Knock You Down

Keri Hilson drops the video for 'Knock You Down' to coincide with the album release. Watchin Kanye and Ne-Yo fighting over Keri is like...it might be the funniest thing ever. The tension should have come to blows and then I could have given the whole thing 4 stars. But because that's missing I give it a 'meh'. As a fan of fuckery Kanye's appearance in anything is welcome from me but aside from that and Ne-Yo's face, not a whole lot going on. I did peep her MJ move at Ye's line but she didn't even act out Joe Jackson's part. Now be fair, Keri!

Love and Sex and Magic

Ciara feat. Justin Timberlake - Love Sex Magic

So this highly anticipated Ciara and JT video has dropped. I don't know if the star power is what created the anticipation but from the looks of this silly ass 60 second trailer I knew that fuckery was in store. I never really found Justin Timberlake to be able to convey sexy that well but if he can have half a chance at faking it, it's at the hands of a sexpot energy from his co star. Ciara is pullin out the stops but she ends up lookin like the stripper with no ass at the club, workin her little heart out for your dollars. Please Mister, have a heart. All the ropes and heels and fishnets are just not bringing the sexy. But I do give Ciara a gold star for trying, and for looking damn good while trying. But let's face it Promise was the sexiest video that I've seen from her and she was in sweatpants. Stop forcing it people! Let it move through you...niiiice and sloooww..mmm, thats it...
Anyway back to the song itself. The video does help me stomach the song a bit because it basically sounds like a track that J Lo would have stole from Christina Milian back in the day and then decide not to use anyway. But in all I don't know how I feel about this direction. I hate it when artists twist themselves into bizzare situations, I'm all for evolution but it ought to be a natural evolution. Ciara is sexier doing the stanky-leg with Snoop Dogg than she is in bondage gear and selling ass in heels. But it's a recession so I can feel her, just not the music.

Lil Wayne - Prom Queen

Prom Queen

So the video for Lil' Wayne's 'Prom Queen' premiered recently and I found it a lot easier to watch when I left the sound off. This song is one of Weezy's latest "eclectic" efforts and I really can't do it with him this round. But I also know that there are lots of things I can't fucking stand that get inexplicable love from the masses and this I presume shall be no different.

Thoughts
- O Hai Thar! Is that Ms. Katrina LaVerne?
- The moshpit scene is the most staged and confused moshpit scene I have ever observed. Hannah Montana and them can go harder than that!
- I never see this many black women in rock videos. I'll tentatively drop that in the positive box for safe keeping.
- Ron Howard passed on the cameo because the set was not trill enough for his liking.

If I were a Boy

So there's a rumor that one of the dancers in Beyonce's Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It) video is some sort of dude. Oh, you know, the darker one. Even if there wasn't a rumor before I'm gonna go with it.


Beyonce - Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)

I actually really like this song despite my tense relationship with Mrs. Knowles-Carter. I will say that for what she is and what she does she's very good at it. But I get annoyed when speculation that she is deep or really really creative begins to surface. I'll save the hate for another day however and get back to this business of the male dancer.
Upon reviewing the video a few times in several picture qualities I would have to say the jury is still kind of out but I'm leaning toward 'Oh my God! That's a dude!'
And you know what? More power to him. He's dancing on point, and looks fabulous. it's not beyond the realm of possibility. Sasha Fierce is a diva and as such gets and shows love from the fairy section. I could totally see her being on board with 'homegirl' in her video. And, why not?
Some would say, "Well come on now. How could a man have the phattest ass in a Beyonce video?"
To that I say "Y'all might wanna look a little bit closer at what you're trying to bring home from the club."

I'll leave y'all with some words of wisdom from the great Luenelle:




Go sit in a corner and think on it.

Love Lockdown

I can't do a full recap of the VMA's because as much of a fuckery enthusiast as I am I ...I just ..I can't. All I'll say is that Wayne's enthusiasm for music is infectious and him kissing the older white lady before going on stage to accept his award was a wtf highlight for me (it warmed my heart, and made me forgive that he was rockin a plaid vest I almost picked up at Forever 21). I also think I liked this 'Love Locked Down' song that Ye' debuted at the close of the show but it's one of those things that will sound better recorded than live. So I can't call whether it's simplicity is endearing or pretentious. The simple suit and pulsing glow heart was a cute touch though. But, his shaky vocoder work is distracting, even more so than this odd brittish cat hosting the show and his Amy Winehouse do. So i'm awaiting more. Also, I am actually more excited about this French Revolution inspired rap battle Tag commercial than I am about the VMA's as a whole so..theres that.

Update: Ok so obviously this whole show was some kind of Britney Spears marketing vehicle but can you get over Sway talking to Cee-Lo backstage and spending the entire interview asking him what he thinks of Ms. Spears recovering from adversity and K. Fed and then when they finally get to some interesting shit like what he thought of Ye's new music they cut him off. smh

So, lemme find out I got you Amy Win'd out...

Ryan Leslie - Addiction

The video for 'Addiction' has dropped and i'm posting this because I love the song and I am intrigued by Ryan Leslie. He's undoubtedly extremely talented. But, he suffers from this genius complex. Meaning he's someone who is so far advanced past his peers his whole life that he can't really relate to them...so he doesn't really learn social norms and comes off like a repulsive asshole from time to time. However, I think in spite of that its flat out egregious how much this guy has been getting ignored by the mainstream. Fabolous too for that matter, he's definitely the main one making up for Leslie's curious lack of charm in this video. In R.Les' video for 'Diamond Girl' he was definitely weird. He's not a great looking guy and even his crooning has a nasal, textbook nerd, tonality attached to it but his old school tight suited exhuberance made it an interesting video. This video on the other hand is more typical as far as rap videos go. I noted the use of darker skinned models and I thought that was a cool and interestingly/sadly a good way to make your video stand out (but wheres Cassie?...being Ma$e hehehe). Leslie is stiff and almost nervous and uncomfortable looking. Maybe i'm reading too much into his posture but he's posing like someone whose trying to look cool and the obviousness of that endears me to him even further. However, Loso brings out the groupie in me in a way Les can only dream about. Yow!

Also, if you want to read something better than this and a writeup about the song check out this post at No Trivia.

There is fiction in the space between...

...the lines on the page, and your memories. Write it down but it doesn't mean, that you're not just tellin' stories." -T.C.


I just heard some of the greatest news today. Tracy Chapman is coming out with an album this November. I absolutely love her. And 'Fast Car' is one of the first songs that made me feel something, and think about how evocative and pretty and complex music and poetry is... even though my mom had to sit me down and explain that it wasn't Gary Coleman singing in the video (I thought little Arnold was too deep).

Look up Marlon. Say Cheese!

Matter of fact, the first time I fell in love was in a fast car scenario and if I hadn't been lucky enough to get dropped off a couple blocks from my house my storyline might have panned out alot like the one in the song. Here's to you Ms. Chapman, I can see why Alice Walker was so sweet on ya. Beautiful soul and songstress. I wanted to close the post with video of the "Making of a Tracy Chapman Song" sketch that aired on In Living Color, however hours of searching have told me the internets are rather unyielding tonight. But, regardless I have to post the classic.



Tracy Chapman- Fast Car

Bonus!

And just because it's Friday!



T-Pain and Lil Wayne - Can't Believe It

...aah fuck, its not Friday.

Can I see some I.D.?

The above is pop singer Jesse "You and Your Beautiful Soul" McCartney doing a cover of T-Pain's 'Buy You A Drank'. He prefaces his rendition by saying it has a "nasty groove", and then they launch into it, snaps and all. At the :49 second mark you get to hear this sweet blond child say 'Konvict Music, Nappy Boy, Oohwee'. It is my strong belief that any time a black people directly or indirectly inspire fuckery of this caliber in white people, an angel gets its wings, and a 40 oz. You don't have to understand my religious convictions, I have long been persecuted for my beliefs. Apparently, Young Money Jesse has been performing this rendition at his concerts because video of that is the first thing to come up when you type 'Buy You A Drink' in youtube as opposed to Teddy Bendherassdown's version. What do you call gentrification as it applies to music? Oh yes, I remember: Elvis, I believe was the term.

Hearing this boy, who I am just now understanding is in fact not Aaron Carter, croon this song reminds me of two things. The first being what an amazing song that is. I didn't think I would be able to bear listening to this song as interpreted by someone without pubic hair but the tune is so good and simple that it just reminds me of its goodness. I roll in a clique of music elitists who wanted to act like T-Pain was not that piff but I begged to differ. T-Pain is far past unfortunate looking. I've heard of him bearing a resemblance to one of the animatronic gorillas that perform at the Chuck-E-Cheese stage show. And his vocoder schtik has become a rap cliche but I have always tipped my hat to him as far as originality goes. He's a weird motherfucker and he makes music that sounds good. I would hasten to call him a genius but I am appreciative of his otherness and I anticipate his next album (and a Pain/Wayne collaboration disc would be sweet) even though sometimes I wish he would 'Take off that silly ass hat!'© Chris Rock.

The other thing this video reminds me of is the sanitation of nigger music for the consumption of the masses. Now, at this point I hesitate to cry foul on this poor white boy. After all the sanitation process does not seem to be working nor necessary because white girls have been upsetting their parents out in the clubs shaking it to the original long enough for the RIAA to figure out how to get a cut from the dark and nasty version without manufacturing a white washed copy *deep breath*. BUT, still I'll close the post with the Cadillac Car scene from *Dreamgirls where the point I was clumsily trying to make is illustrated through song and dance.



* copyright laws man, ignore the spanish unless se habla..lo.

Bonus!

And because I dig this song as well, here ya go..


Morningwood - Sugarbaby

Did You Realize...

Champion from videos222 on Vimeo.

Kanye West - Champion

Yeah so I am a bit late on this one..as you'll come to find will be a pattern for me. But this is the new video for Yeezy's 'Champion' off of Graduation. Basically our hero Ye has ambitions of winning the gold in this pseudo Olympics contest. Alas it is only a dream and he must train and endure in order to make it, because as a puppet he is discriminated against. According to the intro to this video, black men especially hate puppets. Can I also say 'yeaaahh buddy' in reference to the spandex clad track stars parading around in this clip, mmm mmm mm (...its been a min).The video is very cute and between this and that song 'Sugarbaby' by Morningwood I really want my own puppet. Like seriously after I hit publish post I'm going to go Google whether or not I can make that happen. These both came out at the same time too, like two puppet music videos out of nowhere..hmm I wonder if Crank Yankers is having some kind of closeout sale going? Cause I'm down.