Earthtones!

[There's always a story.]

A couple days ago, my dad was watching PBS, and he called me downstairs repeatedly to check out some of the music that was going on. It was an ode to the oldies: O'jays, Jerry Butler, and the like.

[Yes I'm just now appreciating the O'jays...everybody learns at a different speed, thank you very much.]

I probably didn't show it, because I was trying to prepare a Sunday school lesson for the next morning, but I was actually pretty into it.

So today I was checking out this guy,


And I ran by the page he had in his description.
http://www.myspace.com/earthtonemusicgrp

I Love Music is CRAZY. Enough said.

When the red light comes on...

...I change clothes.

[By the way, I found this picture using Google. I think it's a horrible picture.]

The buzz around the office this morning was that the Bad Girl video wasn't great (actually, they said "horrible"), so--having never seen it--I checked it out. You may also.



I will say this: it was a pretty good concept--for mainstream anyway, if you're trying to follow the trends and capitalize off of what's hot at the moment. Not that I think that the comic book theme will ever not be hot, clearly we're in Gotham City, and The Dark Knight just came out a couple of weeks ago. But yea, the comic book theme is always clever.

But it wasn't pushed far enough. The entire song is built around a transformation, but in the video, there's more emphasis on the red light than on an actual transformation. And on top of that, when they do transform, all they do is change clothes to black. They were sexy from beginning to end, they were slightly maniacal from beginning to end, and Shannon's part looks like it was tacked on.

They need to fiddle around with their images a bit more, because they have lots of avenues open to them. Good songs on the album. They just need to push the envelope a bit more.

Put up your peace sign.

These two make a pretty good team.

Found on Chaseology.

"Nigger"

Yea...throwing around the word today. As I said, I have minimal problem with the word, because I haven't had much to complain about. If I were to fake the hurt, it'd take the power away from someone who actually does feel the pain on a regular basis.

Anyway...

A few months ago, Nas released a track called "Be a Nigger Too," and honestly, had it been anybody else in the game, I wouldn't have given it thought. But Nas has been a thought-provoker for me since I started listening to him. I actually liked the song so much that I flexed my writing muscles and wrote a quick verse to it. Not even the beat; the song.

Why? Because even if he's not saying what I agree with in the end, he's also not being stupid. He's thinking.

And the thing about it is, you know this is deep because you can't deconstruct it and make sense of it all in the 3+ minutes it takes to listen to the song once. But there is sense in it.

I won't deconstruct it all here for you, because I'm simply not gonna be able to put it all down here, and I don't know if y'all have time to read it. Plus, that wasn't the point of this entry.

The point of this entry is to address the album that released yesterday.

In a single from the album, Hero, Nas basically lets all the listeners know that because of his lawyers and his record label, he will not be allowed to call the album Nigger.

So he just won't name the album.

"This universal apartheid
I'm hog-tied, the corporate side
Blocking y'all from going to stores and buying it
First L.A. and Doug Morris was riding wit it
But Newsweek article startled big wigs
They said, Nas, why is he trying it?
My lawyers only see the Billboard charts as winning
Forgetting - Nas the only true rebel since the beginning
Still in musical prison, in jail for the flow
Try telling Bob Dylan, Bruce, or Billy Joel
They can't sing what's in their soul
So untitled it is
I never change nothin'
But people remember this
If Nas can't say it, think about these talented kids
With new ideas being told what they can and can't spit
I can't sit and watch it
So, sh!t, I'ma drop it
Like it or not
You ain't gotta cop it
I'm a hustler in the studio
Cups of Don Julio
No matter what the CD called
I'm unbeatable, y'all"
--"Hero," Nasir Jones, Untitled 2008.

On behalf of the real artists out there who have something to say, but have to watch how they say it for fear of offending the people who need to be offended,

On behalf of every preacher who's had to preach to a silent house because people didn't want to confront the truth of their words,

On behalf of every health educator who's been ordered not to tell people--who are going to have sex anyway--to at least strap on a condom for your health's sake,

On behalf of any caged bird who's found the courage to sing through the bars of society,

Thank you for saying it anyway.

Michael Jackson

The man is crazy. The man is probably a pedophile. The man has problems leaving his childhood behind. The man lost his Neverland Ranch. The man has been called a "white woman" on many occasions. The man is...let's face it...weird as hell.

But dang...


the man is a genius.

Breezy

Youtube wouldn't let me embed, so this is from imeem.



I'm a bit late on this one, but I actually kinda like this song. My only complaint is that the producer did too much to Chris' voice on the verses.

But there's been something about love songs for me lately...I can definitely appreciate a good love song. The chord pattern (4-1-5-2) on this song is SO difficult to hate, because it's always been a beautiful arrangement, wherever you hear it. The video...you really couldn't muck that up too much because the lyrics are pretty descriptive.

(Annoying musical jargon approaching)
[What's weird with this song though is that after the bridge, they tried to put the song in rounds--

you remember back in the day when you'd be in music class, and they'd have one group of people start singing a song, then they'd have the other group start singing the song maybe 4 counts after the first group started singing, so everyone was at a different part of the song? You remember...you know you remember.

--Anyway, they tried that here. Or something like it. The chord progression changed to a 1-5-2-4 progression, but Chris' vocals stayed on the 4-1-5-2. With the instrumental, and the fullness of the harmonies in the chorus, I'm not sure it worked out.
(end annoying musical jargon)

In lay men's terms, too much was going on and it clashed.

I will say, though, at least the producer was thinking, and experimenting. I just don't think it worked out the best it could.

It's a beautiful song though, minus that part.

Better in Time? Not quite sure...

The song had potential.



I just don't think her producers know what to do with her voice.

And of course, Simon Cowell brought her out as "the next Whitney Houston"...which I can see because she copies some of their riffs and doesn't demolish them completely.

She can sing. Definitely. She can hit some runs and riffs that a LOT of people in this industry can't. But just being able to sing doesn't help you in the biz. Neither is just getting a fantabulous song, which this could have been.

She's just not hitting her height quite yet. We'll see how things turn out for her. Maybe I should have bought the album...but it didn't appeal. I just wish the industry knew what to do with her voice.

Good in the Hood

Found this yesterday:
"Good in the Hood" music video.
My, these reporters are obective.


"Reporting from the hood".

Y'all know I had to plug myself, right?