Britney Spears is in a "Blur"

As I wrote that title, I started thinking, how appropriate. The name of the song, anyway. That was pretty much her career a couple of years ago, just a total blur. And I'm sure that many of us thought she would never recover, especially after that VMA show "Gimme More" performance. The video for that song was also less than impressive. Now, I've never really been a fan of Britney's music. But her performances are off the chain. Well, until that little VMA thing (for the fond memories, click here.)

Well, Britney appears to be back with her second album after that faithful performance, entitled "Circus". I saw the video for "Womanizer" and she seems to be back on her game as far as performances go, back in shape and all. As far as the album goes, sounds typical Britney, which means I won't like it, at all. But my husband came across the song "Blur". That song is kind of hot!!! Nice beat, nice flow. Now, having said that, I may not been the best subject matter for her to chose, but hey, it's real. I have to give her credit for that. It has happened to many people. The song tells the story of waking up in a strange bed, with a strange person, not knowing what the hell happened the night before.


Britney Spears - "Blur"

Another YouTube sensation!!!

And not in a good way. Then again, most Youtube sensations are NOT sensations for the right reasons.

Anyway, I came across the blog site DC to BC (a pretty descent blog, by the way) and he had a link to T-Baby's latest release. I will not place judgment. I'll let you make up your mind yourself. Let's just say that this is further proof that anyone, I mean anyone, can get their 15 minutes of fame via the Internet, no matter how talented (or untalented) he or she is.

If you can stand it, watch both videos in its entirety.

Stalker songs

I was thinking about this on the way to work today. Off the top of my head, I could think of three and they could almost be a build up of stalker-ish behavior.

"Until You Come Back to Me" - Aretha Franklin

This may not be the criminal offense type of stalking, but still an annoyance. Subtle, but annoying. Knocking on doors and tapping on window panes. You don't want to tell 'em to f**k off, but this getting old.


"Outside Your Door" - Ms'Shell Ndegeocello

You've been trying to be nice by politely ignoring the phone messages, ignore rapping and tapping at the front door at night. Now they are getting a bit more aggressive. Waiting through rain showers on your front step just to confront you. You feel bad that the person isn't taking this well, but you have moved on. But the person is so persistent, you let 'em in, talk, one thing leads to another, oops.


"Parkway" - Gaelle

Okay, maybe that last "roll in the hay" wasn't a very wise thing to do. Your consist rejections have finally pushed 'em over the edge of rational thinking. Now, the person is sneaking in your home and lacing drinks with cyanide. I suppose the person is slightly PO'd.

What other stalker songs do you know of? Any genre. I know I've heard others, I just can't think of any right now.

One of the reasons I allow myself to be subjected to music TV

Occasional music gems like this. A Zap Mama and Eryah Badu collaboration.

Mixtape sessions

One of the little known things about me is that in high school, I had aspirations of being one of the few female DJs in the Baltimore area. Part of the problem was I never really cared to mix the more popular stuff, so my hip hop mixes left a little to be desired. So I did a few remixes here and there, some better than others. I've been coming across a few of those mixes and redid a few since technology makes it so much easier than it was on two turntables and a tape deck but in day. I've finally got around to posting them up on the web. The genres will be all over the place as my musically interest is, well, some would say strange, I would say eclectic.

If you feel so inclined, check out this link. My first entry is a slow jam mix. Originally, it was a strictly late 80s/early 90s mix, but changed one of tracks to a newer Janet song, I thought fit the groove better. Definitely a baby making groove. If you download it, let me know what you think. I am going to try to do this on a regular basis, but do not expect the same thing all the time. Like I said, I will probably be all over the place! It will mostly depend how I'm feeling.

Slept on album from '98

I've been going through my music collection and came across this CD from 1998.

N'dea Davenport did a few stints as the lead singer of the Brand New Heavies. After her solo, I just knew that she was going to blow up. But alas, the music loving public has not heard much from her lately. I've heard her do a few cameos here and there, but that's about it.






Here are my three favorite cuts on that album:

Whatever You Want



Bullshitin'(love Mos Def, but prefer it w/out the rap. couldn't find it on YouTube)



Bring It On (again, like it better w/out the rap)

A Now and Then Music Flashback - "Settle for My Love"

I'm an old head when it comes to most music, so when Musiq Soulchild released his rendition of this song, I was immediately turned off. I heard the first few notes and sat there like "no he didn't!!". In my mind, there are some artists that you simply do not touch, in my humble opinion, anyway.

However, I finally gave in and listened to the entire song. Musiq did a nice job with his rendition. He made it duet (although I think I would have liked it fine with just the female lead) and added a few other touches that made it his own.

The original was performed by Patrice Rushen, one of my all time favorite R&B artists. Both versions are below.



from the album "Pizazz"



from the CD "Aijuswanaseing"

Music flashback - "Don't Be Afraid"

Listening to my iPod this morning, my random play came across this '90s gem, Aaron Hall's "Don't Be Afraid". Originally on the Juice soundtrack, there were so many versions of this song, I have totally forgotten which is truly the original, the one on the soundtrack or the one on his album. There was certainly a range of versions. Fast tempo ones for the club, a slow version for the bedroom.

I wasn't really an Aaron Hall fan, especially after he left the group Guy. His solo efforts were so-so for me. Not terrible albums, just not albums that I would be playing 10 years later. And I didn't find him as attractive as so many other women. Blasphemy, I know. I just thought he was nasty. He was the "nasty man" after all. But he ain't got nothing on the music coming out these days. Male singers these days don't merely suggest what they want, they find the most raunchiest way to say it.

Anyway, I found a couple of versions of the song on YouTube and wanted to share. Enjoy!


Nasty Man's Groove Version



Jazz You Up Remix



Slow version from the album

Kanye West - more Flashing Lights

Finally!!! Different versions of the video. Unfortunately, none of them relate to the first one, so I'm at a lost as to where that video was going or came from.

2nd official version appears to be a better interpretation of what the song appears to be about. However, the unofficial version, I think, was the best. What are your thoughts???


2nd official version


3rd official version


unofficial version

Dru Hill reunion???

At least that what we were lead to believe on 92Q's Big Phatt Morning Show the other day. The reunion lasted about 10 minutes. Woody, who left the group previously, decided, on the air, that the group didn't really need him and that he should continue in his fellowship with God. There is a question as to whether or not this was a staged event. Maybe the whole thing was done for publicity? Well, Sisqo did not seem none too pleased with Woody's announcement. Of course, I wouldn't be too happy if my entertainment career was reduced to a terrible country reality TV series. Why else would Sisqo consider "Going Country" is his R&B career was on track?

I don't understand why they would include Woody in these reunion plans anyway. He left for the same reasons the first time. When they added Ruscola, aka 'Scola, to the group, I thought they were on the right track. I remember rocking 'Scola's "Let's Get Personal" track back in the mid to late 90's. He was pretty big here in the Baltimore/DC region for a minute. 'Scola added a freshness to the group that was way overdue. I was looking forward to a Dru Hill rebirth. After "Dru World Order" and Woody actually leaving the group, however, everything just seemed to fall apart. I noticed that with this reunion, 'Scola was not involved. I wonder why.

Here is the video from the radio interview. Could it be all a hoax?

Words and Phrases in Music

On the way home this evening, SWV's song, "Downtown" played on my iPod. I recalled back to when this song was released and how naive I was to the metaphor. I was like, "she needs to go on a shopping spree to get in the mood to make love?!?". Then I finally really listened to the lyrics and had a big "ohhhh" (pun intended) moment. After that song, the word fairly innocuous word "downtown" now had a sexual connotation.

I started to think of other songs that either changed the meaning of some word or phrases or added new ones to our vernacular. Here's a few I thought of off the top of my head.

Cyndi Lauper's "She Bops"
I was about 10 years old when this came out. Little did I know that she was referring to a little "self-love". I just thought it was a strange little dance. Apparently, that is what Cyndi wanted us little kiddies to think it was about.

Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Relax"
Ok, these lyrics were a bit more, um, way more obvious. But, again at ten, what did I know? It wasn't until I heard this song again in my early twenties I wondered how could have my mother allowed me to listen to such music??

Blackstreet's "Booty Call"
Actually, the first time I ever heard the term "booty call" was in Bill Bellamy's comedy stand-up act ("ladies, if a brother calls you at 2am, is that or is that not a booty call?").

R. Kelly's "Down Low"
I'm sure R. Kelly's thought with this phrase was to keep a secret. Fairly innocuous, no innuendo there. However, this term has taken on a whole new meaning with straight identified black males, who occasionally like to take it in the tail pipe and don't want anyone to know.

I may add some more if I think of them. Any songs come to your mind?

Kanye West's Flashing Lights

This is definitely one of those "What the f**k" moments. Can anyone explain to me the point of this video? I am definitely missing something.

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:

-----------------------------
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.