CITY BOPPIN: R&B FESTIVAL AT METROTECH

Sorry to you 9-5ers, but at noon today, I'll be enjoying the sounds of my fave contemporary male singer...BILAL!!!!

He will be another awesome performer at the free outdoor summer music series in downtown Brooklyn! I've been seeing him in concert religiously since BEFORE the album dropped in 2001. I'm sure you guys can hear the squeals from miles away.

Summerstage: Raphael Saddiq

I went to summerstage yesterday to see my love Raphael Saadiq with a boy...yes, a boy!

Anywhos, Corey and Leah bought me tix on my 23rd BDay to see RayRay and the show was AWESOME!! I love him! He has aged like fine wine. He also has the bestest back-up singer ever!!! When we saw them for my BDay, we indoctrinated her as our aunt.

Here is RayRay performing one of my faves, "Be Here" yesterday. The girl w/ the natural pincurls and the other w/ the blue mohawk are my homegirls. Of course they were in the front! HaHa!

He performed this as well. "Skyy, Can You Feel Me" is sooooo perfect live!!

P.S. He gave his piano player the mic.....it turned into a Pentecostal Holiness church! That young man saaaaaang!

I'SE YOUR WOMAN NOW

Just like I said I would, I listened to Billie Holiday allll day today. Looking for actual footage of Billie, I stumbled upon three different versions of " I Loves You Porgy". I started life as a theater kid, so this a major song and all three nailed it!

Billie makes melancholy so beautiful...

Nina is....just perfect

I have this performance on VHS. Think its the 1992 American Music Awards. I would sing this in my room for hooooouuuuurrssss!! I can still sing it perfectly...mannerisms included!

TUNEAGE: LazerProof

You guys already know how much I love the Major Lazer boys...but add La Roux and its magic!

We saw her at Coachella too, and the beats had us rockin'!! Check out their collab mixtape here and enjoy my faves below!

TUNEAGE: BLITZ THE AMBASSADOR

I mentioned him in the OkayAfrica post, but Blitz the Ambassador has been making his rounds around NYC! Ghanaian born, Blitz performs with a dope! dope! dope! band. I thought I posted this video before featuring John Forte. Sooooo beautiful!

Face your fears/ Get in front of them/ Life comes down to few brief moments/ this is one of them

TUNEAGE: The Roots

Eve told you guys eons ago that don't no corny sh*t come from Philly. If you didn't believe her then, listen to this, and repent. I have yet to listen to the new Roots Crew album, "How I Got Over" in its entirety, but the songs I heard are INSANE! Get into my current faves...

Quite possibly my favorite Roots moment. I actually have this on VHS.

Take Me Back to Philly circa 2006...

Philly is home of neo-soul, and I'm having a MAJOR neo-soul moment this morning...maybe I'm missing home.

The next few posts will be music posts...I'm vibin today.

First up, Jaguar Wright "Self Love":

My fave fam and my first styling experience, Kindred & the Family Soul:

TUNEAGE: Corrine Bailey Rae

Love...Love...LOVE this song!!!

Corrine killed this at Coachella and I lost my bearings....she sounded AMAZING live!

Speaking of Coachella, we met her. She was soooo sweet!

CITY BOPPIN: SOBs

Yeah...my night is gonna be WAAAAAY better than yours.

I will prob cry when they perform this... (and when I say cry I mean climb onstage, rip off an article of clothing and gyrate)

I Just Really Hope That...

This was the first thing I listened to yesterday and it was perfect as the sun rose over BK...

and when you get the talkin' 'bout the greatest/ I just really hope that/ you remember me/ I'm tryna be unforgettable

TUNEAGE: CHAKA KHAN

Am I crazy??????????

Why is there no documentation of a Tuneage post about Chaka Khan???? Chaka is my all time favorite singer. I believe that Erykah Badu is Chaka Khan: The Sequel and thats another reason why I love her so. I could babble on for DAYS about Chaka, but it would be better if I just posted some of my faves from her. I swear I was supposed to be a disco-dancing cokewhore in the 70s...

I want this performed at my wedding reception, with a bunch of gay men in biker shorts and I want glitter to explode everywhere at the climax of the bridge. I'm DEAD serious.

Whatcha gonna do for me???

I wake up to the feeling each morning/go to bed/ do it at night

TUNEAGE: Screamfest

I love Fantasia Barrino. She is everything to me. ::cue Monica::

So today I was just scrolling YouTube for some live videos of her. I'm 3 seconds from speaking in tongues off of a run from "Free Yourself" and a little picture shows up on related videos. It was "Endow Me" from BET's Celebration of Gospel featuring Fantasia,Lil Mo, KiKi Shierd, and Coko.

You guys, no matter how much of a hippie I am, I grew up a total church mouse and LOVE gospel! This is one of my fave performances of all times! I may have posted this before, but I don't care, this is my jam! Sing ladies!!!!

Watch an extended version here

This turned into a churchfest and I stumbled onto this gem! If you wanna hear some sangin'....whooo Laaaawwwd...watch this! I was about to cut a step myself...yaasssss!!!!!! GO AWWF!

Some more of heartbreak drake..

This is a serious contender for my fave song on the album. The first line instantly hit me and I knew this would be a jam. Kanye did his thing on the track too. What say you?

I live for the nights that I can't remember/with the people that I won't forget

Oh Aubrey, I'll show you a good time...

All I See is Fireworks...

I haven't shared this with you guys, but I have an unhealthy love for Aubrey Graham. Like, to the point of having recurring nightly dreams about meeting him and going on dates to Dallas BBQ. I've got it baaaaad. I've literally been obsessed with him since around 2005,2006 when I got hooked on Degrassi.

His first official album dropped yesterday. ::squeals:: I will do a song by song review later, but there is one song on the album that shows exactly what I love Drake, the rapper, for....transparency. He has an honesty to his music that can leave you emotionally spent by the song's ending. That is exactly what this song does for me...FIREWORKS

TUNEAGE: SWV

How was you weekend guys?????

I had a BLASTO!! Shook my booty at my homie Helen's party BADUSSY and got the chance to see SWV perform live!!!!! These girls saaaaaaaaaaaang!!!!! I am prob one of their biggest fans and can go through their entire discography. They looked good! They sang good! (LeeLee can blow!) I was near tears the entire time. Enough talking....get your life children.

It was Coko's 40th BDay, so Claudette from City High and Kameelah from 702 serenaded the ladies. Then Lil Mo and her husband had the nerve to come out and SLAY on of my fave SWV joints!

This Morning's Jam Session

I'm in a Badu mood this Friday morning...

TUNEAGE: Erykah Badu

Hands down, my fave singer/performer is Erykah Badu. We share the same BDay so Im sure part of the obsession is cosmic. I have never missed a Badu concert since 2001.....YES 2001! She had a show on Monday, so you know Corey and I were there, acting a fool, may I add.

Erica Wright had me COMPLETELY slain!!!! She performed my two faves from the new album, New Amerykah II: Return of the Ankh. Not to mention, she sang my fave Outkast joint "Liberation" top to bottom aaaaand reduxed her verse on new Outkast "Humble Mumble". Mind you guys, she did it all in a blonde sew-in weave and a nasty shoe!

Here's a clip of her doing Green Eyes 2010, "Out My Mind, Just in Time"

(visual quality sucks, but audio is good)

"Fall in Love (Your Funeral)"

....you don't wanna fall in love w/ me

The classic from Worldwide Underground, "I Want You"

HAIR!

This woman...

Rain Tuneage

It's raining here in this beautiful borough of mine and I'm off of work. Think this is perfect...

Cuz See on Ultimate Rihannaaaa......

Yes ma'am!

Get up under these candelEbras ladies!

Errbody's a Blipster Now

Solange remade Dirty Projectors' lead single "Stillness is the Move" from their latest album Bitte Orca with E. Badu's "Bag Lady" as a backdrop. Peep both below: