Could This Have POSSIBLY Been Avoided?

Chilling. Macabre. Downright FRIGHTENING. This is the stuff that horror movies are made of. Gruesomely enough, this appalling abomination is very much the real thing. There are no overpaid actors or actresses listed on the marquee. The presence of an elaborate movie set is missing in action. Instead, what we find is this small but modest home:




I would like to cordially invite you to the House of Horrors. A woman brutalized and murdered her 3 week old son in this very residence. From what I have read, the crime scene was so ghastly and terrifying, that law enforcement couldn't find the words to SPEAK to one another. I mean, this was the kind of setting that would make a fully grown man drop to his knees, raise his hands heavenward and ask "why?"



I've decided to skip rehashing the hideous step by step details of this horrific homicide. The question that invades my thinking space is this. Could this scenario have been prevented? According to news reports,the mom of this slain newborn was suffering with schizophrenia. Her family said they were concerned because she hadn't been taking her meds as instructed.




It seems as though there were warning signs leading up to Ms. Sanchez's psychotic break. I'm not sure if people close to her just ignored the handwriting on the wall or they just genuinely didn't see it. Personally this is another newsworthy saga that has hit home with the force of 10 tractor trailers.





For those of you who don't know, I have a beautiful daughter who battles something very similiar. Back in Oct of 2007, she experienced an episode of severe madness and mania. I've never seen my little girl so violent and out of control. She did things that day that we didn't think were possible. We couldn't contain her.My local police department had to provide us with their assistance. My mom and my 3 y.o. daughter were almost MURDERED that very day.



Fortunately, my Heavenly Father spared our lives. But ya wanna know what REALLY stays on my mind? Exactly one week before this eerie incident took place, I told my daughter's therapist that her moods were becoming significantly darker and darker day by day. Her poems often spoke of death and destruction.Voices were plaguing her consistently. She had an obscene fascination with serial killers and replied that she aspired someday to be one herself. I BEGGED him to help us. I didn't know what else to do. Here was his repsonse. "Try to keep her and her 13 y.o. brother apart and maybe that might make things better for her."



Maybe I'm wrong for thinking this way. However, it is my honest and humblest opinion that if her counselor had taken my pleas for help more seriously, perhaps my family could have been spared that hellish ordeal. Could there have been a different ending for Ms. Sanchez and her loved ones if only someone had stood up and taken action? Would her little one still be alive and well?

Sorry Y'all!! But These Guys Are WAY Overrated!!

I can't take it no mo'!!! I gots to go against the grain on this one. I may lose followers behind this...I may gain more.But..these fellas are NOT all of that plus a bag of salt and vinegar chips!!
Let me start with this gentleman first:



Mr. Idris Elba. Not a bad lookin' man. But CERTAINLY not monumentally gorgeous or jaw droppin'. His actin' skills are average at best. I certainly wasn't impressed with him in this flick:



But when I read showbiz mags or entertainment websites, women are just fallin' all over themselves talkin 'bout how fine he is. How his actin' prowess is close to Denzel's(rollin' my eyes and smackin' my lips).Puhleze!! As if!!

Next on my list:



Don't get me wrong. Common is just that..common. His lyrical skills are.. so so. Most times when he raps it sounds like his flow isn't quite matchin' up with the tempo of the music. I don't think he's incredibly handsome like a majority of the women in America do. Whenever I see him, I have a sudden cravin' for Milk Duds and I don't even like those things!! His actin' game really isn't that bad though. I did enjoy him in this one:



Smokin' Aces

Last but certainly not least:



I realize that I'm now REALLY stirrin' up a recipe for controversy. But..these are the things that intriguing blogs are made of, right? Ok. Women from all over the WORLD love his soft and airy looks and persona. Sorry. Not me. His music is consistently raved about. His style described as sweetly seductive. Perhaps. Yet in all honesty there were only 2 songs in his whole career that really moved me:




And this bedroom back breaker:






Alright fam. I wanna hear from you. In your most humblest opinions, who are some of the most overrated entertainers whether male or female? Don't be shame!! Speak on it!!

RING THE ALARM!!

I have a confession to make(deep sigh). I'm not a football fan. Never have been and probably never will be. Yet when the untimely murder of this gentleman occurred:



It made me sit up and take notice. I mean, this was a story that you just couldn't run away from. It had intrigue, deception, lust and murder all rolled up into one drama filled enchillada. Even though I barely know the difference between a blitz and a first down, I still was saddened by the death of this retired NFL player affectionately known as "Air McNair."



I'm not here to quote and recite his impressive stats from his days gone by in the National Football League. I'm not here to wag my finger and shake my head about the fact that he was messin' around on the missus. Sorry. It's not my place to be his judge. Instead I would like to look at this from another angle. What might that be you ask? Simple. BE CAREFUL WHO YOU INVOLVE YOURSELF WITH.


Sahel Kazemi

Tragically,this was the young lady who decided to play God with Steve's life and than her own. I can safely say that I'm just about sure that he thought she would never do something so drastic and so PERMANENT. This saga of romance- turned -wrong put me in the frame of my own personal debaucle. You see, I'm currently married. Happily? No. In fact my hubby and I are beatin' down the door of divorce court.



My soon to be ex was very abusive. Verbally. Physically. He tried to renact WWF Smackdown by body slamming me when I was about 5 months pregnant. He then told me that if he EVER caught me cheating on him, that he would slice and dice my body parts up and feed them to a dog(wonder which dog he was talkin' bout' cuz we didn't have one). Real nice guy. I mean, being digested in the dark caverns of a canine's belly is probably what most women aspire to, right? All sarcasm and jokin' aside though, my soon-to-be-ex was quite a DANGEROUS man.



However, if I were to keep it real with myself (and you) most if not all of those painful scenarios could have been avoided. I mean, he didn't morph from upstanding guy to crazed woman beater all in in a couple of days. The signs were all there RIGHT FROM THE BEGINNING. I just choose to overlook them. Rationalize them away. Please hear me. Don't walk around with your eyes wide shut. Learn how to listen to that lil' annoyin' voice in your noggin that just won't seem to shut up. Warnin' you that there's somethin' just not right about this beautiful yet insecure woman or man that you're datin'. This small voice is called INTUITION.


STOP. LOOK. PAY ATTENTION. The life you save may be your own.
Sorrowfully, it's too late for him:



Gratefully, you and I still have the opportunity to make sound decisions that will be beneficial and helpful to us as well as those we love. Wish I could say the same for Mrs. McNair and the rest of their fam.

Mystikal Is Indeed A Mystery

Known for his trademark scowl. Recognized for bein' a labelmate on Master P's No Limit Records. Now, I have to admit. When he was wearin' the Chinese bob-braid style, it really wasn't a good look for him. AT ALL.



I'm thinkin' his stylist must have felt the same way cuz his crown and glory took on a whole new look(thankfully).



Even though Mystikal was definitely a thug I wouldn't mind lovin', I really never paid that much attention to him or his career until that fateful moment when I heard:




I thought the concept of this vid was so creative. I mean, they incorporated his hometown of New Orleans as the setting. The theme was a replica of the cinematic enigma Eyes Wide Shut. It was authentic from the Margi Gras eye masks to the old plantation mansion. Not to mention that Mr. Mystikal was one rough and tumble speciman of deep fried FINENESS.





Question.Why do some people handle success like a champ while others fail miserably? I mean, he was on the fast track. Then...like a runaway train on a derailed track his hip hop/rap career came to a screechin' halt. He and two of his personal bulldogs decided to humilate his hairstylist by forcin' her to perform..um..fellatio (yeah, that's a politically correct way of sayin' that) and other sexual acts. Their story was this chick allegedly stole $80,000 worth of checks. I suppose that this was their version of street justice.



It's reported that back in 2006 he went before the parole board and was politely DENIED. Looks like he might be servin' that full sentence of 6 years after all. Such a shame.

For Old Time's Sake..

Confession #42. I was never a fan of house music. First got exposed to it when I was in college. Whenever the DJ would switch from hip hop to house, the DC/Marylandites would totally SWARM the dance floor and tear it up. For some reason unbeknowest to me, I could never really get into it that way. Yet this one track I would blast from the close quarters of my dorm room to the confines of my car. I still rock it like it just hit the airwaves last week.
Challenge:Betcha' can't sit still when you hear it.

Guy Groups Gone AWOL...

Don't ask me why. But I really enjoy listenin' to male groups sing. Something about the way they harmonizie and romance woman with their sexy, soft spoken lyrics puts me into maximum overdrive (sounds of engine racing).I'm a "back in the day" type female when it comes to music. I like some of the new artists and groups. Yet the new stuff just doesn't move me in the same way. I prefer the old sounds. The music from days gone by.
These guys:



started my official guy group revolution. I remember when this cd hit the airwaves:



Man, Forever My Lady was my anthem. Not too long before this song dropped, I had my beautiful baby girl. What timing!! I was hoping and praying that her dad would dedicate these lyrics to me. Ya know, make it real romantic like. True to his fashion, he never did.What a creep-a-zoid. I think I'm still scarred behind that(sniffling).

This however, was the piece' de re'sistance:



I had the WHOLE CD on constant repeat. I mean, it was just that good.
Baby, IIIII
Would cry for youuuu toniiight..
Toniiiiight...
Oh, don't try to act like you don't know!!

Now these fellas here:




These guys could REALLY blow. Their front guy Sisqo (Mr. Thong Song himself) was a bit flamboyant, but he did an outstanding job tying their sound together. To me, the music community has suffered a great loss by not havin' these guys spittin' out hit after hit anymore.
Talk about bringin' back memories (shakin' my head)...My soon to be ex hubby played this particular one the night we first started talkin'..even though I now wish that he would go bungee jump off the Brooklyn Bridge without a bungee cord, this song still holds monumental significance:



My main men representin' it too:



Sensually seductive. Just more reason for me to jump on this guy group bandwagon. Promise and He Can't Love U were two of my all time faves.I was too cheap 2 actually buy the cd's, so I would just either wait for them to come on the radio or mooch it off my friends. Some fan, huh??


I love all y'all. I solemnly pinky swear that your songs will remain forever on repeat while in my car, kitchen, or bedroom. Especially the bedroom.


Sidebar:If I slept in this bed every night, I would SO not want to get out of it!!

Evie-E's Evolution

I can remember when I first saw Eve. My initial thoughts were "butchy and hard." In my eyes, she was a sterotypical female rap artist who could cuss a dude under the table and found pleasure in dissin' other female counterparts. I gotta come real though. I was never a big hip hop/rap fan to begin with. I mean, I liked some of it, but I wasn't like a hard core groupie who could flow all the lyrics and kept my tv tuned to Rap City. Yet when I heard her speakin' on Love Is Blind it caused me to sit up and take notice.



I can't say that I felt like her lyrical flow was overly wicked or anything. I just was feelin' the subject matter in which she was rappin' about. Powerful and well spoken.



Fast forward a couple of years. I was flippin' through channels and this one particular vid caught my eye. I saw Eve perched up on a bike with the rest of the Ruff Ryders crew tryin' to get Gwen Steffani to take a ride with them. The video had me crackin' up so hard I though I would break a rib. The thing that I really took notice of was her appearance. She looked like..a woman. She was lettin' her hair grow out and had dyed it a fire engine red. Personally, I would never take such a bold step concerning my fashion. But I thought she wore it well.



One day I'm in my room and I hear this funky blend of tambourines and drums and this man hollerin' bout bein' Swizz Beats. I followed the sound and my daughter was watchin' the vid and shakin' her rump like she was gettin' paid to do it. Rightfully so. How anyone can sit still when they hear this one is beyond me. I had to do a double take cuz her voice was undeniable. However, when I saw HER I had a jaw droppin' moment. Honey, Eve had done a 360!! Now, she looked COMPLETELY feminine. I was impressed. She had toned down her makeup. Was wearin' heels and everythang. She looked fab. Keep doin' you gurl.

Wanna watch Eve shake her "Tambourine?" Swizz hooked her up on this joint. Wouldn't you agree?

This Guy Really Surprised Me!!

Confession#65- I lOVE reading. Could spend hours and hours in Barnes & Nobles or my local library. One day I was browsing through the card catalog looking for a fresh new author. I put in the subject of "African American fiction" and the search kept returning James Patterson. I thought "James is of the Caucasiuan persuasion. Why does his name keep poppin' up?"



I finally decided to investigate. I just knew that the library had made a serious error. Low and behold, I picked up a book called Cross. The main charcter of this literary treasure is Alex Cross who is an African American psychologist/law enforcement agent who solves grisly murders in the DC Metro area. The killings are typically committed by some type of psychotic killer who leads Alex on a cat and mouse game throughout the story. I couldn't put this book down. It gripped me from the prelude and kept me suspended to the very end.





Patterson actually created a series of Cross novels for the readers's enjoyment. Some of his work has actually made it to the big screen. The most memorable one for me was Kiss The Girls. If you like suspense/thrillers, than you should grab some popcorn and a cold drink and check this one out. Arguably speaking, it can't compare to actually reading the book though.





This is another engaging series about 4 kick butt-and take names later-professional woman who solve the city of San Fran's murder cases. These four ladies ain't no joke!! One is a cop. Another is a medical examiner. The third is a journalist. Lastly, there is an attorney who is added into the mix. These women are referred to as the Women's Murder Club. Each novel in this particular series is numbered like the above sample. If you're not much of reader, it's cool cuz James set up each chapter to be only about 4-6 pages in length.



If you're a serial reader (like me) or this would be a brand new undertaking for you, I encourage you to explore Mr. Patterson's books. I think you might be pleasantly surprised.

Talented Man/Troubled Soul

"What's R&B without the R?" Robert Sylvester Kelly. He breezed into the world of R&B and turned it UPSIDE DOWN. When he first hit the music scene, I was in my freshman year of college. Yes sir. Him and his croonies (Public Announcement) singin' bout that "Honey Love." Man, the DJ's used to rock this one at our weekend parties. If you just happened to be gettin' your slow drag on with a lil' cutie, it would be in your best interest not to back up into those walls because they would be so, so SWEATY.



The group didn't make him who he was though.Obviously, the man was an amazing talent who could definitely hold his own. I think it was a fantastic strategic move for him to pursue a solo career. He took chances with his music and I admire him for that. Unlike most, he colored OUTSIDE of the lines. His music done his way. Yet, I have to admit. Some of his songs were just way beyond my scope of understanding. For instance:







Sorry fellas. But if a man told me that I reminded him of some type of automobile, I can't say that I would be overly impressed. Yet his musical strengths weren't just heard on his own cd's. He reached out and touched others. As a result, these other artists may have had a one hit wonder or two:

Sparkle (She can't stand him no more..*smh)






We definitely can't forget about Nivea croonin' bout takin' Kellz to the "Laundromat."

How 'bout JS? (Wonder what ever happened to them?)

Rob was on top of the game. I mean, his 12 Play cd went platinum 6 times. I could see why though. There were some songs on there that will forever be immortalized. Seems Like You're Ready is the one that stands out most in my mind. Thanks to that song, me and my ex practiced makin' babies on as many occasions as we could. Lol. But I'm sure I'm not the only one. About three kids later, he dropped TP2.com. What an impact!! In my humblest opinion, this was by far the hottest cd he EVER compiled. The first song TP2 was a brilliant 2 minute musical prelude as to what Kellz had in store for his listeners (This was actually one of my faves).



Oh, how the mighty can fall. HARD. Sigh. 'Bout two years after the birth of this masterpiece, someone leaked that infamous sex vid to the Chicago Sun-Times and it was on and poppin from there. Mr. Kelly vehemently proclaimed his innocence. The teen porn star and her fam also actin' like they had Alzheimer's and amnesia. Hollerin' bout it's not their daughter in that homemade skin flick.






I never was able to view this X rated movie. Not sure that I really wanted to. Yet, like the rest of the public eye, I formed my own opinion. Rob had a thing for young meat. No secret there. He met the beautiful R&B songtress Aaliyah when she was just a tender 12 y.o. Some three years later they were wed on the hush hush (there was a marriage certificate that was later produced).



After everything that has gone down, I still find myself drawn to his music. I gotta say though. I'm not proud of that fact. Will he forever be crowned the King Of R&B? I guess that depends on who you ask. Me? Well, I might not see him as king, but he definitely holds a seat in the high courts.

Hip Hop/R&B Needs You Gurl!!

What happened? Why? She took the musical world by STORM. Her lyrics were up lifting and positive. Tried to always encourage sistas' to be respectable and proud women. To never let a man disrespect us. To be proud of our culturally rich heritage. Black pride at it's finest. I imagine if she would have been alive during the times of Malcom X and Eldridge Cleaver (leader of the Black Panther party) she would have proudly been pumpin' her fist in the air right beside them.





Being one third of the Fugees basically gave her the extra push she needed to jump start her solo career.

Her cd The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was sheer artistic genius. Evidently, I'm not the only one who thought so. The Recording Academy presented her with five Grammy's for her hard earned and well deserved efforts.

Hip/Hop hasn't been the same since she's been gone. Her voice needs to be heard again. Lawd, I miss her. Obviously, I'm not alone. Kayne even spat a few lines about her in his song: Champion.
"Lauryn Hill say her heart was in Zion,
I wish her heart still was in rhymin'"

Like all fairy tales go, she met the man of her dreams, Rohan Marley. They married and had bouncin' babies. But not too long after, Lauryn started a noticeable downward spiral.

When her relationship seemed to become rocky, that's when she seemed to be become visibly unglued. I mean..



And lest we forget this sad display:



It has been inferred that Mz Hill had some type of emotion and/or mental breakdown. Possibly. But I believe that greatness still dwells within her walls. She's a rare talent that has just gotten sidetracked by her own personal problems and issues which could easily happen with any one of us. We as normal people have the luxury of grieving in private when we are hurting. Whereas with her..well..her pain was put on display for the whole world to see.



Come back to us Lauryn!! Hip hop is already on life support as is. But get well first. Take good care of YOU. Like the words in one of your anthems said:
How you gone win when you ain't right within?

Lauryn was the truth. Here's proof: