M.I.A. On The Pineapple Express

So, thought I was super ahead-of-the-game since I'd heard this song (Paper Planes) way back in November 2007 when no one else thought it was cool. To my surprise Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam (known by many as M.I.A.) has been involved in this here music thing since 2004. Arulpragasam is a accomplished visual artist and has released 2 albums. The 31 year old writer, singer, producer, visual artist became widely known in 2004 for the file sharing of her two singles Sunshowers & Galang. (So you mean all I have to do is get me a microphone & video camera and file share my songs in order to become famous? Ok I'm on it!) M.I.A.'s style of rapping/singing has most commonly been compared to Santogold. (see Fools Gold? No Santogold) In all honesty the lyrics (Paper Planes) are complete garbage, but really who cares. Check some of the garbage below!

I fly like paper, get high like planes
If you catch me at the border I got visas in my name
If you come around here, I make 'em all day
I get one down in a second if you wait

Pirate skulls and bones
Sticks and stones and weed and bombs
Running when we hit 'em
Lethal poison through their system

Hmmm that shit sounds kinda crazy but like I've said before its all about gimmicks and marketability. I'm sure this song alone contributed generously to box office ticket sales for Pineapple Express's opening weekend.(See chart below) I think I'm more impressed with M.I.A. being a prominent visual artist. According to Wikipedia, "Arulpragasam's first public exhibition of paintings in 2001 at the Euphoria Shop in Portobello, London, featured candy coloured spray-paint and stencil pictures of the Tamil rebellion movement. Graffitied tigers and palm trees mixed with orange, green and pink camouflage, bombs, guns and fighters on chip board off-cuts and canvases. The show was nominated for the Alternative Turner Prize,(Jude Law was among early buyers of her art) and a monograph book of the collection was published by Pocko, simply titled M.I.A." Given that I'm familiar with her upbringing I can understand why her artwork is reminiscent of someone suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. (You can see excerpts of M.I.A.'s past all throughout her artwork) Well in the end, Jude Law purchased her art and her single Paper Planes made the iTunes top 100 downloaded songs, Billboard Hot 100 as well as was featured on the soundtrack of box office hit Pineapple Express. Not bad...not bad at all! The video is dope in that weird "I wear my pants backwards and use finger pant on my face kinda way". This girl is on the Pineapple Express to fame. :o)

***BTW I'm super hype the video was shot 3 blocks from my house

Womens Pink `Mini Boombox` Bag By III Parcel Audio Couture By Loop

Hype for the critical beatdown! These ghetto blasters, Boombox inspired bags will have you steppin` to a phat beat so whether you love or hate you know radio rahim would be proud!!!

Cotton Twill Body
Pink Mini Boombox Bag With Stereo Print
Zip Fastening With Nautical Zip Pullers
Two Working Speakers With Ipod/ MP3 Attachment
Speakers Powered By Ipod/ MP3 Battery
Carry Handles
Orange Logo Tab On Right Side
Interior Zip Pocket With Rubber Logo Tab
11.5W X 6H X 4D Inches
*Description provided by chemical-records.co.uk

I definitely needed this when I was on the beach out in California a few weeks ago. It was a slight strain for me and my boyfriend to share my 10 dollar Sony headphones :o( Never again!

Daddy Fat Sacks & MJB On Obama--You Got To Hear This!

Can the church say AMEN? AMEN! Every bit of this song is accurate. I agree "something' gotta give" especially since my landlord raised my rent an additional 200 dollars a month. Anyway, I'm sure you've seen in a few of my posts where I've commented about music lacking lyrical content and connection. I guess this song should pacify us for the next year. (or at least until Election Day)I'm not necessarily feeling the songs instrumentals but there's a great message, and sometimes that's what's most important. Check out some of the lyrics!

You Know the commonfolk, blue collar, day to day workers that squeeze a dollar, so maybe they can swallow, a little, not a lot, just enough to fill that bottle.But its a million dollars a gallon for gas to get to work tomorrow.They try to tell us to stay strong, but every day we losing jobs, from College Park down to Beverly Hills, Somethings Gonna Have to Give. Across the world they live in fear but its the same thing over here. If you can hear me on Capitol Hill, Somethings gonna have to give.

"If you're walking down the right path & you're willing to keep walking, eventually you'll make progress"-Barack Obama
When this man wins the Presidential election, I'm taking off the rest of the week and praying prayers of thanks at least 5 times a day :o)
YES WE CAN! OBAMA 08

Battle Of The Bad Girls: Danity Kane vs Total

I don't know what's gotten into me, but writing this post was quite the laborious task. I was thinking about 90s girl groups, which led me to think about Total--Bad Boy--Danity Kane. (that's exactly how the chain of thought process panned out) Back in the day I was a huge Total fan. I still listen to Kima, Keisha,& Pam on Saturdays when I'm cleaning my messy apartment. In my opinion its the ultimate girl power cd. But what the hell happened to them and where did they go? They completely fell off the radar. Well I guess that's not uncharacteristic of Bad Boy artists. (Diddy somehow manages to run all of his artists away)Moving along to 2005 (Making the Band 3) Diddy choses five of eleven girls to form Bad Boy's next girl group, Danity Kane.
Three years and two albums later I'm still not conviced Danity Kane has reached the same level of success as Total. So this calls for a quick session of compare and contrast.

Who has the most hit singles? Total, looking back total has had more Billboard Top 100 singles as a group as well as collaborative efforts
Who has the larger audience? Danity Kane, mostly due to the fact the group is Multi-racial and they've had two seasons of cable network exposure.
Who is more marketable? Danity Kane(but who knows, Bad Boy hasn't been marketing their groups too well lately)
Who is considered one of the best R&B girl groups? Total (See chart below)
Who has had better albums? Hands down I can listen to both Total albums from beginning to end. I can't say the same for Danity Kane

Regardless I hope Danity Kane doesn't fall victim to the Bad Boy curse like poor Total. In conclusion I'm going to go with Total on this one yall!

Here are a few DK & Total tracks-Take that Take that(In my best Diddy voice)

Sidebar--Disney's First Black Princess

I know this is off topic considering I usually blog about music. Watch the video, then see if you can help me with a few questions.
Since when did fireflies have missing teeth and sound like country bumpkin whinos?
Should I be offended by this? I'm not sure
Should I feel some type of way that the movie is set in New Orleans, post Katrina?

I do think Princess Tiana (formerly named Maddy) is adorable.
Check out the Disney Press Release here

Louis The Don

Via Around The Way Girls Blog



First Murakami, then Kanye, now Pharell! Louis Vuitton sure loves to infuse pop culture into their product designs and marketing.

Well what do you think?

Solange (SoL-AngeL)--Beyonce Who?

Well its Beyonce's little sister again! I wish I could say this album is phenomenal, but its not. There are a few songs in particular, Fuck The Industry (signed sincerely), that I've added to my ongoing playlist but in all honesty it's no comparison to B-day or Dangerously In Love. I know its near impossible for this young lady to distinguish herself from her superstar older sister. AND I know she's trying extremely hard, but give us something Solange.
In my opinion she does posses star quality, but not the type of spotlight and fame shes seeking. Hmmm let's see, I could imagine Solange being the fly, single mom (but I landed on my feet), entrepenuer, no I'm not going to settle for riding my sisters coat tail, I am who I am (don't play me), I'll write a few books and do some abstract shit (because after all I do have a nice fat cushion to fall back on) STAR. See, there you go honey you're still a star in my eyes lol. I think its extremely convenient for her to jump on the R&B bandwagon. BUT its not for everyone. What may have worked for your sisters Beyonce and Kelli, may not be your cup of tea. I'm fighting for you Solange, trust me I'm in your corner but you just don't tickle my fancy. (as far as singing goes) Now if we were to address Solange's sense of fashion & style she by far blows her sister out of the water. I'm certain Beyonce has a stylist dressing her 24/7 and well Solange..... probably doesn't. (But she still manages to look great 97% of the time) This is what I would do if I were her: 1)Become a personal stylist and use my (Solange) great sense of style to dress the stars 2) Come out with my own line of infant/toodler clothing and accessories 3)Continue to ghost write and possibly do some backup vocals 4) Live off my sister's (Beyonce) money for the rest of my LIFE. Come on now! We are all trying to catch our big break. And you Solange, you're running away from it!(Go figure)


Check out this article from Blender Mag on Solange Knowles (I saw this on Around The Way Girls Blog)

Who Does Solange Think She Is?
Beyoncé’s little sister smokes the chronic, curses like a champ and loves getting wasted with rednecks. Which makes us very eager to know.

Josh Eells
Blender July 23 2008

So, that’s quite a self-portrait.
Thank you!

Why did you paint Minnie Mouse covered in tampons and Trojans?
I love the contradiction. Minnie Mouse is this perfect, iconic, all-American thing, which is how people expect me to be. Yet she has tampon hair and a condom tongue! I think it came out pretty dope.

Us too. OK, so it’s a Friday night at 11 p.m. What are you doing?
I’m either at home with my son or out drinking some Coronas and adding to my beer belly.

Where do you drink your Coronas?
Dive bars. Two doors down from here there’s a little joint that’s full of old rednecks. I go in there, drop $10 in the jukebox, play nothing but Marvin and Prince and just get wasted. The rednecks are like, What the fuck?!

What kind of drunk are you?
I am a Miss-Tina’s-in-the-back-of-my-head kind of drunk.

You mean, your mom. What is she saying?
“Girl, you better have some panties on!” My mom’s so reserved—last year, for my 21st birthday, she was like, “You can have one glass of champagne, and that’s it.” I said, “First of all, I haven’t lived with you since I was 17. Second, I’m divorced. And third, I have a kid. I am drinking tonight.”

If we drug-tested you, what would we find?
I’ve got a song called “Champagne Chronic Nightcap.” That’s about as wild as it gets for me—that and the Coronas.

What’s your favorite curse word?
I’m on a campaign—I want black people to start saying douchebag. It just sounds so grimy. I tried to say it on MTV last week, and they wouldn’t let me. Only douchebags don’t let you say douchebag on TV.

Are you a good girl or a bad girl?
Definitely … um … You know, I was so trained to say a good girl, but I really straddle that line.

Ever doubted your sexual orientation?
You mean like in that Katy Perry song? Negative. I’m strictly dickly.

How about videotaped yourself having sex?
Nope. Ain’t no Solo tapes, y’all.

Sorry—solo tapes?
Solo—that’s short for Solange.

Oh, I thought you meant “solo” solo.
Ha! None of that, either.

How would you characterize your taste in sex?
A good girl never kisses and tells. Didn’t I say I straddle that line?

Again with the straddling.
Get out of my house!

I think she's destined for stardom. Just like the rest of us, she has to pin point her strenths and develop them into a lucrative profession. (Well she probably thinks singing is a strength...hmm) At the end of the day I like Ms. Knowles #3 (Tina, Beyonce, Solange = #3) Or is Beyonce Mrs. Carter now? Whatever
Check out her website http://www.solangemusic.com/
Album Expected release date 8.26.08
***See Solange in concert at City Hall Park this week!***

Free NYC Summer Concerts

Found this information on Jonesin Style Blog

City Hall Park Concerts
Broadway, Park Row & Chambers St
Performances followed by in-store autograph signings.

Thursday, August 21 5:00pm
Solange
Michelle Williams
Terrence Howard

Friday, August 22 5:00pm
Aaron Parks
Esperanza Spalding
Caribbean Jazz Project featuring Dave Samuels
Roy Hargrove

Saturday, August 23 1:00pm
Joe*
Nicole Henry
Jo De La Rosa
Naturally 7
Ashanti
*Joe will not be available to meet his fans and sign autographs.