Beyonce Has Been Flying Through Japan!

Check out Beyonce's live performance of her neo-feminist single "If I Were A Boy" in Tokyo.

We believe that this is Beyonce's best and expect this record to be her best ever... 10 years later and she is still on top!

Tupac is Alive! Well, Through Keyshia Cole

We just finished viewing the video for Keyshia Cole's latest "Playa Cardz Right" feat. Tupac.

This affirms Keyshia's relevance and staying power. She is such a phenomenal talent to be able to fuse Tupac with her vocals. This is so reminiscent of early Faith Evans and Mary J. Blige.

Hip Hop Soul at its finest. Be on the lookout for Keyshia's new cd entitled "A Different Me" which has already received major buzz within the industry.

Check out the video which features his mother Afeni.

Hip Hop Soul Flashback of the Week - Keith Sweat

We have always loved Keith Sweat here at the Machine...even though he's not the best singer.

Although this fits more within New Jack Swing, we felt it appropriate to list Sweat as the Flashback of the Week. This Teddy Riley Song was the bomb! ..."I want her..." Check out the video

Jason Whitlock: I Owe My Interest in American Politics to Sarah Palin

Aureal recently sent The Machine this article from the Huffington Post for posting. It is more than interesting...looking at classic apathy and how to rise above it.

History is likely to reveal my disdain for Sarah Palin was misguided. The truth is I owe my interest in American politics to Gov. Palin's bid for the vice presidency.

Before the late-August morning when I awakened to learn that Alaska's moose-hunting governor would be John McCain's running mate, I had less than tepid interest in politics.

I was a stubbornly proud non-voter, a 41-year-old patriotic American unwilling to tie any of my identity to a political party or ideology. Politics, from my view, were nothing more than an excuse for unabashed public dishonesty.

When presidential politics provoked Barack Obama to disavow the minister who filled in the holes created by Obama's irresponsible biological father, it confirmed in my mind that Obama's message of political change wouldn't stretch nearly far enough to meet my standard of courage and honesty.

It sickens me that we are forced to pretend Obama doesn't have the ability to associate with and even love people with extreme, illogical views, denounce those beliefs in words and deed and remain a rational, fair-minded person. For decades, black people have supported and respected elected white officials who were raised by unrepentant racists, and we are expected to take those white politicians at their word that their parents' views don't interfere with their motivation to be fair.

Hmm. But now I'm supposed to believe that a half black man who owes his entire existence to his white mama and grandparents is a threat to America because his old black minister can't get over the racism he tasted first-hand.

Check out his entire article here.

URGENT: A Call to Action From A Salinas Native Son

This is a copy of an article we just wrote for the City of Salinas Californian Newspaper...hopefully it will appear on Monday or Tuesday:

URGENT: A Call to Action From A Salinas Native Son

by James B. Golden

In the spirit of the American Political Process of a presidential election, we reflect back on a highly political town as a backdrop to provide understanding for the importance of voting.

Growing up in Salinas as the son of two very powerful political figures, James and Valerie Golden, I quickly learned the importance of utilizing voice as action. I grew up around campaigns for the earliest mayoral candidacies of former Salinas mayor and current Assemblywoman Anna M. Caballero. I saw her fight as the first progressive Latina woman in such a prestigious position which was often dominated by highly conservative men as one of her interns for 4 years. Her tenacity and urgency for a peaceful community set a precedence of political agency which we have continued to live up to.

When the Salinas Californian endorsed Valerie Golden for the position of Hartnell College Board of Trustees District #2 Representative in 1999, we were again introduced to the climate of progressive politics. This election saw Salinas citizens who had never voted in a district election flood the polling stations. This climate which existed several years ago, when I was a budding Gavilan View Middle School and North Salinas High School student, is necessary for the upcoming election.

We have been exposed to the unequivocal political leadership of Sam Farr, Leon Panetta, Darlene Dunham and so many others who have raised a higher consciousness for Salinas citizens.

The prospective candidates from each national political party are all highly qualified and viable candidates who have the potential to make some serious changes to the structural foundation of American Governance. Our responsibility as citizens is to make informed decisions on November 4, 2008 and to show up at the polling booths. It is not enough for us to support a candidate, but necessary for us to utilize our rights as American peoples.

The Secret Life of Bees, a new film set within the time period of the Voting Rights Act, is absolutely poignant for us to understand the treacherous battle which Americans went through on the path toward the right to vote for all people, regardless of physical differences.

The city of Salinas offered me a glimpse into the power of politics, and I took all of that essence and applied it to my studies within the Master of Public Administration program at Cal State University, Northridge. In this most critical time for our city, our citizens, we must raise ourselves up on Tuesday morning and exercise the privilege which so many nameless/faceless people fought for us to have: the opportunity to create change!

Who Says Animals Aren't As Important?

We were elated to read this story earlier today. For once the police have done something humanistic. The grieving heart of a mother is uniquely universal across any personal makeup.

As for the murderer, it seems that this is a prime example of carelessness on the part of the human species. We feel that we are more important than anything else on this planet...yet we must look around daily and realize that we will never, ever, ever, ever be more important than the trees, the soil, the animals around us, or the ocean.

WOODFIN, North Carolina (AP) -- Police in North Carolina had to halt traffic on a highway to help a mother bear get to her cub after it was struck and killed by a vehicle.

Police said the cub was struck Tuesday afternoon and the driver didn't stop.

Officers in the western North Carolina town of Woodfin halted cars for about 20 minutes after the mother bear had failed twice at trying to get her 80-pound cub off the busy highway.

Sgt. Dawn Roberts says officers stood with rifles while others pulled the cub to the side of the road near the mother. She says the mother bear grabbed the cub by the scruff of the neck and ran off into the woods to tend to it.

Wailing Wall - Earthquake Kills Over 200 In Pakistan

Our heart goes out to all of those affected in the earthquake in Pakistan. Please continue to send out hope to those affected. We are still shocked and always ask "why do unthinkable things always happen to good people?" Check out the full details from CNN.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- The death toll from a 6.4-magnitude earthquake in southwest Pakistan rose to at least 215 by Thursday, officials said.

Authorities fear the toll may rise further if more bodies are found under the remains of hundreds of mud houses that have been reduced to rubble.

The quake rendered between 10,000 and 15,000 people homeless when it struck a remote area of Balochistan province early Wednesday, said Asar ul Haq of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

Many residents are reluctant to return home, afraid their houses might collapse, he said.

The death toll was tallied based on bodies that had been recovered and buried by Thursday, said Mohammad Dawud of the District Police Office in the hardest-hit Ziarat district. A quake-induced landslide there buried dozens of homes.

The main quake struck just after 4 a.m., about 35 miles (60 km) north-northeast of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan. It was followed by a 6.2-magnitude aftershock about 12 hours later, and dozens of smaller ones, according to the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colorado.

"There are some villages completely destroyed. There is a lot of destruction," said the province's Deputy Director of Public Safety Mohammad Ali.

TV images from the scene showed women squatting next to gaping craters where houses once stood -- their heads buried in their hands.

Villagers clawed through heaps of dirt and debris searching for signs of life. Elsewhere, solemn residents shoveled dirt to create mass graves to bury the dead.

Balochistan, located near the Afghan border, is the largest province in Pakistan but one of its least populated. A 7.5-magnitude quake in the province's capital, Quetta, killed 30,000 people in 1935, according to the United States Geological Survey.

Brandy Gets Ready to Launch New Album!

One of our favorite classic artists, Brandy, is preparing to release her long awaited 5th studio album shortly. Human, will be released on December 09, 2008.

Tracklist

1. "Human Intro" — 0:19
2. "The Definition" (Cristyle Johnson, Rodney Jerkins)^[2][28] — 3:53
3. "Warm It Up with Love" (Brandy Norwood) — 4:03
4. "Right Here (Departed)" (Evan "Kidd" Bogart, Victoria Horn, Rodney Jerkins, Erika Nuri, David "DQ" Quiñones)^[2] — 3:40
5. "Piano Man" — 3:59
6. "Long Distance Interlude" — 0:59
7. "Long Distance" (Rodney Jerkins)^[2] — 3:51
8. "Camouflage" — 4:14
9. "Torn Down" (James Fauntleroy, Kevin Risto, Dapo Torimiro, Waynne Nugent)^[2][4] — 3:32
10. "Human" (Brandy Norwood, Toby Gad, Jenny-Bea Englishman, Lindy Robbins)^[5][3] — 3:53
11. "Shattered Heart" — 3:53
12. "True" — 3:47
13. "A Capella (Something's Missing)" — 3:34
14. "1st & Love" — 3:20
15. "Fall" (Natasha Bedingfield, Brandy Norwood)^[2][29] — 4:21

We are in heavy anticipation of Brandy!

Wailing Wall - Jennifer Hudson's Nephew Found Dead

We are in complete shock and disarray - sadness as Jennifer Hudson lost her 7-year-old nephew alongside her mother and brother.

What a violent way to go into the holidays. We suffer through so much daily that it seems that life can get worse and worse as we live in the troubles of today. But we always realize it will be all over in the morning.

We posted this video of our favorite gospel song "For Every Mountain"...

There are no words to heal this tragedy.

Golden Gets An "A"!!!!

We just found out this evening that we received the highest grade in our Public Sector Labor Relations course!

It is post-worthy, because the material was difficult--and having to roleplay a county management board is not the easiest task when having to battle the SEIU Labor Union.

2 more classes and we're done!

Beyonce IS Etta James

Here are more photos from "Cadillac Records".

Etta is heavily addicted at this point. It will be so interesting to see this film and to view Beyonce's interpretation of the legendary Etta James.

Throwback Video - Michael Jackson "Liberian Girl"

Mickael Jackson Liberian Girl

Do you remember this classic video by Michael Jackson and a slough of 1980s celebrities.

"Liberian Girl" is what music has hoped to replicate for so many years.

A wonderful memory.

Biggie Lives Again!

We are in heavy anticipation of the new Notorious B.I.G. biopic.

Check out the full trailer. BTW, we love Faith Evans here at The Machine and it looks like the film is coinciding with her latest memoir.

Very Exciting.

Wailing Wall - Jennifer Hudson's Mother Killed

We are in mourning.

Academy Award winning actress Jennifer Hudson's mother was violently killed along with her brother. Her 7-year-old nephew is missing.

We pray to God that he is found in peace.

This is such an important time to begin our own "Wailing Wall" - and the heart is hurting on this one.

The mother of Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Hudson was reportedly found dead in a South Side home. Two adults were found fatally shot at a home at 70th Street and Yale Avenue at 3 p.m. Friday, authorities said. A representative of the family’s church, Pleasant Gift Missionary Baptist, confirms that 57-year-old Darnell Hudson was one of the victims. The other victim was a man, the Chicago Fire Department said. The shooting is believed to be domestic. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s office has been notified of the deaths of two people from a home at the address, but additional information is unavailable.

May peace be unto the family at this time and be sure to check back for some messages of love to the Hudson's.

"Cadillac Records" Official Photos

Beyonce doing her thing as legendary songstress Etta James!

We are in heavy anticipation of this film. This is reminiscent of the aura just before the release of Dreamgirls! We love Beyonce and 2009 is sure to be her year!

Chocolate News: Satire or Not

The Bradley Effect Applied to the Election

We were talking to our mother last night about The Bradley Effect and how it applies to this election. Our colleague Matthew McKnight from Georgetown published this article to further explain.

Oct. 21, 2008--With two weeks left until Election Day, many people are having trouble believing the polls that say Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) is leading and may be running away with the election. Many of these doubts—a borderline conspiratorial uneasiness—have to do with race, and whether white voters who have no intention of voting for a black man tell pollsters that they will. The instant comparison is to the 1982 gubernatorial race in California, which produced a phenomenon now known as the Bradley effect. In that election, the former mayor of Los Angeles, Democrat Tom Bradley, an African American, ran against Republican and white George Deukmejian.

Surveys leading up to the election and exit polls in this '82 election showed that Bradley was well on his way to winning the race. A poll conducted by pollster Mervin Field several weeks out showed Bradley with a 14-point edge. By Election Day that margin was down to six, but as U.S. News and World Report declared: "Tom Bradley of Los Angeles has seen his lead over GOP Atty. Gen. George Deukmejian shrink, but analysts still expect Bradley to become the first elected black governor in U.S. history."

But Bradley lost narrowly, igniting a generation of speculation about whether white voters were lying to pollsters.

The issue reared its head again most conspicuously in 1989 when then Virginia Lt. Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, a black Democrat, ran for governor. Wilder led his Republican opponent by 10 points in the Mason-Dixon Poll going into Election Day. Wilder won by less than 1 percent.

The total margin of votes was 93,335, out of 7.8 million cast, and the X-factor was not racism or lying voters. Instead, it was nearly half a million absentee voters, over 300,000 of whom voted for Deukmejian nullifying any lead that polls had shown for Bradley.

With the absentee vote as the deciding factor, the election came down to a difference in campaign strategies. In 1978, California passed a law that lessened the restrictions on absentee voting. The law, which the Republicans initially opposed, removed the requirement that voters present an excuse for not being able to come to the polls on Election Day. The Deukmejian campaign used a $350,000 budget to mail 2.6 million packets to all California households with at least one registered Republican voter. These packets, mailed two months before the election included letters from President Reagan and Deukmejian, a request for contributions and an application for absentee voting. The state's Republican Party received and sorted 100,000 completed applications.

Bert Coffey, who at the time was an executive committee member in the California Democratic Party, spoke to the Washington Post after Bradley's loss. The absentee voting "just killed us," he said.

So in the end, the Bradley effect may not be grounded in historical reality, but that has not stopped a large portion of Americans, particularly black Americans from believing that there are lying white voters—a constant threat to black politicians seeking high office.

And, predictably, it has firmly inserted itself into the landscape of the Obama campaign. Not to suggest that race is no longer an issue, but the premise upon which the Bradley effect was built is misplaced.

And what was the Bradley effect really, other than the results of a poor campaign strategy that led to defeat? If there are any lessons to be learned, it is to focus on the whole universe of voters, including the early vote and absentee numbers, and consider how much energy the campaigns have focused on getting these votes. The answer is not to speculate how racist Americans still are.

Check out the whole article on The Root.com

Maysa Needs Obama

Our dearest Colleague and one of our favorite singers, Maysa, recently created a mix to her "I Need You". Now she needs Obama!

We feel that the song is tastefully done and fitting for one of our newest figures in Black America to rise above the madness.

Need Some Comic Relief From Stress? Watch This...

Our dearest cousin Elizabeth sent this to The Machine to post up for comic relief. I know we don't usually post videos like this, but we have to be able to laugh at ourselves sometime.

No one was hurt in the filming of this video. Lol.

Hip Hop Soul Flashback Of The Week: Monica

This is one of our favorite songs from one of our favorite Hip Hop Soul singers-Monica. "Don't Take It Personal" is a quintessential Hip Hop Soul song. Everything about it is hip hop and it possesses all the characteristics of great Soul.

Lynching: The New Fashion Trend

What is wrong with Kat Williams?

We recently ran across this photo and had to sit down for a moment.

Seeing that Williams has made a career as a shock comedian, this must be another "practical joke". What he fails to realize is that many of us Black folk are suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder from our days on the plantation and the side effects of years of torture in America.

The noose is a symbol of hatred, scorn, ridicule, emasculation and death.

This must be an attempt to take something which has historically been used to oppress Black people and use it as a show of affection.... much like the "n-word" has supposedly become a term of endearment.

Please comment on this... We could go on and on about this buffoonery.

Venus and Serena Take Tennis To A New Level

We have always been impressed with The Williams Sisters' vitality on the court. Now they have become fashion goddesses with their newest spread in Bazaar.

We remember playing four years of Varsity Boys Tennis at North Salinas High School as the senior Captain. Not nearly as good as these two champions, but good enough to matter.

Bees Have A Secret Life

We were highly impressed with the screen adaptation of the Secret Life Of Bees. So, our review will be detailed and submitted to a few newspapers in Los Angeles.

Look out for this review tomorrow.

Colin Powell Endorses Barack Obama!

You know there is something abnormal occurring when Colin Powell endorses Senator Obama for President. We are so excited to see Black Republicans jump party lines to vote for this most qualified of the two candidates. Although we still believe that Cynthia McKinney (Presidential Nominee for the Green Party and Black Congresswoman) needs to be in office, we will not be upset to see the Senator standing on the steps of the Capital Building in January. Check out this LA Time Article:

Black voters feeling a mix of 'anticipation, hope, pride -- and fear'

Skepticism, born of centuries of experience, is shaping the mood of the black electorate. Some Barack Obama supporters worry that the candidate will be hurt, defeated by racism, or fraud.

By Richard Fausset
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

October 19, 2008

ATLANTA — Tonya Jones doesn't want to imagine what it would feel like to have a black president in the White House.

"I want to feel that euphoria, but I can't," said Jones, an African American hairstylist who was hanging out in front of her shop here on a slow afternoon. "Because I don't want to put myself way up here" -- with this she raised her hand over her head -- "only to fall." She let her hand plunge downward like a falling elevator.

"Everybody's on edge, I'm telling you," she said.

Such are the fraught emotions of African Americans, whose up-from-slavery story could culminate Nov. 4 in the election of a black president. Polls show that black voters overwhelmingly support Barack Obama in the presidential race, in many cases for reasons that transcend policy: One popular T-shirt depicts Obama with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. under the banner "A Dream Answered."

But many blacks are also steeling themselves for the heartbreak that will come if a breakthrough does not. Damascus Harris, a school administrator in Chicago, rattled off a litany of past indignities his people have suffered -- from the broken promises that followed slavery to Jim Crow-era voter suppression to racist redlining by banks. They explained, in part, why Harris won't be surprised if Obama loses this election.

"I'm not naive about what our history has been," he said.

That skepticism, born of centuries of experience, is shaping the mood of the black electorate on the eve of this historic election. Even with Obama surging in national polls, the excitement of his black supporters is in many cases tempered by an acute anxiety.

"I've seen lots of moods around rage and progress and all those things," said Andrea Y. Simpson, a political science professor at the University of Richmond who marched with King when she was a girl. "This is the strangest one I've experienced . . . of anticipation, hope, pride -- and fear."

Fear finds its most intense expression in the ongoing concerns for Obama's safety. Rosalind Johnson, a finance company worker from Camden, S.C., stated her deepest worry bluntly, as if it were a fact: "He will be assassinated," she said on a sunny weekday morning recently as she walked out of her local registrar's office.

There are other, less morbid concerns. Some voters fret over the shadowy workings of a system that they believe will prevent Obama from ascending to the highest office in the land. Sometimes this conversation hinges on the voting irregularities of the 2000 election. Sometimes the sentiment is more vague.

"It's going to be something," said Tony Gonzales, an Atlanta barber. "Because it's a black person, something's going to happen."

Shan Dennis, a worker at a Decatur, Ga., insurance company, said she isn't worried about a fix being in -- but she says it's something she hears about quite a bit.

"That's been a big [issue] in the African American community," she said. "A lot of them think someone is not going to let him win."

Other voters are dismayed by the ugly tone that has emerged in the last few months, as Obama's candidacy unearthed frank expressions of prejudice from white voters, and polls show some of them may be resistant to the idea of a black president: One AP-Yahoo News poll in September suggested that a third of white Democrats held negative views toward blacks.

The Rev. Kevin M. Turman, pastor of the Second Baptist Church of Detroit, has seen similar polls. He grows worried and frustrated when he thinks of the scenario they could trigger.

"My concern is that white Democrats -- who agree with Obama on every issue -- won't vote for him because he's black," Turman said.

Historically, Turman said, black voters have proved one of the most reliable constituencies for the Democratic Party. If whites don't show up to vote for a qualified black candidate, he would feel something like betrayal.

"I will have to reconsider my lifelong support of the Democratic Party," he said. "Perhaps it will be time for us to look at elections on more of a candidate-by-candidate basis, and not just vote the party ticket."

Obama's father was a black Kenyan; his mother was a white Kansan; and he was raised by white grandparents. The election, of course, is about many things, not just racial identity. And black voters have different opinions about whether the election should be viewed as a referendum on the state of American race relations.

The Rev. Joseph Lowery, a civil rights veteran and co-founder of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, thinks the matter is plain:

"What we boil down to is a choice between 'Will you vote for the good of the country?' or 'Will you vote your racial fears?' " said Lowery.

But Charles Johnson, a novelist and English professor at the University of Washington, said it may be difficult to draw hard and fast conclusions about race relations from the November vote.

"There will be black Americans who will be certain that if [Obama] loses it was on the basis of race," Johnson said. "Then again, there's going to be a percentage of people who, when the race issue is put to the side, didn't like his policy proposals. It could be a combination of those.

"The conclusion that we draw from this is going be varied," he added. "I think we just have to wait and see."

Given the strong emotions Obama has stoked, however, it may be difficult for some voters to see the nuances.

Kevin Rodgers, who works alongside Tonya Jones at Atlanta's First Class Barber Shop, spoke of a trip to Washington that he recently made with his young daughter. After visiting the Jefferson Memorial, he bought her a ruler with pictures of all 43 presidents.

"They were all white, and we discussed that," said Rodgers. "Now, with a win, there'd be a black face on that ruler. That says everything to me."

Rodgers predicted that an Obama victory might trigger a major change in the way black Americans view their country and their countrymen.

"The amount of heart it takes for white people to pick Barack -- I think that will help some black people look at this country with hope," he said. "It will be a real gesture -- a major gesture. I think it's a major blow to hatred."

However, he said, an Obama loss "validates a lot of the discontent" that black Americans harbor.

"It proves it, in a way," he said, referring to lingering prejudice. "It gives validity to it." Some black voters don't want to contemplate what a loss would feel like, much the way Tonya Jones does not want to contemplate a win. But Pennsylvania state Rep. Jewell Williams, a Democrat who represents one of the largest African American districts in the Keystone State, has given it some thought. He said he'd encourage blacks to make Nov. 5 a sick-out day.

"I would encourage every African American not to go to work," he said. "We will need to show how important we are again. Maybe America will pay more attention to us if we all stayed at home."

In the long term, an Obama loss could discourage future political participation among the black voters who have registered for the first time this year, said Wilbur C. Rich, a political scientist at Wellesley College in Massachusetts.

The loss of enthusiasm could extend beyond new voters. Harris, the Chicago school administrator, has voted in every presidential election he could. The 40-year-old likes to think of himself as a coolly dispassionate voter. But he said he cried when Obama claimed the Democratic nomination -- and expects the same kind of cathartic response if the candidate wins in November.

Imagining an Obama loss is another story. If that happens, Harris said, he will probably give up on the idea that voting makes a difference.

"This for me, politically, is the endgame," he said. "If McCain wins, I'm done. I will have conclusively decided that this is a purposeless exercise."

Michael Baisden, a popular radio host and Obama supporter, discounts such talk. "I think that's people hoping for the best," he said, "and preparing for the worst."

richard.fausset@latimes.com

Mom, Do You Remember Howard?

I can vividly remember sitting at home age 3 with my mom, Valerie, watching Howard The Duck on our old-school television every single day like clockwork.

It is somewhat embarrassing now to think that i loved this movie, but I knew all the words, songs and dances.

What a fitting memory to be remembered.

Anyway, check out the clip to amuse me.

Black Masculinity, White Patriarchy, and Obama

Our comrade Byron Hurt recently released a segment piece entitled Barack & Chris paralleling the concept of Black masculinity through two figures: 1) Senator Barack Hussein Obama 2) Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson.

In our article entitled "Penis Envy", we argue that there isn't room for a variety of Black male phenotypes, because the clearest association is linked directly to hyper-masculine oversexed entertainers.

Our theoretical mentor, Mark Anthony Neal, speaks on this film:

But black men do not live in polite society--however effectively they earn their keep within those spaces--and even the candidate's wife understands this, telling CBS news months ago about her fears that her husband might get shot at a gas station in Chicago as opposed to being assassinated on the campaign trial by some desperate political actor yelling "traitor." As Chris Rock surmised some time ago, niggas don't get assassinated, they get shot--and there always been more of a chance that the Senator from Illinois's fate would be decided by a bullet intended for a nigga, as opposed to that intended for the candidate, because quiet as it's kept--Harvard pedigree notwithstanding--Obama never stops being a black man. And this is perhaps the implicit message of Byron Hurt's recent film short Barack & Curtis: Manhood, Power and Respect. The film is a brilliant and thoughtful intervention on the subject of black masculinity at a moment when Senator Barack Obama is poised to redefine black manhood for much of the world.

This short film includes a few of our personal colleagues in New York and we are excited to be apart of the number of "New Black Men" with the vision to uplift our brothers.

***Check out the short film and let us hear your feedback. Get family and friends on board about Barack & Chris by award-winning filmmaker Byron Hurt.

Beyonce Does TRL

Beyonce was seen at TRL Studios recently promoting the release of her 2 singles "Single Ladies" and "If I Were A Boy". The tornado is beginning and we can look forward to her dominating the music game for the next year or so.

Beyonce's "Single Ladies"

Here is Beyonce's newest video "Single Ladies". No one in the game is doing it like her... again... this is why she's our favorite.

Brandy Wilson Gives Up Her Last Name!

We are so very excited for the woman formerly known as Brandy C. Wilson. She recently traded in her last name when she was married in Jamaica.

We wish the best for her and Adrian Reid.

Beyonce's New Video!!!!!!!

If I Were A Boy - Beyonce




This is absolutely the best Beyonce song of all time. This concept video is a fantastic neo-feminist production in all senses. The theme of female inferiority and double-standards is poignant.

Phenomenal. This is why Beyonce is our favorite singer.

What Is Our Favorite Song?

Amy Winehouse - Valerie

This is our favorite song of all time... by any artist... ever.

Amy Winehouse may be highly controversial, but we will say that she is easily one of the most gifted musicians/songwriters to pick up a microphone.

Socartes, Plato, Aristotle

These are the men. The Greek philosophers. Although they aren't the first... we still have been studying their relevance to the idea of philosophical thought.

We are in the process of clearing our mind and learning to think on our own.

Hip Hop Soul Flashback of the Week - The Fugees

This group could very easily be considered the most important act in Hip Hop Soul, for the purposes of combining various genres. I cannot wait to study them.

Pras, Wyclef and our Lady Lauryn... are the quintessential pairing here on "Ready or Not" from their massively successful The Score (1996).

Come back soon, Lauryn!

Thank You, Black Madonna

We are in the heaviest anticipation ever...awaiting The Secret Life Of Bees to premier next Friday.

As a tribute to the masterpiece novel, The Machine decided to post this Black Madonna.

She is the most underplayed figure in the biblical world... likely due to the incessantly patriarchal borderline-misogynistic praxis of THE church.

Yet in still, we are enthralled in her mystique and could very easily conclude that she is the Bible's forgotten daughter as well as our forgotten "Mother of Thousands".

Maxwell Returns to the Stage!

We are so excited about the return of our favorite voice from the Neo Soul era, Maxwell!

He is currently on tour with newcomer Jazmine Sullivan (who sings our theme song "Bust Your Windows).

We will definitely be seeing him next month in Los Angeles!!!

Janet Jackson Is Much Better According to Tyra Banks

Our favorite feminist television star, Tyra Banks, showed up at Janet Jackson's dressing room to check in on her after she canceled several concert dates due to her hospitalization. These pictures are great!

Beyonce Sends A Thank You To Us!

Beyonce is really doing it up!

This is the most recent video where she thanks her devoted fans (including us) for sticking by her. After you get past the woman in the beginning of the video, you will hear two of the most beautiful songs Beyonce has recorded (including "Ave Maria").

We cannot wait for the album to drop. In the meantime, pick up the Michele Williams CD.

Karin Stanford Publishes Breast Cancer Article

One of our dearest mentors recently published an article on breast cancer. Check it out and leave some of your thoughts on "I Felt Something", featured on TheRoot.com.

To Be Nina!!

We are highly intrigued by this article found on Henry Louis Gates, Jr's website "The Root". It focuses on one of our favorite singers, Nina Simone. It's easy to write her off (as many have done in the music world), but she is much more influential than many would consider.

Fifty years after recording her first hit, a rendering of George and Ira Gershwin's "I Loves You, Porgy," and five years after her death from complications of breast cancer, Nina Simone continues to fascinate. She left a benchmark that was, as sung in the opening verse of Funkadelic's 1978 anthem, "One Nation Under a Groove":

So wide, you can't get around it

So low, you can't get under it

So high you can't get over it.

She mastered the art of reinvention. Simone was as comfortable singing jazz and French chansons as she was belting out a barrelhouse blues number or waxing polemic asides about social ills. Her gutsy eclecticism also included R&B, folk, reggae, Broadway tunes, and rock—catapulting her into that rare realm, the one Duke Ellington deemed "beyond category."

Still, for all her expansive musicality, Simone wasn't some anonymous singer. She had one of the most distinctive voices of the 20th century—one that wasn't comely in the conventional sense but that nevertheless captivated with its thick, bristly, almost androgynous timbre. Her quivering alto conveyed a spectrum of emotions, ranging from near-paralyzing pain and flaring rage to carnal lust.

In the past six years, we've witnessed a renaissance of interest in Simone's music with a continuous spate of compilations, reissues and remix projects—none of which has attempted to be as comprehensive as RCA/Legacy's new three-disc, To Be Free: The Nina Simone Story. Sleekly packaged with rare photographs, song-by-song annotations from noted music writer David Nathan and liner notes from producer Richard Seidel and NPR's Ed Ward, To Be Free contains 51 songs, culled from various labels such as Bethlehem, Philips, Colpix, RCA and Elektra. The set also comes with a 23-minute DVD documentary that features nine live performances. For an artist like Simone, who recorded more than 40 live and studio albums, three discs seem scant for a set that purports to be her most comprehensive collection yet. Nevertheless, To Be Free succeeds as a summation of Simone's work, being at once succinct and substantial.

While savoring To Be Free in all of intoxicating blend of bruised beauty and triumphant defiance, one cannot ignore the fearlessness Simone embodied. It's important to note that despite her stature as one of the world's most iconic singers in black music, she harbored other musical ambitions. Before she became the high priestess of soul, she was Eunice Kathleen Waymon, an aspiring classical pianist, who briefly attended Julliard School of Music—no small feat for a black American woman in the mid-'50s. To make financial ends meet, while trying to further her formal education, she took a job at Atlantic City's Midtown Bar & Grill as a pianist. The bar's owner, though, insisted that she had to sing to secure the gig. In an effort to conceal from her mother that she was singing "the devil's music," she adopted the stage name Nina Simone.

She matched her artistic panache with a political outspokenness and sometimes thorny stage persona that truly defined super diva. She didn't suffer foolishness from her audience; she was known for abruptly interrupting a concert and walking offstage because of chatty patrons. Signature pieces such as the self-penned "Mississippi Goddam," "Backlash Blues" (co-written by Langston Hughes) and "To Be Young, Gifted & Black" (co-written by Weldon Irvine Jr.) and Dr. Billy Taylor's "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" remain as some of the most soul-stirring protest songs in black American music.

Indeed, To Be Free is an apt title for a set dedicated to such a pioneering figure who held onto her ideals of artistic integrity, unapologetically. And while Simone made many breakthroughs—and paid dearly for some of them—one wonders what obstacles she would have had to overcome had she tried to emerge with the same artistic and political stance in today's music industry. Hell, would she have made it to superstardom at all, dealing with today's mega-corporate labels?

Can you imagine the tug of war Simone would have fought if she had to deal with, say, Clive Davis or Simon Cowell in terms of shaping a career for mainstream appeal? It's even difficult envisioning Cowell blessing her with the green light to become one of the finalists on American Idol with a voice as dark and sometimes spooky as hers. Simone displayed a cosmopolitan fashion sense that superbly blended finesse with funk. Yet with today's ever-increasing image consciousness, would her skin tone suspiciously lighten with each new release, à la Beyoncé, to secure magazine covers and promotional videos?

Conversely, it's just as intriguing to speculate on what artistic directions she would have embarked had she lived and continued to push the envelope. Who would she team up with—?uestlove, Craig Street, Meshell Ndegeocello, Carl Craig—to jettison her into the 21st century soul? And with the prospect of America electing its first African-American president, right after atrocities such as economic meltdown, Hurricane Katrina and the Iraq war, just imagine how she would have galvanized our music.

Playing the "what-if" game with what Simone would be doing offers myriad fantasies, mainly because, as demonstrated on To Be Free, she exhibited such an indomitable artistry and left such a heroic legacy that remains inspiring and nearly insuperable.

We love you Nina Simone!