Late last week, I heard Kelly Rowland’s new single, Motivation. It features Lil Wayne (a man who inspired me to make a very funny visual gag one time; ask my pal J – she’ll tell you) and is one of the beepy, atmospheric R&B slow jams. It is, I guess, pretty not-bad, kinda sexy. I [...]
Category Archives: Music
Black Fridays: What’s Race Got To Do With It?
I read a fantastic piece on Jezebel several months back, written by Danielle Belton of The Black Snob. The article was about the tiers of commercial celebrity gossip which exist within mainstream media. Citing the then-recent Alicia Keys/Swizz Beats nuptials, Belton explained why the mainstream media did not mention the controversy surrounding their union – [...]
Also posted in America, Black Fridays, Identity Tagged Black People, Childhood, Labels, Music, Music Videos, R&B, Race, The Opposite of Joy, WTF 6 Comments
Whip It Good!
At the time of writing this post, Black Twitter was in a frenzy of retweeting links. I refuse to be ashamed at how enthused I was to see the new video for Willow Smith’s single Whip My Hair. It’s a catchy little pop tune that doesn’t feature rude boys giving it up, or brushing teeth with [...]
Also posted in America, Culture, Video Tagged Music Videos, Whip My Hair, Will Smith's Sperm Is Better Than Yours, Willow Smith 6 Comments
A Mid-Afternoon Pick-Me-Up…
Was feeling a little ‘meh’ when an old Spotify playlist threw this up. It’s a goody – I danced, I sang along, I reloaded it three times in the style of the pirate radio stations of my teen years. If you’re having a crappy day, this’ll make you smile. I can’t decide if I like [...]
Judas in an R’n'B Club
Yesterday my Walkman – no iPods here, thank you very much - threw up a blast from the past – No Doubt’s excellent Just a Girl from their classic 1995 album Tragic Kingdom. On the track, Gwen Stefani sings: “This world is forcing me/To hold your hand… I’m just a girl, all pretty and petite/So don’t let [...]
Also posted in Career, Identity, Society Tagged Feminism, Gwen Stefani, Nelly Furtado, Popular, Popular Culture, Women 5 Comments
The Friday Pretty: Music Dudes Edition
Given the ovewhelming feedback following last week’s inaugural The Friday Pretty, it would have been remiss of me not to give the people what they want. And so, here we are. I’ve given the format some thought – clearly there will be hot dudes frolicking on your screen every Friday, but being a kinda logical [...]
Also posted in Beauty, Love, Pictures, The Friday Pretty Tagged Beautiful People, Joy, Male Beauty, Things That Make You Go Mmm 1 Comment
It Ain’t My Fault
Seriously, someone needs to tell Mos Def that I’m tired of waiting for him to come sweep me off my feet. His presence is only half the reason why I can’t stop playing this video, found via HarlemLoves. The music – a reworked version of New Orleans jazz legend Smokey Johnson’s song It Ain’t My Fault - also features Lenny [...]
Also posted in America, Love Tagged Gulf Aid, It Ain't My Fault, Mos Def, Music, Music Videos 4 Comments
FOTC – So Hot They’re Making Me Sexist
Continuing the theme of May i.e. The Month of Lovely Things on Yoruba Girl Dancing, I did a lovely thing on Monday night. I went to see one of my favourite bands in the whole world, Flight of the Conchords, live in concert for the first time. I love them. I know people say that all [...]
Unthinkable – Alicia Keys As Styled By Someone Who Likes Her
This song, Unthinkable, by Alicia Keys is giving me life right now. On an album filled with dreck, it stood out from the get go – soulful, with a classic ‘Slow Jam’ beat and keening vocals. Anyway, she finally dropped a video last night, which I slavishly played three times in a row. I kinda love [...]
Also posted in Beauty, Style Tagged Alicia Keys, Chad Michael Murray, Fashion, Music Videos, Things That Make You Go Mmm, Unthinkable 3 Comments
40 Licks
I don’t know about you, but I get all the information I need to live from music videos. For instance, I’ve learned that unless my abs are scarily hard, I must not expose them to the public [Fergie, in any post-2003 Black Eyed Peas video]. I also learned that the best way to get revenge on [...]
Toni Braxton: Grown and Sexy
A few months ago at Stoke Newington’s Rose and Crown pub quiz, a question came up that only three people in the entire pub knew the answer to. The question was, “Who released the album Secrets in 1996?” I didn’t even hesitate. It was, of course, Toni Braxton. I have loved Toni since the early 1990s, when [...]
Have You Met Ms Monáe?
Janelle Monáe is impossibly cute and impossibly talented. I first heard of her a few years ago when she appeared in Idlewild, the OutKast film. Next I heard of her was when she released Many Moons, an old school stomper of a track, with a Fifth Element-type manic video, and Andre 3000-esque dancing. It’s not [...]
The (Imagined?) Politics of The R&B Music Video
Please excuse the incoherence that’s about to unfold. So there I was in the gym yesterday, running 10 kilometres (WOO!) to nowhere, when the new Timberlake and Timbaland video came on. Accordingly, and with the appropriate amount of consideration behind it, here are a few rambling thoughts on R&B videos. (FYI, I’m including all mainstream ‘Black’ [...]
Also posted in America, Politics, Society Tagged Feminism, Justin Timberlake, Music, Music Videos, R&B, Race, Stereotypes 5 Comments
Why I Love… Something New
I’m just a landscaper. I take hard earth, and make things bloom. The internet is a miraculous thing. But I’m grateful that while theoretically you could see me as I type this – what with the magic of webcams – I still hold some power, by refusing to hook it up. Because as I typed those twelve [...]
Also posted in Love, Movies, Why I Love... Tagged Film, Interracial, Movies, Race, Sanaa Lathan, Simon Baker, Something New 4 Comments
Lyrics For The Scorned
The office where I’m temping at is pretty cool considering that it’s another manifestation of you know, The Man Inc.. While the work isn’t the most stimulating I’ve ever done (no offence to the HR specialists, but it is HR), it’s diverting enough. The team I work with is lovely and best of all, I get to [...]
Also posted in Humour, Love, Work Tagged Break Ups, Lyrics, Men and Women, Music, Relationships, The Opposite of Joy, Women 7 Comments
