Ain’t I A Woman? Badu, Serena & Hair Touching
Saturday before last, I crossed the Brooklyn Bridge anticipating what I’d hoped would be an interstellar crossing into the future of ancient Black galaxies on the wings of Ms. Erykah Badu. What I love about Erykah is that I never know where or how far homegrrrl is going to transport me, but I know that she gets off beaming her peoples up.
After a rollercoaster ride of a morning and afternoon where a Black girl Read more...
Getting Unstuck & Getting Free: 5 Steps
For the last two weeks Writer’s Block, anxiety, insomnia, and a “Things-To-Do-List” that rivals the Ten Commandments in magnitude and length has been looming over my head like mistletoe over the heads of two total strangers. I felt pressured to make a move, but couldn’t. I sat at my laptop struggling to spit out rhyme and reason and to somehow make literary the garble of confused ideas ricocheting back-n-forth in my mind. I fought, unsuccessfully, Read more...
Kiss My Placenta!
Erykah Badu had to break bad when her fans voiced their disapproval over her reproductive life: “HOW DARE YOU DISRESPECT THE QUEENDOM… AND MY CHILDREN AND MY INTELLIGENCE.” It seems that folk are not pleased that the singer, songwriter, producer, actress and doula has had three children with three different men, so they went straight to her fansite to voice their discontent. Up in arms and all up in her womb, fans feel Ms. Badu Read more...
What is theHotness?
It never fails. I give someone my business card and I get an, “Ooohh, what’s theHotness” and, usually if it’s a dude, a raised eyebrow and a wink will accompany this sentence. Um no. Sorry, wrong kind of hotness, sir. I’m not running a Heidi Fleiss den of sex and scandal. “It’s a dotcom… we celebrate the brains, backbone and beauty of brown girls,” I respond. I hate to do it, but I always Read more...
Best of 2010 & 2011 on theHotness Tip
18 days into the new year and it’s already been a doozy. The first week I had to travel to South Carolina to attend the funeral of my ever charming, charismatic, and ambitious cousin, Michael. That same week another cousin suffered a mild stroke at the meager age of 42. On top of worry, grief, regret and frustration, I’ve been dealing with an awful case of writer’s block. I’ve been consumed with thoughts about the Read more...
“For Colored Girls: Recapped & Wrapped
“It was all I had but bein alive & bein a woman & bein colored is a metaphysical dilemma/ I haven’t conquered yet.” ~Lady In Yellow
“Ever since I realized there waz someone callt/ a colored girl an evil woman a bitch or a nag/ i been tryin not to be that & leave bitterness/ in somebody else’s cup.” ~Lady In Orange
“Poetry is not a Luxury!” ~Audre Lorde
I could go on and on Read more...
Being A Bad Girl: Badu vs. Minaj (Part 2)
Bad girls make art that comes out of experience and not style. -Linda Goode Bryant
Have you seen the June/ July 2010 issue of VIBE magazine? It’s a double cover featuring Nicki Minaj and Erykah Badu. Both ladies are adorned in body paint. For Erykah it’s the kind inspired by the Indian henna work often seen on Hindu brides-to-be. Nicki’s body paint is more cartoonish than culturally based. Her entire upper body– ta-tas and all, Read more...
From Bootylicious to Bionic
What’s up with all these ladies morphing (at least on their album covers) into super sci-fi singers? Just as many women, particularly Black women, we’re beginning to let go of living up to this mythic Superwoman hero of a Mother, Wife, Working Girl, Sista-Friend, it seems like Erykah Badu, Janet Jackson, Janelle Monae, and Christina Aguilera have all shed their hot pants to become super beings ready to take over the music industry and yeah, Read more...
Janelle Monae @Highline Ballroom
On Thursday night I was shown some extraordinary birthday love and treated to dinner and a VIP-pass to see Janelle Monae’s show at the Highline Ballroom. This was only my second time seeing the Wondaland phenom, and so I was revved up especially since I had already heard most of her upcoming album– The ArchAndroid, which I think is blazing like a Drew Barrymore double-crosser in Fire Starter. If Erykah is the ultimate Read more...
Erykah Badu’s “Window Seat” Video
Late Saturday night while waiting for Erykah Badu, who’s known as @fatbellybella on Twitter, to hit the stage at Good Units, I began tweeting and looking for updates. There were a flurry of messages about her new video for “Window Seat.” Vulnerable. Intimate. Provocative. Butt-naked were tweeted and retweeted. I gotta admit the butt-naked part threw me off. Was the video a mile-high romp with her baby daddy, Jaye Electronica, all while sitting Read more...