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Kola Boof
Unregistered guest
Rating: 
Votes: 2 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 02, 2005 - 12:03 am: | 
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Fantasia Barrino at just 9 years old
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Kola Boof
Unregistered guest
Rating: 
Votes: 2 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 02, 2005 - 12:04 am: |
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I love Fantasia the person, Fantasia the naturally gifted singer...and....Fantasia, the activist for motherhood.
God knows it's good to have a REAL singer in the music industry again--after suffering so many years with Video Kareoke stars like Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, Ashanti...and let's face it....even Destiny's Child, who have the audacity to try and compare themselves to the Supremes.
But out here in Southern California, where the radio stations are still resistant to playing Fantasia's music with any committment, I have one major question.....
IS SHE NOT BLOWING UP FASTER, BECAUSE SHE'S TOO BLACK FOR EVEN THE BLACK MEDIA?....
OR IS IT JUST THAT SHE RELEASED THE WRONG SONG AS A FIRST SINGLE?
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Kola Boof
Unregistered guest
Rating:
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, February 02, 2005 - 12:07 am: |
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For people on the East Coast and down South....I realize that Fantasia is doing well in your areas and you may not relate to this Topic, but....
Where I live, many black women have accused The Beat (our premiere black station), and HOT 92, of not adequately supporting Fantasia's music....while they constantly shove Alicia Keys, Beyonce and Mariah Carey down our throats.
Now, I personally have not noticed this, because I'm a stay at home Mom and I listen to Tasia's CD and almost never listen to the radio....but I do remember 2 years ago when I was infuriated at the way these L.A. stations would never play any of the superior music by India Arie, but were constantly shoving Alicia Keys, Beyonce and Mariah (the same 3!) at every turn--until it was impossible not to be sick of them.
India Arie, like Jill Scott, Lauryn Hill and Erykuh Badu...is an artist who says a LOT with her music, and creates melodically beautiful Pop Tunes at the same time. For instance, songs like "Brown Skin", "The Truth", "Good Man" and "Strength, Courage and Wisdom" should have been MAJOR Top 40 radio hits, as catchy as anything Alicia Keys has produced, yet surpassing Alicia's music in overall quality....but.....they never got played. "Brown Skin" got a little play--but barely. Only her song "VIDEO" was a truly major radio hit....and then that was it for India.
And now we have Fantasia.
Unfortunately, the insinuations and complaints have gotten REAL nasty in L.A.--to the point where there was a fist fight at a local high school here, because a Latina girl told a black girl that Fantasia's just "too ugly" to have her poster up in the student group-think lounge, although posters of Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce adorn the walls. Apparently, some black boys took the side of the Latina girl making the comments and the black girl ended up becoming frustrated and punched the latina girl which got her expelled.
It's really very tragic.
Black women are complaining that the women chosen to co-host the programs on the Black Radio stations in L.A. are either latina, bi-racial or very light-skinned, and that they (and colorstruck black men hosting and programming these stations) can relate better to Alicia Keys, Beyonce and Mariah, because their lack of pigment allows them to appeal to a wider base of listeners and is preferred, without denial, by the black men here.
In fact, Fantasia and India Arie look very much like the millions of West African women who were brought to this country in shackles and chains 400 years ago, and as countless Sociologists have began to point out---Black People in nations that have had slavery or colonization tend to SHUN and Rebuke the images of their genetic origins, especially when those images are represented by women.
MY PERSONAL OPINION IS THIS:
Fantasia was born to be a superstar.
Her CD is nothing less than amazing. It's the best CD that I've purchased by a female artist in quite a few years. The unique power of her voice, her sincerity, the "God" in her and the range of the material itself makes the CD a bonafide classic in my opinion.
This is the kind of CD that when you go to purchase it...you buy about 7 copies, so that you have one in the car, one at work and a few to give away as gifts to people who really mean something to you.
My favorite song is "Good Lov'n", but I also love "Don't Act Right", "This Is Me", "Free Yourself", "Baby Mama" (WHAT a Master-stroke of brilliance and NOW-ness!!!), "Always on My Mind".....and, of course, the perfectly gorgeous first single..."Truth Is". Every song on the CD is totally, totally amazing in all honesty.
My belief is that the Media and that the Black Community itself are Traditionally Prejudiced against images of black women when those women are "authentic" (meaning more African Black as opposed to Mulatto/Euro-faced/Mixed) and that this is the reason that Fantasia is not a bigger star and more immediately.
As a Sudanese woman in America, I cannot help but ask.........Why do Black People HATE the image of the black man's mother so intensely??
Why is she OUTLAWED in our estimations of what is "worthy of love", "worthy of attention", "worthy of respect".........why is this so DENIED and so accepted? And why is it that even dark skinned black women are very often the ones advancing this colorism?
And lastly....through women like Beyonce, Alicia Keys and Mariah Carey...how will our race survive?
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Nyibol
Newbie Poster
Username: Africanqueen
Post Number: 2
Registered: 02-2005
Rating:
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 05, 2005 - 04:57 am: |
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Wow, I'm touched by Kola's response to this article. I totally agree with her, she amaze me and I'm SO happy God brought her to this earth because she speaks the TRUTH. And I agree with her on her response to this article, all her writings, it's all right there, like a reflection of the way I would look at things.
God helped Fantasia win so that she can sing and be a good example. You can just tell in her voice that she is very gifted, and even my own words cannot explain how amaizing this young lady is.
Personally, I don't think she's ugly, and I don't think it is fair to her for some people to be pointing out her looks saying she's not attractive. American idol is not for the purpose of identifying the best model; it's about who's got the best voice. And America voted that she was the best. She won because of the beautiful voice she has and not for any other reason.
God bless Fantasia, I hope that these negative comments will only make her stronger.
As for people (especially black people) who think Fantasia is too black and ugly, I can only pray for you. Fantasia is not the first to be called ugly, there's been many other black women and to sum it all up, our ancestors. I am sick of it, and I want it to stop. When we tell our young black girls like Fantasia, "you're the ugly" then what good are we doing for the black people? Are we really free at last? Because freedom would mean the dark girl Fantasia is just as beautiful as the mixed Halle Barry. I mean let's face it, Halle Barry is mixed so whoever praises her beauty is praising the white beauty part of her. Why can't we do that for our dark skinned black models? The truth is, I have found more white people come up to me and tell me that I am beautiful than I have had black people. They think my skin color is beautiful because it is so dark, while my own black people deny me. That I don't understand, it's very hard to understand why my own people deny me.... Now u tell me, are we really free at last? And no offense to MLK, I mean these are his lines. And I will say that we are free from the white men toturing us, but I don't think we are really free from toturing ourselves.
YOU ARE WRONG AND YOU KNOW IT. GROW UP! Teach your children, younger brothers and sisters to love the color black, to not make fun of their darkest brothers and sisters. So what Beyonce is light, Alicia Keys and Halle Barry, e.t.c... My black people, these ladies have white people and hispanics in them. They are biracial. So black people please, stop hating yourselves. I don't think God made a mistake when he created black people. We are beautiful... please let's not think that a mixed child is better than a black child. Bless your heart. God bless!
-Africanqueen |
Answering You Back
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, February 05, 2005 - 08:52 pm: |
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KOLA answering you back:
Excellent post, Nyibol.
I hope you won't mind me revealing to people that you are a Dinka from South Sudan who now lives in the United States. South Sudan, of course is KUSH--the Cushite kingdom that people here in the U.S. brag about so much.
Thanks so much for coming by and reading and posting, because I didn't expect you to drop in.
I will call you, soon.
KOLA
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Diane Belt
Unregistered guest
Rating:
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 06, 2005 - 12:49 am: |
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I too live in LA and am so discouraged with the slow reaction to the wonder that is Fantasia. She is a breathe of fresh air in a time where the ability to sing is secondary to how you look. And it is indeed her beautiful african features that have held her from blowing up like she should be. LA stations are foolishly ignoring her talent because she isn't light skinned with a long weave. She is Fantasia- dark skinned, vuluptuous lips, short hairdo- and doesn't pretend to be anyone else. And that's what i love about her.
She is confident, head strong, and dedicated. She has a gift givien by God that has inspired so many. I strongly believe God has annointed this young lady and has a plan for her life. I believe she is destined to speak to the masses. Her ability to touch so many through a cold medium like a tv screen is just a small indication of how powerful she is. She made me believe in the things I once thought were impossible.
As for the small minded and ignorant, I too pray that one day we will allow ourselves to embrace where we came from and love who we are. It is heartbreaking to hear black males at that particular school agreed to the naivety of the latina student. I pray for the day when the war of color within our race will end and Dr. Martin Luther King's dream of not judging by the color of our skin becomes reality. |
kola@aalbc.com
Moderator
Username: Kola
Post Number: 104
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 06, 2005 - 01:06 pm: |
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Hello Diane Belt....and welcome to the KOOL ROOM.
I really appreciated your response.
Thanks for posting and I hope you continue to drop in. You have a very positive, intelligent outlook sister.
KOLA |
Gabriel
Unregistered guest
Rating:
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 06, 2005 - 10:33 pm: |
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Wassup everybody! I just wanted to say how much I appreciate the love y'all are showing to Fantasia. I too believe that she is a phenomenally talented woman who deserves to be hailed on a pedestal HIGH above many other so-called "artists" in mainstream music today (she is well-accepted here in Chicago, THANK GOD!).
Now I am a 17-year-old proud Black/Panamanian brotha, and it saddens me to see that both her talent, the realness of her personality, and her gorgeous African features are mostly being ignored by the media and the public. How many artists today can you say actually have such a warm, funny, sassy, down-to-earth, genuine, honest, and intelligent personality that they aren't afraid to REVEAL to their audience? I love the fact that she unabashedly proclaims herself as a confident, beautiful black woman who refuses to let America's antiquated social standards dictate who and what she is.
That situation at the school in LA disgusts me; sometimes I feel like my peers (not to sound comtemptuous) are so blinded by pop culture's ideas of acceptability. Who declared that Beyonce or J-Lo, even though they are pretty, are more or less beautiful than anybody else? It's like society is just beating teens upside their heads with misconceptions, and we are expected to eagerly devour all the venom they advertise to be "what's hot". Is Fantasia too African, too ethnic, too strong for their tastes? Are they intimidated by the lusciousness of her full lips, the way she shamelessly wears her hair short, or how her deep ebony skin never blemishes? Or are they just afraid that their precious stereotypes of "glamour" will be washed away by a wave of self-confident, assertive women who don't need MTV to tell them how they're supposed to look? Sometimes our society is repulsive to me!
And speaking about Alicia Keys and India Arie: recently I was debating with my aunt about why India Arie was very attractive, even though she's baldheaded and she wears a lot of African dresses. My aunt's argument was that Alicia Keys, compared to how she used to look from her first album to her next, has grown into a beautiful lady while India Arie is in need of a new stylist. This REALLY upset me! I LOVE Alicia Keys because she is one of the few artists we have with real talent on the radio and she never denies her blackness (in fact she EMBRACES it proudly), but India Arie, who I also LOVE, is just as pretty as anybody else in the industry, and she doesn't need fake hair extensions or clothes that leave little to the imagination to express it! And India's talent goes unnoticed because most of my peers have been saturated by so much garbage music that when someone original that actually has God-given talent, a unique style, and meaningful, insightful lyrics comes along, most of the time they dismiss these artists as "wack". The Britney Spears and Ashanti's have brainwashed my generation into accepting mind-numbing songs as quality, while real artists are deemed "horrible". My generation is in a state of emergency!
So to Fantasia, India Arie, Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Amel Larrieux, Bilal, and countless others, thank you so much for being symbols of hope for music today while we live in an era of cookie-cutter "artists" dragging millions into a stupefying abyss. Thank you all for diligently striving for true artistic self-expression at a time where it is shunned. And thank you all for being true and loving to yourselves at a time where self-loathing reigns over the souls of people everywhere!
FANTASIA, KEEP ON REPRESENTING US GIRL! |
kola@aalbc.com
Moderator
Username: Kola
Post Number: 126
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 06, 2005 - 11:32 pm: |
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Gabriel that was wonderful commentary!!!!
PLEASE
come by and post more often.
I would love to have you around.
KOLA
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Gabriel
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 07, 2005 - 02:20 am: |
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Thank YOU Kola for creating a site with so many interesting topics! I can get my knowledge on up in here! <(^_^)> |
Praise Connor Lee
Unregistered guest
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 07, 2005 - 02:34 am: |
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My name is Connor and I am a White guy from Charlotte who is a fan of Fantasia. I have downloaded all her MP3s and have all her CDs. I think all African-American women are attractive. I think Fantasia is really cute. I don't understand why someone wouldn't like Fantasia. She is really nice and has a really great voice. I have lived 33 years and haven't heard a voice so good since the days of Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, and Diana Ross. I wish we all could look beyond color. Fantasia is the best and she will become a living legend! Kola Boof, I saw you on Larry King once and I look foward to reading your books. Alice Walker, Alex Haley, Stephen King, Amy Tan, and Maya Angelou are some of my other favorite authors. |
kola@aalbc.com
Moderator
Username: Kola
Post Number: 144
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 07, 2005 - 02:22 pm: |
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PRAISE----welcome!!!!
Thank you so much for that post, that's incredibly wonderful......and it gives HOPE.
Please continue visiting the board and posting.
I'm glad you saw me on t.v., although I believe it was FOX NEWS or the BBC, because I haven't been on Larry King Live. Then again---he might have run some footage of me from a profile done by Holland's BNN network. So maybe you did see me on Larry King and I didn't know I was on.
I love.....ALL of the authors...that you mentioned.
My favorite by Amy Tan is "The Kitchen God's Wife"....and ALICE WALKER is practically my mother (that's how deeply I drink from her books, over and over again). I would love to meet Stephen King (his books "Carrie" and "Christine" are very dear to me--I especially relate to CARRIE the movie), and as an African, I will forever appreciate Alex Haley giving us ROOTS. It helps make my own work a little easier.
As a white man, you will find MY BOOKS very engrossing, sexy, confrontational and more "African" than what I'm sure you're used to. But I am suddenly finding that I have a lot of White Male fans---and I appreciate the "understanding" when I can get it.
I have an event coming up and I have to sing---it will be on DVD, so you will get to see it---and when I sing at rehearsals, people say that I sound like Diana Ross. Hopefully, because I'm singing in Arabic and Nobbin (Nubian), people will not notice it as much....especially since I CAN'T SING...but it's a "tradition" in our culture that a woman sing or fix dinner when she gets an Award.
I consider Mother Maya Angelou a living "Griot woman"---a Zarus of the Zarpunni as we Nilotics would say.
Your taste is impeccable. Please come back.
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Praise Connor Lee
Unregistered guest
Rating:
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 08, 2005 - 11:38 pm: |
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Hey Kola! I am glad you liked my message. My message gives hope, because I refuse to give up hope. I believe things will change for the better in time. I always try to remain positive. I think it was FOX that I saw you on. I watch Larry King so much that I thought it was his show. I am very interested in reading all types of books and can't wait to get to yours. I just have to finnish reading "From A Buick 8" by Stephen King. I am so close to reading everything Stephen King wrote. I have 6 or so more books of his to go. When I finnish I will have read 50+ books of his! I suggest you find a copy of King's "The Stand" and read all 1,153 pages of the uncut version. They have an man named Randall Flagg representing the evil side and an old African-American woman named Mother Abigail(Abigail Freemantle) representing the good. She was played by Ruby Dee in the mini-series and she did a good job acting. I would have cast Cicely Tyson, but Ruby Dee made the character her own. Ossie Davis was also in it, so I guess it made sense that they should work together in the movie. I am sad to hear that he passed. He was a great actor and very nice. I cried when I heard the eulogy that he did for Malcolm X. He was a great man. On a happier note, I wonder if you have heard of Alek Wek. She is a supermodel from Southern Sudan. I love that she doesn't have to do a lot to make herself beautiful. She is just naturally beautiful. She is like Fantasia-naturally beautiful. Well, it's getting late and I just want to say that I look foward to reading your work. Ever since I saw you on TV, I have been dying to know more about you. I like to read about all cultures. Well rounded is the only way to be for me. |
Nik
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 11, 2005 - 03:16 am: |
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As I sat here and read the story of the latina girl who called Fantasia ugly. I just started to cry. As I write this I am still crying for all of the little black girls who were never told the were beautiful because they didn't look like the "black" girls on t.v. Don't get me wrong Halle, Beyonce and Alicia and them have it going on. But Fantasia is no joke!! I have had the pleasure of meeting this wonderful lady and she not only makes me proud to be black.. she make me proud to be ME!!! |
kola@aalbc.com
Moderator
Username: Kola
Post Number: 172
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, February 11, 2005 - 06:54 pm: |
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Hello, Nik
Welcome to the KOOL ROOM. Of course, your pain deeply touches me. That's why I wrote the article, because I noticed a lot of strain surrounding this issue, yet no one was willing to talk about it.
I hope you'll visit often and post your thoughts and opinions. It helps others to grow and to form their own opinions when they hear from people with similar experiences or opposite experiences.
What saddens me is the hate mail (emails) that I've gotten for posting this article. I spoke from my heart, because I love Fantasia so much, and it caused people to show their ugliest, worst sides.
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gaylon alcaraz
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 13, 2005 - 11:00 am: |
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kola:
thanks for the articulate and honest and truthful words about fantasia, the barbie doll singers and how society cuts us down to the core, trying to dismantle and destroy us through brainwashing. you know your words always affect me deeply.....I AM NO LONGER BLOND BECAUSE OF YOU! and my beautiful black baby girl will be so much better because of it!
i brought zoi fantasia's cd yesterday....all the girls are singing her songs...i think it's great.
i did explain to her about the baby mama situations and how i want so much more for her and she understands this but i give it to fantasia for taking a potentially negative situation and giving it big ups!
kola....can't wait to read your next book! |
butterlove20002003
Unregistered guest
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 27, 2005 - 12:23 am: |
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howdy kola,
Well to start i am your typical blonde haired blue eyed white girl.I am not only a big fan of fantasia but a fan of the african american culture as a whole.I couldn't begin to imagine how hard it is to make it in such an unjust harsh society and i respect the strength and integrity that every african american woman carries with her.So in closeing...fantasia and all the other african american queens "you go girl! and stay strong stuff's getting better everyday!"
~~~~Heather |
kola@aalbc.com
Moderator
Username: Kola
Post Number: 218
Registered: 02-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 27, 2005 - 02:53 pm: |
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Hi Heather.
Welcome to the KOOL ROOM and thanks for posting.
Thanks for the affirmations. How kind.
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Anonymous
Rating:
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Wednesday, April 13, 2005 - 09:20 pm: |
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If nobody is deemed ugly any more, how you gonna maintain a standard of beauty? Every culture has their beautiful and ugly people. Fantasia happens to be one of black folks' ugly people. |
Radiationx
Newbie Poster
Username: Radiationx
Post Number: 24
Registered: 06-2005
Rating:
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Thursday, June 23, 2005 - 09:16 am: |
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I listen to a lot of different artist: Erykah, Me'shell, Jill Scott, Zap Mama, Chico Debarge, Parliment, OutKast,Sinead O'Conner, Dead Prez, Fela Kuti, Goapele, Bilal,The Cure, old U2,Jay-Z, Marvin Gaye, The Phat Cat Players,Sade, Isley Brothers,Cameo, Alexande O'Neal, Alicia,.... I could go on and on.
Fantasia does have a poweful voice, but she is not a GREAT artist,period. Maybe it's the production and poor lyrics on her album that detract from her. The Baby Mama song was\is awful!
I live in Florida and she gets play here, but every time she comes on the radio i turn the station. "Truth Is" is the only song by her that i like. Me not liking her as an artist has nothing to do with how she looks. I love me some dark skinned women,pleas believe it!! But Fantasia sucks. I'm sorry but its true. She is not as talanted as Erykah Badu, not even close. Why does Alicia get bashed by some sistas? Fantasia sings that's it. Alicia writes, plays the piano, and sings. I'm not a major Alicia fan but dagg give her a break. Stop hatin.
Should Fantasia be bigger than she is? Maybe.Does she deserve to be supported because she's a dark skinned, hell no. |
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