How this man manages to succeed with with very Jamaican influenced style- musical and fashion in the soca arena continues to fascinate me. But I had really find this catchy. Walk with yuh bucket. I sure I AM made plenty money this rounds.

Prophet Benjamin like he pull a Sizzla on us with this one. He placed much higher than I would have predicted. I don’t think it’s brilliant but it is a nice play on words.

Finally. My favourite. I’ve already posted some of his music but let me say that though I certainly don’t think he is necessarily the people’s champion when he talk bout how everything wet I just want to hold my head and throw wine!

Law and order leads directly into this post as it is a perfect example of shows that aren’t quite what they used to be. Still gripping and interesting to watch but not quite as awesome.  I wanted to big up some shows that are no longer in production but thanks to syndication and Centric  I get to enjoy on a fairly regular basis.

Living Single.

Word to Maxine Shaw! I loved this show. The original group of friends (yes I took it there) living and loving together, the sweet couple, the sexual tension, the gold digger, the aspiring entertainment mogol (Khadijah owned a magazine yall, that’s certainly fyah) all made for a great 30 mins of television. I loved the regular-ness of the characters, for the most part they were people I could definitely relate to and wanted to be when I grew up.

New York UndercoverI think I got into this show after it was cancelled but I just couldn’t believe that these sexxi sexxi detectives were running the gritty streets of NYC solving crimes and stuff. Detective Williams was all I needed to make me watch but the story lines were quite thought provoking and dealt with issues that we all can relate to and not ripped from the headlines stories that other crime dramas are famous for.

2. Juvenile justice is an increasingly necessary field of research, policy and practice, here the authors speak to the decriminalisation of truancy which is a pretty frequent charge for young people especially in the Caribbean.

3. Looking for ways to improve your writing. This site outlines top 20 grammar mistakes. With each one I read I got less confident in my ability to write.

Very controversial and emotional topic and I don’t think there is a person over 20 that doesn’t have a matey experience of some sort. However you feel about the issue, that discussion is for another day, today is for matey music.

Matey music is a genre all by itself. These songs are filled with emotion, reflection, turmoil and entertainment. What more can you ask for?

Here we go:

1. Tanya Stephens – It’s a Pity

I feel there is no explanation needed for this classic. Tanya deduces that when society becomes evolved enough she will be given permission to share this particular dude with his wifey. I dunno about all that, but love the song.

2. Whitney Houston – Saving all my love

RIP Whitney. I felt real hurt when I learned of Whitney’s passing. Her album You Give Good Love was the very first album I owned that wasn’t sang mostly by a cartoon character, so she has been on my playlist for over 20 years. This is a big big matey song that I only realised was a matey song only a few years ago. It speaks of the turmoil felt knowing that dude has his other life and trying to find the strength to ‘do the right thing’

3. Pussycat Dolls – Don’t cha

What can I say, I like the song.

4. Lady Saw – I’ve Got Your Man

Her business card promises Good Food. I love it! Interesting to note that Mama Saw lets wifey know that she intends to make dude her own man, may another promise of good food turn his eyes again? Circle of Life?

5. Tanya Stephens – To the Rescue

Matey as community service. Who woulda thunk it?

I had soo much fun going through these songs. Part two will be the wifey responses, lol

1. Valentine’s Day: For all the talk about the commercialization of love and made up holidays for card companies to profit from, I really can’t manage to have any feelings about it. I’m skeptical about it being lauded as the one day a year you have to appreciate the person(s) you are in a relationship with, but the same critiques can be made of birthdays and anniversaries. Also, I sometimes do appreciate occasional milestones  that remind us to check in and reflect on relationships/ people, events. All of that said, I actually don’t care enough to be bothered by the overload of pink and red heart-shaped paraphernalia in stores or to be annoyed if the person I’m involved with doesn’t acknowledge the day. I would attend either Valentine’s day and anti-Valentine’s day gatherings once the food or the company (yes that was “or” not “and”) was good enough to warrant the 10 minutes it takes me to put on winter gear.

2. Nicki Minaj: I know a few feminists/womanists who are convinced Nicki Minaj is the antithesis of feminism. I’ve read a few feminist readings of Nicki Minaj and her work. I’ve seen the clip of her singing with Sophia Grace on the Ellen show. I still really don’t care. I’ve had moments where I’ve found her mildly entertaining and even semi-interesting. I’ve had moments where I’ve been slightly annoyed by her (the fake generic Caribbean/Jamaican accent). But for the most part, she’s a non issue. I don’t find anything about her original or new or extreme enough to warrant my love or hate. So meh.

3. Chocolate: It’s a great addition to the best ice cream ever. It’s great for dipping berries in. But if I were to find out tomorrow that my migraines were caused by chocolate, I would have no problem abstaining (cheese would be another story completely). I don’t know if my brain has a different chemical makeup that is responsible for both my indifference to chocolate and my inability to orgasm during sex (I know you didn’t see that one coming but choose between blaming Trendsettah’s post last week or all the links people make between chocolate and sex/love) but whatever it is, chocolate definitely rounds off the meh list perfectly.

So people, what do people tend to think you should love or hate that you don’t care about? What’s on your “meh” list?

2) That being said, I yearn to learn and try to try different things. I found this great resource for those of us that are adventurous and ish so-you-wanna-be-a-freak

3) Solo sexing is a safe, healthy, fun and sometimes very convenient way to get the juices flowing. I had grand plans of posting some fun solo sex link here but I couldn’t find any between all the redtube and xxxx sites Google was trying to get me to click.

Fyah fam, can you reccomend a good solo sex resource. I was this close to posting something from cosmo then I came to my senses

UPDATE!

The fyah family came through in a big way and these comments warrant an update.

This certainly does make me smile.

This however brings tears to my eyes. LELO

Enjoy!!

I just watched the 5th episode of series 1. Yes, I’m behind, that’s how I like to be.

Several comments:

1. Idris Elba is incredibly sexy. Beyond hot. I can’t even describe the effect even his picture has on me. I will say however, Luther- not quite as sexy. It illustrates my predispostion to men who are not troubled and/or violent. Also I have not the slightest clue what’s going on with his hair.

2. The archtypes of black men on television are certainly not vast and I’m on the fence about what I feel about him being a large (tall, solid build) black man who is often prone to fits of violence when he is upset. This is of course tempered by the fact that he is a genius- the Goren of London police investigations with his intuition, deductive reasoning. I know this has changed but his commitment to his wife- a mixed race woman of colour certainly goes against the stereotype of the smooth-talking (wishful) womanising player type of black man or that of the socially inept straight black man. So whereas some variations are present I still don’t think he’s complex enough. Also, I love that most of his “difference” is attributed to/ presented as him having mental problems- this representation of mentalism is rampant throughout the show.

3. How many bodies of women who have been killed by men do we have to be subjected to on television. It’s incredibly problematic for many reasons. Two primary ones which cause me angst are

1. it desensitises us to the violence
2. it is almost always presented as something pathological and not the violence that women live with day in- day out at the hands of men who following psychological assessment would not meet a single criteria of anything in the dsm-iv-tr

4. I like order. I like following rules (mine or others) if they make sense. I endeavour to be honest, even when it’s difficult and in that vein I tend to resent rule-breakers. And Luther is a rule-breaker. Television loves to valourise the means justify the ends way of doing things- precisely the tactic that Luther uses is his loosey goosey morally driven efforts at finding criminals. It makes people feel good when victims are found and killers are brought to justice but that same loosey goosey approach allows for serious abuses of power.

5. Though I am fully anti-violence I find it amusing/baffling/sad that UK police officers don’t have guns. Poor them buddy.

Happy Monday Everyone!

1. Black People Don’t Kill Themselves, Right?

A simply written article on the Root, written by poet and founder of The Siwe Project, Bassey Ikpi about the important of conversations about mental health in black communities.

2. Caribbean Raw Food

I thought “Caribbean” and “Raw Food” were terms that would never go together outside of a salad side, but this site has some interesting recipes for (what looks like) non bland raw food dishes. As someone who did a raw diet for 3 weeks and struggled through drinking blended lettuce and tomatoes, this is definitely inspiring.

3. Ballet Creole

So they don’t explicitly speak about health, but they are a company that offers African/Caribbean dance classes for all ages and levels in the Toronto area – definitely making physical health fun for communities that might be missing home in the dead of winter.

So, what’s on your health radar these days?

If you didn’t have a white boy phase I feel sorry for you. They were all over television all the time, you could get your fix 24/7.

BET provided necessary balance… I can’t believe that statement could ever be true. Now when BET’s on I almost always know I’m on the wrong channel. But these never to be heard from again bands of the 1990s… tell me you don’t miss them. Tell me you didn’t know the words to these songs? If you can tell me that

• 1. you’re lying
• 2. you haven’t lived

h/t piece2peace for bringing all the memories back.

Okay, anyone remembering this group/song is a reach.

Committing to at least 30 minutes of 1990s dance moves and karaoke sessions for the rest of the week.

Join me.

bring.

de.

fyah.

1) Audio books.