My Mic Sounds Nice: A Truth About Women & Hip Hop
September 1, 2010 by adenike
Filed under Archives, Blog, I MISS THE OLD SCHOOL TV, Music, featured content
BET aired their documentary ‘My Mic Sounds Nice: A Truth About Women & Hip Hop’ earlier this week and someone over at their Washington DC offices must have read my mind, as this the timing of the programme is very apt, with all the debate surrounding Nicki Minaj at the moment. The show highlights the rise of women in the male-dominated world of Hip-Hop and the challenges they have faced, and no doubt continue to face. It features lots of great old school footage, as well as guest commentators including Roxanne Shante, Trina, MC Lyte, Lil Mama, YoYo, Eve, Missy Elliott, former The Source editor Kim Osorio and others. Check it out below:
PART 1
PART 2
PART 3
YOGI BEAR & THE SMURFS GO 3D!
When I was growing up Yogi Bear was one of my favourite cartoons. My brothers and I used to love watching the antics of the lovable, but trouble-prone bear and his sweet but long-suffering side-kick Boo Boo. Jellystone Park was where they resided and their main mission in life was to swipe as many ‘pic-a-nic baskets’ from the visiting public as possible, much to the dismay of the park’s caretaker, and Yogi’s nemisis, Ranger Smith.
LAURYN HILL – Don’t Call It A Comeback
Lauryn Hill’s slot at the New York leg of annual hip hop festival Rock the Bells was the talk of the music industry this past weekend. The respected and much-loved singer was on top form at the show, not necessarily in voice, but definitely in enthusiam. And she bought out some special guests to sweeten the deal, in the form of Jay-Z, Beyonce, Mary J Blige, comedian Chris Rock, a heavily pregnant Alicia Keys, Alicia’s new hubby Swizz Beatz and John Legend.
MUSICAL YOUTH TO PERFORM AT OVERGROUND VIII
Overground, one of London’s most popular music showcases returns for its eight outing on 29th August (Bank Holiday Sunday) at Rhythm Factory , 16-18 Whitechapel Road, Whitechapel, E1 1EW. Headlining will be Grammy-nominated 80s favourites Musical Youth. The group now consists of just two original members Dennis Seaton and Michael Grant. But this will not stop the duo from bringing their ‘A’ game, as they perform old and new tracks at their first London gig in 20 years!
R.I.P AALIYAH – 9th Aniversary Of Her Tragic Death
Wow! It seems like just yesterday I was writing a post marking what would have been Aaliyah’s 31st birthday. That was back in January of this year. Today is another one in the diary when it comes to the much-missed star, as it is the ninth anniversary of her death. Her life was tragically cut short after a small plane she boarded in the Bahamas crashed, killing eight other passengers on board. The singer and her entourage were returning home after shooting the music video for her song Rock The Boat, and Aaliyah was just 22 years old at the time.
MS DYNAMITE GOES ALL OLD SCHOOL IN NEW VID!
I really love the below video What You Talking About? by Redlight featuring Ms Dynamite, and not just because I am a long time Ms Dynamite fan. It’s the imagery and fashion that really does it for me, courtesy of the super strong influences from the 80s and 90s. That’s everything from the graffiti style writing and pictures on the white background as a backdrop, to Ms Dynamite and her female co-star’s outfits of huge (door-knocker-style earrings), stone-wash denim, Reebok pumps, leggings and loud leather jacket!
I decided to dig out some classic vids from back in the day, which came to mind after viewing this. Enjoy, and let me know if there are any others you can think of?
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‘HEY KANYE: TEN RAPPERS GREATER THAN NICKI MINAJ (and they are all female)’
So Kanye West thinks that Nicki Minaj has it in her to be the best rapper of all time, next to Eminem, huh? I love Kanye and all he does in the studio and a lot of things out of it, but his statement: ‘I think she has the most potential out of everyone to be the Number 2 rapper of all time’ is something I can not and will not cosign! To paraphrase one of his own rhymes ‘Bitch… are you smoking reefer?’ (Roses, Late Registration, 2005), no matter how big Nicki Minaj gets she ain’t never gonna be no second greatest rapper of all time, and that’s coming from somebody that actually likes her. I also don’t agree on the Eminem thing either, but that is another discussion for another time. So back to Nicki, and it’s not just the fact that she is not even in the running to be the second greatest rapper of all time, she isn’t even in the running to be the greatest ‘female’ rapper of all time. I acknowledge that ‘Ye did say potential, but I’m still not buying.
There is a long list of female rappers that will always be greater than Nicki Minaj in my humble opinion. I admit a lot of are them are either washed up, in jail, on hiatus or out of the game and unlikely to make any real comeback now, but at their peak they were great. The fact that all of them have had hits that date back to at least the 90s is pure coincidence, but it also says a lot about the current state of hip hop, as it seems in the absence of anything truly amazing, peeps (like Kanye) are handing out unworthy titles, like an MTV award to Taylor Swift just before Mr West bum-rushes the stage! I will say image, lyrics, videos, impact and emotion all play a part here. Sales do too, but not as much – so we are talking quality not quantity . So… In no particular order (I’m way too indecisive to do it any other way), here goes my ‘Ten Female rappers greater than Nicki Minaj’
RALPH MACCHIO KICKS BACK!
The new version of the Karate Kid is released in the UK this Friday (30th July, 2010), and has already proved a huge box-office draw in the US. Starring Will Smith’s son Jaden as the ‘Karate Kid’, it also features martial arts expert/actor Jackie Chan in the Mr Miyagi-type character.
As I’ve already expressed on this site, I am not a huge fan of remakes of popular 80s films (why I’m not a fan of 80s remakes) I grew up watching, as no matter how good they are, they can not live up to the originals. This is mainly because they will always lack the atmosphere and feelings generated at the time my younger-self first watched the original. And these feelings can only be replicated by watching that same movie, with the same script, actors, lines, dodgy fashion and hairstyles and ancient-looking graphics and technical stuff.
I went to an early screening of the A Team movie a few weeks before the film came out, and although it wasn’t a terrible movie, I just couldn’t get past the fact that the actors just didn’t fit the parts. This meant I didn’t like the movie before it had even started! Lol! And as much as I love little Jaden Smith, I’m assuming I’m going to feel the same about the new Karate Kid.
Anyhow, my slight frustrations turned to laughter today when a friend forwarded the below video to me. Ralph Macchio has been pretty vocal on his thoughts about not tampering with the original Karate Kid in the past, but if he can laugh at things, I guess I can too. Read more
I MISS YOU MJ, R.I.P (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009)
June 25, 2010 by adenike
Filed under Archives, Blog, featured content
I’m sure I’m echoing the thoughts of many today, when I say it doesn’t seem like a year since the greatest entertainer to ever do it passed away! Michael Joseph Jackson is gone but certainly not forgotten, something proven by the love of his millions of fans, and also the recent revelation that since his death, a year ago, his estate has made close to $1 billion from posthumous sales of his music and merchandise. It is sadly ironic that many would attribute his need to make money (deciding to do all those shows at the O2 Arena last year), as the thing that eventually led to his death.
DAMAGE ARE BACK!
June 8, 2010 by adenike
Filed under Archives, Blog, featured content
Back in January I did a post about boyband of the moment JLS and all the UK male groups who paved the way for them! Click link to see that post
On top of that list were Damage, who I have always thought were such a great group, as they possessed the whole package of looks, musical talent (vocals, song writing, production, and playing instruments – the whole nine!), choreography and swagger!
I always believed that they never got the props they deserved, especially with their last album Since You’ve Been Gone (2001), which is still, in my humble opinion, one of most solid UK albums released in the last ten years! Real talk!
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