Mo'Nique, Bye!

Good News from a network I never watch, BET. Comedian Mo'Nique whose talk show airs on the network late nights has been put on a hiatus. That might mean the show is cancelled or that Mo'Nique is holding out for more money, either way, I won't miss her.

I have never been a fan and found the few minutes of the show that I watched, unbearable. Mo'Nique is loud, crass and tacky for starters. Then there's her vulgar stand-up comedy...*sigh*, Mo'Nique always to it there. If she relied on me to make her money, she'd be broke but I reckon there are plenty of folks who will be upset by this announcement, but I am not one of them.

The Genius of Curtis Mayfield

Hollywood's blaxploitation era, which lasted from the early 1970s to the mid-1970s, wasn't as bad as the name implied. During this era, films were made about black people and black culture, though most tended to glorify drug dealers, pimps and criminals, not all of them did. What some of the films may have lacked in plot, story line and dialogue, they made up for it with the movie soundtrack.

Although Isaac Hayes is known for 'Shaft', Willie Hutch did a decent soundtrack for 'Foxy Brown' and Marvin Gaye's soundtrack for 'Trouble Man' was jazzy and soulful, no one was more prolific with soundtracks in the 1970s than Curtis Mayfield. Though 'Shaft' deservedly won an Academy Award for Isaac Hayes, 'Super Fly' by Curtis Mayfield is the best movie soundtrack of all.

The title track song 'Super Fly' is good but for me 'Pusherman' is the song. 'Freddie's Dead' is a close second. This soundtrack showcased Mayfield's genius and versatility, he moved from uptempo tunes to sexy ballads to soulful instrumentals, seamlessly. I can hit the play button on my CD player and listen to this soundtrack for hours and never tire of the music or the songs.

Curtis Mayfield was a self-taught musician. He was a gifted and extremely prolific songwriter. He wrote some of the most inspirational songs of the civil right movement. The politically conscious, black pride anthems he wrote during the 1960s like "We're A Winner", "Keep on Pushin" and "People Get Ready" are just as inspirational today, as they were back in the day. Curtis Mayfield died December 26, 1999.

Below are a few of my picks for the best movie soundtracks of the 70s. These were all written by the legendary Curtis Mayfield. For all the controversy that 'Super Fly' created for glamorizing drug dealers and their lifestyle, it's still a decent movie in spite of the wardrobe and dialogue. That is how they dressed and talked back then.Who didn't know a brother in the neighbor who styled his hair like Priest and wore a full-length fur coat? The hair and the clothes didn't hold up, but Mayfield's soundtrack did.

• Super Fly - Written and performed by Curtis Mayfield was released in 1972.

• Let's Do It Again - Written, produced and arranged by Curtis Mayfield and performed by the legendary Staple Singers was released in 1975.

• ClaudineLet's Do It Again - Written and produced by Curtis Mayfield and performed by Gladys Knight and the Pips in 1974

• Sparkle - Aretha Franklin recorded the soundtrack for the film written and produced by Curtis Mayfield in 1976.

The Wonder Down Under

Summer's Eve has hit a new low in its attempt to sell women their cleansing products. This ad is directed at black women but there are equally offensive versions for white and Latina women. Lady Wowza is the sassy black one who cares about her hair and loves to go clubbing, but she has a dirty little secret. She's an okay vagina but would be much better if she took a few minutes to use Summer's Eve cleansing cloths before she hits the club. Hmmm, don't want to funk up the club or scare off potential suitors with the smell from down under. 


This ill conceived ad and the others directed at white and Latina women is a lame attempt to sell women on the idea that their vaginas need tending to. Women don't need douches, cleansing washes or cleansing cloths to be clean down there. The vagina is self-cleaning but if women knew and believed this, the folks at Summer's Eve wouldn't have anything to sell. A fresh clean vagina opens up a world of possibilities for women, it's another avenue of opportunity to enjoy a happy life.

On another level, Summer's Eve is perpetuating the myth that vaginas are dirty so dirty that not even soap and water can make them clean. Their advice runs counter to what is recommended on WebMD and by most OB/GYN doctors I've ever spoken to, "Don't douche or use feminine hygiene products because that "disrupts the normal vaginal bacterial balance which can be delicate" Too bad the Summer's Eve folks haven't heard about this, but then maybe they have and  have chosen to ignore it. This advice isn't going sell their feminine hygiene products.

Feminine hygiene products are a multi-billion dollar industry and sales are expected to reach $14.3 billion by 2015. Summer's Eve is determined to get their slice of this billion dollar industry no matter how many women they have to offend.

What Would Madea Do?

Actor-director Tyler Perry and his alter ego, Madea

Sometimes you hear things that leave you scratching your head and wondering "Why?" In a recent interview with Ebony magazine, actor-director Tyler Perry opens up about a pregnancy scare he had with some unidentified female. Well, color me surprised.

I'm not a fan of Tyler Perry but there have been whispers and rumors for years about his sexuality. It was even the subject of an episode of "Boondocks". Last summer, it featured a character loosely based on Perry by the name of Winston Jerome. Perry's deal with TBS brought us those two horrid sitcoms,  "Meet the Browns" and "House of Payne". Aaron McGruder's "Boondocks" is on Cartoon Network which is owned by TBS. Unfortunately for McGruder, no matter how clever or funny he is, Tyler Perry swims in a bigger pond and the episode was pulled after two airings never to be seen again.

Winston Jerome, the main character was a closeted black director who dresses up in drag, loves him some Jesus and creates stage plays and movies just so he can sleep with men. Tyler Perry doesn't have a sense of humor. I simply concluded that he is either homophobic like 98% of the black people I know (okay, I am exaggerating but I know quite a few) or Aaron McGruder hit the nail on the head. Who knows?

Every now and then to appease his largely female church going audience, Perry will hint at his difficulty in finding the right woman or bore us with the details of his heterosexual love life. Perhaps Perry is overcompensating to prove that he is straight but frankly, I like him better when he's feuding with Spike Lee!

The King of Soul, Otis Redding

Photo of Otis Redding taken from clashmusic.com

It's not always about politics and social commentary, sometimes it's just about the music. One of my favorite soul singers of all time is Otis Redding. Redding ranks up there with soul singers like Jackie Wilson, James Brown and Sam Cooke. His recording career was brief, it only lasted six years before he was tragically killed in a plane crash in 1967.

I wasn't old enough at the time to be a fan but my mother listened to a lot of Sam and Dave when I was growing up. Listening to all of that wonderful 60s soul music coming out of Memphis on the legendary Stax record label, it was inevitable that I would eventually 'discover' Otis Redding. And did I.

Although he is known for "Sitting On the Dock of the Bay", he lent his special brand of soul to other tunes like "My Girl", "Respect" and "Satisfaction" but his best work was with the ballads like "I've Been Loving You Too Long" and hard driving soul numbers like "Love Man". Redding's roots were in gospel music, but he epitomized pure soul. Want to see me move, throw on "Can't Turn You Loose" and I dare you to stand still. I know I can't.

We lost him too soon but his musical legacy endures for generations to come. He was inducted into the Rock in Roll Hall of Fame posthumously and there were other accolades to come like a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, a U.S. Postage Stamp and countless samples of his music by rap artists like Guru, Kanye West and Public Enemy.

So Help Us God

Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA’s first African-American President.

Republicans seem to have a corner on the market for crazy. The Iowa based group, Family Leader has launched a high-minded moral yet brazenly ignorant campaign called "The Marriage Vow: A Declaration of Dependence Upon Marriage and Family". Rather than rehash all of its goodness, you can read it here. The fact that Republican presidential candidate Michele "I see you got a facelift" Bachmann was the first to sign the pledge should give you an idea of how ridiculous it was.Sigh!

The trend among right wing conservatives is to rewrite history to conform to their narrow little minds while ignoring historical and scientific fact and reality is quite alarming. Think I'm joking? Remember Sarah Palin's rendition of Paul Revere? Or what about Bachmann's claim that carbon dioxide is not a harmless gas?

Folks like this scare me because they will use religion and their interpretation of the bible to justify their beliefs no matter how hateful and un-Christian-like they are. They are no doubt they are nostalgic for the good old days, when black people knew their place and stayed there. I always get teary eyed when I think of how much my ancestors must have enjoyed being someone else's property; subjected to whippings, rape and unspeakable brutality.  

If I were to believe Family Leader and Michele Bachmann, slavery was the only time black people functioned as families. The next thing they'll be telling us is that black people were happy to be slaves and we should be glad we were rescued from the war-torn, famine-stricken country that is Africa.

Link of the Day: The Obameter

Ever wonder how President Obama is really doing? The St. Petersburg Times has a very helpful website called The Obameter that tracks President Obama's campaign promises from all those years ago. With all the spin and fluffery coming from the left as well as the right, it's really hard to tell.

If you're like me, you struggle to even pay attention to what's going on day to day, let alone keep track of what's going on with the Federal government, let alone your state or local government. Life is just too hectic.

Only 18,000 jobs were added last month. I'm wondering what happened to all those jobs the Republicans promised when they were swept into office during the mid-term elections in 2010. Seems like they are more focused on sabotaging the economy and Americans just so they can win an election in 2012. Instead of jobs, they give us non-sense like this and this.

Black, Not So Beautiful

The brown paper bag was used to determine one's entry into the black sororities, fraternities and social organizations. If you were darker than this bag, chances are you were denied entry and deemed "too dark" to belong.

Earlier this week, a study was released by the Sentencing Project, that claimed darker skinned women receive lengthier prison sentences than their lighter skinned counterparts. As an organization that seeks to reform our criminal justice system, they have uncovered something that most African Americans have known for years. Although this study is justification that race plays a role in determining prison sentences, but it takes it one step further by examining the role skin color plays in the process. 

Here's the excerpt from the Sentencing Project website:

Lighter Skin Reduces Prison Time Among Black Women
A recent study, “The Impact of Light Skin on Prison Time for Black Female Offenders,” by Jill Viglione, Lance Hannon, and Robert DeFina of Villanova University assesses how perceived skin tone is related to the maximum prison sentence and time served for a sample of over 12,158 black women imprisoned in North Carolina between 1995 and 2009.  The authors controlled for factors such as prior record, conviction date, prison misconduct, and being thin, as well as whether the woman was convicted of homicide or robbery since these crimes usually carry lengthy prison sentences.  With regard to prison sentences, their results indicated that women deemed to have light skin are sentenced to approximately 12% less time behind bars than their darker skinned counterparts.  The results also show that having light skin reduces the actual time served by approximately 11%.  

The authors conclude by urging people to understand that it is not sufficient to understand racial discrimination in terms of relative advantages of whites compared to non-whites.  Among blacks, characteristics associated with whiteness appear to also have a significant impact on important life outcomes.    

Viglione, Jill, Lance Hannon, and Robert DeFina.  2011.  “The Impact of Light Skin on Prison Time for Black Female Offenders.”  The Social Science Journal, 48:250-258.  

For most of us, this isn't a surprise. Most black people I know have color issues, whether they are the bluest black or the palest white. Colorism, discrimination or preference based on skin color, in the African American community is intense. Dark skin is often considered bad or inferior while light skin is viewed closer to white and much more preferable.

Growing up in the 70s, it was clear to me at an early age, that light skin was preferable to dark. The light skinned girls were considered prettier no matter how ordinary or plain looking they might have been. If you were pretty and dark skinned, it didn't count. How many times have you heard someone say "She's pretty for a dark girl".

For many of us, beauty is equated with skin color. Think I'm lying? Look at the wives/girlfriends of professional black athletes or better yet, if you can stand it switch over to BET and take a look at the images of black women in music videos. What little brown girl hasn't been told to get out of the sun because it was going to make her black? We toss that threat around like having dark skin is some kind of curse. Sadly, for many of us, it is. We discriminate against each other based on skin color, so why would expect society to be any different?

Happy 4th of July

No one, absolutely no one has sung our National Anthem better than Marvin Gaye. This version is from the 1983 NBA All-Star Game and to me, still reigns as the best version ever. Only Marvin Gaye could a take a dark, depressing song like this and make it soulful.