I would like to start this review with a bit of honesty – keeping it completely one hundred, as they say – I do not really understand the platform/content of the site I am about to review. Not all of it anyway. And more important, I don’t like some of it either. But what I do like, I love, and all of it is something that I appreciate and find refreshing. But I am getting ahead of myself, so let me start with the basics.

Creative Control is a website co-founded by music video directors Coodie and Chike, the creative minds behind Kanye West’s first video “Through the Wire” along with Erykah Badu’s controversial 2010 video “Window Seat.” The site is a part of the DD172’s portfolio, Damon Dash’s umbrella entertainment company.
The site itself is a network of sorts, consisting of music videos from independent artists-of-color along with online television shows and odd ends, videos that are neither music videos nor television show, but one-off content pieces that are distinctive regarding the subject. One considerably great find is a video showcasing a young Kanye West receiving a new Mercedes Benz jeep and asking the dealer about the Maybach before it hits the U.S. market. Irony is not dead. (For those of you completely out of the loop, he rides around in a deconstructed one with Jay-Z years later in the “Otis” music video off of the album, Watch the Throne.)
The site itself is visually disarming and beautiful. Occupied by mainly black and white video, the video stills are housed against a smooth white, expertly simplified visual interface making it easy to navigate and get lost in. The only thing more encompassing than the stills exhibited like a well-edited photo essay are the subjects that offer snippets of their life and art. Uniquely defiant, enthralling, young, extravagant in their presentation and openly experimental, the subjects are that new black. Or maybe that old black that hadn’t found its place in the stream of current culture or was escorted out of it? (You see Mobb Deep’s Prodigy promote his newest album in one of the Odds and Ends videos along with other familiar faces from the annals of hip hop and pop culture.)
What I love about the site is simple – it showcases black artists being artists. I don’t like some of the things on the site, because some of the work just does not appeal to me. But that is a taste issue. For example, there is a video with Chanel Iman titled “Chanel in Run a Way” that I find to be a limp attempt at art; reminiscent of a perfume commercial, pretty with low impact. I do love that it has a format where it can exist and I respect the bravery it takes to put it out there. But it isn’t really about anything, so I moved on next.
There are extreme highlights to the site as well. I stumbled onto the site after getting hooked on a series called “The Menthol Show,” which is co-produced by a friend. Hosted by Ren Jett, a graduate of FIT, the premise of the show is to have one assumed tastemaker introduce you to other tastemakers based in New York. Ren makes a natural and easy connection with each episode’s subject by starting off with the “Or” segment. “Or” serves in a place of a traditional teaser trailer, where Ren asks the subject to choose between two seemingly random things, such as Janet Jackson or Regina King. (She chooses Janet of course, but I have a soft spot for Regina because she is a brown actress that STAYS working.)
Another favorite is the “Gatekeepers,” which humanizes the men that sometimes won’t let you pass go at some of NYC’s hottest spots. Sam Sneed, and his friend The Chad, offer up hilarious stories and insights into the less than human condition of NYC party goers. Attractive and dapper, these men detail the serious dangers of their profession along with the human follies that come up when people dress to impress… and miss. In one show segment, they talk about women’s fashion faux pas and proper dress etiquette. In another video, they describe a man sniffing coke in the middle of a crowd and to be fair, scenes like that are what make living in a city – this city – great. The show is best when highlighting the crazy that exists on the sidewalks and pathways leading into the club. These stories, no matter how foul, make you want to be the gatekeepers.
And that is what I love about this site. Whether the content appeals to you or not, it compels you to invest more than a slight glance at the work being showcased (even if they only offer that much per video). You gorge on the views and appetites of each subject…perhaps envious of the artistically slanted and wonderfully rambunctious (you assume) lives that they must be leading; only to realize that there is no need. Not because their life and opinions are more beautiful than your own, but that they too are a work in progress.

Check it out: http://www.creativecontrol.tv/www/

GIANLUIGI GUERCIA/AFP/Getty Images

The nation of Libya recently overthrew the regime of leader Muammar Gaddafi. In a joyous celebration the transitional government has declared the country officially “liberated.” It’s a beautiful day for the Libyan people. As well, it is a solemn time of remembrance for the lives sacrificed in attaining that freedom.

The one thing I disagree with in the entirety of the coup, the rebellion, and the liberation is the celebration of the execution of Gaddafi. Granted, there is nothing redeeming about any leader who doesn’t take care of his people. However, does no one find the way people rejoiced at the news of his execution disturbing? I can understand being relieved. I could understand the satisfaction of vengeance. I can understand rejoicing at the new found freedom. However, fist-pumping, high-fiving, “and I hope they burn in hell” style celebration because you killed a guy makes me question your judgment. Morally, how is that justified? You can do better. Shouldn’t you want to be better person?

I can understand the Libyans rejoicing at the death of Gaddafi, but people over in the United States are truly elated. Granted, Gaddafi committed many crimes and I mean no solace in that but really?! Keep your composure. A man was executed. It seems antithetical to be so uncivilized when promoting the virtues of democracy. If not antithetical, then merely hypocritical.

I am a huge believer in independent black film and media, if for nothing else, because I think that it allows black folk to create media that speaks very specifically to our varied realities. At the moment, I feel like black filmmakers are on the cusp of a renaissance, in no small part due to the internet. Rather than wait for another studio to endorse and distribute our content, ultimately stripping it of its authenticity in the development and editing process, we are creating our own platforms and distributing said content ourselves. My hope with Afrothought.com is to consume, deconstruct and pontificate on all I can about independent black film and media content that exists in this world. Overly ambitious, right? I need to be because this space is growing and so should the commentary on it. And if you are nervous that I may not fulfill my own expectations, I have built a little out being the fact that if said content runs out (or if I get lazy, which is more likely), I will just speak on some ignorant ass movies that I am embarrassingly excited to see such as Thor (which I thoroughly enjoyed AO!)*

Back to the original point of this article – I believe now is the era of the black video mixtape. Distribute to your homies!

First up is The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, a web series about an intelligent, witty, passive aggressive and self-described awkward girl that speaks my truth from the opening credits.

The series comedically articulates the inner monologue of a woman who is agonizingly meandering her way through her 20s, one painfully self-conscious moment after another. The show follows lead character, “J”, played by writer and director Issa Rae, as she endures some of the most fundamental aspects of any young adult’s lackluster life post-college. [SPOILER ALERT] My favorite episode is the fifth one, “The Dance,” where J attends the party of her at-work crush. The episode starts with her “bestie” at work needing to talk her into going to the party, and it ends with her crush kissing her at-work nemesis.

Now, I recognize the description may make the show seem cliché circa John Hughes, but what makes the series so good are J’s accurate internal observations. From her recognition of the competition among women layered into any party to her awkward grasps at interacting with people that she doesn’t know, this web-series is a comedy, but considering how accurately her insights zing home, it feels autobiographical (though I believe the biography is my own). The cinematography and production design is pretty basic, but from what I gather on her website, her work seems to be independent of any outside sponsors or donors. Also, as an independent comedy series on the web, the purpose of this show really isn’t about special effects or high-value visuals. The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl is about the thoughtful and frequently hilarious representation of a young black woman in the world… if you like that sort of thing. And if you don’t, check out the first episode when J writes violent rap lyrics to help her get over a break-up with an ex-boyfriend; that was just good TV.

There is a new episode every month. Check it out and let me know what you think.

*To all of our readers, please note that I make reference to both A.O. Scott and Manhola Dargis, the two chief movie critics for the New York Times, as if we were friends. I have never met either, but I know I will eventually and they will be damn pleased.

Just as I was about to crawl into bed and wake up tomorrow only to begin another souless week at work, I decided to delay the inevitable and jump on Youtube. I’m not even sure how I stumbled up on this, but I don’t remember the last time I’ve seen so much heavily-concentrated win in my life. I might be late, but within the last 20 minutes, this song/video has become an important part of my life. A bullet to the dome couldn’t stop the endless loop of this song from my mindgrapes.

I think what’s the most fascinating about this solar hot mess, is that I keep asking myself, “Why the hell the face of his watch on the side of his arm? His wristband is too loose. He should fix that. And then the song just ends….” That’s the kinda stuff I concentrate on. That I REALLY hope that this dude’s from Houston, or at least TX. Cuz I’d be proud. I’m not really sure what that says about me. No matter, I gotta “walk, befo’ I crawl”.

I was gonna stop there, bout I’m foreal confused. Is he leaving the LONGEST voicemail or what! Damn.

Source: Obama releases ‘long form’ birth certificate

Unfortunately, the President believes facts and a majority of the nations acceptance of such will finally stop the relentless extremists unwilling to acknowledge his eligibility and therefore Presidency. These fundamentalists also known as “birthers” have flamed rumors that Barack Hussein Obama II was born outside of the United States and thus ineligible to be President despite prior presentations of proof.

We will not be surprised if the fanatical birther members chalk this release of President Obama’s birth certificate up as a conspiracy. Donald Trump, don’t quit your day job(s).

Source: The Bing-Facebook Alliances

In case you didn’t notice, Bing is the official search engine for Facebook. Which gives Bing access to your Facebook info and thus the ability to try to mold the search results it feels relevant to the things you deem relevant. While the Google brand is still a verb synonymous with web searching itself, the Bing-Facebook deal may finally add credibility to the much-ignored Microsoft search engine.

In response to our friends at ICantBeFamous.com

SHORT VERSION:
Sadly, Lupe’s mainstream crossover will succeed mainly because anything promoted at a certain level will; e.g. Rebecca Black. On top of that he is actually talented, so the flash-in-the-pan pitfalls should be beyond his team’s concerns. Additionally, he has a legion of fans who essentially have liitle-to-no other choice; not a lot of emcees of his caliber for this generation. So though Atlantic Records is bafflingly horrible at business; Lasers will not usher in a new movement of commercial appeal AND talent. Atlantic’s turn at the helm did not fail. In fact, even if it had tanked, the label would blame Lupe. Fortunately for them, short of complete career suicide, nothing he did on/after this release would have caused its demise. Evident in the fact that he, hereto, has been highly antagonistic of the album and the process through which it came to be, yet Lasers continues to succeed.
The opposition makes sense though, successful corporations don’t take a brand that built itself on quality and spend more money to cheapen that quality. Fail. Unfortunately, Atlantic won’t suffer the capitalist punishment of losing the return on a bad investment because all of Lupe and his team’s work from the previous albums and self-promotion leading up to the album that Lasers was originally intended to be is finally paying off. Nothing that can be done about that now; Lupe already kicked and pushed so now he’s just going to coast.

“If The Cool was a success, I was supposed to get a bump in the budget for my next record,” Fiasco said. “When I went in to cash in on that, I was told The Cool wasn’t a success. I said, ‘Well, how do you gauge that? Even if you leave off the multiple Grammys, the accolades up the ass, the platinum singles, take out the subjective stuff. How many records actually sold?’ They said it wasn’t a success and we’re changing the game, we don’t go by that anymore. So I said, ‘Let’s not have any more meetings until we figure out what rules we’re playing by.”

“I was specifically told” — Fiasco chuckled — “‘Don’t rap too deep on this record.’” He laughed some more. “That was a specific order from the top. ‘You’re rapping too fast or too slow, or it’s too complex.’ … There are consequences and combat that comes from that process and the eventual compromise. With me, though, I’m not writing about someone else. I’m writing about me. This is my life. It’s very personal for me. So for somebody to kind of put their fingers in that and play with that, it becomes more damaging. I am a hostage. I gave them what they wanted. If I didn’t, at the end of the day, the album wasn’t coming out.”

Tell ‘Em Why You Mad

I wish I could say that I was thrilled that Lasers debuted at #1. I am a huge fan of Lupe Fiasco (something I rarely say about other artists). I have always wanted an album of his to achieve this type of success for a long time. In fact, I wanted Lasers to have this success, until I dug a little deeper. I picked it up expecting the same quality Lupe of which I have become a fan over the past two albums, only to find… a distinct difference.

This album was noticeably… underwhelming; seemingly intentionally so. Aside from “All Black Everything” there were no memorable tracks. Seriously, I can’t remember the name of any other track from the album that I would say “you need to hear this” or even “you should check this track out.” These are the things a champion of good music emphatically pressures on to his peers as adolescents would a misdeed. It seemed as if the “I flatly refused, I ain’t dumb down nothing” Lupe of The Cool abandoned his stance. When the emcee previously known as Lupe Fiasco was taking it easy, he still gave you “Paris, Tokyo”. When he phoned it in, you still jammed to “Gold Watch”. So listening (as in, actually paying attention) to Lasers, a fan couldn’t help but ask “what gives?”

The word going around is that Atlantic Records strong-armed Lupe into making Lasers vastly more commercial. Our friends at ICantBeFamous.com asked, “Under what circumstance would Lupe ever do a song with Trey Songz?” Specifically, a song in which Trey could ever utter the disgustingly cookie-cutter “girl, I want you to [blank]” phrase. You may not see a problem with that, but keep mind that Lupe is the cat that built millions of followers on the foundation that he is NOT the mainstream cut-and-paste artist. He is the outsider with major support. He was (and when Atlantic stops meddling will again be) great. We finally had an inside man. A representative that could bring our ideals and culture to the table with the intellect, finesse and wordplay befitting a master emcee. Remember, this guy shot to fame for a song about a skateboarder. Then won a Grammy on the same album for a song about a robot project building. A ROBOT PROJECT BUILDING!! And Atlantic thought it was a good business move to alienate his audience and go commercial.

To reiterate, what really sucks about this album debuting at #1 is that the success it’s achieving is actually the result of Lupe’s (team’s) grind and all the credibility he (with his team) has built up over the last two albums, promotions, interviews and overall artistry.

I mean I COULD argue that he could have put out anything and it would have gone to #1 but unfortunately Atlantic DID just that. Lasers sounds like an amalgamation of “anything Lupe” or, even worse, their idea of what he should be doing. So now the executives there can say “See, we were right. Don’t question us again,” when, in theory, he could have released something more uniquely Lupe (“Shining Down” and “I’m Beamin’” included) for the same result.

Granted, it is likely Atlantic wouldn’t have released the album but a convenient leak would still bless the fans. Who knows? Maybe Lupe is planning on doing what many do; put out the real content on mixtapes and just acquiesce to label demands on the official releases. That’s what all these mixtapes are, right? That’s why so many exist, correct? They aren’t just a hustle to siphon every last dollar from their fans hungry for artistic sustanance, or am I wrong? Else what is the actual meaning?

Alas, the success of Lasers was inevitable. I’m just mad that the two songs I listen to most from the album… didn’t make the album. Atlantic Fail.

Hey, who said they have to be real?

Don’t be fooled by the charming exterior, this guy’s a badass if I’ve ever seen one. Megatron, the leader of the Deceptions and the main antagonist of almost every incarnation of the Transformers canon. What set this supervillain apart from just about every single villain in cartoon history is how unsettling it is that a cartoon villian can be so real and envoke the same kind of ruthlessness seen in live-action R rated movies. He wasn’t insane, he wasn’t misunderstood. He was smart, violent and very much focused on f***ing anyone up that screwed w/ him. If transformers bled, then Megatron would be floating in a river of it.

Not that I condone murder and torture (I assure you there’s a point to all of this), but while other cartoon villains were tying their enemy up and then leaving the room…Megatron would just shot them, oftentimes point blank. If Megatron was ever arrested, he’d be facing charges, including but not limiting to the following: (7) counts of first degree murder, (57) counts of conspiracy, (4) counts of hijacking, and not to mention mass murder of hundreds of thousands of Cybertronians that refuse to do his bidding. I mean, he transforms into a Nazi gun, tha’s evil.

What’s even more surprising is that I honestly can’t remember a time when Megatron fired his weapon and it didn’t hit someone. Also, I can’t remember when he fired his gun on someone that was more than 10 ft away from him. From taking over an entire planet, to outsmarting the “good guys” every single time, Megatron’s populated a huge list of cartoon and villain firsts. Megatron frequently said “kill” when all other cartoons said “destroy”, and was probably the first villain to be both smarter and stronger than his rival, Prime (who was also badass) was running on pure heart, which actually made him cooler.

I guess what I’ve learned from Megatron’s very brief three year run of tryanny, mass murder, and authoritarian rule was that although, these evils were subtle, it managed to do two things. The first is that Megatron’s depth of character helped flesh out and pave the way for the future roles of villains in cartoons. Megatron was the first real villain, and after him, the days of the one-dimensional megalomaniac without a purpose was gone. For all intents and purposes, Megatron owned a planet already, he was just working on the second.

The second is that because at that young age, I realized just how evil Megatron was, he made Optimus Prime look even more badass for standing up to someone who was clearly stronger, smarter, and had a MUCH bigger army than he. All of Megatron’s evil qualities highlighted the altruistic and righteous qualities in Prime, which I, and many others, valued more. In short, Prime wouldn’t be as tight as he was had it not been for Megatron. Now that’s badass…

My parents are rarely wrong when it comes to how to judge perceived human interactions. Their brand of tough love and harsh reality may have made me a slightly jaded individual, but it kept me from falling for the dumb ish all the other kids clearly accepted as the truth. While other kids were worshiping Santa Claus and the Hanukkah Harry, I was in the back of the kindergarten class smirking about how mentally superior I was to my classmates and played with the Flintstone Phone. I knew that the Muppets weren’t real, Mr. Rogers was a pedophile, and Big Bird was a transgendered Caucasian (and apparently the only Caucasian animal on Seasame Street). When people told me “You can’t judge a book by its cover”, I was the kid that told them “F**k that, you can go to an interview in jeans, I’m wearing a suit”.

If I thought judging things as soon as I see them wasn’t P.C., I wouldn’t have sensed the impending hot mess of failfest that was going to ensue as soon as I saw Yung Humma hand-combing what appeared to be his “man-weave” in the first few seconds of his video “Lemme Smang It”. It was all downhill from there. This video/artists/song/dance fails for several reasons too obvious to even point out. The production, the awkward video girls, the awkward dancing, Charlies Murphy’s evil crackhead twin brother from Bizzaroland, and the 80′s-rific extreme closeups at the end. I’m done.

So fasten your seatbelt and prepare to hop on the LOL-copter as you fly over the epic fail this that is this video….no, wait…experience.

Republicans have taken control of the House of Representatives and closed the gap in the Senate. The high profile seats remained liberal but a large majority of seats that did not get national attention went conservative.

Andrew Cuomo defeated challenger Carl Palidino for the New York Governorship.

Sarah Palin’s endorsement of Christine O’Donnell essentially handed Democrat Chris Coons the Delaware seat.

Democrat Richard Blumenthal defeated WWE entrepreneur Linda McMahon to win the Connecticut Senate seat in what became the most expensive race in the country.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, surprisingly, held on to his Nevada Senate seat.

Rand Paul, son of Ron Paul, won the Kentucky Senate seat.

Nikki Haley, has become South Carolina’s first female and first Indian-American governor with endorsements from Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin.

Obama’s vacant Senate seat went to the GOP candidate Mark Kirk.

House Minority Leader John Boehner is the predicted Speaker of the House for the 112th Congress.

West Virginia was carried by Democrats as Governor Joe Manchin won the Senate seat left open by Democrat Robert C. Byrd who died in office.

Barbara Boxer held on to her Senate seat extending her decades of public service.

Arguably, the Tea Party helped the Democrats. Pundits have said that their burgeoning presence in the elections split the conservative vote. If those seats had gone to the GOP then the Senate would most likely be in control of the Republicans.

The big swing back to the right is mostly the result of disenchanted independents. Media reports say conservatives and independents are “fed up with the gridlock” in Washington, however a conservative house and liberal senate equate to a legislative brick wall. The next two years of the Obama administration will be expectedly impotent presenting bills attempting to blur party lines to deliver on campaign promises but will be expectedly stalled or shot down by the conservative House. Similarly, the conservative House will have a hard time infusing its agenda past the liberal Senate.

Tea Party congressmen/women are promising to introduce a bill everyday to repeal the historic Health Care bill passed by President Obama. Meanwhile, Republican top brass is putting on airs of victory claiming that this is a message from America to President Obama that they want… change? Democrats are ululating that they survived one of the best onslaughts the Republicans and the Tea Party could muster and still retained power in the Senate. President Obama is taking the elections in stride and moving forward with day-to-day business. And now that midterm elections are done, so can the rest of us.

Source: GOP roars back to take U.S. House; Democrats cling to Senate majority