Leon Thomas My Muse video made me want to watch D'Angelo's Me and Those Dreamin' Eyes of Mine video 🤷🏿‍♀️. Something was missing from the former that I found in the latter.

😂❤️

i think one of the issues we see a lot in general is that people feel like they have to relate to *everything*. it’s ok for something, anything, to just .. not be for you lol.

One thing I always hated about watching NBA games from here is when we had US-American sportscasters, which is too often. Not sorry! They'd always go on and on about useless Canadian facts b/c they don't know that TO is *one city* out of so many and don't consider a Canadian team a real competitor.

Just thinking about the wild misinterpretations of Sinners and Parasite being products of several of those moving parts. Or even how shows like The Good Place, 24, Mr. Robot etc. with major you-didn't-see-that-coming moments couldn't work in this landscape. Reacting has more currency then engaging.

It seems pervasive based on what I've come across. There are a lot of moving parts though: We watch things primarily at home on mobile devices; lack of communal watching = cultural disconnection; binge-watching means interesting plots (over other elements of a show) have to be social media-worthy;

Watching this Wayne Shorter doc and nary a Black woman to be seen, found or heard so far. Always interesting (negative) to see this pattern [occur and go relatively unchallenged] in docs about Black male jazz artists.

Way too tired to be all "Go Jays Go" and Let's Go Raptors" on the same night. My commute was busy enough with both groups of fans rushing in every direction 😩. Staying in and staying cozy!

I don't even know what to say anymore. 14 fucking years.

One of my favourite photos is the one of Louis and Lucille Armstrong at the Great Sphinx of Giza. If everlasting romance was a photo, it's that one.

Reminds me of how years ago, I used to either sign out several books at once or spend hours in the library looking at jazz era + Harlem Renaissance era photography, completely captured by the candidness of it all.

I love the way that Dizzy Gillespie looking at Ella Fitzgerald.

A decade plus of so. many. receipts. And to my knowledge, he hasn't ever talked about it, being a part of the group of young Black men who have these supposed "phases" of extreme misogynoir, anti-Blackness etc. It's why even with the rebrands, I couldn't get into his music. *I* never forgot.

Really appreciate this because this has been my experience as well. ❤️ But honouring the time it takes to get back into community and organizing work is key too, so that the shame and guilt doesn't push you into inaction.

Those things -- curiosity, empathy, care etc. -- build character and heart. And *those things* free your imagination because they're built on something legit that goes beyond a particular end goal. They make you a more interesting *person* vs. a person who can do *specific* interesting things.

100%. It also teaches you (anyone) about *people* and *relationships* (to your further points). Many romance books show you the inner worlds of characters + perspectives you may not otherwise be privy to. Smut doesn't require that. Romance books can grow your curiosity, empathy and self-awareness.

YES!

This is me! The editing, revising, thinking work etc. is a responsibility, a joy, a service and a necessary part of my practice as a writer. AI steals that process and sullies the rigor that makes all of us who we are IMO. It's insulting to me when it's suggested as a replacement, tbh.

This critique does emphasize the importance of demands. I like that. But it does so at the cost of undermining organizers and the effectiveness of countering media narratives of the popularity of the US government. And it does so in a rather vague manner.

LRT is why I'm a bit confused by the idea that one act of performance or a rally is not effective or useful in helping convince people that: 1) Taking risks is something they can do 2) Taking risks with others is something worth doing 3) Inviting others to do the same is important action

It's good practice to lead with what you are doing rather than with what others aren't. Share what you are doing and invite others to join you.

Part of why it was sort of annoying during the Blog Era to hear many people (producers) try to replicate that sound (a la J Dilla) was because it always sounded like a literal replication gone wrong. Same goes with song covers. Copying the artists' choices rather than exploring them to show us YOU.

Also, neo-soul is inextricably linked to the Soulquarians. And the throughline from one to the other is collaboration. So, even if you could hear that sound today? The collaboration and the collective is missing. It's not a time you could easily recreate.

I think of it more as a time period because, according to the guy who coined it (Kedar), it was just a marketing thing. None of the neo-soul pioneers claim the term either. Also? You couldn't identify the sound in anything today. The only neo thing about it is how it blended sounds + genres.

D’Angelo was on another level. And I’m with sis…let’s normalize touching 80 @ Big Sandals 😭

You articulated so much of what I love and will always adore about D'Angelo. This is right on time, exactly what I was looking to read. Thank you for writing and sharing ❤️.

Neo-soul as a concept is fascinating on its own b/c when you zoom out and analyze what was happening musically around the world? There are rumblings of it. Off the top: - Omar Lye-Fook, Soul II Soul, Loose Ends, Caron Wheeler etc. in England, - Esthero, Ivana Santilli etc. in Canada

Deeply appreciate this timeline *and* I would add Joi's The Pendulum Vibe (1994) to this list because she debuts a year before D'Angelo and, IIRC, was the first to be dubbed "neo-soul".

Excellent reporting and writing. As a TMU alumna, I always heard from students about York U being the bastion of humanities, art, critical thought and social sciences. So, reading this story was really eye-opening. I knew York U had several issues but I had no idea about the depths of it all.

Always loved this demo/rendition of "Africa", a song dedicated to/inspired by the birth of D'Angelo's firstborn son.

I know everyone in the/adjacent to the Soulquarians is mourning this huge loss. My heart hurts for all of them, especially b/c they all lost Dilla so young as well.

What D’Angelo said Black Messiah means. It came out at the end of 2014 and it was so needed.

The Black Messiah and To Pimp A Butterfly coming out months apart was magic. They've always been sonically, musically and spiritually in conversation to me.

D'Angelo didn't do a lot of interviews but one of my favourite ones was the one he did with Red Bull Music Academy. He talks about his origins, his connection to funk and soul, his friendship with Questlove + his feelings on the neo-soul moniker. "I make Black music." Watch:

Thinking about the space between Voodoo and Black Messiah, and how the outtakes, leaks, acoustic versions and uploads online of entire concerts kept us hoping for the day that would be the release date of the latter album. It didn't feel like he left because those sounds sustained me.

And with Angie dying tragically earlier this year? I feel for their son. Man, this fucking year.

Was waiting for confirmation from someone from his circle and the heartbreak I feel right now is indescribable. I don't love music the way I do without this man's music.💔 Sending so much love to his loved ones. This is so incredibly sad. And it's always fuck cancer.

Black people really are fine as hell. No notes.

Still thinking about how "long line of revolutionaries" produces a chaotic one who has zero discipline or loyalty. And look, revolutionaries are complex but what they are not is unsure about what they're fighting for, who they are against and what they're willing to do for the cause.

The best part of the film, where I really saw and felt the heart, was Benicio del Toro. If he wins anything for that film, it's deserved.

One Battle After Another....*that's* the supposed movie of the year? JFC. I wanted to leave after 15 minutes.

Right this morning, wrong this afternoon, lol. The way I've changed jackets every single day and have paid for it dearly at some point in the day😅.

Always have to remember many of y'all use Fahrenheit, lol. I saw "chilly" and "48 degrees" in the same sentence and was confused for a quick second😅.

Ask anyone who has worked with youth in the last 10 years and we'll tell you this truth. More than anything, they're curious about what things were like and how they can experience something that isn't so overwhelming. IIRC, I had a whole talk about how phone books worked...with teenagers, lol.

There's a larger conversation to be had about the way songwriting and writing more broadly is not often valued as a skill, an integral one that drives other artistic expressions.

In better news: S2 of IWTV? PHENOMENAL. Just ugh, everything. I've got to do a re-watch because my goodness, the character development, plot, twists, turns, storytelling, *WRITING(!!!)* is just....*chef's kiss*.

LOOOOOOOOL! I really want to like Lewis. He seems genuine in some aspects, like he's sort of grown from S1 in terms of how he communicates w/ Jax...but then he went and got another woman pregnant, embarrassed Jax and was whiny about her feelings. The whole "separated" timeline doesn't cut it.

AHHHH This looks AMAZING! I was too tired to go at all but I'm so glad this happened (and you got to enjoy it!) because this city needs *consistent* reminders of who the legends are!

Waiting for the "I know what to wear and I don't have to keep folding and unfolding sweaters every two business" weather to arrive, any day now 😅. I'm tired of being told I was right with my choice of clothing in the morning, wrong in the afternoon and wrong again at night, lol.

Sometimes I hate being an adult learner and knowing learning and education via my degree because I know *exactly* why learning languages as an adult (even though you've lived with them since childhood) can be so challenging, lol.