Problems with the Black Conscious​ Community

I am glad someone finally sad it. The first person said he didn’t like being black.  That’s how I think most feel.  It makes sense.  Trying to hard to prove their worth or having to tell others we are the best etc. makes you wonder if that person actually thinks they are.  Black Americans especially.  Black Americans are the first to go on other non AA black people saying they don’t know they are black, because they call themselves __________ whatever country they come from vs. black or Afro_________ whatever country they come from.  The same people who are closer to their African roots than even many AAs are.  AAs are the first to talk about Africans or whatever group being colorist acting as if AA community shit don’t stink when it comes to colorism.  It was mostly AAs talking that mess to the likes of this young lady

We also have the whole we aren’t of African descent silliness that is going on in black conscious community.  I can’t even post that silliness in this post.

I really hope the AA community gets it together.  I really do. I think that’s the reason we are where we are in this country.

Madisyne Elise

Reverbnation

The CooLots

So, sorry it’s been so long.  I have a band for folks to check out.  It’s great to see black women in different genres of music.

Talent Showcase Denise Weeks

Xfactors’s Denise Weeks

Cdbaby

Sorry for not having posted in a while. But remember this group? They were the original faces of the Cheetah Girls series before Disney acquired the series.

Talent Showcase Alice Smith

Another live version of the song

Main Website

FB

Myspace

Reverbnation

Talent Showcase Elle Gyandoh

CDbaby

The Internet has Created New Opportunities for Talent

A while back. Way while back. I know. LOL I posted a couple of music videos of a past group called Fierce and I saw on the side Watching this video was like going back in time. LOL I used to love this song like crazy. Watching these vids you think WTH happened? Where are the black girls let alone dark skinned black girls? Why is it that in the 90’s and early 2000’s black women and girls were way more represented than today. Mind you it wasn’t perfect, but damn! Then I got to thinking BET. We lost a valuable outlet for our image. Whenever MTV didn’t show our music whatever the genre we always had an outlet. BET wasn’t just hip-hop/rap/r&b/ they represented the black rockers etc. too. Then Johnson sold to Viacom and that was it. Then we started being erased in music videos and TV from our own culture. We were replaced. When this happened others took cue and started doing the same.

But here’s the thing we now can take advantage of the internet. Maybe you can’t make a high priced video, but folks could use the net to promote their songs, music videos etc. You no longer see the likes of 3LW’s or SWV’s (though they are making a comeback), Mokenstef etc. It’s Lady Gaga, Nikki Minaj etc. And as much as I like Beyonce, how is it that folks like to forget Kelly Rowland. This woman has mad skills. Interestingly enough she is actually becoming more popular than Bey, but on a more quieter scale. I think that she and Jennifer Hudson need that huge breakout song etc. Seriously I love Rhianna, but why aren’t the Kelly’s and JHuds offered a song like Umbrella, Countdown, Diamonds, End of Time, 1+1 Frankly I like The Dreams version of 1+1 he wrote it for Bey and don’t get me wrong she was great, but I do think this song would have been better for Usher. Hell this to me is more of a duet song than one singer) , Baby I etc.? I heard Jade Novah’s version of Diamonds and thought damn! Had this woman been offered this song with her first album it would be that break out song. That woman is fierce.

he probably has had backing behind his vids, but have you seen some of the vids on YT and some of these are just folks having fun. Folks are going to have to star thinking outside the box. Stop waiting for someone to discover you and launch you. Launch yourself.

If you haven’t seen this video check it out. This vid looks really good.

I’m not going to lie some are not kid appropriate. LOL, but my point is it’s up to us to think outside the box. Do what we need to do to get what we want or where we want to go.

Here are some vids produced and directed by theshay west. These are some great vids. This is Jade Novah’s Cover of Beyonce’s countdown. Seriously this girl has some mad skills.

version of Chris Brown vid. Chris Brown is singing as in I believe it’s lip synced, but the point is that he vid is pro.

Kenya is Back! And Better than EVAH!

Hey anyone remember Kenya Doll? I remember having them back in the day. Well, ya’ll Kenya has made a comeback. Right Right! I’m a grown woman and am buying me a Kenya Doll. LOL My mom always made sure I had black dolls growing up. Baby dolls to Barbie and of course Kenya. Yes, I had white dolls etc. but she made sure that I had dolls that resembled me. I am so grateful to her for that. She made sure I saw positive representation of black people especially girls and women, because I was a girl who was growing into a woman. I was at a blog one day where the author was asking why is having black dolls so important? Kids don’t care etc. And that too much emphasis was put on this. Umm really? The fact that we are still talking about colorism online and offline. Documentaries like Dark Girls are still having to be made. Really! Tell that to black women and girls around the world. Indians, Latinos etc.

Forget within the black, Indian or whatever community. Think about what the media is telling black girls/women. Okay, so now you are grown up and are doing the whole I don’t need the media to validate me. I’m at the point to, but remember that this isn’t the case for young black girls. See like white girls/women they watch MTV, Disney, Nick etc. and are barely seeing representations of themselves and when they do it’s only a certain type or types of black girls. Then you have magazines, movies etc. We have to remember to mentor the kids. Stop coming from where we are all the time and remember where they are. Stop coming from how we had to do so much self help, BWE, affirmations etc. just for healing and remember that these girls are not late 20’s, 30’s 40’s 50 and so on old women. They are girls.

You want change you focus the kids and teach/mentor them you don’t focus on adults. That’s like the folks that talk about how they want black youth to embrace sci-fi yet write books that are more for an adult than a kid to read. Same with movies. If you want black youth to become the next filmmakers than you make movies that they can watch (as well as adults mind you. I’m not talking about children’s movies) but movies that you don’t have to be ashamed to watch with your child.

Anyways off that soap box. Shanica Knowles Cousin of Beyoncé and Solange Knowles is the new face of Kenya. Here is her song
Kenya Rock

Network shows can be a hot mess!

I watch television from Britain, Australia, New Zealand and just starting on a show from Sweden.  Anyway in the early 2000’s I used to watch Casualty when it was on BBC America.  Let me just say that it made it hard to watch E. R. after that.  I had seen Casualty or Holby city which is it’s spin-off in years.  About a couple of years ago I started catching on episodes.  I got back into Holby City after Abra/Kyla story, but then stopped watching, because I had no way to see eps.  Then I got into it again about the second year with Guy Henry as Henrik Hansson.  I got caught up with the season and then I went back and watched when he was first introduced to the series.  Later I went and watched the first seasons with Meyer.

Then I started watching Wild at Heart on Netflix all the way to end.  So sad that the show had to be cancelled.  It was a great family show.  I also watched Merlin, Outcasts (which was short lived and reminded me of Earth 2 and Terra Nova (which reminded me of Outcasts, but with dinosaurs.  LOL).  Of course I’ve been watching Downton Abby, Call the Midwife, Doc Martin, Doctor Who on PBS.  I’ve watched shows from Australia such as MCcloeud’s Daughters, Sea Patrol (Anyone remember when Disney brought over shows from Australia, the U. K. before they started making the hot mess shows they have now? I do. LOL they seriously need to stop making their own shows and go back to importing. LOL)  As well as kids shows like H20 and it’s spin-off Makko Island, Elephant Princess etc. I do have to say these countries tend to treat shows geared towards kids better than here.  Not all mind you, but the fact that adults can get hooked into a show like Being Eve, The Tribe (New Zealand), Australia Ocean Girl, Thunderstone, H20 etc. tells you we need to do better. 

Watching Holby City and Casualty I was excited about Monday Mornings.  That is until I watched the pilot.  Immediately we are subjected to obscene number of music (score), a set that looks huge and cold and extremely bright and washed out looking, silly things like nurses and staff clapping because a doctor fixed a nureological problem that was affecting a woman’s use of her arms, intense drama on the point of being silly, need I say it felt like they were on some futuristic sci-fi set.  Before this I tried to watch Three Rivers and a few other hospital dramas and was reminded why I just don’t watch medical dramas in the U. S.  Way too much melodrama.  I’m serious! Watch and episode of Casualty and Holby City, then watch an episode of Grays Anatomy.  Casualty, Holby City is made in a way that can stand on it’s on when actor’s leave.  It’s not only about a main character who if leaves kills the show.  And it focuses mainly on the patients though we do see the issues of the main cast.  And get this Casualty has like 40 something od episodes and Holby City is literally 52 episodes a year of course they are able to have about 57-59 minute eps, because it’s on the BBC, but still.  The U. S. networks could learn a thing or two.  1.)  Kill the damn music.  We don’t need it so much and really it makes these shows seem silly.  I almost wanted to scream watching these shows which had high drama and high music every 2 minutes. Talk about grating.  When did TV shows in this country, become a concert.

 

For many dramas we tend to have people hate each other until the end of the season.  People still gnawing on ish that happened at the beginning of the season or at the beginning of the series.  Now, I know folks can hold a grudge, but seriously.  Please watch shows like McCloued’s daughters, Wild at Heart to see some progression between characters even when they don’t start out liking each other nor like each other at all end up becoming friends or at least tolerate each other. Not still gnawing on mess from the first episodes.  It doesn’t always have to be like some damn high drama melodramtic soap opera.  I remember watching the show Blue Water high from Australia and watching a show similar in the U. S.  Wow, how dramatic and boring that show was compared to Blue Water high.  Notice I don’t have the name here.  That’s how boring the show was.  I didn’t even try to look up the name, because I don’t remember it.

Merlin, Sea Patrol, Wild at Heart, Primeval.  What do these things have in common.  They had a new story each year.  Merlin had an over reaching arch, but didn’t kill with it.  Too many shows have these huge grandouse storylines which lose viewers after a while.  I’ve seen maybe a few shows do this successfully here.  Once, Lost, Fringe ( yes it went into more into camp ville, but not silly just in a different direction. That’s another thing. Shows don’t have to go on for years and years. They can have storylines that you know actually have an end date. LOL.)  You could still get in even if you’d never seen the show before and maybe even interest a viewer to go and watch from the beginning.

 

Hell I’ve watched Fringe out of order and never felt lost. When Fringe was back on Netflix I qued that sucker and watched all four seasons and then when the last season came on I watched that.

Though I do like Chicago PD, Southland(which is was like Adam 12, but for today’s audience) of course Sleepy Hollow. Man I miss Fringe. These shows could get you hooked in knew how to be self contained enough why having a storyline yet not over doing it.