My Afrobella of the Week is normally a woman with naturally curly hair, but for this lady, I’m making an exception. I promised a follow-up to my black rocker chicks post, and here it is! One of my new favorite musical discoveries is Alice Smith, a gorgeous sista from Augusta Georgia with a fierce four…
Jams
My Latest Jam
When I shared my love for Amy Winehouse (who I discovered over at one of my favorite web haunts, The Smoking Section),some of my readers asked me for more of my favorite music. Let me warn you bellas, my taste in music is quirky, wide-ranging, and probably not what some of you might expect. Still,…
Missy Elliott: Makeup Muse and Hip-Hop Heroine
I’ve noticed something quite disappointing on some of my favorite gossip sites. Every time a post on Missy Elliott is made – photos of her at a party, or awards show, whatever; some ig’nant commenters are unable to say anything but negative stuff. It always comes down to Missy’s sexuality, her appearance, or her weight….
Worth a Lick
We’re almost out of children’s storybook stamps, and I’m excited to buy a book of these. Commemorative Ella Fitzgerald stamps will be released on Wednesday, as part of the annual Black Heritage series! The personal anecdotes about Ella in that story really touched me. “Phoebe Jacobs, executive vice president of The Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation…
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Even though 98% of my holiday shopping is done and I leave for home in two days, I wasn’t feeling particularly Christmassy. Until today. My iAudio (a gift my husband got me last year. I highly recommend it for any of you who are looking for a digital audio device) was on shuffle, and it…
Gifts for Escapist Bellas
The second installment of the Afrobella Holiday Shopping Guide is all about bellas who daydream. The kind who seem to float by on a cloud, and doodle in the margins during boring board meetings. When you’re so bogged down by day-to-day stress that you can’t see straight, sometimes it’s the only way to survive the…
Hip Hop (and Reggae) Heroine, Tanya Stephens
How can I call Tanya Stephens a hip-hop heroine, you ask? I bet Lil Kim can answer that question! Over the summer, Tanya had to get all kinds of litigious on the nip/tucked rapstress because Kim blatantly ripped off one of Tanya’s hottest dancehall anthems, “Mi and Mi God.” (Honestly, if Damian Marley wanted to…
Respecting Our Elders
Everyone’s psyched about Dreamgirls. The film is garnering incredible Oscar buzz, I just saw the three biggest stars of the film – Eddie Murphy, Jamie Foxx, and Beyonce – on the cover of Vanity Fair. (Think fast, when was the last time you saw a black face on the cover of any mainstream fashion magazine?…
Bad-Ass Breakup Jams
So everybody’s rocking to Beyonce’s Irreplaceable. It’s an insanely catchy song, and I love anything that comes pre-packaged with a dance. You can find me grooving “to the left, to the left” most mornings on my commute to work. There’s nothing like a classic breakup anthem to bring a woman’s sass to the forefront. It’s…