8 Weird Things

dang it kimpossible! you know if i get tagged, i have to respond according to blog etiquette rules. and clearly you tagged me a grip ago! so in response to said tag here are weird things about me that i'm sure you dear readers can't wait to hear. lol

UNO. i have a pen fetish. i only write with uniball vision pens, preferably the light gray one. but any of them will do. no ball points. no other rollerball pens. the vision. that's it. it makes that wonderful scratching noise when i write and the ink comes out so rich.

DOS. i talk to myself. i'd rather refer to it as thinking out loud. lol sometimes in order to process my thoughts i have to say them out loud. which means a lot of self-reflective conversations. some of my close friends have even caught me in the act! lol

TRES. i don't like feet. i don't believe toes should be anywhere except the ground. the feel of toes is unwelcome in my world. i inherited this honest from my dad, i'm even not sure i’ve ever seen his feet! lol

CUATRO. i get down with quotes. in a movie. in a conversation. from a book or a magazine. i love ‘em! here are some honorable mentions:

“you a liar and you a cheat and I don’t want ya!” – angela bassett as katherine jackson in the jackson family: american dream

“shame on me for kissing you with my eyes closed.” – liv tyler as…forgot her character’s name…in that thing you do.

CINCO. i like to lip sync. does anybody remember the lip sync show they used to have on mtv? if you do and you drop me a line, it will win you an official blog shoutout! priceless! lol i really wanted to be on that show. when record labels start signing lip sync acts i’ll be the first one they sign, because me and beyonce (michael jackson, john legend, alicia keys, india.arie…i could go on…) kill ‘em when i’m riding in my vehicle. belee dat!

SEIS. this kinda goes with numero cinco, but i also really like to sing. i didn’t say you’re gonna want to hear it, i just said I like to sing. i listen to my music extra loud so that it sounds like I can really sing my tail off. if I could have a gift for 24 hours, it would be singing and I would be a diva. I would expect white roses in my dressing room and force everybody to call me ms. brown…I digress…and that’s why i don’t have the gift to sing, because i would be nothing but ignorant with it.

SIETE. i like to time things. sadly my current cell phone doesn’t have a timer on it anymore, but it still has an alarm clock which can act as my bootleg timer. if i’m waiting in line or at a restaurant, on hold with customer service or only have ten minutes to do something i like to time it or set my alarm so i can be sure to take exactly that amount of time. dang, that’s probably the weirdest so far. lol

OCHO. ok…i almost hate to admit this but dang it, it’s true. i buy almost all of my hip hop albums from walmart because I want to hear the content without all the expletives. i want to appreciate jay’s lyrical wordplay without having to hear all the obscene words he might use. i have gone to great lengths to purchase the clean version of these albums even when i download. this sometimes causes great shock when I finally do hear the real version of the music. :O

all right that’s it. that’s all I’ve got for my 8 weird things you may not have wanted to know. lol

Born in the USA - Spoken Word Version

a few months ago I performed in 500 Songs for Kids, an event where hundreds of Georgia artists came together to perform Rolling Stone's top 500 songs and raise money for kids organizations. finally posted the video on youtube. shout out to brandon thomas for playing with me.

billboard & hip hop rant

spent part of this week covering the billboard r&b hip hop music conference here in atl. went to pick up my media pass and took a minute to listen to the artist showcase that was going on. a down south rap group was up and they had a young lady in their crew. she had a mic in her hand but her booty seemed to be the part of her that was most important to them. every couple of minutes her booty became the prop of a lyric or maybe just for the audience to have some sort of visual while the song went on.

and i feel pretty young. i don't feel like an old head, but i shook my head and swiftly walked out of the room. and here comes my rant. it's not any different than a lot of purist hip hop rants you hear. and i'm not even a hip hop purist. i grew up in the south so i have spent some time in my life shaking it to " scrub the ground" and "hydraulics scarred," so clearly i have a special place in my heart for dirty south hip hop. but i do believe i have a bone to pick with one of my favorite genres of music.

i miss women in hip hop. not shaking it in a video. not singing on the hook. not playing the love interest who spends her five minutes cutting her eyes and looking seductive. i miss female emcees. and i wasn't feeling that this young lady's booty was way more important than if she could rip 'em to shreds with her 16 bars. and while i'm at it, i miss lauryn. i'm glad we got lupe but who is the next mc lyte? queen latifah? monie love? bahamadia? i'm really jonesin' to hear a female emcee who knows how to tell a good story, ride the beat, who's subject matters covers all aspects of life, not just her body and sexuality. (sigh...rant over...at least for now)

this weekend i didn't get my female emcee fix, but i heard some wonderful music by two great women artists. leaf and janelle monae. leaf has been featured on the tv show girlfriends and recorded her live cd project this weekend. janelle monae did her thing at lenny's bar for her birthday show and she's already sold 10,000 units of suite 1: the chase, the first suite from her debut cd. check out some pics.