Real Talent

The Music industry has definitely changed. You know this when an artist can have a number one song without having released an album (ahem drake and kid cudi). Everyone has been all on Drake, Kid Cudi, and Wale whom I must admit are bringing a different atmosphere to the rap game. However, a friend introduced me to another rapper on the come-up. Also featured on Jay-Z 's Blueprint 3 album, J.Cole is a little more underground but slowly gaining popularity with his real lyrics. Upon really listening to his music his songs are a lot more than the frequent f-bombs and n-word usage. His messages are pretty deep. Let me also point out that he graduated from St. John's University magna cum laude (magna cum whaaat....Yes!!! laude the highest honor you can receive upon graduating. Yess we love educated black men!). But Check out a couple of his songs below.

Real Funny

Now I do not condone violence, but when I have been involved in a potentially violent situation, I learned early on that you want to be fighting with an Asian, not against them. With that being said, I also learned in numerous occasions never to underestimate them. They may have a petite stature, but they pack a mean right hook (loooong story). This lady obviously did not get the same memo and learns the hard way that you can talk alll the talk you want to, but if there is nothing to back it up you are destined for failure or a nice beatdown in this case. Watch the video below: hilarity. (Ugh Ignore the first 21 seconds)

Real Talent

When I was introduced to this girl, I did not understand why I hadn't seen her dancing in music videos with the best of them. Luam is an ammmaaazing dancer who has become a popular YouTube sensation but still seems to be underrated in the industry... well at least to me she is because I think she needs to "Uh-Oh-ing" next to Beyonce (even though Luam is very original with her moves and we all know where Beyonce took her moves from -_-). Luam has an interesting life story being that she graduated from UPenn (yes! Ivy League) with a major in Biological Bases of Behavior(confused?? yeah me too because she was about to get paid especially because the economy was good back then !!), but her first passion was dance and that is what she decided to pursue. I believe she now gives dance classes at the Broadway Dance Center in New York's Theater District (but don't quote me on that). However, don't think you can just waltz into her class unannounced, (actually maybe you can as long as you pay the fee)her students include numerous contestants from So You Think You Can Dance as well as Bad Boy reality TV couple Dawn (from the former Danity Kane) and Que from (Day 26). Anyways check out some of my favorite dance numbers from her below:

Check the Rest of her Videos out on Youtube.com/Luamworld and also hit up her website luam.net

Real Fab

The BET Hip Hop awards were taped last night. While there were some decent looks on the red carpet, I believe this chick showed how the real baddest b**ches do it. Trina, who looked fab in a white blouse, Narcisco Rodgriguez skirt and black studded boots, has come a long way from her "You don't know Nan" days.

Real Talent

If you forgot what real singing was due to the auto-tune foolishness that is considered music. Here is a vague reminder.

Yes! Remember her? That is Miss Brandy Norwood singing acapella in her bathroom with no makeup on and half the the words to the song. Yet she still manages to sound ten times better than a large chunk of singers today who call themselves talented. This video has been in heavy rotation all over the internet with celebs raving about Brandy's voice. This chick is twirling around with such perfect notes effortlessly flowing out of her mouth, that I never even noticed she didn't know the words (but maybe that's because I don't know the words to Somewhere over the Rainbow either). I guess Brandy decided to show all thesenewbies how a veteran in the game does it and has been doing it for so long.

Sidenote: Ignore the horrible formatting. My blogspot is playing games today.

Real Talk: Good Hair

I am sooo excited for Chris Rock's documentary, Good Hair!! I feel that women everywhere of all ethnicities needed to be enlightened about what the definition of good hair is. I personally have tried to delete the term "good hair" from my vocabulary because of its sterotypical connotation. My hair was always healthy because my mom didn't allow me to get a perm until the age of 13. When I finally joined the club of the "creamy crack addicts" people used to always say,"You have that good hair, are you mixed?" Afterwards, I always used to wonder, "Why do I have to be mixed to have good hair?" Growing up, "good hair" in the black community has always been defined as straight, thick, versatile, and easy to maintain. This type of hair was commonly found among women who claimed different ethnicities in addiction to being African- American. Those who lacked the genes of Asian, Indian, Spanish and/or White races (like mwa) chose to get perms for various reasons(for me it was mainly for the easy maintenance because my mom was tired of spending countless hours combing out the knots in my hair). Women without perms were almost looked down upon for rocking their hair in the natural state. Although, many women (such as I) still get perms, I notice that rocking the natural state of hair has returned in full force (like skinny jeans and plaid). Now I feel as if the script has been flipped and natural is the way to be right now. I would love to get my hair back to its natural state, but that's a lot of work I"m not even willing to do right now. Basically I feel that there is no such thing as "good hair" because good hair is healthy hair whether its long, short, thick or thin. If you like the way your hair looks be it weave, wig, perm, braids or natural than rock it as if you were Sasha Fierce herself (whom I usually see myself as after a nice wash and set with a little curling of the ends). I definitely give props to Chris Rock for shedding light on such a touchy subject with women in general. At least now white people can get the answers to what they have been wondering for years about black hair but simply been too afraid to ask. Anyways check out the trailer for Chris Rock's Good Hair, which hits select theaters October 9th and will be open nationwide October 23.

Real Fab

Some people say she's overrated. Some say she has no personality. Some even say she has gone as far as lying about her age. I can't quell the controversy over the endless rumors that surround this star's life, but I know one thing's for sure. She is the OG of baddest chick in the game. Before the Amber Rose's of the industry made their presence known, there was Beyonce. She was spotted in a pastel Malandrino resort 2010 dress at Billboard's First Annual Women in Music Event, receiving her 324354350 award for Woman of the Year. Seriously though Beyonce does her thing and you really can't be mad at that, plus Get Me Bodied is the hottest song (ehh more like ONE of...and yeah I took it back to B'Day) in the history of my life.

Real Funny

After being introduced to this video by Chelsey Wilkins (happy?), I could not get over the ridiculousness of this hilarity. I was speechless upon first witnessing it. It is a thirteen minute video, however, with my (self diagnosed) ADD I got restless around 10:03 . Around 1:50 the Jamaican accent kicks in and continues sparingly throughout the video only increasing the level of comedy beyond any type of measurement. Check the snaps and smacks in Timaya's video What in the Hell is This is My Head!? below. Also check out his youtube page; youtube.com/timaya for more rants and raves about random things in life.

Real Words

I don't know about you but I love a deep spoken word piece. It doesn't even have to hit close to home, but the fact that I can feel the artist's emotion within every syllable that is spoken gets my heart racing. My cousin introduced me to this poet's work a while back and I was floored. What furthered proceeded to cause the spontaneous combustion of the left side of my brain was the fact that his words were as powerful on paper as they would be in a performance. Check out UPenn's Joshua Bennett at the end of this clip of HBO's documentary Brave New Voices.

Also check out his poem Tamara's Opus in its entirety below

(It's the best one in terms of sound that I could find)

Real Fab

So last night the MOBO awards went down in Glasgow, Scotland. So it just occurred to me what MOBO stands for (well not really occurred... it was more so someone informing me) which is Music of Black Origin. The awards were founded in '95 to recognize artists of any race or nationality performing black music. There were some fab looks on the red carpet, but my favorite had to be Miss Keri Hilson. She was rocking a satin red Dolce and Gabbana bell-shaped dress with some sparkly black heels. A "Get it Girl" at her finest.