Source: WENN

Thank you Ne-Yo for saying everything consumers and concert goers have been screaming for years now — how can you call yourself an artist when you can’t sing, dance, or entertain anybody but yourself! In an interview with Confidential, Ne-Yo was quite blunt about who can call themselves an artist and who can’t.

“If you’re an artist, your job is to learn how to entertain.

“As an artist, you need to learn to sing or dance, or sing and dance at the same time.

“That’s your job. You can’t be a mechanic, but let somebody else fix the car. Why would they bring it to you?

“They’d just take it to the guy who’s fixing it. The same thing is true about being an artist. If I want to hear what you sound like on the CD, I’ll just listen to the CD.”

Oh, and that’s not where it stops. Those people using fancy production to cover up their lack of talent on stage? Ne-Yo has no tolerance for that.

“If you don’t sing so well, or dance so well, and you need a bunch of pyro, smoke and mirrors to cover up that fact, I have an issue, because I’ll feel like I haven’t got my money’s worth.”

Hey, we’re not mad! Let’s just hope other artists take heed. Ne-Yo better make sure his next live performance is off the chain, though. He set the bar pretty high — exactly where it should be for the prices people are charging for concert tickets these days.

Source: YouTube

While we Americans have been infatuated with the Gangnam Style and most recently the “Harlem Shake,” Ghana was on some other stuff. As early as 2011, there was a much more complicated and intricate dance craze called the Azonto.

Now, you may be wondering why I’m bringing your attention to an international dance craze that’s years old. Well just stay tuned. I’m explaining the dance craze so I can introduce you to this absolutely adorable Ghanaian girl dancing like it’s her full time job on a beach.

If you get a chance watch the concentration on this girl’s face. She is not smiling. She is not distracted by the people placing stickers on her forehead or “spraying” her with money. Instead, she is focused on gettin’ it. And we love it.

Watch her work. It’s sure to put a smile on your face.

If you’re interested in learning the dance for yourself, watch how the big kids do it in the video below.

Dear Men in the Club,

This letter is for all men who seem to think that aggressively staring, grabbing, thrusting, or following me is the way to get my attention in a nightclub. Maybe I’m old fashioned, or maybe I’m just past that stage in my life where I would crave a lot of male attention. Either way, these things are really starting to annoy the hell out of me, and I feel like it’s time for me to address them.

First of all, please stop assuming that I automatically want to dance with you. There is nothing worse than when my favorite track comes on, and right when I’m about to bust a move on the dance floor, some man decides to completely crowd my dancing space with his pelvis! Of course, we all like us a little grind here and there, but that doesn’t mean we want it all the time. Sometimes we just want to dance with our girls or with the group. It also doesn’t mean you’re allowed to automatically start touching me. Seriously why can’t you just ask me if I want to dance? Do I have a sign on my butt that says, “place pelvis here”? Don’t think so, so please stop voluntarily putting it there.

Secondly, I can’t stand it when you stare at me as if your eyes are broken. Seriously, unless you actually need to visit an eye doctor, some of you men are in some serious need of flirting 101. When are men going to learn that staring at me like you’re going to stab me with your straw is not attractive? In fact, it’s not even cute, it’s just plain creepy. If you really want to grab my attention in a smooth manner, a sly glance with a slight smile should do the trick.  Actually, I have an even easier way you could do it. How about coming up to me to say hi? You know, like what normal people do when they meet someone? Somehow men seem to have forgotten this simple yet effective approach.

Thirdly, I don’t appreciate being grabbed or held up. It happens all the time. I’m going to use the ladies room and you grab on my arm. I’m trying to get a drink and someone grabs my wrist. Naturally, I always look to see who it is, if it’s a stranger and I’m not interested I will kindly shake my head, politely say “no thanks” and attempt to go about my business. What I don’t get is if I’m clearly trying to walk away, why are you still holding on? Squeezing my wrist tighter is not going to make me suddenly want you.  On top of that, why do you have to grab me so aggressively? Whatever happened to a tap on the shoulder? A pat on the back? Somehow, touching etiquette has been replaced with grabbing etiquette.

Lastly, I need to address this need to follow me around as if I’m handing out free food. I would have never thought there would be a downside to a man buying me a drink, but it can very easily turn into a catch 22 situation. Why? Because some men seem to mistake buying you a drink for buying you a leash. Don’t get me wrong, I do appreciate a cocktail, but not if it means you’re going to be following me around the club for the rest of the night. Somehow, spending a few dollars on me means that you own me all night. In some cases, we may actually have good chemistry, and it’s obvious that we’re enjoying hanging out together, but in other cases, if I say something like “I’ll be right back” or “ I’m just going to find my friends,” it means give a girl some space! If this is how it’s going to be, then I’ll buy my own drink please. If I didn’t walk into the club with you, then I most likely don’t want to leave the club with you either.

Of course, this all assuming that you’re actually trying to get my number or talk to me. If all you want to do is hump as many women on the dance floor as possible, then please just stay away from me altogether.

Sincerely,

An annoyed woman who’s just trying to enjoy her night.

Shutterstock

I remember when going to church meant listening to great music, a moving sermon that you could take something away from, and contributing tithes when you had them to give. Those were the simple days. Nowadays, or at least at some of the churches I’ve attended, I’ve noticed that for some people (young and some older), going to church means wearing attire more appropriate for going to the club rather than going to the altar.  People are also spending a lot of time in the pews checking out fellow congregants, chattering about insignificant things (like who is wearing and doing what) and doing the absolute most. So what’s happening?

A few years ago, I joined a relatively small church.  It was a different denomination than what I grew up in, but the format was similar enough to what I was used to. But I quickly noticed that the girls collecting offerings and serving us for Communion were wearing shorts that looked like they weren’t finished being made, and I even noticed a few wearing halter tops from time to time. They were teenagers, so I tried to chalk their attire up to typical adolescent clothing and the typical way of doing things in this day and age. Even though I had a feeling their clothing choices were inappropriate for church, I assumed that I had caught them on an atypical day and that those revealing clothes were not going to be seen again.  I was wrong–it kept happening.

Week after week, the number of young ladies wearing skank-a-fied clothing increased. I was used to seeing non-church clothing on churchgoers as the time of Easter suits and wearing stockings with everything has come and gone for most, but when the skimpy outfits crossed over to those serving in the church more and more, the word inappropriate took on a whole new meaning. Their lack of clothing left me no choice but to consult with one of the elders of the church. I outlined my concerns with the way the girls were dressed, hoping our discussion would spark a change in their outfits. I informed her that their clothes were distracting in service and that they were wrong to wear in the House of the Lord. I could tell that she was uncomfortable with our conversation and offered little insight into curtailing the teenagers’ revealing attire. Once I realized that nothing was going to change, I decided that it was time to switch churches since I didn’t want to continue to feel like I was in a nightclub every Sunday morning.

I loved the next church I visited.  The sermons were awesome, the people were friendly, and their choir was one of the best in the city.  I think I loved the church so much that it hadn’t dawned on me immediately that the place seemed to resemble the last church in many aspects. Short and too tight clothing were a constant presence at this church as well as people doing the Bankhead Bounce and also some of the new dance crazes.  I saw one man moonwalk across the floor, a woman jump so high I wondered if she was listening to Kris Kross’ “Jump” in her head and not “I Will Bless The Lord,” and a man performing a mix of the Cabbage Patch and Tootsie Roll.  Their rhythm was so coordinated yet all over the place that I started thinking that folks were high off of more than just the Holy Spirit. It wasn’t just the previous church I had been to after all. It seemed that many congregations were getting a little to relaxed in their attire and behavior.

I used to find these type of antics harmless and somewhat entertaining, but now it’s just sad.  Church is one of the only places I go to find peace.  I go to church to learn more about and praise God, not to learn about the latest outfit or the latest dance craze.  I find it disturbing when people look me up and down to check out my outfit, my hair, or other accessories I may or may not have going on and do that when they should be paying attention to the Word.  I expect that type of behavior out in the streets, but not at church.  I also find it disheartening to see young women in church dressed similar to something out of a music video.  Since elders are supposed to serve in a teaching capacity, it would be nice to see more try to teach others about what’s appropriate vs. what’s inappropriate in a polite manner instead of trying to avoid sticky situations as much as possible and letting people run around and do whatever. Maybe then more people would revert back to appropriate behavior so that church can go back to what it used to be and the focus can stick to God and not the length of somebody’s skirt.

I don’t think we’ll ever get tired of news anchors getting caught doing all sorts of crazy things on camera during commercial breaks. We’ve seen everything from producers getting cussed out — shout out to Sue Simmons — to people busting out the moves like Jagger and California anchor Tia Ewing is definitely apart of the latter.

While working a late night, or more like early morning, shift at Fox 40, Tia took advantage of a commercial break to get her dance on. What was her song of choice? Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” of course. When Tia thought no one was looking, like all of Sacramento, she flashed her ring finger back and forth with a tablet in the other hand letting everyone in the studio know, “if you like it then you should’ve put a ring on it.” Unbeknownst to her, though, all of Sacramento was in fact watching because the cameras were still rolling.

Tia didn’t mind though. When the segment came back on air, she told her co-workers:

“I gotta get it where I can get it. I just didn’t know the camera was rolling.”

We’re not mad at you girl! Check out the video of Tia getting it in.

From time to time, even a sophisticated lady such as myself likes to step out for more than drinks and small talk. Sometimes I like to go to lounges, or non-ratchet nightclubs to get my two-step on and maybe even drop what my mother gave me a long time ago. Yes, I’m the person in the spot who you can hear screaming Oooooooooooooo! over “P.Y.T.” when it drops. And while I have had a blast dancing with my girlfriends and a boyfriend, or the occasional fella from time to time, I’ve noticed more and more these days that there’s consistently a darkness hovering over me on the dance floor. It drips of sweat, smells of alcohol and brings an unnecessary amount of body heat onto my back. Oh yeah, it’s the modern-day dude who wants to grind on my a**. So we meet again…

And of course, this same dude will expect me to do AAAAAALL the work while he leans back, trying to pull my backside closer and closer to his junk. And if that’s not bad enough, he’ll hold onto me for more than the allotted dancing time (uh, one song limit,son) as I look in sorrow at my friends having a ball in front of me, like a kid being dragged away from a playground. Because of such non-enjoyable experiences (after college, this type of dancing becomes irksome), I’ve opted out of grinding, booty dancing, juking, or whatever you’d like to call it, with anyone who’s not my mate. You’ll get the, “Thanks, but I’m just gonna dance with my friends.”

It might just be me, but as someone who grew up watching Kid & Play dance for their lives in House Party and Wesley Snipes and Allen Payne bust a move in New Jack City, or hell, just lived through the ’90s, where everybody from Public Announcement to Usher, Ginuwine and the likes were breaking it down on the dance floor, it just disappoints me that these days, the most you can get from a guy is a harsh pelvic thrust *shudders at the thought* I mean damn, even R. Kelly stepped in the name of love from time to time. Try to dance with a guy face-to-face and he’ll be off you midway into the song (probably because he doesn’t know what to do with his feet), tell him no thanks when he asks to dance with his penis and not via verbal communication, and he scoffs at you like you told him you were a lesbian. Hey, sometimes I want to dance, but I’d prefer to keep my a** to myself thank you very much. And can we talk about the people who can’t even find a two-step for a song, but would rather grind to a track that’s highly inappropriate for such movement? Like dropping it like it’s hot to “Power” by Kanye West, or 2Pac’s “I Ain’t Mad at Cha”? Uncouth much?

I think the whole thought about the lack of rhythm men have, or rather, care to share with most women, came back into my mind from a hilarious video I saw on the website, Dormtainment.com. I don’t know if you guys have watched their videos, but they are E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. I often watch them wishing that I went to school with such creative gentlemen, but instead, my male classmates were all trying to be party promoters and the like. Well, anywho, they posted a video a few Sundays back entitled, “Invisible Dancing Girl.” In it, they show you how odd it looks for men to dance when there’s no girl around, and of course, the dancing consists now of just a few pelvic jerk motions at different height levels and levels of comfort. While I laughed, or better yet, howled, at the hilarity of it all, I couldn’t help but realize that this is the the only form of dancing men do nowadays, and we’ve accepted it as the norm. That’s why, without a woman to dance with in the video, the brothas only knew how to shake their hips as if there was a booty in front of them.

And I think I really realized how bad things were getting when I went to my niece’s Sweet 16 birthday party a year ago, walked into the room thinking I was going to catch a scene out of “Family Matters” (you know, “Everyboooooody, do the Urkel dance!”) and found the room with the lights dim. These teenagers were popping on one another like they were in a Luke video, and anytime somebody would cut the lights on, they would scatter away from each others laps like roaches. What made it worse was that my brother and sister-in-law were in the room, and were allowing the jukefest to happen. Really? It wasn’t until another mother who came to help chaperone put folks in check that people stopped all the jubilating gyrating. But when you took that away from them, they all stood around looking at their phones or talking. If they weren’t grinding on one another, aka, dry-humping, they weren’t trying to bust a move.

Of course, this change in the dancing habits of people isn’t a serious issue whatsoever, but it’s something I’ve found to be irritating. You’re being used for your hind parts in the club whether you know it or not, like cats wrap themselves around scratching posts for relief. And while it’s all fun and games for a song or two, is that all men and women can do in the club? It’s annoying when that’s the only type of way men expect you to move and groove to a jam (I’m saying, sometimes they don’t even know what you LOOK like at all, they’re just going to town on your butt), and that’s kind of sad. Well, I guess I’ll just have to settle for my old school House Party VHS tapes and dance with Kid in my mind…for now…

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Source: istock.com

By T. Hall

Juicy J’s ode to ratchet p—y and strip clubs, “Bandz A Make Her Dance”, has become the default theme song for every event, party, and celebration of 2012. I’m pretty sure somewhere in the world a somebody is throwing a going away party for a co-worker, and “Bandz A Maker Her Dance” is on the playlist. It’s inescapable. And while rubber bands wrapped around a wad of money will indeed make some women dance, here are 7 other things that will make you twerk for joy.

Remember in Save the Last Dance where Kerry Washington’s character, Chenille, told Julia Stiles (Sara) that black people and white people live in two different worlds? Julia Stiles quickly blurted, “There’s only one world, Chenille!” to which she responded, “That’s what they teach you. We know different.” Whew! Now, I can’t say I completely agree with Chenille, but I will say there are plenty elements about black culture and heritage that a lot of white people know very little to nothing about. And since we don’t have time to educate all of the world’s ignorant, there may be so behaviors we don’t exhibit in the presence of those who just might not understand. Click on to see what I mean.

bossip.com

Ahhh, the video chick.  We hate them, we love them and then we hate them again.  I know its not the most respectable job in the music industry but if the women can manage to parlay that into something better for themselves, I say more power to them! Let’s check out a few of the ladies who’ve made it past the drop it like its hot stage…

Source: bbc.co.uk

Hillary Clinton is currently on an eleven day tour though Africa. She’s already visited Uganda, Senegal, Kenya, Malawi and Sudan. But judging by this photo and the video below, she enjoyed herself the most in Johannesburg, South Africa. Recently, at a dinner hosted by South African Foreign Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, Clinton broke it down on the dance floor. Honestly, we didn’t know our Secretary of State had it in her. She didn’t hesitate at all when this bold singer started backing it up. Mrs. Clinton must have felt free to be herself in Mother Africa. Check out the clip below.

But Clinton, isn’t the first politician to shake something in the motherland. George Bush also shook something in West Africa back when he was in office. Watch his video below and let us know who’s the better dancer.

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