Tag: the songs i loved

  • the songs i loved: mc trouble’s “(i wanna) make you mine”

    the songs i loved: mc trouble’s “(i wanna) make you mine”

    there was a time beginning in the early 1990s when highly choreographed hip-hop music videos were frowned upon and viewed as a legitimate threat a rapper’s street cred. however, that wasn’t always the case.  in 1990, even rappers were expected to be able to dance. while this was often attributed…

  • The Songs I Loved: Mariah Carey’s “Looking In”

    The Songs I Loved: Mariah Carey’s “Looking In”

    On October 3, 1995, Mariah Carey released her fifth studio album “Daydream.” The album is most remembered for it’s three chart topping singles “One Sweet Day,” “Always Be My Baby” and the ever enduring and influential “Fantasy.” However, the song that has always resonated with me is the album’s closing…

  • The Songs I Loved: En Vogue’s “You Don’t Have To Worry”

    The Songs I Loved: En Vogue’s “You Don’t Have To Worry”

    there are some songs from 1990 that i love but seldom listen to because they put me in space of melancholy. en vogue’s uptempo funk/pop gem “you don’t have to worry” is one of those songs. the third single from their iconic debut album “born to sing,” which celebrated its…

  • WHEN HOUSE MUSIC WAS BLACK & GAY

    WHEN HOUSE MUSIC WAS BLACK & GAY

    happy pride, y’all! this weekend marks the 50th anniversary of the first pride events throughout the country. june 28, 1970, queer and trans folks marched to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the stonewall riots. pride events grew out of the anti-police protests led by Black and brown trans and queer…

  • The Songs I Loved: RuPaul’s “Supermodel (You Better Work)”

    The Songs I Loved: RuPaul’s “Supermodel (You Better Work)”

    my mother worked for drug dealers. from monday – friday, regardless of how drunk or high she got the night before, she was up for work. i súplale this is where i got my work ethic and my ability to hold my liquor. because of my mother’s line of work…

  • The Songs I Loved: Queen Latifah’s “Come Into My House”

    The Songs I Loved: Queen Latifah’s “Come Into My House”

    “welcome into my queendom, come one, come all…,” the opening line of the first verse of queen latifah’s 1990 hip-hop/house track “come into my house” was an invitation into her world, extended to those of us who were either exiled from or denied entry into kingdoms that valued hyper-masculinity and…

  • The Songs I Loved: Wilson Phillips “Impulsive”

    The Songs I Loved: Wilson Phillips “Impulsive”

    my LOVED mother’s day. birthdays and holidays came and went without much notice but mother’s day was her day to claim. like the rest of the mothers on our block, my mother got dressed to a T with my no where to go. but that was cool tho. getting dressed…

  • The Songs I Loved: Sarah McLachlan’s “Adia”

    The Songs I Loved: Sarah McLachlan’s “Adia”

    in 1998, my relationship with my younger brother nicholas was strained. we were so young (me 21 and he 18 years old) and on our own. looking back, i realize now just how much we carried on our young shoulders and how much of that prevented us from carrying each…

  • The Songs I Loved: Mariah Carey’s “Vision of Love”

    The Songs I Loved: Mariah Carey’s “Vision of Love”

    It took so long Still I believed Somehow the one that I needed Would find me eventually I lived in my imagination. There existed a universe filled with applause and standing ovations. And in 1990, one of those places I manifested that universe was in my aunt Janet’s basement. While…

  • The Songs I Loved: Concrete Blonde’s “Joey”

    The Songs I Loved: Concrete Blonde’s “Joey”

    my life is a perpetual music soundtrack. i remember all of the moments – no matter how trivial or traumatic – in song. my friends often joke that whenever i say, “i love this song!”, they know a story will follow. and they’re correct. music and pop culture are usually…