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Showing posts from 2013

Kanye West IS a Genius. I Swear.

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He's nuts! Kanye West is absolutely nuts, and I swear that's why I like the brother . Last night I attended the last stop on his Yeezus tour, at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, and I am still on a bit of a musical high. It was a two and a half hour show...just Kanye. Kendrick was about 45 minutes on his own from 7:30pm to 8:15ish...and Kanye rocked the stage from 9:00pm straight to like 11:30pm. Madness. I admit... when I first listened to the Yeezus album I was hella confused (see previous blog http://www.staceymarierobinson.blogspot.ca/2013/07/yeezus-kanye-west-huh.html ). I didn't get it. I didn't like it. I bought the album as a dedicated fan...but as a music lover, I wasn't impressed. Until last night. Put in the appropriate context, with a bit of breathing room and media referencing, it all made perfect sense. I read articles, and I think it was his interview on the Breakfast Club (Power 105.1) that made me kinda "get" Kanye just a little

Wade in the Water, Trayvon

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It hurts. So many people are suffering as a result of verdict of the George Zimmerman murder trial. Not guilty. He gets to walk free, and Trayvon Martin's young life is cut short at the age of 17. We all know the story. He was walking home, wearing a hoodie, eating some Skittles, drinking some ice tea, and Zimmerman perceived him to be a threat. He pursued him. He fought with him. He murdered him. The rest is up for interpretation, and will be speculated and discussed for weeks or months...or until another huge national news story breaks. The jury seemed to believe that there was not enough evidence to charge Zimmerman...they did what they thought was the best thing, and let him go home to his wife and continue his life. They trusted his version of the story. I feel absolutely terrible for Travyon's family. And I feel terrible for the effect this will have on the psyche of people everywhere. Not just the blacks, but those who feel the pain and injustice of this

Mara Brock Akil's "Being Mary Jane" is Wonderful

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I rarely get this feeling from TV shows...usually from books, but rarely from television. That feeling that someone has gone inside your head and communicated the exact feelings, and behaviours, and reality that is personal to you and to people close to you. We've learned to adapt. Black women. We've learned to watch television programs like Sex and the City, and a range of other fabulous shows that definitely depict WOMEN and their thought processes in an entertaining and relatable light. But there's something so intimately different when the story is about a black woman, and being told by a black woman . Yes, we had Girlfriends and A Different World and a variety of other programs that had black female protagonists that we could laugh and journey through life with. But it's definitely been a while. I've said it once, and I'll say it again... you can not underestimate the power of a good story. A believable story. And a story that has the power to

Yeezus. Kanye West. Huh?

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Kanye West's 6th album " Yeezus " was released on June 18th, 2013, and I finally picked up a copy. I can't lie... I automatically felt like he was pulling a fast one. Putting out a CD with no cover art, no labels, no track listing, and no nothing...but a price tag and a lyrical warning label. Then I was annoyed with that big piece of orange tape at the side that is now ripped and sticky and gross, and makes my brand new blank case look old like something from 1995. Then I listened to the first track and was like...WTF? First thoughts: is Kanye trying to prove something? That we'll still buy his album with no promotion, and have it sound like GARBAGE and still have it hit the charts? Arrogant. Over the top. And then I realized that I had done just that. I had bought the album just because it existed, and because I'm a Kanye fan. And that even though the first few tracks sounded like hot noise, that I would still play the disc on repeat for the next week

Sister Souljah's "A Deeper Love Inside" ...Book Review

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She done did it again. This woman can write! Sister Souljah has created yet ANOTHER classic novel with the Porsche Santiaga Story, " A Deeper Love Inside " released in January of 2013. Re-reading " The Coldest Winter Ever " helped to bring the characters of the Santiaga family back to the forefront of my mind. Winter, the spoiled and beautiful princess, Lexus and Mercedes, the twins and babies of the family, the stunningly gorgeous queen of the family, Lana, and of course the charming and powerful Ricky Santiaga...legend, respected drug lord, and eventually the fallen soldier who's demise is the downfall of this envied clan of Brooklyn's finest. And then there was Porsche. Younger than Winter, older than the twins...she fell in between and was almost an oversight it seemed. Her most impactful moment in " The Coldest Winter Ever " was in the last scene, at the funeral of Lana Santiaga when through Winter's narration, we see Porsche a

Re-Reading Sister Souljah's "The Coldest Winter Ever"

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I read this book over 10 years ago, and it was an instant favourite . In fact, I've never met a person who read this book and didn't automatically crown it as the best book they had ever read. This story was phenomenal. It was groundbreaking. This book, these characters, and this author were the foundation of many great things to come. Now despite loving this book so much, I actually didn't remember much about it when I found myself ready to read Sister Souljah's latest novel, "A Deeper Love Inside." So with my autographed copy in hand, I realized that I couldn't read Porsche Santiaga's story until I had revisited the journey of her older sister, Winter. It was like I was reading the book for the first time, all over again. All I could remember that Winter was beautiful, and the story was gritty and an exhilarating page-turning journey...but the details had been forgotten. After entering the world of Midnight and his family and adventures in S

Exploring Muslim & Mexican Culture in Film, in "Mooz-lum" & "From Prada to Nada"

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I recently watched two movies I had never heard of prior to last week, via Netflix, as a result of a casual browse...and I was really fulfilled by the viewing experience. The movie "Mooz-lum" was released in February of 2011, and was written and directed by Qasim Basir. It's a story about a young Muslim man, Tariq (played by Evan Ross ), and his journey to college and battle with his identity. Raised by a strict Muslim father, Hassan (played by Roger Guenveur Smith ), and separated from his loving mother Safiyah ( Nia Long ) due to her problems with Hassan, Tariq grew up under religious scrutiny from his father and abuse at the private school he was forced to attend. He knew no other life, and various flashbacks from his childhood show that Tariq always battled his Muslim identity . He was teased in school, he often took off his Kufi cap whenever he was not in the presence of his father. It was an obvious battle, and made him extremely introverted and visibly distu