Happy Black History Month Pt 3: Inspirational

This is the last blog entry for the month of February, which is black history month. I figured why not conclude it with the person that got the African American community through all of struggles, which is our LORD & SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST. If it was not because of him my community would have never made it through the "Trying Times" (referring to a Donny Hathaway classic). 

Today was a day I was feeling a little discouraged and GOD always know what you are going through when nobody else does. So at work, I normally listen to my music and today it seems that it was playing my gospel playlist on it's own. The songs just keep playing, but a live performance by Whitney Houston singing "In Return" made me break down in tears at my desk. It just made me realize that GOD will give you joy during the tough times. This performance just started me to think about the situations that brought GOD brought me through, this discouragement I am feeling is very light. GOD has been good in my life and why should I feel sad, because GOD always answers my prayers.

So from the moment after my breakdown, I was listening to gospel music for the rest of the day. So from my story I realized that about 70 years ago my community was going through tough times everyday, but the thing that kept my community strong and believing was the faith they had in GOD. 

These are my favorite GOSPEL  songs/performances that I hope will inspiration you and keep you faith strong with GOD.

Whitney Houston "In Return"

In this song, Whitney is gracefully singing that you put your trust in GOD he will give you joy, love, and life abundantly. Listen to the POWER of this message

Bebe & Cece Winans "It's Ok"

(http://youngsoulbrother.blogspot.com/2011/03/bebe-cece-winans.html)

Bebe & Cece Winans is one the reason why I fell in love with gospel music. This song is makes me feel that I knew GOD is control "if you just believe".  The part that always get me is the bridge. Listen to this inspiration ballad

Kirk Franklin & the Family "Silver & Gold" 

"Silver & Gold" was the first gospel song that I took notice to. I remember in South Carolina before my mother and I would go to church on Sunday she would always turn the radio to the Sunday morning worship and "Silver & Gold" would always play. I asked my mother what the song meant, she explained that before money and riches, GOD should be the first in your life. At 7, I didn't really understand what it meant but I knew at my young age this song got to my spirit because I used to sing it around the house all the time. But when I found out how GOD was, I began to understand the lyrics. Listen to the live version and let GOD have his way

Aretha Franklin "GOD Will Take Care of You"

I figured for the last song I will give you the song that will always get me through the tough times. Aretha's first words she sangs it so heavenly,"be not dismay" always gets me teary eyed because when my mother in the hospital and one my drive home to NJ, the only song I listened to was this song because I needed to have strength because I didn't want to see my mother in the hospital. But the words "GOD will take care of you through everything" gave me the strength to see her and my prayer helped my mother make a speedy recovery. Listen to this empowering anthem

BONUS

Kirk Franklin "Smile"

About a month ago was going through some problems at my job and it caused me to be sad, but one day after work I came home and turned on my TV and "Smile" video came on. This song made me breakdown because you should always smile because you are blessed that GOD woke you up to face another day because other people didn't. That should put a smile on my face. The lyrics that get me is "I almost gave up all my power that I can't explain". Listen to this encouraging song

Happy Black History Month Pt 2

If I was going to do another blog entry on black history and it was dealing with music, the Apollo had to be mention. The Apollo Theater is famous for the likes of James Brown, The Jackson 5, and Whitney Houston. Whitney Houston recorded her most famous video "The Greatest Love of All". The Apollo has made the some of the BEST stars of all time.

Like I said in Part 1, since we in black history month, even though this black history month hasn't been happy with the deaths of Etta James, Don Cornelius, and Whitney Houston. But their musical spirit still lives on. 

THE THREE SONGS THAT REPRESENT BLACK HISTORY 

1.) Living For The City -Stevie Wonder

Stevie Wonder was a big part of black history. Even though, I like 60s Stevie a little better than 70s Stevie, but during the 70s he's music was revolutionary. He talked about things that the black communities had to deal it. I feel that "Living For The City", Stevie described to the mainstream America, what issues we as African Americans had to deal with. 

STEVIE'S LYRICS

His father works some days for fourteen hours 
And you can bet he barely makes a dollar 
His mother goes to scrub the floor for many 
And you'd best believe she hardly gets a penny

LISTEN THIS CLASSIC 

2.) Fight The Power- Public Enemy

Public Enemy is definitely one of the groups in hip-hop that wanted to explain the mainstream America about black history. This song as well as the video was very powerful. Chuck D explained our struggle that we went through for over 400 years. Lastly, Chuck D was trying to talk to the black communities to stand firm for you believe in.

CHUCK D'S LYRICS

Got to give us what we want
Gotta give us what we need
Our freedom of speech is freedom or death
We got to fight the powers that be
Lemme hear you say
Fight the power

LISTEN & WATCH THIS POWERFUL SONG & VIDEO

(I LOVE THE BEGINNING)

3.) We Shall Overcome- Glory Gospel Singers

This song is so powerful during the famous marches with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, my people would march and sing "We Shall Overcome" so the racial hate can stop. We didn't want to get treated like second-class citizens. We deserved the same rights as everyone else. Those marches and people like Dr. King helped the world finally see our first Black President, Barack Obama. Even though, my race still deal with racial injustice, but it is a lot better than Jim Crow days and the 1960s. 

LYRICS TO THIS POWERFUL SONG

The Lord will see us through, The Lord will see us through,
The Lord will see us through someday;
Oh, deep in my heart, I do believe,
We shall overcome someday

LISTEN NATALIE FORD W/GLORY GOSPEL SINGERS SING THIS BEAUTIFULLY

LISTEN TO DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR PREACH ABOUT HOW "WE SHALL OVERCOME"

GOT THREE MORE NEXT WEEK!!!

Happy Black History Month Pt 1

Now my blog is about soul music so for the month of February every week I am going to give you 3 songs a week, that represents my culture and how we had to overcome a lot of challenges. 

1.) (Say It Loud) I'm Black & I'm Proud -James Brown 

This song by James Brown symbolizes black history for me. James Brown made a song for my culture to feel good about ourselves. During the civil rights movement, African Americans were treated unfairly because of the color of our skin. So as the 1960's were ending and the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, which cause our leadership to collapse. So, James Brown made a anthem for the black community to go out and stand up for what you believe in, be your own leader because you are BLACK & PROUD.

LISTEN TO THIS CLASSIC ANTHEM!!

 

This song by James Brown symbolizes black history for me. James Brown made a song for my culture to feel good about ourselves. During the civil rights movement, African Americans were treated unfairly because of the color of our skin. So as the 1960's were ending and the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, which cause our leadership to collapse. So, James Brown made a anthem for the black community to go out and stand up for what you believe in, be your own leader because you are BLACK & PROUD.

2.) People Get Ready- The Impressions

What can I say Curtis Mayfield is one of the best writers of all time. While he was with the Impressions, he wrote songs of the struggles African Americans. But People Get Ready in my opinion is the best. He writes and sings that a "All you need is faith" in this song is telling his people that as long as we trust and have faith in GOD everything will be okay. 

LISTEN TO THE SOUL & THANK THE LORD

3.) How I Got Over- Mahalia Jackson

How I Got Over is definitely an gospel anthem because we as a community wonder how we got over, but it was nobody but GOD. Mahalia sung this song after Martin Luther King Jr's historic "I Have A Dream" speech. Mahalia was preaching through her voice, that GOD will never leave us through the bad times.   

LISTEN TO THE MAHALIA PREACH WITH HER VOICE

THE VIDEO WHERE SHE SINGS IT AFTER THE "I HAVE A DREAM" SPEECH

GOT THREE MORE NEXT WEEK!!!

TGIF

FRIDAY QUOTE OF THE DAY

Truth is tough. It will not break, like a bubble, at a touch; nay, you may kick it about all day like a football, and it will be round and full at evening

-Oliver Wendell Holmes

FRIDAY SONG OF THE DAY

GOD IN ME

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5ECZGiooEQ&feature=related

It's Friday, yall be safe out there this weekend. Just remember just continue to walk with GOD because he will always PROTECT & GUIDE you. Have a good weekend!!!

How I Fell In Love With Different Music Genres

In the world of music there are many genres from alternative to contemporary. That's why at the GRAMMYs all categories can't be televise. In my opinion, this shows how music can affect anyone. Music has such a big effect on my life especially these genres: gospel, soul, hip-hop, and pop. As I stated before, I understand that there is a lot of music out there, but these were the types that changed affected my life.

I'm going to start off with Gospel Music. Gospel music was always very big in my family, especially with my grandma Vivian. She grow up in the church, so it was only right that she fell in love with Gospel Music. I remember when I was between the ages of 2-6, I used to love Shirley Caesar. Grandma Vivian could put me in front of the TV when Caesar was on and I wouldn't move, I would cry when it went off. However, I think the day I truly fell in love with Gospel Music, was when I heard "Silver & Gold" for the first time. It was like nothing, I heard before. Meanwhile, this was during a time where me and my mother find out who GOD really was. I remember crying to "Silver and Gold" and not knowing why, but I realized that GOD has been wonderful in a my life and "I'll rather have JESUS than silver and gold." From that moment gospel, will always have that affect on me because songs like that let me know that GOD is always with me through anything. From that I'm so glad that we have younger artists like Mary Mary that make music for the younger generation, so we can understand who JESUS is.

The way I fell in love with SOUL music was the first time I heard ROY C, Tyrone Davis, and Bobby Womack. See my mother grow up with this music. My mother explained to me back in the day when my late-grandfather use to buy a 45 everyday. So, you know the older you get the more you fall in love with it. Now I take you to the year 1992, I was 6. Around the house my mother use to play all this southern guys that I didn't know, but they sounded so good. So, I asked my mother "You the heck are this". "Roy C", she laughs. The song "Dont Blame The Man". Meanwhile, my mother was going to South Carolina State University and on Friday's this guy had a soul station on campus. His name was Tony Brown, he would play that deep southern soul music like Tyrone Davis, Bobby Womack, and the Impressions. I just remember listening to this station on every Friday, with me and moms dancing to this great genre of music.

The day I fell in love with HIP-HOP music was the first time I heard "Juicy" by The Notorious B.I.G in late 1993. By then, I knew who SugarHill Gang, Run DMC, and the Furious Five, but that how my parents fell in love with hip-hop. I remember my dad used to play Slick Rick's "Bedtime Story" and "Mona Lisa" around but at 2 you dont understand, you just bopping your head because you dad is bopping his. But at the age of 7, when I heard "Juicy" I realize this was something that I had to take notice. My favorite line from "Juicy" was "I went from negative to positive and it's all good" That line was telling me, if he made it out of hard times I could too.  As a result, I started to explore more hip-hop artists like Nas's Illmatic, is definitely a classic. But it all started with Ready To Die's "Juicy" by The Notorious B.I.G,  when I truly fell in love with hip-hop.

I fell in love with Pop music during my teenage years, like with Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, and Christina Aguilera. In 1996, my mother and I moved from South Carolina to New Jersey to start a new life. During this time, I was becoming a teenager. Now, I was getting sick of listening to just soul, gospel, and hip-hop. So, going to a new school this kids started to sing this songs by these artists that I didn't know. Moving back to the north, the only stations that I knew about was HOT97, 98.7KISS, 107.5WBLS, and 1600AM WWRL. After going to this school for a year, we had this party at the school, and this girl went to the radio and turned to Z100 and 103.5KTU. So, I asked her what do they play on these station she was like "The Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, and Britney". I was like "who are they", she was like "they are teen pop", you should check them out. I knew about MTV and BET. But the only reason why I watch MTV was for Janet, other than that I changed the channel. So, when I got home, I turned on Z100, kept it on the whole day, and I actually started liking it. I think the songs that got me the most was The Backstreet Boys "As Long As You Love Me " and *NSYNC's "Tearing Up My Heart" from that moment I fell in love with artists like Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, 98 Degrees and Jessica Simpson. This was  during the time my mother didn't wanted to claim me because I used to play them around the house all the time.

Above all, with these types of music, I got to understand different genres, now I am getting influenced by jazz, country, and rock. As my mother would said "you need to be broad to really understand music". Thanks Moms