Little Black Book Fall 2008 Issue

From the most historic election, to fashion, to being single, to being lesbian and Muslim, LBB gives you a taste of everything.

lbbfall2008

Little Black Book Magazine Spring 2008 Issue

Little Black Book Spring 2008 Issue

Beauty of the Month Spotlight: Kristan Sock

Kristan Sock “Socks It To Em” (Sorry for that one Kristan…and our readers… we just couldn’t resist)

The LBB sat down with a lady sporting one of the most magnificent voices on campus to find out what it’s being the only girl in an otherwise all boy band, what a ‘run’ is, and her future plans in the music business.

MAJOR/MINOR:

Marketing major, French minor.

LBB: FAVOURITE SINGERS:

Kristan: Male: Stevie Wonder

Female: Teena Marie (Rick James’s right hand gal)

LBB: FAVOURITE ALBUM:

Kristan: Michael Jackson’s Off the Wall (and she proceeds to get up and do a little M.J. dance)

LBB: FAVOURITE MUSIC VIDEO:

Kristan: Snoop Dogg Sensual Seduction

LBB: HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN SINGING?

Kristan: I actually started singing in high school. The first time I really sang in a show was in my Junior year. We had this random interim band teacher and he tried to put a group of girls together to sing for our annual arts festival. So he created this trio and I had to sing James Brown “I Got the Feeling” So that’s the first time I sang for some people.

LBB: DID YOU SING BEFORE, WHEN YOU WERE YOUNGER? AT HOME?

Kristan: When I was younger my grandma used to make me sing when I came home everyday day. She used to make me put on these fake concerts. She would pick songs and I would just sing and perform them for her. We would do it everyday for like an hour or two hours.

LBB: SO YOU GUYS WOULD HAVE THESE SECRET CONCERTS?

Kristan: Secret concerts everyday after school. It started when I was about like 6 when my grandparents moved in with us. Yeah she used to like torture me. She just liked my voice ever since I was little. My parents didn’t even know I sang until I was 15…16.

LBB: SO WHAT ABOUT SINGING DO YOU MOST ENJOY?

Kristan: I just love the feeling I get, the gratification I get when I perform one of my original songs and people are like, “That’s so beautiful.” “That’s so great.” “I can relate to that.”

LBB: WHAT DOES IT FEEL LIKE TO SING OTHER PEOPLE’S SONGS?

Kristan: It’s fun. As long as it’s done in good taste. I’m really particular about singing songs that are not degrading to woman or anything like that. I guess, I just want people that talk about real stuff. I usually don’t like songs that are mainstream. Every now and then I’ll do something that’s fun and mainstream, but I really like songs that are about love, and social change and sh*t.

LBB: WHAT’S IT LIKE BEING THE ONLY GIRL IN AN OTHERWISE ALL-BOY BAND?

Kristan: It’s interesting you know they got crazy egos. Men are crazy. They like to yell at each other and stuff and I’m just kind of like the calm, quiet, laid back one most of the time. Every now and then they test me and I have to go off. But for the most part it’s cool. They’re like a bunch of big brothers and I’ve always related to dudes. They are less catty than girls and stuff. Plus I’m not really in competition with them, because I’m a singer and they’re all rappers and musicians.

LBB: SO WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE THING ABOUT INSPIRATION?

Kristan: Well I would say one of the main reasons I’ve always stayed in Inspiration is – because it’s difficult to balance a band, and being in an a cappella group, and trying to sing solo stuff – but the sound you can make singing with a bunch of voices is absolutely incredible and is something you can not replicate by yourself. Plus the friends that I’ve made, and the traditions. There’s a rich tradition there in that group, and a history that I feel we have to preserve since we’re the only black a cappella group on campus. The only one that is doing music of the African Diaspora. I think that’s something I’m just glad to be apart of.

LBB: SO YOUR SOLO CAREER?

Kristan: Last February at the Arts Garage I sang two original songs; Run Away and another song called Break Down. They were really just personal songs and the response I got from the crowd was just insane. I have the videos posted online and a lot of people commented on them and said like “I love that” or whatever so that felt really good. And I’ve written a solid collections of songs. I want to do a CD, but it’s just a matter of getting the people together to record it.

LBB: WHAT DO YOU PLAN TO DO AFTER GRADUATION?

Kristan: I love music and I think it’s always going to be a part of my life. And if I’m given the opportunity to do it as a profession then of course I’m going to take advantage of that. But my primary focus right now is trying to do something that would be related to marketing or advertising, because those are my two passions. I know I’m going to always be doing music on the side. I plan on launching my own record label once I make enough money with marketing and stuff.

LBB: WHAT’S IT LIKE HAVING THE LAST NAME SOCK?

Kristan: Hahaha. People made fun of me when I was running track. They used to say, “Sock it to em’ and I didn’t get it.” But it’s not weird having the last name Sock…well it is weird but I’m used to it. My nickname is K-Sock.

LBB: DO YOU HAVE ANY TIPS FOR CRAPPY SINGERS TO IMPROVE THEIR VOICE?

Kristan: Just listen to good singers and try to mimic them. It’s funny because a lot of people say, “I really like the way you do your runs”, but I would just spend hours mimicking the way people do their runs. Like Coco from SWV has this run in I Get So Weak that I would just run over and over and over again. So if you like someone’s run in a song just practice it over time and you’ll get good at it.

LBB: WHAT’S A RUN?

Kristan: A run is um…like when you…like…

LBB: LIKE “AAAAAHAHAHAHA”?…

Kristan: …yeah like that.

LBB: THAT’S HARD TO EXPLAIN. HAHAHA

Kristan: Yeah it’s hard to explain.

Artist Spotlight: Poetic Republic (unedited interview)

LBB sits down with Cleveland-based hip-hop band, Poetic Republic, to discuss their unique approach to music, the origin of their name, and reincarnation.

All Photos by Rhaisa Kai.

Rhaisa: Who is Poetic Republic?

Greg: My man Opp Ques, I’m the Rembrandt, my man Ashanti on drums, Brian Robinson on bass, BJ who can never be gay on keys, DJ Dot, and Angelo Huff, the Huffinator on guitar.

Rhaisa: What made you start Poetic Republic?

Ques: PR was born from the people because the people don’t know what they want to hear until you give them something to listen to. So we’re poets first. We’re emcees first. So the art is there first. But the republic part, we speak for the people. They don’t know what they want to say, they don’t know what they want to hear, so we’re here to give them to listen to and go home with and soak in their souls.

Rhaisa: But how do you know that they don’t know what to hear?

Ques: It’s evident in the radio. They listen to that crap a million times a day and they think they love it. But when something new comes on they like, “aww this my joint.” But why is this your joint when the same ten songs that came on before was your joint too. This is completely different than that. It’s the same repetitive, degrading, murderous message to our people and to all people. And they soak it in. But when they hear us, they like, “that’s that real, this is what I need in my life.” Me and Rem used to sit outside of clubs and talk to cats, Rastas and stuff, talking to us about our beliefs. And our beliefs mean nothing to anybody, but they wanted to know what we were in to because they said our stuff touched their soul and they never heard nothing like that before. So that’s the whole reason why Poetic Republic is as big as it is when we come on stage because we know that the people don’t know what they want to hear because after we get off stage, they love it. They take that out with them and they soak it in.

Rhaisa: Were you afraid to make new things like this because you have your snap music and that’s come out, and now you have to compete with that. Are you trying to be mainstream?

Ashanti: I am not trying to be mainstream. I am not trying to be anywhere above what’s out right now. Mainstream to me is that degrading and murderous stuff ad I don’t want to be that. I want to play good music, I want people to vibe, I want people to understand my message that poetic is trying to send. I just want it to feel good. I want people to come up to me off stage and have people tell me that I made them feel good tonight.

Rhaisa: So who are your influences?

Angelo: Coltrane, Miles Davis, Christan Scott. But as far as the old hip hop goes, cats like Nas, the Wu, the cats that were bringing it real and rugged. The cats that naturally touched me and my peers on a level where we aspired to be like them. Not be like them as far as sound, but as far as the way they lived when they touched the mic. Or be like Miles who could turn his back and still have everyone’s attention.

(Ques agrees)

Rhaisa: (to Ques) I notice you turn your back a lot, are you doing that because of Miles or are you doing that because of other reasons?

Ques: Cuz it’s not about me, it’s about the music. You don’t need to see my face, but what comes out of me. A lot of times, we get in that zone. I’m just zoning. Because honestly for me, it’s a spirit that moves through the music and I believe in that wholeheartedly. So when I’m zoning, I’m away and I want you to feel what’s coming out of me, that’s all the matters.

Rhaisa: What is zoning? Make me feel what you feel when you’re on stage.

Brian: I got to quote one of my favorite bass players, the bass player from Tower of Power. He established it like this: a group of friends walking down the street, and someone threw a brick through a window and screwed up the whole vibe you guys had going. It’s just this unspoken connection that everyone has with the crowd, with the people. Everything locks into place. You feel nothing but what you are doing at that exact moment. Nothing matters, no cares, no worries. It’s completely stress-free 25, 45 minutes – however long it is – it is the absolute best feeling in the entire world.

Rhaisa: So if you were not known past the borders of Cleveland, would you still feel satisfied?

DJ Dot: It doesn’t really matter how many people know for me, it just matters what good I do through my music and through my life. If I was ever known outside of Cleveland, the question is: did I do my job for the people right here where I am. That’s how I would like to be judged.

Rhaisa: Have you guys ever felt frustrated? Was there ever time when you were like fuck music, I’m sick of it.

BJ: It’s not really no frustration because when you’re around a group of guys doing the same thing and trying to get to the same place that you’re trying to go, there’s no frustration because we’re all working together and everyone’s on the same page. That’s why you have rehearsals, because when you meet and come together, there’s no frustration because everyone’s on one chord. And that goes back to the rules and being in the zone with everyone doing their part, so there’s no frustration because we’re all coming together as one.

Rhaisa: But past the rehearsals. What about the music you hear on the radio that you have to compete with?

Ques: That is definitely frustrating because the powers that be originated a sound, like these are the people that have been around in the game since it started and they were producing that real back in the day. But now because hip hop is such big business where you could drop one song and be rich for the rest of your life, they switched their mind. It’s become such big business that all else doesn’t matter. So yes, it’s frustrating in a sense where I’m shopping my demo to a label that is representing the real, or has at one point, and they’re turning my demo down just because I’m not talking about shaking your booty in the club or smacking my girlfriend, or killing my mom or some other type of craziness. They always need some type of controversy to sell records. They don’t believe in longevity, they don’t believe in the spirit of the music anymore. That’s frustrating to us. That’s why when you see us on stage, you see us going crazy because we do this so hard, we live this everyday. I would call off from my job every single day if I could and rock the stage in front of 5 people or 20,000 people. I would do it everyday because the music matters, the people in front of me matters.

Angelo: For me, the biggest frustration is when people have that power to reach that many people, and when they reach that many people, they just have a fucked up message. The message will actually be garbage. That’s what I’m frustrated with. Me, if I had that much power, I would be doing so many positive things. But a lot of these cats be doing negative things because the music business is a business. It’s a plastic hallway full of pimps and hustlers. Everything is so cut-throat nowadays.

Rembrandt: The major thing is that people like sex, violence, and guns a lot. But the thing about Poetic is that we’re the best. We got the best players, we work hard and it’s going to shine through eventually. They can’t stop us man. They tried to, we couldn’t even perform in this place [The Grog Shop] two years ago.

Ques: They wouldn’t even let us in the doors.

Rembrandt: But it’s a lot different now. We got the best people and we’re just going to keep it moving. We the best, we the best, we the best (laughs).

Rhaisa: If there is a musician in the past who we all know about, who do you think would represent you? If you were reincarnated, who would you have been?

Angelo: I know mine, Joe Henderson. He’s a saxophonist from the ‘50s to the late ‘90s. He was a jazz saxophonist for Blue Note. Yeah, he would probably be me. If you are reading this interview or listening to it, go home and get a Joe Henderson album and it don’t matter which one.

Rembrandt: For me, it would be Scott Joplin. An innovative classical, ragtime, jazz, blues composer. And Prince. I don’t wear clothes like that, but he’s the greatest artist ever. He’s not dead yet but I do cut the seat out of my pants sometimes though on the weekend.

Rhaisa: Umm, that’s a little too much information. But thank you, I’m sure the ladies will like it.

Brian: Charles Mingus

BJ: I would have to say that it would be my grandfather Frank Edward. He was a well-known jazz musician, but he was killed when my mother was nine years old, so I never got the chance to meet him. But I go to Washington State, or Kansas where he’s from, and see little articles about him. So that’s how I got the gift because it’s in the bloodline.

Ques: I would have to say that it’s a mix between Nat Cole because of the class that he gives off, the elegance of his voice and the diligence in mastering his craft. That man would stay in the studio and pump out music after music after music. And I would have to say Hendrix because the brother’s nuts, and I would do anything on stage, wear anything, play anything to make any track sound good. Making beautiful mistakes.

Ashanti: I’m so mad you said Hendrix because you completely stole mine for the exact same reason. But he completely stepped outside of his element. He picked up a guitar and decided that he wanted to play it, and I go pretty much with that same mindset, I just want to be different. I don’t want to be the run of the mill. I don’t want people to look at me and say, “there’s goes another brotha.”

Rhaisa: So no one would be a female musician? Are y’all being a little sexist right now?

Ques: Well, I got a little Billie in me.

Quick Update

Now I am not one to spread rumors, but I just heard that Erykah Badu may be releasing the second part of her four part album, New Amerykah: The Return of the Ankh, on July 29th. We don’t know how true this is, but I guess this is just wishful thinking. But as I hear more, I shall definitely keep you posted my lovely peoples.

~Rhaisa Kai.

Cannot Wait For…

1. The Roots’ tenth album Rising Down, set to release April 29, 2008

2. Gnarls Barkley’s second album The Odd Couple, set to release April 8, 2008

3. The movie Notorious, about the life of rapper Notorious BIG, starring Angela Bassett as the slain emcee’s mother, Anthony Mackie (the dude from She Hate Me) as Tupac Shakur, Derek Luke (the dude from Antwon Fisher Story) as Sean Puffy P. Diddy Combs, and introducing Jamal Woolard as Biggie (I wonder if that is the young man who played Biggie in his video for “Sky is the Limit”). This is set to release January 16, 2009 by Fox Searchlight Pictures. (Yeah, we’ll be waiting a minute for this one. But seeing that it is already the middle of March, I guess the wait won’t be that bad.)

~Rhaisa Kai.

It’s All About Your S-E-X

As of late, I’ve been having these epiphanies about the importance and the freedom of sexuality. These thoughts have probably been more so formulated because I’ve recently read critically Sula by Toni Morrison and The Color Purple by Alice Walker (must reads by the way). But no matter where these thoughts began, I’ve been thinking about this subject critically and have been sharing them with almost anyone who is willing to listen to my voice for more than five minutes.

However, since I’ve started talking about this more freely, I’ve had people tell me that “I’m better than that” or that my displays of sexuality disgust them, and I was very confused by these reactions. It wasn’t like I was talking about sex in a graphic manner or that out of the blue, I would start telling them about some special sex technique to really get things heated up. I would simply talk about the issues we underwent as people who were too afraid to talk about sex and its effects openly. I know that it is quite accepted to discuss between friends, but when it comes to discussing it with our parents, our children, or someone else who were are not that close to, we tend to close up and get uncomfortable.

So when I told someone about opinions and he responded: “You’re better than that,” I started realizing how closely tied my race, gender, and current status in life was with the words that were coming out of my mouth. And suddenly, I thought about how deeply the ethics of Black respectability are still intertwined within our lives and how we had to be twice, even three times as good as anyone else in order to be seen. And I understand where this comes from within my own family. My grandmother reads on the third grade level because she was born in the Jim Crow South where Black people weren’t seen as deserving of a decent education. And now I, just two generations removed, am a student within an ivy- league institution. But within this upward mobility, the pressure not to mess up has come down hard on my shoulders because my family is the epitome of struggle, and they are not trying to have me go backward. However, the problem enters when my thinking goes outside of the bounds of “respectability” and seeing that talking openly about sex has long been seen as a trait of the neighborhood ho, it’s hard to fully accept and listen to my views on sexuality. And with this being coupled with the long history of Black women being seen as lascivious beings who will readily entice any man that walks past, my family wants me to break free of that image. And I respect that.

Nevertheless, I’ve gotten slack from young ladies my age who, whether they know it or not, are still locked into this mind frame of being seen as respectful at all times. And I realized that a Black woman talking about her sexuality and being open with it is still seen as taboo on our campus. And again, who wants to mess her reputation because I know that I don’t. But I feel that the problem comes when we almost immediately see her as a woman who messes around with a lot of guys simply because she is not afraid to own that aspect of herself. I have been guilty of this myself, so I’m not out here to bash people. But I am saying that it is time to stop seeing this as a touchy subject that only “loose” women are willing to discuss. Now, I am not telling Black women to become sexually free in the sense that they are willing to share their bodies with anyone, because it is too dangerous for all that, and the fact that people between 15 and 24 are being affected HIV the most attests to the danger. But we do need to start seeing ourselves as sexual beings and not being ashamed of it because we’re Black, or because we’re women, or because we’re trying to rise as far as possible within our careers. For too long, we as women, especially those who are Black, have been oppressed with the teaching of how we should be pure as possible so that men or White people can’t find dirt to hold it against us and our growth. But the only way to break that mold is to own your womanhood, no matter how you define it and not allow people to create those aspects that make us who we are into separate entities that are in conflict with each other because they aren’t.

~Rhaisa Kai.

Will Ohio Ever Be Able to Keep Its Nose Clean

Now I am one of the last folks on earth to discuss politics with because I’ll tell you flat out that I could care less. And if a political update isn’t on someone’s facebook status, then it all flies by me. However, when I came across this article, I couldn’t overlook it. But when something hits home, I guess it does make it a bit difficult to ignore, and seeing that this deals with my home state, I guess that’s close enough to home.

Anywho, Ohio makes political news again with yet another fraud. Wait! Don’t know what I mean by another fraud. Well, let me tell you. In the 2004 election between John Kerry and George W. Bush, a “computerized voting machine ‘glitch’ was discovered in an Ohio precinct. A machine in ward 1B in the predominantly Republican Gahanna, Ohio, recorded 4,258 votes for George W. Bush when only 638 people cast votes at the New Life Church polling site.” But this was discovered after Kerry gave up based on the preliminary count that reported Bush was in the lead with “136,483 more votes than Kerry, although 155,428 provisional ballots, 92,672 “spoiled” ballots, additional overseas ballots, and some remaining absentee ballots remained uncounted.” Furthermore, it is important to know that Diebold Corporation was in charge of counting the e-ballots from the machines and tallying the votes. Why is this so important? Well, seeing that the CEO, Wally O’Dell (that’s a funny name), is a Pro-Republican who “wrote a letter to Ohio Republican donors telling them that he is ‘committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the President next year,’” it kind of makes a person raise an eyebrow in suspicion. (http://www.freepress.org/columns/display/3/2004/983)

Now let’s fast forward 4 years later to this election. The battle isn’t between the political giants of the Republicans and Democrats because Brotha McCain is probably resting it up in Phoenix somewhere. However, it’s within the Democratic Party as a volunteer member of the Ohio caucus reported to have “noticed a whole list had Sen. Hillary Clinton written in similar handwriting in the presidential preference column for each of the six voters on that list.” (http://www.dailytexanonline.com/). With this discovery coming after the win Sen. Clinton’s win of Ohio, it makes a person question how honest this election will be.

What the deuce is this mess? Hearing stories like this helps me validate my political affiliation with the Apathetic Party because truthfully, I don’t have faith that any of the candidates will be able to make significant changes. Maybe I’m too cynical, but with stories like this, it’s kind of hard not to be. If a person wants power so much that he or she would be willing to steal it, then how much faith should I have in them to make decisions that’s going to affect me? And hey, with a White woman and Black man running for president, why not mix up the race and gender issue, and let me, a Black woman, run for the position of el presidente. I know how honest and upstanding I am, and personally, I’m getting a little tired of the torn Black woman voter who doesn’t know whether to pledge her allegiance to her race or to her sex.

 ~Rhaisa Kai.

Your Favorite Odd Couple

Who would of thought that a tall lanky producer from New York named Danger Mouse would hook up with a short stocky rapper/singer from Atlanta named Cee-lo and produce a brainchild called Gnarls Barkley? When I first heard of the group, I thought Cee-lo had changed his name in honor of some historical British dude to make himself as weird as possible. And then when I found out it was a duo, I started questioning my sanity when I was seriously nodding my head to a video that was created with inkblots. But now that I’ve openly admitted my love for the odd couple, I need everyone else to love them wi th me by copping their second album aptly titled, The Odd Couple, in stores April 8.

 

Nevertheless, I thought it only nice to provide you with two of the singles from the album. Yes, I believe in going out of my way to provide a great sensation for your aural areas.

 

The unofficial video for “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul.” Don’t get confused by ?uestlove’s face. He’s doing what people call creative licensing.

[http://videos.onsmash.com/v/1VaCzSsZxRiqC8fJ]

 

 

Their first single “Run.” And yeah, that’s Justin Timberlake. I declare, that dude is everywhere…

 

 

~Rhaisa Kai.

Robitussin Makes All the Difference

What’s in that cup pa’tna??

 

In a recent interview with MTV, the mixtape master and self-proclaimed greatest rapper Lil Wayne admitted to the world his addiction to syrup, which is a mixture of promethazine and codeine with soda or juice. Everyone outside of southern rap groups was introduced to this concoction in 2000 with the Three 6 Mafia and UGK hit “Sippin’ on Some Syrup.” Therefore, it shouldn’t be surprising that according to autopsy reports, Pimp C, the other half of UGK died from the effects of his medicated anthem from an overdose of the syrup, also known as, purple drank. With this said, Lil Wayne was reported to have said:

“But I’m going through that same sh– with my friends, with my mom. Everybody wants me to stop all this and all that. It ain’t that easy — feels like death in your stomach when you stop doing that shit. You gotta learn how to stop, you gotta go through detox. You gotta do all kinds of stuff. Like I said, I’m a selfish-ass n—a. I feel like everything I do is successful and productive. It’s gonna be hard to tell me I’m slipping. It’s hard to sit and tell a nigga ‘Stop.’ ‘Fuck, how can we tell this nigga to stop when every fucking thing he do is successful? This nigga is making progress. He just went and talked to kids and that shit was amazing.’ Feel me? So what am I doing wrong?” (http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.6476/title.lil-wayne-explains-his-addiction)

 

He further vented:

 

“Let me do me. Everybody’s got their thing, why focus on me? Don’t compare me to no one. Don’t compare me to no one who has passed, and why they passed. I can walk out this b—h right now and get hit by a bus. Don’t judge me. You wanna judge me, put on a black gown and get a gavel. Get in line with the rest of them that’s about to judge me. I got court dates every other month. It’s me against the world — that’s how I feel.” (http://www.hiphopgame.com/news.php3?id=2333)

I’ll agree with him on some points. Death is quite uncertain and no matter what we do to prevent it, it’s going to come. However, in regards to his example of getting hit by a bus, that can easily happen, but isn’t that the reason we’re taught to avoid traffic?

Another point I feel Lil Wayne on is the pressure he feels about being in the public eye. I know that I have problems if my parents and a few of my friends are on my back about something, so I don’t even want to imagine what it would feel like to have a million pairs of eyes watching and judging my every move. Personally, I don’t believe that humans are supposed to be famous because we all have an innate desire for privacy and ownership. Whether that means owning property, a person, or our bodies, we want to feel as though we have a grasp on something. However, when a person is in the eye of the public, that person sort of loses ownership of one of the greatest possessions we value in our individualistic country: ourselves. So in a way, it makes sense that many of our celebrities turn to drugs in order to cope with feeling of the world caving in on them. But I am by no means excusing drug addiction because I do see it as a chump’s way out, especially when they are catapulted into a world that they work so hard to enter.

But since I’m always looking for a deeper meaning within seemingly simple words, I couldn’t help but make a connection between fame and death, especially seeing that yesterday was the 11 year anniversary of Biggie’s death. Within the words of Lil Wayne, I don’t see them as coming from a man who feels as though he is successful despite his addiction to a deadly substance. I see a man who is willing to cement his fame while he is at the top of his game by dying, instead of risk living a full life and having his career fall by the wayside.

Hey, if we want something bad enough, aren’t we taught to give everything we have?

“Sippin on Some Syrup” video. Thought it fitting to show. Crazy how a little background information can reveal the true meaning behind catchy lyrics and a slick beat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlJeenvBKa8

~Rhaisa Kai.