You’re probably familiar with Aretha Franklin, the queen of soul…coiner of R-E-S-P-E-C-T…Ms. Fat Booty Sample…she’s sorta like a big deal.

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[Aretha Franklin "One Step Ahead"]

But did you know that she had two sisters who were both hellllllllla fresh as well?  Behold:  

Erma Franklin, the oldest, was the original singer of “Piece of My Heart,” which was eventually turned into a classic when covered by Janis Joplin:

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[Erma Franklin "Piece of My Heart"]

Carolyn Franklin, the youngest of the three, was quite prolific, dropping several records in her short lifespan:

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[Carolyn Franklin "I Don't Want to Lose You"]

So the past generation had the Franklins and the Jacksons!  We have…the Jonas???  We need a new dynasty!

BAY AREA STAND UP!  The homies Keelay & Zaire get so damn down on this remix of Tanya Morgan’s “So Damn Down.” Sweeeet!

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[Tanya Morgan "So Damn Down (Keelay & Zaire Remix)"]

Oh, and if you haven’t visited TM’s hometown Brooklynati, it’s time to pay a visit.

Ohhh snap are we climbing out of our cave again?  A shower might be necessary.  We’re rocking a short set at the Summer Party for Hyphen Magazine’s 17th issue, where we’re featured!  Come through.  Grab a drank.  Can you digit.

Hyphen’s Summer Party
Friday July 3, 9p – 2a
111 Minna SF
21+, $10 

Dammit!  We’re gonna have to call customer service.  Can’t have bankers running around thinking Nico’s related to Rafael Correa, the president of Ecuador.

Or caaaaan we??  Pleeeeeease???

We had a crazy night in the studio and I woke up feeling great. It felt like months of hardship had came to a culminating and spectacular close. Wired off of coffee, I was seeing things through different lenses, thinking of the life lessons learned in the past year, and a line popped in my head. “Truth is an angry black woman. Loud.” And from there, thoughts flooded my brain on ideas of everything I believed truth to be and everything black women have been in my life. The two seemed inseparable. I tore through the studio looking for a pen (I found a green marker) and a paper (I found backs of documents) and I wrote like I never have in my life. Channeled. Tears bordered my eyelids. I read my piece to Nico and Drizz and then went in the booth and recorded a beloved verse of mine in a couple of takes.

Now I’ll admit that it might not be one of my best poems but it is definitely one of the most special. The way it came about. The way it came out. I hope you feel it. I hope you listen. I hope you hear truth. I hope you see beauty.

Truth is an angry black woman
LOUD
And straight forward
Blunted on reality
And unapologetic of who she offends

If she’s speaking to you,
You should listen
If you eavesdrop, you are responsible as well
Don’t let her catch you,

She is truth

And she ain’t concerned about being nice or easy
Or accommodating
Her only obligation is to be real
So it might take you a while to realize she’s beautiful.
If you smart, you would listen
You would hear her
Try to understand
It may hurt
Might sting
Might make you cry
Might make you question yourself
Maybe you need to
‘Cuz she ain’t stopping
can’t object,
reason or plead
no excuses
She’ll tell you she ain’t got enough room in her pants
For anymore Bu- Butts
No rebuttle will do

I mean, you could walk away
She won’t chase you
She’s used to being ignored
But you better run
Far.

May your legs be quicker than her tongue
May your destination be direct as her word
May your haste be as timely as her message

She is truth

And she don’t need to convince anyone
She don’t need to convert you.
‘Cuz real ain’t a religion
It’s breath
Straight from God, not man
And she ain’t crusading
Crucify you only to make a symbol of the answers for generations to come
She is the one
And the way
The answer not to be questioned

And she may hurt you
Only to make you better
And the more you shrug her off
The stronger she becomes

She is truth

She is my mother
Adia
Chinaka
Amara
Lauren
Suzan Lori
Toni Morrison
Son you, son you better humble yourself to her motherly nature

She is you, Yvie.
Amazingly wise beyond her years
Shockingly soulful

Oh, if we were smart, we would listen to you
And believe in you
Trust that you know what you’re talking about
Speak that shit baby girl
Lil’ big mama
I wanna hear you

I know you been told not to speak for so long
Quoted out of context
Distorted and misrepresented
Used for the wrong reason
Abused and taken advantage of
Made to believe you were stupid,
But embraced it
And told us “My truth don’t speak proper English”
I just speak it how is see it
And truth has no translation
Made to believe you were not beautiful
And embraced it
And told us what you think is beautiful
Is fucked up
Is Paris Hilton
Is plastic
surgery
Weave
And bulima to fit in
But truth can’t fit into gap jeans

I’m so sorry I’ve ignored you for so long
I’m sorry I never understood your beauty
Oh, truth speak!
I wanna hear you
I wanna know you
Speak truth baby
What no one wants, and everyone needs
Speak truth
Truth speak
Speak truth
Truth speak
Speak, truth
Truth, speak
‘Cuz I’m listening now
everybody’s listening now.

*i know i’ve been posting forever amounts of michael jackson stuff, and i realize it’s been my way to mourn.  wahhh! let me be!!

I must admit, I wasn’t the biggest Michael Jackson fan. In fact, for the majority of my life, I thought about Michael the same way I thought about most other musicians that my parents would play on their oldies stations in the minivan — Phil Collins, The Carpenters, that “Circles in the Sand” song… The first Michael Jackson tape I ever owned didn’t even have him singing on it…it was an MJ cover tape by Alvin and the Chipmunks, and when I was 8 I’d spend hours meandering the hallways of my house with my Sesame Street bus boombox and “Man in the Mirror” on knock.

But even with that memory, I can’t say I was necessarily a fan. Like many other 80’s babies, I didn’t have the mental capacity to appreciate Thriller — the universe’s biggest album ever — as a shriveled fetus. Thriller dropped November 30, 1982. I was born on May 24, nine months later. Yes, there’s a 1 in 9 chance I was conceived to “Human Nature.”

[Read more →]

BOOM. You’re welcome.

*at the rate that i’ve been posting this stuff, eventually i’ll be riding around on a bicycle, knocking on doors and asking, “can i talk to you about Michael Jackson?”

Whaaaaaat this is so cleeeeeeeeean!  Kanye’s been one of our main inspirations for the live production that we’re piecing together for iB4the1.  Last year his Glow in the Dark tour stretched the imaginations of hip-hop fans across the globe, and this year he’s going even crazier (in all ways possible, but in the good way).

More via Kanye’s Blog

Here’s the mock-up that he posted a few days ago made out of gum wrapper:

Is it just me or does the new stage plot look hella like the Ivory Tower from Neverending Story?

Fresh regardless.  Can’t wait to see it.

I mean…Pilipino in the rain. **winks at Ruby**

Pnoy Apparel has the same effect on me that Fubu used to have when it was the hot shit — it would make me start to think to myself, “Man, I wish I was [insert ethnicity here] so I could rock that…” when all of a sudden Chairman Mao would appear with one hand shaking his finger at me, and the other holding Bruce Lee’s six-pack tattooed with the phrase, You can have one of these if you just remain patient.  

Not to say that Pnoy Apparel and Fubu are anything alike though…you won’t see any PA stuff with Fat Albert all over it in the clearance rack at TJ Maxx.  And also, unlike Fubu, if you were at the flea market and found a Pnoy Apparel shirt where all the Fs were replaced with Ps, that would actually mean that it’s more real. **winks at Maganda staff**

Their new limited edition REVOLT hoodies are helllllla tight.  The detail across the entire thing is magnificent, and the designers did a fantastic job of figuring out how to wear a flag without looking like Rex Kwan Do.

Here are glorious photos of our friends sporting REVOLT (no promo):

There are only 300 of them out there!  Cop them now, boys and girls!!!