No Nail Polish, But a Bit of Ms. Lauryn Hill

Fridays usually mean nails around here, but I'm taking a break from that this week because I didn't have the energy in me yesterday to come up with an idea, do all the nail/cuticle prep, polish my nails, take pictures, edit the pictures, etc. My Wednesday night went a bit further into the wee hours than I'd anticipated, which is why I was so done-for all day yesterday. What was so terribly exciting about my Wednesday evening, you ask? OH JUST MS. LAURYN HILL.

Yeppp, on Wednesday night I went with a few friends went to see an acoustic performance by Lauryn Hill at the Wilbur Theater in Boston. The tickets had been burning a hole in my iPhone (that's what we say these days when we use Passbook, right?) for months!

I have a pulse, so obviously I was a fan of Fugees, and I was among the millions of people who bought (and became obsessed with) The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill back in 1998. A few years ago, she performed her entire Miseducation album at the Rock the Bells festival, and witnessing it in person was pretty special. When I heard she was coming to Boston, I immediately rallied some troops (Kara, Steph and Amanze!) and put it on my calendar.

The show was supposed to start at 8, but at around 8:30 a film began playing onstage - Concerning Violence, a short documentary about anti-imperialism and decolonization that was narrated by Ms. Hill. It was interesting (and also a bit depressing), but not everyone in the audience was psyched about being shown a documentary at a concert. When the film ended, a DJ began spinning onstage - who, by the way, was definitely dressed like she belonged in the background of a 1993 Salt 'n Pepa video. At this point, not everyone in the audience was psyched that there was a DJ playing instead of Ms. Hill. Can you pick up on a theme of growing malcontent?

It was well after 10pm when Lauryn finally came out and took her place on a loveseat-style couch at the center of the stage. Picking up her guitar and speaking little-to-no-words to any of us, she and her band launched into Conform to Love. Cue the chair-dancing, because it was a smallish venue and no one was really standing much.

I only took one photo while we were there, and it came out terribly blurry...

... but you get the general setup. I've been trying to find the setlist for the show, but so far it's nowhere to be found. Other highlights were when she did Sweetest Thing, Lost Ones, and Fu-Gee-La in its entirety.

She closed out the show with Doo Wop (That Thing), which is when she finally got up out of her chair herself. The rest of the audience followed suit, and it was a great closer. It was almost 12:30 in the morning when she finished, so that was an unexpected element of a Wednesday night show. So very worth being exhausted the next day!

Now for your entertainment, here is some music from Lauryn to get you on my level:

Sweetest Thing

So High (Cloud 9 Remix) - John Legend feat. Lauryn Hill

Turn Your Lights Down Low - Bob Marley feat Lauryn Hill

And here's a random cover of Conform to Love by a young woman named Kamilah Sumner - watch the whole thing, she just gets better and better.

Leave a comment to let me know what your favorite Lauryn Hill song is! And I'm sure that a regularly scheduled nail polish post will be back next Friday ;)

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My Last 10 iTunes Downloads

There's something delightfully voyeuristic about peeking into another person's iTunes account, isn't there? Seeing what they've been downloading and which songs have the most plays. Having recently received $50 worth of iTunes gift cards, I allowed myself to go on a bit of a mini music binge and thought it would be fun to share my most recent 10 music downloads with you here.

Let me know if you're loving any of these jams as well!

7/11 - Beyoncé

Habits - Tove Lo

Love Never Felt So Good - Michael Jackson and Justin Timberlake

Understanding - XScape

One Wish - Ray J

Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See - Busta Rhymes

Dangerous - Busta Rhymes

Break Ya Neck - Busta Rhymes

Pendulum - FKA Twigs

Soon We'll Be Found - Sia

I'm frequently guilty of only downloading single songs, rather than entire albums... but prior to these ten, I'd downloaded the entire Kaleidoscope Dream album from Miguel. He is one of my favorite current R&B singers - and I say "current" because normally my R&B selections lean very heavily towards the 90s and early 2000s. But Miguel's songs often remind me of 90s jams, so it's not really surprising that I enjoy them so much.

Next on my list of to-download: a Childish Gambino album and a Kendrick Lamar album. I currently own nothing at all from either artist, but am very interested in remedying that. If you have any favorite songs/albums by either of those artists, leave me a comment to let me know what it is!

Now - what are YOU downloading? Share your most recent iTunes download with me below!

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Genius Playlist: Sock It 2 Me

This was a playlist too good to keep to myself, so HERE IT IS for your eyeballs and eardrums.

You know how I was hard at work on a collage this past weekend? WELL no collaging session is complete - or even enjoyable - without some awesome iTunes jams going while I'm working. This time I was feeling some Missy Elliott, so I created a Genius playlist based on "Sock It 2 Me" - some of her finest work, if you ask me.

1. Missy Elliott feat. Da Brat - Sock It 2 Me
2. Missy Elliott - The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)
3. Aaliyah - Hot Like Fire
4. Mya - It's All About Me
5. Timbaland & Magoo - Luv 2 Luv U
6. Lucy Pearl - Dance Tonight
7. Janet Jackson - I Get Lonely
8. Brandy - Baby
9. Kelis - Caught Out There
10. Monica - The First Night
11. Mya - Best of Me
12. Aaliyah - We Need A Resolution
13. Mariah Carey feat. Bone Thugs - Breakdown
14. Dru Hill - In My Bed
15. TLC - Kick Your Game
16. Brandy feat. Ma$e - Top of the World
17. Janet Jackson - If
18. Groove Theory - Tell Me
19. Truth Hurts - Addictive
20. D'Angelo - Untitled (How Does It Feel)
21. Aaliyah - If Your Girl Only Knew
22. Brandy - I Waanna Be Down
23. Fantasia - Free Yourself
24. Adina Howard - Freak Like Me
25. Janet Jackson feat. Q-Tip - Got 'Til It's Gone

Any favorites from the list?

Do any of these jams make you want to come do arts 'n crafts with me?

What's your favorite Missy Elliott song?

You can check out my other playlists heeeere #IFYEWWANNA!

Also - HEY-O! - my mom is coming to visit me today!! All the way from ye olde Massachusetts! She'll be running the Vancouver Marathon on Sunday... so please send some good vibes her way :) I can't wait to show her all over Vancouver. Having a visitor is always a good reason to cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time, right? Hopefully I don't tucker her out before she even starts her race!

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My Top 10 Kanye West Songs

I've been a fan of Kanye-West-the-rapper since about 2004, though at that point I'd actually been enjoying hits produced by him for years. He performed a concert at UMass back when I was a senior (in 2005), and it was a REALLY good show that mostly showcased his Late Registration album. He even had a full orchestra with him onstage! This was back when he was "Wearing-3-pastel-Polo-shirts-all-with-collars-popped-Louis-Vuitton-Don Kanye," and not yet the "Angry Kanye" that we all know today.

Anyway - for the last few weeks, I've been almost solely listening to Kanye West songs on my iPod at the gym. I start with Black Skinhead for my cardio warm-up, because it's seriously the perfect tempo for doing cardio. (Uh, no seriously. Go listen to it if you're not familz.) Then my iPod will shuffle through all of my Kanye songs for the duration of my workout.

Since all of that workout music has put Kanye on my brain, I wanted to see if I could whittle his discography down to my 10 favorite songs. HERE WE GO.

My Top 10 Kanye West Songs

10. Never Let Me Down (College Dropout)

9. Get Em High (College Dropout)

8. All Falls Down (College Dropout)

7. Monster (My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy)

6. We Don't Care (College Dropout)

5. Gone (Late Registration)

4. So Appalled (MBDTF)

3. All of the Lights (MBDTF)

2. Lost in the World (MBDTF)

1. See Me Now (MBDTF)

Uh... sorry about the graphic artwork on that last one. That's Kanye for you. I'm actually pretty positive that he is a sex addict, if ever there was one.

You might be astute enough to notice that all of my favorite songs only come from 3 of his 6+ albums. Guess it's obvious which are my favorite albums of his! Yeezus is also coming in as a favorite, surprisingly. I say "surprisingly" because that album really did not thrill me at first. It seemed much more abrasive when I first began listening to it. It's grown on me, for sure, but I still don't feel like I've listened to it enough for any of the songs to be on my favorite list.

Other big contenders for this list were:

- We Major
- Drive Slow
- Almost any song on My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. I seriously love that entire album, straight through. If you haven't seen the 30-minute short film (called Runaway) that coincides with that album, you should check it out here.

I excluded the Jay-Z/Kanye West Watch the Throne collaboration album, because if I included that then there's no way this list could have been narrowed down to 10 songs.

Alright, now tell me the truth:
Are you in the Love Him or Hate Him camp?
If you hate him, you don't have to tell me why. I get it.
If you don't hate him - what are some of your favorite songs? Are you a casual fan, or do you own all of his albums?

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My Favorite Sexxxxyyyyy Songs!

For no good reason whatsoever (it's not even my birthday), I was really inspired to put together a list of my favorite sexy songs. It might have been because I've been listening to JT's You Got It On almost everyday while tidying up the kitchen, and day-um is that a sexy song! You know, exactly the kind of thing that screams, "Yeah girl, scrub that sauce pan!"

So even though Valentine's Day is now a few weeks behind us, I hope you'll let this playlist continue to *ahem* inspire you. In no particular order, here are some of my favorite sexy songs!

Drunk In Love - Beyoncé

You Got It On - Justin Timberlake

Motivation - Kelly Rowland

I Get Lonely - Janet Jackson

Bed - J. Holiday

Lost Without U - Robin Thicke

Nobody - Keith Sweat

Promise - Ciara

Take Our Time - TLC

You Already Know - 112

Adorn - Miguel

Anytime, Anyplace - Janet Jackson

What are some of your favorite sexy songs? 

Did any of your favorites make the list?

Did this SUPER SEXY blog post offend your delicate sensibilities?  #HappyHumpDay ;)

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I'M GOING TO SEE JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE TONIGHT.

GUYS.

Remember when I told you about how David got me Justin Timberlake tickets for my birthday back in November, but I lamented that I'd have to wait till January to see the show?

WULL IT'S JANUARY NOW. AND I'M SEEING THAT SHIT TONIGHT.

AHHHHHHH! I haven't seen Justin Timberlake in concert since the summer of 2003, when my hopes and dreams of getting front row tickets were dashed after not winning a radio contest that, by all accounts, I was supposed to win. (Please feel free to read about that heart-breaking moment about ⅔ of the way down this post.) Failing to score those front row seats that I WAS PLANNING ON getting for free meant that I had to concede defeat and buy some scalper's tickets outside the venue that night.

But not this time! #ThanksDave!

I'm not sure if I should be embarrassed about how many times Justin Timberlake comes up as a conversation point on my blog... But I mean... #TrueLifeImAJTimSuperFan. Sawry.

There is a part of me that's terrified that somehow something will happen to thwart this concert from happening tonight. I'm keeping my fingers crossed so hard that he doesn't pull a Kanye and cancel for some reason. I DON'T KNOW IF I'D BE ABLE TO TAKE THE DEVASTATION IF THAT HAPPENED.

But if all goes as planned, my evening is going to be better than yours. Sawry again.

In honor of this special occasion, I'm sharing my Top 10 Justin Timberlake Songs to help YOU ALL get into the same mood that I'm in right now! Hoozah!

My Top 10 Justin Timberlake Songs

10. Drink You Away (20/20 Experience Part 2)

9. Gimme What I Don't Know (I Want) (20/20 Experience Part 2)

8. Another Chance (All Over Again) (FutureSex/LoveSounds)

7. Summer Love (FutureSex/LoveSounds)

6. Pusher Love Girl (20/20 Experience Part 1)

5. My Love (FutureSex/LoveSounds)

4. You Got It On (20/20 Experience Part 2)

3. Love Stoned/ I Think She Knows (FutureSex/LoveSounds)

2. Like I Love You (Justified)

1. Cry Me A River (Justified)

It was really difficult for me to put those into a hierarchy, so take their exact order with a grain of salt. Several of these favorites are on his latest CD, which is kind of cool - he can take 6 years off of making albums and still come back with some goodies!

I hope you guys all have a great day, but, again, I'm sorry that it won't be as good as mine. Give it your best anyway! Tomorrow is Friday, after all! (That means nails tomorrow!)

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HOLY CRAP.

HAVE YOU HEARD THE NEWS?!

THE news.

NSYNC. REUNITING. MTV. VMAs.

Those things are all happening this Sunday, if the rumors are true. (Perez, I swear to god if you're steering me wrong right now.... )

Just slap me. SLAP ME. If loving this news is wrong, I don't want to be right.

If you don't know why I'm flipping my shit right now, please read the entire confession about my NSync fangirl days here: My Long, Serious History with Justin Timberlake

I don't even have MTV in my current cable package, but thanks to the wonders of technology (and also thanks to a recent switch from Shaw to TELUS), I can call up the cable company on Sunday and have them change my package to include MTV and they'll do it right then while I'm on the phone with them. Hoozah!!

Here's one of my favorite NSync VMA performances, from the 1999 VMAs:

How do you feel about NSync? Do you love them or hate them? If you hate them, what's the matter with you? Will you be watching the VMAs?

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iTunes Genius Playlist: Angie Martinez

Here's another fabulous playlist, care of iTunes' Genius feature. Made possible by my own sick music library, of course. This list is based off of the timeless Angie Martinez/Lil Mo/Sacario 2002 jam, If I Could Go, which has been in my head quite a bit lately. Not complaining!

1. Angie Martinez feat. Lil' Mo and Sacario - If I Could Go

2. Mya - Movin' On

3. Truth Hurts feat. Rakim - Addictive

4. Brandy feat. Ma$e - Top of the World

5. Aaliyah feat. Timbaland - We Need a Resolution

6. Destiny's Child feat. Wyclef Jean - No, No, No (remix)

7. Jazmine Sullivan - Holding You Down (Goin' In Circles)

8. IMX - Stay the Night (super extra bonus points if you know this song OR who IMX is)

9. Sunshine Anderson - Heard It All Before

10. Groove Theory - Tell Me

11. Mya - Best of Me

12. Jermaine Dupri feat Mariah Carey - Sweetheart (whatup 1998?!)

13. Brandy - What About Us?

14. Fabolous - Trade It All (remix)

15. Wyclef Jean feat. Claudette Ortiz - Two Wrongs

16. Aaliyah - Are You That Somebody?

17. Destiny's Child - If You Leave

18. TLC - Kick Your Game

19. Mya - Case of the Ex (Whatcha Gonna Do?)

20. Keyshia Cole - I Should've Cheated

21.  Brandy - Baby

My throwback music library is better than yours. #Fact. #Sawry.

The MVP of this list might be Wyclef/Claudette on Two Wrongs.  It's always amazing to be reminded that that song exists, #AMIRIGHT?

Were any of your old school favorites on this list? I hope it inspired you to re-listen to some of them via YouTube or your own iTunes libraries!

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{Linking up to Whatever, Whenever Wednesday}

Suffering from Multiple Musical Personality Disorder

My musical tastes are pretty varied - nothing insane or super indie or anything... but varied, nonetheless. On top of that, I have a neurotic tendency to get songs stuck in my head. I mean, reeeeeeally freaking stuck. Like can't-turn-the-song-off-even-in-the-middle-of-the-night kind of stuck.

Sometimes it's tricky to navigate both of the above traits simultaneously. What do I mean? Well, here are the three most recent songs that I've got on endless repeat in my brain:

Fantasia - When I See You



Aerosmith - Hole In My Soul



Ace of Base - Living In Danger



Da fuck? Like, if that was a playlist it would be the playlist that no one liked, except for me. I hope you've enjoyed this peek into my brain... and also that peek back at Ace of Base's awesome 90s style.


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iTunes Genius Playlist: BlakRoc

Here's an interesting iTunes Genius playlist that I put on while cleaning the house the other day. It's based on the BlakRoc song What You Do to Me, which inspired a pretty eclectic mix of songs! Because BlakRoc is such a clever mash-up of hip hop and The Black Keys, Genius had a little bit of a wonderful seizure while trying to figure out what genre What You Do to Me fell under.

The result was a playlist that included The Black Keys, The Gorillaz, Fiona Apple and Bob Dylan. Behold:

1. What You Do to Me - BlakRoc
2. If You See Me - The Black Keys
3. White Flag - Gorillaz
4. Fame - Citizen Cope
5. I Try - Talib Kweli
6. Bukowski - Modest Mouse
7. Myxomatosis - Radiohead
8. Extraordinary Machine - Fiona Apple
9. Burn One Down - Ben Harper
10. Circles - Soul Coughing
11. Ain't Nothing Like You (Hoochie Coo) - BlakRoc
12. I'm Not the One - The Black Keys
13. New Genious (Brother) - Gorillaz
14. Delicate - Damien Rice
15. Penitentiary - Citizen Cope
16. Every Single Night - Fiona Apple
17. A Punch Up At A Wedding - Radiohead
18. Amen Omen - Ben Harper
19. Everywhere I Go - The Black Keys
20. Shelter From the Storm - Bob Dylan
21. Glitter Freeze - Gorillaz
22. The Garden - Mirah
23. Stop Me - Mark Ronson
24. Hope You're Happy - BlakRoc
25. Better Version of Me - Fiona Apple

Are you familiar with BlakRoc? If not, you should definitely check them out. It's essentially a group of artists collaborating on a music project with The Black Keys - participants include Nicole Wray, Mos Def (aka ya boy Yasiin Bey), MOP, Raekwon, Jim Jones, Q-Tip and others. The album, BlakRoc, is definitely one of best albums I've purchased in the last 5 years. You can watch tons of videos of them making the album here: BlakRoc.com

Here's the video for What You Do to Me, which is the song that made me purchase the entire album.



Check out the songs in the playlist - I hope it helps you either discover some new music or remember some of your old favs! Browse other playlists here:  iTunes Genius Playlists

Justin Timberlake Suit & Tie Cover

Oh #hey, did I mention that I'm a fan of Justin Timberlake? I think I recall saying something about it a couple weeks ago.

I love that he came out of musical hiding recently (well, sort of hiding... he did some good things with Timbaland and Ciara and Nelly Furtado in the meantime), and his album - The 20/20 Experience - hasn't disappointed me. I get songs from the album stuck in my head constantly and find myself singing them aloud pretty often, too. Which isn't great for Dave... but I digress.

JT's first single was "Suit & Tie" and I've been pretty #into it since its release a couple months ago. I haven't gotten sick of it at all, in fact. Last week my co-worker/buddy Lauren sent me a link to a unique cover of the song that's been playing at least once or twice a day in my apartment ever since. 

Check out this violin cover of the song, performed by (I believe) Boston musicians Rhett Price and Josh Knowles (no relation to #YaGirl Bey):

They have some other great videos too, including a rendition of Taylor Swift's "Trouble", as performed by the duo in a Boston T station on the Red Line. Check it out!

When Music Videos Ruled the World

The other day a random television commercial for a concert performance ended up taking me off on a trip down music video memory lane. The commercial was actually quite sad... because it was an advertisement letting me know that Keith Sweat (yes, your boy, Keith Sweat) would be performing at a casino somewhere on February 8. A casino. Ugh, Keith. What happened buddy? And somewhere in the world, a member of Total dies.

Dave asked me who Keith Sweat was (or maybe that was in my head and I simply imagined Dave asking me to tell him everything about Keith Sweat and list all of his hits and sing through a few lines of Twisted and describe his goatee and reflect on the year 1996 in general), so I obviously ended up pulling up Twisted on YouTube and playing it. Totally for Dave... I swear.

UM. Have YOU watched the video for Twisted recently?? #YOUKIDDINME?? It's action-packed with an actual story line of some sort. It's got murder, luxurious parties, Keith Sweat as the handsome and mysterious detective, a passionate love scene and the unexpected shootout at the end. And of course the strong 90s motifs of all-white outfits, R&B girl groups and torso-dancing on couches.

Well don't just take my word for it!



So the video really got me thinking... music videos used to be so good. SO good. MTV, BET and VH1 used to all take music videos so seriously. Do you remember when a VMA actually meant something, because everyone had actually SEEN the VM's the artists were receiving the A's for??

DO YOU?

Before any of these absolute effin' gems go fading any further from your memory, let's take a moment to reflect on epic music videos of yore:

{If any of these don't play on this site, just click them to watch them on YouTube. Or live with regret for the rest of your life. Totally your choice.}

R. Kelly - Down Low (1995):



And of course, Down Low's sequel of sorts - the lesser-known-but-still-as-boss Isley Brother's Contagious (2001) - also featuring your boy R. Kelly:



Puff Daddy - Victory (1998):



Mariah Carey - Honey (1997):



 Celine Dion - It's All Coming Back to Me Now (1998):



Can't mention awesome, epic music videos without mentioning your boy MJ. You probably think I'd be gushing about Thriller, but all I'm sayin issssss don't sleep on Michael Jackson's Smooth Criminal (1987):



Or what about any of the number of insane-o adventures that Alicia Silverstone was going on in all those Aerosmith videos in the mid-90s??





Did you think I was kidding?? And why the crap was it OK for Liv Tyler do be doing any of that stuff in her dad's music video?? BECAUSE IT WAS. Music videos used to make their own rules!

Here are a few more things to reflect on:  Making the Video. Pop-Up Video. TRL.

*Le sigh.*

What were some of your favorite epic music videos? I'd really love to hear them!