So I'm an artist! I sing, I write, I play, I paint, I write poetry, I take pictures and I write this blog.
What???
Oh, you thought that I just fought Smoove Jazz, Clowns and tight binding Underwear! You did huh?
Well besides that! I do that too!
I'm serious about my art! I put alot of time in it and sometimes it gets a lil frustrating for me cause I see so many hacks get success! I don't know.. Is it fair to call someone a hack? I mean, the person I think is a hack may work super hard at what they do.
What's a hack anyway? I think it may just be someone who is not as serious about an art. Example, There are basketball players that really want to be Actors! But they stay in the gym practicing that jump shot not honing their acting chops.
You know going to auditons, taking workshops, reading for parts. So if they are a hack then in what? Acting or Basketball?
I used to be an executive with a record label. It sounds more impressive than it was, Trust! But I learned alot and even better I was able to crystallize some of my opinions. Dig! My partners and I had a constant desire to find singers who had the voices of Aretha Franklin and Martha Wash (C and C Music Factory) but had the looks and bodies of Ciara and Cassie!
It seemed that we never could! If they had the goods (Voice, interpretation, style and personality) they didn't have the body! They were 300 pounds! Or the exact opposite would occur and the camera made love to them! They had the presence but the vocals, if indeed you could call them that were thin and well some of them could stay on key. Sometimes!
Do you choose the voice over the visual? What to do? What to do?
We were not alone I assure you. Clive Davis hit the motherlode in 1984 with Whitney Houston. Houston had the goods! Tall, Beautiful, Model thin and she could really Sing!
Tommy Motolla not to be outdone found his own Whitney named Mariah!
Tall, Beautiful, Thin enough, and she had the Goods! The Voice! (The Biggest thin on Mariah in the Vision of Love Video besides her HEAD was her Butt!)
Come on.. Are you feeling me? Envogue! Four good looking Sistas with Bodies in barely there dresses with great voices! The Goods!
We love the voices but the visuals are important! They are! Erykah Badu had an interesting look and her voice reminded alot of people of Billie Holiday plus she was a theatre major so she brought that to her visual presentation as well. She was a hit! Hell, the only thing that stops Erykah is Erykah! She's an artist so she tends to go off on these musical tangents that don't necessarily make sense to anyone except her ala Prince!
But I digress.........
300 Pounds with the voice of the Heavens! Versus Video Centerfold! Well, Cassie and Ciara don't have the voice of a Jill Scott or a Jaguar Wright but they dance, they stay in the gym and they turn the viewer on.
Mrs. Jaycee digs Genuine and I would dread riding in the truck with her. Genuine was not El Debarge! But in fairness, Genuine stayed in the gym. That six pack wasn't fake!
Note to Mrs. Jaycee! Hunnie, I didn't hide your Genuine CD! It's somewhere in your collection!
So, is it fair to compare? Tell me!
Side note! Cassie! No more leaked nekked photos ok! I'm all for Nekked pictures, but you said you wanted to do Music! So how bout some leaked music.
But I digress.......
So dig, again, somewhere there's a singer who's calling another singer a hack? How do you tell the difference? I'm throwin a rock! Madonna has no Body and a sub par voice but she's a great artist! Why does it work?
What y'all think?
BE Prayerful! BE Mindful! BE Careful!
Jaycee
