Craig's Pop Life: 2.9.23
Hey, everybody! Hope you had a great week. Welcome to another edition of Craig’s Pop Life, a Black gay excursion into pop culture. It’s giving content, hunny!
CRAIG’S POP LIFE RADIO
Regina Belle – “Baby Come To Me (Dukeyman Remix)”
Tevin Campbell – “Can We Talk (Backwards Beats Mix)”
Madonna w/ Missy Elliott & Tweet – “American Life (American Dream Remix)”
Missy Elliott w/ Lil’ Kim & Mocha – “Hit ‘Em With Da Hee (Remix)”
Tweet – “Oops (Oh My) [Club Remix]”
Busta Rhymes – “Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See (Hakeem Syrbram Remix)”
Joni Mitchell – “Intro to ‘Big Yellow Taxi’”
Janet Jackson – “Got ‘Til It’s Gone (David Morales and Frankie Knuckles Def Tha Bass Mix)”
Doug Lazy – “H.O.U.S.E. (Ozone Layer Remix)”
Keyshia Cole – “Love (Marley Marl Remix)”
Faith Evans – “Tru Love (125 BPM Mix)”
Mica Paris – Carefree (Hakeem Syrbram Remix)”
Juliet Roberts – “Free Love (Monster Club Mix)”
Chaka Khan – “Love You All My Lifetime (Love Suite I & II)”
Maxwell – “Lifetime (Shelter Mix)”
Mary Mary – “In The Morning (Maurice Joshua Nu Soul Mix)”
SUPER BOWL ISH
My review of Usher’s Confessions Tour, 2002
CRAIG’S POP LIFE ARCHIVE
From Black Beat, August 1986
CRAIG-ABLILIA
One of my first pieces of writing. Proof I ain’t NEVA changed!
SMILER INTERLUDE
Miley Cyrus - “Flowers (Liva K Remix)”
Miley Cyrus - “#GETITRIGHT”
R.I.P., MARLENA SHAW
I missed the passing of Ms. Shaw last month…
Marlena Shaw - “Yu Ma/Go Away Little Boy”
R.I.P., TOBY KEITH
Unleashed (8/11/2002)
Toby Keith. DreamWorks.
13 tracks.
Grade: B
It's easy to be annoyed by Toby Keith. His recent hit song and video "I Wanna Talk About Me" is a sexist rant, portraying women as incessant Chatty Cathys. And his new smash, "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)," is so jingoistic in its patriotism --- with lyrics about raging battles, lighting up skies and the Statue of Liberty shaking her fist --- that it's nearly a jeremiad.
But brandishing such pointed views is a big part of Keith's charm. In a contemporary country music world of eager-to-please pretty boys, Keith is a man who's unafraid to say what's on his mind. That's why the anger of his 9/11 anthem rings so much truer than Alan Jackson's sappy "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?" As with inflammatory hip-hoppers such as Eminem or the young Ice Cube, Keith's greatest strength is in artfully expressing a singular point of view.
Sometimes this is hard to take, as on the ode to vigilantism "Beer for My Horses," a duet with Willie Nelson. The lyrics ("Take all the rope in Texas, / find a tall oak tree; / round up all of them bad boys, / hang them high in the street for all the people to see") essentially advocate lynching. And while Keith may not intend the lyrics to be racist, they evoke one of the nation's most hateful legacies.
When Keith shows his softer side, it has to do with love. The swaying "It's All Good" tells of two lovers escaping the world's troubles as they drink beer by a fire. And the soulful "Ain't It Just Like You" tracks the push-pull of a sometimes rocky romance.
All of Keith's songs are grounded in melodies that often take refreshingly unexpected turns. These help even his harshest --- and sometimes shameful --- sentiments go down more smoothly.
“How do you like him now?: Toby Keith blasts Peter Jennings and the Dixie Chicks, talks about the pleasures of burping and defends his hit song 'The Angry American'“ (9/6/2002)
Good guys may finish last. But sometimes good ol' boys rise to the top.
Country's Toby Keith is one such example. "Unleashed," the latest album by the hulking 6-foot-4, 250-pound singer-songwriter, currently sits at No. 1 on the country charts. And the first single, "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue (The Angry American)," was a No. 1 country single.
That tune, released in May, galvanized listeners with its intense anger over the events of 9/11. Sang Keith:
You'll be sorry that you messed with the U.S. of A.
'Cause we'll put a boot in your ass.
It's the American way.
This jingoistic chest-thumper is in marked contrast to the wet-eyed sentimentality of another 9/11 country hit, Alan Jackson's "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?" Ironically, both tunes will be up for best song when the Country Music Association awards are given in November.
The in-your-face attitude of "The Angry American" is typical of the kind of he-man machismo that has allowed Keith to score a string of No. 1 hits since his tellingly titled debut single, "Should've Been a Cowboy."
But sometimes, Oklahoma-bred Keith is too much for the mainstream. This summer, Keith was set to sing "The Angry American" on an ABC-TV special hosted by Peter Jennings. But Keith was later disinvited because --- reportedly --- the TV anchor objected to the song's lyrics. ("We didn't think it was the right song to open the broadcast," Jennings said on a country radio station in July.)
Fans quickly responded in Keith's defense, sending Jennings a shoe store's worth of boots in the mail. U.S. Sen. Zell Miller (D-Ga.) also criticized ABC for axing Keith and even had the song's lyrics entered into the Congressional Quarterly.
But this isn't the first time a Keith song has upset folks. "I Want to Talk About Me," a retort to a gabby girlfriend from his last album, was called sexist by many critics. In advance of his Atlanta show tonight, we talked to the man behind all the fuss.
Q: Why did you wait seven months to release "The Angry American?"
A: I struggled with releasing it for a long time. My song was written as my personal gift to the military that I knew was going to be going over to do their duty for us. I played it in Annapolis at the Naval Academy. I played it at the Pentagon for Gen. Jones [Gen. James L. Jones, commandant of the corps] and the Marines. And I played it overseas on a USO tour for two weeks on 11 Army bases. That's really all it was intended to be.
But Gen. Jones said, "It's your job as an entertainer to lift the morale of the troops. If you want to serve, that is what you can do as an entertainer." So, in the eleventh hour, we put it on the album.
Q: Natalie Maines, the Dixie Chicks' lead singer, called the song "ignorant" and said that it made country music sound "ignorant."
A: I'm not going to comment on that. You've got to be in my league as a songwriter before I'll even respond to you. If she was a songwriter that had written some songs like me, then we'd talk about the inside of the song. But if somebody's not in my league on a songwriting level, then I can't comment on lesser stuff like that. It doesn't even faze me.
Q: Have you patched things up with Peter Jennings?
A: He is so weak-minded, so politically correct and out of touch with the American people. He still doesn't think that the American people started that boot drive and got angry at him. He thinks that was all a publicity stunt on my behalf. That's how far out of touch he is.
Q: Your songs have often been labeled sexist. What do you teach your son about women?
A: He knows to use his manners in front of the ladies. If it's just me and him out having a hamburger and he burps real good, we high-five. If his mother is there and he burps, he tries to high-five me and I say, "Nope, we have a lady present." Then, he'll say, "Excuse me." There's a time to be a guy and there's a time to be a gentleman. That's what I teach him. You hold the doors for ladies and use your manners when you're supposed to.
Q: Why do you have such a strong female following?
A: Everybody loves a badass. And I don't think women want some prim and proper guy. I mean, time and time again, I'll be talking to a girl and I'll say, "So you're not dating him anymore?" And she'll say, "No." Then I'll say, "Why, was he too good to you?" And she'll say, "Yeah, he was good to me."
Q: Would you let your daughters date a guy like you?
A: Well, if I got to know him. As long as she was happy and he was real. I wouldn't go for a wife beater. But, yeah, I'd let them go for a guy like me.
Q: So, what's going to win song of the year: "The Angry American" or "Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning?"
A: I don't know. I never focus very much on things I don't have no control over. I waste all of my energy on stuff I do have control over. There have been times when I went thinking I didn't have a chance and I win album and male vocalist [of the year]. Then, the next year, I go back and I have six nominations and get shut out. I am still surprised every time they call my name.
Q: What are your plans for 9/11?
A: I haven't got any plans yet. I'm gonna try not to get all wrapped up in the events of the day. I watched my hometown area, Oklahoma City, recover from the bombing in '95. At some point you have to get back to normal. But we sure don't want to forget it.
Toby Keith - “It’s All Good”
JANET DEEP CUT
Janet Jackson - “Promise Of You”
AMEN CORNER
Calvin Statham Singers - “Travelin’ Shoes”
Thanks for hanging out again. I hope you enjoyed the letter. Until next week, be cool, be kind, be creative, be yourself. Love, Craig
Luther: The Life & Longing of Luther Vandross, Who’s Your Daddy?, All I Could Bare: My Life in the Strip Clubs of Gay Washington, D.C.