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Ten years later, my reaction to this video is the same as when I first saw it in my dorm room freshman year (holla 404 E-haus, UNC’s South Campus!) with my roomie and my bestie. We three were jaw jacking about something when the video came on my roomie’s 13in television. All conversation ceased. I was sitting cross-legged on the top bunk, roomie was sitting on her bed, and bestie stood in the middle of the room. All three, mesmerized and silent. All three, breathing in sync with him. We were the ultimate voyeurs, peeking in on an intimate moment with a man we could have built from all of our favorite parts. It wasn’t raunchy. It wasn’t vulgar. It was sexy in the way romance novels try to be with all of that grand, overly-descriptive language.

Not until the video went off were we able to start talking again. There was about a 10 second delay and we all snapped out of our trances and laughed. Real talk, some kind of Lex Luthor, Dr. Doom, Magneto, Boris & Natasha, or Dr. Evil could have put his world domination propaganda into that video and we would have willingly done their bidding. I still really can’t tell you what the lyrics are or what the song’s about because I don’t really *hear* it. SMH.

they don’t dance no mo’

At least not like Michael J. Jackson did. Oh, they try (I see you Chris Brown, Usher, Timberlake).

I don’t do RIPs (I’ve said that before) so I won’t start now. I’m just like damn, really Mike? While we all know about the tabloid chatter that’s attached itself to Mike’s legacy, it can’t really tarnish it. I wrote that fool R. Kelly off for his BS but that’s because he’s an asshole and his music wasn’t that great to begin with. Whether Mike “did it” or not, I always felt a combination of awe and pity for him. When they showed him wildin on TV there was a cloud of sadness about it all. Still, no matter what stage of my life (because MJ was there ever since I can remember hearing music), I could always groove to his music. My friends know that I’ve always wanted to be a dancer and I feel the most free and happy when I’m channeling music through my body. Michael Jackson was a bad ass dancer, even making the crotch grab/gyration cool. Musically, he was something like a genius, his voice true and clear when he was a boy… emotive and real as an adult.

So fuck all the BS. There will never be another and I’m glad I got to experience the man. Now I just gotta get my collection together so my children will have a proper education.

At a time when everyone is playing Mike’s music and blogs all over the net are featuring playlists and vids, I’m gonna share a video that most people might not readily choose. This was/is my jam:

Michael Jackson
August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009

Ciara – Work

Ciara’s been busting her ass trying to stay relevant and I appreciate her grind. Apparently her new album, Fantasy Ride, hasn’t done as well as anticipated. I must admit that I was feeling several  joints off of her last effort, Ciara: The Evolution, but I’m sort of uninspired this time around (honorable mention to Love Sex Magic and Never Ever). Still, I love this girl’s style and I want her to win. Check her new vid for Work, featuring Missy Elliot (where she been?).

Bitch, hold my ponytail (c) B.Scott

Some thoughts:

1. I hate to agree with the folks out there but I’m inclined to believe that Ciara has indeed pulled a swagger jacking on Ms. Beyonce. Not to say that one person owns a style or that another cannot be inspired by some hot shit, but the transition was too fast. One minute Ciara was rockin that Aaliyah-type steeze (sexy, innocent, long hair, slim, young, belly-bare, baggy pants, etc). Next she’s all Ciara-Fierce, becoming a superhero with a magic ponytail and rocking bodysuits with no pants! Do you girl, but damn…

2. Oh, the Kids are going to love this one aren’t they? Who loves to “work” more than a gay man on a Friday night? I mean, Ciara even employed a classic kid move at 2:00 in.

3. This bitch makes me wanna stop eating. How many days must I live on Tic-Tacs and H2O to properly work that cyan latex/vinyl number??

4. I want Ciara to do some Spectacular-style shit and challenge some heifers to a dance off. I know she’ll come on top. I can’t think of one R&B/Pop chick who can out-dance her right now. Who wan romp? CHALLENGE!

follow me | music for your monday

Three quick things:

1. I just realized that my Twitter link on the right (Twittersweet) was wrong. It’s fixed now. Follow me if you are so inclined.

2. Tanya Morgan has released a new vid from their recent album Brooklynati. No hard feelings that I wasn’t groovin’ in the video in a LBD! I’ll just tell myself I was across the Pacific when they were filming! Peep So Damn Down here:

 3. Spec Boogie’s got some music for you as well. As part of his summer movie series or whatever, here’s the latest installment where he puts a spin on the uber disturbing movie Requiem For a Dream:

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Phontaine

Not talking about Ricky Fontaine (pretty ricky what they called him @2:08), nor am I butchering Phonte’s name either.

I just really like this song I heard one day while watching episodes of the show Damages when I was in Tokyo. Phontaine seems pretty cool, I like the sound. He partners with a handful of vocalists to lace his self-described “Down-tempo/Electronica/Nu-Jazz” music. Not only do I like the sounds, but tv/film folks do too. Along with Damages, Phontaine’s music has been on The O.C. and Las Vegas to name a couple. This joint here takes a lil while to get going, but I like it on some chill steeze. Agree or disagree?

Don’t Speak

Peep Chrisette Michelle covering No Doubt’s “Don’t Speak.” I have always loved this song and used to wear out my Tragic Kingdom tape (yes, cassette tape) in high school. I had a real alternative/ska/angsty period that snuggled up to my hip-hop/reggae tunes so No Doubt fit in quite nicely. Oh, and this song stands out because once I was at the skating rink with all my friends, must have been freshman year, and I got into an argument with my boyfriend at the time. I think he was talking to some other girl or whatever. Could’ve been anything back then. Anyway, our friends tried to mediate the whole thing and nothing was working. Someone requested “Don’t Speak” and since at that age we searched for meaning in every lyric of every fucking song, we were so overcome with emotion that we just had to makeup. CORNY, I know. LOL.

 

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Books/Laura’s Song

Not much to write, not right now at least. Still have two more exams to go before I’m officially done here. Still have about a week left in Tokyo. You know, not having a computer at home anymore (I have to wait until I get back to the states to get my laptop up and running again) really leaves a girl time to do other things like read books. I used to be such an avid reader. I stayed in used book stores, had one of those member cards at Barnes & Noble, visited the local library in every city I lived. Reading is what made me who I am today. My leisure reading took a significant dive when I started law school, though. Who had time for historical fiction and critical essays when you had hundreds of pages of court opinions to pour through? Who even wanted to read when you had spare time? Not me. Reading was relegated to summer time on the subway or airplanes.

With the help of a nice used English book store in Ebisu I’ve been reading again. I finally caught up on that  Malcom Gladwell shit everyone was raving about, Blink and The Tipping Point. I read The Reluctant Fundamentalist (Mohsin Hamid) which was quick and easy. Just finished In the Drink (Kate Christensen) and Bastard Out of Carolina (Dorothy Allison, also made into a movie) this week. I highly suggest Bastard if you’re into great storytelling and captivating characters. At first, you might not think you’d like a book about some poor white family in South Carolina but the dialogue is great and the relationships draw you in. I can’t say I was happy with the ending but I think it was done well. Next on the reading list is Disgrace (JM Coetzee) and High Fidelity (Nick Hornby). Sure, I’ve seen the movie High Fidelity a couple of times, but as we all know, the book is often way better. Besides, I was kind of inspired…

Speaking of High Fidelity, here’s Donwill of Tanya Morgan with the HIGHLY anticipated video for the cut “Laura’s Song” from the Don Cusack In High Fidelity project.

How fab was that?

Last Day/Girls Talk

I ain’t pass the Bar but I know a lil’ bit, enough that you won’t illegally search my shit. – Jay-Z

Friday, April 17th, 2009. The last day, the last class of law school. Let us exhale. Sure I have two weeks of exams to go but once I battle the beast called Int’l Dispute Resolution on Monday, the others (Comparative Immigration, Japanese Law, Int’l Human Rights) will be a cake walk. Then there’s a brief respite before suiting up in my doctor’s gown and crossing the stage to grab my J.D. Sometimes I think I might want to go to school again, but I really need a break. My brain and my spirit are weary from all of this law school yameanery. Don’t get me wrong, I really do enjoy the study of law in general. However, three years of statutes, cases, draconian exams and professional pressure is a lot, even for me!

A friend IM’d me to congratulate me on finishing up school. I was kind of nonchalant about it because, well, I don’t feel particularly excited. For reasons expressed before, I don’t really feel like I’m moving on to anything so great, at least not right now, not in the near near future. I’m mostly relived just to be done but not super pumped for the next chapter (especially because I have no idea what that really is). But then I got to thinking about one really positive thing… I’m finished.

I finished what I started. Not just back in 2006 when I started out as a first-year (1L). This harkens back to 2003 when I graduated from undergrad and was set to start at Tulane Law that fall. Through various decisions (some poor) and unforeseeable life circumstances, I ended up at another law school then left. I was never happy with the way that turned out, especially because I could have already been working as an attorney by the time I started school this time around! So I finally finished what I started out to complete six years ago and I guess it wasn’t so bad because I had some good life/work experiences in between.

Okay, okay. In other news, Che Grand put out a video for his jawn “Girls Talk” featuring DBM. I like listening to this while riding my bike dodging Japanese people who don’t know how to move out of the way (I digress). The vid is fun, Peep:

Immature

Am I the only one who still listens to Immature? Is it odd that I have several Immature jams on my ipizzle? Well if that’s wrong, then I don’t wanna be right!

I do think it’s funny though, in retrospect, that these lil boys were singing their hearts out in the sand. Oh and I know Batman/Marcus and Romeo, but um, who was that third kid again? Wonder what he’s doing in life.

Who authorized a straight up permed-bob for that lil boy though? I can’t clap to that.

Who’s that girl?

Somebody out there knows the answer to these questions. I’ve been trying to figure it out since probably the 8th grade.

What is the name of the blonde chick in all of these videos? What is she doing now? How did she get so popular in the video circuit? How come she can’t really dance?

@ 2:08 – She first shows up dancing in the bathroom with Fatimah.

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All through the vid in the gold dress next to Big Lez.

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Right in the opening. You get the point now.

Feel free to point out other videos she was in. There are a lot from the ’94-’99 period but I’m drawing a blank.