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30 Days of Musical Blackness With VSB, Day 22: Mark Morrison, ‘Return of the Mack’
Today is the 22nd day of June, in the year of our Lord, 2019. Since the year of our Lord 1996 I’ve been preaching the same (debatably controversial) gospel: Mark Morrison’s “Return of the Mack” is one of the greatest songs ever created. I stand firm and pat on this statement. Mark Morrison “Return Of…
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30 Days of Musical Blackness With VSB, Day 21: Nicole Bus, 'You'
Almost nine years ago now, I was listening to the radio, back when that was a thing, and I heard a song that sounded so much like a Lauryn Hill song, or one that should have been a Lauryn Hill song, that I absolutely yelled out the window, “LAURYN BACK LAURYN BACK GOT ALL THESE…
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30 Days of Musical Blackness With VSB, Day 20: Phyllis Hyman, 'Be Careful (How You Treat My Love)'
There’s almost no way I could do a series like this without at least one nod to my second-favorite singer of forever, Phyllis Hyman. Turns out, almost four years ago, before VSB became part of The Root and before we started writing full time, I wrote everything I was going to write today in a…
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30 Days of Musical Blackness With VSB, Day 19: Joi, 'Freedom' x Various Artists, 'Freedom'
Since today is Juneteenth (in celebration of June 19, 1865, the day the slaves in Texas learned they were freed), I decided to drop a two-fer in the name of freedom. The song is “Freedom” but there are two versions and they’re both getting their due today. Most people of a certain age might remember…
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30 Days of Musical Blackness With VSB, Day 18: The Temptations 'Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)'
As a child, I grew up hearing The Temptations, but I don’t recall really listening. Of course, I knew of Motown and thus I knew some of their biggest songs, some by heart, even if I wasn’t entirely up on game. “Papa Was A Rolling Stone,” and “My Girl,” and “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg,”…
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30 Days of Musical Blackness With VSB, Day 17: Intro, 'Funny How Time Flies'
Intro might literally be the most unsung group ever. They’re so unsung, they don’t even have an episode of TVOne’s Unsung and their contemporaries like Troop, Hi-Five and Silk, who are way less unsung than Intro, have episodes. They have one of the most recognizable ’90s R&B songs in “Come Inside” (waaaaaaaaaaay too long intro…
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30 Days of Musical Blackness With VSB, Day 16: Gladys Knight & the Pips ‘Daddy Could Swear, I Declare’
Happy Father’s Day! You know what’s difficult to find? Positive songs about black fathers. I’m not saying there aren’t any, I’m just saying that the genre, as it were, could stand some more entries. So today, I decided to go with a song by Gladys Knight & the Pips. The song celebrates dads, or Gladys’…
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Fatherhood 101 With Very Smart Brothas and the Dads of The Root!
Father’s Day is right around the corner and the one thing the men of VSB and The Root know how to do is procreate. It’s a talent really. Since we all love our children and love being parents, we decided to come together, talk about what fatherhood looks like and offer some tips for those…
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30 Days of Musical Blackness With VSB, Day 15: Fela Kuti ‘Lady’
I’d heard of Fela Kuti before I heard Fela. But when I finally made the discovery of Nigeria’s Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti aka Fela Anikulapo Kuti aka Fela, I was done for. Actually, that’s a little untrue. After being told to check out his music I went out and bought the Best of the Black…
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30 Days of Musical Blackness With VSB, Day 14: Sister Nancy, 'Bam Bam'
I literally have zero recollection of the first time I heard Sister Nancy’s “Bam Bam.” I don’t remember it at all before college though, so I’ll just go ahead and assume I heard it at the same place I heard so many dope songs during my college tenure: (what we called) “Fashion Fridays” at Spelman…
