My good friend, Felisha Booker, who created Dynamic Producer has an amazing opportunity for the members of her organization.
I did a post about Felisha and Dynamic Producer a month ago and urged those of you who are aspiring singers, songwriters, producers, and rappers to go to the website and join.
Well, for those of you who did - Thank you and check this out -
Dynamic Producer's Lupe Fiasco Industry Oppurtunity
What's good Dynamic Producer fam. DP is currently receiving submissions for Atlantic Records own Lupe Fiasco for his third album!!
So...all Dynamic Producer members, log in to the forum for details on how to submit NOW.
All non members, SIGN UP NOW, then get the details on how to submit your music...
Dynamic Producer memberships starting at $39 per YEAR...
Please join Danny Glover, Hill Harper, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Vanessa Williams and THE BLACK AIDS INSTITUTE in a tribute to eight remarkable Black Women at the
8th Annual HEROES ON THE STRUGGLE GALA RECEPTION AND AWARDS PRESENTATION A celebration of BLACK MEN honoring BLACK WOMEN in the struggle
LOS ANGELES February 4, 2009 In commemoration of National Black AIDS Awareness Day Hosted by Hill Harper WALT DISNEY CONCERT HALL 111 S. GRAND AVENUE, LOS ANGELES
6 PM RECEPTION 7:30 PM AWARDS PRESENTATION
There is still time to be a part of the 8th Annual Heroes in the Struggle on February 4th at the Walt Disney Concert Hall.
In commemoration of National Black AIDS Awareness Day, Actor/activist Hill Harper and Los Angeles Sentinel Publisher Danny Bakewell, Jr. invite you to join them in honoring our Heroes: Sandra J. Evers-Manly (President of the Northrop Grumman Foundation), Dr. Kimberly Yvette Smith (HIV/AIDS Researcher, Rush University Medical Center), Cookie Johnson (Philanthropist), Bev Smith (The Bev Smith Show), and Gloria Reuben (Award-Winning Actress; ER, Raising the Bar).
But even in this moment of celebration, we know that the facts haven't changed much:
AIDS is still the leading cause of death for Black women aged 24-34. 65% of new HIV/AIDS diagnoses among women in the U.S. are Black Black women are 23 times more likely to be diagnosed with AIDS than white women
Everyday, the Black AIDS Institute works to end these realities and end this epidemic in Black America. But we need your help. Purchasing a ticket or sponsoring a table for Heroes in the Struggle is an excellent way to make your contribution to ensuring our doors stay open, and to have a great time doing so.
Don't miss all the fun in Los Angeles: Performances, Silent Auction, Awards Program, Cocktail Reception and much more. What else could you ask for?
Please log on to www.blackaids.org to purchase tickets or make a donation.
Congratulations to Viola Davis for her Best-Supporting Actress Nomination in the movie "Doubt"
Congratulations to Taraji P. Henson for her Best-Supporting Actress Nomination in the movie, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"
I highly recommend you check out these two movies this weekend. You will definitely be in for a wonderful treat. These women knock the ball out of the park.
Also, a very good movie to check out is, "Slum Dog Millioniare." A phenomenal movie!
Homophobic? Then You're Probably Gay by Johann Hari Columnist, London Independent
I have always been slightly bemused by homophobia. Why would two adults (or ten) having consensual sex upset you? What's it to you? A new expose of one of the West's most rancidly anti-gay subcultures -- hip-hop -- offers the beginnings of an answer. Hip hop has long been the ultimate in fag-bashing, gay-trashing hate music. Listen to any album and a list of homophobic howls will hit you: Eminem squeaking "Hate fags? The answer's yes!", or Masse saying "I be wastin' em. That's what you faggots get!" The music's mood was summarised in a 1992 Ice Cube hit: "True niggaz ain't gay."
This boom-boom-boom of homo-cidal hate has a crushing effect on gay kids. It sends out the message: you are so repulsive you should be killed. It's one of several reasons why gay teenagers are still -- after all the amazing progress we have made -six times more likely to commit suicide than their straight siblings.
Why do they do it? Why do hip-hop artists -- often the victims of bigotry themselves -- incite this hatred? For ten years, Terrence Dean was at the heart of the hip-hop scene as a producer at MTV and Warner Brothers. His life is as ghetto as any of the big name artists. His mother was a heroin-addicted, AIDS-infected prostitute whose 'clients' held Terrence hostage at gunpoint. His drunken grandmother raised him in the slums of Detroit, and he eventually ended up in prison. When he was released, he headed for Hollywood - and he was amazed to stumble into a gay underworld stocked with some of the biggest names in hip-hop.
I recently interviewed Dean for Attitude, Britain's best-selling gay magazine. He told me about a man -- I don't believe in outing, so I won't give his name -- who "has been named in the past as one of the biggest rappers of all time by MTV. He's always trashing gay men in his lyrics. But he is surrounded by a posse of transvestites," who he has sex with. Dean then runs through a list of hip-hop gays, each more famous and closeted than the last.
Finish reading the rest of the article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/homophobic-then-youre-pro_b_158516.html
I am pleased to announce that I am a Writer-In-Residence with a powerful and exciting program in my hometown of Detroit.
InsideOut Literary Arts Project
The core program places professional writers in schools to conduct creative writing workshops that engage students' imaginations and introduce them to the pleasure and power of writing.
The program helps students to develop their self-expression and give them opportunities to publish and perform their work.
The residencies consist of 25 weekly sessions, allowing writers to become an integral part of students’ experiences. These residencies bring students together with practicing writers who serve as models of the creative life and help students to take themselves seriously as writers.
I am working with some talented young people in high school. They are eager, challenging, enlightening, and focused.
I love working with young people. They are not jaded on life. They are full of energy and have so much imagination.
At the end of the program the kids will have their works published in a book, as well as a special recognition event where they will be able to read their works in front of an audience.
I am looking forward to the lessons I will learn in working with these young creative minds.
In my memoir, Hiding In Hip Hop, I write how gay men have been the biggest influence on rappers and Hip Hop style.
Page 226 "It's no accident that black gay men created Hip Hop drag which many Americans have embraced. These stylists are able to re-create and emulate the fashion-foward styles from Paris, Milan, and Fifth Avenue, and bring them to the streets of New York, Atlanta, D.C., Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. Most people in the hood didn't know anything about high fashion until a black gay man put it on a rapper....Now everyone was dressing in drag like a gay man."
The New York Post is reporting: KNICK SLAPPED WITH SEX-HARASS SUIT GUY DRIVER: EDDY CURRY PUT MOVES ON ME January 13, 2009
Knicks center Eddy Curry was slapped with a shocking sex-harassment suit Monday by his former driver, who claims the 6-foot-11 hoopster tried to solicit gay sex from him.
The stunning court papers claim Curry, a married father of three, repeatedly approached chauffeur David Kuchinsky "in the nude," allegedly telling him, "Look at me, Dave, look" and "Come and touch it, Dave."
Curry also made Kuchinsky perform "humiliating tasks outside the scope of his employment, such as cleaning up and removing dirty towels [Curry had ejaculated into] so that his wife would not see them," the Manhattan federal court suit says.
Documentary filmmaker, Ray Williams, put together this powerful story "Where Was Daddy?"
Volumes have been written about the intergenerational degradation of the black father/son relationship and how it has affected the black family structure in America. But it is the relationship a daughter has with her father that cements her perceptions of men and provides the template for which she will use to attract a partner. "Where Was Daddy?" is the first documentary to explore this critical inter-gender relationship. The film’s eclectic cadre of interviewees illuminate why so many woman become trapped in a cycle of bad relationships with bad boys. Yet, others reject or are unable to attract a good man. "Where Was Daddy?" further reveals how this social modeling from the father affects how a daughter in turns raises her own son(s), creating oftentimes the image she has of her father through her son, this family circle beginning evident when the grown son begins relating to women himself.
Singer NE-YO has become a voyeur since moving into an exclusive Atlanta, Georgia neighborhood, and discovering he lives next door to rapper YOUNG JEEZY.
The So Sick hitmaker can see right into Jeezy's Buckhead pad, and even claims to have caught the hip hop star naked.
He tells People Magazine, "Just chillin' one day, I was like, 'Is that... Jeezy? I hit him up: 'Yo, you probably shouldn't walk around naked - I can see you."
Word is Jim Jones threatened to expose Ne-Yo's sexuality.
On Monday, Jim Jones spoke with the NYPD about a physical altercation between him and Ne-Yo’s camp that took place on Christmas Eve.
Police found that Jones involvement in the incident warranted a misdemeanor assault charge and a court appearance in February.
Witnesses claim that Jim Jones got into an altercation with the brother of Ty-Ty Smith who is a long-time Jay-Z associate. What many people don’t know is that Ty-Ty’s brother is also the suspected “down-low” lover of Ne-Yo.
One rap industry veteran broke down the situation, “Most of us know how Ne-Yo rolls but we don’t trip cause he’s good people and he makes hits. The problem is Jones threatened to take things public a while ago after some ‘he-say, she-say’ bullshit."
The beef continued until it boiled over on Christmas Eve at the Louis Vuitton store in NYC. Although the police report has not been released, here are the details as we’ve heard, “Jim Jones started going off on Ty-Ty’s brother, and Ne-Yo tried to break-up the situation and in doing so jumped between them and pushed both guys away. Jones then said, “don’t put yo’ dick sucking hands on me nigga."
From there, the details get even sketchier but we know a physical altercation occurred. Jones is said to have turned himself in to police because the entire incident was caught on a store security camera and he couldn’t deny his involvement.
Jones has since been mute on the subject saying, “I don’t wanna talk about that,” when asked about the situation by MTV News.”
I used to do it for the love a long time ago And all I ever wanted was love I used to love without fear a long time ago And all I ever wanted was love Then somebody came around and tried to hurt me Tried to make me feel like I was unworthy Took a pure love and tried to make it dirty Truth was they never did deserve me No!
Chorus: I had to lose myself so I could love you better I had to lose myself, had to lose myself so I could love you better Had to lose myself, had to lose myself So I could love you better Had to lose myself in love And that’s just the way it is…
Should have told me I was love when I needed it When, all I ever wanted was love Should a told me just me because! I’m worth receiving it But all I ever wanted was love There’s something selflessness about it the love it takes to Give love and the good that it makes you! True love can never really forsake you But it took a little while just for me to see!
Chorus: I had to lose myself so I could love you better I had to lose myself, had to lose myself so I could love you better Had to lose myself, had to lose myself So I could love you better Had to lose myself in love And that’s just the way it is…
Had a paralyzing fear of facing failure And I couldn’t love you perfectly with fear in my head So I peerlessly had to face the danger So I could come back and love you whole instead I love your soul I said! So I could love you better
Chorus: I had to lose myself so I could love you better I had to lose myself, had to lose myself so I could love you better Had to lose myself, had to lose myself So I could love you better Had to lose myself in love And that’s just the way it is…
B-Sec: And so it goes that I never meant to hurt you Couldn’t stay but I never meant to desert you Whole lot a things I just had to work thru Time to heal and restore myself worth too Confrontation of my fears and anxiety Cried a whole lot years I suffered quietly And though it may have taken years I can finally! Tell you that you were always on my mind!
Chorus: I had to lose myself so I could make it better I had to lose myself, had to lose myself so I could make it better Had to lose myself, had to lose myself So I could make it better Had to lose myself in love And that was just the way!
Bridge: Takes strength to absorb all the abuse I did Great love to absorb all the misuse I did Hey baby it’s not an excuse I give. And I’d do it all again because for you I live
Takes strength to absorb all the abuse I did Great love to absorb all the abuse I did Hey baby it’s not an excuse I give. And I’d do it all again because for you I live
Chorus: I had to lose myself so I could make it better I had to lose myself, had to lose myself so I could make it better Had to lose myself, had to lose myself So I could make it better Had to lose myself in love And that was just the way! And that was just the way it is…
Lupe Fiasco
