When rap turned the corner...

I'm pretty sure this video signifies the exact moment that hip-hop/rap made a left at Lame Court and gunned it down Ignorance Drive. Or as my friend Neal would say, "Ignunce" Drive. :-) I'm not going to lie, this was my jam back in the day. I was 23 when this song came out, and everyone I knew at the time used to have this playing in their cars as loud as possible. And sadly, every single club we went to on Friday and/or Saturday nights back then (white or black) would play this at least twice throughout the night. Every time the DJ would put this on, EVERYONE would run onto the dance floor. Yes, by everyone I am including myself. Very sad, looking back on it. Many times it was a fun game between me and my friends to determine which of us could figure out WHAT THE HECK Juvenile is saying for goodness sakes!!!! And it all just went down from here. Master P, with his none-rapping self would surface soon after this with "Make Em Say Uhh" and other such "ignorance" that I spent my parents' hard-earned money on.

Anyway, I give you, "Ha" by Juvenile. Oh and for those of you Weezy (Lil Wayne) lovers, and there are ridiculously too many of you out there, you can spot him at 3:32. Yuck. (Sorry)

Basically 3:15 and forward has always completely cracked me up. "You better run Forest, run Forest, Run!" LOL! (Trivia below the video)



Do you know where the now acceptable by Webster's term "bling" comes from? The same place all of the other crazy slang terms come from...some crazy-looking rappers with nothing better to do. The aforementioned Juvenile and "Cash Money Millionaires" had this very popular song in the late 90's. Yes...it was my jam as well...dang it!!! "Every time I come around your city BLING BLING"

Throwback Jam

Update: MY BAD!! How did I forget about the best live late-night performance I've ever seen????? This brother dances his butt off!! And his dancers are NO joke!



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I'm taking it back to 1988! This was back when rap music was still creative and great for ALL ages to listen to. And this was BY FAR my favorite MC Hammer song. I would dance to this song over and over for hours all weekend long my 8th grade year. This song was probably Hammer's last big hit in the "black community" before he actually became a mega mainstream hit with "U Can't Touch This". Don't get me wrong, black's still loved him after he went mainstream, but I'm only pointing out that the video below was just before that time came.

And it is with great pleasure that I give you..."They Put Me In The Mix". Best Hammer song ever. As a side note, my hubby pointed out recently that every black man in America was in love with B Angie B, who is featured in this video. She the one in the opening who is singing, and also has a small part in the middle of the video. Enjoy!

Very rough time for Kanye

I can't imagine the grief of suddenly losing your best friend, most ardent supporter, and the one person who stuck by you through thick and thin all rolled into one. Losing a parent is a grief that I'm sure one can only understand once they experience it. Over the years, rapper Kanye West has always been extremely vocal about his love for his mom and all that he has gone through to provide a great life for him. His mother, Dr. Donda West, was chairman of the English dept at Chicago State University. She quit her job in early 2000 to help Kanye manage his career. As my hubby pointed out yesterday, that was quite the profitable career decision she made!

Donda West passed away on Saturday, apparently due to complications from cosmetic surgery. This is a very sad story, and I know that Kanye can't be doing well at all right now. I've always been one to mock/tease him for many things that he has said and done in the recent past. But for now, my heart truly aches for him. There's a doctor named Dr. Andre Aboolian that was approached by Ms. West to receive cosmetic surgery months ago, and he wouldn't perform the surgery due to his concern over a preexisting medical condition she had. The doctor who ultimately performed the tummy tuck and breast reduction is Dr. Jan Adams, and is under a powerful microscope now (no pun intended?)

Read the rest of the story here.

Don Imus: First and (hopefully) Final word

Update - 4/20/07

I found an interesting article about John Kerry a few days ago. First off, he is a liberal, which is synonymous with a general, unwavering support from blacks. Yet, he agrees with me regarding the Don Imus situation. He doesn't think that Imus, who is also a known liberal, should have been fired. If I were a liberal, I would probably be offended. Thankfully I'm not. :-)
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I've read so many opinions about the Don Imus "controversy". The assortment of views regarding this situation has been somewhat comical to me. A few such ramblings:

"Don Imus only used that phrase because black rappers use it, or variations of it all of the time."

"Only certain people are allowed to use the certain phrases."

"Don Imus was only fired because of the way that Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson overreacted."

And the list could go on based on everything I've read/heard over the past week. Here's my feeling about the matter in a nutshell, albeit a rather sizable nutshell. Don Imus is not the leader of the free world. He is not my father. In other words, his existence doesn't have a huge bearing or direct effect on the outcome of my life. The words he said were very ugly and uncalled for. I felt a horrible disgust at the thought of what these young women must have felt when they first heard that this statement was made about them. But I stand by my feeling that Don Imus should NOT have been fired from CBS.

He's a shock-jock for crying out loud. That's what shock-jocks do! They keep pushing the envelope to get a reaction out of people. Don Imus was essentially fired for doing what he gets paid to do: offend and insult. Here's my caveat though. If Imus ended up losing his job due to the fact that the sponsors that pay for advertising on his show all decided to disassociate themselves with him, oh well. That would have sent a better message. The sponsors have as much of a right to associate with whomever they wish, as Imus has to say whatever he wishes. But to have notorious race baiters incite a lot of the misplaced anger onto Imus was ridiculous and unfair, in my opinion.

Basically, a huge can of worms has been opened. La Shawn Barber makes a very good point: When did blacks become so fragile and easily wounded by words? Michelle Malkin lists lyrics from current music that spews phrasing similar to what Imus used. But I think that my husband, Chris, put it best of all. He reminds us that no person should ever place an expectation on another to treat him/her better than he/she treats him or herself. Excellent advice for all situations!