Whats Buzzing in the Streets – Page 35

She’s Right On The Nail!

When it comes to fashion, seasonal changes comes with seasonal looks, colors, designs, and styles to fit the mood of the person. Women are especially experts at this. They’re always making sure their looks are one of their top priorities and keeping up with their hygiene and style is also very important to a woman. Specifically, nails are an essential part of a woman’s self care as well. The length of a nail, the styles, colors, designs, they’re all an important factor in a woman’s personal taste in her nails. There’s one young woman in particular whose an expert at nails and does an amazing job at doing what she does. A young entrepreneur on the rise making a name for herself and her business around the way. Coming from The Bronx, NY, raised in the Edenwald Projects, Latarah F. has a passion for beauty. Born on July 6th, 1992, I’ve gotten the chance to get to the real deal about her nail business. She claims that her inspiration came from the older women who’s always had their nails done no matter when or where she’s seen them. “I also got the inspiration from doing moms feet & I was surprisingly good at it even back then.” She goes on to say “I’ve heard the saying, ‘when you do what you love, it’s not a job anymore’ And who really wants to work, right? Lol My start came from doing my mothers feet and again surprisingly being good at it. She’ll get me all the tools, although neither of us knew what we was doing and no one knew about YouTube yet lol. We definitely made it work.” Definitely a time before YouTube when you had to learn how to do things by reading a book, learning by watching somebody else or others doing it, or teaching yourself how to do it. This is also the typical mother and daughter bond with doing nails, makeup, plus more. “The only regret I have is not starting sooner professionally. Besides that NO. GOD’s timing is punctual, Trust in him and everything will come when its suppose to. I wouldn’t do anything different.” Only people who reach a certain level in their field could truly understand those words. You think back on you humble beginnings and your start and wish you had known earlier but you’re still proud to be doing it and how far you’ve come. When it comes to the future, Latarah says, “Well my short term (3 years) I wish to gain as much clientele as I could. (5 years) Opening Up my own store front that says, LATARAH NAILED IT.. Just imagine I can see the flashing lights now. (10 years) The Money is basically making itself at this point!” Sounds like great plans for the future! Ladies, if you need some work on your nails and want someone who can hook you up and come to you, you can find Latarah on Instagram @latarah_nailed_it.

Written by Jalen Hemphill

Alex Haley

Alex Haley was born on this date in 1921. He was an African American author, whose books helped popularize the study of Black history and genealogy.

Born in Ithaca, New York, Haley was educated at Alcorn Agricultural and Mechanical College and at Elizabeth City Teachers College. He served in the United States Coast Guard, where he worked as a journalist. After retiring, Haley moved to New York City to pursue a writing career. As a journalist Haley was impacting. In 1962 he interviewed trumpeter Miles Davis for Playboy magazine. Soon after, he interviewed Malcolm X, with whom he later collaborated to write The Autobiography of Malcolm X in 1965. The book had a strong influence on black nationalists. It also received praise from critics and was widely read in colleges and universities.

Haley then began to research and write what would become his best-known work, Roots: The Saga of an American Family. The book, a mixture of fact and fiction, chronicles Haley’s ancestral history and the methods he used to trace his lineage to a West African village. To write the work, Haley invented certain unknown details of his family history. The series of character portraits that he created caused many Americans to become interested in genealogy. Haley received special citations from the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award committees for Roots.

Roots was translated into 26 languages and made into a television miniseries in 1977. An estimated 130 million Americans viewed at least one episode of the eight-part series. Alex Haley died in 1992.

Written by Dianne Washington

Viola Davis

Viola Davis (born August 11, 1965) is an American actress and producer. Having won an Academy Award, an Emmy Award, and a Tony Award, she is the first black actor to achieve the Triple Crown of Acting. Time magazine named her one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2012 and 2017.

Born in St. Matthews, South Carolina, Davis began her acting career in Central Falls, Rhode Island, starring in minor theater productions. After graduating from the Julliard School in 1993, she won an Obie Award in 1999 for her performance as Ruby McCollum in Everybody’s Ruby. She played minor roles in several films and television series in the late 1990s and early 2000s, before winning the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her role as Tonya in August Wilson’s King Hedley II in 2001. Davis’s film breakthrough came in 2008, when her role as a troubled mother in Doubt earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.

Greater success came to Davis in the 2010s. She won the 2010 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for playing Rose Maxson in the revival of August Wilson’s play Fences. For starring as a 1960s housemaid in the comedy-drama The Help (2011), Davis received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won a SAG Award. In 2014, Davis began playing lawyer Annalise Keating in the ABC television drama series How to Get Away with Murder, and in 2015, she became the first black woman to win the Prime time Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. In 2016, Davis played Amanda Waller in the superhero film Suicide Squad and reprised the role of Maxson in the film adaptation of Fences, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She went on to receive a BAFTA nomination for starring in the heist film Widows (2018).

Davis and her husband, Julius Tennon, are founders of production company, JuVee Productions. Davis is also widely recognized for her advocacy and support of human rights and equal rights for women and women of color. She identifies as a feminist.

Written by Dianne Washington

Rick James

Rick James (born James Ambrose Johnson Jr. February 1, 1948 – August 6, 2004) was an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer. Born and raised in Buffalo, New York, James began his musical career in his teen years. He was in a number of various bands and groups before entering the U.S. Navy to avoid being drafted in the early 1960s. In 1965, James deserted to Toronto, Canada, where he formed the rock band the Mynah Birds, who eventually signed a recording deal with Motown Records in 1966. James’s career with the group halted after military authorities discovered his whereabouts and eventually convicted James on a one-year prison term related to the draft charges. After being released, James moved to California where he started a variety of rock and funk groups in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

After forming the Stone City Band in his hometown of Buffalo in 1977, James finally found success as a recording artist after signing with Motown’s Gordy Records, releasing the album, Come Get It!, in April 1978. It’s from this album where the hits “You & I” and “Mary Jane”, were released, helping the album go platinum and selling over two million records. This was followed with three more successful album releases. James released his most successful album, Street Songs, in 1981, which included career-defining hits such as “Give It to Me Baby” and “Super Freak”, the latter song becoming his biggest crossover single, mixing elements of funk, disco, rock and new wave. James was also known for his soulful ballads such as “Fire & Desire” and “Ebony Eyes”. In addition, James also had a successful career as a songwriter and producer for other artists including Teena Marie, the Mary Jane Girls, the Temptations, Eddie Murphy and Smokey Robinson.

James’s mainstream success had peaked by the release of his album Glow in 1985 and his appearance on the popular TV show, The A-Team. James’s subsequent releases failed to sell as well as their predecessors. Rapper MC Hammer sampled James’s “Super Freak” for his 1990 hit, “U Can’t Touch This”, and James became the 1991 recipient of a Best R&B Song Grammy for composing the song. James’s career was hampered by his drug addiction by the early 1990s. In 1993, James was convicted for two separate instances of kidnapping and torturing two different women while under the influence of crack cocaine, resulting in a three-year sentence at Folsom State Prison. James was released on parole in 1996 and released the album, Urban Rapsody, in 1997. James’s health problems halted his career again after a mild stroke during a concert in 1998 and he announced a semi-retirement.

In 2004, James’s career returned to the mainstream after he appeared in an episode of Chappelle’s Show, in a Charlie Murphy True Hollywood Stories-style segment that satirized James’s wild lifestyle, resulting in renewed interest in James’s music and that year he returned to perform on the road. James died later that year from heart failure at age 56.

Written by Dianne Washington

Tish James

Letitia Ann “Tish” James (born October 18, 1958) is an American lawyer, activist, and politician. She is a member of the Democratic Party, and is the Attorney General of New York having won the 2018 election to succeed appointed attorney general Barbara Underwood. She is the first African-American and first woman to be elected to the position.

James previously served for a decade as a member of the New York City Council. She represented the 35th Council District, which includes the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Clinton Hill, Fort Greene, parts of Crown Heights, Prospect Heights, and Bedford-Stuyvesant. James chaired the Economic Development and Sanitation Committees, and served on several other committees. She was later elected the New York City Public Advocate in 2013.

Born and raised in Brooklyn, James obtained her J.D. degree at Howard University in Washington, D.C., after graduating from Lehman College in The Bronx. She worked as a public defender, then on staff in the New York State Assembly, and later as an Assistant Attorney General. She first ran for city council and won on the Working Families Party ballot line.

Written Dianne Washington

Ronald Isley

Ronald Isley ( May 21, 1941) is an American recording artist, songwriter, record producer, and occasional actor. Isley is better known as the lead singer and founding member of the family music group the Isley Brothers.

Isley was born the third of six brothers (O’Kelly Isley, Jr., Rudolph Isley, Ronald, Vernon Isley, Ernie Isley, Marvin Isley) to Sallye Bernice (Bell) and O’Kelly Isley, Sr. Ronald, like many of his siblings, began his career in the church. He began singing at the age of three, winning a $25 war bond for singing at a spiritual contest at the Union Baptist Church. By the age of seven, Ronald was singing on-stage at venues such as the Regal Theater in Chicago, alongside Dinah Washington and a few other notables.

By his early teens, he was singing regularly with his brothers in church tours and also first appeared on TV on Ted Mack’s Amateur Hour. In 1957, sixteen-year-old Ronald and his two elder brothers O’Kelly, 19 and Rudy, 18, moved to New York, recording doo-wop for local labels before landing a major deal with RCA Records in 1959, where the trio wrote and released their anthemic “Shout”. By the summer of 1959, the Isley family had moved from Cincinnati to a home in Englewood, New Jersey.

For much of the Isley Brothers’ duration, Ron Isley would remain the group’s consistent member of the group as well as the lead vocalist for most of the group’s tenure with sporadic lead shares with his older brothers. In 1969, Ron and his brothers reformed T-Neck Records in a need to produce themselves without the control of record labels, forming the label shortly after ending a brief tenure with Motown. In 1973, the group’s style and sound drastically changed following the release of the 3 + 3 album where brothers Ernie Isley and Marvin Isley and in-law Chris Jasper permanently enter the brothers’ lineup, writing the music and lyrics to the group’s new sound. The younger brothers had been providing instrumental help for the brothers since the late 1960s. By the mid-1970s, Ronald was living in Teaneck, New Jersey.

After Kelly Isley’s death in 1986 and Rudy Isley’s exit to fulfill a dream of ministry in 1989, Ronald has carried on with the Isley Brothers name either as a solo artist or with accompanying help from the group’s younger brothers, much more prominently, Ernie Isley. In 1990, Isley scored a top-ten duet with Rod Stewart with a cover of his brothers’ hit “This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)”, and in 2003 Ronald recorded a solo album, Here I Am: Bacharach Meets Isley, with Burt Bacharach. In addition, Ron Isley became a sought-after hook singer for R&B veteran R. Kelly, and hip-hop acts such as Warren G, 2Pac and UGK.

Ronald released his first solo album Mr. I on November 30, 2010. The album includes the first single “No More” It debuted at number 50 on the Billboard 200, selling 22,243 copies. It was his first solo album to crack that chart.

In 2010, Isley received a “Legend Award” at the Soul Train Music Awards.

In 2013, Ronald released his second solo album This Song Is For You sign labels eOne. The album includes the first single “Dinner and A Movie”. Second single, Premiere Song “My Favorite Thing” wrote, features and produced singer, Kem. Ronald received a nominees Independent R&B/Soul Artist Performance, at the Soul Train Music Awards.

In 2014, Ronald made a cameo appearance in the music video for Kendrick Lamar song “i”.

In 1993, Isley married producer/composer/singer Angela Winbush in Los Angeles, California. They quietly divorced in early 2002. When Winbush received chemotherapy following her ovarian cancer diagnosis, Isley was by her side giving her his support in her recovery. He has older children with various women, including daughters Tawanna and Trenisha. In 2004, while in London, Isley suffered a mild stroke, which halted an Isley Brothers tour there. In September 2005, Isley made headlines when he married background singer Kandy Johnson (of the duo JS/Johnson Sisters), who is 35 years his junior. Their son, Ronald Isley, Jr. was born in January 2007. In 2007, it was reported Isley had kidney problems. He still lives in St. Louis.

Written Dianne Washington

Johnny Kemp

Johnny Kemp (August 2, 1959 – April 16, 2015) was a Bahamian singer, songwriter, and record producer. He began his career as a songwriter in late 1979 and is perhaps best known for his solo work, including his single “Just Got Paid” (1988), which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Song in 1989.

Kemp began singing in nightclubs in the Bahamas at age 13. He moved to Harlem, New York in 1979 with the band Kinky Fox. In the early 1980s, Kemp became a successful session musician and songwriter, singing backup for the B. B. & Q. Band on their 1982 album All Night Long (on which he co-wrote several tracks) and for Change on their 1982 album Sharing Your Love (on which he co-wrote “Take You To Heaven”). He also appeared on the obscure Network LP I Need You in 1984, where he had lead vocals on the song “Cover Girl”, later re-recorded for his self-titled debut solo album.

Kemp appeared on Keith Sweat’s DVD release, Sweat Hotel Live (2007), which featured live performances by Sweat in a sort of reunion with other R&B/new jack swing era pioneers of the late 1980s, including Teddy Riley. Kemp appeared on the final track, an “all-star finale” rendition of “Just Got Paid”, originally recorded at a February 2006 concert in Atlanta, Georgia. Incidentally, Sweat had initially passed on the instrumental track that would eventually become “Just Got Paid”, when it was first offered to him in the mid-1980s. Kemp listened to it, added his own lyrics to the melody, and “Just Got Paid” was born. Kemp also performed a version of the Reading Rainbow theme song (and other songs for that series) that was broadcast on PBS for a few years between the Tina Fabrique and Chaka Khan versions. Kemp was the featured performer (singing “Just Got Paid”) at the NJS4E event in New York City, on September 8, 2007. As the name implied, the show celebrated and commemorated 20 years of new jack swing and took place at Ashford & Simpson’s Sugar Bar.

Kemp was found dead on April 16, 2015 off the coast of Montego Bay, according to Jamaican police. He was 55 years old. Kemp had been seen earlier that day in the area, and police believe he was walking on some rocks, lost his balance, fell, hit his head, and then drowned. He was scheduled to be on the Tom Joyner Foundation-hosted annual Fantastic Voyage cruise as a performer when his body was found; reports state he did not board the ship.

Written Dianne Washington

He is survived by his wife, Deidre Fisher-Kemp, and their two sons

Meghan Markle

Meghan Markle was born on this date in 1981. She is an African American actress, model, humanitarian and The Duchess Of Sussex.

Born in Los Angeles, CA; Rachel Meghan Markle”s father is white, and mother is black. Her mother, Doria Radlan, has a master’s degree in social work and is a psychotherapist and yoga instructor. Her father, Thomas W. Markle is of Dutch, English, Irish and Scottish descent and is a lighting director. Markle grew up in the Hollywood, attended private schools; first at Hollywood Little Red Schoolhouse and Immaculate Heart High School, an all-girl, private Catholic school in Los Angeles. She graduated in 2003 from Northwestern University completing her bachelor’s degree in theater and international studies; coursework included an internship at the U.S. embassy in Buenos Aires.

To support herself between early acting jobs, Markle worked as a freelance calligrapher and took on acting and modeling jobs including a stint as a ‘briefcase girl’ on the U.S. game show Deal or No Deal. In 2002, Markle appeared in an episode of the daytime soap opera General Hospital. She appeared in the series Fringe as Junior Agent Amy Jessup in the first two episodes of its second season. In 2011 she played the paralegal Rachel Zane, on the USA Network show Suits. Markle has appeared in two 2010 films, Get Him to the Greek and Remember Me, and one 2011 film, Horrible Bosses. She appeared in the short film The Candidate in 2012.

Markle was married to Trevor Engelson for two years and was a counsellor for international charity One Young World, speaking at the 2014 annual summit in Dublin on the topics of gender equality and modern-day slavery. Markle was founder and editor-in-chief of lifestyle website The Tig which closed in April 2017. In 2016 Markle and Canadian clothing company Reitmans released a line of women’s fashion workwear and she became a global ambassador for World Vision Canada, traveling to Rwanda for the Clean Water Campaign. She has also worked as an Advocate with the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. She also attended the 2016 summit in Ottawa. Markle is a self-proclaimed foodie and is friends with a number of celebrities including Serena Williams, Jessica Mulroney, and Ben Mulroney.

In June 2016, she began a relationship with Prince Harry of Wales. On November 8, 2016, an official statement was released from the Royal Family’s communications secretary addressing the “wave of abuse and harassment” directed toward Markle that followed the announcement of her relationship with Prince Harry. The statement spoke to the sexism, racism and defamatory stories directed at Markle and urged the press to “pause and reflect” before driving these storylines. Later that month, they made their first public appearances together at an official royal engagement the wheelchair tennis event, and the closing ceremony of the Invictus Games in Toronto. On November 27, 2017, it was announced that Markle and Prince Harry had become engaged.

Research compiled in 1997 by historians including Markle’s great-uncle, Mike Markle revealed that her paternal great-great-great-grandmother was New Hampshire landowner Mary Hussey Smith, a direct descendant of nobleman John Hussey, 1st Baron Hussey of Sleaford, who was beheaded in 1537 at the order of King Henry VIII. Through Lord Hussey, Markle is a descendant of King John. Markle is also a descendant of Captain Christopher Hussey, Esquire who was appointed in 1679 by King Charles II to govern the Royal Province of Hampton, New Hampshire and was a Founding Father of Nantucket. Markle is a distant relation of Prince Harry. Their common ancestors are Elizabeth Bowes and her husband, Richard Bowes, son of Sir Ralph Bowes of Streatlam Castle and High Sheriff of County Durham ancestors of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother (née Bowes-Lyon). Her paternal grandfather, Gordon Arnold Markle, was descended from Abraham Merckel of Alsace. Markle’s maternal great-great-great grandfather was an African slave on Georgia plantations before being emancipated with the abolition of slavery in 1863.

She married Prince Harry on May 19th 2018. The couple had their first child in May 2019, his name is Archie.

Written by Dianne Washington

The Humble Beginnings of Black Limbi

It is always a such a huge pleasure to not only discover such dope talent but it’s also great when that talent is an extremely wonderful person inside and out. Talented people who come from humble beginnings and use their everyday struggles to create such wonderful art is the greatest thing to witness. In true hip hop culture, the music is a reflection of the struggle and poverty put against the odds of both Black and Brown people, automatically being forced to learn how to accommodate and survive everyday. One particular artist whose personality, spirit, and talent is purely original and dope, goes by the name Black Limbi. Born as Gimy Arnoldo Arzu on May 28th, 1995 in The Bronx, NY. Life for The Bronx native artist growing up, he says was like surviving the jungle when he was first born. He continues, “My mother was an angel in the trenches until her time was up so it was a tough journey because she was my heart and I made sure to do everything good and stood by God side. Got involved in the streets, working different jobs, dropped out of college and handle responsibilities as an adult in an early age was a journey man.” He says his biggest influence is Nas; hands down. “Once he grab the mic, it’s like listening to a God coming from heaven while we living in Hell.” What made him want to do what he does today as an artist and gave him his start was the exact struggle he was faced with. “There’s no self motivation in the trenches; I envisioned myself to be the influential artist to the world after traveling back to Malawi. I owe myself a lot so I’m going hard for what I want!” He is currently working on releasing two EP’s called “Feel My Pain” & “Frum Tha PJ’z” and an album called “King Arzu Project.” “I’ve taken a lot of time to work on these projects but It’s all about perfecting your craft and finding the image for yourself. I have more coming in the way!” When asked about any regrets and if he would do anything different, Limbi says “My regret is I wish to give a lot of time, love, affection & attention to my mother because I gave the tools to the wrong people even if they love me, it’s real in the field so that’s why I have to make up the time. If I can go back to the time and moved different but I can’t go back.” No more beautiful words have been spoken. The tragic loss of his mother humbles him everyday. Years from now, he says that he seems himself owning an auto body shop and being an entrepreneur. He still loves music and being an artist but his overall goal is to build an empire for generational wealth. In the end he says “Break the cycle and move towards for the better life.” If you want to learn more about Black Limbi and check out his music, you can reach him on his social media platforms. Instagram: @Black_Limbi and @Limbikani170 on Twitter.

Written by Jalen Hemphill

Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… The Purple Tape: The 25th Anniversary

Another hip hop milestone, another classic hip hop album. This album definitely is the soundtrack and the first of it’s kind. Mafioso style hip hop about the harsh realities of the street life in the ghetto. Stories of drugs, crime, sex, money, survival, and flashy cars and clothes. 2 out 9 members of the iconic and legendary Wu-Tang Clan, teamed up together to create the perfect movie about the life of an everyday street hustler. With it’s rawness, rough, truthful, and some knowledge throw into the mix, “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…” painted a picture of street hustlers trying to make a way in everyday life. Telling stories of their experiences about what the street life is like. It allows all the negative but brutally honest energies of that lifestyle to push through into storytelling as a way to keep a listener intrigued but also teaches awareness about a dark world. With Wu-Tang already on the rise since their debut in November 1993, solo projects from the members only helped their popularity and success rise. 25 years ago, on August 1st, 1995, Raekwon The Chef & Ghostface Killah teamed up together to create “Only Built For Cuban Linx…” Also known as “The Purple Tape”, the album is a must have in a hip hop lover’s collection. It’s one of the most talked about albums of all time and the album also was the first of it’s kind, ushering in future albums like Jay-Z’s “Reasonable Doubt”, The Notorious B.I.G. “Life After Death”, and even another Wu-Tang Clan member’s own GZA’s “Liquid Swords.” During the mid to late 90’s, mafioso rap became very mainstream and popular. Leaving behind all of the colorful, happy raps, and dance tracks, this style of rap was more dark. It was the soundtrack of a generation that grew up during the crack era in the 1980’s and survived by hustling in the streets to make an everyday living. It resonated with so many people which is why this style of rap was so popular. 25 years later, “Cuban Linx…” is a masterpiece that’s timeless. It aged so well and gracefully. The same generation that survived the crack era days are now much older with families and can reflect back on how hard times were in life. With the scars on their bodies and the roughness in their attitudes, they can be able to express what this music means to them. It’s a remembrance of surviving. They pound each other up with love and say “Yo! What’s good kid?” It’s the language of the broken street kid whose a survivor now. Life is good now. They’ll say “Man, that was years ago! We don’t do that shit no more! We got kids and a family now.”

Written by Jalen Hemphill