Like many grown bootied women I know, I’m not ashamed to admit that I’ve had a major crush on Sade since her 1984 debut. Needless to say, I could NOT wait for February 8th to arrive. On Tuesday night I happily skipped out of my office to Giant Step’s Listening Party at the Royalton and then made a b-line for Best Buy early on Wednesday morning to cop her new joint, Soldier of Love– her first album since 2000’s dub-groove smash Lovers Rock. And lemme tell you Helen Folasade Adu or “Shard” as her homies call her, did not disappoint. The mystique, music and the moments connected to Sade and her songs create magic. Black magic baby.

The Mystique: I think what really appeals to me about Sade is the mystery of Sade. She doesn’t put her business out there for the paparazzi and her fans to pick and prod at like some flea market bin of old clothes. But every now and then she breaks out from behind the shadows to reveal a lil more about the woman who is a mother, a lover and a gardening aficionado. Here are three interviews that I love:

UK Times Online: “Being a mother is the biggest and hardest job I’ve ever undertaken. I’m not complaining, but I’ve never had a nanny. For years after she was born I put Ila to bed every night. As soon as she arrived she became the centre of my life.”

theHotness:  “It’s easier being a woman because you’re not considered a threat the way black men are considered a threat. My brother would get stopped in his car and get called a black bastard. You have to know you’re better than that and rise above the person.”

NY Times: “(In the studio) it is almost like a church, because you’re going to that room, you know your purpose, you know what you’re going to do in there, and you don’t have to take anything in with you that you don’t want to take in there.”

The Music: Two of my faves from SOL~

In Another Time – Saunters and sways with the moodiness of an old Etta James record. The dillydally of the piano, ease of strings and the drag of horn collude with Sade’s somber vocals to form a bluesy yet empowering concoction that intoxicates with testimonies of life after heartbreak and better lovin’ days ahead: “Darling I want to let you know your tears will not leave a trace/ In another time/ In another place.”

The Moon and The Sky: Yearning, nostalgic and romantic. This is the joint you put on when it’s raining outside and you’re laying in bed reminiscing about past love. Light some incense, pour the wine and pull the sheets up tight cause this song is a lonely lullaby.

The Moment: Beautiful. Classic.

(erykah badu, corinne bailey rae, janelle monae)

I’m so excited about the music that’s dropping in 2010! I really feel like, more so now than ever, the ladies are going to smash this year wide open, which after Sunday night’s Grammy Awards, I couldn’t be more pleased.

The Grammy’s, even though promoted as a Ladies Night, really played strongly for the fellas. Maxwell and Eminem ripped that sucka silly on just some old school sangin’ and rhyming. Although he was hoarse and obviously nervous, Maxwell was sincerely steeped in some soulful ish and Em just spat for Detroit, for hiphop, for breath. Now I will give it to Pink for having the fortitude to sing beautifully while twirling in mid-air and for being punk enough to spin water droplets on glammed up Grammified folk below. She rocked it, but I’ve seen her do that routine already (AMA’s?) so now it’s just becoming routine. Lady Gaga and Beyonce, as much as I love them, they totally under whelmed me. Like major yawn! Ironically in terms of sound and performance, Michael Jackson’s pleading vocals on his “Earth Song” were so badass that I would’ve been cool if I never heard Usher or Celine sing a lick of it. And I do agree with Thembisa and Solange. Taylor Swift robbed Bey and Gaga for Best Album, but that’s what happens when a mouthy Black rapper snubs a young, sweet, blond country singer. She becomes RIAA’s darling. The whole affair reminded me of Desifeminista’s tweet early on during the broadcast: “Getting older means watching everything you know and love be destroyed in front of your eyes. #grammys”

But all is not lost in Gaga and Elton John’s dust, dirt and ash. Musically speaking, 2010 really promises to be The Year of The Woman. With releases from Sade, Erykah Badu, Corinne Bailey Rae, Jean Grae, Janelle Monae, Santigold, Goapele, Nneka, Tamar-kali, Sia and Tweet, I’m thinking I’ll see less leotards and a little more musicality and depth this year.

My friend Greg– a hard hittin music critic– was privileged to hear the new Janelle Monae record and exclaimed, “It’s stellar. 21st century black pop music with tight lyrics and vocals, multiple chord changes and modern rhythms. Thought I’d never hear it again.”

Folks that went to Erykah Badu’s listening party in December at Chung King Studios are saying the Control Freaq’s got her Baduizm back and is kicking vocals ala “On & On” on her upcoming New Amerykah, Part II (Return of the Ankh), due out Feb. 23, 2010. Yippeee!
UPDATE!!! Erykah’s new single Window Seat

Last week, Corinne Bailey Rae, after dealing with the sudden death of her husband, dropped The Sea, the follow-up to her debut smash. I’ve just heard the single “I’d Do It All Again,” which is a departure from the blissed-out, catchy-soul of “Put Your Records On.” But it’s a great song filled with the murky melancholy of loss love and grief and the video is just as wonderful and somber.

And I’m already loving newcomer Nneka’s Concrete Jungle, especially the cuts “Uncomfortable Truth” and “Heartbeat.” Even though folks are quick to compare her to Lauryn Hill, I’m not. Whereas L-Boogie dipped into her Newark/ S. Orange pot for ghetto flavor, Nneka’s spooning juices from Africa and Europe. Check her performance on David Letterman last night and see for yourself.

Back in ‘03 I couldn’t get enough of Oakland native, Goapele, and her independently released Closer. I realize artists have their whole lives to create their first record and so the next record, usually rushed and composed under all kinds of pressure and expectation usually falls short. I’m thinking that’s what happened with 2005’s Change It All. But I love Goapele’s energy and think her voice is pretty damn special and so I’m crazy pulling for her as she releases her third record (officially fourth after reworking Closer), Milk & Honey. Here she talks about the process and inspirations behind the album.

Word has it that even Tweet is working on a comeback. And even though I’m not feeling this new song, I’m still holding out hope because her debut, although totally slept on, was a stunner. Beyond her sexed-up pop hit– “Oops (Oh My)”, Southern Hummingbird was so much more. She had such incredibly well written songs about love and relationships. That joint still gets spins in my house. Love, love, love it!

2010 is all about the ladies! Still not convinced? Well Lilith Fair is back and the line-up is mighty. So ready or not, here we come!

I love surprises and couldn’t be more thrilled when my homey Greg told me he got us on the list to see Janelle Monae perform at a sci-fi event about time travel at The Greene Space in Soho. I was giddier than a pubescent girl on opening night for Twilight. I’m a sci-fi head that gets totally turned out by all manner of time travel whether it be the wormhole adventures of Farscape or the mysteries of “Lost” …AND I’m a huge fan of Janelle Monae! I heard she killed AfroPunk ‘09 and Central Park’s Summerstage, but I missed both shows and was dying to see her perform live.

Her performance at the Greene Space was a blast off into the outer realms of some far off galaxy ruled by Grace Jones, Fishbone and Andre 3000. She jumped, wailed, danced and even threw her mic stand off the stage grazing the ankles and toes of the folks in the first row. She was channeling James Brown all the way baby. Shapeshifting into an android named Cindi Mayweather– robotic moves and glassy eyed stares back into a soul sangin girl known as J around Kansas way. I was so amped. And then I found out Janelle time travels too? I was in heaven.

Shorty rock (she’s like 5′1″) has been to Metropolis circa 2719 where she befriended Cindi also known as Alpha Platinum 9000. Under the evil dominion of The Wolfmasters, androids are prohibited to know and feel love. Breaking the rule of Metropolis, Cindi falls in love with a human. An edict is issued for her capture and disassembly. Running frantically through the streets of Metropolis, Cindi follows a trail of “violet stars” to escape the “‘droid control” as they hunt her down with chainsaws & electro-daggers. Check “The March of The Wolfmasters” and the rest of Janelle’s Metropolis Suite if you don’t believe me… or her!

This is what she had to say about Kansas and Metropolis that night:

In “Many Moons” Janelle waxes revolutionary about freedom and oppression. She has been around the moon and back and yet she still seeks liberation knowing that the heaviest chains that bind are the ones we put on ourselves. She sings:

Civil rights, civil war/ Hood rat, crack whore/ Carefree, nightclub/ Closet drunk, bathtub/ Out-outcast, weirdo/ Stepchild, freak show/ Black girl, bad hair/Broad nose, cold stare/ Overweight, self esteem/ Mis-misfit, broken dream/ Fish tank, small bowl/ Closed minded, dark hold/ Cy-cy-cybergirl, droid-droid control/ Get away now they trying to steal your soul.

Check out her video of Many Moons:

By the way, Janelle is a major fan of “Lost” too. John Locke is her favorite character. Janelle, Greg, Chuck Lightening (her producer @Wondaland) and I debated about who he really is and what Lost symbolizes. Do you watch Lost? What do you think? Meanwhile some pics from Greene Space.

Tamar-kali describes her music as “Hardcore Geechee Goddess Warrior Soul.” I simply think it’s bad-ass. Featured in Afro-Punk, James Spooner’s marvelous documentary about Black folk who punk-rock and up jumped the boogie to another level via Fishbone, Betty Davis and Bad Brains, Tamar-kali quickly became a face of a movement she’d fronted locally in NYC for over 15 years in bands like Song of Seven and Funkface.

What I love so much about T is that no matter how unruly her performance may be or how unhinged her lyrics, this Brooklyn banshee never lets you forget she is a woman. That she is the pink side of Afro-Punk and is committed to all that it means to be a GRRRL. She embraces her femininity, pierces it with non-conformist buckshot, dips it in ancestral blood, kisses it with Oshun’s honey and then hurls it into the atmosphere, gyrating as she watches it sprinkle down like nuclear fallout on her audience members. Mesmerized. Seduced.

Don’t believe me? Check out the lyrics to “Boot” off of her EP 5Piece: “Her hair is short/ Her legs are brown/ Her lips are full/Her head hangs down/Her eyes ain’t blue/ Her ass is round/ She is sweet tasting fruit whose juice is bitter tears/ She is love’s worn out boot, tattered and torn you wear.” Or watch this snippet of “Ruint”and see how she begins to mangle the hell outta this ballad leaving nothing but bloodied bits of aorta on the microphone stand:

Tomorrow Tamar-kali is taking her all-female Psychochamber string ensemble uptown to Harlem to headline “Cabaret Chocolat.” Tamar says she developed this show because “artists of color have largely been missing from the revival of cabaret performance” at venues like Spiegeltent and The Box. With all the talk around Black women and body image ala Precious, Serena Williams, and Michelle Obama this show is more than right on time as an expression of the beauty and sensuality of Black women in dance and song. T seconds that emotion stating: “Regarding body image the Psychochamber Ensemble would be the platform. As an all female ensemble composed primarily of women of color it provides a representation of a range of different body types. Personally I have never felt subjectively limited. However, I feel like Michelle Obama has broken the 2-sided mammy/whore model to bits.”

In August, when I saw TK perform last she ripped the roof off of Joe’s Pub. She also just happened to be wearing this mad sexy hot pink vintage dress and I remember thinking ain’t no one in punk (and very few outside the genre), are dropping Sexy as hot, as gully and as empowering as this geechee!

Check out her show tomorrow night and see for yourself!

Event info:
Tamar-kali’s CABARET CHOCOLAT: An Autumn Night’s Soiree

Saturday, November 21, 2009 — $15

– Harlem Stage Gatehouse: 150 Convent Avenue at West 135th Street
6 pm – pre-performance dialogue with Tamar-kali, Kandia Crazy Horse & Daphne Brooks
7:30 pm  – Cocktail Mixer

8:30 pm – Performance

*** I AM GIVING AWAY A PAIR OF TICKETS TO ONE LUCKY WINNER!!! ***
Just leave a comment below naming your theme song if you could headline your own bawdy, sexy Cabaret. Mine would be “Darling Nikki” of course! I’ll randomly pick a winner tomorrow morning and announce it on the site and via email. Good luck!

Photos by Fanon Che Wilkins

Okay I think it’s high time we stop fronting with these politically correct music critiques. Both the music industry and artists alike are suffering from disingenuously wack music reviews, not to say how this kind of criticism has rendered music journalism damn near irrelevant. So real talk. I know most fans of Floetry have love for both Marsha Ambrosius and Natalie Stewart– The Songstress and The Floacist respectively, but we all know that Marsha was the yummy bubble gum center that we really craved. Like the hard candy exterior, Natalie’s flow was sweet and her words beautiful, but we listened to Floetry to get to that gooey middle. Marsha blew our wigs back and skirts up. On “Say Yes,” she had us wringing out our panties by the last note. Real talk.

Marsha sings like Tiger plays golf. She’s unassuming with a delicate stroke, but when she opens her mouth the lyrics soar from her throat with such precision, force and grace that it’s no wonder everyone from the late, great Michael Jackson to Dr. Dre to Justin Timberlake is shook. She possesses her songs; they don’t possess her.

Last Wednesday night at SOB’s Marsha returned to NYC to a sold-out audience fiending for some more of that tasty nougat. Backed by hip-hop’s supreme team of live bands– The Roots, she sang a number of Floetry classics including Getting Late and Say Yes and a new song about breaking-up called “We’re Done.” Her performance of “Cry,” a song she wrote for MJ’s new album, had eyes misty and hearts longing for the gloved one more than ever. When the Liverpool native sang Butterflies, the song she penned for Michael Jackson it sounded a bit different than his rendition. It moved slower under her spell. The once bubbly ballad of puppy-love that was MJ’s claim to fame was now a full on aching plea for grown folk physical intimacy. Her knowledge of melody and timing cocooned that pop ditty and rebirthed it with goose-bump inducing soul. Real talk. I really cannot wait for her record to drop. Jasmine Sullivan and Crisette Michelle are bringing the noise no doubt, but sometimes you need someone who knows what to do with it once brought. That singer is Marsha Ambrosius.

Here is a Best of Marsha mixtape courtesy of Honey Soul.

Check my video below of her singing “Butterflies” that night. Awesome.

Off of Fulfillingness’ First Finale, “They Won’t Go When I Go” is, for me, one of Stevie Wonder’s best and most moving songs. Hearing it sung at MJ’s Memorial was nothing short of pure genius. Following “I Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer” (which ironically was featured in Poetic Justice with a young, grieving Janet Jackson), with this here song singing: No more lying friends/ Wanting tragic ends/ Though they do pretend/ They won’t go when I go/ The greed of man/ Far away from me/ And my soul will be free/ They won’t go when I go, Stevie in so many ways affirmed, reclaimed and gave (poetic) release to MJ’s aching soul. A beautiful indictment of MJ’s haters– it was the perfect song poignantly capturing the heartbreak and liberation that is Death, leaving me with goose bumps on top of goosebumps.

Santigold is the new evolution or should say revolution of Stiffed. It’s Santi White remixed and renewed and right on time. I’ve known Sant for awhile now– at least 10 years. We even lived together for a minute in ‘96 and during that time, especially on weekends when we were both around, I really got to know and love her. She’s mad ambitious and passionate and always has a ton of things on her plate. Authentic, outspoken and mad funny, this Philly grrrl loves hard, but will also waste no time in letting you know when you have effed up. Just ask some of her homies or a certain rapper/actor ex.

When I heard she was writing songs for Res I wasn’t surprised. She’s always had a gift for telling great stories and is always following her mind and intuition like during the Internet boom of the 90’s when she launched 2GEE Ltd, a virtual boutique filled with the flyest goodies and wears. Then sensing, errr… knowing that she could rock the mic just as fiercely as the singers she was writing for she decided to put a band together and like that Stiffed was born. I guess in dealing with the death of her father and finding true love and then moving back to BK she got that itch again and now she’s blowing wigs back as Santogold (now Santigold)– her solo persona non grata. Her eponymous debut is a disc dipped in delicious eclecticism and edge. My favorite track is Creator. I just love the sultry, playful, boasting attitude she emits in her vocals.  It’s so damn fresh!

“Brooklyn Go Hard” her collabo with Jay-Z and tribute of sorts to The Notorius B.I.G. is another one of my faves. I guess I kinda prefer when she steps a lil more into her dub-ska-hiphop zone than her pop-retro niche (although L.E.S. Artistes is a banger). I can’t wait to see what Santi pulls out of her proverbial bag of tricks next. I know she’ll be touring the US again this summer and I hear she’ll be working with Kanye (who produced “Brooklyn…”), the Beastie Boys and David Byrne on new material.

I still love this lil’ tidbit which really sums up Santi’s outspoken, smart and non-conventional stance. In a May 2008 interview, White stated that critics and online music vendors were labeling her music as hip hop, rap and R&B because she is black, saying that that was racist:

Everyone is just so shocked that I don’t like R&B. Are you shocked that Good Charlotte isn’t into R&B? Why does R&B keep coming into my interviews? It’s pissing me off. I didn’t grow up as a big fan of R&B and, like, what is the big shocker? It’s stupid.