BET Awards, Breasts and Bafoonery - It's the week of "B"s...

So, there's been a lot of talk about the Lil'Wayne/Drake performance at the BET Awards 2009, and it's not very good. Well, considering the fact that some genius decided it would be just fine to:

1. Have Drake perform, although he'd torn his ACL (that's the story, anyway)

2. Proceed with a Lil' Wayne performance - a polar opposite to the legend's memory that they were supposed to be honoring, Michael Jackson

3. Have girls between the ages of 13-16 (guessing, because some if not all may not even be 16 yet) come on stage, clearly not trained in any form of dance besides those they may have seen in a video, but couldn't do those dances anyway (they are looking at each other and wondering what to do)

Yeah, this is what happened on TV this past Sunday. On BET, the same company who may have better spent their dollars investing in Harlem Heights (stop booing) or a children's cartoon block on Saturday mornings.

Since I was fortunate (yes, I meant to say that) to catch them after they aired, I only got to see a completely edited version...I imagine there were people with Molotov Cocktails, Pitchforks and Signs outside of Debra Lee's house. This woman just doesn't get a break, huh?

The good old Internet never fails, so here's the unedited version of Drake and Lil' Wayne...feel free to watch the whole thing (there's also a performance with Birdman and Cash Money, but who cares, because I know I don't. Sorry, I didn't know what or who they were until the BET Awards, I guess that's the point of doing a show like this)...



A few problems:

1. Saying "in honor of the best we ever had," followed by "let's have some fun" doesn't really make any sense. Michael Jackson died, not Bubbles.

2. Mic issues...oh that's right...you can't curse on TV (so why do this song?) This happens around 1:45.

3. Ballerinas? Oh no, just...wait...little girls? The madness begins at 3:49. Oh and they didn't forget to mention Miley Cyrus. Isn't that everyone's favorite part of the song?

Maybe if the little girls had a section where they were taught a Michael Jackson dance and performed it to a Michael Jackson song (crucial) would this have been OK...but um...this is a true bad look...sorry, I had to tell the truth.

Rather than sit back and tell you how f'ed up you are, since you've already heard that for about 10 years now, here's a quick solution, courtesy of Black Daria.

An apology on your website for the show. You can go ahead and say you didn't have time and were scrambling, but just say that you are sorry if there were parts that were offensive.

You could continue by saying that "while the show was our first true attempt to honor Michael Jackson, we will be creating a special in the coming weeks, including performances from special guests. We feel Michael is owed a full tribute to his life with a celebration of songs and dances brought to us by the man himself..."I don't know, something like that.

Either way, you have work to do. Good luck. Feel free to call me for additional questions or other solutions.

xoxo,
Black Daria ;/


P.S. Hmmm...I don't know if this was a good follow up Drake...Breasts you ever had much? Why not have just gotten the Degrassi cast? Shenae loves you...trust me, I read it in US Weekly, or Life & Style, or one of those magazines.

Black Daria Case Study: Beyonce - Appendix A: Sasha Fierce Fashion Line

Well, every case study should have a good appendix, so here's one:





Introducing Sasha Fierce, the clothing line. By the way, this is a Back-to-School collection...wholesome, isn't it? Perfect for seducing your teacher into the A you knew you deserved, I mean, why not?

New York Magazine probably wouldn't have much to say good about Beyonce doing a fashion line since they cater to those who basically live on the upper east and west sides of Manhattan, along with the hip Subscribers and libraries around the country who subscribe to them, but here's their take on the whole thing. I guess I would be OK with this (such a lie) if this were for girls going to the club, and being sold at Fredericks of Hollywood, or Pretty Girl on Jamaica Ave. Hell, this is even Macy's...right next to the Pastry section...except...

What age group is wearing this? Sorry, my mom wouldn't have let this go down, and I made quite a few risky fashion moves in high school. I was definitely a 90s girl, thigh-high tights and all...nothing like my sister's Doc Martens.

I think this will be in my local El Mundo (only people who live Uptown in Harlem, Washington Heights or the Bronx know what this place is) or TJ Maxx by next summer.

xoxo,
Black Daria ;/

When Michael Jackson died...

It was a little after 5:00 PM, and I was upstairs in a conference room on Nickelodeon's executive floor. My colleagues and I were watching a reel from an event the day prior, and the President of the Network's assistant opened the door and said, "Did you hear? Michael Jackson died of a heart attack."

"Shut UP!" I yelled. She had to be lying. I asked her to excuse my figure of speech, which she caught onto quickly (can't be telling the assistant to the President to shup up).

I dropped into a fetal standing position, so my knees were touching my head, my bottom not too far from the floor. All I could think was that this wasn't happening.

I got home, and remembered I had no cable. Good, now I don't have to be bombarded with images of Michael leaving his home and going into the hospital. I didn't want to see him like that...because it just couldn't be true.

An hour later, all I could think about was the Apollo. I need to be there...and that's where I went.

Got on the wrong train to 125th street, so I had to take a walk from Broadway, but as I approached, I got chills, realizing that it was really true. And then I saw the marquee:

Personal picture from The Black Daria Photo Files

Moved on, but my camera battery began to get exhausted...so I left, and went to have a big old glass of wine with a person I knew had to understand what I was feeling about Michael right at that moment.

Fast forward, I find myself thinking about him everyday. He was my friend...wasn't he everyone's friend? Michael meant so many things to so many different people, whether you are gay, from South Africa or went to prep school. Michael influenced us all, from Members Only jackets, to some of the hottest videos that can never be duplicated.

Too cliche to say "There will never be another Michael Jackson," because we already know that...that's easy.

My personal story comes from a former mentor, who stayed with Michael at Neverland. I was interning with her, and all she said was "he was the nicest man...always laughing, he laughed at me when I told him I wanted to get off that fucking ferris wheel...I was cursing him out and he just kept laughing at me..." A friend reminded me of the story, as he was telling me about an interview he'd seen with Sheryl Crow, who has a similar story that she experienced a mere two weeks ago. I loved hearing that about him, and it stayed in my heart.

The power of Michael Jackson has stopped traffic for four days on 125th Street, brought crowds to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, all the way to the tents lined up at Neverland Ranch, as they begin to bring in the port-a-potties. Michael has crippled the Internet, will be 9 of the top 10 Billboard Albums next week, and shed a slightly opaque curtain on the recent Iran election, "coup in Honduras, an insurgency in India..." and the other topics my great friend from college, Saki, talks about and literally shows up at the rallies for when she isn't busy changing the world. I say that with love, and she knows that.

I sat on the #1 train (oh joy) and I heard a woman in Russian (I have skills) tell another woman something...but then she said "Michael Jackson" and began talking in English. Damn. Michael has it on lock down...I just said last week that Michael Jackson saved MTV from an "EPIC FAIL" as the twitterers call it...and I can't believe that he's gone this week.

This may go down as just another post that my 15+ followers read, but I will tell you this...Michael changed my life in his own special way...and we just can't take that away from him by sweeping him under the carpet for yesterday's news. His music changed me...you...America...the WORLD.

Only a true prophet could achieve such a large task. And it was through the one thing that has probably always been there for me after the rallies in college, the days of being laid off and starting a business...the breakups. It was music...and a little Black boy and his brothers from Gary, Indiana, did all that.

To the KING...rest in peace, eternally. And P.S. - I never believed them.

xoxo,

Black Daria :/

T-Pain and Taylor Swift...because someone said "Fuck Hip-Hop, it's a Joke anyway..."

I stayed up to post this, because I just couldn't believe it as it came across my Facebook news feed:



Only words I have are:


I crochet, yo.

When is someone going to come out and say this is a joke? Or did I miss that press release/article...can someone email it to me?

xoxo,
Black Daria ;/

Source: Radioplanet.tv by way of people who read.

Dear Nas...

Dear Nas,

Can I call you Nas or do you prefer Nasir?

I thought I'd take the time to write you a personal letter on my blog. I know, you like the attention, and I need it, so hey, why not.

You may not know this, but I wrote two love letters to Chuck Bass, in an attempt to win his heart, and he chose that bitch Blair. Fine, I get it...I live in the wrong zip code, amongst other issues, but I thought we could have been as "Too Hot for TV" as Jerry Springer in 1998. But I digress from my point.

I had a dream about you on Friday, and I must say, it was pretty hot. I don't want to disrespect your future ex-wife, Kelis, as we are classmates from high school for Pete's sake. But again, I am shameless in getting two more readers to spread this as some type of juicy gossip. The classmates from high school part is true, however.

So, all I know is that we were in that house in Hollis in Belly (not to be confused with DMX's crib in Jamaica Estates) that you lived in with T-Boz. Hmmm...that was pre-Kelis and during the Carmen years, so I am good to continue my fantasy without shame, because I read her book, and frankly, next. Good for Pocket Books/VH1 and the NYT bestsellers list, bad for her, but enough about that chick.

We were in bed together, and we were talking about...what else, Queens. I don't know why.

What happened next? Well, I can't really say all that here, as one day, I want to run BET, but I will tell you I haven't been awakened from a dream like that since The Boys were "dialing my heart." I think it was the way you said "I knew you were from Queens when I first started talking to you." Plus, I recall us Queens girls were hot commodoties back then, like when light- skinned dudes were "in." (I secretly wish that time never happened...fucking ridiculous.)

...But anyway, since Chuck is unavailable, I guess I'd like to just take the moment to tell you that I had this dream, and although I will likely not have a chance to share a bed with you, if I did, I hope that what happened in that dream could happen.

I only write three letters to the men I am interested in getting to know, so you should consider yourself privileged.

No seriously, you should.

I'm about my blog shit that I call "Conscious Gossip." And this is letter alone (I believe) is worth at least a lunch to discuss some of the possibilities of getting with a girl like me. I mean, I know you will likely be the whore most industry dudes think they were destined to be...and in no way am I looking to marry you. Let's face it, Kelis may just rack up in this whole thing. I dunno...we shall see, right?

All I know is that dream was hot. So there, hope you liked that enough to email me. Coffee at Starbucks? I'll call TMZ to show up...see, I'm a ride or die chick.

xoxo,
Black Daria ;/

The first video on MTV wasn't a Hip-Hop one...duh, right?!?

So, it was a late brunch, and of course, MTV always comes up if you work there. My new friend and I got into a discussion about the first video to play on MTV.

Now, I wasn't there or anything, but I remember in my Making Sense of Popular Culture (COM 101 for you officials) there was a brief paragragh in one of the many packets of reading (Perouka did a lot of copies, because nobody really talked about COM 101 in a full textbook "back then") about MTV, and I never forgot one sentence: MTV debuted on air August 1, 1981.


And the first video they played was Video Killed the Radio Star. Go on, watch it:

...and the paragragh ended for me there. I wasn't around when they started the channel. What I mean by that is, I wasn't around when the concept was fostered. Something about music videos...they were cheap marketing tools to sell albums. Remember, it didn't cost the millions of dollars that somehow, it began to cost.

In fact, Wikipedia (my guide to the world) states that "several noted directors got their start creating music videos." The likes of these people will include Spike Jonze, F. Gary Gray, Hype Williams and Michel Gondry to name a few. This post isn't about directors, but I thought I should mention that, kinda like a footnote. Thanks Wikipedia. Readers, keep that one in your back pocket.

I was curious about the first rap video to play on MTV, and of course, how could it not have been Run DMC (the debate was LL Cool J, which I rejected immediately with no bias, as I am from Queens by way of Brooklyn). You can't watch it, unless you click here. Sorry, it's the labels and their whole "disabling" shit. More on that another day.

On the left is Diggy, Sheesh! Your genes are strong Rev...Love this picture tho.

However, I was intrigued at the fact that although the station launched as a mostly rock channel, plays from Michael Jackson are noted as saving the channel from utter failure. Boy, what Daria could do to turn this all around.

Sorry.

Run DMC sold gold the year that video played on MTV. It was 1984; probably around the same time Bill Cosby was sitting in a room debating on whether Rudy would be a boy or a girl (I think they made the right decision.)

Ms. Rudith Lillian Huxtable/Keisha Knight Pulliam

...And then a new twitter thread began later the same night of the conversation at Brunch, #iremember. Someone wrote that they "remembered when they played videos on MTV and BET."

I always get annoyed, as soon as I read that. I've seen it before, heard it before and debated it, too.

Please. #iremember when...you really didn't need a million dollars to do a video, could sell brands and no one was looking for a cosign from you in the record/lyrics to go buy a pair of Guess Jeans (what, didn't everybody want to be specifically the "Pleasure Principle" Janet Jackson for Halloween?):



#iremember when you could have girls in bathing suits in videos, but the song were appropriate to the actual reason why the girls were in bathing suits (RIP Tupac the Magnificent...go shorty, it's ya birfday):

I still cringe at the girl who over gyrates tho, as well as the girl with the pink tassle bathing suit...gross.


#iremember when an actress could get a break doing a video, because she knew there was more to accomplish than popping extacy pills in the back of SUVs for a "Principal" role:

There are a lot of things #iremember...I'd simply like to be inspired again.

P.S. If you guess who that actress is, I don't have any t-shirts, but I promise to print one up as soon as I get my new website done. Pinky swear, I remember everything.

Kanye's 2nd Interview with Whitney: A Black Daria Film

From time to time, I find myself either debating or explaining why I am on Twitter. I don't always get to catch the juicy stuff, although one day I found myself staring at a Twit written by UncleRUSH that he later removed. I knew some blogger would get to it eventually, cool.

Fast forward to a recent twit by UncleRUSH again, but this one is too good to ignore. Taken from the pages of RWS, go ahead and read the twit below:

Now, now, I know what you are thinking. That whole Pretty Woman thing is being taken out of context, and he didn't really mean it like that...so...

That's how I came up with this one. Until I figure out what's really worth writing about, sit back and relax. Watch Whitney get up in that ass...you can also refer back to this post I wrote in February for the picture she references in the clip below. Wear sunglasses, it's pretty bright.

I just wish he would stop trying to play us all for fools:

xoxo,

Black Daria