(September 14, 1983 – July 23, 2011)
Just like any other year, 2011 was a musical hodgepodge. We had our queen bees and our wanna be’s, our good, bad, ugly, uglier, and everything in between. I don’t want to give too much away, but let’s just say this year brought the tears, the pain, the Acid, and the rain. And then of course, there was “Ni**as in Paris.” On that note, I’ll leave you with the music. Ladies and Gentleman, the Soundtrack of 2011:
Last week’s release of Lioness: Hidden Treasures forced us to bid a bittersweet and final adieu to our dear Amy. In the last swig of our last dose, we forever parted from a faithful friend. Facing the fearful fact of the final fix, our tears shed ceaselessly unto a lonely morning of inevitable withdrawal. Her day had come, and that we came to accept in a solo serenity. The proceeding days of morrow would withhold a romanticized pain in the attempt of an eventual ease; it was a separation so sweet, a moment’s pleasure. As we have, and do today, we will still love her tomorrow.
Anyone who is privy to the goings-on of pop culture is familiar with the phenomenon known as the “27 Club.” Notable members include Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Brian Jones, and Kurt Cobain. The most recent inductee is the late, great Amy Winehouse, the tragically neglected yet overly publicized neo-soul messiah of the 21st century. It was relentlessly inevitable, yet terribly sudden, when she prematurely left this mortal coil; still, at her meticulous age she unwillingly entered an elite club of similarly ill-fated artists that met an equally unjust and cruel demise. At the same time, however, it seems that 27 is the magic number; a number that has the power to immortalize the famously doomed.
By strict definition, Blue is a color. But anyone that’s ever had the blues knows better. Since the times of the Ancient Greeks, blue has had a direct connection with sadness. It was thought that rain, were the tears of the god Zeus. And as much as blue represents sadness it can represent optimism. Who can feel down on a day of clear, blue skies? And there lies the beautiful contradiction of a color like blue. It can be as sad as it is happy.
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“He was one of the few people I was truly envious of … but he didn’t know how good he was…”
We knew she was trouble, we knew she was absolutely no good when she slurred and stumbled into our hearts. She spit on fans, got into bar fights, a well-documented romance that made Bobby and Whitney look like Obama and Michelle, she had an undeniable drug and alcohol addiction, yet she still shimmied her way into our hearts. With 1950′s style mini-dresses and a beehive hair-do that seemed to be designed by God himself, Amy Winehouse was a train-wreck, but we still let her sing her way into our consciousness, be the soundtracks to love’s epiphanies and heartbreaks.
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The Lil’ B Effect
I was still in high school when the band Chester French’s two buzz stirring singles, “Jimmy Choos” and “She Loves Everybody” were released. Super producer, Pharrell cosigned them, so of course they had to be amazing. All I knew was that a bidding war, record labels and Pharrell Williams were involved, so I obliged, listened and I loved it. The band was a mixture of rock and pop, and the lyrics and the moods that they evoked gave me saturday night fevers. They were The Beatles condensed into two, and the Bee Gees without the annoying anti-puberty sound. I knew all the words by heart, and because of Chester French and the hotness that they exuded I added white chocolate as my new favorite treat.
Stay high with this 4-20 mixtape "Reefa Madness" presented by Art Nouveau Magazine & GreatEclectic. The album art was designed by Corinne Stevie.
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