Tag Archives: erykah badu

(Formerly) Great Artists That Need To Stop Making Sh*tty Music

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Now here’s the situation.

You know you’re about to get some Black sh*t when ever the word situation comes at the beginning of a story.

Moving on.

It’s bound to happen to every artist. At some point, either the money, the fame, or the overall success steals their creativity and their forced to learn something about their motivations. Some artists can only create when they have a chip on their shoulders – see most rappers. Others are truly musicians, but their most interesting and compelling music comes when they have the least and therefore the most to gain from putting it all on the line.

Basically, a lot of artists best works were their first works and since then, their output has gone downhill faster than an H3 with 4 350 pound women singing “It’s Raining Men” holding anvils.

And these aren’t your typical artists either. We all know Ice Cube blows d*ck right now. Eminem too. They’re low hanging fruit.

Also, for nearly all of the artists that I’m going to name, I’m a fan. Consider this motivation should any of them either be sitting on the toilet perusing blogs and happen to come across this post after googling their name. That’s how Teedra Moses and her minions found her way here right?

So here’s Panama’s list of artists who need to stop making sh*tty music and get back to making music actually worth listening to.

1. India Arie

She’s my motivation for this post in the first place. Let me be clear, India Arie seems like the kind of person I’d never actually want to hang out with. Despite her earthy crunchy nature, she also seems like a hipster douchebag. But I don’t really know her or her mother so I could be wrong. With that being said, Acoustic Soul was a classic. Straight up. “Video” is one of the best songs ever. It’s honest, its brutal, it’s the defintion of real. It’s the realeast rap song ever that happens to be sung by a bohemian chick from Atlanta. It’s like Arrested Development without the pretense and faux realism. And I like Arrested Development. That whole album was on some real sh*t. It was honest. “Brown Skin” was relate-able to all ninjas. Again, I love that album and think it deserved every Grammy award it lost to Alicia Keys Songs In A Minor, which was alright, but largely forgettable.

Man that was a lot. Anyway, since then, India Arie took the douchebaggery to the next level, eschewing her realism for complete and total pretense. You all remember when Maxwell dropped Embrya with all those ridiculous pretentious titles? Yeah, that’s her career since then. Voyage To India should have just been called Purpose Driven Life to Song. There was no India Arie. Just songs about people who do sh*t. “The Truth” was hot, but “Little Things” was THE most ridiculous songs ever. Her albums have gone down hill. She needs to do better and get back to basics.

2. Jill Scott

I don’t give a f*ck what any of you say…since JILLJILLJILL dropped Who Is Jill Scott, Vol 1. her albums have gotten increasingly more urban contemporary. Basically, they’re elevator music now. That first album was seminal. It was so thorough you could hear every ounce of her being poured all over it. “A Long Walk” is STILL one of the best songs to come out of the entire neo-soul movement. Her second album was boring as hell save for “Cross My Mind” and “Golden”. I realize “Golden” is either loved or hated by most folks but I love it. Point is, I want Jilly from Philly back. I want to hear some of that J-I-L-L-S-C-O-T-Teeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

(musiq would make this list except most of his albums aren’t hot. He’s good for a hot single. I will say that I think Soul Star was a dope album through and through. I know I contradicted myself, look I don’t need that now.)

3. Mos Def

Black on Both Sides is a classic. Period. The New Danger is not. True Magic is not. The Ecstatic is not. It’s like Mos got bored and started getting too experimental and forgot that at the end of the day, the best way to sell music is to make music that somebody might actually want to buy. I miss the might Mos…or Yasiin Bey as he prefers to be called now.

4. Big Boi

This one hurt and I’m sure folks will disagree…that’s okay. While (Keep Your Heart) 3 Stacks has pretty much stopped making music except when he needs a check, Big Boi has continued to make music, except its not good. I’ve heard some actual terrible sh*t. Greg Street said something to him that was real…ATL radio ain’t keepin’ you off the airwaves off some disrespect, its just that your product ain’t hot. Look, I hate Future too, but the ninja keeps hopping on beats that are hot. Big Boi has tried to do this EWF meets George Clinton meets Too Short type thing and it ain’t hot. He should stick to acting. Lord knows he’s way better than Andre. And this latest single with Kelly Rowland? WTF. It hurt me to type every word in this paragraph. Speakerboxx was dope but definitely had its misses. Well it was the beginning.

5. Erykah Badu

WHO GON’ TES’ ME NOW! I’M THE REAL DON DADA! I don’t care what you say…after Mama’s Gun, she started going downhill. Sure I enjoyed some of the output but the last two albums (the New Amerykah joints)…hot damn messes of confusing unfinished ideas. I know you love her…but if you love her, tell her to stop f*cking rappers and get her sh*t back together.

Well I think that’s enough controversy right there. Yes, I just said that some of your favorites suck. At this moment. Not for good. I’d put Alicia Keys here, but remember…most of her albums just ain’t good as a whole. Me no care what you say.

So…what artists do you think need to stop making sh*tty music and get back to what made them dope??

-VSB P aka THE ARSONIST aka MR. WHOYAWIT? aka GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRL HE A 3

VSB Crewneck Sweatshirts are now available for a limited time! Go check them out and order online from http://shop.coliseumapparel.com. And peep Panama getting his model on!

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7 things i’ve thought about erykah badu and her “window seat” video

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1. after making a few jump shots in a row, occasionally lebron james will race down court the next time he gets the ball and shoot an uncontested 35 to 40 footer with 20 seconds left on the shot clock (watch from 0:29 to 0:59 here for an example). for those not familiar with basketball, doing this is the equivalent of approaching your manager to ask for a raise and your own parking spot, receiving both, and then approaching him later that day to ask for a blow job.

in basketball terminology this is known as a “heat check“. basically, you’re doing something seemingly outrageous to test the limits of how far your “hot” streak will go. in lebron’s case, it’s also a way of saying “i’m lebron f*cking james. i’m better at playing basketball than anyone on earth and any other alternate dimensions were basketball might be played. i can do whatever the f*ck i want.”

this idea isn’t limited to basketball. from kanye’s 808′s and heartbreak and the ipad, to the entire career of ray j, pop culture is filled with popular artists heat-checking themselves, and erykah badu’s uber-controversial “window seat” vid is another example of that. Continue reading →

Throwback Thursday: Sleeveless Turtleneck – The Power of Woman

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I always found this post to be a relevant look into the power of a woman.  Reformatted to fit your attention span but originally posted on November 17, 2004:

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Woman.

She is woman, hear her roar. She is phenomonal. She can drop it like its hot. She can cook it, and make it hot. She can cause ruin to society. She can re-create what man has destroyed. She has all the power, even if she doesn’t realize it. She is…

…woman.

Women are amazing creatures. Of all the living beings on this planet, woman is the most powerful force to be reckoned with. And nowhere is this more apparent than woman’s affect on man.  And nowhere is this fact more evident than in the case of one Erykah Badu.

Erykah Badu is woman. In one package, she managed to be southern, ghetto, deep, cute, gorgeous, fun, arrogant, humble, interesting, a singer, gangster, and loving. (How do I know all that? I don’t. That’s the beauty of opinion.) So it’s easy to see how any man would fall into her web. Hell, I myself have had a crush on her for something like 6 years now. She is every woman. That chick who seems like she’d ride for you when you needed her too, and simultaneously put on a good show for your mother.

She’s that chick that will open your mind, and have you looking at things you never even paid attention too. She can take you from being an inner city pimp prospect to a turbin wearing bass player. Or she can take you from being a Southside Chicago hustler to wearing a sleeveless turtleneck. She is that powerful.

She is woman.

She has the ability to expand the minds of men, resulting in one person taking what he has learned and becoming comfortable in his own skin and taking the world by storm, and another person really having no idea what to do because he himself is confused and wondering what to do with his newfound knowledge so he starts wearing sleeveless turtlenecks, and for some reason nobody will embrace him, except for his grandmother.

Her power is the sleeveless turtleneck. It confuses some and makes so much sense to others. It’s like Nirvana lyrics.

[***Sidenote: In theory, there is nothing wrong with a sleeveless turtleneck...if you are a woman or from Europe. However, as a grown black man from the Southside of Chicago, it is wrong, in the truest sense of the word wrong. And for those wondering when he wore a sleeveless turtleneck, it was in the video for the "Ghetto Heaven" remix featuring Macy Gray, where he is dancing on stars and planets. For the record, gangsters don't dance they boogie. He was dancing.***]

She is woman.

Common went from wearing Rockport’s and wind suits and baseball caps to derbies and kufis and SLEEVELESS turtlenecks. Dammit…WHO THE F*CK WEARS A SLEEVELESS TURTLENECK? That has to be the most confusing shit to ever see, right? Is it hot or cold? Now that you got your neck covered, how are you arms, huh, dunny??? Why wasn’t his stylist shot because of this? Pac got shot, Biggie got shot…but no, his stylist lives. Some things just aren’t fair are they? And I’m giving him credit by saying he had a stylist. If he doesn’t…well, may God have mercy on his soul.

Erykah Badu turned Andre 3000 into a sex symbol, the best dressed, album of the year creator that he became. Andre 3000 is now so cool, he can walk onto a stage to accept an award, throw up a piece sign and walk off and it be the best acceptance speech ever given. Common? No awards. In fact he is more bitter now than ever before. He is the bitter man’s rapper. Complaining that he never got his respect or his due. A talented rapper that never caught on, and even fell off somewhat. Fuck that, fell of a lot-what. Erykah Badu’s presence and power to just “be” changed both of these men’s lives forever.

Her power is not just reserved for her either. Her power is every woman’s power. Erykah Badu could be any woman. The power to change the course of history, the power to cause a man to become more than he imagined, or become a shell of himself without ever doing more than being herself. All women have this ability. Some just do not know it. Erykah Badu knows. Erykah Badu is power.

She made a grown ass black man wear a sleeveless turtleneck.

She is woman.

Roar.

-VSB P aka THE ARSONIST aka TANGLE JIG P