SPOTLIGHT: Bailey's Cream With Spirit Commercial

Every once in  while there comes along  a commercial that does more than entice us with a product, rather it makes an artistic statement that remains with us long after the spot has aired. The J'adore Dior commercial starring Charlize Theron was a classic, and the Bailey's Cream With Spirit commercial is a classic in the making. Meant to be a celebration of modern womanhood, it features beautiful woman dancing in billowing beige gowns to the fabulous music of Blondie's Rapture. Take a look. Enjoy!

SPOTLIGHT: D'Angelo, When We Get By, 1995

Spotlight: John B, They Don't Know

Before there was Robin Thick... there was John B! I heard this song on the radio the other day and it took me to a good place. So plug in your work ear phones (do you have those? I do) and enjoy!

Happy Monday!

-Ike

...And Alicia Keys On (top of) Piano

What has gotten into Alicia?

More than a baby! When Alicia Keys topped of her performance of Prince's Adore at the 2010 BET Awards by climbing on top of the piano, I was thinking...

Love Jones! I got a Love Jones! I got a Love Jones, over you...

She's got that jonez. She is glowing, the way a woman does when she's high on romance. Swiss Beats is... putting it down.

Wait... can this actually be me when I'm pregnant? Except, in my home in front of an audience of one.

Alicia's performance at the awards, for me, was the high light of the show. The second best moment-- Prince's reaction.

And make sure you catch the gentleman seated behind him.




It was a great performance overall. Check out her Prince tribute here.

Spotlight: Diana Ross, Work That Body, 1981

This is Diana doing Beyonce--- before Beyonce. Enjoy the leotards!
-Ike

PS: This is a GREAT workout tune.

Aaron McGruder Lampoons Tyler Perry on the Boondocks

Aaron McGruder uses his satirical genius to put all of Black America on blast, excusing no one. Not even...


TYLER PERRY!!!


Madea cracks me up, especially when she does her Patti Labelle impression, but at the same time, my soul is weeping.

Tyler Perry is an impressive American success story, much like his friend Oprah Winfrey. But unlike Oprah, Perry's media empire is cancer for Black artistic production. Cancer spreads if unchecked right? Tyler Perry has managed to spread his predictable metastatic story line and stereotypes from stage, to movies, to television.

The typical Winston Jerome story starts with a beautiful educated professional Black woman trapped in a troubled marriage with a brown skinned Black dude.

In what I consider to be one of McGruder's finest moments, he does check the mogul. Chin checks him. "Pause", the eighth episode in season 3, is a diatribe against Tyler Perry smothered in classic McGruder humor, such is the inclusion of "Pause, no homo".

In the episode granddad lands a starring role in a stage play by 'Jerome Winston'. Jerome is a cross-dressing, White Jesus professing, sexually ambiguous director that looks, sounds and acts an awful lot like Tyler Perry. The episode is a not-so-subtle commentary on Perry's mega-presence in Black Hollywood. McGruder even goes so far as to point out the irony of Perry's Christian themes juxtaposed with the homo-erotic undertones of his cross-dressing Madea character, and his own sexually ambiguous reputation.

But Jesus wants us to be actors first, heterosexuals second.

And then McGruder takes more subtle jabs at elements of Perry's work that we may overlook while laughing our behinds off. His heavy handed used of negative stereotypes and the narrow perspective on African-American life he presents to the world. These are the artistic shortcomings for which Perry has already come under fire from critics like fellow-film maker, Spike Lee.

I personally can not name one stage play, movie, or sitcom that does not feature one or some combination of the mammy, the crack addicted Jezebel, tragic mullato, and/or coon. My biggest gripe with his work is that Perry has recycled and reused the single Black woman narrative ad nauseum, promoting the idea that if you are a virtuous Black woman you must either marry 'beneath you' or remain woefully single. I mean really, our indulgence in this tragic tale of the single Black female has become a self-fulfilling prophecy that we really need to abandon. But we won't, because Tyler Perry won't let us.

How could you do this to me?
Get out! I'm going to marry this white huzzy! You are too virtuous and strong. You might make me a better man.

You may disagree, but I believe that given the fragile nature of the Black community and the state of our Black children, people invested with the power of image ought to be responsible.

-Ike

Whether you agree or disagree with McGruder's commentary, this episode is indisputably hilarious.

Spotlight: 'Love Changes', Kashif and Me'Lissa Morgan

And in honor of my prior post, I decided to post a throwback.

Smoking With Cigarettes, A Fine Boondocks Parody

"Then I stole it and had my friend come in and he smokes with cigawettes."

So... I didn't know who 7 year old Latarian Milton was until I watched Sunday's episode of the Boondocks 'Smoking With Cigarettes' (Season 3, Episode 6) . In 2008 Latarian Milton stole his grandmothers car and took it for a joy-ride, damaging four other cars and nearly killing several innocent people. Then a few months later, he struck again, hitting his grandmother in a Wal-Mart during a temper-tantrum he was having over some fried chicken.

Here are the news stories from the two events... and yes they tried it assigning this story to their resident Black male reporter!

"... But did you know you could perhaps have killed somebody?....Yes. But I wanted to do hoodrat stuff with my friends."

In the Boondocks episode 8 year LaMilton Taeshawn picks up Riley in his grandmothers car and they go on a joy ride. The episode takes on a sociopathic turn when LaMilton forces Riley to accompany him on his violent rampages at gun-point. "It's fun to do bad things," he says to the Black reporter. All through out his grandmother apologizes for his violent behavior, blaming it on society and the fact that LaMilton "really likes chicken wings".

I think McGruder's parody is also a biting commentary on raising Black boys , and the propensity for many Black single mothers and grandmothers to spoil their sons. What do you think? Feel free to respond in the comments section.

After watching this cartoon, when I discovered the real news story about Latarian I fell out laughing. But trust-- my soul was weeping at the same time.

Here's the link to the Boondocks episode Smoking With Cigarettes on youtube.

-Flyness and funk(y but whoopins)
Ike

Spotlight: Corinne Bailey Rae "Closer"

I can't get enough of this song and that smooth seventies vibe. Or maybe it's that the lyrics are on point. Who hasn't felt this way?

I don't want to give you up
But I don't want to hold you up
I don't want ambiguous
I just know that I've had enough

Whoomp! There's the President...

According to reports, President Obama ALLEGEDLY appeared in the music video for the 1993 'quick classic' "Whoomp There It is". He also made a cameo appearance in Boyz In the Hood, Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing, and a lost episode of Soul Train.


Flyness and funky look-a-likes,
Ike



Update: After further investigation, it turns out this was Al B. Sure. Another case of light-skinned mistaken identity.

SPOTLIGHT: Diana Ross, Take Me Higher, Ed Sullivan Show

Diana Ross singing her dance hit "Take Me Higher" on the Ed Sullivan show during the nineties. It's a song I work out to every morning. You will not be able to watch this and not want to dance along! She looks incredible, sounds incredible, and whats more awesome is that her effervescent spirit just radiates during the interview. Werq Miss Ross!!!

SPOTLIGHT: Diana Ross, No One Gets the Prize , Ceasars Palace, Las Vegas, 1979

Clip from her legendary concert at Ceasar's Palace following the release of "The Boss". This song, along with The Boss, and Ain't No Mountain High Enough was produced by the awesome duo Ashford & Simpson.

SPOTLIGHT: Solange, "I Decided" music video

This song single-handedly made me LOVE Solange. It's a nice blend of sixties soul and seventies funk. Its the hottest track out right now by a young female R&B artist.

SPOTLIGHT: Diana Ross, Take Me Higher, Japan, 1998

SPOTLIGHT: Marjorie Vincent, "Fantasie-Impromptu" by Frédéric Chopin , Miss America 1991 Talent Competition

Marjorie's piano rendition of this Chopin masterpiece went down as one of the most brilliant talent performances in Miss America history. She also looked incredible! Marjorie Vincent was crowned Miss America this year making her the fourth african-american woman to hold the title. The complete list of Black title holders is as follows:

Vanessa Williams, 1984
Suzette Charles ,1984
Debbye Turner, 1990
Marjorie Vincent, 1991
Kimberly Aiken , 1993
Erica Harold, 2003
Erica Dunlap, 2004

What '27 Dresses' reminds me about love

Morning divas,

Basically, some Hollywood writer took the old adage "always a bridesmaid and never a bride" and ran with it. One generic script later, we have the movie 27 Dresses. Now honestly, this movie was such a chic flick that even I, a chick who likes a good romantic flick, was a bit repulsed. But it was charming. Watching it at times was like drinking sweet tea, that had too much sugar in it though; flavor ruined by predictability and sappiness.

I'm really not in the business of movie reviews, particularly not lack luster productions like this.... but there really was something I liked about it. I won't give too much away, but basically the movie centers around Jane Nichols(Katherine Heigl), a young woman who has such an agreeable personalty and is so giving of herself that she makes the perfect bridesmaid. In fact, she's been a bridesmaid 27 times! Meanwhile she's waiting on a Prince Charming groom of her own, and Jane is secretly in love with her boss. Even though she dotes on him and he appreciates her giving nature, he doesn't view her romantically. Well folks, chaos ensues when her little sister Tess (Malin Akerman) returns to town and her boss falls for her. A short while after, Jane finds herself preparing to be the bridesmaid yet again, this time as Tess marries the man of her dreams.

Now what really got me was the commentary this movie offered about the difference between falling in love with an idea and a person. Ultimately (and predictably, blah) she discovers that the man she felt was perfect for her all this time, her boss, was in fact not someone with whom she had any chemistry. Accordinlgy, the one quirky journalist who appears out of the blue determined to forge a path into her life becomes her sould mate. Go figure.

Many of us are walking around, searching for the love under the pretense that we know who our ideal is but truthfully, love is illogical. So many things don't make sense. We fall for the hype about compatibility, but nothing creates passion like two people who are inherently different characters. As women, we worry about saying the right things, and controlling our emotions, and appearing completely normal. But again, so often a man will fall in love with us because of that one uncontrolable idiosyncracy.

To know love is to know that it can never be fully known. Like God, it works in mysterious ways. Perhaps it's not accurate to think that we can fall in love, because then so many of us purposefully walk, shoes untied, hoping to trip ourselves into it. Nope. We don't fall in love. Love falls on us.

Flyness and Funk,

Ike

And, the last song played in the movie was "Love has Fallen on Me" by Chaka Khan and it is one of my favorite songs. I was so happy to see this oldie but goodie resurrected on the silver screen. I decided to post it. Listen to the lyrics and you'll know why I love it! (In this medley she starts with 'Clouds'. 'Love' begins at 3:10)

SPOTLIGHT: Boondocks, "The Uncle Ruckus Reality Show" (Banned)

This show was also banned from being aired on the Adult Swim Channel. This is the Boondocks' second commentary on BET and centers around a reality show being made about about a wayward Black man who hates Black people.
"We air this shit because we hate Black People!"

Part I

Part II

The Boondocks Episode, "Hunger Strike", that was Banned From TV

WATCH WHILE YOU CAN!!!

This is the episode of "Boondocks" that was banned from television by network execs (Viacom) who would have had a fit if this was shown. It is a brilliantly done satire about an evil Cruela Devil-like BET executive( at the beck and call of her white superiors) out to do what "hundreds of years of slavery, Jim Crow and malt liquor" could not; destroy the Black race. Now, we all know that BET is carcinogenic. We all know that watching that network ritually is about as good for you as inhaling second hand smoke on a daily basis. Nevertheless, what this episode does best is shed light on the nature of our contemporary Black leaders, some of whom (I won't name names, that's tacky) in their attempt to enlighten the "hip hop generation" about social change, fall into same decadence of those they criticize. In this epoisode, "Hunger Strike" food becomes a metaphor for this decadence of which I speak. The activist figure, Rollo Good Love, who oddly resembles a cross between Al-Sharpton and Ronald Isley, believes that he can effect change from within by joining the very entertainment world that he speaks against. But in doing so, he becomes blindsighted by his own celebrity. We should remember that a civic leader is a position of service. While notariety may come with it, the moment that a leader is motivated by achieving self glory he becomes ineffective. It's just a good episode. Watch it while you can. I'm sure that it will mysterioulsy vanish from the internet as it has done several times before.

"It's 2 PM, time for our morning staff meeting."
"When I sit and watch BET my dignity is sucked away."

SPOTLIGHT: Dizzy Gillespie, Manteca, 1982, Finland

As good as Latin jazz gets...

SPOTLIGHT: Nina Simone, Feeling Good Remix

A jazz classic remixed off of Verve Remixed, a fantastic album!