questions about blackness arise...

in teaching the sociology of group behavior with a focus on racial and ethinic realtions, a lot of interesting topics come to the fore. a lot of heated debates are had - and a lot of contradictions about America and race end up on blast. today's racism is not yo' momma's racism, nor is race, yo' momma's views of race from the past. of course some old views still uphold. color, genetic code, culture - what exactly is it that makes blackness. consider this fact as you realize that, especially in america, no one is truly black or white, in biological terms that is.

the past couple of weeks of class have been interesting. a week ago, i lead my students in an emotional debate over John H. McWhorter's essay, How Hip-Hop Holds Blacks Back. Surprisingly there were really no opponents or proponents of his piece. There were more middle-of-the-road arguments presented. yet eyes became wide opened this past week when hashim shomari, Chief of Staff for New Jersey State Senator Sharpe James, author of From the Underground: Hip-Hop as an Agent of Social Change, and one of the organizers of the National Hip Hop Political Convention, stopped by. Shomari had the students believing that hip-hop was definitely building its political clout.

where these hip-hop arguments and discussions of race conjoin, is at the epicenter of course. the praxis for hip-hop critics who deem the music and culture as a detriment to black folx, such as McWhorter and Cosby, illuminates this fact all the more.

and as i'm steaming with questions about racial identity, questions about race and politics, and hip-hop and blackness, i come upon the Rhetoric and Race blog, which I haven't visited for quite some time. And there is this question posed there: "can a "Black" person who passes for "White" be "racist" or not???" and there are barely any comments there. you must read the entire post before you deal with this question though - an experience and revelation brought it forth. i'm just surprised it isn't on anyone's radar yet when it's been up there since july 25.

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what's my inspiration?

as if i didn't know this already...

a visit to steph's site

reminded me about tickle tests

so i took this test what's your divine inpiration

and it came up with this...

Music And The Arts

You've got a lust for life and a rich imagination that just can't survive without a little music, art, and creativity! Whether you're heading out to hear a band, watch a play, attend an art exhibit, or just flipping through books or cds in your room, you get inspired by, well, the inspiration of others!

It's clear that you're curious about the world around you, and that you satisfy your thirst for new experiences by staying open to all sorts of interesting, new ideas and creative story lines. You, more than others, believe that life really does imitate art. So you might as well make it a masterpiece wherever you go.

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jill scott is phenomenal

I have no worries about Jill Scott falling into the abyss that is so often known as the sophomore slump. I realized this on Tuesday night after seeing her Buzz Tour at SOBs in New York City. The call for me to attend her show came late that evening, and I was thankful that I was considered. You see it was one of those days when I was thinking I was getting too old for being around all this music — this music that is crafted especially for the young and then targeted directly to their ears. I was feeling this way, because well, on this particualr day I was feeling grown and sexy. Donning a T-shirt, jeans, cropped dress jacket, and a pair of high-heeled mules. This very morning, a young Latino man kept staring at me on the train platform, and I avoided his gaze at all costs. Eventually he approached, "Excuse me miss, may I give you a compliment?" I threw him this you better back up young'n look, but it was shielded behind a smile. I said, "Go ahead." He said, "You are really beautiful." And he proceeded to stare at me, even as he got off the train. In the words of Florida - "Damn, damn, damn!" What is it that makes young gunnas think they can step to me. At least this one was polite though.

And it hit, as it's been hitting all this month, as I prepare my mind for next month's birthday. I'm getting a bit too old for all this hip-hop shit. So when I got the call to see Jill Scott, I was elated. Finally, an opportunity to check out an artist who is supposed to appeal to my age group. An artist whose music is new, drenched with old-soul sensibilities. An artist whose music is not for old people, but for those of the hip-hop generation who are becoming the old guard. We grew up in hip-hop, have hip-hop sensibilities, but yet Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and that ilk is what we grew up on as much as we grew up on the crews in the parks jacking city electricity to jump off a park jam. Those of us coming up in a time when hip-hop was just getting its legs and beginning to walk. We love hip-hop, yes, it's true, but some of this stuff today is really just for the young folks.

So I take one of my young gunna's, though not too young, to the show with me. She's a sweet girl, a hip-hop punkster with ill flavor. She reminds me of my heyday - back in the late 80s, early 90s, and even the mid 90s. Just hungy to get her writing on. Hungry to be different in a sea of monolithic blackness. So she looking like an afro punk and me looking grown and sexy went out to see Jill Scott. This post is supposed to be about Jill Scott, isn't it?

Jill, Jill, Jill, mmmmm. You know the way Whitney used to make you feel when you first heard her sing? How her vocal clarity just made you melt? That's how I see Jill Scott. A different style than Whitney's of course. Whitney's style is more embedded in the gospel tradition, while Jill's is drenched in jazz and even opera. Clarity. Not a bumpy note. Smooth, flowing butter.

She may have been out of sight for awhile, getting married, giving her voice and music time to grow. Living, so that she'd have something to write about. Outside the venue, I spoke with a gentleman who said he saw the buzz tour in San Fran and that she only did a 45 minute set, singing only new songs, that immediately became classics. I didn't quite understand this at the time, but upon the shows start, I got the drift.

As she entered the stage, the crowd went into hysterics. She was dressed plainly in a brown checkered kind of workshirt thing with jeans, and her hair pulled back in one of those large afro puffs. Her smile, glowing. Her diction tight, and her voice like silk. She started singing, and though the songs were new, they were familiar. Not familiar in the way that they sounded like her first album, or even like Experience, just familiar because instantly you connected with them. Instantly you were humming or singing the choruses.

Jill Scott Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol. 2 is going to make big waves. Richard Harrington of the Washington Post will tell you the same, with his words. You can even peep her website to hear snippets of a couple of the tracks. If you click on "Album," you can even download an mp3 sampler. And a visit to launch will hook you up with the full length of "Golden."

In fact, "Golden," was one of those tracks that became an instant hit with the crowd, as Jill called for crowd participation. Her performance was immaculate. And when the crowd wanted more, she kept joking, "This is the buzz tour, bzzzzzz, you've been buzzed." But New York loved her madly, and she spent more time with us than was given by the house. She went through loads of her new material, but let us revel in a few of her old jams as well. The crowd was on high. Jill was on high. It was give and take the entire night. And for me, it was a great day to be grown and sexy.

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photos from ej's birfday

unfortunately, i never bring my camera out to these things. dumb move, since i never like the way i come out in other folx photos. anyway, p6 was the first to put up some shots. check 'em out and see which bloggers you missed meeting on sunday.

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another job posting

Description - Web Producer – Vibe/Spin.com

Responsible for the look and feel, design and production of the Vibe and Spin web sites. This includes design and production of site elements, marketing materials, management of QA, management of site redesign and updates. Additional responsibilities include publishing content of the sites, production of newsletters, and general assistance to the Site Managers and interns and reports to the General Manager. This position presents the opportunity to expand in its technical aspects.

Tasks and Responsibilities:

Graphic Design
Site design, look and feel
Creation of graphic site elements
Management of site changes
Design and production of micro-sites
Design and production of promotions and contests
Design and production of in-house online advertisements
Design and production of print advertisements for site marketing
Production

Publishing content to sites
Image preparation
Manage production and dissemination of newsletters
Manage QA
Schedule audio/video content
Schedule artist and editor chats

Personal Requirements:

4 years experience in a similar position
Good communication skills
Strong client focus and genuine desire to assist
Tenacity
Ability to work alone and as part of a team
Patience and tolerance
Technical aptitude
Methodical and disciplined approach to problem solving

Technical Skills and Technologies Required

Windows, OS X, Linux
Adobe Applications
Flash
HTML, XHTML, CSS
Familiarity with CMS
PHP, SQL, Java, print experience a Plus

Contact resumes@vibe.com
Fax (212) 448-7400

(feel free to email your resume to me, so i can pass on - might hold more chance of being looked at that way)

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feeling that old school vibe

first off, please do cop pete rock soul survivor 2. cop that shit son. check out byroncrawford's review if you want, but trust me on this one - it's the hotness. you can check out some sample tracks at tunes.

and since i'm feeling on the old school tip today, here's a taste of both Nas and LL's old school flavors. these cats just can't leave their eras, huh?

here's LL hitting you with "Feel The Beat" and Nas with "You Know My Style."

ok, pete rock comes in first for making old school feel right, then nas does a second, and well James Todd should stick to acting at this point, especially since he's really got the hollywood look now (so much so we don't even know whether it's the workout plan or some sort of reconstruction or not).

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why can't my iPod...

there's a load of things that i'd love for my iPod to be able to do. so what i'm still toting around (or should i say lugging) the 5 gigger, i'm still thinking future with this stuff.

for instance, the new airport express features the wonderful wireless ability to send music from your iTunes to any speaker system hooked up to the airport express. technically, you can play music from you iPod, that's of course if it's connected to your computer. but why won't you be able to wirelessly transmit music from the iPod to the airport express? overall, airtunes sounds like an excellent invention and i'm pretty amped and ready to test it out, but this post is about what i'd like my iPod to achieve.

i guess the other thing i'd love to do is record music directly from the stereo or even from the audio out of any device to a line in on the iPod. there's no line in on the iPod, and i'm almost certain i've seen some cracker software out there that works around this. i know it would be unsafe for Apple to even attempt this, being the leader in legal digital downloading there'd be some copyright battles to hurdle on that front i'm sure.

another thing i'd really love to be able to do with my iPod, and i was sure apple was going to announce this added feature, as opposed to the device getting thinner and taking on features of the mini, and of course a lower price.

i want to play video and record video on a handheld. archos seems to have taken the lead when it comes to these devices - the company is building up the line, and from what i've seen the resolution is pretty good. sony has its Giga Pocket and iRiver is stepping up with 3 players.

and though rumors abound, well they did before the fourth generations were released, but apple ceo steve jobs has been quotes as saying, "[The iPod] is about the music, stupid. You can't watch a video and drive a car… we're focused on music."

but wouldn't it be nice though? i don't mean watching a video while driving in your car, i mean being able to use an apple-created product to enjoy handheld video. prior to these new handheld DVRs that keep popping up, the main option for doing so was purchasing a selected number of handheld pcs loaded with windows media - and though i'm just as pc fluent as mac, my choice will be the creative user's choice every day.

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in celebration of ej

on sunday @ 2pm a few of us are getting together to celebrate ej's birthday, as he is in nyc from atl. if you live in the area, please come out and meet other bloggers meeting up and celebrating july birthdays.

here are the details:

Churrascaria Plataforma
316 West 49th Street
(Between 8th and 9th Aves.)
Phone: (212) 245-0505

feel free to hit me up via email to let me know you'll be in attendance so that we can get a head count

posted by lynne | link to this | comment () | trackback (1) |

Shyne's dissing 50 Cent real hard

I told y'all I'd have more Shyne info for you...

Former Bad Boy artist, Jamal "Shyne" Barrow, who still has about six years left of his 10-year sentence to fulfill and recently signed to Def Jam is already beefing. In a freestyle via phone that was leaked to the streets, Shyne licks shots at 50 Cent and G-Unit. He says "Do he rhyme with a slur from some shots in his face, do he rhyme with a slur trying to sound like Mase? Listen to his tape, this lil' n***a used to sound like Case...” Shyne also calls the bullet hole-riddled Jamaica, Queens rapper pathetic, saying, “You'll never be a 'G' despite your efforts ..."

Click here to listen to the track entitled, "For The Record"

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so i'm not alone

I told y'all I wasn't feeling the new The Roots joint as I oughta' in this post, and somewhere else I had written a preview and got slammed all over the okayplayer boards for not saying it was the greatest thing since mother's milk. Hey, it just wasn't what I was expecting. And you can agree or disagree with my claims.

But it looks like O-Dub agrees with me, at least according to this week's Village Voice. In "Off Balance" he states: "With The Tipping Point, the group scampers in retreat toward functional street anthems and radio hits, their inventive spirit notably absent. For a group who can be so compelling when they aim high and fall short, an effort so squarely average is all the more disappointing."

Dig this: When you know what a band is capable of, and all you get is what others could easily offer, you're left feeling a bit cheated. And no, the band owes me naught, for I'm just a big-mouthed critic always in search of that diamond in the rough in the midst of all the popsmattering banality.

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AOL looking for Editors/Programmers

I know it's strange to post a job, but I picked this up off of one of my listservs, and some of what reads here may not all be required. I thought some of you DC/VA/MD cats might be interested in the gigs.

AOL is looking to hire 6 editor/programmers for an African American programming product launching this fall. Tempermentally, the ideal candidate is an editor/writer/semi-pro blogger, who is also a regular reader of the Africana A-List, and a member of the Afrofuturism yahoo group in good standing. Standard edit gig must have's apply, as well as extras like a keen grasp of audience-driven programming and loyalty engines, so familiarity with (and excitement about) site like plastic.com, neopets and pre-dating BlackPlanet.com would be greats.

The gigs are all full-time and will be located on AOL's Dulles, VA campus (40 minutes outside of DC) and run the range from mid-level to senior. Feel free to circulate this to anyone. Reply to dauphing@aol.com.

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bilal - fort green park - brooknam

i thought i'd test the waters and do a little photoblogging tonight. no such luck, my photos came out like crap. all except one. caught bilal taking a drag from his clove cigarette. also ran into former blogger trayc who is loving the life of being a photographer.

(click on thumbnail to view full image)

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watch out beyonce

ciara is on the come up - watch her get down in her video for goodies featuring petey pablo...

(high speed connection and quick time 6 required to view)

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sometimes you don't have to look too far

From one of my listservs i stumbled across an African Feminist Blog called Black Looks. I'll certainly add this one to my blog lines directory.

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Brand Nubian New Track - Download

Babygrande has enabled music fans to download Brand Nubian's lead single, “Who Wanna Be A Star? (It’s Brand Nu Baby!)" off their forthcoming CD Fire In The Hole.

Download The Track (for PC users right click and save, for Mac users press [CTRL] while clicking with your mouse)

There's also an MP3 floating around out there of Mobb Deep's "Got It Twisted," remixed with the Brand Nubian Flavor. Here's a stream. (This .pls formatted file will not play in Windows Media, but these other players work: Winamp, iTunes, AOL Media Player, Real Player, or Musicmatch Jukebox.)

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what a day, what a day, what a day...

yesterday proved to me that there are not enough hours in the day. mind you not all of my days are like the one presented here.

11:15 a.m. - meet with biz dev person from mobile content provider, who has been told that we have our own mobile program on verizon get it now and at&t mmode, as well as an online storefront. yet, biz dev person wants to figure out some strategies for how we can work together because their company is one of the top mobile content providers, at least in the ringtone space.

12:30 pm - run over to go sushi for lunch. i'd been craving some eel all week. sat and chatted with intern about what's going on in the company as well as within the department. a key executive in the company has recently resigned, and said intern wanted to know how that would affect my department.

2:30 pm - run over to def jam to pick up some music and a video tape from an interview one of my writers had conducted with a def jam artist. discuss timetable for my deploying that video online. then get an exclusive treat. meet with a&r for shyne, because he wants me to hear a few tracks from the forthcoming release. shyne's music is dark and contemplative, especially since a good portion of the music was recorded before he went to jail. there's fury and rage, and while it sounds like a diary of misogyny, murder, and mayhem, it is fraught with unexpected morality tales. unfortunatley, any full analysis i have of this project has to be reserved for my company's media outlets. but do expect to start hearing some music leaking out on the web and on mixtapes over the next couple of weeks.

5:00 pm - had to dash back to the office mad fast to complete this preview for New York Press of DJ. Spooky's Transmetropolitan a multicultural pastiche of spoken word, electronic music, and video, as well as his remixing of Birth of a Nation into Rebirth of a Nation all set to take place at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall. The first event takes place on July 21 and the latter on July 23 and 24. I'm not sure I made my writer's deadline on this one.

6:30 pm - earlier this week, i was invited to a screening of kevin fitzgerald's freestyle: the art of rhyme but something was up with cinema village and the screening did not take place. so the wonderful press people handling cinema village's showing of the film in the first place, gave me two tickets for the night. i invited one of my good girlfriends who i haven't seen in a minute. when i got there the movie had already started, and fortunately my friend was smart enough to take her ticket and go inside. i don't think i have to say much about this documentary, because a lot of people have already said whatever it is that i would offer. in fact, Hua Hsu penned a brilliant commentary (though brief) in the village voice in its july 12 edition, and i quote "Despite cloying narration, Fitzgerald's footage and interviews are fantastic: A scene of Tupac and Biggie freestyling over Tanqueray is especially gripping, as are the sequences of freestyle legends Craig G and Supernatural watching younger versions of themselves duke it out. Like both pairs of old warriors, we're left to wonder if it was all so simple then."

9:00 pm - my friend asks what i'm doing next, and i tell her i really don't know. she mentions that music of prince .vs. the music of michael jackson event taking place at the shelter tonight, but that happens much later. besides after a full day, i'm not quite sure i have enough amp in me to make it through that late. that affair is one you have to go home after work, take a disco nap, and then arise ready to shake your tailfeather all night.

i tell her there's supposed to be some 10 year anniversary thing for ego trip over at bill adler's eyejammie fine arts gallery. then i remember i'm on the list for some kool mix event over at hammerstein ballroom, that my company is a media sponsor of. so we make our way over there.

ok, riddle me this, why do outlets that have expensive drinks not take credit cards?

the only way to get a free drink in this place, is to let kool beam the information from your id into their data collection gadget, make you sign your name, and then offer you a free pack of cigarettes, as well as a ticket for a free drink. commercialization is no joke.

we stand around for a minute, until we're told that our green bands means that we're vip and there's a box of seats for us upstairs. other folks from my company are there, and many of us talk about that nostalgic hip hop shit, since quite a few of us in that box are 30+. some of our young guns are there, but they're not as vocal about hip-hop as we are, or at least not in the way that we are. we discuss its politics, its beats, its lyrics, its artists, and throw in some rock bands for good measure. at least i do, since franz ferdinand is one of my new favorites, and as hip-hop to my ears as anything that's supposed to be hip-hop. but that's because i know the difference between hip-hop and rap, but that's an entirely different discussion and i don't want to sound like krs-one at all.

anyway, this night has two headliners - slick rick and kanye west. the host tends to draw the night out. djs spinning party jams and old school jams. mc battles and dj battles. kids breakdancing in the crowd within a cypher. i'm about to call it a night, when onto the stage appears a man in a pink suit jacket, golden shirt and pants, and pink clarke's (or who knows maybe they're ballys). yep, its rick the ruler. for the young age of most of the attendees, i'm really surprised by how much everyone knows the words to the songs or how hyper they get upon his performance. good show indeed.

then finally kanye. i knew he was there for awhile, as off to the side of the stage, i saw a crew of folks all dressed in white. like summer jam, i figured he was travelling with a choir in tow. at first, he and john legend go through a string of other people's songs that he's produced. then he does a few of his own, including a couple of the hits. by this time, the shell toes of my adidas are killing my feet. i didn't even know this was possible. so he stops performing after awhile, because he wants the adulation. he puts on encore and then john legend asks people to say "kanye, kanye, kanye." c'mon, you haven't yet earned that kid.

so he comes back out with common, a wonderful surprise, and they do a few songs that not a lot of people know, but you know the kids who listen to mixtapes or who watch dave chappelle (kanye and common performed a new common song on an episode) are tuned in. it's this ongoing thing, the day has been long for me, i've about had it. feeling that they're now going into their own little concert, i end up not waiting for the finale, though i know it will be soon, and that it will most likely be "jesus walks." so i head home.

and this ends a day in a life. a few details have been left out as they involve menial tasks required of my job at times. to include phone calls, emails, Q&A (site testing), would've added no flavor to this story at all.

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me, the 60s, billboard charts, and the iTunes Music store

A couple of days ago while I was browsing the Apple iTunes Music Store, I decided to look up what was hot on the Billboard charts for the year that I was born. There was Aretha, Marvin, Stevie, and that was cool, I have most of that stuff already in my collection, whether on vinyl, cassette, or cd. Besides that's the safe stuff. The stuff that Mommy and Daddy used to listen to. The stuff most familiar to my soul. But truth is, just because I'm African-American, R&B, Soul, Funk, whatever, aren't the only genres of music that float my boat.

And this 60s stuff I've been digging for awhile. I like the really psychedellic shit, and the other shit with break beats, and wailing guitar solos. When I attended State University of New York The College at New Paltz, just a rock's throw from Woodstock, it was normal to be surrounded by this music. In fact, when I used to work in the kitchen, I had this one cook named Manny make me a few tapes. One of my favorite artists was Lesley Gore - I know, corny pop stuff, but really no different than Dionne Warwick. Actually more punchy and youthful sounding even. Interestingly enough, Lesley Gore's music turns up in quite a few movies, especially gay themed ones.

The year of my birth was a good year musically, according to Billboard, but somehow the streams weren't coming up as quickly as I wanted them to, so I only ended up purchasing three selections and then an album I'd been wanting for a hot minute. I even went into a few years before and then after the year of my birth to find things that would appeal to whatever craving it was that I had.

"White Rabbit," by Jefferson Airplane is about as psychedelic as you can get. The song's lyrics talk about pills and mushrooms, chasing white rabbits, and going to ask Alice. Now when I was in the 5th grade, I remember a friend lending me a book called Go Ask Alice, and it was interesting how drawn to it I was, since I had never really read young adult books because I found them boring. But this novel was an anonymously written diary about an addicted teen, and it was full of self-hatred and lonliness. It's classic teenage angst, and that's what I feel from this song. But I also feel like I'm watching Absolutely Fabulous, which I can get with. I understand this emotion. It's pure.

I also purchased "I Can See For Miles," by the Who. This one is about the rhythm. There's a lot of arpeggio going on here with the guitar and the snare, but it's also a little trippy. Did you ever see Goldie Hawn when she was younger and used to go-go dance on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In? Well that's kind of where this song takes me. Right there, into that setting.

Then there's "Magic Carpet Ride" by Steppenwolf, and no one on God's green earth can tell me that this one is not about getting high. How the hell else are we going on a magic carpet ride? "Close your eyes girl/ look inside girl/ let the sound take you away...." And the sound goes into this trance-like orgasmic run of flat organ chords bouncing wildly over guitar strumming. Yeah, ok, the music will take you away alright. But I like this ish.

The three songs above resonate with me just as much as any R&B song could ever. Ok, I'll say hip-hop, because I'm not really the truest fan of contemporary R&B.

Now the album I downloaded, that's the kicker. It's Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Rare Earth. I'm speechless on this one. It's like a combination of War, The Temptations, and The Doors. Man I'm glad I was born in the 60s. Yep that's right, I said I'm glad I was born in the 60s.

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ll in effect

alright after this no more memes - they friggin' suck

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i've got the grimace on

cal ulman asks: Are Rappers Going Crazy?

"On Jadakiss' hit song "Why?" Jadakiss asks "Why did Bush knock down the towers." In a recent interview with SOHH.com Beanie Siegel asks "Did they really find Saddam? You think that's Saddam, for real?" When rappers make stupid statements like this it just makes them seem ignorant and gives ammunition for the likes of O'Reilly."

I dig Cal's site, but I'm thinking he doesn't understand African-American's mistrust of government and belief in conspiracy theories and that films like Michael Moore's feed into what many of the African-American populace already believes about government's role in world violence. There's a lot more I could say about Jadakiss' song, but I'll save that for another post. Simply stated though, for many there is truth in Jadakiss' question that Cal references.

And on another note concerning O'Reilly, as Luda would say, "Shout out to Bill O'Reilly, I'ma throw you a curve/ You mad cause I'm a THIEF and got away with words/ I'ma start my own beverage, it'll calm your nerves/ Pepsi's the New Generation - BLOW IT OUT YA ASS!"

addendum: funkdigital is discussing this same topic.

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black hip-hop bloggers stand up

if you're black, and you blog, and you blog about hip-hop please, please, please, go over to hashim's site and let him know here.

you see there are a lot of discussions about hip-hop happening on blogs that include race, and there are no black bloggers commenting in those spaces. not only are they not commenting in those spaces, they're not commenting about hip-hop and race or hip-hop in general on their own blogs.

holla' at that boy and let him know there is a black hip-hop blog voice out there. and soon i'll be asking for the feminist (womanist) hip-hop bloggers to rise up. and as my boy mark anthony neal says in this article, you don't have to be female to be feminist.

addendum: check out mike's cogent post that continues this discussion. it has me thinking that perhaps the reason that black bloggers don't specifically blog about hiphop is because it is not quite a phenomenon to us that has to be examined in the same way that other bloggers of other ethnicities might. just a supposition here.

posted by lynne | link to this | comment () | trackback (2) |

do we need more black media pundits?

choire seems to think we need more black media pundits, because he's a little tired of seeing toure as the sole black face discussing all things pop culture. personally, i like seeing toure, especially on MTV2's spoke n' heard. besides, if not for him, i never would have researched, written, and published my piece on strippers in oneworld back-in-the day.

choire has come up with a list that he's posted over at gawker.com (you remember that site, it's one of the sites that john lee mentioned in his artilce, "Blogging While (Anti) Black," on Africana.com that sparked a debate about race and blogging all over the blogosphere and with a brief mention in the press). choire's list is pretty cool. i mean i'm on it, and i'm in good company too. besides I already mentioned that i had my 2 minutes of talking head time back in march on UPN news.

some of the folks who appear on the list, have had their turn at 15 minutes of fame on tleveision, or at least cable, and others have not experienced what it's like to be a talking head at all (outside of their blogs or when pontificating with friends and associates).

i don't know all these cats on the list, but of the ones i do know or have heard of, i say what the hey. what do you think?

- Jimi Izrael
I'd vote for Jimi b/c this cat just doesn't hold his tongue. He says what he thinks, and he means it.

- Jay Smooth
What can I say about duke that you folks don't already know. He's got a hot radio show. He's one of the most prolific bloggers at covering all things hip-hip. He gets almost anyone he interviews to spit a freestyle, even when they don't want to.

- Ron Mwangaguhunga
Wasn't this the cat that used to edit the Mac Directory? If so, then he gets a thumbs up. Any Mac lover, who is black, who gets the opportunity to write about Macs, is alright in my book.

- Knox Robinson
I don't know, but every time I think about The Fader the name Knox Robinson comes to mind. Besides he wrote, "The Father, The Son, and The Holy Ghost," in Fela: From West Africa to West Broadway. The title reminds me so much of "Hip-Hop's Holy Trinity," and from what I know, Knox was instrumental with assisting the folks who got that Fela Project to become an exhibit at the New Museum last year.

- Amy Dubois Barnett
I met her once on the street through my boy Nick. She seemed cool enough and at the time was top dog at Honey magazine. Now she's doing her thing at Teen People. Besides, Toure digs her.

- Kelefa Sanneh
I've met dude twice and he was mad cool. He actually approached me at a conference to introduce himself. He gets to write hip-hop stories in some of those places we'd never expect to see hip-hop, and for that he's got my vote.

- Lola Ogunnaike
I never met her, but she's a good writer. Good writers aren't always good speakers though, but from what I hear, she could probably hold it down. Like dude above, she's got the New York Times hip-hop thing on lock and she's also penned loads of cover stories for Vibe.

- George Kelly
For many of us black bloggers, this is the godfather. With allaboutgeorge and his news site negrophile he's one of the hardest working men in the blogosphere. I've heard his voice and I'd say with all certainty that it's one made for media punditry.

- Greg Tate
This cat and his contemporary, Nelson George, were writing about hip-hop while most of the present-day hip-hop scribes were still in high school or college. He came up with the blueprint. Not that Tate hasn't had speaking opportunities, he tends to keep it low key, especially when he's focusing on his music.

- Emil Wilbekin
You've seen him on MTV and VH1 many times I'm certain. He is a Vibe lifer, having been at the organization since day one when it was just a test. After moving through the publication he rose to the leadership role, and most recently put together an awesome awards show. He's also got a cool apartment that's been profiled in New York Magazine and Style and Grace: African Americans at Home.

- Danyel Smith
Vibe was really smoking when Danyel was at the helm. She dashed to Time, and now she's writing novels. I still gotta' check out her More Like Wrestling. She's also appeared as a commentator on MTV and VH1 in the past.

I'd be curious to know what Choire's criteria was when he came up with this list. And I haven't even named all the folks on there. What would your criteria be? Who would you want to see more of on TV when it's time to talk black issues and black culture, or simply culture in general?

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A-T-L, Georgia

awwwww. my 14-year-old niece would envy me now. earlier today i accompanied one of my up-and-coming writers to the def jam offices to conduct a video interview with lloyd. he was so adorable. he called me ms. lynne in that good old country boy way when introduced to me and gave me a hug and kiss on the cheek when the interview was over. he was so charismatic and full of energy. the entire time he was being interviewed, i was grinning like a chesire cat, b/c for a new artist, he really handled his. his answers were sharp and he has all this personality in the way he moves his hands and head. no i'm not saying go out and listen to lloyd. i'm just saying that for an 18-year-old, boy came off like a champ. for as many years as i've interviewed new artists, i've never seen one as composed as this. murder inc. just may make a comeback after all. besides, all the little girls love his video. but i have to tell you, i'm really getting too old for this shit, this is a 20-somethings game and i've crossed that threshold moons ago.

and if you are unclear as to lloyd's identity, click here to view his video featuring ashanti. btw, she was there also, and i didn't even recognize her. i just thought she was some chick hanging out until someone else brought her to my attention. ho hum. anyways, as i said, i'm getting too old for this game.

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i'm an evil genius

i told you i wear a mask, dammit. stole this ish from trent. go find out what your own personality disorder trait is here.

Wackiness: 36/100
Rationality: 50/100
Constructiveness: 28/100
Leadership: 46/100

You are an SEDF--Sober Emotional Destructive Follower. This makes you an evil genius. You are extremely focused and difficult to distract from your tasks. With luck, you have learned to channel your energies into improving your intellect, rather than destroying the weak and unsuspecting.

Your friends may find you remote and a hard nut to crack. Few of your peers know you very well--even those you have known a long time--because you have expert control of the face you put forth to the world. You prefer to observe, calculate, discern and decide. Your decisions are final, and your desire to be right is impenetrable.

You are not to be messed with. You may explode.

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i wear the mask

at times my life feels as though i exist for others. this is not intentional mind you. and i'm sure many of us would say the very same thing. there is always this knowing of who you are and what you'd like to do, and yet you live according to who you think you are and what you think you want to do. there is a difference between knowing and thinking you know.

in thinking, there are always expectations of others. in thinking, there is always others dependency. in thinking there is always this wanting to be right, to not seem selfish, and to conform. yeah, even those who give the middle finger to most situations --- the toughest of us --- at times conform. we want to fit in. we want to be liked. we don't want to let anybody down. and so instead, we wear a mask.

think about it. the work you do career wise, is probably not what you really want to do. you wear a mask because of this. you don't know what others will think of what you really want to do. or perhaps you may not be all that comfortable with what you really want to do. or there's just no money in what you really want to do. and for those of us, doing what we really want to do, or even something that others find to be the hottest shit, we end up feeling that little bit of green when we think about the what ifs or how it would be if we lived on the other side of the fence.

ok, i'm not being completely honest here. a lot of times, i come into this space trying to work out some shit going on inside my head without ever really saying what's going on inside my head. then i spout these zenisms, that i'm sure no one ever really even cares about. i know this b/c for this post i will receive no comments, but i know if i post something scandalous about say jay-z and beyonce, the comments will flood. (that's an entirely different topic though, one i'll deal with at another time.)

what's going on with me, at times is so unbearable. being a member of a family really can take a lot out of a person - even a person who doesn't give a shit about most things in life. or better yet, of people's opinions. yet being a family member, even for those of us estranged, find ourselves ending up becoming something or someone that was crafted by what our relationships are with our family. like it or not. it's true.

i'm still not being entirely honest in this space. and it's hard to be at times. this space, though my own personal space, though a room of my own, is also a very public space, and i do not see the point of spilling all of my personal drama here.

i just really need to write right now. to get it out. to unfasten the ties that bind me. it's not even about you, dear visitor, who comes here to listen to my ramblings. you came here expecting my latest tidbit, my piece of popular culture news or views. you may have even come here, just to experience a slice of my life. but oh no, nuh uh, not today. for over the next week, i am becoming someone else. not a person of my design, but a person of my family's design. just b/c i don't want to let anyone down, and in that if i were to say no it would do just that --- let some folks down. that i have a life of my own, and if i were to express that, would seem so selfish to them, and perhaps even to me. so for the next few days, i bear wearing the mask, to make others' lives easier and more sane.

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almost there...

no more previews at lynnedjohnson.com after this, but i've finally decided on a layout for blackthoughtware.org, and i'm getting the hang of pMachine too. not all of the templates and php pages for the site have been updated yet, but i'm just about there. see...

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hair here

now i'm usually picky about what pictures i show of myself, and this will probably be the last for awhile, but i'm certain that since i've mentioned the hair was growing and have shown the corn rows that perhaps someone would care to see the 'fro. i'm guessing here. not feeling this pic entirely, but the hair makes a point. it was some time around last sept. or oct. that i stopped cutting it all off to ceasar (or even simply scruff) length. here it 'tis...

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i want a gmail account

ok so i'm silly, when they were offered i didn't step up to the plate. but now i'm asking, earl, george, hashim, anybody? i wanna be down too.

thanks

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pmachine .vs. wordpress

so remember blackthoughtware.org that i said i was working on in that post? well, i'm still working on it, and basically it's an extension of that column i used to write for popmatters.com called blackthoughtware. what's up there on my new domain now was my original proposal for that column.

anyway, in using the free version of pMachine, i'm having problems with my templates adapting to my style sheets. thus, why the entire site is not black the way i intended it to be.

what i might do in the interim, while trying to figure it all out, is swap out pmachine for wordpress - get that installed and running so i can play around with it a bit. if anyone has any comments on either system, please let me know. my other options, that i can autoinstall from my host, lunarpages includes these blog tools: Nucleus (2.0), pMachine Free (2.3) , WordPress (1.0.1) or these CMS: Geeklog (1.3.9) , Mambo Open Source (4.5(1.0.5)), PHP-Nuke (7.1), phpWCMS (1.1-RC2), phpWebSite (0.9.3-2 english), Post-Nuke (0.7.2.6-1), Siteframe (3.1.2).

now i use postnuke with that full time job of mine, and i'd have to say that most of these CMS with their add ons, modules, and themes are a bit much for what i want to accomplish with blackthoughtware.org. and sure i could just use MT 3, but i won't. for one, the blog tools i previously mentioned can be auto installed from my host, which makes life oh so simple. and besides, i want to be as well versed in as many CMS as i possibly can. so the question is, again, should i go wordpress or should i go pmachine? anyone with any insight on this, please holla' at ya' girl.

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randomizing apple iTunes again

i've gotta' get a new meme, this one is getting old. but even cobb did it.

so it goes - out of 1684 songs, the first 20 to play in random mode.

1. "Livin' For You" - Al Jarreau - Still In Love With You

2. "Westside Driveby" - DJ Kay Slay featuring E-A-Ski, MC Ren & Kam - The Streetsweeper Vol. 1

3. "Cock Up Your Bumper" - Elephant Man featuring Big Tigger and Sasha - Good 2 Go

4. "Behind The Wheel" - Playgroup (DJ-Kicks Electroca$H Mix) - !K7150 (2)

5. "Illusion, Coma, Pimp & Circumstance" - Prince - Musicology

6. "Stop Dat" - Dizzee Rascal - Boy In Da Corner [Bonus Track]

7. "harlem's nocturne" - Alicia Keys - the diary of alicia keys

8. "Black Byrd" - Blaze - Spiritually Speaking

9. "Beggar For the Blues" - Patti Drew - Blue Note Trip - Sunrise Sunset

10. "School Spirit" - Kanye West - College Dropout

11. "Paradise" - Change - The Very Best Of Change

12. "Rhythm-A-Ning" - Thelonious Monk - Criss-Cross

13. "Ultimate High" - Miguel Migs - Nude Tempo I

14. "Stone Jam" - Slave Featuring Steve Arrington - The Best Of Slave

15. "Cloud 9" - Donnie - The Colored Section

16. "The New" - Interpol - Turn On The Bright Lights

17. "Bullet Proof...I Wish I Was" - Radiohead - The Bends

18. "Last Days Reloaded" - Dead Prez - Get Free Or Die Tryin'

19. "Hot" - Rosco P. Coldchain w/ Pusha-T & Boo-Bonic - The Neptunes Presents...Clones

20. "Muzak" - Dudley Perkins - A Lil' Light

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happy anniversary

this here makes year three of the blog - it went live july 1, 2001. thanks to all y'all who have been along for the ride. and for the newbies, sit down for a spell, and browse the archives if you like.

here it is july, and i still haven't gone back through those archives myself to make sure everything was alright when donald, who has a job now btw huraaah, converted my layout to MT back in jan. do i really think i'm going to ever go through the entire site to check links, bolds, italics, titles, justifications - uhhhh, prolly not.

besides, i still have to get over there and fix that new site i'm working on to make it look the way i really want it to.

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