Monthly Archives: June 2011

Feature Fridays: Summertime (So Hot)

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Ah, the smell of burgers and dogs on the grill, the sight of girls in sundresses and sandals and guys in Polos, shorts, and their best pair of kicks, the blazing hot sun burning on the back of your neck…there’s no season like summer, and I’ve always loved it. Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always associated some of my happiest memories with summer, and all of those memories involve music. Now that summer has officially hit, I would be remiss not to do a summertime song for this week’s feature. The all-time summertime anthem is now, and forever will be, DJ Jazzy Jeff and Will Smith’s Summertime, but I think this song I’m featuring here will become a close second, at least for me. This week’s Feature Friday is “Summertime (So Hot)” by Eric Roberson featuring Chubb Rock. Now, I had actually heard part of this song maybe about a month and a half ago when Eric did a Ustream that I was able to catch because I was off work, and ever since then, I was hoping I’d be able to hear it again. Lucky for me, Eric decided to release the song for download a couple of weeks ago.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsHqSXCDzn0]

Now that you’ve listened to it, try and tell me that you don’t hear summertime all up and through it! It’s almost as if they peeked into the future and captured the very essence of summertime and laid it on a track. As soon as the beat drops, I’m ready to stop whatever I’m doing and either a) 2 step around the room, b) go to the nearest car wash and clean my car, or c) drive down the highway with the sunroof open and this blasting from my speakers. It’s such a smooth, fun song, and I am absolutely in love with it. It conveys the spirit of summertime perfectly, and a smile can’t help but to spread across my face when I hear it. The song just makes me want to gather some friends, have a cookout, and sit and just enjoy each other from the daylight until dusk (and of course get up and dance with this comes on). I make a lot of playlists for general purposes, but I have to create a Summer 2011 playlist just to add this song to it.

After listening to it, and reading how I feel about it, I hope that you go download the song (it’s free), and that you add it to your cookout playlists. Speaking of summertime tunes, what other songs do you quickly associate with summer? I have an entire arsenal of songs that remind me of my favorite season, but I’ve done enough talking. Leave me some good songs in the comments, and I’ll see you all next week!

I Have Questions…

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Those of you that know me well know that I spend almost all day listening to music. Whether it be on YouTube, on my iPod, on Pandora, or on the radio, I always have my headphones in or my music in the car blasting. Music is one of the only things I can relate to all the time! Well, it dawned on me not too long ago that there are a lot of lyrics out here that I just don’t understand. I don’t know where the writers came up with them, don’t know why they were included in the song…I just get really confused sometimes. I chatted my good friend Cheekie up on Gchat hoping that she’d be able to help me find the answers to the questions that I have. Maybe you all out there can find some clarity in this as well…

Stevie Wonder – Ribbon in the Sky
Cheekie: tell me who put a ribbon in the sky for stevie wonder’s love? Like, he couldn’t afford a jet? You know Stevie be PAID and he just threw a ribbon up in the air?
me: LMFAO
maybe that’s how the Goodwill Blimp got started
#shrug
Cheekie: probably so… I’m just saying… Stevie was like, “yeah just toss a ribbon up there and she’ll be cool. Ribbons are purty… I’d imagine.”
me: LOL

Mary Mary – I’m Walking
me: ok, so…Mary Mary…in your new hit, you state a minimum of 87 times that you’re walking. well…where exactly are you walking to? Target? Grocery store? Down the Green Mile?
Cheekie: HAHAHAHA
me: to the bus to head to church?
Cheekie: That is the longest walk evah. Like, they be struttin.
me: to the crossroads?
if they galloped, they’d get there faster
Cheekie: If they going to the crossroads, st. peter gon’ be there like… “ok which mary are you again? Hol’ up! That ain’t eeem your name.”
YES! Galloped. Mr. Ed game proper
me: LOL

Joe – All The Things (Your Man Won’t Do)
Cheekie: aight, so tell me THIS. How come Joe be all philosophical in “Things Your Man Won’t Do” talmbout “what good is a diamond, nobody can see?”
that is some tree in the forest SHAT
me: *ponders the meaning of life*
i mean…
geez, i’m at a loss, that’s truly deep.
Cheekie: I bet. In fact, I think Kay Jewelers should change their slogan to that
better yet…
their competition Cue Jewelers should do it.
I’m not sure if this exists
but my point is, it’s a great slogan
me: you can start a business!
there’s your slogan, BAM
Cheekie: I should!
Be like Cheeks Blings: How prosperous is a diamond, that Stevie Wonder views?
circle of life
pow
me: EEYAHMUNEHHHHH bam!

YC feat. Future – Racks
me: ok i have a question of the young fellow that squawks raps “racks”
the entire gist of the song is racks on racks on racks
well…racks of what?
spice racks? clothes racks?
racks of ribs?
Cheekie: lamb?
mint jelly up in this piece
me: maybe Chili’s can use that song for their new jingle
we got racks on racks on racks of ribs
Cheekie: YESSSSSS
girl call up corporate NOW
me: *scribbles down a note*
Cheekie: as they send you a gift card to thank you
me: hahahaha

Ace Hood – Hustle Hard
Cheekie: girrrrrrl.
i still don’t understand why they say hustle hard. i can’t imagine how anyone could possibly hustle soft
it’s not a hustle then!
me: unless you hustle toilet paper, teddy bears, goat cheese, or pound cake
Cheekie: not pound cake doe
*drools*
but anyway, i guess you can hustle soft because he claims to do it “each and air’way”
so i assume that includes hard, soft, just right
it’s the goldilocks of rap
me: thats what she saiiiiid!
Cheekie: HA!
i do wonder how many different ways it is to hustle, doe. Like, can i hustle even when i’m breathing in and out?
i guess that’s when you have asthma
me: or bronchitis
Cheekie: hmm, which i’ve had
so i can relate
me: can you hustle underwater?
or is that reserved for Michael Phelps?
Cheekie: synchronized swimming?
me: oooooh good one.
Cheekie: phelps is gangsta
i also think dirk nowitzki is related to him somehow
perhaps a distant cousin
me: i’d agree

Nicki Minaj – Did It On Em
me: ok nicki…in your new hit “Sh*tted on Em”, you state repeatedly that you have, in fact, sh*tted on em…well…don’t you think that’s kinda disgusting? doesn’t that violate a health code somewhere?
did no one have toilet paper for you? who hurt you?
Cheekie: i think she should’ve considered hustling soft and she would’ve had toilet paper
and it is quite disgusting. she has a large rump. imagine what comes outta THAT a-hole. lawd.
actually don’t
don’t imagine it
me: yeah, thanks for ruining my appetite for the next 3 days.
Cheekie: it’s called the “gross out” diet. Hopefully it works for me. lol
me: like she tells us she sh*tted on em, then says “man i just sh*tted on em”…is that for emphasis?
do these people have access to a shower?
Cheekie: like the “man” makes it official
oh gawd i hope so!
YMCA!
me: right apparently before that man was added, we weren’t sure if she had, in fact, sh*tted on em
LOL
Cheekie: *snort*

So as you see, we have questions! I mean, we tried to answer them for each other, but…we didn’t get too far. Can ya’ll help two lacking all sense ever sistas out? Drop a line in the comments and let us know!

Feature Fridays: Greatest Weapon of All Time

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Hey ya’ll! It’s been a while since I’ve been here…a long while, and in my opinion, way too long. In order to interact with you all more, and to keep the place looking like something, I came up with the idea of starting a weekly series. I came up with an idea for a series to do two things: 1) it’ll get me in a consistent writing/posting habit (which is key as a writer), and 2) it’ll give you all out there an idea of where my head is on at least a weekly basis. I win, you win, all we do is win (x3). Khaled.

The name of this new series is called Feature Fridays. In the series, I’ve decided to showcase one song per week, give you the audio of the song, and also discuss why the song was so vital to my week, what the song means to me, and then give you a chance to maybe discover some new music and to learn something about me along the way. If you’ve been following me for some time, or you know me in real life, you know that I’m always surrounded by music. When I go to work in the mornings, I have my iPod in my ears, when I’m at work, I’m on YouTube for the music, and when I come home, I have music on in the car, and on my computer while I’m doing work. It, in a nutshell, is my life. What better way to dig deeper than to see what I have in constant rotation?

Without further adieu, I present to you the first Feature Fridays track: Zo! Feat. Sy Smith – Greatest Weapon of All Time

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vWRbEojOywY?rel=0&w=425&h=349]

We all know how I feel about The Foreign Exchange and any and everything that comes off of their label, so it’s no surprise that my first song comes from an artist on their label. This song was vital to my week for a couple of very distinct reasons. For starters, I’ve been in a bit of a rut when it comes to my writing. It’s always been a dream of mine to not only write, but to publish a novel. I struggle with the thought that what I write isn’t up to par with what else is out there on the market, so instead of trying to write more to get better, I clam up and write sporadically (as we can se by how I tend to this blog). Needless to say, that’s completely counterproductive to what I’m trying to do, and I’ve gotten to the point where I need to change that if I ever want to see my dream come to fruition. There’s a line in the song where Sy Smith says “Don’t ever underestimate/the power/of your heart and soul/cuz they might write the greatest/love story that’s/ever been told.” Now I know I’ve heard this song countless times before this week, but for whatever reason, that line has been on repeat non-stop in my head! It’s almost like it’s exactly what I needed to hear in order to get some inspiration. Within the last seven days, I’ve done research on what is needed to create a successful story, read a book about how to properly set yourself up to write, and created a skeletal plot outline. Talk about motivation.

The song has also helped me on a more personal note. I have my days where I feel like I live the cookie-cutter life: get up, get dressed, go to work, come home, work out, play on the computer, shower, eat somewhere within the day, sleep, rinse, and repeat. It’s not a hard life to live in terms of work, but it’s pretty difficult to live such a structured life when I used to thrive on freedom, which allowed me to do the things I wanted/needed to do without becoming an insomniac. After listening to this song on repeat a few (read: many) times, it dawned on me that I still have the freedom to do exactly what it is that I want and feel like I need to do – I just have to be a bit more creative in how I approach it, and if I want it bad enough, I’ll have to make the time to do it. It starts within my mind, and telling myself that I actually can achieve the things that I want to do, and to stop underestimating myself and what I’m capable of and destined for. As someone who spends a lot of time in internal reflection rather than projecting feelings outward, it’s been a difficult task to convince myself that I have what it takes to be successful. Whenever I feel like I’m not cut out for my dreams, I cut this song on, close my eyes if I can, and envision myself living out the life that I feel inclined to live. It’s an amazing feeling to see yourself in situations that you never imagined possible before.

For those of you that have heard this song, do you see where I’m coming from? Have you ever had a song that gave you the right mix of inspiration and motivation to get you to where you wanted to go, even if it was a very short journey to get there? For those of you that haven’t heard the song, check it out above, leave some of your thoughts and comments, and be sure to follow Zo! and Sy Smith on Twitter to keep up with them! Until next time, folks…