So far, my favorite song of 2010... and now there's a video! Yes!
6.23.2010
New Video: Who Dat - J. Cole
One of my favorite people.
How do you feel about the video (and the song)?
Sidenote: I've been really busy the past week and a half, but I'm going to get back on this. I promise!
:)
How do you feel about the video (and the song)?
Sidenote: I've been really busy the past week and a half, but I'm going to get back on this. I promise!
:)
6.12.2010
New Music Blog: 7 Day Music Civilian
Shout out to the homie Alexis & her friends! They just started a new blog called 7 Day Music Civilian & I'm sure it won't disappoint. Sounds like it'll be just the right thing for anyone with a remote interest in music and a great way to find new songs/artists. I'm really hype about it! I'm into people doing the whole blog thang.
Check out the info/about section:
What is 7 Day Music?
7 Day Music Civilian is 7 kids blogging 7 days a week with 7 different tastes in music and 7 overload. One day Lester AKA DJZesty had the brilliant idea for us to start a blog with everyone posting a different day of the week, and we all thought “Lester, what a brilliant idea.” And in 7 Days, 7 Day Music Civilian was created. You can read about each of us above but in general, we are all music-loving, fun-loving people whose mama’s taught us to share so we’re sharing our musical finds with you. If there’s something you want us to post or look into, share with us too! And don’t forget to become a Civilian and sign up for updates. The great thing about 7DMC is that you’ll always be able to find something you like or take a chance with something you don’t know. Some things we post will be brand new, and some will be tried and true, but it’s all for your enjoyment.
[via google]
Check out the info/about section:
What is 7 Day Music?
7 Day Music Civilian is 7 kids blogging 7 days a week with 7 different tastes in music and 7 overload. One day Lester AKA DJZesty had the brilliant idea for us to start a blog with everyone posting a different day of the week, and we all thought “Lester, what a brilliant idea.” And in 7 Days, 7 Day Music Civilian was created. You can read about each of us above but in general, we are all music-loving, fun-loving people whose mama’s taught us to share so we’re sharing our musical finds with you. If there’s something you want us to post or look into, share with us too! And don’t forget to become a Civilian and sign up for updates. The great thing about 7DMC is that you’ll always be able to find something you like or take a chance with something you don’t know. Some things we post will be brand new, and some will be tried and true, but it’s all for your enjoyment.
Beats and Love,
Alexis, Cara, Christina, Lester, Mark, Marissa, & Max6.10.2010
keep me where the light is
1. 'Gettin Up' by Q-Tip
2. 'Faithful' by Common featuring John Legend and Bilal
3. 'SpottieOttieDopaliscious' by OutKast
4. 'Vultures' by John Mayer
5. 'Just Friends' by Amy Winehouse
6. 'Diamonds' by Robin Thicke featuring The Game
7. 'P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)' by Michael Jackson
8. 'Rock the Boat' by Aaliyah
9. 'Naive' (The Kooks cover) by Lily Allen
10. 'Sex, Love, and Money' by Mos Def
11. 'Find a Way' by A Tribe Called Quest
12. 'Pro Lover' by Usher
13. 'Get Me Home' by Foxy Brown featuring Blackstreet
14. 'Falsetto' by The-Dream
15. 'Don't Let It Go to Your Head' by Brand Nubian
16. 'All I Want Is You' by Miguel featuring J. Cole
17. 'Eye Know' by De La Soul
18. 'Nothing Even Matters' by Lauryn Hill and D'Angelo
19. 'Body Bumpin (Yippie-Yi-Yo)' by Public Announcement
20. 'Faster' by Slum Village featuring Colin Munroe
.
6.08.2010
Throwback Column: My Place
September 20, 2007
This is a time in my life when I am getting to know myself and my place among people.
No, not my “place” as if I’m lower than my peers and I should be have as such. I mean my “place” as in my role and position in the world, in my world.
I’ve come to recognize and accept my flaws and quirks better, which helps me to accept the flaws of others without being so judgmental. Who am I to tear someone down when I am going through the same things? Of course, I have relapses, slip-ups, mistakes. But I try to think before I react because I know that everything I do, say, or express has a consequence: negative, positive, or insignificant.
This is a time in my life when I am getting to know myself and my place among people.
No, not my “place” as if I’m lower than my peers and I should be have as such. I mean my “place” as in my role and position in the world, in my world.
I’ve come to recognize and accept my flaws and quirks better, which helps me to accept the flaws of others without being so judgmental. Who am I to tear someone down when I am going through the same things? Of course, I have relapses, slip-ups, mistakes. But I try to think before I react because I know that everything I do, say, or express has a consequence: negative, positive, or insignificant.
Throwback Column: The Corner of the Sofa
September 17, 2007 (English journal)
Sometimes when I look back, I realize how little I’ve changed in some aspects.
It often went like this: it was summertime and of course that meant that Tasha was always at our house or we were at hers. Being young and having nothing better to do, we spent our days either making up games or making up performances. We were rehearsing for our Mothers’ Day presentation when the typical thing happened. After running through the play, in which I portrayed a bad little girl who put gum in people’s hair, we moved on to the dance. Now, we thought that we were pretty skilled dancers and singers. We’d don’t countless performances for our parents and even one for our neighbors – we pass out fliers and everything. Somehow, in the middle of learning the choreography, the topic of interest turned to me.
“Jasmine, you’re so dumb.” (Untrue. I knew I was smart.)
“You’re just a little kid.” (Of course. I knew this.)
Still, I let these comments get to me.
Attention to practicing kind of drifted away from all of us and so we sat to watch TV. I sat quietly in the corner, hiding my face, trying to be invisible.
“Stop trying to make us feel bad.”
“Gosh, way to go.”
It was as if I would never win.
This trait has carried into my teenage years. I voice my opinion and people can tell when I’m unhappy, but I still feel like it’s those who love me that sometimes hurt me the most, and they’re the hardest people to stand up to.
Now I don’t have a corner of the sofa to hide in… The corner of the car maybe.
My personal corner.
The corner of the conversation.
A mental corner.
Sometimes when I look back, I realize how little I’ve changed in some aspects.
It often went like this: it was summertime and of course that meant that Tasha was always at our house or we were at hers. Being young and having nothing better to do, we spent our days either making up games or making up performances. We were rehearsing for our Mothers’ Day presentation when the typical thing happened. After running through the play, in which I portrayed a bad little girl who put gum in people’s hair, we moved on to the dance. Now, we thought that we were pretty skilled dancers and singers. We’d don’t countless performances for our parents and even one for our neighbors – we pass out fliers and everything. Somehow, in the middle of learning the choreography, the topic of interest turned to me.
“Jasmine, you’re so dumb.” (Untrue. I knew I was smart.)
“You’re just a little kid.” (Of course. I knew this.)
Still, I let these comments get to me.
Attention to practicing kind of drifted away from all of us and so we sat to watch TV. I sat quietly in the corner, hiding my face, trying to be invisible.
“Stop trying to make us feel bad.”
“Gosh, way to go.”
It was as if I would never win.
This trait has carried into my teenage years. I voice my opinion and people can tell when I’m unhappy, but I still feel like it’s those who love me that sometimes hurt me the most, and they’re the hardest people to stand up to.
Now I don’t have a corner of the sofa to hide in… The corner of the car maybe.
My personal corner.
The corner of the conversation.
A mental corner.
6.07.2010
We got the jazz, we got the jazz...
When reminiscing and music combine, I go a little crazy.
Tonight I sat down and explored some old jazz favorites (and trying to discover some new ones), thanks to the time I spent in the car with my dad earlier this afternoon. When I was younger, we would ride around listening to Smooth Jazz 105.9 (WJZW, DC area radio), especially in the summer, with the windows down, on the weekend... when neither of us had anything to worry about. I remember him taking me to some event at the Kennedy Center and seeing groups like Incognito and Pieces of a Dream. I remember riding in the backseat hearing the jock with the really smooth voice spit out names like Joe Sample, George Benson, and Chuck Mangione. I especially remember my frustration with the fact that there were usually NO words with these songs. I really didn't understand it back then! ... It would annoy me so much, that I would make up my own words to go along to the music. Looking back, they were either ingenious lines... or useless junk. Since none of it was written down, I guess I'll never know!
In no way would I ever call myself 'a jazz person.' What an over-exaggerated compliment that would be! I wish. Maybe some day..
But in honor of WJZW 105.9 (which last strong 14 years as a smooth jazz station, until the format was switched in 2008), in honor of hip-hop samples, in honor of "Jazz" by ATCQ, in honor of my dad, in honor of my childhood, and in honor of good music... here's some music:
Winelight by Grover Washington, Jr.
Breezin' by George Benson
Give It All You Got by Chuck Mangione
Mister Magic by Grover Washington, Jr.
In All My Wildest Dreams by Joe Sample
Take Five by Dave Brubeck
We're In This Love Together by Al Jarreau
Nature Boy by George Benson
Morning Dance by Spyro Gyra
Tonight I sat down and explored some old jazz favorites (and trying to discover some new ones), thanks to the time I spent in the car with my dad earlier this afternoon. When I was younger, we would ride around listening to Smooth Jazz 105.9 (WJZW, DC area radio), especially in the summer, with the windows down, on the weekend... when neither of us had anything to worry about. I remember him taking me to some event at the Kennedy Center and seeing groups like Incognito and Pieces of a Dream. I remember riding in the backseat hearing the jock with the really smooth voice spit out names like Joe Sample, George Benson, and Chuck Mangione. I especially remember my frustration with the fact that there were usually NO words with these songs. I really didn't understand it back then! ... It would annoy me so much, that I would make up my own words to go along to the music. Looking back, they were either ingenious lines... or useless junk. Since none of it was written down, I guess I'll never know!
In no way would I ever call myself 'a jazz person.' What an over-exaggerated compliment that would be! I wish. Maybe some day..
But in honor of WJZW 105.9 (which last strong 14 years as a smooth jazz station, until the format was switched in 2008), in honor of hip-hop samples, in honor of "Jazz" by ATCQ, in honor of my dad, in honor of my childhood, and in honor of good music... here's some music:
Winelight by Grover Washington, Jr.
Breezin' by George Benson
Give It All You Got by Chuck Mangione
Mister Magic by Grover Washington, Jr.
In All My Wildest Dreams by Joe Sample
Take Five by Dave Brubeck
We're In This Love Together by Al Jarreau
Nature Boy by George Benson
Morning Dance by Spyro Gyra
6.04.2010
Did you just... congratulate me... for reading?
I'm not normally one to suggest books, especially cuz I'm so sloth-like that I don't take the time to sit down and finish books. But I was searching through my books as I was unpacking earlier and came across the books we used for this hip hop course last semester. Needless to say... I didn't do all of the reading for the class. But c'mon, who really does. It's college! There's no way you can read everything. But I can honestly say that I at least read part of all of these books, and the majority are worth spending some time with. [Thanks, Professor Rose!]
*Angry Black White Boy (Adam Mansbach, 2005)
"Peopled with all manner of race pimps and players, Angry Black White Boy is a stunning breakout book from a critically acclaimed young writer and should be required reading for anyone who wants to get under the skin of the complexities of identity in America. "
*Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America (Tricia Rose, 1994)
- Chapter 1 Voices from the Margins: Rap Music and Contemporary Black Cultural Production
- Chapter 2 “All Aboard the Night Train”: Flow, Layering, and Rupture in Postindustrial New York
- Chapter 3 Soul Sonic Forces: Technology, Orality, and Black Cultural Practice in Rap Music
* Chapter 4 Prophets of Rage: Rap Music and the Politics of Black Cultural Expression
- Chapter 5 Bad Sistas: Black Women Rappers and Sexual Politics in Rap Music
*Black Sexual Politics: African-Americans, Gender and the New Racism (Patricia Hill-Collins, 2005)
Wiki summary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sexual_Politics:_African_Americans,_Gender,_and_the_New_Racism
Key chapters:
- Chapter 3 Prisons for Our Bodies, Closets for Our Minds: Racism, Heterosexism and Black Sexuality
- Chapter 4 Get your Freak on: Sex, Babies, and Images of Black Femininity
- Chapter 5 Booty Call: Sex, Violence, and Images of Black Masculinity
The Hip Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African-American Culture (Bakara Kitwana, 2003)
Wiki summary: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hip_Hop_Generation
The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop and Why It Matters (Tricia Rose, 2008)
* That’s the Joint: The Hip Hop Studies Reader (Murray Forman and Mark Anthony Neal, 2004)
Sampled: Kisses Sweeter Than Wine -> Suckas
Original: Kisses Sweeter Than Wine (Weavers)
"New": Suckas (Jay Electronica)
"New": Suckas (Jay Electronica)
6.02.2010
New Song: Faster - Slum Village ft. Colin Munroe
Love this :)
(Via okayplayer.)
"So the release date has just been announced for Slum Village's new LP, Villa Manifesto, which is set to drop on July 27th. This will be the first album from the group to feature vocal contributions from T3, J Dilla, Baatin, and Elzhi. The LP also features Dwele, De La Soul, Little Brother, Colin Munroe, and Phife. On the production side of things the project boasts a line up of Young RJ, J Dilla, Dave West, Hi-Tek, and Mr. Porter."I wanted to pull the whole squad together," explains T3. "The reason why we call it Villa Manifesto is that it was a statement we want to give our people because we had been away for so long. What we're doing, what's going on, how we're feeling and where we're at today." To give ya'll a sample, here is what will be the first single, "Faster" featuring Colin Munroe."
(click the link to hear the "Faster")
(Via okayplayer.)
(click the link to hear the "Faster")
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