US Journalists Sentenced to 12 Years Hard Labor in South Korea

This story is interesting and whats even more interesting is to see how the U.S. responds. I heard that Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton sent a letter to the North Korean government demanding their release. This situation could escalate into something well beyond these two women. Read full story here: http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/06/08/nkorea.journalists/index.html

Michael Jackson's Kids (without masks)

Now, I know somewhere in this world, some man is saying to himself, "If only I had not signed that agreement"! You cannot tell me that these children have any Jackson blood running through their veins. Check out the girl. Her eyes are telling a story. She is saying to herself, "Of all the shoes daddy has, why in the Heavens did he wear these?" They are 80's throwbacks for sure (LOL). Maybe he got them from James Brown. (intro music for BAD)

Poem of the day - "I'm In The Mood For Blues"

This one goes out to Koko y'all. I remember writing this poem years ago after my mother properly introduced me to the blues thus causing me to fell in love with them. Blues is an original American art form and true American music. Born in the deep south and out of slavery, the sister to the negro spiritual, blues is now on the threshold of being taken from us and being intentionally re-evolved into another genre, catering to an entirely different group of people.


I’m in the Mood for Blues

Don’t jive me ’bout no country
or no heavy rockin’ tunes.
Today I want to cry a little,
I’m in the mood for blues.

Don’t want no pastel jazz
or pop with colored hues.
Today I need some somber soul,
I’m in the mood for blues.

A blue Monday fish fry
with a little gumbo too
and a screamin’ guitar player
to get you feeling blue.

Boy, talk about good times,
no songs touch minds like these.
When you’re singing from your soul
while cryin’ on your knees.

Forget a cab or city bus
I’d walk a hole in my shoes
to get to a good juke joint
where someone’s playin’ blues.

Round ’bout six up in the evening,
ain’t got no time for news.
I just bought me a new funk box
and I’m ’bout to play some blues.

So come on over and sit a while
and pay Mr. Pain your dues.
Just close your eyes and sway your head
and listen to my blues.

WYLD STYLZ

Still Sad

I am still in shock about Koko Taylor. Y'all know I am having a rough one. I love me some Koko. I think that I will have a Blues Happy Hour at my house tomorrow. Can somebody please bring the catfish, corn meal, seasoned salt, potato salad, bread, Seagrams 7, good beer, decent foam plates, napkins, forks, cups, ice, sodas, and a good homemade pound cake, becasue I really need that to get me through this tough time. I'll go out of my way and find a few records to spin.

Aging Rappers

Have you ever seen a brother in his 30's or 40's walking around with the baggy jeans, baseball cap, earrings and stuff and just wanted to tell him, "You are to old for that". I am so glad you didn't because I would have hated to help you pick up your teeth after I knocked them out (I'm just that kind of nice guy). Anyway, rappers are getting older, but most of them have managed to stay in the limelight and still do fairly well for themselves considering the industry being so age driven. Take a look:

Ice Cube (June 15, 1969) – 39
Jay-Z (December 4, 1969) – 39
Raekwon (January 12, 1970) – 39
Q-Tip (April 10, 1970) – 39
Redman (April 17, 1970) – 39
Ghostface Killah (May 9, 1970) – 39
Fat Joe (August 19, 1970) – 38
Scarface (November 9, 1970) – 38
DMX (December 18, 1970) – 38
Method Man (April 1, 1971) – 38
Snoop Dogg (October 20, 1971) – 37
Common (March 13, 1972) – 37
Busta Rhymes (May 20, 1972) – 37
Black Thought (October 3, 1972) – 36
Eminem (October 17, 1972) – 36
Bun B (March 19, 1973) – 36
Nas (September 14, 1973) – 35
Mos Def (December 11, 1973) – 35
Beanie Sigel (March 6, 1974) – 35
Andre 3000 (May 27, 1974) – 35
Styles P (November 28, 1974) – 34
Big Boi (February 1, 1975) – 34
Jadakiss (May 27, 1975) – 34
50 Cent (July 6, 1975) – 33
Talib Kweli (October 3, 1975) – 33
Rick Ross (January 28, 1976) – 33
Cam’ron (February 4, 1976) – 33
Kanye West (June 8, 1977) – 31
Ludacris (September 11, 1977) – 31
Young Jeezy (October 12, 1977)- 31

Ok, my rap album drops later this summer. It's going to be titled, "Kolonoscopy Killer".

All I could say is, "WOW".

The little kid in the picture above with President Obama was invited to the White House for whatever reason. However, he had the oddest question. He asked if he could feel the Presidents hair to see if it felt like his. Now it may not seem like much, but for a child to make an association of themself to an adult allows them to see that they are not that different at all to that adult. In this kids mind, he has now made an assimilation of greatness to himself. This is so cool.

Wait! I feel a prayer coming on: "Lord, please don't let it come out in the next year or so that this lil red boy is actually Obama's child. Please Lordie hamercy. Don't let that be the reason why he wanted to feel his hair, Jesus." That would be all we need (LOL)!

Blues Legend, Koko Taylor Dies

I received an e-mail late yesterday evening from Alligator Records that my favorite Blues artist of all time, Koko Taylor, had died on June 3, 2009. I can't put into words what this woman meant to American music as she had expressed to me in an interview in 2004, her lifetime goal was to keep the blues alive. I am deeply saddened over this news being the ultimate Koko fan that I am. Here is the release from her official website www.kokotaylor.com:

“QUEEN OF THE BLUES” KOKO TAYLOR 1928 - 2009 posted: 06/03/2009
Grammy Award-winning blues legend Koko Taylor, 80, died on June 3, 2009 in her hometown of Chicago, IL, as a result of complications following her May 19 surgery to correct a gastrointestinal bleed. On May 7, 2009, the critically acclaimed Taylor, known worldwide as the “Queen of the Blues,” won her 29th Blues Music Award (for Traditional Female Blues Artist Of The Year), making her the recipient of more Blues Music Awards than any other artist. In 2004 she received the NEA National Heritage Fellowship Award, which is among the highest honors given to an American artist. Her most recent CD, 2007’s Old School, was nominated for a Grammy (eight of her nine Alligator albums were Grammy-nominated). She won a Grammy in 1984 for her guest appearance on the compilation album Blues Explosion on Atlantic.
Born Cora Walton on a sharecropper’s farm just outside Memphis, TN, on September 28, 1928, Koko, nicknamed for her love of chocolate, fell in love with music at an early age. Inspired by gospel music and WDIA blues disc jockeys B.B. King and Rufus Thomas, Taylor began belting the blues with her five brothers and sisters, accompanying themselves on their homemade instruments. In 1952, Taylor and her soon-to-be-husband, the late Robert “Pops” Taylor, traveled to Chicago with nothing but, in Koko’s words, “thirty-five cents and a box of Ritz Crackers.”
In Chicago, “Pops” worked for a packing company, and Koko cleaned houses. Together they frequented the city’s blues clubs nightly. Encouraged by her husband, Koko began to sit in with the city’s top blues bands, and soon she was in demand as a guest artist. One evening in 1962 Koko was approached by arranger/composer Willie Dixon. Overwhelmed by Koko’s performance, Dixon landed Koko a Chess Records recording contract, where he produced her several singles, two albums and penned her million-selling 1965 hit “Wang Dang Doodle,” which would become Taylor’s signature song.
After Chess Records was sold, Taylor found a home with the Chicago’s Alligator Records in 1975 and released the Grammy-nominated I Got What It Takes. She recorded eight more albums for Alligator between 1978 and 2007, received seven more Grammy nominations and made numerous guest appearances on various albums and tribute recordings. Koko appeared in the films Wild At Heart, Mercury Rising and Blues Brothers 2000. She performed on Late Night With David Letterman, Late Night With Conan O’Brien, CBS-TV’s This Morning, National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, CBS-TV’s Early Edition, and numerous regional television programs.
Over the course of her 40-plus-year career, Taylor received every award the blues world has to offer. On March 3, 1993, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley honored Taylor with a “Legend Of The Year” Award and declared “Koko Taylor Day” throughout Chicago. In 1997, she was inducted into the Blues Foundation’s Hall of Fame. A year later, Chicago Magazine named her “Chicagoan Of The Year” and, in 1999, Taylor received the Blues Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2009 Taylor performed in Washington, D.C. at The Kennedy Center Honors honoring Morgan Freeman.Koko Taylor was one of very few women who found success in the male-dominated blues world. She took her music from the tiny clubs of Chicago’s South Side to concert halls and major festivals all over the world. She shared stages with every major blues star, including Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, B.B. King, Junior Wells and Buddy Guy as well as rock icons Robert Plant and Jimmy Page.
Taylor’s final performance was on May 7, 2009 in Memphis at the Blues Music Awards, where she sang “Wang Dang Doodle” after receiving her award for Traditional Blues Female Artist Of The Year.Survivors include Taylor’s husband Hays Harris, daughter Joyce Threatt, son-in-law Lee Threatt, grandchildren Lee, Jr. and Wendy, and three great-grandchildren. Funeral arrangements will be announced.

Eminem

The media is all a buzz about the following video. In the video, Sasha Baron Cohen (Borat, Ali-G) makes his entrance as gay guru, "Bruno" at the recent MTV music awards. He makes his entrance via wires suspended from the ceiling and in mid flight experiences some problems and asks to be lowered. However, he is lowered right in the lap of Eminem. Now here's the the weird part; he lands right in Eminem's lap head first which puts his business (booty, etc) all in Eminem's face. Visibly upset, Eminem leaves the theater with his entourage.

That guy is a character and took a real serious chance on this gig because Eminem is supposedly homophobic. The video is being taken down left and right but you can see it right here (LOL):

I bet he would not have done that to Pitbull. He laid a guy out at his concert last week.

Halle Berrrrrrrrry, Halle Berry...

From showing your breasts in, “Swordfish”, then getting busy trailer-trashy style with Billy Bob Thornton in “Monsters Ball”, then swapping spit with some foreign guy at the Oscars and now doing a live sex tape with Jamie Foxx in front of America! Wow, it is amazing to see what a woman will not do to feed her baby when her career is on the downslide and she hasn’t had a hit movie in years. Halle Berry and Jamie Foxx got real busy at the SPIKE TV Guys Choice Awards with a heated makeout session when he presented her with the “Decade of Hotness” award. This blatant attempt to jumpstart her career and catapult her back into “Hottie” status may or may not have worked, but fact remains, it was a risk taken that may have some backlash from conservative movie goers. Me personally... not a good idea. I would expect this type of action from Pamela Anderson but Halle…come on. Nonetheless, your efforts may be fruitless because Gabrielle Union has the, "no-talent working black actress" genre on lock.

Halle knows better!

Hold My Mule!

And my keys, and my cell phone and even my Hi-C juice box. This brother here has set the gold standard for what women should stay away from. 29 year old Desmond Hatchet (remember that name ladies) of Tennessee is the father of 21 children. No misprint, I said 21. He went to court last week after his name appeared 11 times on the docket in a single day, representing 15 children, all his. “It just happened,” Desmond Hatchet said. He didn’t intend to set a record, but he did all his children by mistake. He also claims that all the 11 women knew about his other kids. His children are between newborn and 11 years old and he can’t support them, because he has a minimum wage job and laws can only force him to give his children up to 50% of his paychecks. Unfortunately for the taxpayers, they have to supports all his children, because some of the mothers get less than 2 dollars a month from him, the money being split to all his 21 children.

The sad thing is, that if the women knew about the other children, why would they even allow this man to father their children? I blame them equally. Well at least the last 10 because he has children with 11 different women. While he says, he can't support them, he know the ages and birthdates of every last one of them. Oh, how special...

I just wonder why this guy hasn't gotten as much paid media attention as Octomom? (SMH) shaking my head and singing, "We Shall Overcome". I am going to personally call my old friend, Rev. Ike and ask him to please engrave this guys name on the wall in the Tower of Power for those seeking prayer requests.