Cover song gone wrong

Now, I'm all for different genre versions of songs. There was the country version of Brian McKnight's "Back at One", Whitney's R&B version of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You". I suppose they went over well. But this one. Imagine, if you will, a folk version of Nelly's "Hot in Herre". Better yet don't imagine, watch the video below...



She also has a song called "Fuck Was I Thinking". After listening to her version of Nelly, I couldn't help but wonder, "what the fuck were you thinking?"

So maybe I overreacted a little

Early this morning, around midnight, I was startled by bright lights suddenly going off. I initially thought that the street light had gone out. I went to the window to check it out. Turns out that there is a large SUV parked directly in front of my house. A person starts get out of the car, but then gets back in. And sits there for about 20 minutes. I wouldn't have been so alarmed, except that I did not recognize the SUV and in the neighborhood that I grew up in, someone parked in a car on our block at midnight usually meant the person was shooting up or getting a blow job.

So, in the interest of my neighborhood's safety and in my annoyance with that big ass SUV parked in front of the house, I called the non-emergency line. Didn't get an answer. Thinking that I had the wrong number, I looked around for another number. About 15 minutes later, found the number online. Now all this time, the SUV is still sitting there. No one has gotten into or out of the car. I call the second number. Still no answer. I figured I just take my paranoid ass to bed. But then the phone rings. My tax dollars at work.

I explained the situation, unknown, suspicious SUV parked late night. Fifteen more minutes go by. Someone finally comes to the car. I should have known. It was my next door neighbor. Better stated, the employees of my next door neighbor. Motherfuckers. They're always taking up the parking in front of my house. The shitty thing is that most of time, there is plenty of parking in front of their own house. As it was this morning.

Just as they were about to pull off, a police car pulls up. About 5 minutes later, a second one. They were held up for twenty more minutes before they finally pulled off. I'm pretty sure that they know that it was me who made the phone call. On more than one occasion, I have had to ask them to move their cars. They were probably cussing me out the next day. But maybe their inconsiderate asses might think twice about parking their big ass, broken down, noisy, pieces of shit cars in front of my house.

It's going to be a bitch this winter if we get any significant accumulation of snow. I'll be damned if I dig out a parking space in front of my house just for those inconsiderate bitches asses to park in. I won't be having any of that shit this winter without a fight! So if ya'll hear about a black woman going crazy over street parking in front of her house on the news this winter, you heard it here first.

Freaky Flexibility

This kind of flexibility is just plain freaky. My first thought was Dhalsim from the Street Fighter video games.

Is it true, Nas? Is hip-hop dead?

I originally posted this on my myspace blog about a year ago. After reading Cat's blog post about the current state of hip hop and R&B, it brought to mind this post and I figured I'd post it here:

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I don't listen to hip-hop the way I used to. I don't find it as moving or inspiring as it used to be. As a child raised on mostly jazz, soul and rhythm, when I first discovered hip hop, I thought is was just a fad.

Around the time of Run DMC, I was in middle school. I remember on the playground one day, an eighth grader had made the declaration that "Rap music will never die!". I thought he was crazy. I was thinking, that wasn't real music. I was in love with the music of Michael Jackson and Prince, Al Jarreau and Grover Washington, Jr, Steve Wonder and Luther Vandross.

Then, something changed. I was listening to the radio one afternoon. The DJ was mixing some song called "Tramp" and there were women rapping. I think up until this point, I had never heard a female MC, let alone two. This was groundbreaking for me. I had to find out more.

I brought my copy of Salt N Pepa's "Hot, Cool and Vicious" and listened to it constantly. I went to school to declare my new found love only to have a 4th grader cut me down. "You late!!! That album is old!!!" I think that I was in the 6th grade at the time. I was already having younger people tell me how incredibly "un-hip" I was.

Then I found MC Lyte and Queen Latifah. Roxanne Shante and The Real Roxanne. Some helped define and brought the true favor of hip hop, some just faded away. Some just simply had no business putting out a record in the first place (Does anyone the group Le Trim??? If Hilliary Banks of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air had a rap group, Le Trim would have been that group.)

Eventually, I got off the women's lib tip and opened my ears to all of rap. It has gone through so many evolutions in the pass few decades. It has endured and been accepted by the masses. And that's where it becomes a mixed blessing.

The hip-hop music that I hear on the radio and on the videos have this cookie cutter approach. There isn't much that is different. There isn't much that stands out. Because being different means risking dividends. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that people are making money. But the money just seems to stifle creativity. And the music lovers are subjected to the same 16 songs in a row, every hour, on the hour on the radio. Needless to say, I don't listen to the radio much. I remember when radio was the best place for hearing good and new music.

So, is hip-hop dead? I would like to think not. But it has got sucked a bit too much into popular culture. I believe that there are still many purveyors of the hip-hop vibe that I grew to know and love; Common, Talib, The Roots, just to name a few. And I have come across a few here on myspace. It's still alive. TRUE HIP-HOP WILL NEVER DIE.

Jon & Kate plus 8

This is a reality TV show on TLC.

The couple, Jon and Kate, were having trouble getting pregnant, so they, of course, turned to the use of fertility pills. They were blessed with twin daughters. But for some reason, two children were not enough for them. Oh no. They figured "let's try again for one more". So they get on the fertility pills again. This time, not one, not two, but six, sextuplets. Personally, the first two would have been enough for me. Fertility pills have been known to cause women to birth a litter. So why take that chance? My husband thought that maybe it was the husband's, Jon's, idea. He probably be wanted a boy to carry on the family name. Whatever. If that was my husband, he would have to get over that, unless by some medical miracle, man was able to give birth. In the opening credits, there is a picture of Kate pregnant and it's just unbelievable. It looked as if her stomach was below her knees!!! I'm sure she was on bed rest most, if not the entire time.

The sextuplets are now three. I believe the older twins are 5 or 6. Whatever they are, they are old enough to be in school, leaving Kate with six toddlers take care of during the day. Jon is an IT tech and works during the day. Work is probably like a mini vacation for him. I'm a mother of ONE and that can be a handful. I cannot imagine having to deal with 6 children all day, everyday. I would simply lose it. There would be no 'me' time, I am simply too selfish to not have 'me' time. Even with Jon and Kate together, there is never a moment's peace. In one of the episodes I saw, Kate was having a fit because Jon was taking too long to get dress or something. She had to have known that man was hiding. He wanted a little peace and quiet, if even for a minute. The last episode I saw was Mother's Day. Kate went to the spa. She kicks backs and talks about maybe after 4 days of the spa, she'll be ready to come home. Wishful thinking!!! But, when she does get home, she talks about how nice it is come home to a "classroom of kids".

I like kids. Kids can be fun. I might even consider having one more. Might. But eight! The sextuplets are 3 now. Wait till they become teenagers. And I don't want to think about college tuition. Ouch!!! Jon will be working until... pretty much forever it seems.

Judgemental People

Everyone has their opinions. I can respect that. But some people take it way too far. Dr Phil had a show on judgmental people. There was the man-hater, the woman hater, the morally righteous, the guy who is against everything about society, the woman who hates her own race and the woman who hates ugly people.

I think the one that bothered me the most was the black woman who hated other black people. Her racial self-hatred was based on all the stereotypes that has plagued the black race for years. True, there are black people that fall into those categories. I've definitely met a few. However, I have met many more beautiful, black women who are far beyond any black stereotype that you can think of. They are successful, they are intelligent, highly educated, productive members of society.

The next really annoying one for me was the morally righteous, holier than thou chick. She embodied every reason why I am not a fan of organized religion. First all, she made the statement that her whole purpose for being on the show was to make people conform to her point of view. She wasn't willing to listen to anyone else, damning anyone to hell who drank, cursed, had sex before marriage, had body piercings or tatoos. As she preached to everyone that she walked into and damned them to hell, she couldn't understand why anyone would disagree with or simply ignore her. Then what got me was how much of a hypocrite she was. She was caught on tape dropping f-bombs. The mother of all curse words. She claimed to not have had intercourse, however, she did admit to dry humping and heavy petting (who the hell says that anymore), basically, Clinton sex. I'm sorry, raised as a Catholic, I was told all that was wrong. She doesn't sound any closer to heaven than the rest of us heathens. What absolutely turned me off from her, like everything else wasn't enough, was the comment she made about an ex-boyfriend of hers. The ex-boyfriend cheated and got another girl pregnant. The child was born mentally retarded and she felt that he got what he deserved for cheating on her. Can you believe that? How could anyone, especially someone as religious as she claimed to be, wish that on anyone?

The male chauvinist pig...well, what can I say. They wasn't much that came out of his mouth that didn't piss me off. He must not think much of his mother to have such shitty opinions about women.

The other three would easily get on one's nerves but at least they seemed willing, on some level, to admit that they had an issue and was trying to be open-minded enough to work through those issues. The man-hater had to admit that maybe she was attracting the wrong men. The "ugly people" hater saw that she was trying to attack people they had the chance to attack her.

Well, as they progress through their time in the Dr. Phil house, I hope they can gain some insight into themselves. Realize that not everything or everyone in the world is all black and white. Although, I don't have much hope for the religious zealot. She is in his own world.

Waste of energy

I don't know why I allow certain people to waste so much of my precious energy. But there are people that just know how to press my buttons I guess.

For example, I'm in this online social group. But I find myself complaining about the organizer of the group more than socializing. There is something about the way that she responses to my group suggestions that she disagrees with. Her responses are long, drawn out dissertations about how she has given my suggestion all this thought and every conceivable reason that she can think of as to why she feels that the suggestion will not work out for the group. Initially, I felt her response to be a bit condescending, like she was trying to put me in my place or something. That stirred something up in me. I felt like I had to strike back. So we went back and forth a little until I came back to my senses and realized how it was an incredible waste of time and energy. There wasn't anything there to gain on my part. That group is pretty much her party, the group members should feel honored to be invited (HA!).

The bottom line is the group doesn't really work for me. I have a problem with the narrow focus, the lack of variety in the activities and the vice grip control she has on the group. There are so many unspoken restrictions. If a group member's suggestion does not revolve around food, it doesn't seem to even be up for consideration. She claims that she is open to suggestions, but it sounds more like lip service. If she doesn't agree with the suggestion, it is stopped flat. There is no opportunity for discussion among the group.

Let me just save myself some grief!