Georgia Mae's Femcee Tournament: Round 1, Part 1

It's that time of year - the entire country has been infected by March Madness. Everybody loves a good tournament and here at GeorgiaMae we're ready for a little hip-hop bracketology.


Over the next few weeks, 32 of hip hop's most talented (and notorious) female rappers will wage war for the title of Top Femcee.


Who will wear the ice-encrusted tiara? That's up to you.


To the right of this blog you'll find polls. Simply vote for who you think is the better artist. Before we start, a few house rules:


- Vote for who you feel is the better artist, not necessarily your favorite artist.


- If you're unfamiliar with an artist or just can't remember a person (trust me, we go waaaay back for some of these ladies), simply click the links I've provided below for a refresher. Try not to shortchange anybody.


- Please don't stuff the ballot box. For you computer hackers out there, have some integrity. If Queen Pen miraculously gets 200,000,000 votes out of nowhere I'll call foul.


- Have fun! Spread the word and invite your friends to check us out. Voting for this round ends Friday at 9 p.m. EST.


Without any further ado:


Angela Davis Region, First Round

Hip hop legend MC Lyte takes it to the street against Memphis' Gangsta Boo

Battle-tested veteran Roxanne Shante faces off with bad girl Trina

In a battle that could be almost too close to call, Da Brat goes against Jersey spitter Lady Luck


Afro puffs vs weave: The Lady of Rage vs former Roc member Amil

Join us Monday morning for the results and more first-round action!

Weighty Matters in Hollywood

Last week Howard Stern, doing what he does best, caused uproar when he called Precious star Gabourey Sidibe "the most enormous, fat black chick I've ever seen." He urged the 26-year-old to seek help because "obesity" is a life-threatening condition and also questioned her ability to land any more roles in Hollywood because of her size, saying "she's never going to be in another movie."

Jessica Simpson called the comments disrespectful, Whoopi Goldberg urged Stern to focus on Sidibe's talent, not her dress size, and Sidibe's mother, Alice Tan Ridley, told Stern to "Get a life!"

Ridley went on to say, "I don't see him giving jobs out to anybody, so why should we care what he says?" She added, “He might not hire her, but someone else will."

Looks like she's right. According to Access Hollywood, Sidibe has landed a recurring role in Showtime’s dark comedy series “The Big C.” The show stars Laura Linney as Cathy, a repressed suburban teacher/wife/mom who vows to reclaim her left after being diagnosed with terminal cancer. Sidibe will play a quick-witted student in Cathy’s class. The series is set to debut in late summer. 

Never one to take Howard Stern's side on anything, I do recognize that Sidibe runs the risk of being pigeonholed into roles that are designed for larger women. And those roles are typically in "big girls need love too" comedies that leave you feeling that somehow the full-figured star was not a self-confident heroine, but simply the butt of the joke. However, perhaps Sidibe will be the one to change that. I sure hope so. 

Meanwhile, if Sidibe does decide she wants to lose weight I hope it's because she believes it will make her healthier and not because she believes she has to look like this to succeed. 

The National Association to Advance Fat Acceptance, however, reminds us that you can't tell if a person is healthy simply by looking at him or her.  "Fat does not equal disease and thin does not equal healthy," NAAFA spokeswoman Peggy Howell told TMZ.com. "Achievements come in all sizes."

What do you think? 

Whatever Happened to: Blu Cantrell

In the late 90s and early 00s (is that what we're calling the period between 2000 and 2009?) there was a surefire way for a female R&B singer to make a hit - release a song talking about swindling some poor guy out of his money.

Ladies, don't give me that look. You know it's true.

I'm sure you remember:

Gangsta Boo - Where Dem Dollas At

TLC - No Scrubs

Just about every song Lil Kim and Foxy Brown released

Destiny's Child - Bills, Bills, Bills

Destiny's Child - Stimulate Me

And those are just one ones off the top of my head. Boy, Beyonce n' dem sure were greedy.

At the time, most of my female friends were saying that this attitude was long overdue - ladies were tired of being hip hop's doormat. If dudes were going to objectify them, they could do the same.

Sorry sistas, two wrongs don't make a right.


But what do I know? Apparently I'm just a scrub.

Anyway, the last significant hit from the money grubbing era came from Blu Cantrell.

You remember Blu - rumored to have dated Jay-Z; showed up nude in one of those freaky magazines; looked and sounded exactly like superior R&B singer Faith Evans? Still doesn't ring a bell? I'm here to remind you.

And coincidentally, today marks 34 years that Blu Cantrell has graced the earth with her presence. We're so lucky.

Blu, aka Tiffany Cobb, hooked up with hitmakers Dallas Austin and Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis in preparation of releasing her 2001 debut So Blu. It featured the smash single "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops)." Her advice to the ladies - if your man cheats on you, steal his credit cards and leave him broke.

Y'all should be ashamed.

The song was absolutely unavoidable in the summer of 2001 and reached No. 2 on the charts. The gold-selling album wasn't half bad either. The vastly superior singles "Till I'm Gone" and "I'll Find A Way" didn't make a mark, even though I remember the latter being touted as a 9/11 tribute at one point. But then again, everything was a 9/11 tribute back then - even this.

Blu's often-forgotten sophomore album, Bittersweet dropped a couple of years later, but the world was in the midst of Beyoncemania at the time, so no one noticed. "Breathe" even featured reggae mushmouth Sean Paul - just like this song. You can see how she was overshadowed. Luckily, "Breathe" did much better overseas than in the U.S. Honestly, I preferred "Sleep In The Middle." But honestly, if you missed this album, you didn't miss much.

And that was the last we've heard from Ms. Blu. Serves her right for stealing that poor guy's money.

Should she come back: Apparently, she's been trying. She has recorded a new album and hopes to release it independently. I wouldn't mind if she returned - she had a great voice and decent charisma. And since Faith is MIA these days, I wouldn't mind hearing her doppelganger.

Just stay out of brothers' pockets this time.

Progressive Soul Mondays: Erika Rose

Born in New York to a Jewish mother and a Jamaican father, Erika Rose was a child prodigy who got her start in the arts at age 3. She went on to performing arts school and received a full scholarship to the University of Miami's School of Music.  She has released one album and has co-written several songs for her BFF Alicia Keys. Enjoy! 


"Rosegarden"







Also check out "Black Gold."

T.G.I.F.

It's become our weekly ritual.


Each Friday afternoon my closest colleagues and I slip away from school for about 45 minutes for a quick lunch. I look forward to these lunches all week, and not simply because I love to eat. These lunches are often the highlight of my week because the conversation is just as delicious as the chicken roll ups at Zoe's and much more nourishing than the burgers at Marilyn's Deli's and Dogs.


You might assume the girls in my grub and gab fest are 20-something black women, but you'd be wrong. The ladies I can't wait to hang out with each Friday are white and in their 40s and 50s. When we go out I notice people staring. I look out of place. I'm sure folks wonder what I have in common with these women or are surprised when they see I'm having such a good time. 


A couple of weeks ago one of the women told me she really appreciated that I hang out with them and don't consider them too old or uncool. I just smiled. She has no idea how grateful I am that they spend time with me.


I cherish these lunches because I learn so much from these women and not simply because they are amazing and experienced educators. Yes, they have plenty to teach me about our field, but they also teach me about life. I can talk to them about life with lupus, about a disagreement I've had with my husband or my mother, or about how I'm struggling with the decision of whether or not I want to be a mother. I can talk to them about almost anything and trust that their advice is coming from a place of wisdom because they've been there, done that.


And you'd be amazed by how much we have in common. Last week one of my pals and I had lunch just the two of us and during our conversation we discovered that even though we grew up in different generations both our childhoods were colored by very similar family dysfunctions. But the talk wasn't a painful one to have. It strengthened our bond and ended in laughter and the joy and relief that comes with realizing you're not alone. 


These ladies also get me excited about growing older. There's one woman in particular, we'll call her Madeline, who is especially inspiring. She's in her 50s (she even taught me when I was a student at the school), but doesn't look a day over 40. She's beautiful, smart, and funny. She's a loving mother and an amazing teacher. She's divorced but she's certainly not sitting around sulking over this. She's busy living a full and happy life. The thing about her that I admire most, however, is her confidence and it's this confidence that I pray I acquire as I enter my 30s and continue to blossom in my 40s. And I hope that when I'm her age some confused 20-something girl struggling to find herself will say I made her look forward to growing older too. 

Did Hollywood turn its back on Corey Haim?

Yesterday we '80s babies lost an actor who, for most of us, was a huge part of our childhoods. Corey Haim, the star of great teen flicks like Lost Boys and License to Drive died at 38 of what CNN reports was an apparent drug overdose.

Longtime pal and fellow actor Corey Feldman made an appearance on Larry King Live last night and said that while he appreciates the outpouring of condolences from Hollywood following Haim's death, he wants to know where all these people were for last decade when Haim was struggling with substance abuse.

"Where were all these people to lend a handout, to reach out to him and say, you're a legend, you're an amazingly talented wonderful person who's never really gone out of his way to hurt anyone, other than himself?" Feldman asked.


"In Hollywood, we build people up as children, we put them on pedestals, and then, when we decide they're not marketable anymore, we walk away from them," he said. "It's okay for society as a whole to poke fun at, to point fingers at, us as human beings. Why is it okay to kick somebody when they're down? I don't think it should be tolerated anymore."

What do you think? Does society's treatment of stars, especially those who are in the limelight as children, contribute to the tragic downfall we see so many celebrities endure?

Album Review: Ludacris, Battle of the Sexes

Ludacris

Battle of the Sexes (released March 9, 2010)

Remember back in December when I reviewed Robin Thicke's latest album? I wasn't very kind to the brain-dead track "Shakin' It For Daddy." My brother-in-law took me to task for dissing it, saying that "I only like songs with people preaching on them" and that "it's OK to have a fun club song sometimes."

He probably was just mad I dissed Nicki Minaj. But I don't have sympathy for Muppets.

For the record, I have no problem with club songs. I just hate stupid songs. Take, for instance, "How Low," the lead single from Battle of the Sexes. I doubt you'll hear Maya Angelou reciting its lyrics during the next presidential inauguration, but it's fun, spirited, and Luda's verses display talent - he's not just saying random words that rhyme.

The single actually got me excited for the album. Originally, it was to be a collaboration between Ludacris and longtime partner Shawnna, but, it what probably will prove to be the dumbest move in history, at the 11th hour she decided to jump ship and join T-Pain's label. Why would you hook up with a one-trick pony whose 15 minutes of fame were up 2 years ago?

Many of Shawnna's ad-libs and verses are still sprinkled throughout the disc, and Luda turned to a ton of guest stars to fill the gaps. Sometimes, it works. The second single, "My Chick Bad" bumps thanks to Traxster's solid production, and thankfully Nicki Minaj doesn't sound as scatterbrained as she usually does.

"Hey Ho" is definitely an anti-GeorgiaMae track. As ridiculous as it is, the call-and-response hook will get stuck in your head for hours. But feisty feminists shouldn't worry - while Ludacris and Lil Fate diss the ladies, Lil Kim shows up to flip the script and deems all us men 'hos.'

Everybody gets degraded!

Sadly, most of the other tracks are throwaway club songs. Most of the guests do nothing but sing hooks. On "Party No More" Gucci Mane just mumbles four of five words - they could have paid me to do that.

I wish Shawnna would have stuck around longer to provide more tracks like "B.O.T.S. Radio," where she, Luda and I-20 give ghetto advice to the lovelorn. Concept tracks like that would give the album much more purpose.

As it stands, there's not much "battling" going on between the sexes - it's mostly just Ludacris spittin' freaky verses. True, he spits them very well, but even the most talented rapper runs out of ways to talk about going to the club, getting drunk and getting lucky. By the summer I'll forget I even have this album - it's not atrocious, but it's nothing but empty calories.

As I told my bro-in-law, I'm all for a little ear candy every now and then, but I can't eat Skittles for dinner every night.

Best tracks: "How Low," "B.O.T.S. Radio," "Hey Ho"

3 stars out of 5

Jack and Kate Plus 815

I don't watch a lot of television, but on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. the world around me falls silent and for an hour the only thing that matters is uncovering the secrets of the hit ABC show Lost.

Each week while I'm puzzling over time travel, smoke monsters, and disappearing islands I have never taken the time to ask myself is Lost a feminist show? 

This is the question Natalie Wilson tackled yesterday at the new Ms. magazine blog by examining the character Kate, who is arguably a feminist heroine of the show.

In season five, we Lost fans saw our tough-as-nails Kate leave the island to focus on being a model mother. While women like Jennifer Godwin celebrated Kate's transformation from a wild girl to "wildly competent mother," Wilson feels Kate was simply "put into one-dimensional mommy mode."

She asks: Why do none of the childish males of Lost have to “become men” via parenthood? And why not celebrate Kate for her bravery, independence, strength, courage, and bad-ass island-saving skills rather than her “nurturing femininity”?

Furthermore, all of Lost's primary female characters are framed around pregnancy narratives (think Sun, Claire, Juliet). And Jill of Feministe has revealed that Kate was initially conceived as the island leader but “NBC execs thought that people wouldn’t watch the show if a chick was in charge, so they gave that role to Jack and turned Kate into one corner of a love triangle.” 

Wilson asks, "For once, could we have a mainstream female protagonist not deciding which hot white man to go ga-ga over?"

Nonetheless, I do feel Lost offers well-balanced and well-developed female characters, so if it's 8 p.m. on a Tuesday, don't call me.  

Edd's MANtra: Biggie Day

Today marks 13 years since The Notorious B.I.G. was gunned down in Los Angeles. Thirteen years! Can you believe that the current generation of hip-hop fans have lived in a world without Biggie?

That explains why this garbage is consider a hit song. Why does Soulja Boy still have a career and is not in an alley fighting bums for toilet paper?

Well, maybe the young'ns will soon join in the celebration of Big Poppa's life, thanks to Puffy. From xxlmag.com:

Well-known Harlemite, rapper and entrepreneur, Diddy is planning to cross the bridge on Tuesday, March 9, for the first time in years to host a party in Brooklyn. The trek is to commemorate the 13th anniversary of The Notorious B.I.G.’s death....

“We’re trying to make March 9th a national hip-hop holiday,” Diddy told MTV News. “It already is on the low…. It’s a big day. It’s a day to celebrate his life. It’s a day to celebrate the life of the man. We done did the movie, the records. It’s something that, I guess as a label we’re obsessed with: making sure people don’t forget about this man in a positive way. March 9 is Biggie Day… Bump Biggie all day, feel good and positive.”

You don't have to give me an excuse to bump Biggie all day! Where's my Coogie sweater?

While I think that this is a great idea, I do have one concern - if March 9 officially becomes Biggie Day, 2Pac cultists will make September 13 Pac Day, Novemeber 13 will become ODB Day, February 15 will be Big L Day, April 25 will be Left Eye Day, etc. At the rate these rappers fall, we'll be mourning somebody every other day. Things won't be as special.


And if I EVER have to celebrate Soulja Boy Day I'm officially becoming a fan of bluegrass.


Do you think Biggie Day is a good idea?

Edd's MANtra: Color-struck

Any Wale fans out there?

A month or so ago, when Wale's video for "Pretty Girls" dropped, Internet "journalist" Joy Daily called him out for only featuring light-skinned women in his video.

See for yourself.

I don't know what she's talking - I saw plenty of women who weren't light-skinned. True, I didn't see women that were five shades darker than Flavor Flav, but there were a range of complexions there.

At the time, I didn't write about it on the blog because it was such a silly non-issue.

Since then, Daily has released a series online called "Complexion Obsession - A Hip Hop Documentary." The series, of course, complains that there aren't enough dark-skinned women in music videos.

I checked out the series so you won't have to - don't waste your time.

It's easy to see the point she's trying to make - only beautiful girls are on TV, and since you don't see any dark-skinned women with natural hair it must mean that they're ugly. And while it's absurd to pretend that our country still doesn't suffer from race issues, it's even MORE absurd to try to find moral integrity in a HIP-HOP MUSIC VIDEO.

Would the world really be a better place if dark-skinned naked women were grinding on Rick Ross rather than light ones? Why is BET a barometer of beauty in the first place?

Daily's whining does nothing but fan the flames. What we need to do is teach young women to search for beauty within, and not look for it on 106 & Park.