It’s been revealed that the circulating disc cover for Whitney Houston’s forthcoming album, Undefeated is a hoax.  Well that’s good news, because I hated that cover, saying that it made her look like Ru Paul. My bad.

According to Essence.com, “Houston is still recording and we look forward to unveiling new music along with the official album cover in due time.”
 

Before Amy Winehouse’s meteoric rise to superstardom then hysterical descent into drug addiction, the music world was rooting for Whitney Houston, who, unlike Winehouse, demonstrated a longer lasting ability to stay in the spotlight thanks to fantastic singing and solid music, but also fell prey to drug addiction.

And for a while, it seemed as if a Whitney comeback was as unlikely as one from Winehouse. Well, after Whitney dropped Bobby and made nice with Clive Davis, she might indeed reclaim her throne.

Now circulating on the Internet is this cover for reportedly Houston’s forthcoming album, Undefeated. Hmmm, I hate to say this but it sort of rings with the same oversized, egomaniacal title of Michael Jackson’s last disc, Invincible, which proved anything but. Also, the hammy, oversexualized photograph of Whitney makes her look a bit like Ru Paul.

But that’s just my two cents. What do you think of the cover?
 

As one black leader ascends, another one, we lose. In the case, it’s the death of Grammy Award-winning South African singer and international cultural icon, Miriam Makeba, who died Sunday in Italy, after a performance. Known as “Mama Africa” because of stirring voice and political stances against the political and social injustices in South Africa, Makeba died from a heart attack at age 76.

According to The New York Times, she was performing at a concert in Baia Verde to support writer, Robert Saviano, who was receiving death threats after writing about organized crime. She collapses as she was leaving the stage.

Throughout much of her career, Makeba was exiled from apartheid South Africa. In 1960, she discovered that the South African government revoked her passport when she tried to re-enter her home country to attend her mother’s funeral, after touring the U.S. A year prior, she had performed in an anti-apartheid documentary, Come Back Africa, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival.

She testified at the United Nations in 1963 against the apartheid in South Africa, which led to the country revoking her citizenship and her right to return. Soon after, she gained honorary citizenships in 10 other countries and 9 passports.

Makeba married several times; her former husbands include Black Panther leader, Stokely Carmichael and South African jazz trumpeter, Hugh Masekela.

“I’m not a political singer. I don’t know what the word means,” she said in a May 2008 interview with British writer Robin Denselow, reports The New York Times. “ People think I consciously decided to tell the world what was happening in South Africa. No! I was singing about my life, and in South Africa we always sang about what was happening to us — especially the things that hurt us.”

Send your condolences.
 

It’s Friday, three days after that glorious event of Barack Obama becoming the 44th and first Black president of the United States. Still trying to retain that flame, what better way to cap off the end of the work week with some nice inspiring hip hop from Common.

Following the unveiling of Beyoncé’s Sasha Fierce persona, Ciara announces to the world, Super C, her forceful alter-ego on her forthcoming disc, Fantasy Ride.

Before long with the likes of  Beyoncé, T-Pain, Ciara, Zo and Tiggalo, we will have the funky musical equivalent of the famed super-hero team, the Justice League.  And can you imagine the almighty George Clinton – the sage mad genius of alter-egos – presiding over them?

But there’s something “too close for comfort” about Super C, especially right after the arrival Sasha Fierce.   

Is Ciara a copycat or is it mere coincidence?

Watching Sen. Barack Obama become the 44th and first Black American president galvanized my soul last night.  Just watching his family as well as Vice President Joe Biden’s grace the stage, sharing hugs and smiles, inspired me, forcing me to reckon with the idea that America is opening a new chapter to becoming the America it wants to me.

Being a music maniac, it also made me recontexualize a lot of my favorite R&B and jazz songs as they played in my mind, providing a new soundtrack for that historic site. Below are just a few classics that swirled in cranium.

1. John Coltrane’s “Giant Steps”
2. Shalamar’s “A Night to Remember”
3. Donny Hathaway’s “Someday We’re All Be Free”
4. Harold Melvin & the Blue Note’s “Wake Up Everybody”
5. Curtis Mayfield’s “Power to the People”
6. The Jackson’s “Can You Feel It”
7. Duke Ellington’s “Black, Brown & Beige  Suite”
8. The Staple Singers’ “I’ll Take You There”
9. Funkadelic’s “One Nation Under a Groove”
10. The O’Jay’s “Love Train”
11. Prince’s “Uptown”
12. Earth, Wind & Fire”s “Mighty Mighty”
13. Gary Bartz’s “I’ve Known Rivers”
14. The Beatles’ “Come Together”
15. Max Roach’s “We Insist – Freedom Now Suite”

Now add your favorite classics to the list.

Oh, how I wish this wasn’t so newsworthy. Come to think about it, it really isn’t. Raphael Saadiq recently stated that he’s going to vote for Barack Obama during the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Duh!

The said news is that he argued that he didn’t vote during the 2004 election between George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry because he wasn’t motivated. “I didn’t vote last time ‘cos I knew Bush was gonna be back in there, that’s not a great reason not to vote, but sometimes people aren’t motivated to vote,” he told WENN.

There’s a hint of sadness for me in there, because I’m such a huge Raphael Saadiq fan. I’m glad that he’s voting and supporting my presidential candidate. But given how many blacks suffered for our right to vote in America, we shouldn’t be moved only when we see a black person on the ballot. We need to engage in all national and international politics throughout to make informed choices.

To Saadiq’s credit, he did suggest that he’s voting for Obama not just because of his race. “I think it means a lot for the black community… (but) more than that, more than it being about a black president, it’s more about being the best person for the job. He’s a black president and everybody’s gonna look at it like, ‘Oh, we got a black president’, but it’s more than that.”

John Legend’s latest disc, Evolver didn’t sell as well during its first week like its predecessor, Once Again. I guess a lot of people are watching their coins, considering the economic meltdown, and distinguishing necessities versus needs.

But Legend isn’t being a cry baby about it. He did offer a mature response to Associated Press, though, during an interview when the thought of perhaps more media coverage would bolster his status in mainstream pop.  Legend aligned himself with critically acclaimed pop stars such as Coldplay and Chris Martin, arguing that you don’t read about them constantly in the tabloids. 
He then goes on to talk about Britney Spears and Lindsey Lohan. “You read about for instance, Britney Spears all the time and her last album didn’t even sell that well,” Legend said, “You read about Lindsay Lohan all the time her last album didn’t sell that well, nor have her movies sold that well, so “I don’t think there’s that strong of a correlation between tabloid coverage and album sales.”

Now for a round of applause for Legend for keeping his dignity in check; but what if the argument is right. Is Legend trying to be hard to be “Goodie Two Shoes?”  Or is he just keeping it real?
 

Being Black and gay in America is no picnic in the park. Being Black and, more importantly, opening gay in Jamaica is even harder. It’s no secret that Jamaica isn’t the most welcoming place for gay people. Just listen to a lot of the homophobic lyrics that lace a lot of popular dancehall music – lyrics that advocate violence and murder of gay people. Also when gays suffer from violent hate crimes on the island, the police often turns a blind’s eye or even worse, engage in the violence.

U.K. soul singer, Beverly Knight, however is taking a public stance against homophobic lyrics in dancehall, calling the task of leading artists such as Buju Banton, Beenie Man, Elephant Man and Bounty Killer. Knight is endorsing the “Stop Murder Music” campaign, which some argue are ruining artists’ careers for confronting their hateful lyrics.

Great Britain’s Metropolitan Police and the Crown Prosecution Service are investigating musicians, including those aforementioned dancehall artists, Outrage!, a gay human-rights advocacy group presented  them with a list of songs which incite violence and murder of gays. In the U.K., incitement to murder is a criminal offense.

“If you are prepared to go on record for eternity saying things that are hateful then you have to be responsible for the consequences of your actions,” Knight says, according to Singerroom.com.

Between being someone who trumpets “Freedom of Expression” and as a Black gay man who is weary of homophobia in all of its forms, I’m certainly conflicted with charging musicians as criminals for hateful lyrics. That said, I’m leaning towards the British government’s side. And like Beverly suggests, if you’re big enough to endorse violence to others, be big enough to suffer the consequences.

What’s your take?

Who is Sasha Fierce? Is it some rakish drag queen doing his best lip-sync performance of Ru Paul’s “Supermodel (You Better Work)” or some all purple suit donning pimp, wearing platform shoes and a white fur coat? Well it’s neither.

Sasha Fierce is Beyoncé’s new alter-ego that she’ll unveil on her upcoming two disc, I Am . . . Sasha Fierce, according to Billboard magazine. Dropping on Nov. 18, one disc will showcase her pop side with songs written by Amanda Ghost and E. Kidd Bogart, while the other one will highlight her R&B roots with songs produced by Jim Jonsin, Tricky Stewart and Bangladesh.
OK, why am I not all excited? I love the alter-ego name, Sasha Fierce. I just wished that the concept behind it had more imagination than the “pop versus R&B.” Guess I was hoping for something more outlandish like David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust or Janelle Monae’s Cindi Mayweather – you know, something for futuristic and edgy to give justice to the alter-ego’s name. I bet lil sis, Solange could pull off a this off much better.

What are your thoughts?