The Imani Flow

Author:  Dorian Shane Ellis

Lena Horne

Raise your hand if you know who Lena Horne is. Ok, I say about 15% to 20% of YOU know who she is. Now, raise your hand if you are familiar with Glinda the Good Witch from the 1978 remake of “The Wizard of Oz” called, “The Wiz”. Now more hands have gone up! As many of you may or may not know, the singer/actress, activist known as, Lena Horne passed away, on May 9th. Adding to the gaping hole in the disconnect between the older and younger Black generations.

I over heard a black teen tell someone it is not important for her to know about her BLACK culture… I proceeded to tell her that she should keep her ignorant comments to herself. People, such as, Lena Horne, have worked vigorously to open and keep open the opportunities that we take for granted! When the directors said cut, and the cameras were turned off, and lights turned down that was not the end of Lena Horne’s and others roles as torch bearers.

June 30, 1917, Lena Mary Calhoun Horne, was born to an upper class Black family, in Brooklyn, New York. She bounced around the country for a while during her formative years. From Georgia, to Pittsburgh, to New York City before dropping out of high school there. At age 16, her mother started Lena’s trek to fame by having her audition and become a entertainer at the famous(Whites only) Cotton Club.

In 1941, after some time at the Cotton Club the future starlet was lured, by Felix Young, on a journey cross country to Hollywood to star at the Trocadero night club. Everything sounded wonderful except the fact that she was Black in 1941, when Hollywood was a Whites only town. Even though she had a light complexion she was still like a fly in the milk. Which wasn’t appreciated by her white neighbors.

It’s human nature to not want to be that fly. You stand alone and are unwanted in those situations. But, to pursue her goals and aspirations Lena needed to stand strong. Which is lost in today’s society where many have lackadaisical and apathetic attitudes. Everyone has that “hustler’s mentality” to turn a quick buck, but fail to understand longevity is built through hard work.

Mrs. Horne understood what it took and parlayed that into a career that spanned over several decades. She began her acting career with MGM in 1942(where she was second Black woman to have a major movie contract), with a role in “Panama Hattie”. Her next part was singing the title song of “Stormy Weather”. During this same time Black films or films portraying Blacks as being anything more than subservient to Whites were not allowed to be played in many Southern theaters. Subsequently, many of Lena’s early roles were either in all Black musicals or in parts that could easily be taken out for distribution in Southern States.

Today’s world is different in many ways. We have a Black president. Tyler Perry comes out with a new movie viewed worldwide it seems like every three months; and you can look at, date, marry and have sexual encounters with anyone of any race, creed, and gender without facing the same tragic fate of Emmett Till. During the 1950’s… Not so much.

Lena’s thoughts on equality were viewed as doctrines of communism; which conflicted with the normalcy that White Americans had embraced for so long. She refused to play in front of segregated audiences or kowtow to the many Jim Crow laws in place during that time. She once said, “You have to be taught to be second class; you’re not born that way.” This luxury of somewhat equality that is now taken for granted was one of the points that had Mrs. Horne blacklisted from Hollywood, which led her to do more television, nightclubs, and music recordings.

Her recording career garnered her four grammy awards and eight nominations. Mrs. Horne’s career also brought her recognition from the stage theater community and Civil Rights organizations such as the NAACP. She realized her duty to the people was to do more than just entertain; her job was to also pay respects to her culture and set a precedence for future generations.

That is what I should’ve told that teenager, but I didn’t… There are many Black men and women who have made contributions to our society; there are also a few common names that get thrown around each February. We have to do more than just expect teachers to educate our children on Black History. This is our History! Let us take some initiative and do the research to educate our children and ourselves.

The Ohio Emcee Dominique Larue teams up with producer/emcee Idasa Tariq for “HerStory”, a 6 track EP of Larue’s smooth yet gripping flow over Tariq’s soulful hip hop production. “HerStory” also features verses from Tariq as well as fellow emcee Stik Figa. Presented by DJBooth.net and DubMD, “HerStory” is a mos def listen!

Download for Free below:

http://www.djbooth.net/index/mixtapes/entry/dominique-larue-herstory-ep/

HerStory = Dominique Larue x Idasa Tariq

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Kinda old conversation but still relevant – Skillz VA

Joy Ike!

Great artist out here Pittsburgh, Pa! Everytime I hear her sing live it gives me chills. Few artists do that for me, but you can feel her passion and emotions in her songs. Peep game

Joy Ike – City Lights

Video directed by Will Feagins, Jr. of High Impact MultiMedia

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MAHBROTHA from another mother!

Shade is always on point with the production. Delivering a remix album this year and soon to be dropping “Cassette Theory”, take a listen!

http://soundcloud.com/shade-cobain

Shade Cobain - Cobainish Remixes Vol. 1 (Rotunda Muzik 2010)

To download the “Cobainish Remixes Vol. 1″ go to :

http://stilltown.blogspot.com/search/label/Shade%20Cobain

Peace World!

Aight (pronounced Ay-ite, means “All Right” in ebonics/slang for those who don’t know and don’t know how I write)

Well that took up a line, but oh well…

Aight…so I’m walking into work and pass by a woman. She’s attractive. She’s Caucasian. I greet her, she greets me, we keep it moving. So I’m talking with a co-worker (who’s African-American) I know and asking does she know her, and she says “who?” . I describe her, and when she walks by again, I pointed her out to her. Her comment was “too many of y’all brothers getting caught up in them white girls.”

Word?

Now,  we had our comments, another co-worker joined in the convo, made her comments as well. Phrases like “I don’t discriminate against other men because of color” and “strong black woman” are in the convo. We talk about how Black and White males differ in their preference towards a female mate.

Where I disagree, is this: our species is human. Our color is supposed to differentiate us in terms of what region our ancestry  is from and possibly where we were currently born. It is NOT what defines us as what type of a human we are in regards to our character. For me, I’m bi-racial. Caucasian and African-American. A human above all, and I respect women regardless of what color their skin is. What makes me shake my head is the common answer I hear when this question is asked in regards to the majority of Black women in America: if Black women are to be viewed as strong (and to take it a step further, possibly stating stronger than other races), why is it they straighten their hair to look more White?

Guess Loreal loves photoshop just as much as the models do

Think about it.

How can one in the same sentence say they are a strong BLACK woman, BLACK meaning they are connecting to their original African features such as “nappy hair“, but will do anything to straighten it, such as using harmful chemicals like sodium hydroxide found in some of your relaxer lotions/creams, and using flat irons, all in the essence of allowing your hair to look more White? White being of Caucasian/European descent. Now, I know, if you comb and brush your hair everyday, and wash it, it’s not hard to maintain. So something that might take you an extra half an hour to do everyday could be a simple solution for maintaining your hair as opposed to burning it to straighten it (which is what those relaxer creams and lotions do).

Now another question comes to mind: why are Black women doing this to themselves?

One answer I can give, is being a product of your environments. One key environment; your modern day workplace.

How many of you have had to shave your head or get it trimmed and lined up (whether asked to or voluntarily done) all because it was or may be viewed as an “extreme hairstyle” for the workplace? Afros. Cornrows. Dreadlocks/Dreadlocs. Braids. All for a person of brown pigment, can be considered “cultural hairstyles” found throughout their history. But because one or more races view it as an “extreme hairstyle” or may have a personal discrepancy with it, are we subconsciously telling ourselves it’s not cool to have a hairstyle that DIRECTLY reflects our SKIN COLOR? From the burbs to the hood, we’ve seen younger kids and older folk get on each other for having a “nappy head” and, for the most part not even question it. You look at some of our role models, our athletes, our public figures, our bosses, our family members, all wearing an image they feel they need in order to SUCCEED and BLEND in with society.

If I am ever fortunate to be blessed with a daughter, half of these magazine covers and TV ads on a daily basis are constantly  telling her what the “popular beauty” is, which would be a slim a figure, straight hair, all white teeth, form fitting clothes and contacts…for the most part. Maybe even hair that’s not hers (weaves, wigs, whatever you want to call them, it’s not yours). So if I’m a parent, who was once a kid like her, how am I supposed to talk to her on what beauty is? Are those magazines and TV ads lying for a commercial gain, possibly even social and psychological control?

Sounds like some sci-fi stuff. But when you really look at it from outside of your own personal box, how fictitious is it?

All of that to say this: why would your average Black man in America bust his ass to get with a Black woman (who a lot of times have their own personal and societal views and stereotypes of black men already, such as having no jobs, pimps and gangsters, unreliable fathers, and lazy) who is trying to look like another race, because she views the attributes of her natural ancestry to be unattractive, when he can easily be with the race they are trying to portray?

And this applies to White women as well, because there is the image now that White women have to have a more fuller and curvaceous body (focus on the booty and hips), fuller lips, curlier hair, and a TAN. So, you have white men who are looking for a more “exotic” (as some put it) mate for them to settle with, because your natural European features are not “attractive” to them in their eyes.

So you basically have both races trying to be like one another because they view the other race as more physically attractive then themselves.

Yea…that makes reaaaaaal sense. *insert sarcasm here*

So in actuality, as your average Joe…wait a minute, we’re gonna change that too, just so others can relate to this as well and not feel left out. You’ll see what I mean…

So, in actuality, as your average Joe/Jamal (get it?), it seems a little too much to ask of a woman to just be her natural looking self (because lets face it, untainted beauty is above all the highest beauty one can obtain), when you have all these companies telling her how I, THE MAN , should see her as beautiful. So I guess we’re all, men and women, getting duped into what beauty is supposed to be in society…but why?

Food for thought. Bon appetite!

- Das

God’s Peace World! Sooooo…this is my new blog. Catch me here giving you music updates, some interviews, news…maybe some free bachelor cooking tips

Might even teach some of you broke rappers how to make beats…that’ll fix the “can I get a free beat?” problem.

Must be an epidemic going around

I might…jusssst might…tell you why that bum you’re dating, is like Dwight from the Office. Just my 2 cents of course

Maybe some thoughts on current events? What’s going on in your neighboorhood, neighbor?

I miss Mr. Rogers. Matter fact, I miss watching those kid shows when I was growing up.

Sesame Street…Eureka’s Castle…Ghost Writer…Goosebumps…Gulla Gulla Island…Secret World of Richard Scary

Thooooose were the days. When kids programming was about television programming we could learn and enjoy…not program us to be dumbed down.

I might vent on here too…us humans seem to like watching folks fizzle and pop before our eyes as opposed to helping them. I can see y’all salivating over Tiger Woods, ready to see him breakdown…as if some of y’all have never cheated before. Forgot how innocent we all are. We can’t possibly do wrong! Nay nay!

*high fives angels on his shoulders*

Oh yea, I may throw some Islamic references out there…spice things up. Add a lil baharat to it, beef a post up halal style, nah mean?

Was that too much ebonics there? I know it’s a communication site, and the suits would like the “proper english”…even though we’re in America…and the majority of the people speak “Broken American”…

We should make a new word for that…”Broke American”…BrokAmero?

I’ma use that

Wonder if I can start calling people BrokAmeros too, like how folks call Arabs “arabic” when Arabic is a language, not an ethnicity.

So…to wrap this up…maybe after all this reading, and if I’m so fortunate to have at least 5 readers…y’all might be able to answer the question everybody always seems to ask me:

“Why You Mad Das?”

Salamu Alaikum/Peace be upon you,

Das Heat