The Other B-Day

Guess what guys.

It's Erykah Badu's birthday!!!!

And since I'm running off green tea and Dentyne this morning, I'll be sweet to myself and not try to think of posting anything incredibly original. Instead, I'll share with you one of my fav Badu videos.

Perhaps it's because of years watching my mom get ready for work _ a fog of Dove soap and sweet shampoo spilling from the bathroom when she walked out, the careful application of pantyhose and later make-up (she always smiles when she puts on blush ... I think it's to determine where the apples of her cheekbones start and stop), Donna K. suit already laid out on the bed _ all the observation made me just LOVE "getting ready" scenes in movies.

That being said, enjoy a little vintage Badu ... "Other Side of the Game." This goes out to all the gentlemanly gangsters, their girls and all those Pisces out there looking for love.

New Van Hunt!

I fell in love while I was in college, and Van Hunt's self-titled album was playing for much of the falling and the loving.

I was hunting around soulbounce.com and came across some new Van Hunt tracks. Check out "Next Year" here. Starts off a little womp-womp, but I was a fan before the end.

For now, check out an oldie but goodie, below. (I wasn't much of a fan of the second album.) Let the opening ride, and enjoy ...

Baby, Baby, Baaaby

Lately, I've been discussing the having of children. Blame it on the octuplets mom, but dude, it comes up. No, I don't want any chaps until AT LEAST 2014, considering that I won't be married anytime incredibly soon. And if I'm gonna be beleaguered by dirty diapers and incessant babbling, then sooomebody's gonna be stuck at home to experience that shit with me.

Not to mention that I'd have to quit my current job and work for McDonald's in an effort to increase my income, and perhaps, if I'm lucky, be able to provide my children with nutritious meals consisting of apple slices, milk and chicken McNuggets on the free-free. I'd sell the toys on eBay for diaper money.

Anyway, here's my list of reasons to have kids. I'll start with one that my boosnaps gave me this morning. He generated the second one too.

REASONS TO PROCREATE
1. To have someone to pass me the remote.
2. Chore games, ex. "Hey kids! Who wants to race me to fold towels?! You? You? YAAAAY!"
3. Bigger boobs.
4. Guaranteed visitors at the nursing home. -- Oh wait, perhaps they aren't guaranteed, but at least my chances increase of getting a stack of crossword puzzle books and a robe every Christmas. Plus, if some nurse is rabbit punching me and beating my legs, then I want someone to notice and put a stop to the one-sided ultimate fighting.
5. Coattails. If my kid turns out to be the blackapino Bill Gates or the next Barack Obama, then HOPEFULLY, my tender loving care will pay off and he'll break his dear mama off a couple stacks, or at least move me into a nice room at the White House.
6. In addition to the remote control, I assume that my house will be equipped with cordless phones. Surely, I'll need someone to answer my yelling from across the house and bring that telephone receiver to me ... along with a glass of lemonade and maybe a ho-ho.
7. Excuses. If I don't want to do something or go somewhere, then I'll just blame it on the baby. "Aw, sorry, I won't be able to make it to Drusilla's surprise retirement party; JoJo just came down with the flu. Yeah, I know. Terrible. Send my love, sweetie."
8. Telemarketer defense.
9. Spur of the moment roadtrips to Mexico, and less concern that somebody in my crew will get kidnapped. Mustering up ransom money would be such a hassle.

Feel free to share your own reasons. I'm unmarried and childless, so I won't be busy.

R. Les vs. Pres?

Hey, y'all. I recently did a Q&A with Ryan Leslie. Check out the article here.

And although everything in me wants to post a bit of his music here, I feel weird mixing illegal things in with my 9-to-5 ish. So yeah, just Google him or something.

:)

Jilly from Philly in Africa

How cool is it that Jill Scott is the star of a new HBO series?



And then later we'll talk about how cool it is that there'll be a new batch of awesome artists, writers and activists on HBO's "Black List."

InLoveAffairs: Case Resolved

Perhaps I shouldn't have said the case of InLoveAffairs (refer to earlier post) was resolved. My homeboy just shut down all my analysis. Couldn't argue with that last line. Hahaha. Anti-InLoveness still sucks, by the way!

nharlem: if a man exhibits all the signs of a man in love -- gives 130 percent, does the valentine's-but-not-on-valentine's-day stuff
but he says he doesn't believe in In Love
shouldn't his chick feel cheated?
MrMcRoo: i understand where he's coming from
nharlem: but i think that's unfair to your partner
MrMcRoo: how so?
nharlem: cuz you're not open
and you're holding out on in love
MrMcRoo: u can be open and not be in love
its a concept
nharlem: if you're protecting yoruself
then you're holding something back, right?
i just think it's bull
MrMcRoo: well he can show all the signs of being in love
but acknowledging being in love is something we (some men) choose not to accept
as a sense of protection ...
nharlem: but acting in love and not being in love is like rooting for the Lakers but inside you don't even like basketball
you're just going through the motions ... it's empty
Mr. McRoo: but why would you go thru the motions?
it's like i wouldn't waste my time if i didnt have "a lot of love" for a person
nharlem: yuck yuck and yuck
Mr. McRoo: "a lot of love" is being in love
nharlem: i guess
Mr. McRoo: u just have to understand that
ur ass is from venus and we're from mars

Soulful Sunday: Aretha Franklin

Her hat choices are impeccable, and her music is even better.

Check out this remixed version of Aretha Franklin's "One Step Ahead." Usually, I like to post tunes in their original state, but this is an exception.

Plus, it makes me think of "Mz. Fat Booty."

(Oh, and make sure you watch the video to see a dope artist at work.)

InLoveAffairs

It's called a "Teenage Love Affair" for a reason.

All the marathon phone conversations, the cute notes, the holding hands and eye-sexin (not like that, nasty) _ it's kinda impractical. Grown folks who have to get out of bed at 6 a.m. five days a week don't have time or energy to make googly eyes all evening, or even rap until the sun comes up. (Sorry, Prince.)

That's not to say that these things don't happen. I know folks who continue to experience post-legal drinking age InLoveAffairs.

Something about butterflies in the stomach, well-planned dates, uncontrollable happiness, giggling n ish never gets old, for some.

But perhaps those folks and their old school sentiments are exceptions to the rule.



A dear friend of mine says he only believes in love -- not In Love, but love. Unconditional love, he says. He doesn't buy the whole "in love" thing. I think that he thinks that by putting the word "in" before the word "love" makes the phrase frivolous.

Folks claim to fall in and out of love, he says. And he wants no part of it. He's more of the practical love kinda cat. To be honest, I just figured he'd been hurt and had amputated that In Love piece of his heart. At least that's what Anthony Hamilton led me to believe ...



What do you think? Is what we call In Love just another way to define infatuation? Or can In Love be the icing on a really good, strong cake of unconditional love? Can a lack of In Love break a relationship?

I'm not sure if know the answer anymore. You tell me ...

Dedicated to Ian

"And the award for best depiction of being high in an animated/real-life video goes to ... Kid Cudi!"

Thank the Lord for Killer Cal, who let me know that Kid Cudi finally released an official video for "Day n Nite."

Enjoy! (Doesn't it look cool, Ian? Like I said, it's the work of So Me - the guy who made Kanye's 'Heartless' video.)

Degrassi Fly

Dear Diary,

So, there's this guy. He's a rapper. But before he was a rapper, he played a kid in a wheelchair on the Canadian TV series "Degrassi: The Next Generation."

His name is Drake, and, well, he's been working with Lil Wayne, believe it or not. And he's making music that some folks are categorizing as 'emo rap.' (Jozen told me so.) I really like the music. And I even think he's sorta cute. (Though he's a wee young for me.)

Anyway, I think I'm ready to introduce him to my friends who haven't already heard of him. He has this song called HoustAtlantaVegas, and it's about a girl. Perhaps a stripper? Anyway, he won me over with the line about tattooing her name ... on his heart.

I hope my friends like it, diary. I'll let you know what happens.


Check out Drake's interview with Complex mag.

Things I'm thinking about ...

1) PM Dawn. I had a blast last night with the homies, namely, my core Fat Bastard everyday foodies crew. We SMASHED some delicious catfish, along with collard greens, rice n gravy and some mo' good viddles (shouts to Amy Ruth's on 116th) and talked about what the music game's really been missing: real R&B.


2) Amber Rose.

Blame it on watching too much "Millionaire Matchmaker," but it's really taking all my self-esteem to ignore Patti Stanger and her anti-short hair sentiments. I mean, my sister-girls say they like my hair, but is Patti right when she says that all the men across the land think my 'do is masculine or over-the-hillish? I thought my uncared for long hair was the raggedy, mom stuff that I needed to get rid of.
I only posted the picture of Amber Rose because she's been the most talked about short-hair chick of the week. I personally think she and Kanye make a more convincing pair than Yeezi and Alexis did. And by that I mean that Alexis could do better, ie. someone who didn't want to use all her expensive eye cream and Oil of Olay with moisture ribbons.

3) Kid Cudi and Drake. I'll deal with them in separate posts though.

In the words of somebody who's stuck in 2001: Holler Back, young'n.

G'morning, Rumpshakers

I figured that E. Badu's album would be pushed back. The stan in me would not be contained, however. I kept the timer up, and despite an almost 99 percent certainty that I wouldn't find the disc, I checked Amazon for the album well before I washed the sleep out my eyes (shouts to Biggie) on Tuesday.

I'm weird about music.

Just yesterday I was having a discussion about M.I.A.'s song "Paper Planes," and how I hated that though it came out eons before Jay-Z and Kanye were swagging out (shouts to tk) on it, my roommate was playing it while I got my socks dirty interperative dancing to it on his hardwood floor.

Insert morning coffee break with Calvin via AIM:
nikeairforcer: so i think i'm super late to the party on this one...but Day N Nite is my new favorite song
me: lol you are late
but you're still earlier than all these other mofos
nikeairforcer: i've been seeing it on my fav blog for a while but never listened, but it came on the radio while i was in the car yesterday
changed my life
lol
me: lol dang
now all the reeegular people are gonna like it
j/k
i'm weird about music
i only like it when me and my friends enjoy music
and put each other on
i feel territorial about it

This conversation reveals two things: 1) that I am a jerk, and 2) that if M.I.A.'s success relied on my willingness to share her, then she'd be standing on the roadside, selling oranges to support her little baby (who subsequently would have never made an in-uterus appearance on the Grammy's, covered in polka dots and mesh).

Am I the only person who's a weirdo about music? Is there an album you wanted to keep to yourself? You listened to it on repeat for like 3 months and then 7 months later some MTV douche decided to add it to their countdown, then you threw up on yourself when all the 11-year-olds were rocking it on their iPods?

Hip-hop/Domestic Violence

I plan on blogging about this. But before I do, just check out the video. Feel free to share your thoughts. I'll be sharing my shortly.

Check out the complete post and some corrected stats over at MissInfo.

But first, I must transcribe an interview. :/ Long and tedious. Long and tedious.

Happy Hallmark Love Day!

I based the title of this post on a text message I got from my buddy Shaq. Folks can be so mean to little old Valentine's Day. Sure, it's all about candy sales, and teddy bears that'll get dusty, and in just a few months, do nothing but clutter your apartment with memories of lame-o good-enough-for-Valentine's-Day dates that you wouldn't have even considered any other day if it weren't for the fact that you didn't wanna be alone on some fake holiday that had everybody coupled-up or two shots away from being liquored-up in hopes of fighting loneliness.

Wait, what was I talking about again?

Oh yeah, Valentine's Day.

Are you less anxious about it since it's fallen on a Saturday? I mean, you don't have to witness your co-worker recieve her huge bouquet and teddy bears. Or, maybe you're less critical of your man if he doesn't hit you with something involving red plastic hearts or a box from Jared's, mostly because there's nobody around to witness or quietly analyze what you did or did not recieve.

I actually have a Valentine this year. But don't worry, I haven't totally bitten the V-day sicko dust ... enjoy my non-Valentine's day song. It's not anti-love. It's just what the heck I felt like listening to today.

So you do the same -- if you wanna make out with a hot piece of stud muffin, then do it. If you wanna play Jodeci play that. If you wanna listen to Gucci Mane, and climb trees, then do that, too. Send a couple e-cards, or don't. Just do you. Love you. It's your day.

Champagnechronicnightcap. Enjoy.

Dreamworld

I didn't really like Robin Thicke's album, but I for darn sure loved his song "Dreamworld." I've posted it already, but now there's a video. Watch it.

Dog Show

My roomie shot all these dogs.

Not like that.

He shot them with a video camera. Then he edited the stuff together and made this masterpiece.

Doesn't the poodle owner look like her doggy?

Just sayin ...

Watch CBS Videos Online

Holla @ me

I don't care if he's Italian, Puerto Rican or black _ cats in New York love to belt out a hearty "God Bless You!" when a beautiful, thick, skinny, tall, short, brown, beige, yellow, red, employed, unemployed, educated, street-smart ___ insert quality here ___ chick passes their way.

No sneeze required.

I think it's an East Coast thing.

I thought about it the other day on my way to work. Even when I'm looking like "who-done-it-and-what-for/please-don't-do-it-again-or-else," I can count on at least one "Hey mami!" or ::smooch-smooch:: sound for every 3 blocks I walk. Even the deli guy likes to call me baby, honey ... there was even a guy who called me habibi. (Not sure of the spelling but it was Arabic for "sweetheart." Wanted to learn more, but he moved back to Egypt.)

Anyway, that got me to thinking about good ol' Gary, Indiana.

There's a street there. Just past Ivanhoe. But before the train tracks off 5th. It's a street I liked to call "Confidence Row" or "Self-esteem Street" where a woman's confidence and self-esteem could be boosted - totally free, no strings attached.

Many a day, I'd pass down the Avenue of Endless Compliments and brothas outside working on their cars, drinking on the stoop, bringing in their granny's groceries, and so on, would stop in the middle of what they were doing to toss a sweet word of admiration through the window of my little white Neon.

I miss that street. There were no "God Bless You"s but there were plenty of "Hey girl!," or "What's up girl"s to make a lady feel special.

Sure there are idiot guys who say "heeey shawty" and grab a booty cheek, or super thirsty fellas who holler too early in the morning (before 11am) and even some dirty daddies who spit the lamest game even when it's apparent it's their weekend with the kids ... but trust me: there's something kinda nice about a well-intentioned street shout-out -- delivered with innocent expectation and a nod to the dopeness of femininity.

Maybe I'm crazy, but I think it can be pretty darn sweet.

Giving Up

dear new york,

i was sure i wanted you. and still do.
but this this thing?
i don't know if it's gonna work.

i've given up my family.
my friends.
missed moments at home. and away.

i had dreams for us, baby.
but you're so unwilling sometimes.
i don't know if i can live from one happy moment to the distant next.
i love you.
but i think i need to leave you.
i hate to say it ...
but i think ...
i think
i think i might be giving up.

... all hail donny h.

I had no idea, but 'Didn't Cha Kno'?

I didn't know that this ...:

was inspired by this ...:

Hammer Don't Hurt 'Em

Go Hammer, go Hammer, go Hammer, go -- go, go, go, go ..

Badu's baby

Erykah Badu brought baby number three into the world last night. :)

Woo woo woo. In honor of the occasion, check out some music from e.b.'s baby's daddy, Jay Electronica.

Yay for babies.

You Be The Judge: ReflectiveNature

A few months ago, I sat down with NY emcee ReflectiveNature. Took me a while to finally download, edit and upload the video, but here it is.

If you know of an artist in the NY-area who wants to chop it up with stoopidfreshmind.com, shoot me an email, leave a comment or send an owl a la Harry Potter. Holler!

A One Night Love Story

A dear friend invited me to see this. -- I was probably Plan E. :) But that's OK, I'm sure he would have paid for popcorn. -- Unfortunately, I was still on the road from Philly back to New York well past showtime.

Sometimes, I think the only reason I put up with Tyler Perry's sometimes too-simple characterizations of black couples is because I'm just happy to see a little black love on the big screen. (I enjoy his work ... well, except for "The Browns" and "House of Payne." YUCK.)

"Medicine for Melancholy" doesn't seem to be your typical black love story. I'm sure the director didn't want it to be. Cheers to him or her. I'll be watching just as soon as I can ...

Check out the trailer for IFC movie "Medicine for Melancholy."