I’ve never been a huge Mary J. Blige fan. But I’m utterly moved by, and can’t stop watching, her new Chevy Traverse commercial, above.
Entries Tagged 'Black Music' ↓
Quite Contrary Marys.
December 2nd, 2008 — Advertising, Black Music, TV
Well, There’s Still the Inaugural.
November 17th, 2008 — Black Music, Politics
This is a mile late, but I didn’t think about it until after the election, and I have to ask: Why didn’t the Obama campaign use the Pointer Sisters’, above, 1973 hit “Yes We Can Can” as their unofficial campaign theme song, as opposed to Stevie Wonder’s 1970 classic “Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I’m Yours”?
Best. Back-To-School. TV Ad. Ever.
October 29th, 2008 — Advertising, Black Music, Children
Going to school for the very first time can be hell for kids, and, after leaving home, itself, the hardest part is definitely fitting it.
So, the sight of these three munchkins, above, power-sliding to Parliament’s “Tear the Roof off the Sucker (Give Up the Funk)” tells me that, even without mom, they’re gonna be all right.
Light the Blowtorch, Baby.
October 20th, 2008 — Black Music, Photography
Incendiary photography by Bold as Love‘s Rob Fields of Sandra St. Victor (The Family Stand, “Ghetto Heaven”), above, at a “Rock for Barack” event in New York City last month. Bold As Love takes its name from Jimi Hendrix’s 1967 album, Axis: Bold as Love. “Ultimately,” says Fields, “I believe that Black rock can save Black culture.” Imminently, from the looks of things.
Shut Your Mouth.
October 9th, 2008 — Black Music, Music Video, Satire
To me, Isaac Hayes’ “Theme from Shaft” may be the most transcendent piece of film music ever made. So, this guy, above, is either leading the greatest travesty of all time, or the second coolest thing ever: The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain’s rendition of the famed work. Don’t tell me I never gave you anything.
[via Current Virals]
‘Nuff Respect Due.
October 9th, 2008 — Black Music, Hip-Hop, Journalism
If L.L. Cool J, above, is not The G.O.A.T.—”Greatest of All Time”—he’s without doubt O.O.T.G.O.A.T.—”One of the Greatest of All Time.”
So, with his 24-year Def Jam contract ending, and only 300 words in The Village Voice to review his 12th studio album, Exit 13, it was a struggle for me to give the work its due, but I’m happy with what I got. Please check it out!
Also, Spike Lee’s World War II drama, Miracle at St. Anna, starring Derek Luke, right, is not doing all that well critically (it’s been roundly panned as flat and bloated), or financially: To-date, it’s only taken in $6.6 million of its $45 million production budget.
I enjoyed it, mostly. (The ending…eh.) Even more, though, I enjoyed speaking briefly with Spike for ESSENCE magazine. The piece is not on the web, to my knowledge, but if you can find the October issue—the one with Mo’Nique on the cover, still on the stands, I think, despite the encroaching Beyoncé issue—our Q&A is on p. 80.
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
October 8th, 2008 — Black Music, Entertainment, Film, Hip-Hop
All hail the Queen: Photo by Robert Maxwell for The New York Times
Is Queen Latifah gay?
Her flattering and attentive profile in this past weekend’s Sunday New York Times Magazine detailed many aspects of her professional life and career: Over thirty films, two years as host of her own talk show, Grammy-nominated albums, an Oscar nod, her landmark endorsement with Cover Girl, a thriving management business.
But it also raised the question that has attended the Queen, aka Dana Owens, and her reign, almost as long as she’s been in the public eye: Is she a lesbian?
Whip Appeal.
October 2nd, 2008 — Black Music, Hip-Hop, Music Video
I was at the book party, Tuesday, for colleagues Cey Adams’ and Bill Adler’s upcoming tome DEFinition: The Art and Design of Hip-Hop, which outlines the history of graphic art in the form. (I’d urged Cey to do a book about this topic easily a decade-and-a-half before, based on the work his company, The Drawing Board, was doing in the early ’90s for pretty much everything that left Def Jam in those years. I even strategized on how we might do it together, so I’m glad that it finally exists.)
There were many faces in the house I’d not seen in a month o’ Sundays, more I’d never met before, and hugs all around, but easily the most startling reunification was with rapper Positive K, above, who I’d not run into since, well, since I was talking to Cey about doing a book on rap music and graphic design.
The Michael That Might Have Been.
September 2nd, 2008 — Black Music, Race
That’s an artist’s photographic rendition, above, from The Daily Mail, of what Michael Jackson, who turned 50 this past Friday, might have looked like today had he not fileted his face, over the past few decades, with what presumably turns out to be weeks of plastic surgery.
Solange Knowles Best.
August 28th, 2008 — Black Music, Controversy, Media, TV
Unless I’m wrong, Solange Knowles’ tempest-in-a-thimble with KVVU-TV’s Monica Jackson wasn’t the most interesting note to come out of the 2:28 clip.
The most odd detail is that she, perhaps inadvertantly, confirmed Jay-Z’s marriage to her older sister, Beyoncé, by making mention of her “brother-in-law’s establishment,” and thus affirming she has a legal, familial relationship with him through marriage.
