A History of Black Folk on Twitter: Mark Anthony Neal @ TEDxDuke

From 'Go Down Moses' to the death of Manning Marable, what is the relationship between Black folk and social media?

About TEDx

TEDx was created in the spirit of TED's mission, "ideas worth spreading." The program is designed to give communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level.

At TEDx events, a screening of TEDTalks videos -- or a combination of live presenters and TEDTalks videos -- sparks deep conversation and connections. TEDx events are fully planned and coordinated independently, on a community-by-community basis.

Remembering Teena Marie

Teena Marie is remembered as an important contributor to R&B and Soul music, who against all logic sustained a 30-year-plus singing career with an overwhelmingly Black audience base.

Remembering Teena Marie
by Mark Anthony Neal|Essence.com

In a 1985 profile in People Magazine, the late Rick James called Teena Marie "the most important White female singer since Barbara Streisand; and her own race forgot her." James' comments came on the heels of Marie's only taste of crossover success, with the top-ten pop hit "Lover Boy." Twenty-five years later, with her death at the age of 54, Marie is remembered as an important contributor to R&B and Soul music, who against all logic sustained a 30-year-plus singing career with an overwhelmingly Black audience base.

Though there have been many who might be described as "sounding Black" -- many fans on Twitter and Facebook sheepishly recalled finding out for the first time that Marie was not Black -- what was always clear in Marie's music is that she was not only influenced by Black culture, but had a legitimate passion and respect for it. That she never actively sought to find a broader audience for her music, despite the fact that she had the talent to sing anything she wanted, speaks volumes about the integrity of the woman simply known as "Lady Tee."

Born Mary Christine Brockert in Venice Beach, Calif. in 1956, Marie joined Motown Records in 1976. The label had previously signed White acts such as the band Rare Earth (Hip-Hop pioneer Kool Herc cites the group's cover of "Get Ready" as one of his favorites), Chris Clark (Berry Gordy's one-time lover) and even comedian Soupy Sales, but most were thought of as little more than novelty acts. Marie represented something all together different; a White woman whose vocal gifts were reminiscent of soulful belters like Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin and Linda Jones, whose "Hypnotized" she covered in 1994.

Read the Full Essay @ Essence.com

Dr. Guy (Guthrie) Ramsey on Teena Marie

Teena Marie, Trailblazing Singer Known As The Ivory Queen Of Soul, Has Died
NPR All Things Considered

Lady T. Vanilla Child. The Ivory Queen of Soul. Mary Christine Brockert earned all kinds of nicknames over the course of her career. The one most people knew was Teena Marie.

Marie died yesterday at home in Pasadena, at the age of 54. A white woman whose exceptional voice made her a success in the traditionally black genres of soul, R&B and funk, her career began on Motown in the late 1970s. The cover of her 1979 debut album, Wild and Peaceful, didn't feature her photo; Marie later said that Motown chief Berry Gordy wanted people to listen to her voice without getting distracted by the color of her skin.

Talking to Audie Cornish on All Things Considered on Monday, University of Pennsylvania music professor Guthrie Ramsay explained Teena Marie's talent in technical terms:

"She sings with a very robust chest voice but she also has what we call a coloratura range. And that is, she can sing -- I tested it out -- she's singing high Cs, high C sharps. And she moves effortlessly through the range of her voice; she has a signature and very fluid melisma -- singing lots of notes on one syllable. And although her voice had a naturally wide vibrato, there was a sense that she was very much in control of it."

Rick James was one of many fans of Marie's voice. The two were romantically involved for years, and made songs like "Fire and Desire" and "I'm a Sucker for Your Love" together.

Marie had an acrimonious split with Motown; she filed a suit against the company that led to a law preventing record labels from keeping a musician on contract but refusing to release records. Ramsay says that Marie came into an industry that was in transition, and sometimes hesitant to embrace unconventional artists.

"You had some of the smaller labels being bought by larger corporations, and at that time they began to exercise a lot more artistic control over these artists in terms of what kind of music they wanted them to put out and what kind of image they wanted them to have. So she kind of stood out as an anomaly because first of all she was a white woman singing very soulful songs throughout all of the genres. She was participating in R&B ballads. She sang over funk songs. She did pop songs. Her "Ooh La La La" song is an early smooth jazz type of song. So she was really quite ambitious in her stylings, but at the same time she had to fight record labels in order to get the full range of her musicality out there."

Marie continued recording for labels like Epic and Cash Money; she recorded hits like "Ooh La La La," "Fix It" and "Lovergirl" in the '80s. Her final album, Congo Square, was released in 2009 on Stax.

Ramsay says Teena Marie's connection with soul was deep.

"She was a person who personified the idea that culture is learned. And for whatever reason, she was raised in a situation where she was exposed to soul music, R&B music, and she embraced it as her own. She believed that if it moved her, she could be part of it."

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Teena Marie and #BlackTwitter

Twitter conversations around singer's death speak to the lack of trust African-Americans have in mainstream media.

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Teena Marie and #BlackTwitter
by Mark Anthony Neal | TheLoop21

I was doing my usual Sunday night multi-tasking of trying to meet a writing deadline, following the late NFL scores and eavesdropping on Twitter when I first heard the news about the death of legendary R&B singer Teena Marie. That Twitter has become a source of breaking news is not surprising — many producers and bookers from mainstream news sources from CNN to NPR have perches on Twitter. But Twitter also has the propensity to get the story wrong and to spread mis-information (as opposed to government sponsored dis-information), including ill-conceived rumors about the deaths of celebrities.

This later dynamic takes on an added emphasis within the phenomenon of #BlackTwitter — cited many times this past year for its ability to dictate what are the most popular trends on Twitter to the obliviousness of most non-Black Twitter users. Only months ago Twitter announced that Bill Cosby had died, which Cosby rebutted via his own Twitter account @BillCosby. And accordingly many within #BlackTwitter were skeptical and suspicious even after Ronald Isley announced Marie’s death on Twitter (and yes, even the recently incarcerated Mr. Biggs is on Twitter) and it was announced on Philadelphia’s WDAS.

Amidst what is certainly a tragedy for Ms. Marie’s family and for pop music in general, the #BlackTwitter response to Ms. Marie was a marvel to witness. Many resisted outright that Ms. Marie had died — citing Ms. Marie’s own Twitter account which was last used on Christmas Day — awaiting official word from a reputable news source, even as many also disregarded traditional sources like CNN as being viable to deliver news that was meaningful to Black audiences.

Read the Full Essay @ theLoop21

Teena Marie Backstage @ The Rhythm & Blues Foundation Award Ceremony

ReelBlack TV was privileged to encounter TEENA MARIE backstage at the 2008 R&B Foundation Awards. Here is the raw uncut footage from her press conference after receiving the award. She will be sadly missed. Camera Bill Tucker and Mike D.

Black Music Month 2008: Perfect Combination--The Soul Duets

from Critical Noir @ Vibe.com

This is the third in a series Black Music Month Playlists that will explore common themes explored in the Soul Music Tradition.

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In 1984, Stacy Lattisaw recorded "Perfect Combination" with Johnny Gill. Lattisaw was a teen sensation recordings hits like a remake of The Moments' "Love on a Two Way Street" and "Let Me Be Your Angel." Atlantic hoped to capitalize on her success in order to break a teen-aged Boston vocalist by the name of Johnny Gill. It would still be years before Gill's body would catch up to his grown man vocals and eventually an audience that appreciated his talents. But "Perfect Combination" was an earnest attempt to capture that Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell magic. When Lattisaw was on the downside of her career and Gill's star was finally on the rise (courtesy of his spin with New Edition) the two collaborated again on "Where Do We Go from Here?" The songs with Lattisaw and Gill are a reminder of other great Soul and R&B duets, like these below.


"Ain't No Mountain High Enough"--Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell

"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" borders on being cliché, as it is so often referenced as the quintessential Soul duet. True there's an innocence and sexiness that's palpable in this classic pairing of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell and Motown milked it for all they could releasing three album's worth of material by the duo including classics like "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing," "You're All I Need to Get By" and "Your Precious Love", the song that Terrell was signing when she collapsed in Gaye's arms at a concert in Virginia in 1967. Ironically, Gaye and Terrell weren't even in the studio together--Gaye added his vocals long after Terrell laid down hers. Yet the energy is real and for that we can thank the writers, Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson, who gave Marvin and Tammi songs drawn from their own romance. Terrell died tragically in 1970 of a brain tumor.


"Ain't Understanding Mellow"--Jerry Butler & Brenda Lee Eager

Jerry Butler had been in the music business for nearly 15 years and was on the third stage of a career that began as the lead vocalist of The Impressions (with Curtis Mayfield). Butler was on the downside of the most popular point of a career that was largely resuscitated courtesy of Leon Huff and Kenny Gamble (a few years before PIR) when he teamed with Brenda Lee Eager for the ultimate breakup song "Ain't Understanding Mellow." This was serious grown folk music about a man showing appreciation for a partner, who was honest enough to admit to her love for another man. In turn she shows appreciation for him understanding her situation. This ultimately a song about a couple who were grounded in friendship, even as the romantic relationship starts to sour. And yeah, what's the deal with that title?

Read the full playlist @