P.S., I Love You Mary J. Blige...

Speaking of Mary J, I must take this opportunity to express my love for you not only as a singer but as a super fine sista. One of the most memorable performances I remember from Mary is an early one on In Living Color. Yeah, I know what you are thinking…In Living Color…REALLY??!! Yeah, but it wasn’t the performance so much, she was doing “You Remind Me”, it was what she was wearing; A nice skintight body suit with some Doc Marten looking boots. Damn, I so wanted to be that catsuit…it was like she was wearing nothing at all!

Outside of the sexiness, she can honestly sing and is one of the few R&B artists who accomplish looking good and have talent (Ashanti take note and just give it up!!!). As I mentioned previously, Mary and Jill Scott are the only two artists that I possess all of their albums (except for one from Mary, but I am working on that). Mary, could you pull the catsuit out one more time and maybe a nicer boot to go with it…PLEASE!!!!!

Have You Had Your Pain Today?

I am a big Mary J. Blige fan; I have all but one of her albums. She has evolved greatly over her career as a singer and as a person. The major theme of her music has been the pain that she had to deal with growing into womanhood as well as those pressures after the fact. Add onto that the pressure of success after her career took off and that makes for a lot of stuff to write and sing about on her albums. But then that great day occurred, she found happiness through religion, a good relationship and I suspect some rehab. Then the music changed, it got lighter and happier. I am not someone who wants to see anyone suffer for any reason but my gf pointed out to me that since she has been happier, her music hasn’t been as good.

Does this mean that pain makes for better music?

Let’s think about that question for a minute. Take yourself back, if you don’t have a proper frame of reference, think about all of the movies you have seen about music groups (i.e.: The Five Heartbeats, The Temptations movie etc.) and reflect on the question. What are the common themes that these groups share? Love of music, talent, some members had tough upbringings but became successful, gave back and helped their families. Think about just that for a minute, the pain of just rising to being a success is good for at least three albums (in between writing some sweet booty getting ballads),

What happens after the success? As Biggie so eloquently put it “Mo money, mo problems”. These singers have reached heights that they could only dream about and now they have new elements of life (good and bad) that they now indulge in. Some singers continue to give back and live a positive lifestyle. Others want to life the wildest, craziest life possible with fast cars, faster women and the best drugs and alcohol money can buy. In the recording studio, there are more scenarios to write about and record as the artist(s) attempt to snort drugs off any flat surface they can find. On the flip side, some do this because it is an escape from being famous and it ultimately leads to an untimely demise. Or their demise comes from the drugs, alcohol as fuel to the fire (bad drug deal, getting robbed, getting shot because the drugs and/or alcohol told them they could be Big Billy Bad Ass etc) the permutations of scenarios just go on and on.

It seems to me not much has changed in regards to pain being a catalyst to writing music, I just think some of the more obvious aspects of this have, like smoking a joint live in concert or performing blitzed out of your mind. There is another aspect of this that hasn’t been discussed and that is how current music is affected, more specifically Hip-Hop. Pain has been a part of this genre for a while but it seems to be a part of it more so now. Maybe that is why Hip-Hop is in trouble, the trends that we see reflect a larger problem of the African-American community in pain. When the music goes from banging out beats on a park bench and rapping about partying and what neighborhood you rep to how many kilos you pushed and your gang affiliation is problematic and reflects the breakdown of fundamental institutions which bind us a people. At the heart of all of this is pain in many forms from childhood, upbringing and adulthood for many African-Americans.

Should we continue to buy into this pain by supporting these artists?

That is a difficult question. On one hand since Lil Wayne is what is hot right now the question that I just posed will not enter anyone’s mind. Most who listen to Lil Wayne are REALLY not thinking that deeply about the problems of our people (correct me if I am wrong but if this were false, maybe Hip-Hop wouldn’t be such a cluster f*ck).

On the other hand, isn’t it time for us to take this into our own hands and say ENOUGH of bulls*it hip-hop? I don’t know about you, but I am sick of all of these so called “experts” getting together for discussions which lead us to the same conclusions that we already know that the music and the trends it produces are toxic to our community, especially our youth.

One thing is certain, as long as there is pain and baggage, there will be songs to write and stories to be told. Will this be the ultimate form of dealing with your problems? Sure, we as consumers will be listening to an ongoing counseling session that WE are paying for, not the artist.

Hope you had a great thanksgiving, next stop Christmas!!!

Class dismissed…

Who remembers this...

Ok all my peeps out there, raise your hand if you had a Big Wheel growing up! Were these joints not the bomb! You tried to ride this sucker long after you got too big for it! I hated giving mine up...a tricycle!!! WTF!!! You did wild crazy manuvers with big wheels, rode down hills, up the sidewalk like a freakin mad person on this thing! Thinking back, I think I went through 3 or 4 because all that hard riding led to cracked tires! My brother was worse, he used to ride his through our basketball game and when he did, my cousin would throw the ball at him while he was making that quick get away! Ah, memories!!

Excuse me, can I redeem this after I kick your ass? Hummp Day Rewind

I had something...then I go to work and damn I cant find it! I am talking about my topics for blogging today. They will return soon enough and I have sometime tonight to sit down and give a nice blog that hopefully will not be about politics...but I always say that lately in light of the election and the results. As I always say...stay tuned! So in my ongoing effort to catalog my old blogs, here is a hummp day rewind for you! It is a short one, I had a thought about something and voila!!! Enjoy!

I think we all should write our congressman and senators to create and pass a bill where as a United States citizen in addition to all of the rights inherent in citizenship, we should also be given ONE Get out of Jail Free Card. The card has stipulations, the most primary or important one being that this card cannot get you out of anything that is premeditated, it has to be a spur of the moment type thing...like when your boss finally pushes you to the edge and you just cannot deal and you just decide to go upside their head just to prove a point that you are not to be f*cked with and they were wrong for ever pushing your buttons in the first place. I mean the card works great in Monopoly, maybe it could work in real life?

Livin' for the Weekend...The Week in Review (My 25th entry on Blogger!)

I saw Dunkin Doughnuts bag on the ground today and I thought, are they are still around? Dunkin Doughnuts are the worst doughnuts on earth! How do they stay in business? Seriously, if you f*ck up a Blueberry muffin you should not be in business! Simply awful, Krispy Kreme needs to get to my town quick! Bruce Bruce was right, when you see that Hot Now sign come on, you almost cause an accident trying to change lanes to get there!

While awaiting election results, my remote control ADD started acting up and I was flipping channels. BET was covering the election results. Let me repeat that...BET was covering the election results. One word to describe this...embarassing! First of all, I have never seen such a large panel of no-names assembled ever in life (Jeff Johnson with this braids and baby hair edge-up was hosting), Second, they interviewed folks who in my opinion were out of their element (in fairness, CNN interviewed Will.i.Am virtually and I could have cared less what he thought, he sucks anyway!), Third, Why did Toure look like a broke ass Fonzworth Bentley? I think he knew he was going to be on TV, wear a suit and tie and if a hair cut is not in plan, smooth out the naps in the fro dude! His jacket looked like it didnt fit, with one button fastened. Fourth, their electoral map was on a board with pictures tacked on of the candidate and the state they won. I think the board was left over from Walter Chronkite's coverage of the 68' election! Nonetheless entertaining but it makes me wonder, why bother? I would have appreciated it more if they just covered the outcome and Obama's acceptance speech. Harsh huh...

McCain's consession speech was classy, someone made the comment that he isnt as big of an ass afterall. I agree, in 2000 he appeared to be the guy until Bush railroaded him. Only thing, he had to be a douche to get elected and that along with Palin dragging his ticket down it cost him. Well and W played a big role in this as well, but I think we all knew that! His crowd was a bunch of punk ass sore losers! I still dont think he has done enough to quiet their discontent over Obama. I think he will have to do more to address this issue and soon!

During and after the election of Obama, I have seen a couple of Conservatives who have surprisingly approached this positively. William Bennett, former Education Secretary said on CNN during the returns that Obama's election does show that there is and was never a Bradley efffect, it shows that we have made progress in this country but we cannot forget the past transgressions as we move forward into this new chapter. I was floored, the average conservative feels that whenever a black person makes it that automatically means racism is dead and that we need to "get over it" and stop being a "victim". I hate that, I had a friend who would always give me that argument when we debated politics growing up. I wonder if he still feels that way? It's ironic, he is a minority as well but as I would always say to him is that he would be better accepted in those circles than I ever would. Then on the View yesterday Elizabeth Hasselbeck, America's most tortured conservative said that she would support our new President. I about fell out of my chair when I heard that! I think not much more can be said to that but stay tuned!

I am trying hard to avoid as much news as I can at least until the inaugration. They are going to cover, discuss and scrutinize everything Obama does until then. If the man rips a fart, I think Dana Bash from CNN will remote live to discuss smell, loudness factor and collateral damage to the environment and his underwear! Geez, there are other things going on in the world like hoping W doesnt embarass us in his remaining 70+ days in office! We do have 70+ more days to add to the Bush lexicon, maybe he will create or mispronounce a few more words for us. I know a few English teachers have died from his poor grammar and speech.

This week, aside from the election has been a real cluster f*ck! I like (not love) my job, being a problem solver when alot of stuff goes wrong in a short period of time sucks! I think the only blessing is that my night call has been almost non-existant. (I am knocking on wood as I say that) I guess some alcohol consumption is in order...it's Throwdown Thursday and the Real Men Council is meeting...The Real Men (not the ROC Boys) are in the building tonight!! I think that will be a good way to blow off some steam, try to get reoriented and my head back on track at work and HOME! Lately I have been mentally and physically tired... the physical was from treking to San Diego a couple of weeks ago for a conference and you know once you get used to a new time zone, it is time to go back to your time zone. I wasnt dragging as much as I thought I would be, but it did take its toll. Getting back into the flow of work wasnt too bad, I just hate coming back to things that you thought were getting done and they turn out to be still outstanding. The mental has been a combo of work and home, I just come home drained. Then I want to relax knowing I need to continue my academic persuits and trying to keep happiness and peace in a long distance relationship is tough. Lately, we have been seeing each other quite often, alot due to football season but it is hard. I knew it would be, but sometimes it gets me down a bit. I am used to having my gf around (for better or for worse) but having someone there is always the more preferred option. But whatever it's worth, living here a long distance is better than being single in alot of respects.

San Diego was a great town, lots to do although I didnt feel like I had alot of time (the conference was jam packed and I had to present a poster) and my hotel was near nothing. I did meet some cool folks from other organizations and schools and the networking was awesome! And what is a conference without great swag! I got lots of pens, bags and a coffee cup that I have been rocking hard!

The Gaslamp district is where it's at, just bring alot of money because it is an expensive town! Lots of great restaurants but you will pay a grip for some grub! I would like to go back, the weather was great and I went off-peak so that was a plus. I would designate San Diego a good getaway to escape the fall or winter blahs, if just for a moment. Traveling has me thinking more about where I want to go in 2009. Hell, I wish i could go to Vegas early next year! Maybe a couple (or three) vacations may be in order in 09!

Thanks for hitting me up, i'll holla! Class dismissed...

Dial 'O': Change is here!

Today I arose from bed, went through my morning routine as usual. It seemed like another ordinary day, the difference is that yesterday America stood up and elected Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States and the FIRST African-American to hold that office. Honestly, I am filled with so many emotions right now that it is hard for me to express how this moment makes me feel. Naturally I am proud, proud that America despite it's past has chosen its leader based on his promise and ability to lead. I am grateful to be alive for this moment, that my parents are still here and many of those who never thought this day would ever come.

What's next? President-Elect Obama has monumental challenges and lots of promises to keep. He also bears the weight of many as he enters the highest office. How did we get here? Faith is how we got here, the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. We hoped, dreamed and prayed for this event and for this man. That should not stop today since he has been elected, it must continue from ALL of us! Together we said Yes We Can and We DID, now as our new President stated last night, the real work begins for ALL Americans, we must come together for as another great President from Illinois stated, a house divided against itself CANNOT stand!It's time to reach out and restore the hope, promise and reputation of our country. We dialed 'O' for change...get ready and stay prayed up for our new prez!