From Black to Colored

One of the songs discussed in class that stood out to me the most was James Brown's, "Say it loud, I'm black and I'm proud", because this particular song made the word, "black", a positive term for African Americans to identify themselves with. 

In an interview back in 2003 Brown stated, “I clearly remember we were calling ourselves colored, and after the song, we were calling ourselves black. The song showed even people to that day that lyrics and music and a song can change society." To Brown, the word black and colored were not one in the same. He didn’t identify himself as colored or a Negro. According to his definitions the word Negro and colored has negative connotations. To him, a colored was a scared person, a Negro was someone that was making it in     the system but wanted to be white but a black man has pride in his race and wants to make it mean something.

 

4/20 Release

On April 20th, Rihanna released the interlude of her new album, "James Joint." It's ironic that she picked April 20th, which is widely known as the 'weed holiday.' She tweeted to her fans, "In celebration of 420, here’s an interlude from my 8th studio album that I call James Joint.”

Many comments have been made that is was an ode to ex-boyfriend, Chris Brown. That possibility may be true, but in actuality it was an ode to marijuana. 

John Legend is More Than Music

Lately, Grammy winner, John Legend has been doing much more than gracing the community with his musical abilities. Outside the music, John Legend is a Humanitarian and has been launching campaigns over the last few years.

Recently, he annouced his latest campaign, "Free America", to end mass incarceration. At my very own alma mater, John legend was a recent key speaker, in which he spoke on various topics pertaining to aiding the community, life's struggles and love.

Afterwards, he peformed three songs. The significance of his performance was that if you payed close  attention to some of the lyrics, they also

pertained to some of the messages in his speech. Before I had always thought of his music as love songs. After listening to his speech, his music talks about more than just love if you really listen. He's a man that sings what he preaches.

A Mini Reunion

At the 2015 Stellar Gospel Music Awards in Las Vegas, Destiny's Child surprised the audience with their mini reunion singing Michelle William's single, "Say Yes."
Although neither of them were scheduled to perform, the audience wish their reunion was longer than one song. 

Awards are scheduled to air April 5th.

But What About Tri Delta?

According to Instagram posts, the women in the Theta Gamma chapter of Delta Delta Delta at the University of Oklahoma were also said to be chanting along on the bus along with SAE members. If you watch the video closely, you do see a young women off to the right that appears to be like she might be chanting but its hard to tell. The focus has been mainly on SAE but will the possible  inapropriate acts of the sorority girls go unnoticed or be investigated?  

#SAEhatesme is Spreading!

Sunday night, #SAEhatesme, began to spread all over my timelines and news feeds. The video of SAE (Sigma Alpha Epsilon) Fraternity at the University of Oklahoma chanting, "There will never be N-word in SAE...You can hang them from a tree, but they’ll never sign with me", was tweeted by Unheard, a black organization on the campus to the president of OU.

Soon afterwards, the video spread like fire. Later that night, Unheard posted on the internet that there would be a student demonstration at 7:30 this morning on the campus. This incident was a true eye opener that racism is very much still alive and near me. We've came a long way since the civil rights movement but this incident proves that we still have a long way to go.

Video can be watched on instgram by typing in the hashtag:#SAEhatesme or on the news site: http://www.koco.com/news/ou-investigates-video-reportedly-showing-fraternity-singing-racist-chant/31686542

The Best moments is Hearing Good Music With Good People!

the conversation about post-drake sadness happening in our group chat rn is so real #NWTSafterthedrakeshow pic.twitter.com/jyrb2Mthyk
— Lorde (@lordemusic) February 25, 2015

After Drake's performance in Lorde's stomping grounds, she stated in a text message that she uploaded to twitter that she is sad because she thinks she may never be that happy again. Of course she still has the rest of her life for plenty more happy moments like the Drake concert. Her statement was an expression how much she enjoyed the concert being with her friends and hearing good music all at the time. I have to agree that some of my best moments in my life was hearing good music surrounded by good people.
I can definitely relate to her statement! Sometimes after I have just left a good party or a random outing with friends, I think on the car ride home about how fun it was and if I will have the much fun ever again. It's crazy a feeling I guess but as the old saying goes, "all good things come to an end."

"The Real Is Back!"

One of my personal favorite Hip-Hop artists, J. Cole, will be making an apperarnce in Oklahoma city for the Forest Hills Drive tour, which was named after his most recent album! Looking at the cities scheduled, this year J. Cole is visiting all of cities that he typically doesn't visit, especially our very own, Oklahoma City. Oklahoma fans were surprised and excited to hear about J. Cole coming to OKC. Typically to see huge acts, Oklahoma fans have to travel to Dallas. Lately since the arrival of the Thunder team, OKC has been bringing in bigger talents.

Drake Pulled a Beyonce!

Last week, the day before Valentines Day, Drake released his new mixtape, "If Your Reading This It's Too Late", at midnight. Like, Beyonce, he kept it hidden from the media and released it without any promotion. With the variety of  media outlets today, the mixtape got more than enough coverage and popularity without the need of promotions.

Many are questioned by the chicken scratch font on the cover of his mixtape. Some believes it resembles a suicide note others matched it to the Chick-Fil-A font. Since the release of the album, the mixtape cover has spread over social media, with people recreating the title of the mixtape to humorous phrases.

But what does the title really mean or what is the message that Drake is trying to send to his listeners  is the question that is still surfacing.

Respect for Artistry

After Beck won album of the year at the Grammys awards, Kanye West claims that the voices in his head told him to go up on stage. People in the crowd were also screaming for him to do what he did a few years ago to Taylor Swift. West said that all he wanted to do was make a joke about the last time but he decided to back to his seat because he didn't want to take away from Beck's moment.

In an interview during the show,West expressed that the Grammys doesn't respect artistry and always gives the awards to those who truly don't deserve it. He also felt that Beck should have gave his award to Beyonce, who he felt should've really won the award for best album. Kanye himself has given away many Grammy awards to those he felt deserved it. 

I'm indifferent about about who should've actually won the award because I think they're both great artists but I do agree with the above picture that in a musical sense, Beck is more artistic, creative and put in more handwork for producing and writing his own music. I disagree with Kanye, that he should've gave his award away, Beck earned his award. Maybe sometimes it isn't all about who is the most popular but who put in the most creativity. 

Is Hip Hop on its Death Bed?

As far as technology, societal views, and music, my generation has truly witnessed the most change from the 90's to now. One of my many favorite genres seems to be barley hanging on by life support of a few artists like J. Cole and Common. It seemed like after 2005, Rap music begun to takeover. One might argue that they are the same, especially if they're not familiar with the two genres. 

To me, Hip Hop is not the same at all. It has meaning, tells stories and has a lot of poetry. Hip Hop is real and authentic. Not saying that Rap can't have meaning but it seems like nowadays all I hear about is the fancy cars, how one splurges without looking at the price tags, and exploitation of women. Unlike Rap, Hip Hop tells stories of how one came out of the struggle and is able to buy all the fancy things instead of bragging about having them. Hip Hop respects women and tells its love stories instead referring to them as the, "B word."

I have to admit that I'm disappointed that the music I grew up on is slowing fading out. 

She's a Nightmare Dressed Like a Daydream!

Some says she love crazy, others says she dates too much. Want to know how Taylor Swift's really acts in a relationship? Just listen, she tells it all in her songs! One of her most recent pop songs, "Blank Space", gives some insight of her love life behaviors.
The song itself has good beats and good use of metaphors. Despite what the media says about her love life, no one can deny that she makes good hits off her love stories.
One of my favorite lines from the song is, " But you'll come back each time you leave, cause darling I'm a night mare dressed like a daydream", because anyone can admit that she has an innocent good girl look but when it comes to relationships its another side to her as she sings in her next few lines, "got a long list of ex-lovers, they'll tell you I'm insane."

Blogging About Your Passion

The blog, "If You're Not Passionate About Your Message, Don't Start a Blog", from http://bloggingyourpassion.com has tips and advice about starting a blog your passionate about. The tips reminded of when my professor for the blogging class that I'm in now asked the class what are we passionate about before we created our blogs.
Before I came up with the idea, I remember not only thinking about what I am passionate about, but what I'm passionate about sharing with world. I'm passionate about music but what I love even more is sharing what I think about a particular piece whether I like it or not and then hearing other people's thoughts as well.
I agree with the blog that you can't blog to chase the money because in the early stages that you are not getting paid, you will loose interest in that blog or in blogging period. The passion is what will keep you blogging in the non-profit phase.

Nick Jonas causes controversy over gospel version of pop song, "Jealous."

In the later part of 2014, pop singer Nick Jonas released a gospel version of one of his popular songs, "Jealous."
Many youtube viewers have different opinions on the song. Some believe it has made gospel music more fun to listen too. Most believe that the lyrics are contradicting and inappropriate to be sung in a gospel manor.
With the Christian beliefs that I have, I do feel that the song is contradicting and is inappropriate for a church choir to be singing. I believe that gospel was designed to praise God and not to sing about being jealous over a significant other.
I don't see nothing wrong with the original song itself. The original song is catchy and has good beats but I do believe that it should not be song within the gospel genre.

A blog I found interesting!

The blog I found really interesting to me was http://makezine.com/craft/paper-quilled-art-roundup/ because I really enjoy being crafty while using basic materials that you find around the house. One of the major strengths of this blog is the content. I feel like the content is one of the most important things of a blog because that’s what grabs the viewer’s attention. This blog gives really good ideas of crafty art made out of paper that is more than nice of to place in a home for décor. The blog has some how-to videos and many other ideas on crafts that you can do.

Some of the ideas I got from this blog is how they organize their content into tabs.

Though the content is good I do think they could make their blog look more appealing as far as color schemes and fonts. There is nothing really eye catching about the blog besides its content. I feel the content is what saves the blog. With it being an artsy kind of blog I think the layout should be less boring and more artsy.