Source: afterelton.com

I remember the first time I saw Grace Jones. It was 1984-ish and I was watching Conan the Destroyer when Zula the lady warrior literally graced the scene twirling around a huge spear. I remember thinking, and quite possibly verbalizing, “Who the heck is this tall Amazonian looking woman with dark piercing eyes and a high top fade?” At the age of seven, I didn’t know what to make of her beyond being shocked and a little scared.  But now as an adult, I marvel in her awesomeness.

I can imagine that like most people from my generation – the generation that thought beauty only existed in glammed up Divas – it took some time to appreciate the incredible, stunning and powerful artistry that is Grace Jones. Some probably still don’t. But for most, she is hard to ignore. Standing at 5 feet 10 and half inches, she not only towers over most folks but her lean, sleek and dark physique gives her a certain ferocity – like a black panther.

Jones was Lady Gaga when Gaga was just some ole’ regular chick named Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta. She was treacherous snarling and climbing around in cages long before Nikki Minaj was calling women stupid ho*s. Jones had been a style icon for decades prior to Beyonce reaching her Destiny – Child.  She was both daring and willing to speak truth before Madonna could figure out what to name her risque coffee table book. She screamed more nonsensical Isht on tracks than Kelis could ever think of. And she was butt-naked on magazines and in videos long before Rihanna reached puberty. Yes, Jones is the original archetype for all of the modern day pop Divas combined. And she still continues to ride in a lane of her own making.

The daughter of an apostolic preacher and seamstress mother, the Jamaican-born Jones, formally known as Grace Mendoza, burst onto the scene around the mid ’70s. In an interview with British late night talk show host Ryan Tubridy, Jones said that she attributed her quirkiness to her religious background. And it was that the desire to burst free from her religious background which led her to abandon her dreams of being a Spanish teacher for theatre and modeling in both New York and in Paris. She got her first record deal in 1977, which resulted in a number of disco hits, mostly popular in the gay and underground club scene. However it would be her 1981 classic, yet risque track “Pull up to the Bumper,” which would propel Jones into the gaze of the mainstream.

Source:Soultrain.com

We knew Kandi Burrus was getting her own spinoff series on Bravo TV but details of the show were pretty slim. Now, “The Kandi Factory” is ready to make its debut and Bravo has given viewers a sneak peak of what’s to come this season.

From the first look, the show has sort of an MTV “Made” feel. Each week, Kandi will be working with two wanna-be pop stars to whip them into shape vocally and she’ll also lend her choreographer and production team to help make these aspiring singers into acts with real talent. The inspiration for the show seems to be Kim Zolciak’s rise to “fame” with Kandi’s “Don’t be Tardy for the Party” track, so if she can make Kim work, she ought to be able to help anybody.

The show is set to debut March 4 at 10pm on Bravo. Check out the Sneak Peak of The Kandi Factory and tell us what you think. Will you tune in on Sundays?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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“A role model can teach you to love and respect yourself, and if you don’t respect yourself, nobody else will.” – T-Boz

Loving and respecting yourself is critical to making it in this life. You can’t always control things like your employment or how certain people in your family are treating you, but you can always control how you treat yourself. This can be as simple as making time to do the things that make your heart sing, or making sure that the inner voice that you speak to yourself with is sweet and kind. Loving yourself does not have to be a big, complicated mystery learned by reading a ream of self-help books. Just think of the way you would treat the favorite little girl in your life, and be just as tender to your own inner being. Take a tip from T-Boz, and love and respect yourself first and foremost.

Have a wonderful day full of healthy self-love!

If you couldn’t get enough of watching Kandi Burruss on the “Real Housewives of Atlanta,” (new season starts on November 6) you’ll be glad to know that homegirl is about to get her own special on Bravo. She’s just going back to her musical roots on-screen, thankfully without Kim Zolciak’s involvement.

The former Xscape singer will have the chance to turn up-and-coming musicians into pop stars with her new special series, The Kandi Factory. On it, she will choose two performers to come to Atlanta and school them on how to succeed in the music industry.

If you didn’t know, Kandi, aka, Kandi Girl, is a pretty big songwriter outside of Xscape. She penned “No Scrubs” for TLC, “Bills, Bills, Bills” for Destiny’s Child, and numerous other hits bangers for artists like Usher and Alicia Keys. I don’t know if she’s necessarily the go-to chick for making someone into a pop star (“Tardy for the Party” didn’t get Kim too far…), but I’m glad to see her work with that blasted “Real Housewives of Atlanta” is opening up more and more doors. As my friend and hundreds of other people like to say, “You Better Work!”