have grown to love and appreciate the new and refreshed Mary who has traded “I’m going down/ ‘cuz you ain’t around”, and pleading to a man “I can love you better than she can”, for a woman belting out tunes like “no more drama” and “just fine”.

One aspect of Mary that stays true is her genuineness and ability to not get caught in the crazy music industry hype - something most artists are unable to escape. Mary does not sweat the small stuff. Mary is not a R&B songstress who discredits new and talented songstresses, unlike some singers we need not mention, Mary does not feel the need to mimic the younger singers, unlike some singers we need not mention, and most of all, she understands her legend and the power behind it. She doesn’t dilute the formula that made her popular in the first place by trading her image for a new one with each album. If Mary changes, it’s because she actually goes through a transformation, not because someone is behind her pulling the strings. Of course, she has sought out new sounds and tested her abilities to create new music, but all in all, she reigns true to herself.
Mary J. Blige’s new endeavor, a second perfume fragrance following her debut perfume My Life from last year proves she is further branding herself. Unlike some veteran R&B singers, Mary is not focusing on recreating her image with each album, or sounding like a knock off of another singer in the music industry. Perhaps, because she knows that those formulas rarely work. Instead, her formula is expanding her name and focus on other projects where she knows she can excel. She’s using her fame to inspire others to buy her product, and from what it seems, it’s a pretty damn good product. So all other veteran R&B singers, get a pad and take some notes.

Photo via HSN.com

My first YouTube video

2011-07-09T06:50:00.001-04:00

How I Made a Karma Book

2011-07-08T15:38:00.004-04:00

I don't throw out greeting cards. Now, that's not to say I know where every card I've ever received is - I don't. When I get new cards I display them; these cards I used are from a few years ago or so. I've wanted to do something creative with the dozens of greeting cards I've received over the years for awhile. Yesterday, I took an empty scrapbook, some edge scissors and cut out inspirational or positive messages people have written me in cards and make some "karma pages".

I didn't cut up ALL my greeting cards as some had very long messages, or had beautiful covers so I creatively incorporated those without cutting anything. I highly reccomend this for anyone who has a bunch of greeting cards and has no idea what to do with them. This took me like about 45 minutes.

My reason for making this is to collect positive words of encouragement and good wishes I've received along with some images for an artistic effect. I call it a Karma Book because it is filled with memories, words of encouragement and messages from some of the closest people to me (and some I was close to at one point in time), and somehow I've connected that with the idea of attracting positivity. You also can use any images or inspirational quotes you live by to fill the pages, I just started with what I already had.

Note: This is super easy. I am by no means a scrapbooker, or expert with arts and crafts, but was able to make it look pretty decent.

Materials: scrapbook 12''12, textured cardstock 12''12, decorative edge scissors, glue stick, and bond glue, greeting cards, old concert stubs, card cover images, etc.

Spicing Up your H2O

2011-06-24T21:14:00.004-04:00

I love drinking water. I know some people find it bland or boring but I've never had that problem really though sometimes I do need a little flavor. Unfortunately, a lot of those "flavored" waters like Vitamin Water, (couldn't get enough of these in college!), have more sugar than they should and aren't really stocked with nutrients and vitamins like they claim. Now, I'm not even gonna lie, I occasionally drink Vitamin Water every once in awhile. I also like Arizona Tea Water that claims to be 100% organic tea, but I have always hated those fake tasting flavored waters that taste like water with just some sugar dumped in.

In college, I also got hip to spicing up my water in a natural and healthier way. I'd use a concoction of limes and cucumbers and put them in a pitcher of water (something I once read in an article that Beyonce did). It adds flavor but it also doesn't give that weird aftertaste that some flavored waters give. Sometimes I'd add a slice of lemon instead. It actually reminded me of these really good flavored waters Aldi's used to carry in orange, lemon, and lime that had the perfect balance of water and a hint of flavor.

Anyways, sometimes I really don't feel like chopping up lime and lemon or cucumbers, and unfortunately, sometimes if you leave them in the water for too long it becomes too acidic and not worth drinking anymore. So, as the picture indicates my new best friends for my water are just sprinkling some drops of lemon or lime juice in my water. It's less messy than slicing the limes or lemon and they are very low in calorie; the lime juice has just 1.25 calories per serving.

Cooking Chronicles: Quiche part 2

2011-06-24T20:52:00.005-04:00

So, the first time I made a quiche in December it didn't go that smoothly. I think the culprit was that I didn't use real eggs and used egg substitutes (was lazy and didn't feel like getting a regular carton). So once I sliced, diced and threw everything together it took forever for everything to cook and for awhile it was really runny and I had to throw it in the oven to cook more. Despite falling apart a bit when cutting slices, it still came out really good.

Fast forward to June - my last quiche came out perfect. I used 6 real eggs, shredded cheddar cheese, turkey bacon (cooked beforehand), raw mushrooms, and spinach from a can and buttered the pan with a butter substitute and not an oil. It was the perfect texture and consistency, and I was pleasantly surprised after last time's fail. I cooked it for about 35 minutes.

My two cents on making a quiche: don't use fake eggs (unless you have to because you don't eat real eggs) ! Also, using butter to grease the pan makes the crust hold everything together more.

Kids will be kids?

2010-03-28T08:07:00.004-04:00

Recently many of teens and younger children have graced headlines for unruly, disruptive and violent acts. One of the more publicized events was last year in the Philadelphia when Flash large groups of teens (Flash Mobs) gathered around some of the more popular businesses and restaurants of Philadelphia to cause ruckus, beat innocent people all in the name of "fun".

Legions of people have blamed the parents. Many have cited the absence of acceptable role models/fathers in the child's life as a reason for the poor behavior. I agree for the most part, however, I think the most blame lies in the fact that these kids have poor self-concept. You have to have a poor concept of self to want to wreck havoc on others. Something is not fulfilled or missing from you inside to make you make better decisions.

A group of 9-12 year olds from Southwest Philadelphia beat a 41-year-old woman in a horrific game of "catchin wreck" several months back. They even taunted the woman when she begged for mercy because she lost her son and can't take anymore pain. These were the same group of kids who also almost killed a 73-year old man previously when the assaulted him and stole his money, causing him to have a heart attack. Oh, and one of the 12-year-olds was pregnant. So what type of child do you think she will raise? Unfortunately, in that case I doubt you could even rely on the child's mother as clearly something was allowed to go on that resulted in this child's pregnancy. And if you know your child is pregnant at that age, why continue to let her go out and get into more trouble?

(Disclaimer: when I say "they" or "kids today", I don't mean ALL kids, but many. I know there are good kids out there) There is a generation gap; the new kids have a lot more anger in them than ever before. They're mean, they're ultimate bullies and clearly have no concept of right and wrong. All kids make mistakes. When I was a kid in the 90s', a mistake was cheating on a test, hitting your sibling too hard, breaking your mom's vase, sneaking out the house to go play, drinking underage. It wasn't beating people to death, robbing, raping, assaulting, etc. The phrase kids make mistakes goes out the window with this.

They know what they are doing. The argument may be that their brains have not fully developed yet and they do not have the best judgement. I am much wiser now than at 15, and probably will be wiser (hopefully, lol) at 32 than now. BUT I knew what not to do at 14. I knew that causing harm to someone could get you put in jail, that my mom would be mad at me and I'd be embarrassed.

Many kids though, don't care. They have no concept of "what happens after I do this?" and it's scary. I could cite all the disturbing incidents of teen violence, even stats from the suburbs as well, but I'd be here all day.

What I will say is that we've lost our way. Especially with some inner-city youth. Many rely on ugly stereotypes about people of color to guide the way they act almost like a self-fulfilling prophecy. You live in Philadelphia and you have nothing better to do than cause problems? I lived in a small town where many things closed after awhile except for the local WaWa and the diners. We would drive around just talking, sit at the river or chill somewhere, so I don't want to hear the excuse they're bored. Yes, there probably aren't enough activities geared towards keeping teens busy, building leadership, etc., but what they are doing is ridiculous, causing people fear and is just downright embarrassing.

Sure, some parents probably had no idea where there kid was, they may have lied about where they were going, as many of us probably did as kids when we didn't want an argument. However, some of these parents are just as belligerent as their kids. Some of these parents are ready to fight or cuss someone out for what they deem as disrespect in a second, so what can we expect? Some of these parents encourage their children to fight someone who disrespected them. I wish I didn't have to say that, but there is an influx of parents who really don't "parent". I won't pretend I know what it's like to have kids because I do not have any yet, but if you can't properly teach your child to be a contributing member of society, don't have any. There's enough problems with children running around thinking they are invincible because no one checks their behavior at home.

"You Owe Me"

2009-08-21T09:53:00.011-04:00

"You Owe Me" isn't just the commercial rap song effort from Nas featuring Ginuwine in 2000, it's what his soon-to-be former wife, and mother of his child, Kelis, is singing all the way to courthouse. In July, Nas was ordered to pay $55,000 a month, but now the singer and her lawyer are saying it's not enough.

I awoke today to a friend's status stating the news regarding Nas/Kelis and a variety of tweets on twitter regarding it as well. It was apparently a discussion on Hot 97 and according to dimewars.com here's a breakdown of what Kelis requests:

- Nas pulls in $244,826 a month
– Kelis rakes in a relatively paltry $13,744 a month
– Kelis should get child support totaling $17,225 a month
– Kelis should get spousal support totaling $72,728
– Nas should pay retro child support totaling $29,522
– Nas should pay retro spousal support totaling $281,571

I'm not a mother, or a wife, yet, but have a few words regarding this. We know Kelis's career hasn't been as acclaimed as Nas's has been. When she first emerged on the scene in 1999 she garnerered some buzz: she had a funky sound that was not quite R&B, not quite pop, she was eccentric with wild hair and had some in-your-face songs that brought variety to the music landscape. In the years following Kelis hyped up her mainstream appeal with hits like, "Milkshake", and "Bossy", but still hasn't matched up with Nas in terms of record sales, performing consistently and mass appeal.

It should also be noted that Nas, who is a big name in Hip-Hop and a veteran as far as the genre is concerned, doesn't have the mainstream following of someone like Jay-Z or Lil Wayne. I'm not an accountant and saying he can't afford all of this, but since he isn't selling like Lil Wayne, or creating business partnerships and running other entrepreneurial endeavors like Jay-Z, and is getting older in age, how long will that be the amount he earns per month. With that said, Kelis has every opportunity to supplement an income on her own merits.

She just gave birth, but as an entertainer I'd assume she'd eventually want to work more on her music career. I won't pretend to know what she is going through or what she's thinking, but this issue just seems to be more about obtaining more money that finances actually needed to sustain her lifestyle. Just a thought.

Her demands are pretty excessive. I'm sure her lawyer is pressuring her to make these requests, but she's making the spousal support and child support system look like it's supposed to be a cash fairy. I don't know the details of their relationship and of course speculations point to supposed infidelity, though Nas maintains that he was a good husband - far from perfect he admitted, but a good husband.

I'm not a celebrity so maybe I don't understand the dependecy of luxury to feel "comfortable", but if she is making that "mere" $13,000 a month and that is combined with the $55,000 she already set to be receiving from Nas, that is enough to provide a very lavish lifestyle for herself and her child. Retro-active child support when the child has only been in this world a month? Retro-active spousal support? Please. Kelis, I know you did not walk away from the relationship with no money in your pockets, and I did not hear any reports of you being with a home, kicked out of your home, or unsure of where to lay your head at night.

I guess Nas is kicking himself for not having a pre-nup. For the average couple, a pre-nup is not always something necessary, but if either party makes an extensive amount of money, or both do, for that matter, you should have one - just in case. It doesn't mean your marriage will be doomed or you are entering with doubts, it's just insurance. Many people go through their lives, fortunate not to be in a car accident, but they need it - just in case. We can't control others' decisions and actions and sadly, sometimes people become strangers to us, so you must protect your assets.

All I can say is things are about to get uglier. At a time where the focus should be on their one month old son, Knight it's dedicated to bunting heads on financial matters, dealing with lawyers and fixation on money.

A Few of the Biggest Movie "Haters"

2009-08-16T10:09:00.008-04:00

Hollywood in Love Jones (1997) - Played by Bill Bellamy, Hollywood was that guy in the group of friends who always had a sarcastic remark not because he was witty, but because deep down he was a hater who lacked the intelligence, creativity and overall personality his buddies had. All of that manifested into the fake confidence and cockiness of Hollywood's persona.

His punk move: Taking out Nina after her and Darius broke up and intentionally bringing her to a party where they'd run into everyone, which made her look like an official homie hopper. After instant embarrassment, Nina asked him to take her home where he adamantally refused telling her to walk. But just when Nina was about to her walk home Mr. Lovehall (Darius) saved the day (or night.)

Debo in Friday (1995)
You couldn't have anything with Debo around! Not a bike, not money, and certainly not a backbone, which is what Red found out one unfaithful day. We all remember that when Red tried to get his "borrowed/stolen" bike back from Debo he got hit.

Punk move: Hitting his girl, but Ice Cube had a remedy for him. A royal beatdown on his lawn cheered on by neighbors tired of Debo terrorizing the neighborhood.

Remy in Higher Learning (1995) - In every sense of the word, Remy was a "hater". After being shunned by social crowds and laughed at his first semester in college, he eventually found comradery with white supremacists which set off a chain reaction of unfortunate events in the provocative film focusing on race, sexuality, and gender.

Punk move: Shooting on Peace day and consequently killing Deja (Tyra Banks)

The Color Purple(1985) - Mister
Hateful, mean and obviously eternally pissed off he didn't get to marry the prettier sister and had to "settle for Cielie"

Punk Move: Inviting Shug Avery to live with him thinking he could have his cake (served by his live-in servant/wife Cielie) and eat it too. Eventually moved by motivation and learning that her sister had been writing her years, she breaks the bonds of years' mistreatment.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)- Patrick
In this unique film which explored love, neuroscience, memory loss, and fate, Patrick is at the center of it all. He uses the old notes and memories of Clementine (Kate Winslet) who comes to his company to get her memory erased , and her boyfriend, Joel, (Jim Carrey) to lure her into a relationship using the advantage of knowing the intimate details of her past relationship.

Punk Move: Believing his plan would work. Although at first, he managed to woo her by using recycled memories, she eventually started to feel that something wasn't quite right. The film was a good portrayal of fate because though both their memories had been erased Clementine and Joel eventually met again and start dating only to discover they weren't the strangers they thought they were.

Competing for Love?

2009-07-15T19:44:00.013-04:00

Reality TV is anything but reality these days. They need to change the name. We all know that most of the fights, eliminations and events are all staged and the only thing real about these shows often is the name of the cast members (well sometimes).

Flavor of Love, I Love New York, Tela Tequila, Rock of Love, Real Chance of Love, For the Love of Ray-J and every other "dating" show have a few things in common. Scantily-dressed women, egotistical men, stereotypical types of men and women? Sure, but not just that. The exploitation of the word "Love".

These shows seems to imply love is something you need to compete for, especially as women. None of them are looking for genuine true ever-lasting love on the show. If they wanted to keep it true to what it is they'd replace the word "love" with "lust".

Sometimes, as in the case of Miss New York and Tela Tequila, the female is the object of desire by several male contestants who want to be her man, but more common is females fighting over men. Does life imitate art or does art imitate life? Of course, calling these shows art is an insult, but in reality we do see women fighting amongst each other all the time and girls are starting to do it at an even earlier age. They're fighting each other, beating each other up and doing other vicisous things all over a boy. All in the name of love.

Should you really have to chase love? Should you have to prove you're the "best" woman for a man. Shouldn't he know that, or decide on his own? It kind of reminds me of the Mary J. Blige song, "I Can Love U", where she sings how she can love you better than "she can" while pining for a man who just doesn't want her the way she'd like. (Love the song though).

It just seems shows like these dating reality programs enforce the idea that men need a bevy of women to chose from, test them out, and then after some test drives he'll pick the one for him. Only, in these shows, there rarely are any genuine love connections made as after the show is over they aren't really a couple.

The cliche part is how these attractive women with these perfect bodies come on the show and the male then gets upset or surprised when he learns she's an aspiring model, singer or an ex-stripper or porn star. As Beyonce sings, "you got a big ego...."

However, for those who can't get enough of reality TV have some more coming their way when 2/3 of the Stallionaires return to your TV screens on August 3rd on Vh1 with Real Chance of Love 2. Let's hope at least Chance actually picks a woman this time.

Disclaimer: Not for nothing, I do watch reality TV from time to time. As a entertainment junkie it's my unspoken responsibility to know what's going on and who's who. Just don't agree with some of the stereotypes and behavior perpetuated.

Reflections of a Music Icon

2009-07-05T15:40:00.009-04:00

On Sunday DnA Talk Radio broadcasted a show focusing on the aftermath of the death of Michael Jackson and some of the difficulties he faced throughout his long hit-filled career.
Like many people I was a fan. An unwavering fan who periodically got the urge every once in awhile to listen to some classic Michael Jackson. A fan who although the hit-machine days had declined as the King of Pop aged still valued his artistry. Despite all of the controversy that surrounded some of his days, Michael Jackson leaves an undeniable void in the living music icons category. With music these days in desperate need of someone with the talent to unite people as Michael did his death has now bumped him from King of Pop, to music legend.
With that said, here's the show.

Also mentioned on the show:

After 16 years of serving the masses as the leading publication focusing on hip-hop/r&b and contemporary urban culture and lifestyle, Vibe magazine announced Tuesday, June 30th that it would no longer produce the magazine or manage its web site vibe.com. The condition of the economy, print advertising decline, and the unstable music industry are some of the reasons by cited by former CEO, Steve Aaron of the folding of the publication. Click to read my blog reflecting on my experience as an intern at Vibe.

Pleasure P Aims to Please

2009-07-03T13:10:00.003-04:00

Pleasure P's album came out a few weeks ago, and here's my take on it.

Those expecting former Pretty Ricky member Pleasure P's debut album to be drenched in riveting sexual explicitness and gyrating beats will discover something of a different flavor. In 2007, he announced his departure from the group and unlike artists who release music that is the reincarnation of the very sound that garnered their former group's success, Pleasure P is more calculated. Poised to distinguish himself post-teen R&B group fame he's here to introduce the real Marcus Cooper with a blueprint that has few traces of his Pretty Ricky days.

Introduction of Marcus Cooper is a solidly mature album as was foreshadowed when lead single, “Did You Wrong”, showed a young man sincerely singing to the woman he's had a rocky relationship with and wasn't of the borderline raunchy one-night stand caliber of some songs of today. Following the positive reception of his first single was the unapologetic, “Boyfriend #2, where he appears to have no qualms with serving as a “boyfriend on the side”; the single climbed up music charts and as of now, is his highest ranking single. Pleasure P showcases his mastery of the slow jam with songs like, “Let Me” and “Under”, but doesn't skimp on the sexual-themed or up-tempo songs like “Birthday Suit” and “Fire Lovin” – which is much expected by someone with a moniker like Pleasure P and who proclaims to be the “new bad boy of R&B”.

In an industry where featuring an overwhelming roster of artists on albums seems almost like a prerequisite for new artists (and sometimes, veterans) Introduction of Marcus Cooper's only collaborations are “I'm a Beast” featuring Yung Joc and a bonus track remix of “Boyfriend #2” with Flo Rida - after that, it's all ears on Pleasure P. A few of the men behind the scenes are the late Static Major who he attributes for giving him musical inspiration, Adonis, Cool and Dre, Rico Love and R&B singers Tank and Keith Sweat. The harmonious union between Pleasure P's voice and the production leaves little room for mismatched melodies and vocals on the album.

Introduction to Marcus Cooper makes a good first impression and officially catapults him into the ring with some favorite newer R&B heavyweights. With an album that possesses charisma and lures you in until the next strong delivery, Pleasure P pleases his first time around.

Never Can Say Goodbye

2009-06-30T14:46:00.019-04:00

The Wall of Magazine Covers (this was only some of the many)

Taken at The old Vibe office location 215 Lexington Ave

A mixture of thoughts filled through me when I heard VIBE was closing its doors. First, I was in disbelief, thinking it was a rumor. The magazine industry along with newspapers has been suffering for awhile and while they may have been hit as well, I couldn't fathom a world without the magazine I'd been reading for nearly ten years. I recently had visited the new office in May while conducting an interview for an upcoming issue, learned about their new magazine, The Most Mag! and saw many familiar faces - happy many of them remembered me.

While the lives of those on staff are the most dramatically impacted by this sad news, it also hit me hard as a former intern of the publication (and several other former interns who have twittered about it or expressed sadness). I can recall being ecstatic that a magazine I'd been reading avidly since 13 would even pick me to be a fly on their wall as an intern but I was picked for Fall 2007. With very few classes that semester and on the brink of graduating it was the perfect ending to my time at Kean University. We were Shirea Carroll's first team of interns and were nervous but still eager to fulfill part of our dream of becoming music journalists. The semester was filled with hard work, lots of lessons, new opportunities and of course some mistakes, but it made us all stronger in the end and sad to leave the guidance of our intern coordinator Shirea and positive career model that Danyel Smith gave off with her mounts of success and always wise words of encouragement and well wishes. We also were surrounded by many other creative great minds on staff that influenced many of us and helped us cultivate our raw talent.

Besides the memories I'm sure many people have whether they worked there, used to worked there, freelanced, or just remember scooping a copy every week is the big question involving media. In my mind if the biggest, most popular urban magazine can fall, who is next?

It's like if you have a favorite table in your house that is so sturdy and one day a leg breaks off. If that can break, then there may not be much hope for anything else in the house. Amidst all the ominous news with the still dysfunctional economy, celebrity deaths, this was just the straw that has broken the camel's back for me.

As Danyel Smith once said on her podcast, Take it Personal that she does weekly with her husband, Elliot Wilson of Rap Radar and former Editor-in-Chief of XXL about the crumbling of print media she addressed journalistic integrity and who can you trust in media. Yes, we have news, gossip and blog sites, but many of those people are not journalists. Not to water down any passion they may have for media or entertainment, but there is a difference between someone with an interest and someone with a keen understanding of how to reach an audience, be biased at times and how to disagree with something without being disrespectful. Yes, journalists do blog, and some bloggers are journalists, but as great as the Internet is, anyone can hop on and pretend to be an expert.

The saddening part is that I've seen people comment on gossip and blog sites talking trash about certain magazines and hyping up gossip sites for their fast and easy news on celebrities. They often complain about magazines' content, the artists they cover and that the magazines are much thinner than before. Some of which may be true. However, do these people think that they may be part of the problem? The lower the sales the less money to fill it with content and the magazine has to make their money somehow so yes, it may be more ads. As far as the artists covered? Blame it on the audience, not the alcohol.

At the end of the day who is accountable? Do most of these sites have the artist or craft in mind or just a juicy story; sadly the later is most often the case. Do they actually choose their words wisely or just want to insult whatever or whoever they are talking about? Is there structure? Are they unbiased? Not to say none of these popular sites check their sources or that I don't go on these sites daily, but unlike the work that goes into fact checking magazines and reputable web sites anyone can feign it. I guess as someone who went to college to study journalism and at one point interned for Vibe and AllHipHop.com the idea of journalism is personal to me although I never had the opportunity to be a full-fledged journalist on a staff. All of this is constant reminder how our society is too obsessed with instant gratification only to be left empty handed at the end.

It's sad to see a staple in entertainment industry leave, but I wish everyone luck and show love top my FA '07 intern crew, Miryam, Claire, Guerdley, Emmanuel, Desiree, Natalie and Sabrina.
Here's a few covers: the first issue I helped work on as an intern, an issue I contributed to, and a few random others

Do You Remember the Time? Michael Jackson Best Music Videos

2009-06-26T08:51:00.012-04:00

Any Michael Jackson song made between the early 80s' to early 90s' can most likely be labeled a pop classic. While some of those songs are bona fide stamps of his talent, he's also had amazingly creative music video concepts which always told us a short story. Here are my favorite Michael Jackson videos.

Note: Due to embedding disabled on all Michael Jackson videos on Youtube the link to each video is in the title of each song.

Thriller(1983) - "Thriller" still has never been topped as far as popularity, humor, and overall entertainment. I mean who can beat a vintage Michael Jackson in his prime sporting a red jacket, piping an addictive chorus with a jolt of fear as ghouls strut along with him? This is the number one video.

Remember The Time(1992) - Featuring an all-star cast of Iman, Eddie Murphy and Magic Johnson I've always loved the imagery of this video. The ancient Egyptian inspired royalty concept combined with special effects is what makes this one of his best music videos of all time. Michael serenades Iman as he mysteriously disappears from the guards who want to get him away from the beautiful Queen. He turns into dust and shows off some of his best dance moves since "Thriller".

Scream(1995) - No one expected the pleasant surprise in 1995 of Michael teaming up with his baby sister Janet for the energy infused musical explosion that was "Scream". Expressing their outrage of being constantly in the news and hunted by the press and paparazzi they came together for this instant smash single. The best part of the video is when they breakdown and start dancing in unison. Both happened to be in the midst of their pop icon peak when "Scream" broke through to the top 5 on r&b, pop and dance charts.

Earth Song(1995) - The video depicting the human destruction of the environment, poverty and war is one of Michael's most underrated music videos. Obviously more serious than his usual dance hits it featured good visuals and made more of an action statement than some of his other videos.

You Rock My World(2001) This song had a short time span on radio play and while wasn't one of his solid classics it was a good comeback nonetheless. In 2001 he wanted to remind us he could still rock our world with his a catchy hook and a song bursting with flirtation as this admonition of being attracted to a special lady is reminiscent of "The Way You Make Me Feel", and "Do You Remember the Time".
The video adds a little humor with him checking out a woman with funnyman, Chris Tucker before he belts out into song and dance. In classic Michael Jackson protocol he made sure this music video showed more like a mini movie than just your typical run of the mil video.

Leave Me Alone (1987) Michael Jackson was bashing the paparazzi way before Scream where in 1987 in an eccentric video featuring a roller coaster ride (one can link to the ups and downs that would soon be Michael Jackson's career) he features Bubbles the chimp, himself dancing alongside a skeleton and riding on a small plane as he told the public to "just stop dogging me around"

Billie Jean (1982) - Simple video, but still caught your attention. Jackson proclaims innocence in a song where he repeats "but the kid not being my son" The mysterious former love interest "Billie Jean" makes no appearance in the video as Michael avoids a reporter hot on his trail. He shows off signature moves as he steps from place to place with each spot lighting up.

This video also exposed the world to the "moonwalk", a dance that wasn't entirely his but one that he altered to immortalize into his own. Despite proven fame in the music business the CBS president at the time, still had to threaten MTV with prohibiting some of their popular rock(white acts) from being played on MTV unless they showed "Billie Jean". He became the first black artist played on MTV.

After the radio show, it's the after party....

2009-05-24T20:15:00.005-04:00

SHOW HIGHLIGHTS
Today we had our second guest, Nafiys "IModel" Blakewood, former cast member of BET's College Hill, season 2 on the show . If you take a trip down memory lane, you'll remember his season the most as the one with "Jon", the wild guy liked to run around naked and with Peaches who caught heat for throwing Jon in the fire (pun intended). Nafiys breaks down why he believes his season was blackballed after its run on BET with no reunions and no invites to any events, what went on behind the scenes, the importance of twitter, modeling, and why he'd be a good match for Miss New York.
(SCROLL DOWN FOR AUDIO OF THE SHOW)

To see more of IModel visit:

www.mrblakewood.com
www.twitter.com/imodel

On the big screen, Alicia recommends seeing - Star Trek and Dance Flick

IN WEIRD AND STRANGE NEWS
Don't Be Surprised if They Ask Where The Cash At! - The European teen who auctioned her virginity for 14,000 apparently owes the German government a cut

You Bee Serious? - Thousands of bees surrounded a NYC Game Stop for hours trapping workers

WHO'S ON TOP OF THE R&B/HIP HOP WORLD
Top 10 R&B/Hip Hop Albums

Also, for commentary on celebrity news check Toni's youtube vlog at:

www.youtube.com/shortisparkle
and be sure to follow http://twitter.com/albyoungmogul one of the most motivated industry go-getters around

And thanks to all who listened! Your feedback is always much appreciated!

WWW.DNATALKRADIO.COM

Reebok Re-up

2009-05-14T14:24:00.003-04:00

The more things change the more they stay the same. Some styles and brands stay relevant generation after generation. Everyone has owned a pair of Reebok classics at one point or another (Adidas, too. But that's another blog post for another day). Sure, yours may have been the original white or black ones and now they're showcased in shoe store displays in neon green, pink, yellow, purple and a bunch of other loud colors, but when they called them Reebok Classics I think they were on to something. Atlanta's B.O.B's is just one of the artists featured in Reebok's Classic Remix Collection, which has paired up some of the newwer innovative music artists with a classic song from the 80s with the release of a new shoe. Kidz in the Hall and Kid Sister have also been featured on the campaign with their versions of, "I'll House You" and "I Got it Made". B.O.B's remake won't officially be released until May19th, but here's a sneak peak behind the scenes.

B.O.B. Reebok Classic Remix 30 Sec. Video Spot from reebokclassicremix on Vimeo.

Mic Check

2009-05-12T15:36:00.008-04:00

I have more than enough recent albums to keep me busy for awhile; Chrisette Michele, Keri Hilson, Jamie Foxx, Day 26, a few hip-hop albums and many more I need to check out. But there are some artists I'd like to see to put out a new album now. I know I'm greedy, but blame it on the talent. Some of these artists may be preparing for a new release, but these were just a few on my mind today.

Whitney Houston - Don't hate. Ms. Houston still and will always have diva status. Now, we've been getting pump fakes for years with rumors of a new Whitney Houston album, but I heard this time she really is working on putting together an albums soon. Let's hope so; at this rate we won't get another album from her until she's 60. Not a good look.

Justin Timberlake - Sorry Robin Thicke, my favorite blue eyed soul crooner is still JT, but you're very close on the chart. Oh, and on that new album, Justin I want a bunch of ballads with a side of that pop/r&b you do and a song featuring Lil Wayne. Sound good? Great.

Alicia Keys - I was feeling a certain type of way about her with that whole Swizz Beats/Mashonda marriage controversy came to light, but I won't let that get in the way of my love for Alicia's musical style. I know, her last album wasn't that long ago, but I'm in the mood for that intrinsic talent that captures the spectrum of human emotion and love and that's definitely A. Keys.

Mya - She's not been forgotten in the industry at all, but where is the new album??

TGT- Weren't Tyrese, Ginuwine and Tank supposed to have this super R&B trio thing going on? I think all we got was a remix to Tank's song, "Please Don't Go". Stop playing and show us what you got.

Res - This woman has kept me hanging since 2001. After How I Do, she's still worked creatively on music, worked with Talib Kweli with Idle Spacehip, did a song for the Akeelah and the Bee movie, and released an album via Internet only but no official release. I usually don't say this about artists, but since you're keeping us hanging Res, yes, I want a How I Do part 2, no lengthy comments about going in a new direction and artistic expression, but just copy the same formula for me. Thanks.

Wyclef Jean - I need some electic guitar riffing hip-hop, singing, reggae mumbo jumbo and 'Clef is the perfect person, if not the only one who can satisfy my personal taste for this. Please make the first single with someone out of left field like a rocker or someone just so it has a kick to it.

Rihanna - Perfect timing! Maybe around fall or so, if Rihanna releases a new album out. I am very interested to hear, not so much any bitter songs indirectly or directly intended to get at Chris Brown, but how her style changes or stays the same. She definitely has grown a bit from album to album, but not completely morphed into something new; this year seems to have been a growing time for her as a person and her image so I'm love to see how she reflects that on a new album.

And just because I had to take it there: Spencer Pratt. Yes, from the TV show, The Hills, who recently during a radio interview expressed his dismay at the current state of hip-hop and added in he was a hotter rapper than most in the industry, "“I’ve always known that I secretly am the hottest rapper in the game. I’m the white Jay-Z in the game.” For his sake I hope he was joking, but I'm wondering what he'd call his album? The Silver Spoon, Very Resonable Doubt, The Wack Album? You know where I'm going with this. It's not that he's white that's the issue; the white rapper thing is no longer an anomaly or anything for anyone to scoff at it's that he puts himself in the category as Jay-Z and honestly is talking like he's going to save hip-hop when he would have a lot to prove.

More selections to come!

www.dnatalkradio.com

Group Theory

2009-05-03T12:04:00.002-04:00

I recently caught up with some old Lost Boyz music, which reminded me as far as hip-hop goes they've always been known but somewhat underrated. They definitely gave us some good songs such as "Renee", "Me and My Crazy World", "Lifestyles Of The Rich & Shameless" and a few more. Which reminded me about the decline of music groups. The group dynamic still seems a working formula for some genres especially, like rock (which it always has), but it's highly underrepresented now. This is no new topic, but just my take on it.

We're in the age of what I like to call "microwavable music". Sure, you get some four course meals here and there with innovative and original artists, but for the most part there are many manufactured artists that don't require much grooming. Everyone has always wanted to make money but now it's the main focus.

Once groups started disbanding and people went solo, it worked for them. So, once it worked for them, whether they were a singer like Beyonce, Bobby Brown, Justin Timberlake, Sisqo, or rappers like Ice Cube, Jadakiss, (I know this is an extremely short list of many and people did this back in the day as well), the solo thing worked for you. You become the more "known" group member, and don't have to divy the money up anymore. You and your former group members claim the group is not broke up and you just wanted to do your own album, but a group album never materializes again once you reach success (unless everyone's career falls off and then you rely on the former success of the group for a "reunion")

Not to say artists aren't genuine or don't have the right to make their own music, but everyone else followed suit with the phenomenon. In this world we all want to be different, but yet fit in somewhere. New artists do what works. If being in a group is what's making the money they want to fit in, if it's being a solo artist that's what will be done. Not to say there aren't still music groups out, there's plenty, but anyone in a group is just a song and an album deal away from going solo.

Anyways, here's a throwback video from the hip-hop group whose most successful reign during the 90s put Cleveland on the map.

I Wanne Be Like T.I.(P)

2009-03-28T18:57:00.013-04:00

How many entertainers have uttered the phrase, "I never said I was a role model"? Often this comes after some highly publicized indiscretion or arrest where people cry about how they're not setting a good example. While many shy away from this daunting title, others position themselves to be presented as one and T.I is now one of those artists. After his arrest in October 2007 for attempting to buy machine guns and silencers, T.I has literally been on a road to redemption with his MTV reality, T.I's Road to Redemption, and numerous speaking engagements where he advises young people not to get caught up in the street life. Guess the King of the South is now the King of the Mouth as according to an article from huffingtonpost.com, he's made 262 appearance as of now doing outreach.

A year and change after being arrested for attempting to buy machine guns and silencers at in Atlanta, he was finally sentenced on Friday, March 27th to a year in jail, getting a lesser sentence because of his agreement to perform community surface.

So, here goes: he now has an obligation never to get in trouble again - at least not to the extent where he intentionally does something incredibly illegal as he did last year. I repeat, he must never get in legal trouble again. The sincerity seems genuine and it has to stay that way. Why? Because while it's hit or miss when giving anyone advice, surely he has truly impacted many of the young people he has spoken to and if he somehow gets caught up again after serving his term, his message will be like a VHS tape - gone. I'm staying positive though because he does seem to be sincere in shedding away the mistakes of his past. Let's hope the old him is really dead and gone.

Should anyone consider people who are successful role models for the youth? Not really. Like I said, some people bask in that title and want people to look up to them while others want all the attention but don't want to be seen as anyone's role model. This is probably another blog for another day, but the problem is just because these people are good at one thing in their lives doesn't mean we should expect them not to have problems, drama, or controversy. The sad part is whether they want to be role models or not, many kids do look up to athletes, entertainers and rappers more than those who are business owners, doctors, etc. so because of that the lines do get blurry.

Welcome to Haiti

2009-03-13T12:31:00.007-04:00

Sidenote: Title kind of jacked from his independent album release, Welcome to Haiti: Creole 101

Wyclef Jean is one artist that no one can dare say has forgotten where he came from. Many recording artists and entertainers from poor or urban areas get the backhand of their community for not stepping up and giving back once they've reached even a modicum of success. If they are obligated, if they feel a sense of obligation, or if their community is just too damn sensitive and wants a handout is subjective, but Wyclef has never turned his back on his native country, Haiti, that holds the title as the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. He's never been into simply proclaiming his Haitian roots or waving a Haitian flag, he's been active for years bringing awareness to the country which sits right next to the Dominican Republic.

Recently, along with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, and Former President Bill Clinton, he made a special visit to Haiti, in efforts to bring the plight of Haiti to the forefront. The main goal of the visit is to try to repair the longtime economical instability of Haiti and also to provide some aid to the country still recovering from the aftermath of the deadly hurricanes last year. Apparently, Bill Clinton is no stranger to Haiti as he was very attentive to the issues which plagued the the third world country during his presidential terms.

As for Wyclef, besides, strumming guitars, notoriety from his solo career and his place in the supergroup The Fugees, and keeping us on our toes with eclectic music he's also been very politically conscious and eventually formed Yéle Haiti foundation, to fund the education of Haitian children and partnered up with other foundations to tackle food shoratges, lack of jobs and other related problems.

But on a Wyclef note, here's "Gone Til November Remix" video, with a pre-glamorized Destiny's Child in tow (when Kelly had short hair, when Latoya and Latavia were still in the group, and Beyoncé when she was just "cute".

Favorite Artists Turned Actors

2009-03-05T20:02:00.020-05:00

Samuel L. Jackson once turned down a role because he didn't want to play opposite 50 Cent who was the lead character. He felt that it was below him as a serious and established actor to do so. As someone who had early acting roles as a stickup thief in Coming to America (shoutout to McDowells) and a crackhead in Jungle Fever he's experienced firsthand the climb up the ladder by paying dues first with smaller roles. He respects the craft and I'm sure music, but he's one of many who still have that old school opposition to entertainers gliding easier into the film industry than those upcoming actors who struggle for years for work.

Understandable, but some singers/rappers truly are a double threat and when in a film or on TV screen they convince you they deserve to be there as you begin to see them as their character, not what you know them for. (Come on, Tyrese as Jodi, priceless.) Even if you love them you can hate them, or if you hate them you can love them if they play the role right. To be believable, there has to be a combination of drive and that willingness to be vulnerable on screen.

Here are my favorite double threats with a few of my favorite roles from them.

Tupac -I preferred him at his calm introspective states when he wasn't the wild, loose cannon spitting at video cameras and throwing up W's. He's immortalized with his music, but willl always be remembered best on screen as Bishop, the troubled teenager from a dysfunctional home with a "do or die mentality" who felt he had nothing to lose - not even his friends. Bang. Bang.
Juice
Above the Rim
Poetic Justice
Gang Related
His cameo as Picolo on A Different World (yes, only one episode, but one of my favorites nonetheless)

Ice-T - Ice-T is the coolest former rapper turned actor who doesn't have to really sacrifice his everyday swag for movies or the television screen. He still has charisma, but he's not really that versatile of an actor. Ice-T's list of movies he's been in is actually quite long, but he's best known for his current role as Detective Fin in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and as Scotty in the early 90s film, New Jack City.

New Jack City
Law & Order: SVU
New York Undercover (Throwback! He was that trademark ruthless drug dealer. He even ended up killing J.C's fiancee which really made me hate him.
Stealth Fighter

Will Smith - Not even sure he should be on this list; his acting career has completely dominated his recording career when he learned long ago acting was his golden ticket. Yeah, he won the first rap award at The Grammy's, but we know as much as we love Will he's not on any of our top 10 rappers list. In Ali, he garnered a new appreciation for his acting skills by being able to portray a living legend with intensity and believability.
Ali
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Independence Day
Bad Boys
Hitch
Enemy of the State

Ludacris - He's actually an artist I wouldn't mind seeing in more movie roles; he hasn't done numerous roles, but the ones he has portrayed he's convincing. In Crash he wasn't a main character, but he represented that lost, "I'm a victim of the man" mindset. There was also that complexity in terms of him being a product of his environment and how he felt he could do what he wanted because the world owed him something. I love when Terrance Howards character said to him, "you disgust me". (He may have said, "now get out my car, but I don't remember)

Crash
Hustle and Flow
Guest role on Law & Order:Special Victims Unit (very surprised by his performance)

Mos Def - Who would of thought the guy formerly exchanging rhymes with his little brother and sister in the hip-hop group, Urban Thermo Dynamics ( oh yeah, I'm familiar with Manifest Destiny) and later collaborating with Talib Kweli for Blackstar would become known not only for his conscious style rhymes, but for acting as well? STLM, is maybe not my favorite movie he's in, but the fact he steps outside some of his earlier roles for a distinguished mature one that beefed up his acting resume was impressive.

Something the Lord Made
Bamboozled
Brown Sugar
16 Blocks

Ice Cube: We all know how hardcore Ice Cube was, and perhaps deep down maybe he still is, but writing scripts, co-starring alongside George Clooney, starring in family-oriented films (Are We There Yet?) is officially in the safe zone". People can watch his movie and not think N.W.A or West Side Connection. Not to get it twisted, he definitely could still pull off another Friday movie, although I hope he doesn't. My pick is his role as Doughboy in Boyz in the Hood, because gangsta mentality, gun toting, jerry curl, and all, he just wanted to be loved. lol.
Boyz in the Hood
Friday
Barbershop
Anaconda

Andre 3000 - Forgive me, I may be biased. No scratch that - he nailed it in Idlewild. The reserved son of a mortician who eventually broke out of being suppressed musically made for a good storyline with his character. and the scene at the end when his girlfriend is killed and he dresses her up for the funeral like with "She Lives in My Lap", playing? Pure genius.
Idlewild
Four Brothers

Whitney Houston (No matter what Whitney, I'll always love you) Longtime Whitney rumors and substance abuse problems aside, Whitney has always be a strong performer in my eyes. Whether through her vocal strength or through acting there has always been something authentic about her. Or maybe it's a native Jersey thing and I'm just biased. j/k.
The Bodyguard
Waiting to Exhale
The Preacher's Wife

Queen Latifah- She went from this harsh, out with an attitude take no nonsense young female rapper to a woman who has had her own sitcom, daytime talk show, makeup line, and who has appeared alongside many mainstream Hollywood actors. She is Hollywood. For me, the best testament of her talent is how was she so convincing as the hardcore, brash, go get'em and run lesbian, Cleo, in Set it Off. So all other movies aside my pick is Set it Off.

Set it Off
The Bone Collector
Bringing Down the House
Beauty Shop
Living Single

Honorable Mentions:
Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, and Common.
Tyra Banks - Only for her role in Higher Learning and Jackie on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air; her small part in Love in Basketball was kind of weak and didn't really have any impact.

Snoop - For Bones, horrible movie, but gets a mention because he portrayed a pimped out drug peddler from the 70s and I love the 70s. Bad movie, but Khalil Kain was in it. And also, Snoop's never portrays anyone deep on screen but his humor and charisma have made way for him to expand beyond just being a rapper.

Janet Jackson - Not good at all in Nutty Professor II, but she was cute as Penny in Good Times and I liked her in Why Did I Get Married?

T.I - I liked ATL and his small role in American Gangster, but I'd like to see more from him.

McNugget Lovin'

2009-03-03T17:07:00.007-05:00

I couldn't help myself. So just when I wasn't done shaking my head at the Florida man who called 911 because Burger King ran out of lemonade, comes Latreasa Goodman. Latreasa just wanted some of that McNugget lovin' only to find that the McDonalds was out of McNuggets. I can understand the outrage, I've never encountered that either and I would of been shocked too. However, when she was told she would not receive a refund and had to pick another item off the menu instead of doing what normal/sane people would do which is, I don't know ask to speak to a manager or at the very maximum call the cops (even then is a bit overboard), she dials a 911 dispatcher. In fact, she calls 911 three times!

However, as most of us learned as a kid, calling 911 is no joke. I remember accidentally calling 911 a few times and panicking wondering if they were going to show up at my front door responding to the call. Luckily, that never happened.

When the cops finally showed up she apparently said, "this is an emergency, my McNuggets are an emergency." This woman cannot be serious. I love how calm the operators are on the phone. I know they're trained to do that, but I don't know if I could have contained my laughter. She was later given a misdeameanour citation and this isn't her first experience with 5-0. The Smoking Gun article contains more details and audio of all three 911 calls:
I shouldn't do this because I hate this commercial and it was only really funny the first three times, but here's that infamous McDonalds commercial featuring that guy with the fake R&B song about his girl creepin' on him......with nuggets.

The Quick Rise and Long Fall of Yung Berg.....A Timeline

2009-02-24T18:35:00.005-05:00

The Quick Rise and Fall of Yung Berg...A Timeline

Above is a link to story I worked on featuring the ups, and downs, and well beat downs of Yung Berg. I knew he stayed in controversy in '08 while doing the research I just kept shaking my head at the amount of beef he stayed in. Literally, almost every month he had a problem brewing with another artist or had offended someone. In general, I admire anyone who starts off motivated at a young age and shows that persistence and determination to succeed. But as stated in the intro, is it really smart that early in your career to gather that much negativity? I'm not saying you can't stand up for yourself, but clearly some of these issues were based off recklessness.

I don't think his career is necessarily over, but he has to build himself back up for the right reasons. He shouldn't worry about being the tough guy and focus on music if that's what he really wants to be known for, in the future. All rappers don't have to be tough. For example, Biggie may have rapped about violence and guns (quite often), but was he really running around threatening people? Not so much.

Lock the Door and Throw Away the Key

2009-02-23T19:52:00.005-05:00

I have no sympathy and very little interest in celebrities who repeatedly get in trouble with the law for incidents that could have been avoided. Do they think they're above the law or simply don't care? Mixture of both probably. Yes, at the end of the day they're humans just like everyone else and make mistakes, but why damage your reputation consistently?

O.J Simpson
Following his last botched attempt of retrieving what he said was "his" property, The Juice was sentenced to nine years in prison. For real this time. Whether we want to go back 14 years ago as to whether he "did it" or "not", after being acquitted he had the chance to try to repair a severely damaged reputation. Instead of fading into the background O.J managed to get attention for all the wrong reasons - drugs, domestic abuse, tax problems, you name it. He even managed to get a lawsuit slapped against him by DirecTV for stealing television signals. People have been bootlegging cable for years, how dumb can you be that you get caught and you're a celebrity??

And he seriously must have gotten every brain cell knocked out of him when he played football because in 2006 he wanted to release a book called, If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer detailing how he would have executed the murders if he had done it. He should of been locked up then for sheer stupidity.
Lock away the key. No one cares anymore, not even those who supported him through the trial. Bye.

DMX
A rapper fallen from hip-hop grace. In the late 90s/early 00s DMX was on top of the world with multi-platinum albums, collaborations with hip-hop heavyweights, and what appeared like a solid career in music. Well, crack is wack, and apparently so is DMX. Numerous drug arrests, carjacking, driving with a suspended license, babies mothers coming out the wood works suing him prove DMX had slipped and fell and couldn't get up. The icing on the cake for me was last fall during an interview with XXL when he said he didn't know who Barack Obama was and didn't even know a black man was running for president. Wow.
He's currently on lockdown now and apparently part of his punishment is he has to wear pink at all times.

Mike Tyson
I haven't heard anything recently but Mike loves to take a retreat from his criminal activities and come back every few years with a new drug or assault charge. In 2005, USA Today ran an article where he reportedly said, ""My whole life has been a waste, I've been a failure. I just want to escape. I'm really embarrassed with myself and my life." Again, someone who served time for a convicted rape you think would of dedicated his life to shedding a negative image, but he just kept racking up charges...and ridiculous tattoos. Well, as of now he's acknowledged his drug problem and trying to seek help. Better late than never. I guess.

Suge Knight
Does Suge have nine lives? Suge has been shaking the industry down since the early 90s through what most would say by fear, extortion and violence. He served a little time, but still never seemed to learn his lesson. But someone's not afraid of Suge as recently he got beat up during the NBA All Star weekend by a guy they claimed was Akon's manager, but reportedly isn't? I just get tired of hearing about Suge Knight; for someone who hasn't really been relevant in the music game for awhile he sure can't seem to stay out of the news.

Amy Winehouse
She should be jailed not because of the illegal drug use but for being a waste of talent (you think I cared when Britney Spears fell off the wagon. Not so much)
I'd say throw away the key, but perhaps lock her away and don't let her out until she promises to deliver a new dope album, get off drugs and gain some weight. Fair exchange is no robbery.

Sidenote: Bobby Brown could of made this last about four or five years ago, but he's been on good behavior lately. Speaking of Bobby, I never hide my shameless love for late 80s/early 90s R&B, so here's Bobby live.

Chimpin Ain't Easy

2009-02-18T15:41:00.006-05:00

Is it ever okay to joke when you know because of a certain implication it could be seen as offensive? Or do we do it anyway because we think the joke is so clever and hope nothing controversial comes of it? Good question for The New York Post.

Today they are under scrutiny for a cartoon depicting police officers with a chimp lying on the ground who they just shot with the caption, "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill". This cartoon was inspired by a combination of current events as yesterday the stimulus bill was officially signed by Barack Obama and and a chimp was shot and killed by officers in Connecticut after it attacked and mauled a woman.

Insiders claim the cartoon has no racial connection to referring to African-Americans or more so the president as a chimp, but is poking fun and calling the writer of the stimulus bill a chimp, not the president. If that was the case, then yes people would be overacting.

Of course Reverend Al Sharpton's spider sense went off when he heard about this and he released a statement saying, "Being that the stimulus bill has been the first legislative victory of President Barack Obama ... and has become synonymous with him, it is not a reach to wonder: are they inferring that a monkey wrote the last bill?... The Post should at best clarify what point they were trying to make, or in fact reprimand their cartoonist."

I doubt Obama will speak on it, but there's also a chance he's personally not offended by it and doesn't think it was in reference to him. But as intellectuals on staff, I'm surprised no one raised any flags about how this might be perceived or maybe they didn't care. The average person when they see that cartoon will not assume they're referring to the writer of the stimulus act, but of the president who has been the main person involved with pushing it. Even if someone was sitting back there giggling at the implication of the chimp representing Obama, we'll never really know the truth or they'll never admit it.

Update: They issued an apology to anyone who was offended, but then in a very backhanded way said that anyone who has it out for them they are not apologizing to. That's like being a schoolyard bully being forced to apologize to a kid you beat up and saying, "I'm sorry, but I'm really not apologizing because those kids over there beat me up too"....best analogy I can think of at the moment, but definitely not sincere.

But the original article is here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/18/new-york-post-chimp-carto_n_167841.html

Article on Woman Attacked by Chimp:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/16/chimp.attack/

Re-Makin' it Happen

2009-02-17T15:30:00.006-05:00

Plies. Oh Plies. How many of my favorite R&B songs from the 80s are you going to sample? First, he sampled Janet Jackson's "Come Back to Me" for "Bust it Baby Part 2" and now in his new song which features Ashanti he jacks The Deele's (80s group with Babyface, Antonio L.A Reid and four others), "Two Occasions".

Blasphemy! Now my music knowledge is pretty vast but not omniscient but maybe these songs contained elements of others as well, but I have a big problem with remakes if it doesn't do the original any justice. And I know some random bottom feeder songs that never made it big, so it's even more of a surprise when someone comes out with a new song and it has elements of a song that never made it big because now you know they're getting away with no flack for it.
Granted, sampling and having elements of other songs doesn't mean it's free which is why we hear of artists getting sued every once in awhile.

There's nothing wrong with modern versions of songs or remakes, but artists rely on them too heavily especially these newer ones. Think of this familiar formula: A new singer or rapper wants to come up in the game and they may not be extremely talented, but have a look that'll work in the music scene. All you have to do is get some producers behind a track, take a song from the past that worked or had a catchy beat or hook and you can cook yourself up a hit. Whether their career stands the test of the time is often up in the air, but back in the day old school singers had to claw their way in. And back then you didn't even have to be the best looking. Although it helped, it really was all about if you could carry a tune.

This is also rampant in the film industry. Remakes of old movies, relying on the popularity of a comic book storyline, and importing overseas plots into new movies permeate. It's more evident to me in the horror genre as it seems no one can come up with any scary themes or villains so they rely on the stale leftover hype of a 70s/80s movie to carry a new movie. The most recent remake in the works is a remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street minus Robert Englund which sounds like a cinematic disaster.

There's nothing wrong with being inspired by something, but where does it end and when can we begin again?

In honor of it being one of my favorite songs here's "Two Occasions", but honestly these guys sound much better than they look in this video (Babyface is the only one who looks somewhat normal in it).

The Valentine's Day Anti-Virus

2009-02-14T21:20:00.019-05:00

It's really not my fault Cupid's arrow misses me until some point before or after Valentine's Day (Thanks Cu, you're the man). Ironically, around February I'm usually never even "talking" to anyone to fully enjoy it. Sure, I could have a makeshift Valentine, but not my style. I don't hate Valentine's Day for one reason. I love to raid the Valentine-themed section at stores afterward when it's discounted. Even if I was bitter on V-Day I'll eat a chocolate heart in a minute. Plus, you can make Valentine's Day whatever you want sure it's geared to the couples but plenty show excess love and appreciation to friends and family members too.

Jen who kind of gave me the idea for this blog believe that V-Day was cute when you were a kid when it was all cards and candy but now all it does is remind you of sex and candy. She didn't mention love, so I'm assuming she doesn't see it that way at the moment, but I guess the only thing that stays constant is the candy which sounds like a sweet deal to me.

So, I rounded up responses from a few friends and acquaintances on their favorite anti-love/ relationship/ anti-opposite sex or or breakup song and I added my personal suggested song by that artist to remedy the anti-love song. Oh, and for those who didn't respond, I forgive you, I hate being put on the spot too ;)

Arien/Knowledge says "I Get Around" by 2Pac
Reason: "Hell if I know, cuz it's funny? Cuz he says, "well if I couldn't have it silly rabbit why ya sweatin' me"
Remedy for that anti-love song: "Me & My Girlfriend". Ohh..no wait he's talking about his gun. Nevermind. Ok , "Do For Love" from R U Still Down(Remember Me)? But then again in the song he had a girl when he met her, she knew and eventually she cheats on him...damn.
Well, he shows some much respected love for his mom on "Dear Mama".
Where to Find Knowledge:
http://www.knowledgethinks.blogspot.com/

Allie says "Bust Your Windows" by Jasmine Sullivan
Reason: "It actually was the first song that popped in my mind it's such a real song".
The Remedy: Jazmine Sullivan's "Need U Bad". Great song, good lyrics, but definitely I'm never letting you go again crazy kind of love.

Nafiys IModel Blakewood says "See You in My Nightmare" by Kanye West
Reason: " I never had love on valentines, no one to give my heart too"
The remedy:"Gold Digger" because sometimes giving your heart means giving your wallet too, but seriously funny song which has undertones of truth in it.
"Good Life" is a good carefree song to listen to.
Where to Find Nafiys: http://www.mrblakewood.com/

Megan (she's special and gets two picks) says "See You in My Nightmare" by Kanye West
Reason: Because it's such a f**k your couch I don't even love you a little song
Remedy: Try "Slow Jamz" because the song was a lot better than the wack video and I'm sure you remember those guys singing it to us in '03 while we were in Target

and
My Friends Over You" by New Found Glory
Reason: "It's the other extreme where it didn't work out but it's cool 'cause I have my friends".
Remedy: Of the few NFG songs I knew and liked at one point, none of them are saying any positive about love. lol.

Bob says "I Hate You So Much Right Now" by Kelis
Reason: "Cuz it's a song you can yell and not seem crazy"
Remedy: "Marathon" off Tasty which I'm sure you have.

CeCe "Paparazzi" says "Lions, Tigers, and Bears" by Jazmine Sullivan
Reason: "Favorite line. Why do we love love when love seems to hate us".
Remedy: "And I". She's busted windows and is ready to move on.
http://tinyurl.com/aqvsfu
to get to Cyncere Photography and Publishing

Al B. Young says "I don't have one, I'm all about the love." but then
on his own comes up with Keyshia Cole's, "I Changed My Mind"
Remedy: Keyshia's entire new album, I promise this time she's not on the love-lost/gone wrong type of tracks this time around. "You Complete Me" is a good one.
Where to Find Him: http://www.crackhouserock.blogspot.com/

Jen says "Separation of Church and State" by NOFX
Reason: "It's about the loss of freedom which sometimes can happen sometimes when you and are in a relationship".
Remedy: I don't know any NOFX songs to give you a remedy, sorry. Watch the end of Sex and the City movie where everyone ends up happy.

Uch says "Doin' Just Fine" by Boyz II Men
"It says a lot in that song, let's the girl know she made a mistake".
Remedy: Can't go wrong with "I'll Make Love To You". I'm sure many babies are still made off this song nearly 15 yrs later.

Myke says ""What Goes Around.../...Comes Around" by Justin Timberlake"
Reason: "Because I felt like that in my first relationship".
Remedy: "Until the End of Time", the version with Beyoncé even better

Some anti-love/relationship/breakup songs off the top of my head:
'Goody Goody" - Frankie Lymon (in a blog from '06 I explained this as .a.k.a good riddance you got what you deserved covered up by euphemistic lyrics and high pitch overtones before it was acceptable in music society to just say f- you b**h for breaking my heart)

"Break up to Make Up" - The Stylistics (classic)
"Heartbreaker" - Mariah Carey
"Son of a Gun" - Janet Jackson (jacking Carly Simon..I bet you think this song is about you....and it is! But even if it wasn't about you, you'd think it was...)
"Baby That's Backacha" - Smokey Robinson
"You and I" - Jason Mraz
"I Wish" - Heather Headley
"The One I Gave My Heart To" - Aaliyah
"Ms. Phat Booty" - Mos Def (damn, Mos Def was really feeling you and you played him)
"I Don't Ever Wanna See You Again" -Uncle Sam (I guess he was so heart broken he couldn't even make another song - well he did make that one, "Baby U Are" which was bad)
"Ice King" - Res
"Ex-Factor" - Lauryn Hill
"In My Bed" - Dru Hill (At age 11 the video's girl on girl creeping element did surprise me, lol)
"Me, Myself and I" -Beyoncé (Alicia reminded me of this song yesterday)
"Get Money" - Junior Mafia (I like the chorus, 'nuff said)

Chris Brown, Rihanna.....

2009-02-12T17:03:00.009-05:00

Everyone has either exclusive reports, an opinion or fresh news about the Chris Brown/Rihanna assault incident from major web sites, bloggers and your favorite blogger's blogger. It is interesting to follow. Mostly because no one expected something like this from these two and it seemed completely random. I first saw it as someone's status on facebook Sunday night and quickly thought it was a contrived rumor. Anyway, I'll save my thoughts on it for the most part, but except to talk about how this will affect the energetic singer/dancer we've affectionately come to know and love as one of the princes of r&b.

Already the 19 year-old has been dropped (suspended) from Wrigley's Doublemint commercials (that song was super catchy) and a Clevland radio stations refuses to play any of his music. Now, what is known is that he was arrested and he did assault her, but still no one knows the full story. Rihanna has made some statements, but until I see an official statement or an exclusive interview from either one it's still up in the air. Oftentimes, the hype seems to swallow a story as we assume who is the victim and who is the aggressor only later to have the truth come out.

Will his career suffer? A bit, but honestly I think he's young enough that in a few years it won't even be relevant. Not to say that hitting your girlfriend is to be taken lightly, but if we had a list for the major celebrities/athletes/ etc. who had been involved in domestic violence incidents I'd be listing all day.

Some people still bumped R.Kelly songs, supported him, and cried they were trying to bring him down and he was accused of statutory rape. If R.Kelly put out a hot single right now, he'd have no problem climbing up the charts. Not to say his image isn't tarnished, but we easily forget sometimes. My opinion on R.Kelly was that he seemed to have a history of lusting after young girls, I never saw the tape myself, but definitely thought and still think he was guilty.

But as hard as the hardcore fan of anyone may have to admit we don't know these artists. So, we can't really be surprised at anything they do unless it goes against something they previously condemned or against their entire image. Should we just keep it to the music? As much as I wish we could, people's behaviors and statements do impact how we view them. When last July rapper Yung Berg referred to dark skinned women as "dark butts" and added his two cents about why he didn't date them he offended many. Now, think of all the teen girls out there, light and dark who probably though this guy was cute and liked his music who now no longer support him. That was like shooting your career in the foot to alienate a group of people who are your fans. That's like a popular NFLer who plays for a west coast team saying he hates the entire east coast when we know sports spans the entire nation and there are fans all over no matter what city you play for. That'd be a dumb and insensitive move.

It's a fine line sometimes whether to write an artist or a celebrity off for personal things or just listen to the music. In this case, it all depends how Chris Brown plays it. He obviously did what he was accused of, despite any rumors as if it was started by Rihanna or whatever is floating around out there. But as I always say it's all about ownership; you must own what you do including your successes and your mistakes. If he really wants to show the world he's not a bad guy and people should still give a damn about him he should after it's all said and done explain to his fans and the public what went down or at least issue an apology.

At Last....Someone Doesn't Like Beyoncé.

2009-02-05T17:13:00.009-05:00

Brief timeline: Beyoncé sings "At Last" at the inaugural ball for Barack Obama and Michelle Obama's first dance. Everyone loves it and buzzes about how great Beyoncé was (much to the rumored dismay of fellow songstresses Mary J. Blige and Mariah Carey who also performed but didn't seem to get as much attention). Approximately two weeks later comes Etta James' rather spontaneous and bitter comments regarding President Obama, Beyoncé and the inauguration neighborhood ball during her recent concert.

Here's what Etta James said:

"You guys know your president, right? You know the one with the big ears?". "Wait a minute, he ain't my president. He might be yours; he ain't my president. But I tell you that woman he had singing for him, singing my song, she's going to get her a** whipped.

The great Beyoncé. Like I said, she ain't mine. ... I can't stand Beyoncé. She has no business up there, singing up there on a big ol' president day, gonna be singing my song that I've been singing forever."

Apparently though, she made positive statements months prior about Miss Knowles for her portrayl of her in Cadillac Records, but now is in a tizzy over "her" song being sung at the inaugural celebration. I also read that when interviewed about Beyoncé playing her in the movie she was all for it but said, "well I don't think she looks like me". No, Etta she doesn't, she actually looks a lot better than you did back in the day, sorry.

I'm not a ride or die Beyoncé fan in the least bit, yet I'm no hater. (The title was purely out of play on words) I do think she's talented, but a bit overpublicized and overrated at times, but that's the celebrity/appearance obssessed society we live in. I'm not drawn to her music initially, but always end getting engaged in her songs and then getting on the bandwagon to like more.

I think Etta's comments were funny, but very ill-stated, especially saying Beyoncé was going to get her a** whipped. She was performing at concert, so I can't even give her some slack as if it was a slip of the tongue during an interview; she wanted to say what she said. Some people are saying if he wanted the song sung President Obama should have gotten Etta James, but I'm not even sure that he knew what song Beyonce was singing or perhaps he did requested it; as I'm sure a memo went out to her that "Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)", or "Ring the Alarm" was not appropriate for the occasion. At the same time, Obama is not a record executive, he's the president, he doesn't need to worry about appeasing the sensitivities of 71 year-old who obviously has no respect for him since he's not her president. He can have who he wants there. I don't know if is she really just anti-Obama, or is she more mad he didn't invite her to sing?

I can understand Etta feeling slighted that Beyoncé received admiration very nationally and publically for a song she's known for, but apparently that song isn't even hers and had been recorded twice before Etta James made it popular. I know it's difficult for older singers who put their time in and probably had to work harder at success than the instant success that seems to be granted to artists these days to feel that something they made successful is being linked to someone else but for all intents, purposes, and reputations please keep it classy.
As always, at the end of the day, it's not always what you say but how you say it.

Pop Lockdown

2009-02-01T10:28:00.009-05:00

Traditionally, pop stars have rarely made themselves. If you go back in the time, record labels, anxious parents who wanted their children to be stars, or the demand of the fans made the pop star. But today, people have the Internet, MySpace, independent labels, and every outlet imaginable to define their own image and make it on their own.

Infrequently, do artists design their road to becoming a pop star as methodically as Kanye West has. In the past hip-hop artists have crossed over that threshold into the mainstream mostly by a classic radio hit that wasn't expected to cross over and sometimes by a conscious effort by the record label to make a big hit.

Kanye doesn't care. To him, he's bigger than hip-hop. 808s & Heartbreak (Roc-A-Fella/Def Jam) isn't Kanye the MC, but more like Kanye the "superstar". He's not testing limits, he's breaking limits. Hate it, or love it, it's pretty darn creative. It may seem random, but it's not, he has a plan. He's driven himself into a lane where he can be more than a rapper and people are falling for it. New sound, new look, new book, and new ambitions. Some still scream for the old Kanye though. I do too.

I'm still a bigger fan of the rapper in Kanye, still was utterly confused by "Love Lockdown", then grew to love it as a good song when I realized had anyone else did it I would of automatically liked it so there was no point in resisting, still think it's hard to top College Dropout (in my mind), and don't agree with Kanye's statement that his latest is the best he's every done, but I respect the craft. He's the pop on lockdown.

Kanye West's and Louis Vuitton sci-fi inspired kicks:
The verdict's still out on this one but I may need Damon Wayons and David Alan Grier's soundcue of "hated it" from Men on Film"

Gangstas Don't Ask Questions

2009-01-31T13:46:00.005-05:00

You know you're someone special when Katie Couric interviews you! I've always liked Katie's style and approach, but she certainly brought it home for me a few months ago when she grilled Sarah Palin, and basically proved furthermore to America why this woman was not right for the position as VP of the United States.

Expecting the worst, from this clip from Katie Couric's All Access Grammy Special Lil' Wayne actually came across as mellow and down to earth speaking to her about music and why he dropped the 'D' from his name.

However, I guess to remind the world he's a "rapper"and "hood", when asked a legitimate question by Katie Couric regarding what he'd ask Former President Bush if he had a chance to about how Hurricane Katrina was handled he responded, " I'm gangsta and gangstas don't ask questions".

What Lil' Wayne? There's no Styrofoam cup in your hand nor are you slurring any words, so I'm assuming your sober when you're giving this interview, so what kind of answer was that? He made an interesting comparison in the beginning when he told her music is a another form of the news and journalism and with his music he reports on the new president, his take on money, the economy, etc. I just feel he could of had a better response than that. At least explained why gangstas don't ask questions!

But I just find it hard being that Lil' Wayne can come off intelligent when he chooses to, and hard seeming as he's a New Orleans native who has spoken out about Hurrican Katrina's aftermath and someone who looks to get teary-eyed in the interview when she brings up the subject retorts by claiming "gangstas don't ask questions". No hate, no hate, I actually like Lil' Wayne, I just feel that comment a.) made no sense and b.) just wasn't the right forum to say that. But I guess he was just keepin' it gangsta.

My DVD's Out

2009-01-24T13:59:00.001-05:00

An interview I did with Sanaa Lathan, mostly centered on the DVD release of Tyler Perrys' The Family That Preys.

http://www.vibe.com/news/online_exclusives/2009/01/my_dvd_out_sanaa_lathan/

BIG Screen

2009-01-24T13:19:00.003-05:00

I'm always so late when it comes to blogging, but what else is new. I saw Notorious last week. What kind of hip-hop fan would I be if I didn't see a film based on the life of one of the most iconic figures in hip-hop culture?

The hype surrounding the movie was everywhere and I couldn't deny the bait. The TV commercials, articles and interviews I read combined with curiosity drew me in. But what sparked real interest is how much attention was made to the movie. It wasn't just some sloppy attempt to tell the Notorious B.I.G's story without the real input from those who were closest to him.

Any movie, no matter how much it's based on someone's life is going to cut corners and glamorize or exaggerate certain situations to make it appeal to a movie-going audience and Notorious really didn't differ much in that aspect. I liked the movie and I think that it showed different aspects of his life from being the artist we all know and loved, but it also captured some vulnerabilities in his life such as his relationship with his mother and children, and romantic relationships. It was very nostalgic if you were around at the time or just remember the music scene during the mid-late 90s'. Yes, I was a youngin', but I always had a predisposition for good music.

The character choice was good in my opinion, even though I'm still not sold though on Derek Luke as Diddy. But Lil' Kim's reaction to the film I didn't quite get until I saw it. Despite her somewhat delusional preferences of who would play her (Christina Milian to or as I've heard also, an Asian), she did have a point as to how she was portrayed.

Obviously, Faith Evans was Big's wife. Although they had a rocky relationship at some points it's always been an understanding of their relationship as husband and wife. Whereas, Lil' Kim's relationship with Biggie has always been kind of reduced to her being the mistress/sidepiece. Of course, no one ever truly knows or can comprehend the relationship between two people except for those involved, so I'm sure there's lots we don't know.

Naturi Naughton, (as Lil Kim) did a phenomenal job of the role as the rough street girl with raw talent we saw when Kim first emerged on the scene. However, in the movie she gets naked more than once in some pretty racy scenes. Now, the first time she's au natural is the scene where her and Big flirt for awhile and he invites her to eat and the next scene is them having sex. I was like what? Already? Not sure if that' s fact or fiction. Lil' Kim's always been known for brash sexual lyrics and for dressing scantily, so they got that right. But what struck me as odd she was the only character to bare anything in the film. There are no shots of any groupies or anyone else showing off body parts. Just Lil' Kim.

On another note, I'm glad they portrayed Tupac in Notorious. Of course I am a Tupac fan until the end. I like Bigge's music and understand his influence and legacy, but I always felt I connected more with Tupac, musically. Anthony Mackie was a nice fit for the role. I think he channeled the charisma, spontaneous, and overall appeal Tupac had in the few scenes he was in. I realize the film was about Biggie and Tupac did play a small role in his early career at some point but the complexity of him was not really touched on except for one scene where Biggie talks about the different sides of Tupac. Again, understood. This was not a biopic of Tupac's life (although I'd be interested to see a film of it, no offense to Tupac Ressurection, but a non-documentary would be interesting as well.)

All in all, it's what I expected and I think most people who like it, unless they're bent on being super critical about the specifics. On another note, if Lil' Kim really does want to release some tell all book to set her record straight as is rumored, I'd be interested to see her side of the story. I'm also interested to see where this exposure takes Jamal "Gravy" Woolard in his future.

A B1tch Please Moment 1

2009-01-08T20:08:00.004-05:00

From time to time, my seemingly monotonous life has a few funny, random, and ridiculous scenarios. Many of which I'm simply a casualty of while MMODB (minding my own damn business). A b1tch please moment is when someone offends, annoys, or antagonizes me or just stuns me by their excess stupidity or audacity.

Today on my way from work, I hear a guy say to this woman, "oh you're going on the train".
(he tries to help her out saying he'd heard her mention something about getting on the train)
Old woman with roll along bag in toe: "No I didn't say anything about the train. I'm on my way to Jersey, I've got unfinished business". She acts as if she's offended he even bothered speaking to her and looks all spastic.

Already, I'm chuckling silently at unfinished business. What does someone owe her 30Gs for some kilos of cocaine?

The guy: Jersey? (note: we're already in Jersey).

He stays quiet. I assume he feels he's done his civic duty by trying to be nice, but notices she's off her rocker.

She repeats, "I've got unfinished business".

Then goes on to say how her house was torn down/torn up, and the cops did it. She also says, "I'm going to have a warrant put out for John Corzine's arrest", and blabs about how he is letting them do what they want and she sat in his office all day at some point. Yah, okay.

She rants about how her house along the Jersey shore was ran through by cops. (yes, alert me if this makes sense by now because I didn't get it).

The guy is just nodding quietly I guess cursing himself out for even trying to be nice.

Then she says, "there's going to be a civil war. With the whites. All whites". (note she's white, and note half the people around her were probably minorities of some sort

"They all come over here and get things for free". (I guess she means foreigners).

It's funny though. I snicker as I walk behind them and feel bad for the poor guy who has no response (he's white as well...I think or she thought he was).

Sheer ridiculousness. Any lessons from this: 1. Don't try to be nice to everyone because crazy people can look just like you and I and 2. old people get away with saying anything (unless no one else heard her but me)

And another b1tch please moment....(drumroll)
I get a MySpace friend request from some 20 year old kid with a message tagged in it, "Can i be ya groupie since your my SUPERSTARRR********"...........I have no words. Just none.

Here He Stands

2008-11-30T19:49:00.002-05:00

I certainly overlooked Usher's latest album although I did have select songs from it, I neglected to listen to it all the way through. Part of that may have been it doesn't seem as much hype followed the release of Here I Stand. I loved loved his 2004 release of Confessions. Every song off of it was fresh, talked about real life issues in love, deception, and lust. I was impressed that he had grown up from the days of 8701 and before that when he was only touching the iceberg of relationships.

However, as far as grown man status goes Confessions has nothing on Here I Stand. I still like Confessions probably better, but there's a new sense of maturity in his latest release. Usher's grown as a man in general, he put away his player card and got married and had a son. That definitely shows in his music ; not that he doesn't have a few songs that are made for a dance floor. "Love in this Club"is certainly no ballad or anything deep. However, "Trading Places", "Here I Stand", "Moving Mountains", and the like have shown he's here to make some grown man music carrying on a position that Babyface once had when he expressed vulnerability, passion, and understanding of relationships in music.

I hate when I've slept on an album for a month or almost a year only to discover it's really on point, but better late than never.

Jazmine Sullivan Busting Out your Speakers

2008-11-18T20:09:00.007-05:00

Jazmine Sullivan is a vocal beast. I saw her perform last night, along with Maxwell. There's always a chance seeing a singer live you find their vocals are doctored up by production, and they don't sound as powerful. Maxwell, the headliner of course won with his performance, but in voice power Jazmine genuinely impressed me, but shoot, I was already a fan.

Although, it's hard for a new artist to really capture my attention these days, I definitely feel her style, voice, and the subject matter in her songs. It's mature, real, vulnerable, and has a touch of old-fashioned soul, (let's hope she stays that way). Of course I could try to compare her to some other singers (past and present) like we have a tendency to do with new artists new artists, but I won't.

While we were just shooting the breeze about music, a male friend of mine pointed out the obvious regarding Jazmine's single "Bust Your Windows". The obvious? Well, that as emotional and as good of a song as it may be, it's kinda crazy. He said women need to stop being delusional and blasting the song like it's cool (to be busting people's windows out).

Forget the alluring soulful voice, the catchy hook, and the angst in the song many of us chicas can probably relate to - let's delve deeper. Sure, we may have felt the urge to get revenge before. And wrecking something as adored by men as their whip may seem to be the perfect punishment for being betrayed or mistreated. However, let's be real. It's an object and while we can fantasize or actually think of busting windows, slashing tires, or whatever the trendy thing for a psycho girl to do is; that car can get repaired, while you're feelings or heart won't heal or be fixed as easily. Jazmine even admits that in her song, but still revels in that busting those windows felt so good.

My friend mentioned above said one of his female friends actually wanted him to take her to her boyfriend or ex-boyfrend's car to do some damage. I doubt she was soley inspired by Jazmine, but just inspired by crazy. Now, I've seen enough Judge Mathis episodes with jilted girlfriends and scumbag boyfriends to know things like this do happen everyday. Emotions are a mother....But again, while temporarily you feel satisfied at the shattered pieces of glass, it won't put back together your heart. However, when you can't hurt someone back the way they hurt you, you feel powerless, so you do something negative to something of their's you have access to.

It is a double standard because women can sing songs about getting revenge on a man and get away with it. What would it look like if a man was singing about cruising by his ex-lady's house and slashing her tires or carving the word bitch into her driver's side door. Pretty lame. Obviously, although Jazmine admitted to (really) busting a dude's windows out once, we know this has been sung before whether in a hook a verse or just implied.

But I guess we have to pay homage to the original scorned woman's club, such as Terry McMillan's book to movie, Waiting to Exhale where Angela Bassett's character torches Michael Beach's clothes in Waiting to Exhale (that movie made man hating cool again), or the real life story of Mary Woodson throwing hot grits on Al Green (although the ending of that story is terribly tragic). There's a million more examples I don't care to drudge up.

All in all, whethere she's busting windows or bust speakers Jazmine is the future of R&B. I love the Beyonces and Ciaras, but right now she's definitely one of my favorites in the game.

Do You Remember the Time?

2008-07-23T20:20:00.000-04:00

Do You Remember the Time? 07/23/2008
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Following the course of Hip-Hop is no easy task, yet completely necessary to see where we've been and where we're headed. Looking back two things were evident even though I'm an 80s' baby it was a lot easier for me to retieve certain events or classic rap albums that came out in the early to mid 90s than the 00s' oddly enough. Not to say I wasn't up on what's happened in the past couple of years or I didn't do a lot of extensive research, but there was just something about the 90s'.

Be prepared to get nostalgic or have to dust off a CD or two.

http://allhiphop.com/stories/features/archive/2008/06/12/20087901.aspx
http://allhiphop.com/stories/features/archive/2008/06/16/20127331.aspx
http://allhiphop.com/stories/features/archive/2008/06/25/20208086.aspx
http://allhiphop.com/stories/features/archive/2008/06/30/20244298.aspx

Kanye Saves Hip Hop?

2008-05-18T18:10:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, arrival at the Susequehanna Center for the Glow in the Dark Tour lead to the instant usual suspects. An overwhelming, slightly annoying myriad of young high schoolers at a concert(sometimes I think these venues should be 18 and older) tailgating in the parking lot and enthused fans buying $30 Kanye sunglasses. Now I must proceed with caution because I know that Kanye was miffed that Entertainment Weekly gave him a B+ which is impossible because when he tries he either passes or fails, lol.

Anyways I saw this video of Diddy bigging up the Glow in the Dark Tour and Kanye giving him back his appreciation of hip hop. Some may question that term as a poster on AllHipHop.com did showing Kanye acknowledgement but claiming he's much more "backpacker/other genre" than hip hop, but many would beg to differ, who's to say what's hip hop anymore.

Now next time I'll splurge for better seats, but the distance didn't take away from the dynamics of the impressive concert. Now, Lupe performed first with new talent muse, Nikki Jean who appeared on his "Hip Hop Saved Me" song(she also lended background vocals and filled in for Jill Scott on "Daydream" during the concert). Although I wish he would of performed more, unlike some rap acts his voice is clear, strong and amped up when he rhymes over the mic. There was no loss of movement as he hyped up the crowd with his gems like, "Superstar", "Paris Tokyo", etc. But the grand finale was his suprising performance of "Daydream" where he gave more life to the song than was ever present in the radio/album version, complete with strutting across stage and all. If you were daydreaming at that point that performance sure woke you up.

Next up was N.E.R.D, of course they know how to rock a concert doing their throwbacks, "She Likes to Move", "Lapdance", and the song that never fails, "Rockstar". And those little "hipsters" definitely can invoke energy with their sound full of swagger and genuine love for the music, it was great. And they did some of their new songs like, "Everybody Nose" and "Spaz".

I admit I didn't go to the concert for Rihanna, but I enjoyed her performance when she belted out hits like, "Pon de replay", "S.O.S", "Breakin' Dishes","Umbrella",and more. Although unfortunately, Kanye West claims Chris Brown was at the show, however unlike the Madison Square Garden performance where he went on stage the crowd at Camden got no glimpse of C. Breezy.

Last but better not be least! Was Kanye's act as hip hop thriving as Diddy claims? Well, it was pretty darn good besides featuring a great roster of acts that fit in with Kanye he brought his energy to the stage. The visuals, the scenery that took more than 30 minutes to set up was all work it. His act was a virtual/robotic/cinematic type of arrangement when his "robotic companion" cleverly setting up the mood for his next song performance with dialogue from the Chicago rapper. He did his recent songs off Graduation, and tons of throwbacks as well. His effort, his genuine desire to give the fans what they want was a refreshing diversion from the usual concerts rappers perform. Of course no Kanye concert would be one without several references to his greatness but he definitely inspired the audience with his success at giving everyone the show they paid for. He gave thanks, mad love to the crowd and leaves a lingering question of "Can Kanye ever top this tour".

Chris Brown Takes It Down

2008-04-14T10:51:00.005-04:00

Remember Chris Brown when the most bold line in his first single "Run It!" was, "I know you heard about me but guess what's goin down if we leave"? But could it be that the 18 yr old R&B prince has finally been inducted into the baby making music category with his first adult slow jam, "Take You Down"? It's safe to say while we could relate to his other singles they still had a hint of puppy love to them. "Take you Down" puts C. Breezy in the same realm as R&B slow jam kings like R. Kelly, Bobby Brown, Usher, Ginuwine and the like.

In the music video he proves not only is he serious - but that he can play the part as he seductively uses Bobby Brown-esque circa 1989 moves on stage. He uses a familar scene for the slow jam video song which includes singing to a crowd of screaming female fans while making suggestive moves on stage (think, Usher "Bedtime", Bobby Brown, "Tenderoni" or any of Jodeci's early '90s videos). And of course in the video the inevitable shirtless cuts only excite the audience even more.

The Way That I Love You

2008-03-25T17:15:00.005-04:00

R&B's Ashanti is no stranger to drama. Since debuting with her first single, "Foolish" in 2002 she's been linked romantically from the likes of her her boss, Irv Gotti to having a publicly clandestine relationship(if there is such a thing) with rapper Nelly, and in recent interviews both Ja Rule and Irv Gotti express their thoughts that the former Princess of the Inc. did not maintain loyalty when the label suffered hard times.

With a past infused with drama, it's no surprise Ashanti's latest music video, "The Way That I Love You", draws off a plot of deception, devastation and vengeance by a scorned woman. What makes the video stand out is certainly not the concept which has been done before (think "Ring the Alarm" without Beyoncé and incessant sirens in the background), but Ashanti's vocals on this song. Irv Gotti has criticized Ashanti's decision to work with mainly producers outside The Inc. but if this song is any preview of what's to come I wanted to hear more.

Does the woman scorned by a no good man story every get old? Some would say yes, but it sure makes for one hell of a song. Painfully singing about the love of her life who she has been faithful to stepping out on their relationship Ashanti masters a common topic with authenticity. In an industry littered with pretty young things Ashanti steps it up a notch and knocks on maturity's door. The singer always did have a tolerable smooth voice, but her vocals really stand out on this track. With so much passion on this song you definitely know they're singing from personal experience.

Ashanti's album The Declaration is scheduled to be released June 3rd.

What's My Name?

2008-03-17T22:30:00.002-04:00

Unfiltered ignorance. While we are in the midst of seeing history coming alive before our eyes where a black man has ran a successful political campaign in hopes of capturing the Democratic nomination, one of hip hop's "fallen" rappers, DMX has no idea he was running for president!

In a recent interview with XXL magazine, the rapper who saw popularity with his rugged sound and trademark barking in the late 90s/ early '00s admits not only is he not following the presidential race - but that he had no idea black man was running! It may come of no surprise as we know DMX has been battling the demons of drug abuse and legal troubles, but come on! I guess we can guess DMX won't be casting a vote come Election Day.

Here is an excerpt from the interview.

XXL: Are you following the presidential race?
DMX: Not at all.

XXL: You’re not? You know there’s a Black guy running, Barack Obama and then there’s Hillary Clinton.
DMX: His name is Barack?!

XXL: Barack Obama, yeah.
DMX: Barack?!

XXL: Barack.
DMX: What the fuck is a Barack?! Barack Obama. Where he from, Africa?

XXL: Yeah, his dad is from Kenya.
DMX: Barack Obama?

XXL: Yeah.
DMX: What the fuck?! That ain’t no fuckin’ name, yo. That ain’t that nigga’s name. You can’t be serious. Barack Obama. Get the fuck outta here.

XXL: You’re telling me you haven’t heard about him before.
DMX: I ain’t really paying much attention.

XXL: I mean, it’s pretty big if a Black…
DMX: Wow, Barack! The nigga’s name is Barack. Barack? Nigga named Barack Obama. What the fuck, man?! Is he serious? That ain’t his fuckin’ name. Ima tell this nigga when I see him, “Stop that bullshit. Stop that bullshit” [laughs] “That ain’t your fuckin’ name.” Your momma ain’t name you no damn Barack.

You don't have to "follow" the elections to know who is running, it's all over the place! At this time in the country so many important issues need to be considered, everyone should be following the elections and the candidates in some way. I just feel it's a shame that someone who is still somewhat influential in the public eye had the platform to speak out about politics(something most people rarely associate with hip hop) and he was more concerned at poking fun at Senator Barack's name than at least giving the man credit. (Sigh)
Well here's a DMX throwback video, "What's my Name" when he was still relevant and at least still making some sense.

FADER PAINTS A PICTURE OF AFRICA

2008-03-08T20:28:00.003-05:00

The always innovative, exploitive, and culture-friendly magazine, Fader presents it's #52 Africa The Africa Issue--A Look At African Music And Culture Across The Planet. While most music magazines ignore the influence of the music industry of Africa, this issue which features international African artist Esau Mwamwaya and BLK JKS a group who hails from South Africa and has unique afropunk metal music style. In the issue you'll also find news of other artists making their mark on the music scene on the continent.

Mariah Wants You To Touch Her

2008-02-28T23:40:00.005-05:00

Musical femme fatale Mariah Carey is back with her single, "Touch My Body". Her new album E=MC2 is slated to be released in the U.S on April 15th. Following the formula for most of her first singles "Touch My Body" is filled with playful, flirty lyrics laced with a sensual tone and a beat that keeps your attention. As a Mariah fan I'm sure I'll grow a liking to some of the other tracks on the new album. While critics have reveled in challenging the pop/r&b diva to hang up the mic unless she's singing ballads I still love Mariah Carey and basically anything she puts out. Her ability hit high notes and strum songs in her airy voice could convince me to like a song about icecream and lemon drops if she sung about it.

"Touch My Body" is co-written by R&B longtime hitmaker and new R&B soloist, The-Dream and produced by M.C herself and Tricky Stewart. The video concept featuring a Geek Squad nerd coming to fix Mariah Carey's computer who watches as she roams around in lingerie and revealing outfits is a little cheezy it's still worth viewing.

It Feels So Wrong But The Lyrics Are So Tight

2008-02-27T17:45:00.001-05:00

With hip hop we must take the bitter with the sweet. Hip hop is a paradox of the good, the bad, the real ugly, bluntness, and audacity. Here are a few songs that we wanted to say, "it feels wrong, but the "lyrics" are so tight!" Even so-called conscious rap ONLY hip hop fans caught themselves singing along and nodding their head to these obnoxious lyrics. These songs made you cringe at the words and phrases sung, but you couldn't help but either like or it leave it in the back of your mind as a "guilty pleasure".

"Dead Wrong" Notorious B.I.G feat. Eminiem
One of the most sinister hip hop tracks ever made filled with lyrics of rape, murder, and robbery. Get Em on the track and it's even more wicked. We couldn't stop head nodding to this song's memorizing beat and haunting hook with "the weak or the strong who got it goin' on?" It was clear that even after his death Biggie definitely had it going on.The song included so many off the wall rhymes that the last line in the song had to be cut from the already violent song.

Fact: Chucky Thompson produced the song.

"Prostitute Flange" - Lil Wayne
Lil Wayne puts down the loud banter of his usually hustler boy lyrics and slows it down a bit with a half rap, half raspy whisper as he seranades his lspecial ady. He says he doesn't care if she used to be a prostitute because all that matters is that she's with him now. Enough to make you say what? We weren't sure if we were more surprised by this different style of song for Weezy or that we actually kind of liked this ode to a former jezebel.

Fact: R&B lovers will know he borrows his hook from Musiq's song "Me and You" where he sang, "I wouldn't care if you were a prostitute and hit everyman that you ever new it wouldn't make a difference if that was way before me and you girl".

"Shoot Em Up" - Nas
This vengeful tale of getting back at rival crew boasts a haunting melody which sounds similar to Christmas bells. Although I'm sure most of us don't want to just drive to a house and shoot 'em up, "shoot em up just just shoot em up what? kill, kill kill murder, murder murder" just has to escape anyone's mouth who hears this song.
Fact:Havoc from Prodigy produced this song.

"Hit "em Up" -TuPac
No list of hot lyrics mixed with a bad attitude could be complete without the late Tupac Shakur. A perfect hybrid of a sympathetic victim of poverty who had a vendetta to the world that oppressed his people - and the people who pissed him off. "Hit em Up" was the Tupac diss against Biggie, Junior Mafia and Puffy(now Diddy) where he threatens physical harm and to destroy their careers. His reasoning was he thought that Biggie and Puffy knew information about his 1994 robbing and shooting that they would not tell.

Even though we were feelin' Biggie at the time we couldn't help but sing along to, "Grab ya glocks when you see Tupac call the cops when you see Tupac /who shot me but you punks didn't finish you're about to feel the wrath of a menace....."Even we were scared of Tupac after this song.

"Crank That (Souljah Boy)"-Soulja Boy

This song by the rap newcomer started a whole dance craze around the country and people hopped up and down in clubs and house parties alike doing "the superman". Even though it had a catchy singsong feel to it we knew something had to be up when the phrase"superman hoe" was in the mix. While he jdenied it alluding to any sexual innuendos on BET, his slight smile made us think otherwise.

Fact: Looks like Soulja Boy should of done his research before choosing his name. In December he was sued by Willie Lyons, an unknown rap artist who claims he is the original Soulja Boy and has been for 12 years.

M.J Moonwalks His Way Back on the Charts?

2008-02-26T17:13:00.002-05:00

M.J "Moonwalks" His Way Back on the Charts?

02/24/2008

Only sales will tell the ultimate success of Michael Jackson's Thriller 25 but either way it comes out as the Album of the Month.

Many people I know gave the King of Pop remixing ANY of his classics with the likes of modern day pop-hit makers like Akon and Fergie etc, a big thumbs down. While it is weird to hear Fergie crooning along to fight-or-flight 80s' classic "Beat It" his remixes don't lose the Michael Jackson essence which made them hits over 20 years ago. He only remixes a few of the songs: "Beat It" (with Fergie), Billie Jean(Kanye West), "The Girl is Mine"(will.i.am), "P.Y.T(Pretty Young Thing)"will.i.am)and "Wanna Be Startin Something"(with Akon).

Any Michael Jackson song made between the early 80s' to early 90s' can most likely easily be labeled a pop classic. While some of those songs are bona fide stamps of his talent, he's also had amazingly creative music video concepts which always told us a short story. Here are my favorite Michael Jackson videos.

Thriller(1983) - "Thriller" still has never be topped as far as popularity, humor, and overall entertainment. I mean who can beat a vintage Michael Jackson in his prime sporting a red jacket, piping an addictive chorus with a jolt of fear as ghouls strut along with him? This is the number one video.

Remember The Time(1992) - Featured an all-star cast of Iman, Eddie Murphy and Magic Johnson. The ancient Egyptian inspired royalty concept combined with special effects is what makes this one of his best music videos of all time. Michael serandes Iman as he mysteriosly disappears from the guards who want to get him away from the beautiful Queen. He turns into dust and shows off some of his best dance moves since "Thriller".

Scream(1995) - No one expected the pleasant surprise in 1995 of Michael teaming up with his baby sister Janet for the energy infused musical explosion that was "Scream". Expressing their outrage of being constantly in the news and hunted by the press and paparazzi they came together for this instant smash single. Both happened to be in the midst of their pop icon peak when "Scream" broke through to the top 5 on r&b, pop and dance charts.

Earth Song(1995) - The video depicting the human destruction of the environment, poverty and war is one of Michael's most underrated music videos. Obviously more serious than his usual dance hits it featured good visuals and made more of an action statement than some of his other videos.

Billie Jean - Simple video but still caught your attention. Jackson proclaims innocence in a song where he repeats "but the kid not being my son" The mysterious former love interest "Billie Jean" makes no appearance in the video as Michael avoids a reporter hot on his trail. He shows off signature moves as he steps from place to place with each spot lighting up.

This video also exposed the world to the "moonwalk" , a dance that wasn't entirely his but one that he altered to make his own. Despite proven fame in the music business the CBS president at the time, still had to threaten MTV with prohibiting some of their popular rock(white acts) from being played on MTV unless they showed "Billie Jean". He became the first black artist played on MTV.

Flavor Of Love Or Bad Taste?

2008-01-26T23:17:00.000-05:00

Like thousands of Americans last season, I tuned in weekly to watch the dramatics of the demanding "Miss New York", on I Love New York Season 2. New York, was awarded season 1 after being heartbroken twice by our favorite (pun intended) Public Enemy member, Flavor Flav. When her search for love went south again and she was dumped by Tango Vh1 gave her one more show. This time she chose the devoted rich guy, Tailor Made. Tailor Made was best known for being the house rat who got into a physical altercation with New York's other main interest, Buddha. You know what they say, "snitches get stitches".

So, now in the battle of the lowest, Flavor Flav is back with his Season 3. 48 year old Flavor Flav says he wants another chance at love. (A.K.A more air-time). He will have more scantily dressed young women throwing down, calling each other whores and battling for his love and affection. Yes, I will most likely be watching because to me these shows are comedy. It's comedy when we spend every week watching a man who should quietly growing older with the knowledge he was a part of a great rap duo, challenging women to prove their "love for him". I guess this all ties in with his goal of having 10 children.

With the presidential elections brewing I sure hope there won't be higher ratings for a given episode of Flavor of Love than a presidential candidate debate.

Tune in shortly before Valentine's Day on February 11th to see the premiere of Season 3 Flavor of Love at 9pm EST.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I'm still wondering what Chuck D thinks of this. lol

Niggy What? Niggy Who?

2008-01-19T16:40:00.000-05:00

I know, I know, I’m three months late and a dollar short. But still Saul Williams is back! My favorite emcee who wraps his rhymes in clever poetry supported by a hard rock/hip hop beats presents the “Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust.” I’m a sucker for good, complex titles. If I could sing, or rap, I have a million album titles stories in my head(Confessions of an Overactive Mind is my first album title). Saul Williams has starred in films, written albums, performed spoken word, and released books and still stayed true to himself – and the craft. He’s got a bigger understanding of hip hop than some of these artists lumped into hip hop categories today, but still uses producers who use rock sounds, drum beats, and guitar rhythms.

Clever, a bit eccentric, but always with a good verse or two, Saul Williams is one of the biggest underrated cats in the music industry (which may be a good thing). He's no stranger to the spotlight and is known for his role in the acclaimed movie, Slam, playing the celibate boyfriend of sex crazed bohemian-esq Lynn of Girlfriends, jamming alongside industry names like the Fugees, KRS-One, and De La Soul to name a few, and reoccurring appearances on HBO's Def Poetry Jam. Oh and did I forget, he's a published writer as well having articles appear African Voices, and the New York Times to name a few? No, he's no stranger to recognition, but still remains low key touring the nation and world to put on some good old fashioned spoken word to college campuses. Nice.

Who is Niggy Tardust? And sure I may be curious as to why he is going by a name which obviously has a hint of the dreaded ‘N’ word? Obviously, it’s symbolic and seems to offer a glimmer of explanation on the niggytardust promotion site where he writes, “Most people aren't aware of the world of art and commerce where exploitation strips each artist down to nigger. Each label, like apartheid, multiplies us by our divide and whips us 'til we conform to lesser figures. What falls between the cracks is a pile of records stacked to the heights of talents hidden from the sun.” I’m assuming he does tackle some racial topics with tracks like “(Tr)(n)igger”, and “Black History Month”. And perhaps with Track 6 “Niggy Tardust” we’ll actually get to find out who this alter-ego is.

After a few years playing his last album to death, I took a little break from Saul waiting for some new material. Let's say I have come a long way from a few years ago, where I was like, who is this guy? He is THAT guy who is unapologetically bit unpredictable, but always on point. I have no idea what to expect on his latest release – except innovative genius. The album is produced by Trent Reznor and mixed by Alan Moulder. My review of the album will be posted in a few days.