Coke vs. Pepsi

Next time you go to a restaurant and ask for a Coke, and they say "is Pepsi ok?", you should reply "is Monopoly money ok?"

image by brandwars

Fashion/Clothes: Never Ending Race...

I read Robin Givhan's review of Lanvin's show, more specifically its designer, Albers Elbaz (pictured above). This is in the New York Magazine (Fashion). There is a write-up about the decision of using 5 black models to close his presentation. Or rather, why there was a standing ovation from the crowd. Why the one and only time the crowd clapped was when the 5 black models stepped out onto the runway.

Personally, I'm not perturbed about all of these sorts of fashion tricks, if I may. There is so much more behind it. The fashion world does, for some reason, believe they can get away with SO much all in the name of 'open mindedned' without any form of explanation. All in the name of 'Art'. Oh well...

Here's what piece I loved from the review:

-> In short, Elbaz’s decision had nothing to do with race. And yet, it had everything to do with it.

“As soon as you put five girls together as a group—African-American or Asian—it does make a statement: a political statement,” says André Leon Talley, contributing editor at Vogue and a judge on America’s Next Top Model. “We’re supposed to be living in a postracial, nonracial world. We’re just not there.”

And so it goes in fashion. The industry sees itself as open-minded and progressive. (Yes, it’s judgmental about your weight, your hair, and your clothes, but it judges everyone.) So it aims to treat race like any other aesthetic touchstone, as unremarkable as red hair or a cleft chin. Race is little more than “a paint chip,” former fashion publicist Susan Portnoy, who worked for Nicole Miller and Oscar de la Renta’s Oscar line, once told me. The fashion world considers itself so cosmopolitan and sophisticated that it can play fast and loose with racial stereotypes—occasionally shattering them, sometimes benefiting from their stubborn existence. Fashion folks naïvely—bravely?—attempt to be racially blasé in a culture that still struggles with the burdens of prejudice and the wounds of history. As a result, the fashion community in general often comes across as bumbling on the topic of race. It gets tripped up by ignorance. Fashion editorials can be thoughtful and exasperating—sometimes in the same breath.<-

The race issue is a very sensitive one, in anyway you choose to look at it.

Up! Up and Away....

Soooooo,

My angel Noni and myself are planning our getaway to Cape St. Francis end April for a couple of days. I can't wait. I'm looking forward to a real proper holiday. My holidays usually consist of my niece and nephew waking me up at 7am wanting to play after a big night out. FANTASTIC!

We fell in love with this place a few years ago when our friend got married there. It was like heaven on earth. Everything is so reasonably priced, the people are friendly and the only noise is from the water smashing against the rocks outside your window. I mean, HELLO!!!

Look, I'm going to stop typing now because I'm getting waaay too relaxed just thinking about it.

P.S. If you're feeling just a tad bit jealous about our getaway, its fine, just close your mouth and ears...but keep reading because I'm soon to update PLUS I'm going to post the pics.

The countdown begins...TICK! TOCK! TICK! TOCK!....

mango flavored kisses

There, Happy Valentine's Day

Above: Traditional Chinese character for love (愛) consists of a heart (middle) inside of "accept", "feel", or "perceive", which shows a graceful emotion

Types of Love:

Agape - the term was used by the early Christians (Greek to be specific, as the word is of Greek origin) to refer to the special love for God and God's love for humanity

Courtly love – a late medieval conventionalized code prescribing certain conduct and emotions for ladies and their lovers

Erotic love (eros) – affection characterized by sexual desires

Familial love – affection brokered through kinship connections, intertwined with concepts of attachment and bonding

Free love – sexual relations according to choice and unrestricted by marriage

Philia - used in the New Testament, philia is a human response to something that is found to be delightful. Also known as "brotherly love"

Platonic love – a close relationship in which sexual desire is non-existent or has been suppressed or sublimated

Puppy love – romantic affection that is not "mature" or not "true." The term is often used with negative connotations, insinuating that love between youngsters is less genuine or valuable

Religious love – devotion to one's deity or theology

Romantic love – affection characterized by a mix of emotional intimacy and sexual desire

True love – love without condition, motive or attachment. Loving someone just because they are themselves, not their actions or beliefs in particular. Also referred to as unconditional love.

Unrequited love – affection and desire not reciprocated or returned

Lust-love - affection characterized by lust, caring about the desired one for a short amount of time, in other words, semi-true love

Instantaneous love - Love that occurs the instant that one person comes in contact with another and feels a deep connection or attraction to the other. Also known as "love at first sight" and referred to commonly in many fairy tales and folk lore and literature.

Sacrificial love - the act of sacrificing one's life, or something of great importance, solely on the basis of love.

via solarnavigator

lovely kisses

Let It Go - TD Jakes

I don't want you to try to talk another person
into staying with you,
loving you, calling you, caring about you,
coming to see you, staying attached to you.
I mean hang up the phone!

When people walk away from you, let them walk.
Your destiny is never tied to anybody that left.

People leave you because they are not joined to you.
And if they are not joined to you,
you can't make them stay.
LET THEM GO.

And it doesn't mean that they are a bad person,
it just means that their part in the story is over.
And you've got to know when people's
part in your story is over so
you don't keep trying to raise the dead.
You've got to know when it's dead

You've got to know when it's over.
Let me tell you something.
I've got the gift of good-bye.
It's the tenth spiritual gift.

If someone can't treat you right, love you back
and see your worth
LET IT GO

If you are holding on to past hurts and pains
LET IT GO

If someone has angered you.
If you are holding on to some thoughts of evil and
revenge.
If you are involved in a wrong relationship or addiction.
If you have a bad attitude.
LET IT GO

If you keep judging others to make you feel better
you are stuck in the past and God is trying
to take you to a new level in Him.
If you are struggling with the healing of a broken relationship.
If you keep trying to help someone
who won't even try to help themselves.
LET IT GO

Let the past be the past. Forget the former things.
GOD is doing a new thing for you!!!
LET IT GO!!!

Get Right or Get Left.....think about it, and then

Let it Go

image via lindashao

Gone Too Soon - Beat-ician: J Dilla

Where does one start to express the wondrous music this legendary beat-ician made...

About James Dewitt Yancey (February 7, 1974 – February 10, 2006):

A record producer, rapper and DJ from Detroit, Michigan. Described as "one of the music industry's most influential hip-hop artists"

10 Facts About J Dilla You Might Not Know:

1) His Father Ghost-Wrote "It's a Shame" For The Spinners

The timeless 1970 smash single—later sampled/remade by “golden era” rappers Bob & the Mob and Monie Love—bears the invisible musical fingerprints of none other than Dilla’s Pop Dukes, Beverly DeWitt Yancey. Proof positive that musical genius follows bloodlines.

2) His First Job Was As A Junior Police Cadet

When he was a teenager, Dilla worked with the Detroit Police Department. But after suffering through one too many incidents of police harassment and racial profiling as a young adult, a fed-up Jay would record the classic single, “Fuck the Police,” in 2001.

3) He Studied To Become An Air Force Pilot

Jay attended Davis Aerospace Technical High School in Detroit for three years, as is detailed by writer Ronnie Reese in Dilla’s official bio. Though his aptitude for physics was excellent, as Jay’s mother Maureen recalls, “He hated wearing his Air Force ROTC uniform to school.” Plus, his heart was in music. By his senior year he’d transferred to Detroit Pershing, where his classmates included future fellow Slum Villagers T3 and Baatin.

4) His First Musical Mentor Was Amp Fiddler, Not Q-tip

Though Q-Tip was responsible for Dilla’s first big break in the music industry—when the Abstract took a liking to Dilla’s beats after Jay passed him an early SV demo—he was not the fledgling producer’s first important musical mentor. That distinction belongs to longtime Detroit singer/musician/producer Amp Fiddler, who’s local neighborhood lab, affectionately dubbed “Camp Amp,” was where Dilla first learned the ropes of production and studio work. When A Tribe Called Quest and the P-Funk All-Stars (Fiddler was a member) were both on the bill of Lollapalooza in 1994, it was in fact Amp who hipped Q-Tip to Jay’s production prowess, making the introduction that forever altered the sonic landscape of hip-hop production.

5) NBA Star John Salley Once Managed Him

For a stretch between the formation of the quintet Ssenepod (i.e. “Dopeness” backwards) featuring Dilla, T3, Baatin, Waajeed, and Que D, and the classic Slum Village trio line-up, Jay Dee and T3 signed on with a management team, Hoops, composed of partners R.J. Rice (of ’80s R&B electro outfit R.J.’s Latest Arrival) and Detroit Pistons’ “Bad Boy”-era big man, John Salley. According to Rice, a potential Hoops-brokered deal with Columbia Records for the duo fell through when the label opted to push Digable Planets towards Slum Village’s jazz-fueled hip-hop sound rather than sign Slum itself. Not cool like that, Columbia.

6) Biggie Once Recorded A 2Pac Diss Over One Of His Beats

As legend has it in 1996 Dilla produced a track known as “The Ugliest” for frequent collaborator Busta Rhymes on which The Notorious B.I.G. dropped a guest verse. Only problem was this was during the ongoing and increasingly hostile Bad Boy-Death Row rift, and B.I.G.’s verse flagrantly went after 2Pac. Busta apparently wasn’t too keen on the idea of getting caught up in the beef, and despite an attempt by Puffy to buy the beat from Busta for B.I.G.’s use, the song—which, incredibly enough, was also to feature Nas—never reached completion as originally conceived. Later, B.I.G.’s verse would be resurrected (sans Jay’s beat) for his posthumous Born Again album on the song "Dangerous MCs."

7) He Once Went On A "Date" With Lil Kim

As is very briefly recalled in an excerpt from Frank-N-Dank & J. Dilla’s European Vacation DVD shot in late 2005, while Dilla was on his final tour—with Frank-N-Dank, DJ Rhettmatic, and friend Dave “New York” Tobman: The Queen Bee picked up Dilla Dawg at Q-Tip’s house in the 600. They had Chinese food.

8) The Jaylib Sessions Were Only Recorded On Two Tracks

A fan of Oxnard, CA’s finest since his Lootpak days, Jay tapped Madlib for beats for Jay’s ill-fated MCA album. Soon afterwards Jay caught word that Madlib had begun recording verses over Jay Dee beat tapes, and had even pressed up a white label 12” of some of the material. Jay stepped to Madlib saying, "If you want do this let’s do it for real and put out an album." Thus Jaylib was born—a series of collabs that entailed no actual studio sessions, just raw 2-track overdubbed recordings sent back and forth between the two visionary beatsmiths.

9) He Didn't Read Equipment Manuals

As Jay confessed in his final interview with Scratch in February 2006, he was self-taught on virtually all of his production equipment—a trait he adopted at the behest of mentor Amp Fiddler, who introduced Dilla to the MPC, but stopped short of showing him how to actually operate it. “’Don’t use a book,’” Jay recalled Amp telling him. “’You gotta learn on your own.’”

10) Chocolate Cake Was His Favorite (wink wink)

As reported by Kelly L. Carter of the Detroit Free Press, it was Jay’s favorite flavor ’til the day he returned to the essence. When Dilla came home from the hospital to his Los Angeles apartment in early 2006, and celebrated his first birthday in four years in his own home, his friend and roommate Common bought him a chocolate cake to commemorate the milestone. His pals from Stones Throw Records, Madlib and Peanut Butter Wolf, also came by his place with a celebratory cake in the shape of a chocolate donut to celebrate the just released Donuts. However, Jay—weak from kidney failure and dialysis treatments after being diagnosed with Lupus—did not want his friends to witness his deteriorating health, and kept their visit brief. He passed away just three days later. Rest assured, however, that if they didn’t serve chocolate cake in hip-hop heaven before February 10th, 2006 they sure as hell did thereafter. J Dilla, R.I.P.

This man for me, personally, made timeless music. That music that grabs the core of your soul. You can't help but connect with it. Like I always say, its that music that takes you and puts you in the space between the lyrics and the beat.

J Dilla For Life.

via complex.com

Dilla-cious musical kisses

A Conversation On Cool

Its a Tuesday night while I lay in bed listening to Youssou N'Dour's album I just bought earlier when my darling Noni took me for ice cream after work. I shut out of whatever was happening in my house with my sister and Buang in the lounge. The atmosphere was perfect. The weather was starting to get snappy outside and I had my curtain and window wide open to let all the wild wind from outside escape in my room #bliss...

A friend hits me up on my BlackBerry Messenger to ask about my bbm status 'I Fux With Cool Peeps' and this is how it all unfolded:

He said: 'Am I also one of those cool peeps?'

I said: Hehe, yes sir. Its an emotional cool though. Nothing visual but spiritual. The feeling of contentment without having it all
He said: 'Is that me?'
I said: NO. Its US. THE cool kids. We all have it
He said: 'Oh. I like the cool kids then.'
I said: I'm talking about that cool that makes you see Music as clear as you hear Photography. The cool that gave birth to the cool now before the dilution of fame took over. #absorbme
He said: 'You should write'
I said: I doubt it
He said: 'You have a gift'
I said: Thank you Sir
He said: 'You are generally a full glass of cool. Some lucky guy is going to have you bare and raise his children. Lucky bastard.'
I said: ....WAIT....

Let's just say I listened to him since I've moved the conversation from my phone to here.

So, what I've decided I'm going to do is post all the things I consider cool. Fashion, Photography, Music, Graffiti, Illustration etc., they will be under the heading 'I Fux With Cool'.

So yeah, I guess I wrote. hehe!

Cool kisses

When You Lose A Friend

Today I lost a friend.
A humble friend.
A listener. An adviser. A loving, honest and caring friend.
Someone who always said he loved me more than I love myself, haha!

Words have no weight to express how deeply shattered I am inside. This can't be. Just the other day I was nagging and b!tching to a friend of mine about how I couldn't stand the way Dinky speaks sometimes. Now I'd do anything to hear that annoying tone/lingo over and over again. Hell I wish I had a voice-mail from him. Pity he never believed in those.
People come and go. Its sad because we never know when their time will slip away. Tomorrow comes everyday I guess...

It feels like the pain that will never go away. It takes me back to when I lost another good friend, Mathata Gasennelwe 2 years ago. The night I cried a rain forest. I swear the heartache is 500 stories high this time around.

A car accident. That's what put a stop to his life in an instant. I'm not interested in knowing any further details about what? where? how? or any of that garbage... I need to pick my heart up and swallow the pain blocking my throat up and journey on. They say such is life right...

I'm a grown kid now. I'm emotionally matured but hey, this is death we're talking about. Its almost like the stranger you think you've met before.

But then again, maybe its the last call from him that I ignored on Sunday night.

*note to myself: The good guys pass us girls facing down crying over bastards that broke our hearts* #gofigure

Tricky thing this Life is, isn't it...


images by lelove + iwrotethisforu