At least one good thing I keep getting out of Mob Wives is the songs. Once again, I discover yet another great singer yeay! Jesus can you help me now is a great song from Singer-songwriter, guitarist.... Amos Lee
Listen Below and be touched by this sultry, bluesy, folksy voice.
Amos Lee - Jesus (Can You Help Me Now!)
Also Big ups to our Naija Soul singers Bez and Nneka, they recently showcased at the SXSW 2012 at Austin Texas.
Nneka 'My Home'
Bez 'That Stupid song'
Also to MI and the Chocolate City Boyz who also showcased at Beso Cantina in Austin Texas, Lots of Love.
Ass ass ass ass ass Ass ass ass ass assAss ass ass ass ass....STOP…..now make that motherf*cker hammer time like… that is the beginning of the song Dance (Ass) by Big Sean featuring Nicki Minaj. What do you think about the video below?
Last week I attended a Hip Hop seminar by a Hip Hop scholar, James Peterson. I went on the last day of the seminar where they showed a short movie called Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes. It is a 2006 documentary film written, produced, and directed by Byron Hurt. The documentary explores the issues of masculinity, violence, homophobia and sexism in hip hop music and culture, through interviews with artists, academics and fans.
Hip hop itself is a form of musical expression and artistic subculture that originated in African-American and Hispanic-American communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. The movie touched on a lot of subjects which are regularly discussed by the hip hop community. I will talk about two of the topics that stood out to me.
First of all, there was a long segment which talked about hip hop disrespecting women. There was a lot of emphasis on the video, Tip Drill by rapper Nelly. There were a lot of scantily dressed women in the video and a lot of guys who were purportedly having fun with these women. The main part that stood out was when Nelly swiped an ATM card in between one of the video vixen's butt crack. That move put a lot of ideas in to peoples heads. To some, it signified that women were cheap and he could pay to have access to whatever he wanted. Basically, the whole of the video seemed very disrespectful to women as a whole.
Check out the video below.
The second thing I picked up from the video, and from the seminar as a whole was the influence, hip hop music has on young people. James Peterson discussed the fact that the very evident disrespect for women in these music videos, and in hip hop songs was actually affecting young men. There is a high percentage of rape in the United States and every 40 seconds, a woman is sexually harassed. Again it pointed out that hip hop artists like 50 Cent whose music encourages a lot of violence actually influence the young crowd to be violent.
There is also a high percentage of homicide among the young black population. Also 50 Cent and some other rappers are allowed to sell albums with pictures of them carrying guns and other violent stuff, but Nas is not allowed to have a picture of his back with the large letter N because it makes references to slavery.
50's Album Cover
Nas's Album Cover
There was an interview with rapper Busta Rhymes in which he walked out when confronted with questions involving homophobia in the rap community. HE was quoted as saying; "I can't partake in that conversation," followed by, "With all due respect, I ain't trying to offend nobody. ... What I represent culturally doesn't condone [homosexuality] whatsoever." When he was asked if the hip-hop culture would ever accept a homosexual rapper, he exited the interview.
Also, activist and rapper, Chuck D of rap group Public Enemy was quoted as stating: "BET is the cancer of black manhood in the world, because they have one-dimensionalized and commodified us into being a one-trick image. We're [shown] throwing money at the camera and flashing jewelry at the camera that could give a town in Africa water for a year." The rapper also stated a link existed between the sales of hip-hop music to young white Americans, and the amount of pressure on black artists to create more of that content: sex and violence.
One thing James Peterson said that really stuck to me was the fact that the rapes that happen very often in the United States should hardly be blamed on the women, as people usually say, but on the men. His reason for making this comment was that women are free to wear whatever they want. Obviously there is a limit, but there are men who let certain messages in hip hop music and videos get them, to the point where they sexually abuse women regardless of what they are wearing.
The seminar as a whole got me thinking about the kind of music I listen to. It also opened my eyes to a lot of the evident, and not so evident messages that most hip hop artists convey in their music. I will not mention any more names apart from the ONE I said before, but there is a very high number of hip hop artists who make music that have very negative effects on the youths. James Peterson not only made us aware of this but encouraged us to listen to more music that would have good impact on our lives. He suggested a few artists like Nas, Dead Prez and a few upcoming artists. He also gave us the chance to take all (60 GB) of his music.
As for Nigerian music....(no comment)...I can only come up with three off the top of my head (M.I, Mode9, Sound Sultan)..If you know any other hip hop artists that fit into the category, please let me know. BTW Nas is back with a new song The Don....(look for it yourself...).
So next time you hear, Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass Ass....Stop... and think if the song is worth you listening to....or not...
A Man's Story is a documentary by Varon Bonicos, covering 12 years of Boateng's Life.
Ozwald Boateng (born 1967) is a British fashion designer of Ghanaian descent, known for his trademark twist on classic British tailoring style. Inspired by his father's suits, Boateng opened his first shop on Savile Row at the age of 23.
Preview of the Documentary Below:
A Man's Story
*The film will be on Limited theatrical release today, and Available to pre-order on DVD from Amazon.co.uk
World Book Day 2012 is a celebration – of authors, illustrators, books and, most importantly, of reading. It’s the biggest event of its kind, designated by UNESCO as a worldwide celebration of books and reading, and marked in more than 100 countries. The main aim of World Book Day in the UK is to encourage children to explore the pleasures of books and reading by providing them with the opportunity to have a book of their own, through a special £1 World Book Day Book Token.
My Son got a £1 pound token in school, and we are looking to see what book to get. He already has classics like The very hungry caterpillar by Eric Carle and the famous Where's spot? by Eric Hill
Please be encouraged to pick up a book and read today, and if you are not sure what to read, you can try the following. I have a metal book mark that lists these books.
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
1984 by George Orwell
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
A Passage to India by E.M. Forster
Lord of the Flies by William Golding
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
A Bend in the River by V.S. Naipaul
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
The Diary of Anne Frank by Anne Frank
Don Quixote by Miguel De Cervantes
Bible by Various
The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
Ulysses by James Joyce
The Quite American by Graham Greene
Birdsong by Sebastian Faulks
Money by Martin Amis
The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
His Dark Materials by Phillip Pullman
Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol
Rebecca by Daphine du Maurier
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon
On the Road by Jack Keruac
Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad
The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope
The Outsider by Albert Camus
The Colour Purple by Alice Walker
Life of Pi by Yann Martel
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
Man Without Women by Ernest Hemingway
Gulliver's Travels by Johnathan Swift
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Huckelberry Finn by Mark Twain
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
The Divine Comedy by Alighieri Dante
The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
OK! you can also try my favourites, some not in the list above: My ultimate favourite- Black girl in Paris by Shay Youngblood- it reads like a poem, Autobiography of Malcom X by Alex Haley, Piercing the Darkness/This Present Darkness by Frank E Perretti, Jagua/Jagua Nana's Daughter by Cyprian Ekwensi. I also like some of Francine Rivers books, as well as John Grisham, and in the past Sidney Sheldon. I have also mentioned my childhood love for Pacesetters by various West African authors.
Presently I dabble in a mixture, and I have bought and thoroughly enjoyed: A thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives by Lola Shoneyin- very, very funny, Say You Are One Of Them by Uwem Akpan, The Other Hand by Chris Cleave, The Help by Kathryn Stockett- haven't seen the movie yet, its always so hard to watch a movie after you've read the book. I have also been a huge fan of the Shopaholic books by Sophie Kinsella- tried so hard to see the movie afterwards.
Favourable mentions are also Maya Angelou, Nigerian and African authors like Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Adichie and Russian authors- I love the tone and writing style of Russian Literature.
"Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say and not giving a damn."-Gore Vidal.
This blog is about styling, the way we live, the things we do, the things we love, and the things we say...
