Hate on Me Haters – I Got (Hate) Mail!

Well, like a true star, I must be on the verge of really hitting my mark in the world of reviews. I’ve written a ton of reviews over the past few years and have gotten some comments but today was the first day I got hate mail! Yeah, I’m kinda excited, it’s nice to know someone is so irked by my words of image and lifestyle that they’re willing to take 30 or more seconds out of their life to attempt to besmirch me. But they at least noted how ‘articulate’ I was. I guess it’s because homosexual-leaning black males aren’t supposed to be literate or capable of speaking and writing so eloquently as I do? Anyways, a while ago I read through an advance copy of Joyce Meyer’s new book “Eat the Cookie…Buy the Shoes: Giving Yourself Permission to Lighten Up”. I wasn’t all that impressed with the book simply because the concept was so simple that she said everything she had to say in the opening chapter and everything that followed felt unnecessary and repetitive. Anyways, this is a comment I received today on my Amazon.com posting. And no, I didn’t change any of the user names because I don’t care and I guess this person doesn’t care to be featured on my blog for their wonderful comment:

via Amazon.com, June 1, 2010, 7:27 PM PDT
Gardenia says:
Your review is thoughtful and articulate…but based on your other reviews, and I read a few, I am wondering why you would read Joyce Meyer. Her message is considerably different from the life you seem to be living.
She is against homosexual “christian” lifestyles.

My response to Gardenia via Amazon.com:
Oh, I’m sorry, I guess I missed the forward or pre-requisite of closed-minded, bigoted heterosexual “Christian” since you believe that’s the only audience that’s allowed to read a book by Joyce Meyer.

Oh, hilarious! So, I see that first of all, “Gardenia” goes by the nick name of “Jackiefaye” on Amazon.com and lives in South Carolina. She sounds wonderful. First of all, let’s review my other HOMOSEXUAL reviews from the past few months that she apparently looked at: “Sex and the City 2” soundtrack, “Glee, Vol. 3- Showstoppers”, “In My Father’s House” by E. Lynn Harris (which was a pretty gay book), a book about building a good portfolio for artists and photographers and a review of a Norelco body groomer. Yes, I’m sure my big ole gay reviews of things like ‘Glee’ and music from ‘Sex and the City’ count me out as Joyce Meyer’s target audience.

My other point, why is it when white people find out that not all black people are illiterate ‘Maury’ guest worthy they toss in the word ‘articulate’? As if they’re thinking, “Wow, you mean … black people are capable of writing in complete sentences, with punctuation, with words and not ebonics?! That negro sure is articulate for his kind!” And is Gardenia, aka Miss Jackie Faye of South Carolina, Joyce Meyers’ spokesperson? Personally, I don’t think sexuality is something anyone should go around trying to make themselves a defender or speaker of. I mean, most of the worlds issues haven’t really begun with homosexuality – it’s begun with crazy ass heterosexuals. Why do we die? Why do women menstruate? If we go by the Bible’s standards, wasn’t it because of a heterosexual couple? Christian crusades. I think those were begun by heterosexuals. And let us not forget about the true evil of the world: VH1’s Rock of Love. That is straight-up a concoction of twisted, evil, unbridled heterosexuality that should have been stopped by the little good that’s left in the world.

Anyways, I’m glad I was articulate enough for Gardenia aka Jackie Faye of South Carolina to feel the need to spew her verbal hatred diarrhea all over for me to laugh and be amused by. It was enough for her to check out my other reviews so I appreciate the extra hits. Hey, I think you’re doing something right if you start getting hate mail, especially for something like being “articulate” and a homosexual Christian. Oh the horror! Oh the thought! Lord have mercy on us! Now I know how Madonna and Lady GaGa feels.

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Review: Mary J Blige’s ‘Stronger With Each Tear’

I’m on the fence with Mary J Blige’s new album. I came in quite biased; I love Mary J Blige. Her angsty, melodramatic, heart wrenching music really vibes and clicks with me. Remember what Jenna said on a recent episode of ’30 Rock’? “Drama is like gay man Gatorade, it replenishes their electrolytes.” Perhaps it’s like that movie ‘Precious’; critics considered it an uplifting movie even though it is one of the most depressing things you’ll ever see because it reminds you that your life could suck even more than it does. So, Blige just has a way of taking drama and heartache and turning it into some good music. Yet, something’s happened with the past few albums – she’s been getting noticeably happier. She’s no longer singing about ‘no more drama’. Instead, she’s moved on to singing about … dare I say it … being happy and secure! What’s happened to our dear Mary?

Well, ‘Stronger With Each Tear’ isn’t horrible. I think it’s pretty good, but it’s not Blige’s best. Even though she’s been working on this album for what feels like an eternity, there’s something simply ‘off’ about it all. It’s taken me almost a dozen listens to feel like this album has any sort of direction or cohesiveness to it. Already, my review posted for Amazon has split the fans. I am not surprised. When I went to post it I saw, to my shock, that this was all of a sudden a five-star album! No reviews lesser than 5 stars. Hmm, did I pick up the wrong album? I posted my review anyway and gave the good and bad:

The Good: After two albums that felt somewhat similar style and sequencing wise, ‘Stronger With Each Tear’ feels like Blige’s move in a new direction musically. There aren’t as many ballads or deep, depressing tracks and instead, she seems more bent on finding her groove with hip-hop and dance tracks like “The One”, featuring Blige’s voice manipulated by auto-tune and a dancefloor-ready beat accompanied by hand-claps and an appearance by rapper Drake. A piano and string-backed “Hood Love” is catchy and soothing and has Blige singing of love and devotion rather than her usual theme of heartbreak and angst. “I Am” is this album’s version of “Be Without You”; it’s very mainstream, hip-hop but pop at the same time and (in my opinion) is Blige at her absolute best musically and vocal wise on the album. Blige also takes a few chances, deviating from her usual musical path by including a track that is rather fun with silly lyrics but again, features a more confident Blige who’s giving a warning to a woman coming after her man. “Each Tear” may have a title that screams of ballad and makes you think of Blige’s emotional singing but it’s a stark turnaround; instead, it’s an uplifting, inspiring song about learning from your heart ache. There’s a wide range of music and styles featured on ‘Stronger With Each Tear’, probably the first album from Blige in a while where she’s sticking to a theme but allows the music to vary and evolve for each track rather than fit into a specific sound and style for the entire album.

The Bad: What brings the album down is that no track really rises to the level of Blige’s biggest hits or her vocal abilities. In some ways, this album felt a bit tame and reserved. I kept waiting for her to let go and really dive into a song with heart, soul and raw emotion as she did with “No More Drama”, “We Ride”, “As” or even the last album’s “What Love Is.” She doesn’t really have a track like that on the album, though “In the Morning” and “I Can See In Color” come somewhat close. Some of the tracks are decent, but they seem a bit beneath her after all she’s accomplished musically in the past few years. The collaborations seem a bit much; you have Trey Songz, T.I. and Drake somewhat taking over some of the songs they’re featured on. It’s fine, but unlike the past albums, this one is shorter so it felt as if the listener is being cheated out of a real Mary J Blige experience. There are more than a few tracks that just seem okay or average and felt like filler or skip-worthy after one listen including “I Love U”, “Said And Done” and “Tonight.” It took a few listens for me to pick up on the theme of the music and lyrics but the album sounds as if it was somewhat rushed for the sake of getting it out before the holiday season.

Some comments I’ve received thus far: S. Martin wrote, “Excellent review, I agree. As I write this I am listening to MJB’s album “My Life”…You Gotta Believe. I absolutely love Mary but I feel her 90’s albums are where its at. So much emotion and soul in many of her songs, often times pain. But I am a Mary’s fan for life so I will add Stronger with each tear to the collection.” Another Amazon.com customer that goes by the name of windmuse felt my review was way off and later commented, “Pull in the claws, kitty, there are no professional reviews on this forum. Poor Antoine, let the guy speak for himself. Chill, kitty, and please have the people at the home assist you on use of spell checker in addition to the thesaurus.” I think I had more fun reading the user comments than writing the review!

What do you think? Is ‘Stronger With Each Tear’ one of Blige’s best or is it just an album rushed and pushed out in time for Christmas to make it debut high on the charts since the singles have had a rather lackluster reception thus far? Read my full Amazon.com review here.

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