American Music Awards: Wraps and SANGING

Hey everybody!!! You know it just wouldn't be right if I didn't do a recap for the most recent awards show: The American Music Awards.  I'm not going to lie it was hard to concentrate because there were other things I wanted to watch, in particular Carol Burnett receiving the Mark Twain Prize (I'm a huge fan of hers).  But the pop culture guide in me would not let me miss the show.  Here are my highlights:

Pitbull's Opening Monologue I am assuming that everybody else in Hollywood was booked Sunday night and Pitbull was the the only one free.  His opening monologue was very stale.  He was trying to ride the "twerking" train and at this point, I think everybody is over it.  Honestly, not sure why they even had a host.  I think he was on stage for an overall 5 minutes the whole 3 hour show.

It was the Justin Timberlake Show Let's all take a minute to give JT another round of applause. Even though his performance was giving me Mumford and Sons, I was totally feeling it. Not only did he make an awesome comeback after like 7 years (20/20 is that sh*t), but apparently, he has taken over the R&B genre.  This leads me to another point: why is it that JT can cross the color lines into R&B but Rihanna can't cross those same lines into Pop.  There is no way you would consider Suite and Tie Pop, but for some odd reason Found Love in a Hopeless Place is the epitome of R&B.  I will never understand this, but yeah, whatever.

Shine Bright like a Diamond Studded Bobby Pin When African American women wrap their hair, it means it's time for bed. But in Rihanna's case, it's time to leave for the American Music Awards.  I am not sure if her hair stylist ran out of time or what but she wore that wrap with the most confidence.  However, it didn't stop there.  When she performed she decided to take it up a notch and added diamond studded bobby pins.  You read that correctly. Diamond. Studded. Bobby. Pins.  But what makes me really mad is that I know that all the teens and 20 somethings will be wearing wraps and bobby pins in the next few weeks.  You remember when Solange wore those box braids and then the next thing you know everybody was wearing them?  The beauty supply stores are going to be selling diamond studded bobby pins in all colors by mid-2014.  But I ain't made at you Rihanna and congrats on your Icon Award.

TLC Performs with the help of Lil' Mama If you go back a couple of posts you know that I love me some TLC.  So I was excited about their performance on the American Music Awards show.  But what took this performance to another level was having Lil' Mama stand in for Left Eye.  If you saw the movie you will know that Lil' Mama hit it out of the park with her portrayal of Left Eye so it was fitting for her to do the rap on Waterfalls.  Some people on my timeline was not feeling it but she gets two thumbs up from me.

Ariana Grande Can SANG If you had any doubts about Ariana's talent, those doubts were squashed Sunday night.  Homegirl can SANG as we say in the black community.  She really has a Mariah Carey feel to her.  I'm looking forward to seeing what's next for her.

The American Music Awards Show was underwhelming and long.  But like any other award show, there is always going to be that one thing that stands out.

What were your feeling about the show?

Christianity: The New Reality TV Moneymaker

If you do not know by now, reality TV has taken over.  For the last decade, regular people have become stars from doing regular stuff.  From housewives, to bakeries, to weight loss competitions, to dancing, to singing, to bad girls: these things plus more have found its way into a reality television program.  But the American audiences are not the only ones that love these programs; cable networks do too.  As they should. These programs are crazy cheap to make compared to scripted shows and they don't have to worry about dealing with celebrities with huge egos that want a million dollars per episode.  Even with the popularity of reality TV, you would think that some subjects would be too sacred to touch.  But as my mom use to say, "If you think this world can't get any worse, just wait a few minutes." 

[Disclaimer: I am not trying to convert anyone to Christianity.  This is just strictly my opinion of the shows mentioned.] 



Source: www.theblaze.com



In the last month, the cable channel, Oxygen, has premiered Preachers of L.A. and now Bravo has launched Thicker than Water.  Before that, TLC had Preacher Wives.  All of these shows showcase pastors, bishops, reverends, first ladies, or whatever they want to be called living lives as lavish as rappers and ball players.  You see them in the big fancy homes (or mansions to be more specific) and luxury cars.  They can all be seen with flashy jewelry draping their wrists and necks.   If I was just flipping through the channels I would think I had stumbled upon a repeat episode of MTV Cribs.  Surprisingly (or maybe not), they have no shame in showing others how God has "bless" them.

I don't even know where to start.  Like I'm dead serious; the blasphemy in these shows gave me writer's block for a second.  All that keeps coming to mind is that working class members of mega church congregations have funded these "men of God" with multiple homes and thousand dollars suits.  These so-called shepherds make millions off book deals, movies, and music using God's word.  Some of them boldly preach: someone has to have this stuff, why not me?

For centuries, religion has been seen as sacred.  Even when you are in a place of worship you conduct yourself a different way because of it's sanctity.  Now religion is being shown on TV as casually as pageant girls.  It is now considered weekly entertainment.  Some might say that those who are not a part of organized religion are getting exposed to Christianity.  But can you honestly say that Preachers of L.A. and Thicker than Water are bringing people to the good news?  People who are already skeptical of religion are not going to watch these men in Armani suits and  run to their local place of worship.  These shows do the exact opposite. 

What about the excuse that God wants them to have these things?  Well, preacher man let me introduce you to a king.  King Solomon to be exact.  The thing about King Solomon was that he was the richest king of his time.  In in his words:

"I accumulated silver and gold for myself, the treasures of kings and of provinces.  I gathered male and female singers for myself, as well as what brings great pleasure to the sons of men-- a woman, yes, many women.  So I grew great and surpassed anyone prior to me in Jerusalem..... But when I reflected on all the works that my own hands had done and on all the hard work that I had toiled to accomplish, I saw that everything was futile, a chasing after the wind."  --Ecclesisastes 2:8,9,11 New World Translation, 2013

Now what moves me the most is the last part of verse 11: a chasing after the wind.  King Solomon compared all his riches to chasing after the wind.  Some people might see material things as a reward of hard work but Solomon refer to these material things as futile.  Yes, futile also known as useless, unimportant, or frivolous.  God could have inspired (2 Timothy 3:16) anybody to write this in the Bible but He chose to have the richest king record this verse. 

Now rather you believe in God or not this is such a beautiful scripture.  You see, Jehovah God knew we would not all be able to acquire riches.  He also knew we would be surrounded by people with many things and because of our imperfections we could easily become envious of those who do have many things.  Jehovah wanted us all to know that riches were not important and does not define our lives.  However, how we live our lives is what define us. 

You will not get a weekly recap of the previously mention shows because I can't stand to watch more than five minutes.  These shows will not be getting anybody to wake up early on Sunday and visit a place of worship.  The men who choose to partake in these shows need to  take a look at their instruction manual (the Bible) and see what it has to say about their lifestyles (Matthew 6:24). 

What are your thoughts on Preacher of L.A. or Thicker Than Water?

Nelly, Hip Hop, and Charity

 I am a huge fan of HuffPost Live. They have interesting segments from interviews with various celebrities to debates on  rather college athletes should get paid.  This week HuffPost Live interviewed the Show Me State rapper, Nelly.  During Nelly's interview he was asked about the tip drill incident that happened circa 2004.  Nelly gave his honest thoughts on the incident. 

If you don't know about it, let me bring you up to speed. 

BET use to have this program called Uncut.  Uncut showed videos that could not be seen on the teen targeted 106 & Park.  Nelly had a video on there called "Tip Drill".  Now I have to admit that the song is very catchy and most definitely a club banger.  As far as the video is concerned, it was almost too X-rated for Uncut, leaning more towards softcore porn.  Something else I should point out about this program is that it was mostly underground/unknown rappers.  It just seemed out of place to have such an established, mainstreamed artist like Nelly doing an uncut video.  Some time after the video had been out, Nelly planned a bone marrow drive event at Spelman College, an all girls institution.  Some woman at the event chose to protest the event because of the "Tip Drill" video.  Needless to say, Nelly wasn't too happy.

Nelly said in the interview that the bone marrow drive was not the time or place to do the protest or have a discussion about the infamous video.  Nelly was trying to find a bone marrow match for his sister and that should have been the priority.  Nelly further goes in about how others have given hip hop a bad rep and notes that every rapper he knows has a charitable nonprofit.  When asked if he would change anything about the Spelman incident, he boldly says that he would "kick somebody's a**."  Yep, that's right Nelly.  How dare people give hip hop a bad rep after you make a statement saying  that if you could redo the event you would whip somebody at an all girls' college.  Very honorable.

First let's get into the Spelman incident (I won't spend too much time on it because it is about 10 years old).  Nelly was asking the same women whose image he had tarnished to support him.  He wanted these woman to put their differences aside to possibly save his sister (who has now passed).  I, too, have lost a close family member because of cancer so I can understand his pain. The problem was Nelly's audacity.  He didn't realize the caliber of women he was approaching.  These woman did not aspire to be "tip drills" but lawyers and doctors.  These women (like most college women)  are being challenge to examine the world around them and make some sense of it. For them, it didn't make sense for an artist, who had a popular video with woman being hit on the behind, to have the audacity to approach them to aid him in his efforts.  You can't bite the hand you are going to later ask to feed you. 

He also says in the interview they [women of Spelman] are no longer protesting his song.  We as black women are always protesting for our image.  I agree that "Tip Drill" was not the first degrading video nor will it be the last.  However, hip hop artists need to understand that we are tired of our black bodies being seen as merely sex objects.  We are tired of seeing the played out concept of rappers throwing dollar bills at black strippers.  And we are tired of the only attire you see a woman wearing in a rap video is a fur bikini (that's not even practical).  I'm sorry that Nelly lost his sister, but it needs to be made clear that you can't ask for our support when you do not support us where it counts.  (It has been noted in the comment section of the interview by Spelman alums that were attending the school during that time that the bone marrow drive went on as planned but the women were disappointed that Nelly would not have a conversation with them about the video.)



The other bone I have to pick is the whole "I give back to my community so what's the problem?".  The problem is you can't crap on our image on a national level and then expect us to ignore it because you gave toys to poor kids during Christmas.  It just doesn't work that way.  Doing good deeds does not excuse you from taking social responsibility.  If I'm caught stealing on my job, I can't say "Well you know, I always bring doughnuts to the office for breakfast." No! I will be fired.  That how it works: you do not-so-good stuff and you suffer whatever consequences follows. 

I hate Nelly lost his sister, I really do.  Nelly might have thought it wasn't the time to discuss his risqué video but if not when he is on a campus full of black women then when?  Rappers might be donating millions of dollars to Boys and Girls Clubs but are they really doing that community justice  when the same girls they are "helping"  are seeing older images of themselves gyrating on the TV screen?

What are your thoughts? 

Style and Fashion with Korto Momolu

Hey everybody!!! I proudly present to you the first interview for my newest blog, EBONY, The Stylist: Project Runway's designer Korto Momolu.  Ms. Momolu made her debut on Project Runway during season 5.  She can be currently seen on Project Runway All Stars that comes on Lifetime, Thursdays 9/8c.  Tune in to the interview as Korto discusses what inspired her to be a designer, her experience on Project Runway, and the fashion industry.

 

 



#PebblesTriedIt

Hey everybody!!! This past Monday VH1 premiered Crazy, Sexy, Cool: The TLC Story and it broke network records with 4.5 million viewers.  If you read my last post you know that I was excited about this movie.  But I had no idea how much tea this movie was going to spill. 

I had watched their Behind the Music some years ago so I know that TLC was dragged through the music business.  However, it is one thing to have them talk about their struggles but it's another thing to have it portrayed in a movie.  We were shown in 2.5 hours that TLC most definitely climbed mountains while trying to rise to musical greatness. They overcame cheating boyfriends, abortions, life threatening diseases, and bankruptcy.  When I was listening to "Creep", "Waterfalls", and "What about your Friends?" I had no idea these sistas were barely holding it together.  But what really gets me is their shady manager, Pebbles.  Pebbles makes Joe Jackson look like a Disney princess.  She was ruthless.

 

The first side eye that Ms. Pebbles gets is when she told the girls they would get a $25 stipend a week.  Now I know that this was 1990 but what exactly were you getting with $25 dollars a week? Scrunchies?! Then her inner Joe Jackson came out when she was tripping about Chilli talking to Dallas Austin and then threw her out the group. I almost thought she was jealous but then I realized that she was protecting her investment because these girls were a product to her.   Every time these girls asked about their money (which they were entitled to) she would start throwing them these out of the world excuses.  These girls had #1 hits and selling millions of albums but didn't have anything to show for it but the scrunchies they were buying with their $25 stipend. 

Now let's talk about where Pebbles got bold.  Pebbles informs TLC they have a platinum selling album and instead of presenting them with fat checks she instead presents them with Rav 4s from a used car dealership.  Like, seriously?! The girls later find out that these cars was brought with their own money.  But Fruity Pebbles doesn't stop there.  T-Boz collapses at one of their shows and she is rushed to the hospital.  This is where Chilli and Left-Eye find out that T-Boz has sickle cell disease.  Instead of Pebbles showing a little compassion, she is concerned about the money that will be lost from cancelled shows.  That was her inner Ike Turner. 

The girls get fed up with being broke and go to their lawyer.  And just when you thought Fruity Pebbles couldn't be any worse, you find out that the lawyer that is representing TLC is actually Pebbles' lawyer too.  At first the lawyer tells them that he can't even talk to them about their business without Pebbles' permission.  But I guess he feels sorry for them and proceeds to school them about their "standard contract".  Money from their albums is going back to the label to pay for studio time, rehearsal time, travel, gifts, LA Reid's label, Pebbles,  Pebbles' label and apparently those raggedy Rav 4s.  TLC decides that Fruity Pebbles has to go but, unfortunately, will have to pay a heavy fee  just to keep their name (apparently they paid a million dollars per letter). 

According to Rolling Stone, Pebbles' kids were none too happy with this portrayal of their mother.  Well, I bet TLC wasn't too happy having to file for bankruptcy.  If you didn't learn anything from this movie, you better learn these managers are not your friends.  Take your contract to a lawyer (not your manager's lawyer) to make sure every thing is on the up and up. 

What are your views on the portrayal of Pebbles?

#ForeverTLC

Hey everybody!!! Next Monday (October 21) VH1 will be premiering Crazy, Sexy, Cool: The TLC Story.  Ever since I heard about this bio movie I have been excited.  Why, you ask?  Not only are they the best selling girl group but they were my introduction to R&B and hip hop.  I was four the first time I heard Baby, Baby, Baby.  It was on BET's Video Soul hosted by Donnie Simpson.  I had no idea what I was singing about but I was walking around the house singing the lyrics nonstop.  I still can't believe that my mom thought it was a good idea to buy this album for a preschooler. 

Yall remember those cassette tapes!!

I can remember playing this tape over and over again.  I played it so much that the words on the cassette faded.  I fondly remember listening to What About Your Friends, Ain't Too Proud to Beg, and Hat to the Back.  I would make up dance routines to every song on that album and sing to the top of my voice.  My mom stayed yelling from the front of the house for me to shut up.  This album is so nostalgic for me. 

TLC were my first favorite artists.  What amazed me the most was how unique each girl was.  Unlike other girl groups, TLC was not about having all the attention on one girl while the others held it down in the background.  When you watched a video, you got to see a glimpse of each girl's personality.  And even though some of their songs were very adult, they were still good role models to young folks.  They didn't dress overly provocative and they advocated safe sex (Left-Eye actually wore a condom as an eye patch).

As stated before not every song was about bumping and grinding.  They sang about real issues.  Everybody remembers their smash hit Waterfalls.  The song was about making good choices and not taking unnecessary risks.  They were not gimmicky but genuinely talented.  They didn't have to prove they were grown women by bearing all their flesh or pulling crazy stunts at award shows.  They let their music do the talking.  I long for the days of real grown women in the music business. 

TLC most definitely has had their bumps in the road: bankruptcy, a life threatening disease, burning houses, and a tragic death. But they have shown through it all that they are classy and strong as iron.  I love these ladies and I'm amped to see this bio pic.  I hope that Keke Palmer, Drew Sidora, and Lil' Mama do these ladies justice because they deserve it.

Will you be tuning in? What is your favorite TLC song?

#ASitDownWithKanye

Hey everybody!!! You may already know about the famous (or infamous depending on who you ask) interview Jimmy Kimmel had with Kanye West.  The interview took place after Kanye threw an all-caps fit on Twitter because Kimmel mocked an interview he [Kanye] did with BBC.  The two sat down and talked out their beef.  What followed was an interesting interview.  Kanye goes on a 40 minute rant about everything.  It was all over the place and exhausting. 

I knew I wanted to write about it, I just didn't know what angle to attack it.  I had to even go back and watch the interview to really get a hold of it.  Then I had an intense debate with my work BFF about the interview.  I even took mental notes of different parts of the interview.  I don't think I have ever had to think that hard about the context of a post before I actually started typing.  So with all that said I will try my best to convey my opinion on what historians will be calling the most famous late night interview: A Sit Down with Kanye

What I Agreed With
Kanye discussed how celebrities are in the zoo and how their realities are often made fun of by others.  As I stated before, this all started because Jimmy mocked Kanye in an earlier episode.  Jimmy even admitted that sometimes he doesn't think about how his comedy skits might effect celebrities' feelings.  I can't imagine my life constantly being under a microscope and then having it mock in a late night sketch.  Your every word is dissected and then some comedian basically calls you stupid for it.  Celebrities have a constant battle: money and fame versus no longer having a private life.  It explains why a lot of them go crazy.  Would you be able to keep your sanity?  But then Jimmy spitted some truth when he told Kanye that some of his negative reviews are because of his own actions.  That at times, he comes off as a jerk.  You can't act like a douche bag and then get mad when others call you a douche bag. 

Kanye said that he is not a politician and so he doesn't do publicity stunts.  Now I could be dead wrong here but I believe him when he says this.  When Kanye announced on live television that President Bush didn't care about black people, that was not a cheap shot for attention.  When Kanye would show out at awards shows when he didn't win, that was all him.  When Mr. West interrupted Taylor Swift to say that Beyonce had the best video of all times, he wasn't doing that for album sales.  I believe that it is just his personality.  Now it ain't cute but that is just who he is as a human being. 

Where the Side Eye Begins
If I hear Kanye call himself a creative genius one more time I will literally burn every Kanye CD I have. Now this is what caused the debate between my work BFF and I.  She believes that he is a tortured soul and I believe that he is his own hype man.  Ray Charles, Miles Davis, Johnny Cash have all been considered musical geniuses.  Not one time did any of these artists say it themselves but let others say it for them.  For some reason Kanye believes that no one respects his talents and so he has to continuely tell us how great he is.  The whole reason College Dropout was so successful was because it was so different from everything else that was on the scene.  On his first album and every album since, he has proved that he is a contender in the rap game and probably any other industry.  Why he thinks he still  has to prove that puzzles me. 

Where the Side Eye Completes
Kanye says that when people think of fashion they think of him.  I will give it to him that he has his own swag and even has the potential to do great things in fashion.  But he needs to recant that last statement. 

When he said that Kim Kardashian deserved a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame I was wondering how Jimmy was able to keep a straight face.  The only thing that Kim Kardashian has proven is that you can have absolutely no real talent and stay relevant for 5 plus years.  You have TV legends and Academy Award winners who share a spot on the famous walk.  These are people that broke down barriers and have received all types of accolades in the entertainment industry.  What has Kim accomplished other than having a cameo in a Tyler Perry movie and a clothing line in Sears?  Kanye can be proud of his baby mama all day long but a star she is not. 

I'm still trying to wrap my mind around this interview but maybe I never will.  If it did anything it started some good office conversation. 

Have you seen it?  What are your thoughts?