• Not like we didn’t need any more obvious evidence of the degradation of popular Black music, but what’s with all these current songs that have monosyllabic refrains? Seriously, listen to your urban radio station, and songs either have an “Ayyyyyy” or an “Ohhhhh” thrown in the background. Like, someone went in the studio and purposely arranged that shit. Polow da Don? I know we went to the ‘House at the same time, but I’m lookin’ right at you, homeboy. Oh dear…I remember back in the day when it was just Ds.

    Yeah…deez nuts! Gotcha.

  • So there’s a dude here at Big Company, Inc. that looks like a real-life version of the Hamburgler. I mean, if the Hamburgler turned in the tie and striped outfit for some highwaters and a sweater vest. Every time I see him, I have to hold back the robble robbles.

  • Jesus fuck, I am so tired of the word “swagger”. Runner up? “Grown and sexy”. We get it, we get it. Now let’s move on.

  • Oprah has an “exclusive” on the pregnant man that’s been all over the media lately. As much as I know folks love Oprah, her record of talking about LGBT issues has been spotty at best, so I’m interested to see how she’ll handle it. With kid gloves, I’m sure. And I’m also wondering what Lee Mingwei thinks about all this.


  • Either I have super-sensitive hearing, or I’m hearing background noise/singing in these two songs. See if you can spot what I’m talkin’ about:

    Alicia Keys – “Like You’ll Never See Me Again”

    Jennifer Hudson’s – “(And I’m Telling You) I’m Not Going”

    It’s not just me, is it? Speaking of audio…

  • While I’m glad a show like “News and Notes” exists, I often find it painful to sit through an hour of hearing Farai Chideya steamroll over her interviewers, often rudely interrupting them because of the time constraints on the program. It’s the audio equivalent of a salesman sticking his foot in the door to get another chance at a sale. Don’t even get me started on how bad the post-production appears to be on the daily podcast. Segments are repeated, there’s often minutes of dead air…it’s bad. And yes, I’m aware that means I’ll probably never be invited on as a guest, even for the BWAs. I’ll consider that a fair trade for my criticisms.

  • I heard that D.A.W.G. (remember her?) got married recently to the bowl-cut dude who she left at the altar two years ago. Ah, young love.

  • Want to know the 10 things not to say to a Latino executive? Wondering why people are obsessed with race? Just “Ask The White Guy”, Luke Visconti of DiversityInc.

  • So there’s a blog I’ve really been feeling lately: Stuff Black People Hate. It’s funny as shit, and it’s obvious that the writer tries not to take himself too seriously and just has fun with his descriptions. By contrast, both Stuff Black People Love [1, 2] and Stuff Educated Black People Like look weak. I should do a “stuff black gay people like”, but after butt sex, the Internet, Janet Jackson, shade and church, I’d kind of be at a loss. Hmph.

  • Now I don’t usually watch American Idol lately (it seems to be less about talent and more about who can be best mass commercialized), but after tuning in last night, I’ve got to ask…where the hell did they find all these karaoke singers? Save Michael Johns, Syesha Mercado, David Cook, and maybe little David “Archie” Archuleta, this season is probably the worst yet. Wake me when this mess is over.

  • Pat M. over at Token Minorities is starting a new blog series: The 13 Hottest Men of Gaming, In Color. Numbers 10-13 are up now. I wonder if this’ll be as controversially popular as Jason Ellis‘ The First 11 Black Videogame Stars.

  • Apparently, this blog’s reading level is somewhere around the average junior high school student.

    blog readability test

    Really? Not even high school? I’m finishing up a Master’s degree in this piece! I would write more weighty things but…I don’t feel like it.
    (via Bernie)

[tags]black music, the hamburgler, slang, swagger, grown and sexy, oprah, pregnant man, lee mingwei, bad audio editing, news and notes, ask the white guy, stuff black people hate, stuff black people love, stuff educated black people love, american idol, gaming, race, blog reading level[/tags]

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