BHM Day 8: Teyana Taylor

I used to be OBSESSED with the MTV show “My Super Sweet Sixteen”. I watched most of the episodes and loved/hated the spoiled brats they’d feature weekly. It was this show that introduced me to Teyana Taylor. I remember her episode because instead of wanting a stunty car, she really wanted a bike. Oh, and on top of that she was down with Pharrell. She gave me super New York/tom boy vibes and she was refreshing as hell. Not too long after her show, she began dropping music. Sadly no one was really there to pick it up or give a damn. (please note: I don’t care what you say, “Google Me” was kind of genius and I will fight you over this.)



Teyana kind of disappeared for a minute. I saw she parted ways with her music label and went the indie route. She made some minor waves with her mixtapes (maybe they were albums? I can’t tell the difference anymore..) and ultimately ended up signing with Kanye’s G.O.O.D Music. Yay! He was killing it and signing the best talent, she was bound to be a hit with a larger audience, right? She was on the opening track to “My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy” and that made me think “Ok, Kanye is getting her name out so she can drop her own material.” WRONG. Teyana was also featured on the opening of G.O.O.D. Music’s compilation “Cruel Summer” I started getting the feeling that Teyana was signed just so Ye would have someone to sing a good hook.

Jumping ahead past an album release and a baby, Teyana starred in the video for “Fade”. THe video was her dancing around in very little, but it kept it all very artistic. Her body was banging and soon after she had the likes of “Vogue” being obsessed with her. She even landed a highly coveted (girl, I guess?) role on VH1’s Divas Live Christmas Special. Things are definitely looking up for Teyana and I’m curious to see what she does with all of this newfound exposure. I mean, the girl can sing, dance, write, AND take a bomb ass photo. Plus, any girl that can come out of a Rihanna feud with her edges in tact deserves the BHM spotlight. Brava, sis!

BHM Day 7: Ms. Jenifer Lewis

Today I am highlighting Jenifer Lewis. I first became aware of her when she played Will Smith’s aunt on “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air”. She was in a handful of episodes, but I remember always loving her one liners and the way she always commanded attention when she was on screen. I honestly forgot about her for a minute until I saw her on “Blackish”. Although I feel like she’s kind of playing WIll’s auntie at an older age on this show, I still love it. I don’t know the original plan of the show, but it feels like she was an ancillary character who morphed into a lead and one of the most loved on the show.

She’s had a long career filled with highlights like working on Broadway and being a backup singer for Bette Middler. She’s honestly one of those people that when you Google her, you’re hit with a feeling of “Oh right, she WAS in ‘What’s Love Got to Do with It” and ‘Sister Act” She’s been steadily working and out here collecting checks left and right, which is hard enough for a woman of a certain again, and damn near impossible for a Black woman of a certain age. You guys, she is even listed as having appeared on “Friends” which is one of the whitest TV shows of all time. Talk about breaking down barriers!

I think what’s helped me fall in love with her even more, are these videos she’s been posting on social media. She’s like my imaginary, drunken (pretty sure she’s sober though), foul mouthed auntie, and I love it. The videos are funny, filled with good singing, and highly quotable. For blessing the youth out here in these streets with lyrical gems, I salute Jenifer Lewis and shine my BHM spotlight upon her.

BHM Day 6: Atlanta

I’m guessing that today Atlanta is a little less turnt up that usual. I get it, that L they took last night was pretty tough to take. The game felt oddly political, given the President’s remarks about Atlanta and the fact that he and Brady are besties. Now would be a good time to insert the Tyra .GIF about us rooting for them, but that joke is far too easy and quite frankly, beneath me. I know people were getting ready to pop bottles and make it rain on big bootied strippers at Magic City. Sadly both the bottles and the P’s of strippers remain unpopped today. Worry not, ATLiens, on this sixth day of BHM I am shining my light on your wonderful city!


See, if you are a fan of alternative facts, you’d buy into the notion that Atlanta is “in horrible shape and falling apart”. You’d probably also be dumb AF and not my target audience, so feel free to hit that magic “X” in the top right of your screen. Ok, now that it’s just us lovers of facts, I can drop a few on this great city:

IT’s the last US city to have hosted the Summer Olympics

They have a Golden Globe winning show based on it

They have one of, if not (too lazy to google) the busiest airports in the world

Whenever a reality show wants to appeal to Black people, they have a cast in Atlanta. (Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta, Little Women: Atlanta, Real Housewives of Atlanta, etc)

Atlanta is home to many large corporations like Coca Cola and CNN

The music scene and it’s effect on pop music in undeniable. (Migos at #1, and the new Ariana Grande single features Future)

Did I mention RHOA?




There’s more to Atlanta than trap music and Magic City. Like any major city, this place has its share of hoods, but it also has one of the greatest concentrations of successful Black professionals. People in Atlanta go hard for their city and will fight you. I remember going to see the Formation Tour and Khalid brought out damn near off of Atlanta for the show. People went TF off. One might have believed TI, Ludacris, and Usher were required readings in school.The beauty of seeing such pride in one’s city was inspiring.

So I said all of that because I want Atlanta to dust themselves off, and keep it pushing. Take a day or two to mourn, but come this weekend do what you do best, by showing up and showing out. I fully expect to hear the applause from stripper’s cheeks to be heard in Orlando, do NOT disappoint me, Atlanta.

BHM Day 5: MIGOS

Today, on this fifth day of Black History Month, I am shining the light on MIGOS. Truth be told, I honestly thought they were destined to be a one hit wonder after hearing their song “Versace” They said “Versace” about 100000x, but the song was infectious and went off in the club. Hell, even Miley (during her Urban phase) referenced it on a remix to “Ain’t Worried About Nothin’”. You know you’re on the verge of crossing over when Miley quotes you. Funny enough, they have a song called “Hannah Montana”. I would be lying if I said thought that they were going to be more than a 1.5 hit wonder.

Now, in this year of 2017, Migos is not only here, but they are known all over this great country. Daniel Glover thanked Migos for making “Bad and Boujee” during his Golden Globes speech and two things happened: Black people all over were like “Oh hell no! He didn’t just do that! That dude crazy for that!” and many White people ran to Google to see what/who was Migos. I think one of my Golden GLobes coverage highlights was the reporter backstage asking Donald about Migos and “Bad and Boujee”. Just seeing her ask the questions with a straight face seemed hard enough. She deserves an award. Give her a Grammy, since apparently no one cares about those anymore…

The shout out propelled the single to the top of the charts and lead to their album “Culture” debuting in the number one spot. They are finally getting love from people in the flat states the way people from Atlanta have been loving them for some time now. They even had a petition to replace Gaga in the halftime show of the SuperBowl. It’s a good time to be Migos. If they keep this up, maybe they can be at the next Halftime show. Ok, I’m guessing a hard no, but it’s important to keep hope alive.

BHM Day 4: Kelly Price

A few years ago, #KellyPrice was trending on twitter and I got nervous, as I figured she had died. I was never her biggest fan, but I have always thought she had a good voice and she’s given me some song that I really enjoy. I mean, if she was good enough to sing with Whitney, she’s good enough for Yann! So imagine my joy when I found out that she was in fact, still alive and well! Better yet, there was a longer hashtag (#FatAssKellyPrice) that I discovered that forever changed my life. Ok, that’s a bit dramatic, but that’s kind of very on brand for me, so whatever. THe hashtag came from an episode of “Catfish” where a guy’s cousin catfished him because he called her (you guessed it!) a fat ass Kelly Price. It was TV gold and deserved an Emmy.



OK, but after the joke from the dust settled, I wondered how KP would get back to being known for her music. Before trending on Twitter, she was on on the reality show, R&B Divas and came off like the absolute worst human being. At one point she ended up accidentally singing “As We Lay” (a song about fucking a married man) for a crowd of people who were there for a gospel set. When would the Ls stop coming?! I thought it might be over for her. I was wrong, which is weird, as I’m like never wrong.

Fast Forward to Kanye finally dropping TLOP and Kelly Price is featured on one of the standout tracks, “Ultralight Beam”. She killed her verse and took us all to church Just like that, people were reminded how dope she was. I know, I went to YouTube and watched her old videos. If Kanye represented old heads embracing Kelly, Migos naming a song after her gave her a stamp of approval of the young people. I’m guessing the greatest achievement (besides the 6 Grammy nods and her child) would probably be being chosen to sing the national anthem for Chris Brown and Soulja Boy’s boxing match in Dubai. #BLESSUP! Today, I’m shining the BHM spotlight on Kelly Price because I love a good comeback story. Kelly, please don’t fuck this up.

** Fun fact: I just googled her to find a photo, and her website refers to her as the Queen of R&B Soul. This is news to me (and I’m guessing to most people) but even more reason to shine the light on this queen!

BHM Day 3: Naomi Campbell

Late last night, I saw the new campaign for GAP that features Naomi Campbell and had no choice but to celebrate her today. The woman has been CONSISTENTLY slaying (an overused term, but so appropriate for Ms. Campbell) for over 25 years. I’m unsure if she’s made a deal with the Devil, drinks the blood of virgins, or is just “Good Black, don’t crack” personified.

I don’t think there is doubt that Naomi is beautiful, but her importance goes beyond that. Naomi came in a time when there weren’t very many famous Black models and not only made a name for herself, but reached supermodel status. She helped to start changing the idea that putting a non white woman on the cover of a magazine would result in abysmal sales. The likes of Serena, Lupita, and even Beyonce owe part of their covers to great strides Naomi made. Ms. Campbell remains vocal about including diversity in fashion, as she is well aware that we are far from being equally represented in the fashion world. She remains passionate about HIV/AIDS awareness and has been vocal about the uptick in HIV in certain areas. She has worked with PETA, but then she modeled fur. You know what, let's just move on...

Naomi isn’t just in fashion, she has moved into TV. (I’m not going to discuss the album she released in Japan out of respect) She plays a rich bitch VERY well. I’m not sure if she’s acting or not, but I always enjoy seeing her on my TV screen. Naomi has a line of lingerie and I’m sure a bunch of other side businesses I don’t feel like Googling. (Y’all have the same access to Google I do). She has made sure to be a well rounded person, and this is why she’s remained relevant in one of the most fickle industries for so long. Well that, and because I’m sure people are terrified of her. She’s quick with a Blackberry and still has Tyra shook after damn near two decades. Eh, either way she’s bad as hell and today I shall shine my BHM spotlight upon her!

BHM Day 2: Donald Glover

I might be still high off of the wins from the Golden Globes, so I am going to go ahead and shine the BHM spotlight on Donald Glover. I first found out about this guy on the show “Community” which I kind of liked/kind of didn’t understand. I guess it grew to have a cult following after it’s cancellation. I’m sure he did other things after that, but he was in Magic Mike 2. The movie was trash and didn’t have nearly enough nude scenes, but that’s not the point of today’s post.

Glover also raps under the name Childish Gambino and has put out three albums and like seven mixtapes. According to his Wikipedia, the man also plays the glockenspiel. I guess that’s something of which to be proud? Anyway, he makes good music and has recently gotten a bit more experimental with his sound. I adore his verse on Ariana’s “Break Your Heart RIght Back” because of the word play and I just think the whole notion of her singing a song about dating a gay dude over an “I’m Coming Out” sample is genius. Let me stop making this about Ariana, THIS AIN”T YOUR MONTH, SIS! Here’s the verse

Listen, you got a man but your man ain't loyal
Don't understand how to spell it out for ya
Yes I'm G, from the A, and they ask why
Sorry had to tell you, I'm a nice guy
Naw, I'm a sick guy, money too much
I step on stage and girls move too much
The flow so gross, my nickname school lunch
And he with them other guys, you know it's true 'cause
G-A-M-B-I-N-O
I know they hate but I don't know why, uh
I know the way he did you was whack
But I know how you can get dude right back

2016 proved to be a great year for Donald, as his show “Atlanta” received great reviews and won two Golden Globes. He is also going to be in the Hans Solo movie, which I guess is a big deal. I just know it’s attached to Star Wars, and that franchise is killing it currently. I'm guessing Donald will be stacking some major coins and will probably have some sort of cocoa collectible action figure. The man is racking up the accolades on screens both large and small, as well as for his music and has a bright future ahead of him.