thesmithian:

a performance by Patina Miller singing Random Black Girl.  It’s about how new musicals all just so happen to include a soulful, sassy, big-voiced, big-bottomed black girl in the ensemble…

more, here. via RY.

I hate being sick but at least I’m catching up on all the fun internet stuff I hardly have time for anymore. And blogging like a nerd. That’s good for illness.

Anyways, this video is so funny and SO true. Maybe this is why I hate Glee or why I wasn’t crazy about many musicals we did during my 4 years at an arts magnet high school. You don’t see many of us up there unless we’re being sassy, fat and loud. This is also something that drives me crazy about Adele. I have mixed feeling about her, but she is incredible live and her ballads are pretty strong. But why are we surprised that she sings well? And why aren’t we influenced by her to listen to soul musicians who have been around longer? Why is she OK to put on the radio? Because of her skin? I never hear Erykah Badu, Janelle Monáe or Res on the radio. And I definitely never hear black girls who are in rooted in any other music besides pop on the radio. This is not just an Adele issue; this could be said of Amy Winehouse, Justin Timberlake, or Duffy. They should sing Soul & R&B if they want to, but we should have the choice not to sing it if we don’t want to. And what the heck happened to Fefe Dobson?!

I grew up listening to everything from pop to country to R&B to jazz. And some kids would make me feel like I wasn’t “black enough” just because I owned a Blink-182 album or because I really loved Loretta Lynn. Well, I’m sorry I don’t own every rap album ever and yes, The O, Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack is one of my absolute favorites. On the site listed above, a commenter put that a girl gave a performance on American Idol and sang a country song. The judges said she did good but she should have sang an R&B song instead. Why? There’s something wrong with this thinking. I love seeing my sisters in Punk bands. I love seeing us sing folk music. Soul means many things and it’s not just R&B.
Maybe this is why I think the Afro-Punk Festival is such a positive thing and I hope it brings out many people of many shades to experience it. Even though I may not go, I’m excited about it. It’s time to open people’s eyes and let them see we all aren’t Beyonce or some random black girl singing sass in a musical.

But you know, with Fela doing so well on Broadway, The Color Purple being so awesome when I saw it in NYC a couple of years ago, here’s to the hope that there will be a lot more awesome musicals with us in it and the hope that the Random Black Girl can be any Black Girl she chooses to be.

(Source: thesmithian)