it's a Groove Thang

itunes Essentials have saved my life. Being in London, I'm not able to listen to 98.7 kiss fm, Hot 97, or 107.5 WBLS. So in order to get my daily dose of 80s and 90s hip hop, dance and r&b music I've turned to the hilarious, yet helpful itunes Essential compilations. Although they have created mixes like- R&B wedding songs, Hip Hop work out, and Positive Rap they do have some good old songs I've almost forgotten about...
When I FINALLY found Sybil's "Don't Make me Over", I almost fell over. I've been looking for this one since 1988 (or since 2004). And Zhane, should've enjoyed a longer career. The have such a smooth sound. They should've been at Oprah's Legend's Ball instead of silly little Ashanti. And Heavy D will always be one of my favorite rappers- who would've thought such a big guy would be so agile?

Now a little disclaimer: Yeah I know that I talk (write) a lot about America in this here blog. Some of that is homesickness, but mostly, being abroad has allowed me to step back and observe the States from an almost outsider status. If I were at Amherst, I'm not sure I would be thinking about the 2nd Black Arts Movement of the late 80s-early 90s. Instead I'd be thinking about bus schedules to Target and office hours with a religion professor.

But onto London news.
The church that I go to with my friends Tinuke and Timnet is the most diverse place I've ever been. It's like the Rainbow Coalition up in there (minus messy Jesse). Congregants are black from Africa and the Diaspora, Asian from throughout the continent, white and everything in between. They say that the most segregated hour is the 11 am service. Well this service would make Strom Thurmond squirm. It gives me hope to see so many folks of different backgrounds singing and worshipping together. Now all I need to do is to get the church band to sing some "Stomp" and "Revolution" by Kirk Franklin.