Danii Gold, also known to many as Bri is an established writer on multiple digital platforms. Danii enjoys writing about entertainment and lifestyle stories.
I watched the Emmys last night, it was partially boring but I was proud as a black woman at what recognition, us black women received.
The beautiful talented Regina King, received her first Emmy in the category of “Limited Series or Movies Supporting Actress” for her role in American Crime. She started out acting in the 1980’s show 227, then branched off into movies such as A Thin Line Between Love and Hate and Friday. Taraji P. Henson, one of my favorite actresses, presented Regina with the Emmy. Taraji showed Regina so much love, merit and recognition.
Another moment that made history last night was Viola Davis becoming the FIRST black woman to win “LEAD Actress in a Drama Series” for her role in How To Get Away With Murder.” This was Viola’s first Emmy. In her speech she said “The only thing that separates women of color from anyone else is opportunity. ” With that quote, I believe she was saying that black women get the second-hand or even third-hand acting jobs, such as slaves, servants, side kicks, etc. We are better than just those characters. To see how far black women have came, it’s an accomplishment.
Also Uzo Aduba, who plays Crazy Eyes in Orange Is The New Black, won her second Emmy for the second year straight for her role in Orange Is The New Black. Last year she won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in A Comedy Series and this year she upgraded.
You all know that I love Key & Peele and the show did not win any awards last night BUT at least they were nominated.
Welp that’s all I got for you all, until next time. DANII GOLD is out!
Dancing With the Stars premiered their 21st Season this past Tuesday on ABC. I can honestly say that I’ve never watched the show but they have a good line up this season. I only know about six people honestly, but I was intrigued with this first episode.
This year’s line consist of:
Tamar Braxton- Co Host of The Real Talk Show
Nick Carter – member of the 90’s boy bank Backstreet Boys
Gary Busey- Actor from movies such as Lethal Weapon, Under Siege and other films
Andy Grammar- Pop Male Artist
Victor Espinosa- Multiple Winning Jockey
Hayes Grier- Social Media Star
Paula Deen- Well-known cooking show host
Alexa PenaVega- known for her role in the Spy Kids movies
Carlos PenaVega- husband of Alexa, but they won’t be dance partners. He’s known from the Nickelodeon show Big Time Rush
Bindi Erwin- daughter of Steve & Terri Erwin, the Crocodile Hunter. She has had a few of her own television shows
Alek Skarlatos- National Guard specialist who became a hero, along with his two friends, stopped an attacker on a train from harming and killing passengers.
Kim Zolciak- Reality Star from the show Real Atlanta of Housewives, and football wife to Kroy Biermann, who plays for the Atlanta Falcons.
Last but certainly not least, Ms. Chaka Khan- The QUEEN of Funk, who’s won several Grammys and she has had several hit songs
photo credit: abc.go.com
So, on with the show, I think majority of the dancers were nervous but the top three that I think killed it were Tamar Braxton, Bindi Erwin and Alexa PenVegas. Tamar is already confident as it is, so it would be a shame if she didn’t bring that attitude in her performance. Bindi is full of energy and life and her personality showed in her performance. I had never heard of her before the show but when I saw her, she was full of so much life and excitement and it’s hard not to like her. OMG Alexa PenVegas killed her performance. She was so speedy and sharp. She’s grown from that little girl in Spy Kids, to a talented young lady.
Some performance I was shocked about were Kim and Chaka, Kim is extremely nervous which is expected but she was on reality television acting out like it was no biggie, I would have expected more from her but hopefully she improves as the weeks go on. Chaka, Miss Chaka; The Queen of Funk was a little rusted or maybe the type of dance she did this week wasn’t in her ball park.
I know I may sound sexist by only commenting on the female performances but I have so comments on the guys as well. Mr. Nick Carter, the boy band hottie, he started off kind of shaky but he got in the groove of things and had a nice performance. Alek, whom I’ve never heard of, had a sweet ballroom performance that was very elegant and since he’s an American hero in a sense, I’m sure he won the viewer’s heart Tuesday night. Gary Busey–truthfully he just seems too old to be dancing. Yes you can dance at whatever age you feel but Gary didn’t do good to me and he may want to hang it up. Yeah it was worth a try but I don’t think he’ll get far. Also he seems like a creek but that’s my personal opinion.
I look forward to the results of next weekend. Hopefully known of my favorite people get voted off.
I can’t believe Key and Peele aired their last show yesterday (September 9, 2015). Really, “Who Does That?” (*Meegan voice ).
If you’re not familiar with the show, Key and Peele are a comedy pair played by Keegan Michael Key and Jordan Peele and they act out comedy sketches and imitate real life people. One of the characters that Peele plays is Meegan, a rude, ignorant, dingy girlfriend of Andre, played by Key; who is smart, polite but too dumb to leave Meegan’s crazy ass. As Peele plays her, he uses a white girl voice and uses a typical demeanor and tone as a white female. Meegan likes to cause drama and wants Andre to chase after her but just when she thinks about making up, she looks at Andre seductively then dramatically walks off.
Jordan Peele does a perfect impersonation of President Barack Obama and he uses Key and his hood translator and they talk about typical issues but add comedy to it.
Key is best known for his character of the Substitute Teacher. In that skit, he plays a “inner city” substitute teacher who pronounces every student’s name wrong–A-A-Ron (Aaron), Ba-lak-kay (Blake), De-Nice ( Denise). The comedy in this is that inner city students have odd spelled and pronounced names. So as he is calling out all these incorrectly pronounced names, he’s getting no response and he starts snapping out on the students. The infamous Substitute Teacher episode was aired in their second season of doing their show. It’s crazy to see that Key & Peele actually got their break on MadTv and then branched off into an even bigger comedy sketch show.
tvguide.com
planetmadtv.com
According to Key, it wasn’t the network but instead himself and Peele who decided to wrap up the show. He goes on to say that it’s time for them to explore other options and they ” may ” even make a movie then do their own thing, then do another movie and etc. Even though nothing is set in stone, I would LOVE to see that happen. The two were nominated for EIGHT Emmy Awards this year, that is simply amazing. The Award Show airs Sunday September 20, so hopefully they take the win on at least one award.
So I went to see the movie Straight Outta Compton this past weekend and it was EVERYTHING. It showed each artist’s background information as well as paying homage to the late rapper Eazy E.
Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and the late rapper Easy Z were all members of the group N.W.A which stood for N.W.A. It starts out showing their different backgrounds and how they became a group. Eazy E was into the streets and was more of a business man. Ice Cube was in High School and was a dope writer or lyricist even just cooking up rhymes in his head and putting them on paper. Dre was cold on the turn tables wanting to follow his dreams of being producer, despite his mother’s wishes.
All three guys were homies to each other and they all decided to put their talents together creating the group N.W.A. Cube was the writer, Dre was the producer and at the beginning stage, E was the “business man” putting the money up to be in the studio and benefiting from it in the long run, but they decided to put him in booth to see what his rapping skills were like; now it wasn’t all peaches and cream at first but with little grooming, he sounded like a pro.
photo credit: news.hiphopearly.com
Collectively they put together Ruthless Records, the name of the record company, but Eazy was in charge of it. Then their manager came along, looking out for what was supposed to be the group but instead was only looking out for Eazy. The movie shows what the men had to go through dealing with the Compton Police. They had so many issues with the authorities for no reason, and even getting harassed outside their studio one day when they were recording.
After having countless run-ins with the police for no reason, Dre, Eazy and Cube were inspired to write the song “Fuck The Police.” This was a big controversal issue back then but they didn’t a damn, they wanted to be heard and as Cube said they have “freedom of speech,” which was and is still true. They had white people destroying their cds and burning them but at least they were buying them, as Eazy said. It got to a point where they were banned from rapping the song at their own concert. Welp that didn’t stop them from doing so while they were in Detroit, Michigan. They were, of course, arrested but their motto was “bad publicity is better than no publicity. ”
Photo credit: vibe.com
Fast forward a little bit, after the money was coming in and the contracts were finalized for the rest of the group, minus Eazy since his contract was already signed. Cube was skeptical for a while on the contracts because it took so long for it to get finalized, so he didn’t sign it and went on a solo artist, producer of movies and even an actor.
After Cube left, N.W.A. went on to recording music. Suge Knight got interested in Dre and even to the point where he wanted Dre on his label, Death Row but Dre was still signed to Ruthless Record. Eventually he got off the label after Suge beat up Eazy in order for Eazy to release Dre. In the midst of that, the movie showed Eazy getting sick. Before he was hospitalized he saw Ice Cube and they talked about linking back up to do some music, with Dre too of course, Next thing you know, Eazy is in the hospital and was diagnosed with AIDS in February of 1995, he died a month later.
The movie showed all that and then some, so you can’t do anything but respect Ice Cube, Dre and Eazy E. Cube walked away from $75,000, which was a lot at the time, all because he didn’t agree with signing his contract on the spot, it all paid off. Dre walked away from Death Row because he didn’t like the lack of professionalism that going on AND he left his plaques with Death Row and started his own label, then there’s Eazy, who started the lady and was the brains behind N.W.A. and not to mention he brought Bone Thugz N Harmony into the rap game. You can’t do nothing but respect these, as well as the other two members, MC Ren and DJ Yella.
I would go see it again AND buy it when it comes out on DVD. This movie is worth more than buying it on a bootleg.
I know it’s been a while since I’ve wrote on this story but there has been some new information about this case.
On Wednesday January 6, 2016, The Texas Trooper who arrested Sandra Bland, Trooper Encinia, was indicted on a perjury charge. Perjury meaning, telling something that isn’t truth, in a court under oath. So pretty much, he lied and he is suppose to be a with a Class A Misdemeanor. With that charge, he may only be subject to spend one year in jail and have a $4,000 fine. With that small of a penalty, I don’t think he will spend that time in jail. With everything that is going on in the world, justice will never fully be served for black people.
But anyhow, just giving y’all an update. Feel free to leave ya comments below!
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UPDATE AS OF JULY 28, 2015
The Waller County Police Department has released video footage of Sandra Bland at police station. They released the video to clear up a few rumors and set some things straight.
The video showed Sandra coming in to get book, then eventually changing into the jail uniform. It also shows her taking her mug shot photo, as well as going into the cell.
Even though some of the rumors are some what cleared, social media still has their doubts. ME, I say the proof is in the pudding. YES it shows she was alive in her photo and YES it shows she wasn’t on the ground. But it does not show her actually in the cell, from the different camera angles. I think a few more things need to be cleared up like:
Why was she arrested for a traffic ticket?
Why was the officer acting aggressive with her? Did he consider her a threat, and if so..why?
Was she targeted for the reason being, she spoke out about police brutality?
I feel that a few rumors are cleared up but there are still some things that need to be discussed
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July 26, 2015
So by now everyone knows about the Sandra Bland case but if you don’t, here’s an intro about it.
Sandra Bland was a 28 year old activist who talked about police brutality against black people. She was driving in Waller County, Texas heading to her first day at work when she was pulled over for failing to use her signal. The police officer gave her a ticket, then told her to put out her cigarette, when she didn’t the officer told her to get out the car then he used excessive force to get her out He told her to get on the ground, she did so and he again acted aggressive while she was on the ground, that portion of the incident was recorded by a bystander. She was arrested and taken to jail. Three days later on July 13 she was found dead in her jail from an alleged suicide.
So there are questions circulating: WHY was she arrested? WHY was her mug shot photo taken with her in the jail jump suit instead of her original clothing? WHY would she kill herself if she was starting a new job? WHY was there a plastic bag in her cell, when there isn’t suppose to be any items in the inmates cell? So many questions and not enough answers.
photo credit: theatlantic.com
WHAT THE NEWS IS REPORTING:
So allegedly Sandra hung herself from with a trash bag in her jail cell. The news is also reporting that she was suicidal according to the jail intake screening that all inmates have to do. They are saying she admitted to attempting suicide last year but there was an inconsistency on the report so we aren’t sure how true that is.
Also at the Waller County Jail, there was a phone in each cell, and they give you a pin number and someone has to put money on that pin number in order to talk to the inmates. She was having trouble reaching family and friends from her phone in the cell. The officers let her use the front desk phone, and that is when Sandra was able to contact a friend by voicemail leaving a message saying she saw a judge, her bond was set to $5000 and for her friend to call her back.
photo credit: chicagotribune.com
Officials are also reporting that Sandra had “high levels of marijuana in her system and as many as 30 cut marks on her wrist.” They are also saying her autopsy report didn’t show any signs of a violent struggle” meaning it doesn’t show she was trying to fight back if she was being attacked or assaulted.
WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED:
Bland’s family is saying she wasn’t suicidal at all and she would never kill herself. So there are assumptions that the police killed her while she was in their custody and made it look like a suicide. Here’s what’s sketchy about it all and why this could be possible:
WHY would she get arrested just for a traffic ticket?
She was smoking a cigarette while she got pulled over, the officer told her to put it out and she didn’t and that’s what started the whole situation, but it ISN’T a law that says you have to put your cigarette out, but it does show a sign of disrespect.
Police officers are required to do routine checks on their inmates, why weren’t they watching her?
Why was there a garbage bag found in her cell? How did she get it in her cell without an officer noticing?
How is it that she was an activist on black crime and police brutality and she somehow ends up dead in police custody?
How is it that in her mug shot, she is in the jail jump suit, when photos show that you are typical suppose to be in your regular street clothes?
Also, her mug shot photo looks like she laying down on the ground because of photos showing the color of the ground in her cell, her hair is pushed back and not toward the front like it would normally look if she was standing up.
Also the background of the mug shot looks like the floor of her cell, meaning she would have been laying down on the ground when her photo was taken.
Why would she be on the ground in her photo, with her hair sitting back, and her face slouched back (gravity)?? Because she was probably dead when the photo was taken.
So many question not enough answers. So a theory on what could have happened is it: She goes to jail, tries to call family and friends; she’s getting no answer, she’s getting frustrated and asking to keep using the phone. After she reached one friend, she probably wanted to reach a family member, after a while they probably told her no. Then she probably gets upset, and starts speaking her mind and they plot to kill her. HOW? Going in her cell while she was sleeping, and covering up her mouth, then suffocating her with the trash bag.
photo ticket: cnn.com
Another black life gone too soon.
The police are ruling her death as a suicide but there is an ongoing investigation of the case going on.
WOW! This year’s BET Awards was one of the best that the network has had in a while. From bringing out Bad Boy to doing the Smokey Robinson tribute AND a tribute to Janet Jackson.
Kendrick Lamar opened up the stage with the American flag waving while he performed on a graffiti filled police car. His performance related to what’s actually going on in the real world with police brutality and the confederate flag issue. K-Dot, his new nickname, set the stage on fire performing his new single “Alright.” The hosts of the show Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross made their appearance in leotards, singing “Conqueror” by Estelle and Jussie Smollet, while Ms. Tracee was swinging from a harness. Entertaining to say the least.
photo credit: voanews.com
Actresses Laverne Cox and Gabrielle Union presented the first awards wearing the same chic white dress. They announced that Terence Howard won the best actor award for his work in the FOX show “Empire”, so you know my girl Taraji P Henson had to win the Best Actress Award. Janelle Monae tore the stage up switching her style to sexy and seductive, singing her new song “Yoga” then new artist Jidenna came out singing “Classic Man”, and his attire matched his song title.
OF COURSE Nicki Minaj took the award for Best Female Hip Hop artist,who else would EVEN come close to winning that award in that category…NO ONE! K-Dot took the award for Best Hip Hop artist in a tough category with J.Cole, Drake, Common, Big Sean and Wale. The lovely Sam Smith won the award for Best New Artist, but he was not there to accept….because he is white and he didn’t think he would win LOL, says the comedian Anthony Anderson who accepted the award on his behalf. CB (Chris Brown) took home the award for Best Male R&B/Pop Artist AND The Fandemonium Award, as well as the Viewer’s Choice Award for the song “Only” alongside with Nicki Minaj, Drake and Wayne. Ms. Bey won the award for Best Female R&B/Pop Artist and Video of the year for her video “7/11″ and she was in those categories with some great artists……..who were actually at the awards. How many years has it been since she was at the awards??? ANYWHO, the group Rae Sremmurd won the Best Group Award for their songs ” No Flex Zone” and “Throw Some Mo”. The Best Collaboration category, was a competitive one with Chris Brown featuring Tyga and Lil Wayne, Big Sean & E-40, August Alsina (BAE) & Nicki Minaj, Chris Brown AGAIN featuring Usher & Rick Ross, Common & John Legend, and lastly Mark Ronso & Bruno Mars but the song “Glory” by Common & John Legend took home the win, which was on the Selma soundtrack. The film won the Best Movie Award as well.
OMG, the performances though…AMAZING!!! As I said before Kendrick hit the stage, then of course BET has their Music Matters singers that they showcase; Andra Day and Avery Wilson “sang” their hearts out. The Weeknd performed his new single “The Hills” and “Earned It” with Alicia Keys helping him on the piano. One of the BEST performances of the night was the Bad Boy Reunion. Diddy came out rapping “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down” then of course he had to bring MA$E out to help him sing the anthem “Bad Boy.” THEN 112 came out singing “Peaches & Cream” THROWBIKE *Plies Voice*. The stunning Faith Evan sang “Love Like This.” Jadakiss came out with the crew to rap “All About Benjamins”…thennnnn Diddy fell, but he bounced back real quick, then Lil Kim popped up…literally to spit her verse. The song then shifted to the crew rapping “Mo Money Mo problems” and ending the song with Biggie’s verse. The reunion performance ended with Pharrell and Diddy singing “Fenna Get Loose” and with back up dancers killing a soul train line.
photo credit: rollingstones.com
The other BEST performance of the night, was the Smokey Robinson Tribute. Tori Kelly sang the Jackson 5 hit “Who’s Loving You.” When I say that girl killed that performance, she did just that! She’s got some people asking “Who is this gorgeous white girl with the lovely voice?” Well Tori Kelly started making YouTube videos of her singing covers of songs at age 14. She is a former American Idol contestant of Season 9 but unfortunately didn’t make it to the top 24 contestants; but that didn’t stop her. She started working independently writing and producing her own music, until she got noticed by Capitol Records, and got signed to them last year. More recently, she debuted her first album “Unbreakable Smile” this past June. Robin Thicke also performed in the tribute singing the 1965 classic “Ooo Baby Baby”. Ne-Yo hit the stage singing “The Tears of a Clown.” Then Mr. Smokey himself had to shut it down singing “The Tracks of My Tears” and “Cruisin.” Then all four artist ended the tribute singing “My Girl.” He also accepted the Lifetime Achievement Award.
photo credit: hiphop-n-more.com
The last great performance was the Janet Jackson tribute. Singers Tinashe, Ciara and Jason Derulo paid homage to the Ultimate Icon. The humble Janet Jackson accepted her award being so soft spoken and grateful for her award.
Other great performances of the night was Big Sean rapping “IDFWU”, “Blessed” and ” One Man Can Change the world”, then Meek Mills, Chris Brown and Nicki Minaj their new hit “All Eyes on You.” Of course it was adorable since Meek and Nicki are dating.
Tom Joyner took home the award Humanitarian of the Year for donating over $65 Million to HBCUs. Lastly Fetty Wap closed out the Awards singing the well-known hit “Trap Queen.” BET did their thang with this year’s award show. I’m definitely looking forward to next year.
On Thursday June 4, 2015, I got a call at 6:19pm that my cousin JaCobi had gotten killed in St. Louis. At this time, I’m at work, in Jefferson City, which is an hour and a half away from home. My heart stopped, it all seemed like a dream. I just broke down and cried. WHY? WHY MY COUSIN. I had just saw him the Saturday before on May 30. Everyone had just saw him. It was a family gathering, his little sister just had a baby and the family threw her a late baby shower. He was so happy to have him a niece and we all just knew that he was going to have her spoiled. But “they” say when a new life begins, another ends, God knew what he was doing, I don’t like it but God has his reasons. He got the family together one last time before he called upon an angel, my cousin JaCobi.
I have soooo many memories of my cousin. First off, he was my first cousin, we grew up together. My mom and his mom were sisters. We went to elementary school together and he even joined me in college for a year before he transferred back to St. Louis. One childhood memory I have is being at our Nana’s house, our grandmother. He kept playing with this 5 pound Ninja Turtle toy and kept putting it in my face. I chased him outside and I was on a balcony while he was below me and I got a hold of the toy. I told him I was going to throw the toy at him, he doubted me, so I threw it and BOOM. It hits him right in the face and a huge knot appeared on his forehead. At this point, I’m thinking “oh shit, my aunt is going to kill me.” So he’s crying his hardest and I’m like “Oh my God, I’m so sorry.” Then about 10 minutes later, my aunt arrives to come pick him up and he’s STILL crying. When I saw her, I started crying because I thought she was going to whoop me. I was on my knees, at her feet crying telling her I was so sorry, I was so sorry, boo-hoo-ing and all lol. She was chill about it but still I felt so bad after I saw that huge knot on his forehead.
A college memory I have with Cobi was at a party. We went to Missouri State (GO BEARS) and organizations would throw venue parties. One party, JaCobi had got SO drunk, his friends had to help carry him out to the car. Of course there was a an after party somewhere and he popped up, but was sitting in the car the whole time, STILL gone out of his mind. I’m like “aye you want me to take you back to the dorms?” He goes back and forth from “yeah” to “nah I’m good Briana” to “yeah”, so he gets to the dorms, changed his mind and says he wants to go back to the party, I’m like “bruh you is too gone, you can’t be at no party”, he says “I’ll be good, I’ll be outside or something” I’m like alright Cobi. He makes his way back to the party and stays in the car. LMAO this guy. Within the past year, we haven’t been that close, but we still grew up like brother and sister, as well as our other cousins.
So after my cousin left Missouri State, he got on this mindset of wanting to be a rapper. My first thought was “whattttt, so now he was wants to be the typical St. Louis guy” but whatevs, he’s grown. He started going to the Nelly Extreme Institute, so by the point I’m thinking, he’s forreal and wants to have some accreditation of what he is learning is the school. No hating on hate. He got his name “True Religion Cobi” because that boy was alwaysssss rocking some True Religion gear, fresh as hell too. After a while he starting making Instagram and Snapchat posts about him finishing his mixtape, which he did. (the link is below) Then he starts doing music videos, which is another big step for someone trying to become an artist and I was surprised and impressed. As one of his close cousins Troy said “He wasn’t the best rapper.” but he tried and he was trying to get his music out there and I respected him for that.
I will never ever forget the times we’ve shared, or the memories we created. Now that he’s gone, I know that I have an angel watching over me. Below is the link to his mixtape and a few pictures we’ve taken over the years.
Fly High Cobi. Watch over the family, especially your mom, sister, brother and niece. Your death has been a tragedy to our family. We will NEVER get over it and NEVER forget about you. Love you Cousin.
Danii Gold 