Marianne Williamson may have found herself eclipsed by more experienced and established politicians during the latest round of Democratic debates but that’s done little to stop her from keeping the flame that is her rising support base alive!
The Presidential candidate leads the charge on a spirituality front and has been keen to stress how important it is for the world to combat Donald Trump’s divisiveness nature with love and policies which inspire unity amongst Americans.
This week’s From The Vault salutes none other than Missy Elliott.
Beyond being a female rap pioneer, the multi-talented star serves as a visual trailblazer. Case in point the video for 2001 smash ‘One Minute Man (ft. Ludacris & Trina).’
Lifted from ‘Miss E… So Addictive’ – Elliott’s third studio album – the track hit #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #10 on the UK’s Official Top 40. It peaked within the top 20 in a multitude of other regions.
Like most Missy offerings, the Timbaland produced bop was turbo-charged by its high-octane video.
Directed by longtime collaborator Dave Meyers, the clip showcased the trademark flair of Missy’s visual style. For it featured fire choreography, a multitude of set-ups, and quirks aplenty.
Beyond the video, lyrically the cut resonates for its unashamed embrace of female sexual agency. While women of the past were relegated to ornamental objects created for the male gaze (see: the 90s and 00s love affair with “video models”), the likes of Lil Kim, Foxy Brown, and Missy (with releases like ‘One Minute Man’) levelled the playing field by being unapologetic with their demands of the opposite sex. In the process, they created the definitive pinkprint for the “say it how we feel it” mantras of the City Girls and Megan Thee Stallion‘s of today.
Hot Girl Summer may be all the rage in the here and now, but this scorching June ’01 release undoubtedly serves as its original chapter.
Tyler, The Creator stunned DJ Khaled when his album ‘IGOR’ outsold the DJ‘s ‘Father of Asahd’ despite an industry-wide push to turn the latter album into sales juggernaut.
This week, Tyler has revealed that he was just as surprised.
Beyonce may be earning critical acclaim aplenty for the African-inspired music video for her latest single, ‘Spirit’ (the leading effort from the ‘Lion King: The Gift’ album), but there’s at least one critic the Grammy-winner shouldn’t expect to hear praise from: famed photographer and art director Gabrielle Kannemeyer.
Kannemeyer – whose past clientele list boasts big brands such as Puma, Adidas, Guess, Woolworths, and many more – retweeted a number of posts from commenters who observed similarities between her work and the ‘Spirit’ visual.
A Kannemeyer shoot drawing particular comparison was that of South African artist Petite Noir‘s ‘Blamefire.’ Once the Beyhive got wind of the insinuation of copying, needless to say, hell broke loose. More inside:
Marvel fans are still losing it at the number of bombshells dropped at Saturday’s (July 20) Comic-Con.
In addition to announcing the schedule for the next slew of their movies to hit screens in the coming months, it was also confirmed that ‘Black Panther 2,’ ‘Captain Marvel 2,’ and a ‘Fantastic Four’ reboot are among the studio’s rumored efforts currently in the works.
The “cherry on top” may have come right before the convention’s end with the revelation that 2-time Academy Award winner Mahershala Ali had signed on to assume the role of ‘Blade’:
Tyra Banks, the genius model behind the Bankable ‘America’s Next Top Model‘ has shared fresh thoughts on her spat with Naomi Campbell in an insightful interview with the ‘Wall Street Journal.’
Alas, Banks’ decision to discuss the drama has seen former ‘Top Model’ fans take to Twitter to shed a fresh light on tweets which examine all the ways they believe she engaged in the behaviour Naomi was accused of participating in.
These old episode of America’s Next Top Model were so problematic whew. Rampant cultural appropriation, transphobia (telling one of the girls she looks like a tr****, like that’s an insult…). Chile this show would not have survived in this era
Season 4 of America’s Next Top Model is problematic af. Tyra Banks is telling a model that she needs to put up with sexual harassment as part of the job and then had the models do a shoot where they were portraying a different race?? Wtf
Welcome to Retro Rewind, the TGJ original feature designed to celebrate the magic of TV and Film.
Today, we revisit ‘The Wood’…the coming of age movie which starred Omar Epps, Richard T. Jones and Taye Diggs.
The moving movie was created with $6 million and earned a brilliant $25 million following its release on July 16th 1999 and delivered a soundtrack which featured tunes recorded by Luther Vandross, Outkast, Joe and Cheryl Lynn.
As the rave reviews continue to roll in for the Beyonce-curated album, ‘Lion King: The Gift’ (released July 19), the diva’s received news the star-studded set’s on track to unseat the current Billboard 200 champion – Ed Sheeran‘s ‘No. 6 Collaborations Project’ – from the tally’s top spot.
Like we reported here, ‘The Gift’ – thanks to help from its leading cuts ‘Bigger’ and ‘Spirit’ – came out of the box swinging with a commercial response that helped it pounce right to the top of digital tallies. Now, with a day of sales and streaming activity behind it, industry analysts have enough data to make a forecast of how well it will perform commercially by the end of its inaugural tracking week.
