Black Grrrls Rule: Part II

Well you can't mention BGR without talking about the wildly popular issue of Trace magazine. This year's issue, which hits newsstands on Thursday, will feature her on the cover with a really long exclusive interview inside. And yeah supposedly she's rocking that Beatles wig, not sure if she’ll be sporting the big bow though. And am I the only one to notice that she was a no-show for her “world premiere” closing performance at the BET Awards? Mad props to J. Period though for wrangling Ms. Hill down long enough to produce this. So what is it about Lauryn that makes our heart still go pitty pat even after this and this? Is it because the music landscape of R&B and hiphop is so dry and bleak? Mark Neal gives an interesting, indepth and analytical dig on that topic. I’m saying, despite current lackluster performances, I’m still so anxious for L Boogie’s sophomore cd, The Khulami Phase. Maybe we’re just fiending for her because she really is just that gifted. On the flip side, Trace’s journalistic coup bumped this mc’s feature totally out of the issue leaving her dissed like that. Talking about being dissed, why wasn’t India.Arie included in this year’s hot grrrls EVENT-- The Sugarwater Tour (with Erykah, Jill, Latifah and Floetry). I haven’t heard too much about the performances either way so I guess we’ll have to come back with comments in part 3 of this post. SOHH.com is really giving us ladies a chance to air-out our feminist laundry with great blogs like this by a number of hiphop vets including Kim Osorio—the former EIC at The Source and former Aftermath executive Tashion Macon. On a different note, last month I was getting my usual soy protein pepper steak and carrot-ginger juice at the Uptown Juice Bar and thought the sister next to me looked familiar. Sure nuff, her name is Somi and she’s a singer from East Africa. I finally had a chance to peep her website. She’s definitely bringing a little Cassandra Wilson and some Miriam Makeba to the table. Very nice! Take a listen for yourself. As usual, some of us Black grrrls are still trying to get our ish together and must deal with some really funky issues in our lives: Lil’ Kim gets a bid, Eve is pissed off about her sex tape and Terry McMillan lost her groove. And folks still have a problem seeing the connection between sex, hiphop, promiscuous girls and misogynist men. And on top of that feminism is still the other F word with folks of color. Dang! Finally, I’ve got a lot to say about this sister, but I will let Mos Def's words and the information on her site inform you. However I will say to the poiticos in New Jersey and New York and to Bush…Assata Shakur is not your problem. Even Castro is hip to the game. Stop trying to use a Black woman as scapegoat fodder (you’ve already got Condoleeza pinned-up) for what is becoming a season of discontent and cover-ups!