Sunday, November 29, 2009

Love, Peace and SOUUUUUULLLLL!


Ok groovy Dudes and Dudettes,

I just finished watching the Soul Train Music Awards... *Sigh* and here goes...

Well, to be honest, this show was a vast improvement over the past few music awards shows we have been subjected to. Unlike the BET Music Awards, they were smart enough to pre-record this event, as to eliminate all the bufoonery, slip ups, prolonged speeches, and falls that a live show will bring you. And although it is quite entertaining to see it live, pre-recorded does make for a much better show, as we saw tonight. Here are some highlights from tonight:

Terrence Howard and Taraji P Henson did a good job hosting. I was amazed to see and find out that Taraji could actually sing. If I had seen Tyler Perry's, "I Can Do Bad All By Myself," I may have already known that. They had great chemistry and their opening number was quite cute. I could have done without some of the skits and mediocre jokes, but the kiss at the end made up for all that. I wonder how much of that was acting...I don't know, but at the end of it she opened her mouth up pretty damn good and I know I saw some tongue, and the lipstick all over Terrence's face was evident of that.

Johnny Gill was off the damn chain! As usual he lived up to expectation, almost to the point that I am about to start a petition to get a new Johnny Gill album soon. Eddie's Boo, I mean, Johnny killed it. As a matter of fact the entire Motown 50 dedication was great. The legends dedications were very classy. I was glad to see that they picked performers who did the legends justice. The best honor of course went to Chaka Khan. They honestly saved the best for last. They could have done without Grand Master Flash and his, "I still think I can be a Mr. Olympia" poses and tank tops. SERIOUSLY? Erykah Badu was AssStanding. I do apologize, but she has some Assets that can't be overlooked. WOW. Fantasia really got the party jumping with her energetic persona and then to shut it down was Columbia S.C.'s own, Angie Stone! Her interaction and inclusion of Chaka in her tribute really made the show. One note, someone please tell Chaka to stop wearing those Moo-Moo tops. Hell she is blessed, no need to stress...and is it me, or does Chaka always have that J.B.F. look when she sweats and has her hair all over the place?

Chrisette Michelle made her presence known...FINALLY! I was shocked to hear that Terrence Howard didn't know who she was. For those of you that have yet to hear this young lady sing, or hear her new CD...Get on board! Where have you been? This young lady is one of the great talents that gets overlooked because she is not commercial, wearing some outrageous outfit, not showing her ass and breast, vulgar, or "sleeping" her way to the top. Get on the bandwagon.

However, every awards show is not without its flaws...

K-Ci with his kicks across the stage was hilarious, while at the same time a confirmation that we are not ready for a Jodeci comeback. At least JoJo looked like he was losing weight.

The editing was not the best. The applause and crowd screams were off, (there were times when the crowd was applauding but as they scanned the crowd, everyone was sitting still). A lot of the performances were cut off in the middle and the winners were seen hugging their family and friends, then *boom* were magically on stage giving their speech. To say that this was done about a month ago, you would expect to have a little better production.

Latoya Luckett on the red carpet as a hostess? SERIOUSLY? You would never catch Beyonce doing that. And speaking of the red carpet, did anyone notice the "arrival cam?" Funny how the young lady hosting with Mr. Bentley was seen "arriving" while she was interviewing someone on the red carpet. Amazing. And was everyone getting dropped off by the same black Escalade?

Estelle in her full fledge tuxedo, looking like her name was 'Harold." Granted, I get the concept, but maybe with a more "feminine" pair of pants she might have pulled it off. Then having her hair slicked back only gave her that Blues Brothers look.

Raheem Devaughn gone commerical? He has a song with Ludacris. He was one of the original Neo Soul artists, but I guess those checks don't pay as much as the commercial ones do. I guess there is a price for fame. His rant on the red carpet is a true testament that he feels that his "grass roots" music is not appreciated and he needed to go another direction.

Was it me, or did anyone else notice that Ludacris was constantly staring at Keri Hilson's ass while she was accepting her award? He tried to play it off by looking in the crowd, but he just could not help looking down and checking her out. She is a tall drink of water, but he finshed the whole glass. LUDA! *Burp*

Deborah Lee looks great after losing her weight and getting in shape, but why does she now look like she is ready to lead a cheer? (Ready? OK!) Fist piercing her sides, body upright, ready to scream: "Gimme a B, B? You got yo' B, you got yo B, gimme a E, E? You got yo' E, you got yo' E, Gimme a T, T? you got yo' T, you got yo' T." And she should have just killed a full grown Chinchilla instead of it's cousin, Cheekchilla. Maybe that would explain her inability to put her arms all the way down.
I'm kidding.

Seriously, I was very impressed with the show tonight, two thumbs up and a pinky toe out for BET and Centric for putting on a very classy awards show and paying homage to the Soul Train brand. I'm still a little disappointed that the "big wigs" didn't make an appearance, i.e. Jay-Z, Beyonce (granted she was performing in Russia and did at least accept her award via satellite), Jennifer Hudson, Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, Sean Combs, Timberland, etc... All of whom seemed to find their way to the horrible AMA's. I'm just saying, show some respect to the brand that was one of the first to put artist who looked like you on television, hosted by and produced by someone who looked like you. Still they find a way to cancel shows and do whatever possible to make it to the award shows where they rarely get recognized, are often ridiculed, hosted by and produced by someone who use to do whatever possible to keep your people off television or steal their music and claim it as their own (see Dreamgirls for clarification of the last comment). Sorry, I got on my soap box for a moment. I digress...

So, in the words of the immortal Don Cornelius, leaving you with Love, Peace and SOOOOOOOUUUUUULLLLLLL!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Fee Fi Fo Fum, the Little Big Man is Done


Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is with great despair and a heavy heart that I write this blog. Today, one of the best shooting guards under 6 ft tall... RETIRED.

Allen Iverson announced today on the Stephen A. Smith radio show that he is calling it a career, but not on his terms. This was a player that brought swagger to basketball, style to the game, attitude and passion on the court, was a fearless David in a world of Goliaths, yet with one small orange rock, he conquered them all. They said he lost a step, I say he was so fast that they couldn't catch the first one. League MVP, 10 time all star, #6 on the all time scoring list, Eastern Conference Champion, NBA Finals, Olympic Gold Medalist...

He showed that how you "practice," is not always a true indicator of how you will play the "game," but more so the heart and passion that you put into it. When he cornrowed his hair they called him a thug, and when he cut it off, they called him arrogant.

The media will tell you that he was selfish, cocky and not a good teammate, however, his teammates will tell you he was dedicated, talented, and a leader. "Old heads," know him as the Answer to the Question or AI, young heads know him as #3.

So, fee fi fo fum, I can't believe the Little Big Man is Gone...

Monday, November 23, 2009

SERIOUSLY? THIS IS WHAT WE HAVE COME TO?




Hello Ladies and Gents,

I know it has been 488 days since my last blog, and I must admit... I kind of missed it. A lot has happened since last I grace the page with my words of insight. We have a black president, our beloved Michael Jackson passed... Some things have remained the same, children are still crazy, celebrities are still losing their minds, the economy is still in turmoil, and the world is still spiraling out of control. So... (stretch, stretch), let me... climb up on this soap box of mine. Whew! OK, lets begin...

The most recent of events that I have a problem with is the lack of production and quality of awards shows. SERIOUSLY! Take last night's AMAs... We had Rihanna and Lady Gaga wearing the latest fashion by the toilet paper mache' twins, "Char'min and A'ngel Soft." Granted I more so enjoyed Rihanna's outfit, though she reminded me of the character from the Fifth Element, it did distract me from her annoying "alarm like," voice as I tried to see if a nipple was going to pop out or if the camera man would be so kind as to give us a glimpse of her from behind, (at least to cure my curiosity of whether or not her ass was out) all while trying to read the tattoo on her neck. Did it say, "Chris Brown was here." Lady Gaga was not as appealing, I don't know if she was a skeleton or a Q-tip, but her ass cheeks were definitely hanging off the back of the piano all while she sat gap legged singing ever so beautifully. It's ashame that her talent is often overlooked because she chooses to make a mockery of herself. Distracting the wrong attention is not always a good thing, hence is why, although she was the most deserving, she did not win Artist of the Year. Which brings me to my next issue: Taylor Swift wins Artist of the Year? SERIOUSLY? What has she done this year besides get embarrassed by Kanye West? At least I've seen Lady Gaga, heard her music on every station I've turned to. Now let me preface this next point by saying, I am one of the biggest Michael Jackson fans, I've was suspended from school on several occasions for wanting to be the Glittered Glove Wonder. Saying that, was it truly a tribute to his memory to give him "Sympathy Awards?" I mean he was nominated in categories with artists that we knew he would and should have beaten. For instance, he was nominated for Best Male Pop artist, his competition? Eminem and T.I., two hip hop artists. SERIOUSLY? They should have put up a disclaimer before the show that read, "Ladies and Gentlemen, we will be giving Michael Jackson every award that he will be nominated for, with the exception of Artist of the Year, because that would be too obvious." That way we would know what to expect. Award shows have become so mundane and lets face it, boring. There was a time when we would look forward to award shows, they were the highlight(s) of the year. You had the Grammys, AMAs, The Soul Train Music Awards and later the Source Awards. The artists were more talented and the focus was just on that, TALENT! They didn't come out dressing like Porcupines (Lady Gaga), having bi-sexual sex shows onstage (Adam Lambert). Whitney Houston would blow the roof off the arena, J-Lo didn't walk through her dance routines, and all artists knew that they needed to perform the radio versions of their songs, hence there was no need for delays and bleep outs. SERIOUSLY? THIS IS WHAT WE HAVE COME TO?

WHEW! Kids! What the hell? I had the privilege to go to a high school football game last week and let's just say that this new generation either has no clue or just doesn't care. I saw young ladies walking around with low riding pants and their thongs showing, (one of which was barely a teenager and at least 8 mos pregnant), guys still wearing their pants, literally, around their ankles, not to mention it was about 40 degrees and still most of the ladies were wearing little to nothing. Older men, (probably recently graduated or been graduated and still lives through high school) who were walking around in only a tank top trying to show off their "Deeboesque" not nearly toned, just big, bodies, hoping the young ladies will notice them and say, "Damn look at that body." (It's funny how they deliberately walk with their chests stuck out and sucking in their stomach.) SERIOUSLY? You mean to tell me that you are so pathetic that you have to come back to your old high school and try to pick up freshman girls? Who, by the way, are yelling their names all across the stadium asking them to come sit with them. Breeding grounds for Pedophiles. Parents, RAISE YOUR DAMN KIDS! Little girls should not be wearing make up as if it were plastered on with a spatula, they should dress like what they are, YOUNG LADIES! I shouldn't have to check myself when a young lady walks by with the body of an adult, walking like an adult, and exposing herself like an adult...Stripper. I shouldn't see more of her ass than her underwear, more of her breasts than her bra and none of her coochie. SERIOUSLY? And we wonder why teenage pregnancy is so high, why so many "old" men are molesting and taking advantage of these young girls. Because they aren't being shown how to carry themselves like one. Young men need to pull their damn pants up, realize cornrows are not in style anymore, (come on Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony got rid of theirs) its time to let the thug persona go. SERIOUSLY? Young boys walk around loud, obnoxious, no respect for women, no idea of proper dress and we wonder why they are stereotyped by police, why they can't find decent jobs, why our culture is slowly becoming obsolete? Do we even have to wonder? SERIOUSLY? THIS IS WHAT WE HAVE COME TO?

Bottom Line, the world is in serious turmoil. We have mothers selling their daughters to sex slave trades for drugs, what happened to our loving maternal mothers? 11 year olds shooting people in cold blood, what happened to a child's innocence? Politicians deliberately wanting to see the decline of a nation, just to see a black man fail, what happened to One Nation Under God? Grown men raping and murdering young girls, what happened to our Men? A black politician in Louisiana misuses public funds, he gets 5 years in prison, a white politician in South Carolina has questions of ethics, misuses funds and cheats on his wife, and he only gets impeached, what happened to: we hold these truths to be evident that all men are created equal?

SERIOUSLY? THIS IS WHAT WE HAVE COME TO? 2012 IS BECOMING MORE BELIEVABLE, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU ARE LIVING IN SODOM AND GOMORRAH.