#SpokenWOrd GREEdS "What It Means"

Ever Been asked what it means to you to be black? Can't say that I have, in the environment in which I live, everyone looks like me and my whole world revolves around, revolution and good music in that order. In my opinion, being black embodies everything I am. I love my people and yet I am constantly aware of the issues within our community so it is my life's goal to make the revolution a reality. The days of slavery are forever present in the lives we live, either negatively or positively. So being black to me, means I embrace the melanin in my skin, that my dark skin and kinky roots means I was born with a power that is an ingrained royalty.

#SpokenWord GREEdS Confessions of A Teenager

This Nigerian/British Poet has gotten me smitten! If his voice wasn't enough, his lines really pack a punch. This particular poem "Confessions of a Teenager" remind me that we all go through stages and phases demed "Late Bloomer". So while out time might not come when we want it to or when we thing it should, our time and opportunities do arrive. So with continued hard-work  hope, faith and effort. Our time too shall come. Enjoy this piece of spoken word and don't be afraid to speak your stories aloud.

Black Love & Peace

Side Effects of 22

It is somewhere at that bridge of ages between 20 and 27 that one is trapped between the past and future while the present is all but a blur. Almost lost it feels like. It is at this time that life is moving so fast that we miss the sign saying "now entering adult territory". We are somehow trapped between childish habits while at the same time doing very adult things like paying bills and signing for loans. So I find myself at the very threshold to life without a clue of my next step. And this I find odd because in all my 22 years on earth, 12 years of grade school and 4 years of college I feel much like everyone else is saying, asking and urging that by now I should have some sort of direction for my life. In the very fact that I don't, I find this very liberating, because now I am free to choose, to explore to attempt at things I never tried before. And maybe, just maybe this is the universe telling me to pursue my interests and maybe eventually someone will pay me for what I like doing.

Black Love & Peace

Beyonce's Bow Down and the concept of the "Modern-Day Feminist"

In the May issue of British Vogue, Beyoncé calls herself a modern-day feminist.

 “That word can be very extreme, but I guess I am a modern-day feminist. I do believe in equality. Why do you have to choose what type of woman you are? Why do you have lato bel yourself anything? I’m just a woman and I love being a woman."

- ForHarriet.com 

 While Beyonce agrees that equality to women is an important issue, posing in GQ in a crop top and underwear does nothing for the cause. Her latest song release "Bow Down (I Been On)" further pushes women apart. As an artist, she has the right to produce whatever type of music her heart so desires but to claim to be a feminist takes her art to a completely different level. If she want to claim the title of a "Modern-day feminist", her music must first encourage the uplift of women not a divide. A Feminist's goal is to not create divisions but to bridge all the gaps where sexism exists. Which takes us to the next issue.

She is contributing to the objectification of women by subjecting her self to the poses she headlined in the February Issue of GQ magazine. The photos in my opinion were distasteful and had nothing to do with displaying any type of men's fashion. The photos appealed to men in that they were risque images of the well built singer. 

There is one thing to be noted her, that celebs, primarily musicians cannot be looked up to as actvists or as feminists because they are often forced to succumb to the will of popular opinion to do whatever it takes to sell records. Unfortunately even very successful artists as Beyonce are still trying to "keep up with the Kardashian's".