Old School Fridays: Neo Soul-Groove Theory, Zhane

It's that time of the week again. Old School Fridays! This week's theme is Neo-Soul, and I'm going to bring you some pre-1999 goodies.

A pre-solo career Amel Larrieux in Groove Theory's 1995 'Tell Me"

Groove Theory-Tell me
Uploaded by
SirDroopy

Zhane's "You're Sorry Now" I went with this instead of other tracks like "Hey Mr. DJ," "Groove Thang," and "Sending My Love," but they're all solid tracks you can google.

Zhane - You.re Sorry Now
Uploaded by mahdi1

I'll leave crazy Erykah for someone else to cover. That does my Old School Friday for this week, check out other Old Shcool Friday participants here: http://www.themarvalusview.com/osf/ .

In Honor of Barack Obama's Presidential Nomination: A Music Playlist

I've pretty much avoided most Barack coverage, because there is more than enough on the Internet for everyone to read on the topic. Instead, I'll provide something a bit more in line with this blog and give you a music play list that goes along with this moment. It's random, but it brings together a lot of the themes I thought about during his speech: heroism, woman's rights, racial relations, celebrity, fate and well, change . It's also very eighties heavy, but Journey is appropriate for every moment of life.

That was all written before I accidentally deleted the play list. So this is what we're left with.



And yes, I'm still obsessed with Michelle Obama.

Throwback Pop Culture Clip: Anamaniacs, GoodFeathers, Pinky and the Brain

It's the last of the WB cartoon clips. This week I pull from the Anamaniacs, to show not only Yakko, Wakko and Dot; but also some of my other faves: the GoodFeathers and Pinky and the Brain! Enjoy!!!

But Really Tho? Why Bow Wow? Why?

Background: I'm Bow Wow's biggest fan. (Mostly joking, kinda serious)

The story:

Over the weekend, my friends and I were driving and enjoying the radio when a song called Marco Polo begins to play. Only one of us has heard it before, and she warns us of its awesomeness. I come home and You Tube it, expecting to find some unkown artist making a break with a silly song. Instead, I find out that its my favorite perfomer Bow Wow. Dude, I understand times are rough, but really tho? I excused that pole in the basement rubbish, but I'm going to have to do an intervention soon.

Old School Fridays:Favorite Male Singer

So Old School Friday came and gone, but I was lacking internet access. (How I survived this devastating affair? I actually interacted with people in person!) So in a very tired way I bring you a Favorite Male Singer. It's not going to be Michael Jackson. In an attempt to stick to semantics, I will also not include Boyz II Men,although it is obvious: I am a fan. And because I'm so late, I'm sure someone has taken Luther Vandross. It's also so hard to pick one favorite male artist. Before 1999, I don't think I was discerning enough to have just one. So here are three that come to mind right now.

For the entire minute he was around, I was a fan. Maybe cus' his sisters sang as well, and I like family acts.


Another. Sony BMG won't allow this to be copied and pasted. Since he also constructed one of my favorite soundtracks of all times, he gets double props.



Check out other OSF people here: http://mrsgrapevine.com/old-school-music-meme/

Throwback Pop Culture Clip: WB Saturdays, Earthworm JIM

Earthworm, Earthworm, Earthworm JIM

Continuing with WB Saturdays: here's Earthworm Jim. Some super fan has created a montage of the greatest moments. I saw AWESOME!

Make Em Say Huh: Better Black Television Network launch/BET and Tropic Thunder

"All dancing is not shucking and jiving"-Me

So browsing blogs, I note Average Bro's latest post concerning Percy Miller's latest venture, the Better Black Television Network (BBTV).

I was reserving judgment on the channel. After all, Silkk Tha Shocker is the host of one of the shows. I've never been able to indulge in TVOne, but it always seemed like a great deal to me, because they show sitcoms basically all day. I love sitcoms. However the BBTV has swayed me by including a show dedicated to black history. It's called "My People" and examines "the struggles of a few that changed the lives of so many." Since BET is nowhere near producing programs like this right now (BETJ maybe, but not BET) I have to congratulate Mr. Miller and give him a salute.

As we discuss BET, I also have to ask why oh why they are giving Tropic Thunder so much support. The movie's use of blackface has not stirred much controversy. In fact, more people are perturbed about discrimination against the disabled population. But I have to question why BET is so active in supporting the film. By sheer luck I watched "106 and Park" twice within a week. Besides losing brain cells, I also was privy to see multiple episodes dedicated to promoting the film. Terrence assured the crowd on the first day that the blackface was not wrong, because if it was they would have been all on it. I have no intention of paying to see if he speaks the truth. I'm still too upset that Radar Magazine has used this to usurp my dissertation two weeks before its due.

Check my coverage of The Miller Boys here: http://vanitydark.blogspot.com/2008/02/im-still-here-miller-boys.html

Watch a little ol' school No Limit. You've come a long way Percy!



HAUL,
The Queen

Old School Fridays: Social/Political Songs

Judging from the fact that I secretly burned one of my old professor's Black Power: Music of a Revolution disc collection, this Old School Friday is right up my alley. A younger, less wiser me of less than a year ago would have included Boys II Men's "Why Christmas" if only for the simple reason that I was convinced the lyrics were "It's gonna be a white Christmas. My brothers and my sisters...they don't have any toys."

1st up: Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes "Wake Up Everybody" The video with the actual performance, can't be embedded so here. And yes it was remade a few years ago.:



2nd. A song from the said burned disk. Ain't no Stoppin Us Now: McFadden and Whitehead. I really wanted this to be the graduation march song in the 8th grade.




3rd. West Coast All Stars "We're All in the Same Gang." I've featured it before, but its such a classic! Yea for Reebok giving away free videos.



CHECK OUT MORE OLD SCHOOL FRIDAY PARTICIPANTS HERE.

Throwback Pop Culture Clip: WB Saturdays

Next up on our trip down WB Saturday memory lane is Freakazoid. I guess every 16 year old boy's alter ego is a strange old man.

He runs around in underwear. Freak a me...Freak a you.
Back to editing for me. Enjoy!

Stereohyped ponders What Happened to the Black Sitcoms

This question has been around since my family actually had a subscription to Ebony. See here for the piece.

http://www.stereohyped.com/what-happened-to-americas-black-sitcoms-20080813/

Steppin' The Movie. Every Black 90s star you could want

No Explanation: Just Joy!
Thanks to Nai for putting me on a few months ago.

Old School Fridays: Motown

Is it a cop out for me to use this song seeing as how they start with the word Motown? Yes. Do I care? No. I'm young...this is the Motown I know.




Other Old School Fridays participants shown here