...on whatever crosses my mind

Get Into 'The Chadwick Journals'

I often feel like because same-sex attraction is so misunderstood and so denigrated, that so much of black gay male interactions end up becoming a big mess of power plays and mixed signals. So much of our sexuality is confused and complicated by how we think it affects our ability to be men in a partriarchal society.

Fun on Youtube: More Proof that Day26 Is Crazy

This song is not on the album:

Yea, hot right?

It's atmospheric, which actually masks that the bassline is essentially a standard dirty south-lite beat you've heard before a million times.  More importantly, the vocals are terrific.  The vocal mix gives the song real weight.  Brian and Mike hold down the second verse beautifully and Robert's piercing pitch perfect singing anchors the entire song (listen to those notes on the hook).

Too bad it ain't on the album.

Fun on Youtube: Marcus Bellamy Does Britney Better than Britney

I've been a subscriber to Marcus' Youtube channel for over a year now.  He's a dancer in New York City who does some homemade videos to pop songs, his own songs, and also a few random talky videos. 

His music videos are always intriguing, well-edited, and fun to watch (he's nearly naked or undressing 75 percent of the time, ladies and gentleman, so PG-13 titillation abounds).

This video, for Britney Spears' inane If You Seek Amy (seriously - the dumbest song I've heard in ages), is probably his best, mostly because the interplay between him and the other dancers gives it dynamism that was not possible in his solo videos.  He also manages to poke fun at Britney's new vacant video persona without being too arty or on the nose.

Also - nudity!

Anywho...check it out and subscribe to his stuff.

Fun on Youtube: Lauryn Hill Hip-Hop Gospel

Thrilling!

What a treasure Lauryn was.

Fun on Youtube: Static Major's 4 A Long Time

I wish I had words to capture how beautiful this song is:

I've been listening to this song on repeat for over a week. I just discovered it a few weeks ago.  If I had heard it last year I would have put it on my list of best songs of the year, somewhere near the top.

It's been almost a year exactly since Static passed away and Blackground still hasn't released his album Suppertime.

Get on that, Blackground.  Damn.

Fun on Youtube: Lyfe Jennings

How is Lyfe Jennings not a huge fucking star?

Dude is terrific here with Lionel Richie.  The best part is when they riff at the end and Lionel can't contain his awe at Lyfe's voice. Chills all up and down my arms on this performance.

Fun on Youtube: Usher

Youtube is a beautiful beautiful thing if for no other reason than you can hear many of the tracks that some of the biggest artists in the game leave off of their official releases.

This morning I've been listening to a ton of Usher's tracks from the Here I Stand sessions. Clearly - the man recorded enough material for 2, maybe 3, albums. Nearly all of it is fantastic.

But this full version of Forever Young, which appears as the intro to the official album, is a beautiful study in perfect tone, phrasing and pacing. Usher's vocal control here is just...breathtaking.

Enjoy!