This week's song is All I Do by Tammi Terrell. If you don't know who Tammi Terrell is (shame on you!), she was the female counterpart of Marvin Gaye in the mid to late 60s. They made songs like Ain't No Mountain High Enough, Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing, Precious Love, and If This World Were Mine, just to name a few. Despite the fact that Tammi died in 1970 at the age of 24, of a brain tumor and never really had the chance to have a career that expressed her true potential, she made a very big impact with her duets with Marvin. Many know the song "All I Do" as a Stevie Wonder classic, but he originally wrote this song for Tammi in the 1960s. While his version is obviously amazing, Tammi offers a sweeter and more vulnerable rendition that left me not only in love with her, but also this rendition of the song. So, the song of the week is All I Do by the late Tammi Terrell.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Really? Come on BET!
I rarely watch BET, unless The Game or Everybody Hate’s Chris is gracing the screen. In my opinion, black music isn’t what it used to be and offers me no real enjoyment except for maybe in the club on a late night. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate everything, Alicia Keys, Mary J., Monica, and a few others do satisfy my craving for good, honest, soul-quenching R&B, but most of the videos on 106&Park just leave me feeling empty and embarrassed. Let’s be honest, music is definitely lacking is some way and Nicki Minaj is no Salt-N-Pepa and Lil’ Wayne is no Tupac. Soul music is not just R&B, it’s any music that expresses true emotions where you can feel real passion from the artist. When Tupac made the song Dear Mama, I could feel his honesty and I believed that he really put his soul into his music, whether it was about poverty or sex, he had passion about the things he was saying and really cared about his craft. I’m on a rant, but what I’m really trying to say is that today’s music is missing something. The songs are about women or drugs or cars or money. What happened to music that expressed real love, not just sex or music that talked about what it’s like to live in the ghetto, not music that glorifies death and prison? This is the reason that I don’t listen to the radio, but depend on my collection of Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, Mary J., Sam Cooke Faith Evans, and many more to feed my soul. Hearing Lil’ Wayne rap about having sex with every girl in the world just doesn’t do anything for me personally, but that’s just my own opinion.
But I digress.
The real reason that I am writing this post is because of the recent banning of music videos by Teairra Mari(Sponsor) and Ciara(Ride) by BET. While neither song is doing much for women, this is the way that these two young ladies have chosen to express themselves. While Ciara song and video is filled with sexual innuendos and slightly suggestive dancing, does it really show anything worse than what we already see on BET. How can a channel that airs State Property, The Godfather, and Belly really ban anything. And many of the videos made by men on this same channel often exploit the bodies of women, so when a woman decides to use her own sexuality it is a problem. Let’s be serious here, Ciara’s video isn’t any worse than the other videos played on BET. As far as Teairra Mari, I just find the fact that her video has been banned absolutely ridiculous. Sponsor is basically about a woman who depends on a man to get her what she needs and wants financially. Some say it’s a gold-diggers anthem, but whatever the case, how is this song any different from what rappers say. When male rappers talk about spending money on women to get what they want, it’s not an issue. These decisions by BET seem to be sexist and utterly ridiculous. If we are going to ban these videos, why not ban 80%of the videos that come on 106&Park. Speaking of 106, am I the only one who thinks this show is not even half of what it used to be. Rocsi has none of the appeal and class of Free and Terrance has none of the poise and intelligence of AJ. Tell me what you think about everything I have said. This post is pretty scattered, but I had a lot to say today.
But I digress.
The real reason that I am writing this post is because of the recent banning of music videos by Teairra Mari(Sponsor) and Ciara(Ride) by BET. While neither song is doing much for women, this is the way that these two young ladies have chosen to express themselves. While Ciara song and video is filled with sexual innuendos and slightly suggestive dancing, does it really show anything worse than what we already see on BET. How can a channel that airs State Property, The Godfather, and Belly really ban anything. And many of the videos made by men on this same channel often exploit the bodies of women, so when a woman decides to use her own sexuality it is a problem. Let’s be serious here, Ciara’s video isn’t any worse than the other videos played on BET. As far as Teairra Mari, I just find the fact that her video has been banned absolutely ridiculous. Sponsor is basically about a woman who depends on a man to get her what she needs and wants financially. Some say it’s a gold-diggers anthem, but whatever the case, how is this song any different from what rappers say. When male rappers talk about spending money on women to get what they want, it’s not an issue. These decisions by BET seem to be sexist and utterly ridiculous. If we are going to ban these videos, why not ban 80%of the videos that come on 106&Park. Speaking of 106, am I the only one who thinks this show is not even half of what it used to be. Rocsi has none of the appeal and class of Free and Terrance has none of the poise and intelligence of AJ. Tell me what you think about everything I have said. This post is pretty scattered, but I had a lot to say today.
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