BET Awards 2008

So unfortunately, some of us don't have BET. So I did not see the BET Awards live. What I've seen so far are some clips on youtube of some performances here and there. And I've seen a couple blogs. Just based on what I've seen, therefore, I can't speak on the entire show. But I can speak on each performance, so I'll talk about the notable ones. In no order.

[There's no guarantee on how long these videos will stay up, so if they get taken down, use your imagination.]

Chris Brown feat. Ciara, "With You," "Take You Down"


Needless to say, this performance was quite sexual. Pretty darn sexy, actually. (Don't mind saying it.) But what really got to me about this performance was about 3:00 in. As far as dancing, these two are quite literally the absolute best in the game. It was just fantastic.

Yung Jeezy feat. Kanye West, "Put On"


I was literally disappointed by this performance. It was just Jeezy on stage. It was empty. Plus, instrumentally, this track had SO much potential for a live show. And because there was only Jeezy on stage, he had to get all his energy from the audience (audience participation is rarely dependable) and himself. There was little interaction until Kanye got on stage.

And even then, the chemistry wasn't even that great. Plus Kanye came in too early and then missed the beat.

Plus, Kanye should have sung on key, because his mic was run through protools (I assume) to achieve that.

Many complaints. I still dig the song though.

Rihanna, "Take a Bow"

[Embedding has been disabled for this video.]

So in case you can't see the video, you really ain't missing much. She walks down onto the stage. I felt like she was channeling Whitney or Celene Dion or something. And I think she's beautiful and whatnot, and she's blossomed a whole lot as an artist in just the past 2 years. But she still ain't earned the right to do this kind of performance where it's just like "hey, look at me sing." More was necessary. To me anyway.

They did have live instruments on this one though, and the drummer killed. I actually saw this performance before I found Jeezy's performance, and that may have been why I was so disappointed in Jeezy's instrumentation/stage set up. Voice wasn't all that perfect, but hey. Not bad, right?

Neyo, "Closer"


You know, I'm not a huge fan of this song. It's grown on me, but it doesn't have the usual effect Neyo has on me.

Enter Jabbawockeez. I had a problem with this incorporation. There was literally no set up, because Neyo wasn't dancing like crazy at the beginning. Initially, I didn't even realize Neyo was still on stage until he stepped through them at the end, and then I was like "Oh. I still don't get it though." Jabba needed more time. That's just me though.


T-Pain feat. Dang Near Everybody.


This was really, really hot, especially the intro, minus the "Yo, this industry is my circus; ride with the ring leader" quip at the beginning that progressed into a 5-6 second gap that shut everything down.

But I LOVED the circus motif--though I've seen it used by Tonex on his myspace page (it's not there anymore). And heck, he's right. He's making moves, he's working with all sorts of artists, and his name is on so many hit songs right now. I applaud him, and I honestly didn't see this coming with "I'm In Luv wit a Strippur" a few years back.

You betta jiggle that belly fat, Ross! Lol!

The BEST part of this performance for me wasn't even on stage though. It was when Big Boi stepped out, the camera panned to the audience, and you saw Lil Wayne's mannerisms--the best part of the music industry is when artists respect other artists.

Lil Wayne


"Sang! My! Song!"

Why was T-Wayne wearing that shirt?

I respect Lil Wayne though, and I have since he teamed up with Robin Thicke on Shooter. Not necessarily his lyrics, but his flow. It's effortless. It's like he's at home behind the mic. He's just a dang good rapper, and you can't really object to his talent level. You can say he's not challenging himself, but I wouldn't even say that. I mean, y'all the ones buying it, right?

Alicia Keys, SWV, EnVogue, TLC


This was a good performance, and of course, you know I loved the live instruments.

I can't say much about the appearances, because I wasn't into music that much until late 2000, so the nostalgia doesn't get me. But it was a heck of an idea, and it worked out well. I was satisfied.

Keyshia Cole and Lil Kim


...that was a mess. Sent from Heaven was ok. When Lil' Kim came out on stage though, it was like Keyshia couldn't sing no more. Plus she started off singing Missy's verse, and they had cut to her verse. Come on now.

Why she always so flat?!

I haven't found Marvin Sapp's performance on Bet, but I'm pretty sure he tore it up. He usually does.

I also couldn't find the Al Green tribute...ain't it sad? The best stuff and I can't find it.

Anyway, yea. That's my take on some of the performances. I'll be back in a few with more stuff.

Drums

This is pretty old, but I still think it's hot.

Obama "Distorts" Bible?

I'm not even going to share any opinion on this. I'll just let you look.

Remember what I said in the first post about the God being bigger than the Bible and your interpretation of the Bible? Yea. And I really can't seem to get how speaking to someone in a language they can understand/making understandable references is a "fruitcake version of the constitution."

I said I wasn't gonna give an opinion. So go look.

Quick Question...

Did anyone else chuckle when they heard this mess? Personally, I'm kinda sick of it.

Always gotta be swooping into the rescue, don't you Rev. Goodlove?

Or was it Sharpton?

[Check out the poll on the right; the blog it deals with will be up in the next couple of days.]

Stand Out

“When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.” Isaiah 59:19

Track Title	Rating (Out of 10)
Stand Out	5
Hold On	8
Look Up	7
Bless the Lord	9
I Need You	8.5
Prodigal Son	9.5
All Hail the King	8
Hallelujah	9
Let Us Worship	8
So Amazing	7.5
He Has Made Me Glad	10
I Made It Through	10
Chasing After You	10
Well Done	10
Good in the Hood	8.5
Average Rating (per song)	8.5
Album Rating	9.2

I had been waiting for the release of this album since Victory Live! came out a couple years ago. As a musician and choir director, I’ve grown to love his style immensely. He’s active. He’s radical. He lets it all hang out. He falls on stage in the middle of his songs—on purpose. He’s out of the box. He even said at one point that he and his group have been kicked out of churches for their at times scary new take on gospel music.

In short, he’s weird. And I love it.

But there was always some speculation as to his comments concerning the status of homosexuality in the world and the church, and in exposing myself to the many kinds of people there are in the world, I’ve learned that sometimes, just saying “don’t be like that” or “stop doing that” isn’t enough to represent the gospel properly.

By the way, I once mentioned “homosexuality” maybe 3 times in a 25 minute sermon, and I was asked afterwards if I was gay. Am I? Well, you may have questions, but I don’t. And to me, that’s all that matters.

But yea…the church has been known unfortunately to sanction hatred, and lately, the scapegoat has been homosexuals. I generally can’t stand hatred and rejection in the church, because the church is supposed to be that one place you can go to when you can’t go anywhere else. Even the “Prodigal Son” (the 6th track on Tye’s album) said “at least I can go to my father’s house.” So I’m always a bit aware of when something seems slightly hateful and loftily rebuking.

Then I heard the title track on this album. First of all, it was kinda dull to me. I saw the visual on his website and it was more active, and I think it needed that visual aspect to appeal to me. Aurally, it's also grown on me. But being familiar with Tye’s work, the “war cry” he screams for sounded a little sheepish. Not sure why, but that's what I felt.

Even these lyrics sparked some anger among the bloggosphere and among many listeners, I’m sure:

“How you gonna be the praise leader
when you listen to r&b
And hip hop is on your ringtone
Trying to tell you God ain't pleased
And since when did it become cool
For you to live together unmarried
Men with men, women with women
Telling you God ain't gonna have it”

Now, is there a problem with these lyrics? Possibly, depending who you are. I personally have a problem with people saying “don’t listen to hip-hop” or things like that, and I’ll tell you why in more detail later. But these comments—not even the homosexuality, because that’s traditional church so I see where it comes from—but the hip-hop and r&b comment are comments that I’ve known to be personal opinion from Tye himself. And when you’re in a genre that people expect to be infallible, mixing any sort of opinion in it--obscurely--is a dangerous thing to do. So it was a bit of a turn off, and I almost didn’t buy this album.

But thank God I did.

Tye and Soundcheck have proven themselves as outright musical geniuses. They took almost every chord progression you could possibly think of and reworked it just a little bit more than most bands out there would. You could tell just by listening to the record that they enjoy what they do, and they take it seriously.

They called on Kim Burrell yet again to lend her soulful power to “He Has Made Me Glad,” the closest thing they have to a traditional track. She, of course, was amazing. The choir on this one reminded me of James Hall. GA’s pretty versatile if you listen closely.

[Quick comment: Do you remember on Victory Live! when Tye and Kim tried a run together, and it didn’t quite work out? Well, of course, they redid it on this album and got it right. I thought that was cute.]

“I Made It Through” is Soundcheck’s reinvention of shout music, and the main reason I love them so much. It’s New Orleans Jazz mixed with church shout music mixed with…all sorts of crazy mess. They made every effort to put every possible run and change in the song as possible, and it worked because they could resolve it. Some people may argue that he was doing too much. As a musician, I would disagree wholeheartedly. Of course.

“Chasing After You” is my second favorite track on the album.

What really stuck with me about this album is the fact that though Tye does some opinionated stuff sometimes, though he goes against the grain in what may be a questionable way, and though he's made enemies and friends and whatnot, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter to him. The track "Well Done" sealed that for me, and it wasn't even because of what the choir was singing, or what the musicians were playing. It was because of this comment during a musical interlude:

"Most of us have plans for this life. We have a blueprint of our business and how we want our future to be. And it's good to have a vision and a plan, for 'without a vision, the people perish.' So that's a great thing. But let's be mindful as we pursue our dreams and as we pursue our goals, that at the end of all this, the reality is, I'm living my whole life just to hear two words, and that's 'Well Done'"

I don't have time to preach on it right now, but suffice it to say the album is well worth the purchase. If you’re worried about hateful remarks and excessively opinionated statements, don’t be. Tye's human, just like everyone else. It happens. But he also ministers. And this album ministers.

Go get it.

About me

I’m not gonna make any promises at this point. I figure the content should speak for itself. But I will say this much:

I try to be biblical, but that doesn’t make me correct. I’m actually pretty opinionated, so I give you leave to disagree with me and my biblical interpretations.

God is BIGGER THAN “THE BIBLE,” and BIGGER THAN YOUR INTERPRETATION THEREOF. Stop studying the Bible; it’s not doing you any good anymore. Ask Him to write His Word on your heart. You’ll see the difference a lot quicker. (By the way, that request is biblical.)

I’m semi-bitter.

I don’t mind hitting the issues, even if I’m wrong. It's better to be active and wrong than inactive.

I’m a paid musician at Wesley Chapel UMC, and this blog could cost me my job.

I appreciate good music, muzik, musik, muzick, whatever.

Am I spirit-filled? You tell me.

At the end of the day, though, I’m trying to minister the best way I know how.

Special thanks to Chase for designing this blog.