SO.......WHAT'S NEW? NOTHING! WELL, MAYBE A LITTLE SUMTHIN' SUMTHIN'

There just hasn't been anything happening lately that has compelled me to post, save for the cancellation of D.L. Hughley's show on CNN, allegedly due to his comparing the RNC to Nazi Germany, the on-going Chris Brown/Rihanna Saga and Rush Limbaugh, who speaking of which, was called a coward by a Democratic Rep. Brad Sherman for not accepting his challenge to debate.

Which left more time for me to browse the n-ternets for interesting things to read. I was not disappointed, as I discovered a couple of blogs that I've taken an instant liking to, such as The Black Snob which true to its name, sated my appetite for smart snark on the chocolate side. Another blog I discovered by way of Racialicious is Honky Talk, which claims under its banner that

"This is an anti-racism blog with a message geared to white folks. The mission of Honky Talk is to facilitate a discussion of racism between white folks and people of color in a safe space. The goal of Honky Talk is to end racism in our minds, our community, our state, our nation and our world through the education and unification of all oppressed people."

Yeah, pretty heady, but interesting. I'll be checking on it. HONORABLE MENTION: Afro Nerd

Other than that, I've also been juicing up my iTunes library and generally obsessing over Traxsource, which seems to have a never-ending supply of house tracks to download and buy. So for now, I'll just enjoy the silence and nice weather we've been having here in NYC.


Oh, and the picture is a snapshot I took of a reworked ad for Watchmen in the Clinton/Washington station on the G line, here in BK.

On Blaming Rihanna: Um, Teens, Ur Doing It Wrong

There are actually a couple things I want to rant about this week - the whole Rihanna/Chris Brown affair and, of course,  New York Post Page Six cartoonist (and I use that term loosely) Sean Delonas's umpteenth failure in attempting to produce an image which reflects even the most minute trace of class or wit. I mean come on, if you've ever had the misfortune of viewing any of this man's work, you'd already know that he's a borderline talent or hack, at best. I've always found his style to be exceedingly repulsive and demoralizing in such a way that I'd experience a momentary lack of faith in humanity - and that is no mean feat. After all, as I mentioned in my previous post, I do have a taste for the horrific! That said, I'm glad the dialogue has been opened, and let's keep this up front - whether or not you find the cartoon in question to be racist, and it is, let us not forget that it also ran the day after the victim of the chimp attack had her whole damn face torn off!!

And speaking of battered faces, I find some of the reactions to the Chris Brown/Rihanna mess to be equally, if not more demoralizing. After gleaning the comments sections of some the most popular black entertainment sites, I started to feel as if there is no fucking hope for the current generation of African Americans, as I've read some of the most frighteningly idiotic comments from mostly female posters, who expressed their contempt for a victim of domestic violence. From accusations of "provoking" the attack to exposing Chris to herpes led the reasoning for such ignorant statements, and I simply had to stop reading in fear of my head exploding in frustration. I even got into a heated discussion with a few young female relatives of mine, who defended the perpetrator, all the while lying down on the tracks before the speeding train of perpetual ignorance and exclaiming that they don't believe everything they hear in the media. Granted. But why do I get the uneasy feeling that this is mostly the perception of mostly black teenagers? And throw in few young adults please, while you're at it.

Can this be the result of a basic lack of education? Home training? Perhaps it's contempt for the light-skinned black female, while simultaneously placing the light-skinned "fine" black male on a pedestal? Or is it the R Kelly Effect all over again? Why does the male, no matter what hue, always get a pass? Is it because of all the past pain and suffering and alleged burdens the black man has to shoulder play into it? My guess is it's a combination of all of these. I also believe that the way we perceive and portray ourselves in modern media culture, especially in music and television (hello Vh1!), has a lot to do with this. Constantly, in music videos and so-called reality shows, black females are shown debasing themselves to the extreme, eschewing any hunger and need for higher learning, professional achievement and self respect, all for the pleasure and entertainment of the male antagonist, in the hopes of winning his approval. The same applies to the whites in terms of these shows which portrays these women to be shrill, slutty, manipulative and lacking any semblance of integrity or class. Worse, we watch incredulously as they spout their own vapid reasons for wanting to participate in this sideshow. What's going on, people? Is it only entertainment? Clearly, much of what passes as reality TV is scripted, but I sincerely doubt that a lot of young kids who watch these shows can discern or even care to acknowledge this fact.

So, what can we do? It's pure and simple. Educate, educate, educate. Each one teach one. Make your kids pick up a damn book. It is the responsibility of the parents, got that? That's where it starts. That is all.

By the way, the Chicago Tribute has published an interesting article which touches on teens and their views on violence in relationships and the Chris/Rihanna affair. Check it out here.

2008 American Music Awards: Some Of It Was Ill, Some Of It Made Me Ill

Sigh. I guess I'm not all that impressed with awards shows nowadays, considering there are so many of them, but The 2008 American Music Awards, in particular, has further weakened my already shaken faith as far as the credibility of these shows go. Then again, we're talking about the AMAs, which is sort of akin to watching the MTV Video Awards, in that awards are given based on popularity, and, I suspect in some cases, ratings, but I still want to rant about it, alright? I mean, I like Chris Brown and all; he's a very talented dancer, does okay in the acting department, and can sing just as well as any of the other young jacks that saturate the Power-pop stations, but the guy won Artist of the Year, Favorite Male Artist, Pop or Rock, AND, this is the one that I find particularly insulting, Favorite Male Artist, Soul/Rhthym & Blues Music. Just yesterday, I posted a bunch of throwbacks and bemoaned the current state of Soul/R&B, but I also pointed out that there are some younger and not-so-young artists that still carry the flame, so to speak. Some that come to mind are: Raheem DeVaughn, Erykah Badu, Dwele, Jazmine Sullivan, Musiq Soulchild, Raphael Saadiq, Solange, Leela James, Liv Warfield and Algebra, to name a few.

Granted, perhaps some of those I've listed did not have an album out at the time of consideration, but come on, now, they barely get any radio play to begin with. The real travesty is that Chris won over Ne Yo, who wasn't even nominated, and lost at last year's AMAs to T Pain(!), who's best known for collaborating with everyone from L'il Wayne to fucking Liza Minelli. That said, I have tremendous respect for Ne Yo as an all-around entertainer. He writes, sings, dances and acts. Like John Legend, his music and lyrics also tend to be a bit more layered, and at least manages to communicate something other than the usual insipid sex-u-sex-me-canned-computer studio slop that's mistaken for R&B today (at least bring real handclaps back into the mix, please!). Perhaps the Grammys, which sometimes manage to get it right, will reward those who I feel rightly represent a dying genre. Right. As Homer Simpson would say, I was being sarcastic.

Sometimes, I feel as if maybe I just refuse to embrace the inevitable changes that have sucked the soul out of Soul music. It's all about the visuals and the spectacle of watching someone perform a superhumanly complex feat of Cirque Du Soleil type sexually acrobatic dance moves structured to distract me from the fact that they cannot sing well at all. Well, consider me not fooled, Pussycat Dolls. Although the Rihanna, who won for Favorite Female Soul/R&B and Chris Brown (PR Coup ALERT!) might have passable chops, I wonder how good they would sound accompanied by a simple piano, sans dancers? Live? I know that my rant will not likely change anything, so I might as well deal with it and find some of the good things about this show. And there were some. Can't post You Tube clips cuz they've been removed, though:

Alicia Keys sang Superwoman with Queen Latifah and Kathleen Battle

Bey-sasha wiggled her thickness, as per usual, but nobody does it like she does.

Christina Aguilera, drenched in female drag, reeled in the gayz with her performance.

Kanye kept things focused on the future

Ne Yo solidified the new template

And Annie Lennox should seriously consider a duet with Ms. Keys. For real.

As for me, I'll try to Keep Hope Alive.