Kearmonie

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Bowery Poetry Club Slam Launch !

The Bowery Poetry Club is an iconic venue for spoken word and slam poetry in New York City having helped catapult this culture we all love so much. After a brief hi-atus for renovations the Bowery Poetry has offered open mic events, writing workshops, and other spoken word showcases but has not hosted a slam for about 5 years. That all changes now.

Monday night was the first of many slams to be held at the Bowery, every Monday at 9pm. All hosted by none other than former youth poet laureate of NYC Ashley August. August has made a smooth transition from youth poet to an adult having been slamming since the age of 15, toured across the country, competed in the Brave New Voices and National Poetry Slam competitions, been featured of TV1's Verses and Flow, and having two published collections of poetry; the title of Slammaster is rightfully deserved and The Bowery Poetry Club is now her new home.

The night had already begun with Bowery's currently instated weekly open mic event "PoetNY", guest are welcome to pay one price to enjoy both events. The slam was like any other intense, funny, drama filled, heart wrenching and entertaining. With the greatest 90's and early 2000's tunes spun by (also extremely talented NY Poet) DJ Mega. Well known slam poets and artists Jon Sands, Roya Marsh, Taylor Steele, and MUMS came together for a mock slam, like your average slam however there was no prize or advancement to fight towards.

Slam love! #boweryslam

A photo posted by Bowery Slam (@boweryslam) on Jan 17, 2016 at 5:55pm PST

These poets came together for an unforgettable peek at whats bound to be a great, inaugural, season. With an in-house, a different renowned featured poet, and of course your lovely hostess every week; if you didn't know what to do in NYC on Monday nights. You do now.

The slam will take place every Monday at 9pm, at The Bowery Poetry Club, following their PoetNY Open Mic event. For more information follow @BowerySlam on instagram and twitter.

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Harriet Tubman responds to talks of her being featured on the U.S. $20 bill

For the past several months the inter webs have been a buzz with several polls and debates whether or not Harriet Tubman should be on the twenty dollar bill. Harriet Tubman has not actually responded, however I(yes me, Kearmonie) wrote a poem speaking as Ms. Tubman, which I have performed at quite a few places. This piece has just been posted on the SlamFind youtube channel. Slamfind is a cellphone app that connects the people to spoken word venues in their area. I am so very excited to be able to share this, enjoy !

Monday, January 11, 2016

Real Friends?

Yeezus has blessed us again. Just a couple of weeks ago KanYe West released a single entitled facts. Personally not too great to me, much like "All Day", he did not have much to say; it was a bit of a teaser for us fans. Is he dropping an album or is he isn't? Well the single has shed some light on that. "Real Friends" an account on becoming so famous that everyone around you just wants to stick you for your paper, and so busy that you barely have time for the people who once cared. The slow melodic Drake-sounding track is followed by a preview snippet of another song featuring Kendrick Lamar(Jaw Drop) entitled "No More Parties". This song, or the bit that we hear, has an alternative throwback feel to it. Kane's new album "Swish" is finally set to be released this February, with a series of tracks to be released leading up to it.

Tuesday, January 5, 2016

"God is Gangsta"

The latest short film brought to us by none other than Kendrick Lamar, the current G.O.A.T. or I guess G.O.T.T.(Greatest of this time). K. Dot blessed us early last year with his 3rd album To Pimp a Butterfly, a notably iconic piece of work. This video is a combination of two tracks off of the album "U" and "For Sale" both deep thought provoking, self reflection type stories much like the entire album.

Kendrick Lamar - God Is Gangsta from Top Dawg Entertainment on Vimeo.

This short is quite moving, much like other videos he has released as of late and a clever juxtaposition of one's inner troubles as well as desires. Kendrick's testimony which begins with "I remember you was conflicted..." appears several times on the album stated his mental, spiritual, and emotional state at a certain time and what he has learned. God is Gangsta breathtakingly sums that all up. Another notable aspect is the tile itself, almost to say that this is not a twofer music video, however a short film. At one point "gangsta" was a loosely used adjective to describe something that dramatically great, pushes the envelope, impressive or dope; I guess a way to equate to any gang-related scary aspects of a certain lifestyle. To refer to someone as gangsta is state that the are bold and live without fear. The statement "God is Gangsta" is an almost humorous way to sum up the way the lord works, how he puts us in spaces and on paths we may not understand, giving us tasks and trials that may seem way too hard for us to deal with but certainly something we have the strength within ourselves to get through.

Friday, January 1, 2016

NYE look

Here's a look at my New Years Eve outfit. The romper and the tights are of course from Urban Outfitters.

Monday, December 7, 2015

Ayesha Curry's Tweets and the real problem here

Everyone's into barely wearing clothes these days huh? Not my style. I like to keep the good stuff covered up for the one who matters 😂😂😂
— Ayesha Curry (@ayeshacurry) December 5, 2015

Ayesha Curry is Wife of NBA player Stephen Curry. The two, their lovely marriage and family have become widely popular over the past few months after Stephen Curry and his team The Golden State Warriors won the NBA Championship.
Ayesha has been all over the media lately receiving all kinds of responses to this tweet. It seems that she is shaming women who dress a certain way, stating that she's rather dress classy than trending. As if saying that trendy club wear these days implies that certain women are not classy. She is one politically incorrect word away from slut-shaming, but it doesn't matter because others are doing it for her. I do not have a problem with Ayesha's traditional perception on how she should dress but the rhetoric here is dictating how women dress in terms of how we will be perceived and ultimately controlled by men. The ongoing feminist battle is that f liberation. We as women are claiming our bodies and our sexuality as our own, and we will dress however we want no matter want. Unfortunately there are still people who are swayed by traditional misogynistic beliefs of how a woman should walk, talk, dress, and act; especially a woman who is married to man. Mrs. Curry's tweets will and already have inspired posts calling women who do dress the way Curry is dismissing "sluts" it is fueling this "Good Girl" VS "Bad Girl" ideal which plagues women from as young as 5 years old, and it is terribly sad.

Monday, November 30, 2015

"But You Caint Use My Phone" certainly made me put my phone down

The newest body of work by Ms. Erykah Badu. The Grammy-Award winning Neo-Soul Queen has not released a full project since "New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh)"(2010). She has certainly remained relevant with appearances on tracks, concerts, never-ending DJ gigs, magazines spreads and interviews. "But You Caint Use My Phone" is a reminder of who she is musically and what she can do.
This mixtape was preceded by Erykah's cover a recently popular Drake song "Hotline Bling", which she has titled "Cel u Lar Device" Listen HERE.

This mixtape is an upbeat, funky, sultry ode to phones and a direct reference to her 1998 hit "Call Tyrone" most popular in it's live version this song something Ms. Badu and her band freestyled while on tour for her first album "Baduizm" and quickly became a fan favorite. The intro and title track to this mixtape "Caint Use My Phone (Suite)" is a melodic mix of phone sounds and instrumentation from "Call Tyrone" as she plays around with popular line from the song "But you can't use my phone". Each song being a phone reference, she also samples Usher's "You don't have to call" and New Edition's "Mr. Telephone Man".
Notable tracks include "Phone Down" a very modern, trap music sounding track on which Badu insists she "can make you put your phone down", and the perfect end to a project of this sort "Hello" featuring who Billboard and millions of people note as one of the greatest rappers of all time and Erykah Badu's first Baby-daddy, none other than Andre` 3000. With the sounds of birds chirping incredible bars and vocals alike, this duet and love song is an uplifting, love-reminding, Neo-soul revival of sorts and the #1 reason to give this entire project your ears. Other features include Drake and Erykah and Andre's son Seven who's verse on "What's Your Phone Number" is reminiscent of "Thank Me Later" Drake, whom he cites as a hug inspiration.