Danii Gold, also known to many as Bri is an established writer on multiple digital platforms. Danii enjoys writing about entertainment and lifestyle stories.
Mr. Soulja Boy has been in the media for the past week. He seems to think that he had the biggest comeback of 2018 EVEN THOUGH, he did not release a song that charted. He criticized Tyga because everyone said that he had the biggest comeback with his “Taste” record. Check out the video below at the 5:03 mark:
Tyga posted in Instagram his accomplishments according to Spotify and it showed that he had 884 Million streams, 58 million fans and he reached 65 countries. According to Soulja Boy’s accomplishments, he had 98 Million streams, 16 millions fans and reached 65 countries as well, sooooo numbers don’t lie. It’s clear that TYGA had the biggest comeback BUT according to Google, his net worth is $3 million and Soulja Boy’s is $30 Million. Sooooo Soulja was doing something right in 2018 to secure the bag!
But he also had a few things to say about Drake when his name got brought in The Breakfast Club interview. Soulja said he taught Drake everything that he knows and referenced Drake’s intro to “Miss Me” which was on his first album. The line goes:
Tell meeeee what’s really going on
Drizzy back up in this thang, I’m ready, what’s hannenin’
Soulja Boy came out with the song “What’s Hannenin” back in 2007. “Miss Me” came out in 2010.
Here’s a clip from the interview below:
Yeah….he went there lol BUT DID HE LIE? We all know that big artists have ghost writers write their hits including Drake and the proof is in the pudding. Soulja Boy claims to have paved the way for artists today. He says he was one of the first artist to be on YouTube dancing and doing what influencers are doing now. (he has a point) . He also said he was one of the first artists to have a dance to their song.
He has a point. Besides those “Crank That Batman” “Crank That Yank” songs whom we don’t know the artists to, Soulja Boy WAS one of the firsts to do that of my generation.
Soulja also said that he put Tyga in one of videos earlier in his career. He also said he put Chief Keef on, meaning he co-signed him.
LOOK I’m not saying Soulja Boy had the biggest comeback of 2018 BUT i am saying that he has had an influence on artist such as your Lil Pumps, and Tekashi 69s and of course many more. What I DON’T like is how cocky and arrogant he is when explaining his endeavors. BUT I salute him, he just needs to simmer down and stay off the “lil lean” that he says he partakes in,
The TV show Blackish does not shy away from controversial and trending topics, for example Juneteenth, calling the police on black people, black people not knowing how to swim and recently, on last night’s episode they addressed colorism.
If you haven’t had the chance to watch it, here’s what happened: Diane, played by Marsai Martin, took her class picture and she was poorly lighted in the pictured and it made her look darker skinned.
washingtonpost.com
tvguide.com
Now, for the record, she is the only dark skinned family member in the show. Bow, played by Tracee Ellis Ross, is her mother and light skinned; Dre, played by Anthony Anderson is more caramel skinned and plays her dad; Grandma (Ruby), played by Jenifer Lewis, is caramel skinned; Grandpa (Pops), played by Laurence Fishburne, is caramel skinned; Junior, played by Marcus Scribner, is her older brother and light skinned; Zoey, played by Yara Shahidi, is her older sister and is caramel skinned; and Jack, played by Miles Brown, is her twin brother and is caramel skinned as well.
Bow and Dre made a big deal about it because they felt that Diane was under looked and lighted poorly and they wanted her group school picture retaken. Diana did think it was a big deal but she was really hiding her true feelings. Junior brought up the fact that the light skinned people in the family are treated differently than the light skin people. For instance, he brought up the fact that Dre is always hard on him and he symbolizes his complexion to being soft, like the jokes going around about Drake being emotional and soft because she sings RnB (as well as rap) and because he’s light skin. Junior also brought up the fact that Jack does weird “sensitive” acts but he gets a pass because he’s not light skinned and “that’s just Jack.” Ruby is always clowning on Bow because she’s mixed/light skin and thinks that she can’t raise her kids right, insulting right? Another point that Junior brought up was that light skinned people get joked on more instead of dark skinned people, specifically in their household; he said what if him and Bow started telling dark skinned joke, and Dre’s response was “Don’t you dare.” Which he has a point. If someone was to joke about my skin tone during the time I was struggling with it, I woulda snapped or got really emotional because there has been a standard, in a sense, that light skin is the preferred skin tone and the only beautiful skin. You had your dark skin artists such as Lauryn Hill that was one of the very few people loved no matter the tone of her skin.
hiphopgoldenage.com
Diane ended up revealing that it actually does bother her that she has to get reminded on the daily of her skin, from band aids being a nude color according to lighter skins and not matching her skin, to trying on lipstick and a BLACK sales assocoiate says that color wouldn’t like good on “our skin tone” and suggests her try on a more toned down color, to a random lady saying she was cute for a “dark skinned girl.” WTF IS UP WITH THAT?
Whether we want to believe it or not, we STILL live in a world that’s full of color stroke people and colorism issues, meaning people past judgment on skin tones. Light skin people are supposedly not as threatening as dark skin people. Light skin men are supposedly softer than dark skin men. Light women are supposedly curve men more and will do you dirty, versus dark skin women are more laid back and outgoing, all SUPPOSEDLY!
One thing I’ve noticed and it’s been spoken about, is that black men love/fantasize about about having a foreign light skinned woman. Public figures have spoken about it saying “i need her to be light skinned, long hair that’s real” etc. What I don’t like is that the media and people in general act like the only kind of beautiful is light skin women, BUT I will say that the media, social and all, has made it their duty to glorify dark skin women such as Lupita Nyong’O, Viola Davis, Danai Gurira, Aja Naomi King, Yvonne Orji, and many more.
I use to deal with skin tone issues when I was younger. The guys I liked in elementary and middle school always liked light skin girls. Then when I got in high school, the guys who did seek interest in me only wanted to talk to me because of my big booty.
The point in all this is: ALL BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL. Yes we hear that a lot but seriously…ALL BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL. Light skin women have been picked on because they are too cute; according to Amber Rose, that happened to her. Dark skin women have been picked on for being to too dark and ugly, as sad as it is. I think we should all learn to stop judging someone by the tone of their skin, EVEN BLACK FOLKS AGAINST BLACK FOLKS. We’ve all been guilty of it, I know I have.
By now everyone has had time to see all 6 part of the R. Kelly Docuseries. I don’t even know where to start. I’ve been trying to figure out what angle I wanted to take on this Surviving R. Kelly. So much content, so much disgust, so much hurt, so much sadness, just so much to take in.
I’ll start here:
From watching part 1 of Surviving R. Kelly, it was expressed that he was molested at from age 7 until 14-15 by a female relative. The sexual abuse also happened to his younger brother. It seems like this sexual abuse was transferred to R. Kelly then he transferred the hurt and abuse to young girls.
Random thought: What if R. Kelly is making these young girls suffer because of what he went through from at a young age by a woman. Just a thought.
Moving along, I really do not want to bring her up but it seems like the first sight of concern of our weirdness should have been with Aaliyah. Yes, it was rumored that he married her when she was only 15 but forwarded the documents saying that she was 18. But during this documentary, R. Kelly’s former assistant Demetrius Smith said he helped forge documents of Aaliyah and R. Kelly’s marriage. Once that news was water under the bridge, it never got brought up again. I feel like Demetrius is just as guilty. Yes he is speaking out now and he admits he was wrong but that doesn’t make it write. If a rapist goes to jail and speaks out in a documentary saying he was sorry and explains why he did it, would you forgive him? FUCK NO!
HisVictims/Survivors
Several of his victims spoke out about how they met him and the abuse they face. The trend was he would meet young girls at the mall or at concerts and woo them over then the manipulation would start. Small things from telling the girlsthat they have to call him daddy to telling them that they have to follow rules. The physically abuse started when the girls “broke a rule,” he would hit them and even starve them.
JerhondaPace
variety.com
This young lady’s case bothered me a little, not only because she was a victim of sexual abuse at a young age but….SHE MET HIM OUTSIDE WHILE SUPPORTING HIM FOR HIS CHILD PORNOGRAPHY CASE, AS HE WAS WALKING INTO COURT. Now, by all mean I AM NOT VICTIM SHAMING AT ALL, but this goes to show that young girls are really naive. The poor girl was only 15 and even though the “relationship” as she calls it, lasted less than a year, she endured manipulation, signing fake documents, being slapped and spat on. Luckily she was able to get out but this case shows that, little girls are easily manipulated and Kelly knows that and he used it to his advantage. Just imagine his train of thought on this girl “oh she’s at my trial for a case that I know I did and she’s still supporting me. I can get one over on her.” He’s a fucking sick clown.
Azriel Clary
oxygen.com
This situation was sad because she could’ve avoided him on a few occasions and SHE STILL IS WITH HIM! A lil synopsis on this girl, she was an aspiring singer and she went to an R. Kelly show with her parents, she was called from the crowd and was able to go backstage to meet him. She sang for him and later on she “auditioned” for him in hotel room without her parents. Once she was there she told her parents and they immediately rushed to the hotel to “rescue” her.But come to find out she was not in danger and she claimed that her parents were messing up this opportunity for her because she wanted to be a singer so bad. Eventually time went on in her and her parents were in contact with R. Kelly to help pursue her career. Things got weird when her older sister decided to go with her to the studio and a situation went down. What’s the girl turned 18 she pretty much was out of sight. The last time her parents seen her was for her high school graduation.
time.com
My concern is: if her parents were getting worried to the point that they didn’t want Azerial alone withR. Kelly, then that means that they have their suspicions about him and they should have told their daughter “fuck him we’ll figure out another way for you to get exposed to the music industry.” No disrespect but her parents should be held accountable for this situation. They took her with them to the R. Kelly concert, let her go backstage, let her continue to do business with him even though they had Erie feelings that he should not have been with her alone regardless of the fact that she was 17. They wanted to make their daughter happy so bad that it literally cost them and now they haven’t seen her in 2 years.
Asante McGee
mercurynews.com
First of all, I’ve seen multiple interviews Of artists saying that they were not date girls who were super fans of their u of artists saying that they were not date girls who were super fans of theirs due to it being weird and the fans could be obsessive; so I’m confused as to why R. Kelly decided to date this woman. Oh yeah because she’s easily to manipulate even though she was actually of age and 35.
Asante and Kelly met in 2014 at a concert and eventually started dating. He told her that he had other girls but she didn’t care of course. They did the long distance relationship thing for a year-ish and when she moved in, that’s when she said he got controlling. He would lock her in room and of course abuse her. Luckily she was able to get out. My concern is: Baby Girl, you were so oblivious to the fact that he “didn’t do anything to those girls” and you still “supported him” but he ended up abusing you, he just didn’t manipulate you as much because you were a child but you were still brainwashed a bit. Again, I’M NOT VICTIM BLAMING, but you can’t put anything past nobody, especially a person who was publicly know for sexually abusing young girls and even went to court for it.
Lisa Van Allen
youtube.com
This young lady met Kelly when she was 17. She was involved with him the same time he was involved with him the same he was involved with the 14 year old girl. She had to participate in a threesome with him and the young girl and the encounter was recorded. Lisa was the one who found the tape with him and the 14 year old, gave it to someone who made copies, then got the tape back. By the time she got the tape back, it was too late, and copies were being handed out throughout the U.S. Eventually the tape got in the hands of the police and that’s when Kelly had to go to trial for multiple counts of child pornography. Kelly plotted to kill Lisa for exposing the tape and honestly if she didn’t then people would be even more in denial about his acts. Unfortunately he was found not guilty of the 14 counts of child pornography. But I commend her for speaking up BUT she is still kind of guilty for thinking that the girl was older but still underage. I commend her but she is still partially guilty.
To the girls who started dealing with R. Kelly because they wanted him to help their career:
WHO DO YALL KNOW THAT R.KELLY HAS HELPED MUSICALLY, besides Aaliyah? (God rest her soul).
To his ex-wife, Andrea Lee:
I’m glad you were able to escape him. My question is, how did you have two other children by him after giving the birth the day he was taken to jail for the child pornography allegations/charges? That would be a turn off for me but I understand you sticking by your man. Also, I commend you for speaking out despite the fact that you have kids with him. Speaking out about your kid’s father says a lot especially with it dealing with it dealing with abuse. I commend you.
To R. Kelly:
You are a sick individual and I hope you get ALLLLLL the bad you deserve. You will reap what you sew You psychotic, mentally unstable peace of shit.
One last thing:
His whole camp should be held accountable for their actions or lack there of. They seen what R. Kelly was doing and clearly didn’t report it. Even if he had connections with the Chicago PD, when they traveled across state lines where it wasn’t legal to have a 17 year old, his people should’ve spoke up.
What are your thoughts on the docuseries? Comment below and let me know!
I can honestly say that 2018 was good to me. It’s helped me learn more about myself and it showed me that things don’t always go as planned, as cliché as this sounds. Now I KNOW that things don’t go according to plan but I’m a planner so sometimes the simplest thing that doesn’t go according to my schedule I kind of… flip out. I even plan back up plans for when my original plans don’t go through, sounds crazy right?
With that being said..I took a loss, and it was something that I had never experienced before. I plan so much and try to have soo much control over my life but this loss was something that I couldn’t control. Was I shocked? Yes. Was I sad? Honestly not really. Did it really hit me later and give me a reality check? Absolutely. I am still dealing with it but honestly it’s something that I had been indirectly praying to God about and he pretty much said “bet, say no more.” And BOOM I took a loss lol. I’ll speak more about it later, just not now.
In the midst of dealing with all that, I grew apart from someone who I was once close with. I know I can be sensitive at times and due to me being that way, I try to distance myself from certain situations to prevent getting my feelings hurt. I had been doing this for a while and just “doing me and living my best.” During this situation i was blatantly honest when approached by the close one. Of course that didn’t end well hence we’re not that close anymore, but I was telling my truth and being unbiased. Am I opposed to getting back close to the close one? Absolutely not. But I guess till will tell and time will reveal.
Besides all the bad and self reflecting I went through this year, I went through some good stuff too lol:
I started the year with the internship of my dreams, at radio one in St. Louis. I completed it in April.
I finished my classes for my masters in March. I graduated in May.
I traveled to Cabo Mexico with a huge group and it was FUN.
I met an amazing guy when I really wasn’t looking for anything serious but here we are, 8 months into our relationship.
I stressed on finding a new job because my health care job that I have been at for three years just wasn’t my passion.
I searched and searched and searched for jobs and finally landed my first big girl job in July, right before my birthday. (What a great early birthday present)
I went back to LA for my birthday and kicked it.
I went to Atlanta twice this year and actually got to enjoy it.
I also walked in two fashion shows this year.
So, it’s safe to say that 2018 has been full of ups AND down but that’s life right? I’m looking forward to what 2019 brings and shows me.
As this year comes to an end, I’d like to bring up the fact that….there has been a lot of support in the black community, specifically with the women. I’ve seen sooooooooo many Black Women supporting each other in group pages. I was added in The Broke Black Girl group on Facebook earlier this year and it consists of sisters supporting each other with advice about finances, life, accomplishments, YOU NAME IT!
Since I’m a blogger, I was added to a group titled Black Women Who Blog shortly after that which is self explanatory. I’ve seen St. Louis millennials (my age group) take their brand to the next level and its inspired me to get my life together even more. I use to see these same people at networking events and parties and now I’m seeing them put together their own events.
To me, I’ve known and seen St. Louis to be a hating city but after having different experiences with different groups, I believe it varies by career/profession. As far as bloggers/event planners/influencer goes, that community supports each other. I have not experienced an ounce of hating when it comes to my expertise. But after speaking to local artists and Djs, they agree that St. Louis can be a bit on the “not supportive” side when it comes to music and upcoming. I will be the first to admit that when I go out to certain clubs/lounges/etc. they tend to play the same music and those artist are typically not from St. Louis. I did meet a local Dj by the name of Dj CU (shout out to CU) who says he Djs at a couple venues on the weekend and he plays local artist music. I also was a guest on his show titled New Heat 365 and he purposely features upcoming artists on his show just to give them a new platform and some artists aren’t from St. Louis. I like that he uses his platform to help artists, from St. Louis and wherever else. Everyone needs to have that same level of support especially if they have a brand themselves they want to promote. I know a local artist (shout out to B-Wxnda) who I’ve interviews a few times, who says that he went down to Atlanta and was at a club and he just so happened to rub elbows with a promoter and he asked him if the DJ would play his song and the DJ did. Just like that, SUPPORT. The support in other cities, when it comes to music, is better than my hometown, St. Louis.
I believe the level of support depends on the profession. As far as my profession goes, I feel that I get a certain level of supportive, from liking my posts on Instagram to sharing my posts that I post on Facebook, to simply saying hi to me when out in public. I do the same ALL THE TIME just because a click of the share button goes a long way and if I approve of someones brand or know someone who can benefit from it, I will support it/share a post. One key to making yourself known to to other entrepreneurs and showing that you know who they are is speaking up when you see them. Introduce yourself and speak on something you saw on their page or something dealing with their brand. I can be shy and and introvert at times, which is off because with my profession, I NEED to be able to be outgoing lol. BUT I’ve found myself doing it more.
All in all, I love the support that women have been giving each other. Even the men come out to support us. I believe that 2019 will be the year that black men will support each other more than what they normally do. I’m speaking it into existence! As far as us women go, I KNOW that we will come harder in 2019.
Anyone who knows R&B, knows that the 90’s had the best R&B. The debate is who is the “king” of R&B. If you are into today’s R&B, you may have heard of the king of “eeee”, Jacquees.
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Jacquees claims to be the “King of R&B”; I’m guessing he means of today’s generation. My issue with this is…he disregarded Chris Brown, Trey Songz, Daniel Caesar, Eric Bellinger, the list can go on. What baffles me is…Jacquees’ single “B.E.D” was part of the bridge of R&B Avant’s song “Read Your Mind.” THEN there’s him making a Quemix to Ella Mai’s “Trip” record. I loved the remix BTW, but he’s clearly not original. He’s seen on YouTube remaking Chris Brown “Yoooo” song and Soul For Real’s “Candy Rain” videos. Oh Jacquees (eye roll).
The way I see it, there are different kinds of categories to place artists a far as the “King of R&B”. There’s different eras like the 80’s R&B, the 90’s R&B, the 2000’s R&B and the 2010’s R&B. Now, we can split those decades up by early 80’s, 90′ 00’s 10’s and the same for the mid/late decade.
For the 80’s, the R&B Kings were:
Luther Vandross (1981-1988)
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Bobby Brown (1986-1988)
biography.com
Teddy Pendergrass (1980-1988; and late 1970’s)
prince.org
90’s
Keith Sweat (1991-1998) (late 80’s)
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R. Kelly (1992-1998) (00’s too)
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Usher (1994-1999)
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00’s
Usher (again; 2001-2016)
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Chris Brown (2005- currently)
bbc.co.uk
Trey Songz (2005-currently)
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Ne-Yo (2006-currently)
iheart.com
Tha Dream (2007-2009) (2012-2016)
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So after that break down, you can tell that there’s some overlapping, like the 90’s singers dipped into the 00’s and the 00’s dipped into the 2010’s. These artists have worked hard enough to earn the title or even QUALIFY for being the “King of R&B”
Jacquees has started this uproar and he probably did it intentionally with his sneaky ass. BUT he had the audacity to interrupt a cameraman asking Keith Sweat about the King of R&B debate. Keith barely had the chance to answer before lil Jac-ki-ki popped up out of nowhere adding his two sense saying he was the King of R&B for the 16-25 age crowd. BOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY PLEASE! YOU JUST CAME OUT! Luckily Uncle Keith didn’t sweat it (did ya catch that?) and said he was the King of getting the bag. Lil Jacq-ki-ki need to respect his elders in the music game, sit back, and try to sell out an arena or something.
I feel like, if you are good at something, then let someone else give you a reigning title. I don’t recall hearing Marvin Gaye and Teddy Pendergrass bickering about who was better during their time. OR Tyrese and Usher. If you are the best at your craft during a certain period of time, stay humble, at least until you win a Grammy or something.
I’ll say it again, Jacquees needs to sit down somewhere and respect the game AND this new generation of artists need to stop overusing the term “King.” You got Tekashi69 saying he’s the “king” of New York. I’m no big New York fan but i’m pretty sure Jay-Z wouldn’t pass that torch to him.
Let’s just pray that Jacquees humbles himself and retracts his statement.
Danii Gold 