OTIS

Ever since I can remember, I’ve always loved hip hop. I can recall sitting on my knees in front of the television watching MTV…the only platform at the time for the Genesis of rap. Heavy gold chains, Cazels, Adidas, bamboo earrings at least two pairs…I was always intrigued and daydreaming for the age number when I could finally douse myself in that lifestyle.
So much has changed since those early, innocent days of hip hop. We went through the terrible twos of gangsta rap and the puberty of female defamation….and finally, I think we’re maturing into a course of responsible lyrics. I love the lyrical genius of Jay-Z…and I’ve always admired the cojones of Kanye West. He’s so gutsy and will say exactly what’s on his mind. Sometimes it can incur some real shock value and do damage, but for what it’s worth, the boy has heavy vernacular. So when I heard of this recent collabo’, I couldn’t help but get that same excitement I did when I heard “Self Destruction” for the first time.
OTIS is such a soulful track…sampling my favorite Otis Redding track, “Try A Little Tenderness”. Who would have ever thought we’d hear two hip hop legends spilling their words over something so eponymous of love and wanting to be gentle towards a woman’s needs.  If this is a sample of what is yet to come, we’re looking at a hip hop record of epic proportions!  I was beginning to give up on hip hop, trade in my Kangol hat for a gardening one.  But after hearing this…I’ll retract my green thumb and keep bopping my head to the booming system.

So….here ya go…“OTIS” Kanye West & Jay-Z.<—Click here to hear.

Ode to Martha:DIY

I had put down my drawing pen years ago, couldn’t even find my scissors.

Glue was a four letter word I didn’t practice much, and let’s even not talk about dinner.

I gravitated to your channel and somehow ended up reading your books.

Magazines made it even shinier and HD compelled me to look.

I wrote you an email or two, only to receive a generic reply:

I’m sorry but Martha receives thousands of letters and yours is just another try.

I paused when you went on your “sabbatical” and still tracked down the MS brand.

Saw it one day in Michael’s and I wandered into Martha land.

Stencils, stamps, pens, and paper. Markers, boxes, and such.

Beautiful typography, packaging, and graphic work the things people don’t pay attention to as much.

I recognize gifts that are intrinsic, that doesn’t belong to a school.

A gift that’s sent from above, and the world is always your muse.

Mrs. Stewart has helped me understand,what it means to be multi-talented.

Good morning, afternoon, or night, my name is Kendra and I’m not cursed, I am gifted.

Through jams and spices, baking pies and cakes, or building a mahogany shelf.

I’m grateful and deeply inspired by people, like Martha, who are eager to do-it-yourself.

=)

SATC Hype Deux!

The trailers make me antsy.  And as the date gets closer, Aidan Shaw’s face flashes ever-too familiarly. I’m already prophesizing that the Aidan Shaw reunion will be  brief and won’t shake the hardwood floors Carrie & Big now walk on.  Their bond is tight.  Big may be thousands of miles away, but Carrie’s not crazy.  Let’s recall a few supporting facts: she cheated on Aidan with Big.  And then there was the summer retreat ruined at Aidan’s house on the prairie, thanks to Carrie’s Big heart, when she invites a drunken Big to come and talk.  He’s the thread in her vintage Chanel.  And while the SATC show would have been a potential merry-go-round without him, Carrie is just simply in love with the man of her dreams (or nightmares, cue DVD season 6).

The best parts of SATC the first…well, who will ever forget that Big is now John.  Still leaves an unfamiliar taste in my mouth.  And Samantha…baby girl, I love you to death, but you’re getting older, along with Kim Catrall.  Let’s not keep beating a dead horse here, lose the relationship phobia.   It’s not a good look for a woman carrying a senior decaf to peruse and flirt with the bachelors of her yester-years.  But thanks for teaching us how to color. Miranda’s character is by far one of my favorites.  Not because she’s a go-getter, blunt, and sometimes judgmental, like myself.  She’s the dynamic character.  Evolving into a mother, caretaker, and unconditonally, loving wife.  Charlotte has no real change, other than the physical evolution of fertilized eggs and oh yeah, she did change or lose a God. Poor Jesus.  But in each of them is a desire to feel love.  While Big was true to being the jackass he’s always been, by leaving Carrie at the alter, he did make it in time for curtain call and the credits began to roll with their happily ever after at the JOP. 

I’m looking forward to a change of scenery for the SATC’s primary setting. But Abu-Dhabi?  A muslim country where women are repressed, with SEX and the City as your mainstay? Hmph.  But, you can’t blame Michael Patrick King.  It was almost impossible to shoot the first SATC movie in New York City with onlookers within earshot, spoiling it for everyone.  But nonetheless, I’m yet again, happy to see my girls, all four of them.  Stilettos and cocktails, laughs, oohs, ahhs, tears, and disappointment.  May 27th!!! =)

P.S. Patricia Field rocks!!!! =)