In My Ears: Radio Raheem

Radio Raheem

Well, everyone who knows me personally…and impersonally probably knows I have a serious, serious, serious love for everything Raheem Devaughn. You know Raheem, the R&B, hip hop, neo soul, rockstar. Me and my wifey, Dee used to follow him to EVERY show he had in the DMV. We were like his roadies, lol. His music was exactly what I needed at the time. His passion, his hustle, his talent…was a total breath of fresh air to me and so different from all the mush that was on the radio at that time (circa 2004-2007). As time progressed, and Raheem got more mainstream, I felt like a proud fan. I’ve met him a couple of times and he always seemed so real and humbled by his fans' admiration. I turned on so many folks to this man; even my sister who lived in SC made her local radio store order copies of his CD because they had not heard of him.

I said all that to say…I HEART Raheem.

He recently started a Sunday night (7PM) internet radio show. I have only caught the show 1.5 times but I support it and him. At my day job, we have firewall city up and I cannot get to any of my previous internet radio stations (Pandora, yahoo, youtube) so I tried, just on a whim to see if I could listen to Rah’s radio show from last week. Not only do they have the videos from the previous weeks, but you can listen to blis.fm live streaming. I was able to, ALL day, listen and it is the ONLY radio station so far that will play consistently on my computer and is not blocked. I have listened to everything from Raheem, to Stevie Wonder, to Kool and the Gang (playing right now). It says 202 Studios on the streaming page which I assume is Rah’s studio being he’s from DC.  

And once again, I would like to thank my love, the most wanted baby’s daddy, the R&B, hip hop, neo soul, rock star for saving me musically. You always know what I need. And you always deliver.

In case you are wondering, my favorite Raheem Songs are….all of themJ But, if you are not quite a fan yet, his stuff that comes on mainstream radio does him no justice. My top 3 favorite Raheem songs are:

Closer (Won’t Be Long)

Breathe

Marathon, featuring Marsha Ambrosius

*Disclaimer: I credit Raheem’s second CD and the listening party me and DH had for Lil’ K’s conception. This is click it or ticket music.

Working It

Working in a stuffy environment with big hair has been interesting. I do wild stuff with my hair now that it has got a lil longer and people react weirdly. Its hilarious. I come into a meeting with a suit on and a fro-hawk and its like the dj's record skips. Though I work in Chocolate City, still there is some pretension about a fro.

Anyhoo, I mostly wear it in a wash and go, but sometimes I get jiggy with it. I'm going to start taking pix of my looks and call it the Working It series. Below are a few of my work looks.

How do you work it? I would love to showcase my natural soros who are working their fros everyday to the workplace. Please email pictures and your profession (if you like) to raepembroke@gmail.com.

Work It!

Tricky Chicken

Really CNN...so on your article about what people in politics eat...this was your header picture.

Really?!?  Wow... I'm not sure if I'm more offended at the inference or offended there is one at all. But...I have to say I'm a bit blown. This is exactly why I do not eat chicken at work. Because in my cute dress and pearls, someone will come and snap a picture of me. And then I look like the girl who can't wait to get her hands on some fried chicken. When are we gonna progress? I'm sure in their next feature "what are the politicos favorite fruits" they will happen to get him slobbing down on a juicy piece of watermelon.

Ugh!

Can you work with “this”?

(source)

So, before I featured my fro I wore to work and this week, I have been wearing it in an updo. Braids up the back and side, twist to the side in the front.

People keep commenting…”ohhhh, you changed your hair” or “ohhhh, I see you tamed it down a little” (as to imply my hair in the afro was an untrained animal who needed a cage). I just smile and say, well, its just braids. Is it that dramatic? Maybe its because I’m also wearing glasses because I f’d up one of my contacts and don’t have a back up. I don’t know.

Anyhoo, I came across this interesting article on  BGLH Blogspot even better are the comments. Going through as seeing almost 100 black women, who are lawyers, nurses, judges, teachers, professors, all wearing their natural hair. Not all “taming it” and wearing it in its natural state. Wearing it in afros, and braid outs, and curly’s…

Why is this even an issue when every commercial you turn on now you see a woman of color (light or dark) wearing a twist out? Its like you have to have curly hair/afro to even been considered an authentic black woman in Hollywood, however, in our every day careers we tip top around our hair.

I’m only wearing my updo to protect my hair and keep my hands out of it, but I have a good mind to come up here tomorrow with an afro and a black fist pick stuck in it.

Just kidding…but for real. Stop making our hair your issue. What I do for my hair is for me. Not to be “picked” apart (no pun intended) by my coworkers.

Picture yo face!

I love pictures I really do. Before I got married I was the picture lady. Lots of pictures of me and my friends all over the place. That was also pre-digital camera and I had to go get pictures developed to see them. So bam, you already had the pictures. Now, with digital camera you see the pictures, you send them digitally, you post them on facebook…but where are they in the house? I own know!

Raspusha

So, in K's school, there is this little girl. Well, big little girl. Every time I come in and she sees me, she pushes past all the other kids to come and give me a very aggressive hug. I think to myself, "Dang girl", but instead give her a sweet mommy smile and rub her little big back.

Well on this day, she was looking especially cute. Typically ummmm...she's not (I'm sorry). She had on a dress and her hair was braided really nicely. So I told her, "You look really nice today, I love your dress", in which she replied in her REALLY raspy baby voice "I like YOUR dress, and you got on two belts"...wait for it, wait for it "AND my favorite ice cream in VANILLA". WTH, LMAO!

It took all my mom energy and tack to not roll on the floor and bust out laughing. What did that exchange even mean. Did she want some ice cream? Did she think she was supposed to get some because she gave me a compliment...and most importantly...did I have on two belts? LOL! This had me cracking up because kids are so freakin' honest and just kinda say what they want. I am somewhat of a blurter too, so I thought it was amazing cute and made me fall a little in love with Raspusha (this I'm sure is not her name, but you get the reference.

So, here is a really bad bathroom pix I took when I got to work, of my two belts.

I can see where she got that from, lol. But I love it love it love it. I wear my skirts up really high with a very wide belt now and tight tops because awesomely I have lost so much weight, my work clothes don't fit. I'm reserving my shopping spree to buy new work clothes for a new job. So, I get creative with options from my old suits.

I decided that day, if I had any meetings, I was going to open with "Hello, thank you for coming today...my favorite ice cream is Superman." But I didn't get the chance.