My Very First Music Monday Post!

Music is a big part of my life and so you don't really know me unless you know the music I listen too. I've noticed some people blogging about Music Mondays and figured why not? Today was actually a pretty good day for me as far as music goes.

My All-Time Favorite Band Florence + the Machine released a double video, melding "Queen of Peace" and "Long and Lost" into one story about two families and a love that, unfortunately, couldn't bring them together. QOP might be my third favorite song on her latest album, How Big How Blue How Beautiful. "Which Witch" takes the top spot and the title track is tied between "Various Storms and Saints" for number two. But the song has this magical cinematic essence to it. I thought about it while watching the Battle of Hogwarts last night. The video is beautiful and the cinematography just showcases the detail of director Vincent Haycock's work.

In my quest to find interesting Black musicians to listen to, I stumbled upon a singer named Connie Constance, which is interestingly what I call my sister and her first name together. This girl has a voice! I repeat, THIS GIRL HAS A VOICE! Constance is a singer-songwriter from LDN who's new release "Stars" just makes me want to build a spaceship in the courtyard. "Want to leave Earth and learn to live on Mars" she says continuing the theme of space throughout the song. The song feels vast and open as space itself. The beautiful layering of sounds and the storytelling lyrics caught made me go through several emotions on the light rail as I headed to work. I also went through many megabytes of data, with replay after replay of the song. But of course, I wouldn't talk about it and not spread the good word. Check out the song here.

Meanwhile, I've been listening and loving Niki and the Dove again. "Last Night", "Gentle Roar" and "Somebody" continue to capture me, reminding me that it's been three years since any new music from the group. (No, "Rock You" with Kleerup doesn't really count. Neither does "Safe With You") I'm not sure how I feel about Strange Talk's transition from indie pop to electro (and the reduction to two members). Empress Of's Kitty Kat probably has 76 plays and counting. 

It's been a good week in music for me.

Cosby, Rape Culture, and Black Women

My oh my. Anyone who's been following the news has probably heard about the Bill Cosby scandal.

The responses seem to have gone everywhere. From celebrities demanding proof, to the accusations being called a threat to the Black family, the situation has shown a side of rape culture within our own Black culture. And thus, we look at a group of people who are the most visible and invisible at the same time.

Black women. So let's talk about it. Black women are our mothers, sisters, daughters, aunts, coworkers, friends, strangers, acquaintances. Every Black person knows a Black woman. Yet, we are perfectly fine with telling them their trauma, their feelings don't matter.We need proof of their rape as if we're going to grab some rubber gloves and investigate their vaginas ourselves. 

Again, black women are the most visible and invisible at the same time. Everyone seems to either want one, or want to be one. Gay white men seem to have one inside of them (oh yasss, sassy diva, girl!). Black men either desire them, or desire other women with Black features. White men love Black women as well, which is how mixed race babies were born during the slavery era. (Read my review of Wench, by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, relating to slave women)

It's absolutely gross and disgusting how we gather to discredit the words of forty women. What do we tell the other women who are too scared to speak about their rape? What do you tell your daughter who may have been assaulted by her boyfriend after a movie night at his house? What do you tell your daughter who was inappropriately looked at by her teacher, too scared to confront administration? 

Rape culture and celebrity idolization is strange. We put people – from football players and musicians to great respectable fathers – on pedestals, and excuse them from their wrongdoings. It's time to hold people accountable to what they do. What Bill Cosby did wasn't just wrong. It was horrific, dehumanizing, and hypocritical.

There's no reason to apologize for the predatory poundcake-eating figure hailed as America's Black father. He's lived a comfortable life eating for free at Ben's Chili Bowl, enjoying his successes and his shine. We need to apologize to the women we've hurt and failed, who we've told aren't valuable.