The Man that Ruined Everything

It's been a long, long time.  I'll talk a bit about what's going on in a later post. But I've decided to do something special. I received a link to an old video from a friend of mine and I won't say any more...yet. First watch the video.



Now let's get into it, shall we.
Dang, 1988 was a good year for Al B. Sure!. Wait a minute why does his name end with an exclamation mark? That just isn't cool. But anyway, Al B Sure! was the last of the cool light-skinned brothers. He is the reason why people of my complexion have fought many years to get back in style. Legit, light-skinned brothers everywhere had to deal with this guy messing up the game for all of us.  Sure, every now and then a light-skinned guy will drift through the cracks, Shemar Moore, but Al B Sure! (damn exclamation) is the reason why brothers of my hue are still trying to be cool.

After seeing the video of "Nite and Day" the only hit of his that I remember, bear in mind that I was six when this came out, I am reminded of the reasons why he didn't have much success after his album In Effect Mode


First of all, and this will be the only time that I mention this because some people are quite sensitive to subjects like hair. You see the unibrow? That's all I'll say about that.

I am currently viewing the video again, but on mute at this very moment and there are some interesting things that I have found while doing so.

Homie likes to raise both his hands in the air.  It ain't even like he's waving them like he just don't care either.  It's a sharp move, but it's a move that I don't understand.  It simply doesn't look cool.  You know what, I'm going to be totally honest about this.  If I weren't a better man, I would ask "Why this n***a's hands in the air? I think he's praising god or something. I still don't understand. Was that something the video director requested, or did Al come up with that one on his own? I want to know."

I feel that we all need to know.

Another thing: You see those faces he's making? I was once told as a child in church, that you're not really singing until you make an ugly face.  If that is true, Albert (his mama named him Albert, I'ma call him Albert) is singing his mind, heart, and soul out.  You can tell by that falsetto.  But those are just some of the ugliest faces I have ever seen.  Ugly faces coming from a man who was supposedly a heart throb.

It's not hard for a guy to go home with a pretty young thing at his side.  In Albert's case, he simply had use that blistering falsetto and say the words "Ah, can you feel it, baby".  But at the same time, ladies, if you did go home with him, imagine those ugly sex faces since his singing face is ugly.  I'm just saying.

I'm pretty much done with the video, I could go on and on about his clothes and that borderline nappy fade he rocking, but I'll just let those be.  This was the beginning of the end for the light-skinned brother, I'm pretty sure of it.  Since then, we have been climbing our way back into at least a wanted position. We don't necessarily want a position of prominence, if it comes that's cool, but we at least would like to be wanted.

Because of this simping (combination of the words sissy and pimping) song, no light skinned brother had a chance.  Light-skinned brothers before him have failed to make a reasonable comeback even.  Think about it. I saw DeBarge last year at the BET Awards, and for that one night light-skinned brothers were celebrating.  but where is he now? Name another light-skinned brother that has fallen into obscurity. They are not making a comeback.  Al B Sure! released an album a couple of years ago.  I remember it well.  He performed at Joes' Pub at The Public Theater.  The album was released and all of a sudden, what was to be a great comeback became just another futile attempt of a light-skinned simp trying to get back in good graces with his fans and his family.  His son even went on the radio and dissed his own father that very week.  He never had a chance, and to be honest with you I wouldn't give him a chance.  Because he would just mess it up for people of my complexion...again.

Al B Sure! the man that ruined the game for us all.

The Alphabet Project aka Alphabet Soup

Two weeks ago I decided to do something a little crazy, something that is challenging. 

As some of you may know, I have a varied taste in music. I'm a bit of a hip hop head, and yet I listen to many, many different genres.  I thank my family for giving me a varied taste in music.  I have an appreciation for classics and the one hit wonders.

Which leads me to this: I decided to listen to every complete album on my iPod...in alphabetical order.  

Crazy? Maybe.  Challenging? Definitely.

What I failed to understand is the fact that I own a lot of music; but I wanted to do this for a particular reason, and that reason is that I want to be one of those people that can honestly say that I've been through everything that I own.  You know there are some people that have a lot of books, but haven't read through them all. That's a bit of a waste in my opinion. 

I also want to know what good music I actually have.  I think that may be the most important reason.  I've thought about possibly deleting some of the crap I have (once I find it), but I still haven't made a decision on that.

So two weeks ago I started this project. The only rule is that I listen to these albums in alphabetical order, whether it's on the subway, or at home or wherever (a project like this can't have too many restrictions...only one). It began with an album called "A.W.O.L" by AZ.  It turns out that the last album filed under A is also by AZ entitled "Aziatic".  I just completed the A's today and have moved on to B.  

If I were to judge myself based on the complete albums under the A category, I would hate myself simply because there's not a lot of diversity among artists.  Under A, here are not only two albums by AZ, but there are two by Outkast and k-os. There are also three albums by De La Soul. 

Here's a collage of some of the artists and albums.

I think this project will be fun and will probably last a long time based on the fact that it took two weeks to get through A.  Think about it, even in Wheel of Fortune the letter A isn't among the list of given letters in the bonus round (it's R-S-T-L-N-E).  So honestly I have a lot of work in store.  I do believe this will take many months to get through, if not years.

Wish me luck.

the R in R&B

My official comments on Mr Robert Sylvester Kelly also known as R. Kelly.

He released an album entitled Untitled back in December.  Now long before that, he released his first mixtape.  I honestly didn't care much for the mixtape for a number of reasons.  The main reason is the fact that an artist that's been around for 20 years, an artist that has been a trendsetter and an influence for younger artists has no real ground to gain by simply trying to do something that everybody does nowadays.

With that said, I am glad this dude cut the braids. Is it me, or did he start growing those out a little late in his career.  I'm not even 30 yet and I think I'm too old to start getting my hair braided.  He was at least three albums deep into his solo career by the time braids appeared.

But I digress, let's talk about this Untitled album shall we? In many ways, it's R. Kelly in a return to form.  I always felt like it was past time for him to leave the "closet" alone and make a R&B album again.  Trapped In the Closet was a theatrical train wreck and yet we couldn't stop watching it. Double Up was okay but there were way too many cameos...much like a weak rap album.  Untitled has four songs that feature cameos and most of them are in good taste (good taste as the Kells can be). 

We do see R. do something different in this album.  Songs like Be My #2, and I Love the DJ are very much dance inspired that's not of the stepping in the name of love variety.  This is the type of variety that I've always wanted to see from R. Kelly, granted it did take years and years to actually get around to it.  After that though, we have the old R. Kelly in songs like Echo and Text Me. 

R Kelly has an innate ability to sing about sex in the most blunt (and ignorant at times) ways, there are no hidden messages in his songs.  If he says "girl you make me wanna get you pregnant", he literally means that.  You would think that a man who has been the center of many sex scandals would watch what he says more closely; but, a tiger can't change it's stripes and neither can Kells.

The one thing that I wondered before ever listening to the album was, "why is the album called Untitled?" After listening to the album, I figured it out.  This album is pretty much disjointed.  There isn't a through-line or a song that encompasses the sound of the album.  I would think that someone who has not only written many hits for himself, but for others would have one song that could represent the album.  There are songs on this album that I do like for different reasons, but I can't consistently play the entire album like any of his first few albums.

I'm not going to grade this album, but I will say that if you've never ever heard a R Kelly album, listen to this one.  There's some fun songs, songs with interesting lyric choices, and the typical song that you may want to add to your "slow jam I'm trying to get some" playlist.

With all of that said, I wish to add something about Mr Kelly.  The difference between him and Jay-Z (since they're about the same age). Is that Jay-Z has progressed more as an artist, his content has grown and yet he's still been relevant.  R Kelly on the other hand hasn't really shown much progression after 20 years, and I wonder, what would happen if Kells was tired of sex? Would he have anything to talk about?

Maybe, but probably not.

We Are The World...aka The Death of Rap

It is official. With a heavy heart and an angry tongue that I will try to hold I must say that Rap music is dead. It started to see the light on the day of February 1, 2009 and fought valiantly until the Lord called it home on February 12, 2009.

I suppose Nas was merely predicting the future with his Hip Hop is Dead album. Many of us were quick to jump up in defense of Hip Hop or Rap music, but little did we know that Nas owns (or at least owned at that time) a crystal ball.

On February 12, 2009, KRS-One's dreads receded back to their roots and Biggie, Tupac, Pun, even the likes of Darren Robinson also know as Buff Love from the Fat Boys and many rappers who are dead and gone began flipping in their graves.

Frankly I am mad...and I am not the only one. Websites such as rappersiknow.com and illdoctrine.com have shut down due to the depths that Rap music would go to. I am mad because Rap music once stood for something and it was quality music. Rap unfortunately was sold to Pop. Once you sell your soul to Pop, death is evident.

If you don't know what I am referring to, I'll tell you. The We Are The World remake, and to be even more specific, I'm referring to the "rap chant" during the song. I'm not even referring to the autotune, but I do have problems with it.

But anyway, allow me to explain. Hip Hop or Rap music, whatever you want to call it, is the American dream. Don't believe me? Hip Hop comes from disenfranchised people, people that didn't have a voice in the country, in the economy. They took what was considered nothing to the privileged and made it into something powerful and it had meaning. Not only did it have meaning, but it was fun as well. It was something that people at first may have acknowledged it to be a fad, but the music grew. The music had a message, it had a conscious...and it was good.

Then something happened, people realized they could make a lot of money from this genre that was still in its developmental stages compared to other genres that have been around for many, many years before. Hip Hop sold its soul to Pop and while many artists refuse to sell their soul to Pop to this day (instead, becoming Independent), the majority of what we are exposed to is some garbage Hip Hop-Pop hybrid that's not good, but yet sells.

I compare the pool of Rap artists to that of the talent pool of the NBA. There are a lot more teams, thus players and with players leaving college after one year, they haven't yet matured as players so the quality of play isn't as good as it used to be. We have artists that are good, but raw in terms of they don't know what else to say other than the usual topics. The crazy thing about this is that there are just as many great rappers now as there were 20 years ago.

Another crazy thing is that many of the core of these rappers in the chant have been around for a long, long time. Busta, LL, Snoop, even Will-i-am; they've been around for many years. They've made their money and they're able to explore different avenues of music, but I expect them to know when something is wack when they see/hear it.

Let me say before I go on is I have no problem with the cause. But the product doesn't do the cause justice. If these rappers wanted to be apart of this effort, that's great...it's wonderful. But if I may make a suggestion, just be a part of the choir. Even though you may not be singers, just try to blend in.

Another problem I have with this is the fact that this effort wasn't special in the realm of music. Twenty-five years ago you had the biggest artists in the world at that time (except Prince because that would ruin the mystique of Prince) coming together and that hasn't been done before...not like that. Nowadays, everybody appears on everybody's album. Lil Wayne just a couple of years ago was on everybody's album and he's even on Shakira's latest album...and Madonna's I believe. Also, the biggest stars (a lot of great people were there, don't get me wrong) in the world were not there...1 day after the Grammys in Los Angeles. Where were the big winners? Where's Beyonce?

I think I am disappointed because this an opportunity to do something really special, maybe not be the greatest song ever, but really really really special and it was terrible at best. I don't support terrible, lackluster music that killed off a genre. I also think that it would have been great if some of the people from the original came back for this remake. Imagine seeing Stevie Wonder and hearing him with Adam Levine of Maroon 5 since they sound the same anyway.

What a minute, doesn't Busta suppose to have an album coming out called Chemo or something like that. Isn't it supposed to treat Rap music in an effort to cure it of its cancer? Can't perform chemotherapy on something that's already dead.

I would like to thank Jay-Z, Talib Kweli, Mos Def, Common, Little Brother, and many others for not taking part of this catastrophe/train wreck.

I miss Hip Hop...who's going to bring it back from the dead if that can even be achieved?

protools and mud

so, this past june was black music month.
this weekend happens to be the 40th anniversary of woodstock. so with those things mentioned, i would like to talk a bit about music...all while my itunes library is on shuffle.

woodstock helped launch the counterculture movement. if anything, it solidified the fact that throughout all of the tragedies, all of the assassinations, "the man" was not going to reign supreme. there will always be some type of competition/rebellion against whoever this "man" is.

i totally missed out on black music month. the month of june was pretty much a big blur for me. but black music month was initiated by jimmy carter in 1979. to some degree, i don't understand the necessity of it now, but i do understand the importance of remembering the past.

music today is definitely not what it used to be. today we have the popularization of auto-tune, protools, and other computer/electronic programs. our society feels more free to voice their opinion so we can say just about anything we please on a record, with exception of antavio johnson.

that is a whole different matter in itself.

anyway, with black music month (can we find something else to call this, something not so long?) we were supposed to pay homage to the greats from previous generations, particularly duke ellington, miles davis, ella fitzgerald, etc (these cats could really perform). do/did we really do that? not so much on black entertainment television, but when michael jackson died, the network felt compelled to change their june awards show practically overnight as a memorial/dedication.

granted mj was pretty much the biggest star in the world. but the question starts to sneak up on you. how is a network supposed to pay tribute to four plus generations of music, without playing 30 second biographies during commercial breaks?

in many ways you can't. and the one way you actually can is almost impossible because people (young musicians today) don't really know their history. some do, but a lot don't really know anything older than 1974. there was a lot going on before 1974. black entertainment television should really try to educate some of these performers on things earlier than mj and have them put on a show inspired in that vain. not to duplicate it, but inspired.

stuff like this has been done, but it's been with artists who are in the "twilight" of their career, simply because music nowadays is a "young person's game".

personally, i think that black people need to have our own woodstock in different regions (one in ny, chicago, detroit, los angeles, atlanta, new orleans...just to throw some cities out there) because we need no beef (whether's it's for record sales or not) in music festivals. and the proceeds should go to a charity of some sort, new orleans still needs helps after all this time for example.

since i mentioned woodstock...i'll only go a little bit into it and then tie everything together, hopefully. the summer of peace and love. there's been an attempt to duplicate it back in 99 i think, but corporate america and spoiled artists have a way of ruining things like that. one of the first things i think of when i think of woodstock is jimi hendrix. it's odd that black people in general don't necessarily listen to hendrix. but if it wasn't for artists like hendrix, santana, joplin, sly and the family stone and others, the fabric of music wouldn't be as diverse as it is today. racially speaking music is diverse. not all black people rap or sing r&b and not all white people play guitars and sing folk. musically speaking we may not have had the acid trip that was/is parliament/funkadelic for example.

bottom line, woodstock helped broaden the spectrum of music.

black music month and woodstock are two things that we shouldn't neglect the importance of because music will last forever. if we still refer to classic novels as having a certain relevance, then music from our past should still be remembered and celebrated because...

a)it's good music

and because of that

b)good music is eventually sampled

fyi: my shuffle list in reverse order
blackalicious, snoop dogg, j.cole, marvin gaye, sergio mendes, the roots, jadakiss, killer mike, willie nelson, oh no, mariah carey, young jeezy, ben harper, a tribe called quest, common, j dilla, jean grae