[REMOVE ADS]




Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 1 2
Results 51 to 77 of 77
  1. #51
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Posts
    28,614
    Rep Power
    642
    About your former friends. Every time I drive past an elementary school playground, I look at the black and white and brown and yellow kids playing and enjoying life and it always plays in my mind that in five years or less, they'll all retreat to their own corners and forget that they ever knew each other. What a world.

    A guy I used to work with once told me how upset he was when he took his children to see his in-laws in a suburb that is known for high housing prices. One day, a Nigerian neighbor knocked on the in-laws' door and politely requested that they not allow their children to play with his. He had heard so many negative things about American black people that he thought his kids were too good to play with them. Curiously, Somalis and Ethiopians don't seem to hold this attitude.

  2. #52
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Posts
    28,614
    Rep Power
    642
    Swinging back to the original subject of this thread, I'm glad we're in an era where people of all ethnicities are comfortable playing the music that they want. I've been a huge Fishbone fan since the early '80s and part of my affection is their bravery in being a [[mostly) rock band from the hood. I also love Living Colour. There was a time when Charlie Pride was looked at with the side eye for being a country artist. Ray Charles looked at those haters and told them to kiss his blind *** and made one of the greatest country albums ever. Now, Darius Rucker is a huge country artist. Rev. Al apologized to Whitney for his ostracizing of her for making pop music, by the way. If you haven't watched the documentary "Whitney", I strongly encourage it.

    We're a hugely diverse population and we should be able to make whatever kind of music we want.

  3. #53
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Posts
    43,221
    Rep Power
    600
    Quote Originally Posted by Jerry Oz View Post
    About your former friends. Every time I drive past an elementary school playground, I look at the black and white and brown and yellow kids playing and enjoying life and it always plays in my mind that in five years or less, they'll all retreat to their own corners and forget that they ever knew each other. What a world.

    A guy I used to work with once told me how upset he was when he took his children to see his in-laws in a suburb that is known for high housing prices. One day, a Nigerian neighbor knocked on the in-laws' door and politely requested that they not allow their children to play with his. He had heard so many negative things about American black people that he thought his kids were too good to play with them. Curiously, Somalis and Ethiopians don't seem to hold this attitude.
    Well my story is one I am sure many people can probably tell with variations. It did stick with me all these decades later. It is sad to think that kids will be corrupted as they move through this thing called life!

    I have a Pakistani buddy [[who I can't stand most of the time LOL) that sounds just the Nigerian neighbor. He says things to offend people all over the place just doesn't give a damn because he thinks he is "superior" because he is an engineer.

  4. #54
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Posts
    43,221
    Rep Power
    600
    Quote Originally Posted by Jerry Oz View Post
    Swinging back to the original subject of this thread, I'm glad we're in an era where people of all ethnicities are comfortable playing the music that they want. I've been a huge Fishbone fan since the early '80s and part of my affection is their bravery in being a [[mostly) rock band from the hood. I also love Living Colour. There was a time when Charlie Pride was looked at with the side eye for being a country artist. Ray Charles looked at those haters and told them to kiss his blind *** and made one of the greatest country albums ever. Now, Darius Rucker is a huge country artist. Rev. Al apologized to Whitney for his ostracizing of her for making pop music, by the way. If you haven't watched the documentary "Whitney", I strongly encourage it.

    We're a hugely diverse population and we should be able to make whatever kind of music we want.
    I liked all of those people you mention, plus the new wave band "The Bus Boys"!. I liked some of almost all of the music trends that have come and gone during my lifetime. Disco, New Wave, New Jack Swing, Rap, Hip Hop, Electronic, House, but always in the background and always constant is my love of Rhythm & Blues and Rock. I don't love every R&B record or artist, nor do I love every Rock music artist or record. I am a lover of good music period. What they tried to pin on Whitney Houston was just downright stupid. Even the Pop music she was performing wasn't all that ground breaking. It was her voice and her ability to use it is what made her extraordinary. I could tell that she was a black woman when I heard her latest song on the radio just as I could tell Olivia Newton John was a white woman where her latest would come on the radio back in the mid 70s. I liked their voices and their songs. I could not make myself not like their music because of their color or ethnicity. That is impossible for me.
    Last edited by marv2; 07-03-2019 at 12:35 AM.

  5. #55
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Posts
    28,614
    Rep Power
    642
    I liked everything Whitney did. She was a generational talent, like Ella Fitzgerald and Aretha Franklin and her life was much too short. And painful. I'm like you, I know what I like when I hear it and I couldn't care less about genre. And the Busboys is another of my favorite bands. I digitized their American Workers LP and play it all the time. Their leader was Brian O'Neal and I think he inspired Fishbone and Living Colour greatly, just by having the balls to be black and play the music they liked, which just happened to be rock.

    And I cosign on your statement about not being able to make myself not like music because of color or ethnicity. Heck, Malcolm McLaren introduced me to music from the African continent and to this day, I enjoy music from bands like Malopoets, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Oliver Mtkudzi and Fela Kuti. If he came out with an album like Duck Rock in 2019, he'd be accused of blatant cultural appropriation. Thank God he did it four decades earlier.

  6. #56
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Posts
    43,221
    Rep Power
    600
    Quote Originally Posted by Jerry Oz View Post
    I liked everything Whitney did. She was a generational talent, like Ella Fitzgerald and Aretha Franklin and her life was much too short. And painful. I'm like you, I know what I like when I hear it and I couldn't care less about genre. And the Busboys is another of my favorite bands. I digitized their American Workers LP and play it all the time. Their leader was Brian O'Neal and I think he inspired Fishbone and Living Colour greatly, just by having the balls to be black and play the music they liked, which just happened to be rock.

    And I cosign on your statement about not being able to make myself not like music because of color or ethnicity. Heck, Malcolm McLaren introduced me to music from the African continent and to this day, I enjoy music from bands like Malopoets, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Oliver Mtkudzi and Fela Kuti. If he came out with an album like Duck Rock in 2019, he'd be accused of blatant cultural appropriation. Thank God he did it four decades earlier.
    Oh they jumped on Malcolm Mclaren too [[no pun intended) about the double dutch song and video. Said he was exploiting black girls from the city. Ugh!

    Here was a mult-racial band I liked back in the new wave era.


  7. #57
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Posts
    43,221
    Rep Power
    600
    and then there were The Specials:


  8. #58
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Posts
    10,798
    Rep Power
    350
    The Fun Boy Three were former members of the Specials who had been signed to the "2 Tone" label, the name of which is significant both racially and musically.

  9. #59
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Posts
    43,221
    Rep Power
    600
    Quote Originally Posted by 144man View Post
    The Fun Boy Three were former members of the Specials who had been signed to the "2 Tone" label, the name of which is significant both racially and musically.
    One of the members of the Specials died earlier this year,but cannot find the story again now.

  10. #60
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Posts
    10,798
    Rep Power
    350
    Quote Originally Posted by marv2 View Post
    One of the members of the Specials died earlier this year,but cannot find the story again now.
    It was Ranking Roger [Roger Charlery] of The Beat who died this year.

  11. #61
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Posts
    43,221
    Rep Power
    600
    Quote Originally Posted by 144man View Post
    It was Ranking Roger [Roger Charlery] of The Beat who died this year.
    That's who I was thinking of. Thank you 144man.

  12. #62
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Posts
    43,221
    Rep Power
    600
    This is one of the popular songs by The English Beat when I was at school


  13. #63
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Posts
    43,221
    Rep Power
    600
    Quote Originally Posted by arr&bee View Post
    I've not heard that either,and it would be very sad if he did make that statement,ever since Blacks have been performing in this country..Minstrel times until today there has been the question of-Who's Black enough which is just stupid,everyone has their own sound and style and should be accepted on it-I love the music of-Nat Cole as much as I love James Brown...and it's sad when we as Blacks condemn our own because they aren't...BLACK ENOUGH-excuse my french but-WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN??
    We didn't hear it, because Rev. Sharpton never boycotted Whitney Houston in any way. Also, he will not forever be linked to Tawana Brawley. That is not the first and only thing people think of when they see or hear Rev. Al Sharpton. Now there are some closed minded bigots out there that have a hard on for Rev. Al, that will only see that incident as his history or contribution to whatever. Not me or many others. That is like saying that Clinton will always be linked to Monica Lewinsky. That will be a chapter in his story,but no where near his entire story!
    Last edited by marv2; 07-03-2019 at 07:34 PM.

  14. #64
    Join Date
    Nov 2017
    Posts
    1,475
    Rep Power
    121
    Quote Originally Posted by Jerry Oz View Post
    It's all crazy. I remember when people used to say Bryant Gumbel tried to "sound white". I never understood the motivation for saying it. Forget the fact that he had a white parent for a second, which opens the door to ask what being "black" in America really means. What they were really saying is that he didn't sound black, as if you needed to speak some variation of ebonics to have credibility. He got kicked around for years and it made no sense. Why did they feel he needed to sound the way they spoke? Would they take him serious in his role if he did?

    They didn't go to school for communications or public speaking and spend years building a career in news reporting. He made it to the top of his profession and was one of the best to ever do it and low-minded jealous people turned away from him to watch white anchors do the same thing. All while sounding "white". Screw them. Of course, now they jump on Tiger Woods for speaking through his nose, even though there are plenty of other reasons for peoples of color to take issue with him.
    Or the equally insane expression, "acting white"!

  15. #65
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Posts
    28,614
    Rep Power
    642
    Quote Originally Posted by nativeNY63 View Post
    Or the equally insane expression, "acting white"!
    Most definitely. I can't imagine being a black kid at a mostly white exclusive university like Duke. There is only a very small percentage. You have a choice of either gravitating toward the black kids or hanging with the white ones, who are the vast majority in your class rooms. The white ones can probably help you with your coursework because they're in the same class with the same professor, but you might get sneered at if someone from your clique sees you spending a lot of time studying together. For a whole lot of reasons, college is much different for black kids. Some struggle to maintain their identity even though you barely have one at that age.

  16. #66
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Posts
    28,614
    Rep Power
    642
    Quote Originally Posted by marv2 View Post
    This is one of the popular songs by The English Beat when I was at school

    Still a huge fan of Save It For Later.

  17. #67
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Posts
    28,614
    Rep Power
    642
    Quote Originally Posted by marv2 View Post
    Oh they jumped on Malcolm Mclaren too [[no pun intended) about the double dutch song and video. Said he was exploiting black girls from the city. Ugh!

    Here was a mult-racial band I liked back in the new wave era.

    I remember he took a lot of water for incorporating Burundi pop music into the sound of Bow Wow Wow. That was a big thing back then. He also was slammed for the oversexualization of 14 year old Annabella Lwin. Which begs the question, why would anyone sexualize a 14 year old, let alone oversexualize one? A lot of grown men went to church and confessed when they found out how young she was. I may or may not have been one of them [[although by "grown", I think I was about four years older).

  18. #68
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    1,845
    Rep Power
    179
    Quote Originally Posted by Jerry Oz View Post
    Still a huge fan of Save It For Later.
    I still listen to the Beat. Thanks for posting.

  19. #69
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    1,845
    Rep Power
    179
    Great thread! Many intelligent and respectful points of view.

  20. #70
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Posts
    43,221
    Rep Power
    600
    Quote Originally Posted by Jerry Oz View Post
    Most definitely. I can't imagine being a black kid at a mostly white exclusive university like Duke. There is only a very small percentage. You have a choice of either gravitating toward the black kids or hanging with the white ones, who are the vast majority in your class rooms. The white ones can probably help you with your coursework because they're in the same class with the same professor, but you might get sneered at if someone from your clique sees you spending a lot of time studying together. For a whole lot of reasons, college is much different for black kids. Some struggle to maintain their identity even though you barely have one at that age.
    I went through that whole situation in college. When I graduated, I was the only African American male out of 1800 graduates that day.

  21. #71
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Posts
    10,473
    Rep Power
    311
    Quote Originally Posted by marv2 View Post
    i went through that whole situation in college. When i graduated, i was the only african american male out of 1800 graduates that day.
    wow marv,you a badddddddddddddd man!!!

  22. #72
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Posts
    43,221
    Rep Power
    600
    Quote Originally Posted by arr&bee View Post
    wow marv,you a badddddddddddddd man!!!
    Not bad, just determined! My Mom had no problem finding me in that big crowd! LOL!

  23. #73
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Posts
    10,473
    Rep Power
    311
    Quote Originally Posted by marv2 View Post
    not bad, just determined! My mom had no problem finding me in that big crowd! Lol!
    haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa..heard that!

  24. #74
    Join Date
    Feb 2012
    Posts
    28,614
    Rep Power
    642
    Quote Originally Posted by marv2 View Post
    Not bad, just determined! My Mom had no problem finding me in that big crowd! LOL!
    There was a raisin in a sea of rice that day. Man, I know you mom was super proud.

  25. #75
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Posts
    43,221
    Rep Power
    600
    Quote Originally Posted by Jerry Oz View Post
    There was a raisin in a sea of rice that day. Man, I know you mom was super proud.
    She was. It did not strike me the significance of that event, the graduation until the recessional.

  26. #76
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Posts
    43,221
    Rep Power
    600
    Did you guys know that Whitney had 8 U.S. R&B number one hits?

  27. #77
    Join Date
    Jan 2014
    Posts
    10,473
    Rep Power
    311
    I know it now,thanks marv.

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  

[REMOVE ADS]

Ralph Terrana
MODERATOR

Welcome to Soulful Detroit! Kindly Consider Turning Off Your Ad BlockingX
Soulful Detroit is a free service that relies on revenue from ad display [regrettably] and donations. We notice that you are using an ad-blocking program that prevents us from earning revenue during your visit.
Ads are REMOVED for Members who donate to Soulful Detroit. [You must be logged in for ads to disappear]
DONATE HERE »
And have Ads removed.