Oh s#&t, son, it's SA-RA.

So I recently picked up this here album by SA-RA Creative Partners.

I don't know what to say really, except for the fact that I ignored these cats severely for like two years and now I realize that that was pretty lame of me.

This album is a great mix of funk, electronica, soul, and hip hop. It is a smooth, funky, sexy collection of work. Some great cameos by Erykah Badu, Bilal, Georgia Anne Muldrow, and the late great J-Dilla. The Dilla Track may be my favorite. Standout tracks include, "Glorious," "And if," "Rosebuds,", the aforementioned Dilla Track entitled "thrilla," the semi-title cut "Hollywood", and I'm also a big fan of "Sweet Sour You" if not for any other reason than for the fact that Bilal's falsetto=pure sex.

Low points: can't pick a whole lot of them, but i'm going to go with "lean on me" featuring Kurupt (though I like kurupt on here, makes me wanna throw on my blue chucks), and "Tracy"---because it sounds like a Kelis track and I would rather see Kelis on a track like this than this annoying broad I've never heard of.

I also appreciate the slight west coast flavor they bring, seeing as that I am from killa cali and they are too. Given that they share the same hometown of Los Angeles as J*Davey, I wonder if they have collaborated with them? Can someone (*cough* honorable media*cough*) confirm this for me? Furthermore, I wonder if Kanye will sign J*Davey to G.O.O.D records? That would be rather sweet.

I should add that they are Okayartists so you can check them out on that website. You can also check out a pretty decent article about them at HipHopDX.

Oh, back to J*Davey for a second. So the guy in the group, D'Leau....how about I knew him back when we were both pretty young and still living in LA cuz we went to the same church. And his mom sang in the choir and had a beautiful alto voice.

How about, aside from the fact that he had no idea I was alive, I also had the biggest crush on him ever. Yep, sure did.

alanis morrissette covers "my humps"

i am dyin laughin. alanis morissette is stylin on fergie hard right now.




i like it more than corinne bailey rae's jazz cover of "sexy back"; folks talked about the chick really bad after this, but i secretly dig it.



what is the deal with all these artists re-making pop hits? i mean it's funny but i'm wondering where the trend came from.

nelly furtado re-made Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy"...it was ehh, but if i find it i'll post it up.

what he was a businessman instead of a business, man?

i was having a conversation recently with my aunt about beyonce. as i've said earlier, i'm not necessarily a beyonce hater, and i never have been. but i'm honest with mine. i know that she isn't the end-all be-all to Black music, and if it wasn't for her daddy and other numerous people around her she wouldn't have any of the fame she has now. point blank, i don't find her to be very smart or intellectual. like...if she wasn't a singer, what the hell would she do in life that would bring her as much success as her singing career does?

that switched the convo to another topic: which celebs do we find to be the smartest in the bunch, and furthermore, which ones do we think that if life dealt them a different hand and they had another occupation, they'd still rock our world? we created a shortlist, and i think it's worth sharing. wanna hear it? heah'go!

Andre 3000-the man is just very intelligent and if the way he approach life as a whole is any way like the way he approaches his music--there's no telling what he would have done.

Kanye should have finished college, and that's all i'm gonna say about that.

Alicia Keys

Nas

Jay-Z shouldn't be on this list cuz he's already a business man, i guess

Madlib

Jill Scott-i don't know i could see her being a social worker or maybe a college professor.

David Banner should have finished his masters.

Gabrielle Union always comes off as being very smart to me, and i don't know why.

i don't know, this list turned out to be really short, and i don't know if it's because we just weren't thinking hard enough or because there really aren't very many people in show biz who have got it like that. something tells me it's the latter.