Archives for category: For Realz?

Sofia Maldonado’s Times Square mural reminds me of women I know. It reminds me of Oaktown’s 357 and J.J. Fad, the sassy lady rappers whose style I admired as a little girl.

Maldonado’s mural, depicting Black and Latino women with long fingernails, wearing leggings, skimpy tops, hoop earrings and lip gloss, has been criticized for demeaning women of color. I even got an email from a black professionals group asking folks to come out and protest in front of the mural because it made Black and Latino women look like “prostitutes, hoes and sluts.”

Why is it that these bright and fanciful images inspire such shame? There are crotch shots in the underwear ads American Eagle Outfitters broadcasts on their 15,000 square foot LED display around the corner! Crotch shots, people! But, those REAL women are white and these DRAWN women are women of color.

Perhaps the Black women in business suits who find this mural so offensive would like to forget the long fingernails and freeze updo they wore to their prom? Perhaps. Or maybe they resent the celebration of “round the way girls” – who, I guess, aren’t supposed to be considered beautiful or worth celebrating.

I always wonder who the models on these do-rags covers are. They don’t look like models (not that anything’s wrong with that). They have to be relatives of the do-rag manufacturers, right??

I don’t think it’s asking too much of “mainstream” (read: not-black) celebrity blogs to try to stay on top of Black celeb news. I mean, you don’t have to tell me when the next Yukmouth album is gonna drop, but you should know some of the basics.

Last Tuesday, actress Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon was on The Wendy Williams Show and let it slip that her friend, and former co-star, Jamie Foxx recently had another child. She said that Foxx told her this after they ran into each other at a party.

So today, A FULL WEEK, after Garcelle’s Wendy Show appearance Perez Hilton, posted an item saying that Garcelle was pregnant with Jamie Foxx’s child! Hmm, what would her HUSBAND OF ALMOST 10 YEARS SAY!?

Perez_wrong_Foxx_story

So, of course Perez realized he’d gotten it completely wrong and edited the post. But this is just an example of what a lame attempt even the most well-informed celebrity bloggers make to stay up on black news.

Despite being Billboard’s male artist of the year in 2008, many blogs didn’t pay attention to Chris Brown until he beat up Rihanna. So, maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised to see how many times he was identified as rapper Chris Brown. But, I was.

In “mainstream” celeb news, black male singers are often referred to as rappers. All black women artists are labeled as R&B. And celebs that are pretty well-known in the black community often go unidentified in group paparazzi shots.

C’mon folks!

You may have seen this video, but my siblings are obsessed with it, so I feel the need to post. This little girl is no joke.

“She’s also up for an American music award…for her new song “i went poo poo in my pants” its a hit. T-pain sings on it with her.”

- @JoelMadden on his daughter with Nicole Richie being nominated for a Choice Celebrity Baby Teen Choice Award.

Harlow Madden is in good company – the other lucky baby nominees are Jessica and Cash Warren’s first born Honor Marie, Jen and Ben’s youngest Seraphina, Adam Sandler’s daughter Sunny, and Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale’s youngest son Zuma.

Animals with quirky traits like buck teeth, over-sized ears, different color eyes and even 3 legs are sooo cute. I don’t know how I feel about wings on a cat, though.

kittenwithwings

This unnamed cat in Chongqing, China was reportedly born a normal kitty but began sprouting these “wings” when she was a year old.

Spotted at People Pets

Al B. Sure! – yes, he still has the exclamation point in his name – is set to release his first studio album in 15 years.

Al B Sure

Honey I’m Home is scheduled (extra emphasis on the scheduled) to drop June 23 on Hidden Beach.

According to Billboard.com, the album will feature eleven new original songs as well as covers of Sting’s “Fragile” and Michael Jackson’s “Lady in My Life.”

I wonder if any of those original tracks will focus on how painful it is to have your son claim your baby mama’a other, much richer, baby daddy and not you, and then put your deadbeat ways on blast in front of the whole blogosphere.

A call would’ve been so much more appropriate.

Mrs. Obama is not a great beauty.

iman

In a recent interview with Parade, 53-year-old supermodel Iman said, “Mrs. Obama is not a great beauty. But she is so interesting looking and so bright. That will always take you farther. When you’re a great beauty, it’s always downhill for you. If you’re someone like Mrs. Obama, you just get better with age.”

It seems Iman was under the impression she was giving the First Lady a compliment.

In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Kate said of her coif:
“everybody wants it…it’s work. I have very, very thick hair, so it’s not going to work for everybody….My hair stylist gets calls from all across the country.”

Kate gosselin

For Realz?

This didn’t surprise me at all. In the latest issue of Elle, Matthew McConaughey gives a shout-out to the thick Black girls of the world. Your ghetto booty may not land you the cover of Elle (unless you’re Beyonce), but it will earn you McConaugHEEYYY’s affection.

JanetJackson_McConaughey

ELLE: Any woman you can think of who might not be coverworthy, but whom you find attractive?

Matthew: Not so specifically, but yeah. And I see it more with black women, who get dressed up and they’re wearin’ everything to fit snug, and they’re walking the walk. And you’re like, Man, look at you go! Where did you get that? She might be a larger package, but boy, she sure understands how she’s wrapped.

Alrighty then.

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