If I Only Had A Brain...

"Where's your head at?  You have found yourself trapped in this incomprehensible maze..."  Where's Your Head At - Basement Jaxx

Honestly, I am all over the place this week.  For some reason, I am not sure whether I am coming or going.  With 101 things milling in that tiny spectrum of my head that doctors call a brain, who knows where today's entry will take us.  Let us begin...

A few tidbits:

I seriously cannot believe that I have waited THIS long to share this phenomenal find!  There is a great community that has been created for soul music lovers, called Soul Commune. Think of it as Facebook with a FUNCTION.  Those who know me, do know that it would take a really cold day in Hades to get me to sign up for Facebook or Myspace.  And yes, hate is a harsh word and I was only taught to use it in extreme situations - this being one of them.  But Soul Commune is a wonderful breath of fresh air.  Especially for those who are into amazing soul music from sensational indie artists.  Algebra, Heston, Kendra Ross, Mint Condition etc.  If you are up on those artists, then this is the place for you to network if you are in the industry and to be a fan and hear some amazing music.  Do check it out at www.soulcommune.com

Janet, Miss Jackson if ya nasty,  has done it once again, she has come in with the #1 album on Billboard this week.  Discipline happens to be Janet's 6th #1 album.  See, a little discipline can't hurt nobody!  Sorry, I couldn't resist.

My girl Erykah Badu is spreading the word on her album New Amerykah, Pt 1: 4th World War, which came in the #2 spot.  If you do not have it, get it.  Check out the country girl looking chic and doing her thing on the April cover of Essence magazine.  My cuz put me on to some Erykah info that I am sure Erykah will be talking about in the Essence article.  I had no idea (not that it's any of my business) that she was seeing Jay Electronica.  Jay is an artist who happens to be one of the best kept secrets in hip hop.  He has used the internet as his vessel to showcase his work and it seems to be working for him.  When Erykah was asked to describe him as Jay Electronica the person, her reponse was "I wouldn't even call him a person, 'cause he's a weird looking cat.  His ears are kinda pointy, he's got a square head,  he kinda looks like he's an alien from somewhere  - really.  But in a rare beautiful way."  Only Erykah can show her love for someone so eloquently.  Here's a clip of Jay Electronica (with Erykah present) at a photo shoot for URB Magazine.

Can you feel the love?!

Next on my list - a little ranting.  You didn't think I would write up a new entry without ranting did you?

There are two new songs that have caught my ear and for all the wrong reasons.  They both seem to bury themselves in my temporal lobe and it would most likely take a lobotomy to get it wiped out out of my brain.  The first one is "Love In This Club" by Usher featuring Young Jeezy.  Yes, he's back after his "family time" or whatever we would like to call the "commotion" in his life during the past year.  Anyhow, I am very perturbed when it comes to this song.  Usher's first line in the song is, "I gotta do it for the ladies/and I gotta keep it hood."  Really, the title alone bothers every fiber in my being.  For a grown ass man who just got married and had a child, I was hoping for a little something more and different on this album.  Yes Usher has his freakum moments, I just have high expectations that's all.  And like with every other song that I detest, it gets stuck in my head and I can't help but turn it up loud and bounce to the beat.  Yet on the contrary with this song,  the other one that is really driving me to wrench out my eardrums with a screwdriver would be Mariah Carey's new track "Touch My Body."  Turning on the radio hearing Mariah coo, "If there's a camera up in here, I'd best not catch this flick on YouTube" agitates me.  Mariah once said that all she can do is make music she believed in.  If this is a glimpse of what she believes in for her upcoming release, I don't know what to say.  "It's Like That" from The Emancipation of Mimi was fun and fearless, where "Touch My Body" comes across as remiss and strewn together.  Of course, it's going to be a number one song, you will see.  However, I cannot say it will be on account of the strength or individuality of the music.  Let us hope it is not a reflection of things to come.  And just a side note, I am not usually this abrasive when writing about music.  Music is something that I am passionate about and the whole movement right now is really causing me concern.  But that is a whole other rant.

This week, I decided to add another piece to my blog called "Tha Jams."  Tha Jams are a choice of 6 songs (that may change) that I will rotate every week.  They are songs that may be in my head, my blog discussion or in my iPod.  So for your listening pleasure, I did include the two songs discussed today and a few others that are on my playlist.  Hope you enjoy as we go along!

And on that note, here is the flashback video of the day.  Some good ol' down home soul.

See ya...

Tha Connoisseur