The Day(s) the Music Died

Seemingly in rapid succession, we have lost iconic figures in the history of soul music:  Michael Jackson, Etta James, Don Cornelius, Whitney Houston.... What do all of these have in common?  A relevancy in the industry long past the time when their music or their "style" was trendy.  In many ways, it seems that the loss of these purveyors of soul music, both the performers and the legendary business man who brought us "Soul Train,"are symbolic of the loss of our culture, identity, and sound.

A quick scan of today's airwaves will treat you to some less than savory sounds: the cartoonish clip of Nicki Minaj, the profane and sometimes indecipherable drawl of Li'l Wayne, blush-inducing lyrics from so-called R&B singers like Trey Songz and forgettable pop-like music from numerous female artists like Beyonce, Rihanna, and Nicki Minaj, and those who are "not Beyonce," "not Rihanna," and "not Nicki Minaj."  Add to that the continued fascination with white artists aping a black sound--Adele, major winner at the Grammy's and chief among them--and you wonder, when did we stop making our own music and start letting white people do it for us?

I just finished watching the "Unsung" episode (my current favorite pastime) on Full Force.  So many of the artists on this show are considered "unsung," while I consider them a major part of the soundtrack of my life--I'm sorry, my teens, so basically my LIFE!  Full Force was incredible.  These big, burly guys that looked like body builders, wore effeminate jheri curls, and could SANG!  And what happened?  Gangsta rap came to the forefront, white suburban teens dug it, and suddenly, melodic soulful sounds, were no longer the order of the day.  Except they were--overseas.  Suddenly Full Force finds themselves plucked from near obscurity ("Alice Be My Girl" will always be one of my all time favorite hits, as well as "Unselfish Lover" and "Love is for Sucka's" so I don't know how that happened) to producing some of the biggest selling white acts of all time:  The Backstreet Boys, NSync, and Brittany Spears to name a few.  An unlikely story, a great comeback tale.  But WTF?  Why are these people singing some of our best music?

Meanwhile, all of a sudden, we are chasing the pop charts--and not the way Whitney Houston (and countless others before her) did it, brining that soulful sound to white-friendly music--but by sounding as generic as every typical white girl who comes out with a passably danceable record.  Let's be real, Nicki Minaj has a decent singing voice.  I'm assuming Rihanna does too. We all know Beyonce has got the chops.  How many times have you heard one of them singing and not known who it was?  We also know there are plenty of somehow invisible yet incredibly talented black singers out there.  Neo has tried to keep the spirit of R&B fresh and yet true to its roots.  But we are being inundated with this melange of pop-ish, almost black-sounding, party music that ascribes to no sound in particular.  Is it reggae?  Is it ska?  Is it house?  Wait--is that a broadway musical in the hook?  I'm all for creativity, but where are WE (meaning black people who pioneered jazz, r&b, soul, non-gangsta rap and the like)?

I understand that Ne-yo has just ascended to the post of A&R exec at Motown.  #KeepHopeAlive

Biracial is the new Black

It's cool to be Black in America again!  Well...sort of.  It seems that everywhere you look there are people of color--of what color, exactly, is a little more difficult to determine.  One thing is for certain, there is a new status in town--and people dig it.  The 70's not only saw the rise (and fall) of the Black Power movement, but also the extreme popularity of "blaxploitation,"  the advent of "Soul Train, the hippest trip in America," and Afro Sheen.

Yes, being black was cool.  Having a "natural" meant a big, round "microphone afro," rocking the latest fashions that defined the 70's:  dashikis, bell bottoms, newsboys, zodiac t-shirts, and so the list goes on.  Now, it seems that being "not white" is all right, but with a "twist" (no pun intended).  A natural is a long, set of spiral curls that fall in ringlets.   Fashion is much more global in scope, and what was exclusively the province of runways and rich whites, has made it's way into rap music (even if it seems that people will never cease to mispronounce "Louboutin." It's Loo-boo-tanh, people!).  The debate has long raged about "colorism" within the black community--light vs dark-skinned, paper bag tests, and the like.  Of course, we all know how that striation even began--mixed ancestry thanks to some really unfair sexual politics during slavery and the Jim Crow Era.  Yet, it seems that some of us are just more "mixed" than others these days.

Author and researcher Tanya Hernandez wrote an extensive article entitled "Multiracial Discourse:  Racial Classifications in an Era of Color-Blind Jurisprudence," all the way back in 1998 about the movement to create a "multiracial" box on the government racial check-off list, and--perhaps unintentionally, perhaps not--implies that in a country where having any black ancestry made you black and ultimately "canceled" any claim to white race and status, more white parents of black children are motivated to peg their children "biracial" and "multicultural" to make sure their children benefit from the white half of their heritage.  

One has but to look at the success of the duo "LMFAO," grandchildren of soul/pop royalty, to get a clear illustration.  In one song, Sky Blu, the younger half of the group says "half-black, half-white: domino.  Gang o' money--Oprah dough."  See what he did there?  Talked about his half-black, half-white status--but brought it back to Oprah.  And who doesn't love Oprah?  She's practically Black American royalty.  Not Bill Gates dough, not Donald Trump dough--Oprah dough.  So why the half-black half-white shout out?  Was it just to say "Domino" to rhyme with "Oprah dough?"  Or was it something else?

Clearly, these are not  half black guys who think they're white.  But they're not the stereotypical black men either, with pants sagging--their pants are quite tight most of the time, actually--sounding like (insert generic word slurring rapper here).  They're some kind of hybrid that seems to be getting plenty of mileage!  Did you catch the SuperBowl this year?  Perhaps you didn't because you were busy watching LMFAO every five minutes!  Not to take anything away from LMFAO's music or performances, which I enjoy, but we all know there is plenty of good music out there not dominating the airwaves like that of LMFAO.  Why the meteoric rise to popularity?  Why the instant cool factor?  Let's see, where have we seen this before?

Oh wait!  I almost forgot:  Don't we have a half-black, half-white president?  A "non-white president?"  Who could have seen that coming after eight years of George Bush--I'm sorry four years of George Bush and a re-election of that madness.  Suddenly white America is embracing the black candidate, who actually ends up winning!  But he's not "really" black is he? (Yes, he is, actually.)  Who was the first black woman to win an Oscar? Ah, Ms. Halle Berry, a beautiful blend of black and white. And, although she's not biracial, is it any wonder that today's most successful singer, pop star, recording artist and icon (and new mommy--congrats!) is a black woman who looks practically white? Her "creole" (which just means multiracial) heritage is certainly no secret, and quite obvious in her features.

So the question becomes:  is white America just more comfortable with people who aren't "all black?"  And if so, when did this happen?  From all I've read, race was a concept that was basically created to categorize and discriminate against people of African descent.  Prior to its "invention," there simply was no concept of lumping people into a category by skin color.  It wasn't until some time around the 17th century that this categorization (basically identifying who was not white) began to take root, and it didn't matter what mix you were.  Here in America, if you were just this side of "beige," and couldn't completely pass for white, that was all they needed to stamp "colored" on your documents.  Half-anything wasn't a status, a pass, or anything else.

Certainly lighter skin being more palatable to white audiences is nothing new, but we're really not talking about light skin, here.  There are many examples over the years of brown and dark brown entertainers and celebrities who played well with mass audiences:  Sidney Poitier, Paul Robeson, Denzel Washington, Pearl Bailey, Mary Wells, Diana Ross, just to name a few. And yes, there were many such as Dorothy Dandridge, and Eartha Kitt who were biracial, but there was never any "different status" conferred onto them because of their white parentage.  But this is something entirely different.  This is white people saying "black parents don't make you black anymore."  And that's news.  I was actually on a new moms' message board when Barack Obama won, and one white mother of a black man's child said we shouldn't be calling Barack Obama the first black president.  In her view, he should be the "first biracial president."  History might actually disagree with that one, but that's another post entirely!

So now what?  Many so-called biracial people fully embrace their African or "Black" ancestry.  There's the whole "One Drop Rule" which some high profile children of mixed parentage, such as Halle Berry still espouse.  Some insist that they are no part of that history because of their white (or like Tiger Woods "other") parent.  One thing is for sure, from the facial features, to the hair, to the overall exoticism of not quite looking "black" or "white" (OK, I have to be even-handed or "asian" or "latino" or "hispanic") has captivated the masses.  A perusal of message boards devoted to natural black hair care, curly hair care or other ethnic hair care forums will reveal that there is some controversy over whether there is still a "biracial-looking" ideal that is replacing the white one.  Ever seen a GapKids or BabyGap ad?  Super curly-headed kids with beige skin, light brown or blonde hair and light colored eyes abound.  Is this progress?  Are we moving to a "less white" ideal? Is this some sort of moderate stance on acceptance by putting a "less black,  and less white" face on things?  Or are we still continuing to send the message that it's okay to be "anything but black?"

I think this story has yet to be told, but it is surely unfolding.