Common's New Vid: "I Want You"

Pick your poison:
AOL search for Common's new video -- YouTube, DailyMotion, etc.

OR watch it here...



Now, how come Wil.i.am, who produced the track, is not in the vid, but Kanye is? Not like I need to see the Pea. We all know who I'm here to see. All suited up, no less. Two words: Um. Hmm. I love Erykah*, but putting that man in a crotched pants? Criminal. Also criminal? CROCHETED. Not crotched. Oh freud...

W/ regards to the video, it's allright. In the final scenes, I think they could have emphasized the fact that Com was still watching Kerry, either on the security cam or from the balcony. While holding Alicia, his mind was lingering on that other woman. Wouldn't have taken much. Better editing to establish where the two (Kerry & Com) were relative to each other, hold the shots a little longer, more RAW emotion from Com. Hahah, okay, the last one I'll not hold my breath on. He may have his SAG card, but he needs to work on his acting game. Ask Alicia, she seems to know.

Even given his limited skills, I sat through "Smoking Aces". And watched this video twice already. Come on. Lot of good looking grown folk, ne?

*Living with Baduism. Lol.

Real Real.

I'd made a comment regarding r&b songtresses way back last summer, in which I lamented:

ASIDE: why isn't there room in the hiphop landscape for a smart + stanky singer? By "stanky" I mean raw sexy. ...R&B Beyonce-chics sell a safe "sexy" that never gets gritty-- the real funk that can come from a grown ass woman's relations, both sexual AND emotional. [Few artists] still fiercely [hold] on to her sexuality...Erykah and Jill, whom I both love, but are of the "sensual-earthmother-sistafriend" mode."

Okay, scratch that. Jill's "The Real Thing" definitely puts her sexy side on full display. And I like. Was this frankness jarring? Sure. But in context, it makes perfect sense. She's 32, newly divorced, and rediscovering/claiming the full spectrum of her sexuality. Blissful highs to raw, rugged (even remorseful) lows. Definitely not for kids, by her own admission. And, really, not "stanky". How she manages to make "your diesel engine I'm squirting mad oil on" not sound as crass as something from Lil' Kim's playbook is beyond me. I mean, look at it. That's not poetry. Yet I've had "Crown Royal" on the mp3, looping, for a minute.

For n00bs, get the The Sampler, or check out the music player on her website.

My one quibble is that she needs to put more live instrumentation on her albums-- real horns behind "Hate On Me", a guitar solo on "Whenever You're Around" ala the Live version.

Or, hah, I'll just QMB and grab some concert tix next year (god willing).

Ch-check-checked it out.

My Man and me (and his friends) caught the show two weeks ago.
Beasties @ Berkeley Review.

MCA is some kinda Mr. Rodgers Jr. And it works for him.

Ad-Rock came dressed as Kevin Pollack on Season 1's "Celebrity Poker Showdown."

Mike D. The Jew Fro. He's one house coat and 10 cats away from being her.

First hiphop show where there wasn't ENOUGH bass, at least to my ears all the way up in the The Grown Folks section (again). Oh, and props to the drunk old white dude who was dragged out of said section while yelling "Play 'Girls'!" over. And over. Nice.

Oh, right, there are supposed to be drawings here. Okay, eventually. I finally got the comp/net situation fixed, so I'll be able to easily scan images again. I know y'all have planned your lives around this momentous return... Scanned, sealed, delivered...

Ways, finally attended the first BBQ of the season, a family joint, and it was swell. Good food, karaoke, mahjong, and a little too competative game of badminton. Sh!t, if you haven't figured out we're asian, that description nailed it there. Ain't the normal "pork and too much beer"-fest, because we had youngins' in the house. Ah, summer's just started, plenty of time for such adult party shenanigans.

Speaking of party, ah the concierto, mis amigos... get a taste here. Had fun with M.O.F., holding up behind the railing in what we dubbed "The Grown Folks Area", while the college kids (and younger?) posted up by the stage. "Come Close" you say? Naw, Com, I'm good where I am. Those days of jockeying for position and trying not to get a stilleto heel in my foot are over, thank you. I'll just head knod over herr, meng.


(Truth is I probably couldn't handle being close to the stage. Can't stand near the sun. HOTNESS! Ahhh. I just turned 15yrs old for a minute there. Sorry.)

Anyway, good show, considering I expected it to be a phoned-in* afterthought, post Coachella. Mostly from the new album, a preview of the next that I can barely remember, plus the "Love of My Life" wayback trip with Snoop, Eric B & Rakim (I think?), and Pharcyde tossed in. Ah, I have that last one on tape somewhere.

Yes, I said "tape". Where's my walker? MAN! I'm feeling old. Getting to the point where on one hand I had old skool pride @ knowing the all the lyrics to "Passing Me By" and singing along when the DJ spun "411" era Mary J.(pre-cinanbon hair, woman!). On the other hand I bemoaned my dessicated, ancient state ("Somewhere in that crowd is the kid I gave up in high school!" YES I'm joking, crimmeny.)

Hell, I'm closer in age to the fool on the stage than the audience, so I had no reason to complain.

Fun show, great company, and no service fee on the tix. That, my friends, was a good day.

*Although the cell phone bit with Talib and Mos calling? CORNY!

Went to see Common in concert last night. He brought the goods. More on that soon.

So this morning I did a warm-up/speedpaint of my "next lifetime" boyfriend, Common. Had a fricking teeny a$$ 75px wide image as referrence. Damn.

(Yah, I'll be over him soon.)

Then I caught Dave Chappelle on Oprah (that is one
thoughtful, eloquent, paranoid brother) and he's got a
new documentary coming out March that I *have* to
see.
Dave Chappelle's Block Party
Trailers here

Look at that lineup-- Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Mos
Def, and Common. Shit, I didn't even see Common in the
footage he showed on Oprah but I *knew* he was gonna
be there. And directed by Michel Ghondry. I have no
idea how he got hooked up with hiphop (having just shot the Kayne vid mentioned in a previous blog entry), but I like it.

I am so psyched to see this, you don't know...

God, back to your regularly sked'ed doodles soon.

p.s.
For those who guessed correctly, yah, I'm over at DA, too.