The Spectrum of Nasty

So now there is a new kid on the block, Nicki Minaj. Just heard about her this weekend and I may have seen her on BET but wouldn't have known her from a hole in the ground. Yeah, I must be getting old because I don't know half of any of these celebrities nor so called MCs anymore. Maybe if any of them did anything that DIDN'T SUCK, maybe I would give a shit who they are! I did a web search for her today and then started to look at her pictures. Similar searches included Trina (aka The Baddest Bitch) and Lil Kim. Interesting similar searches as what I read has made comparisions of Nicki Minaj to Lil Kim. Funny, to me her body is more similar to that of Trina which leads me to call Minaj "Trina lite".

Now I don't know what kind of MC Minaj will be, but one thing is pretty certain is that her sexuality will be an asset as well as a major part of her emceeing. As I thought about this and the comparision I made to Trina, I was thinking where would Ms. Minaj fall on a list of the raunchiest female MCs? I thought of 3 MCs and one R&B singer who has a bit of a rep in her music to be raw in her sexuality. The contenders are:

Trina: Miami's own, famous for such hits as "The Baddest Bitch" and of course my all time favorie her duet with Trick Daddy on Nann N*gga,

Lil Kim: The Queen B, admiring her shoes from Gucci, eatin sushi playin with her p*ssy! (Classic line amongst many from the Lil one)

And the R&B "star" Adina Howard: You remember when "A Freak Like Me" came out. Seems like all the freaks got a bit freakier when that dropped. Since then, she fell into obscurity for a few years but has had moderate success with songs like "Nasty Grind", "(Freak) And U Know It" and "T-Shirt & Panties" played in the film Woo.

So my spectrum would be from top (freak of the decade) to bottom (up and coming freak):

1. Adina Howard: Gotta love those song titles. I mean yeah she is half remembered but more forgotten but her s*it is raw. This is beyond baby making music, this is "put on this construction helmet so I won't kill you whilst I bang you to this nasty ass song" music. I think her next album she may start singing about Cincinnati Bowties, Dirty Sanchez's and Rusty Trombones.

2. Lil Kim: A close second, Lil Kim has some lines where I wanted to J*zz in my pants. And her videos...well don't get up and go anywhere in public for about 15-20 minutes.

3 Trina: Never trust a big butt and smile...

4. Nicki Minaj: As I said, it will remain to be seen what kind of nasty, freaky ass s*it she will be throwing on a track. I just hope she's decent, try to not fall into the mold of the current state of hip-hop. Or at least don't get booed off stage a la OJ the Juiceman.

What an age we live in!!! All the sex you can stand and all you have to do is have iTunes!!!

Class dismissed....

Have You Had Your Pain Today? (Exhibit B)

Amy Winehouse, example of a tortured soul? I think anyone who follows current popular culture, the news or just a music lover knows her story halfway well. I have to keep asking myself, what the hell happened to her voice? Let me explain. I think she is a good singer but her chops aren't as good since she started riding the pipe train. I love her Frank B Sides album. This album is a mostly remix, live and alternate versions of some of her cuts from the Frank album. The song that strikes me most is her version of "There is no greater love." She kills it! The rest of the album is very good, just good music to listen to in the car or just lounging around the house. What is lacking in my opinion is the voice in her current music but what is common from that album until now is the passion, the longing and the hurt. She deals with love, breakups, infidelity, relationship roles and even takes a swipe at ho's all on one remix album. That is a broad range of issues as well as emotions. When she deals with the more intimate issues, you can hear it in her voice that she is singing from experience, from deep within her soul. This album for me shows the origin of pain and how it has been spread throughout many years and ultimately leading to the downfall of a truly unique voice in music. I just hope she gets it together and gets back fully in the game. Until next time...hopefully not 4 months from now! LOL!!!

This one's for Mike

I think I am kind of in silent shock about Michael Jackson. In a way, I had forgotten about him. Within the last few years with all of the accusations and court cases, he had become a bit of an outcast of sorts and I started to wonder what had happened. How I asked myself as I look at his album covers on my iPod did all of what he had and was as an artist (meaning his look, style etc)change so dramatically. As I pulled into my apartment complex listening to Human Nature almost 24 hours before he died I said...I miss black Mike. Weird statement I know, but i said it jokingly. But then last week, sitting in a bar having been really busy at work I hadn't heard he was hospitalized. I don't think anyone but God knew what was to happen next but we now all know that he is gone.

The very next day I went to a cookout and all of the music that was played for a majority of the evening was Michael Jackson and just like everyone else, it took me back! I knew where I was when I fell in love with hip-hop, but Michael Jackson is timeless in so many ways. His style and music did change dramatically but one thing was certain, when MJ was involved you were going to get a show. The question was "how would he amaze me this time?" The most memorable MJ moment for me was his performance of Billie Jean on the Motown 25 special in 1983. Everyone you knew was watching and they were all watching to catch his performance. And if you remember it like I do, it was one for the ages. My biggest question is this: After all of this news coverage slows down and we do learn what was the final determination of his death, will we REALLY know the whole story? I would bet no simply to preserve his memory, legacy as well as to minimize additional pain that can be caused.

As my partner in crime Uniqpoet said: "God must be having a concert, he has James Brown, Isaac Hayes, Barry White and now Michael Jackson...he's jammin!!!!" Thanks Michael Jackson, RIP.

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…