SOHH Squad
In this week's Pulse Report, we're going to see why President Obama has your little brother scared to death, take a minute, or two or maybe a couple hours to hear Foxy Brown cry, applaud Waka Flocka Flame's ability to destroy a bad relationship and oh SOHH much more!
[Editor’s Note: The views expressed in this column do not necessarily reflect those of SOHH]
1. Start Getting Scared
You ever see those movies, you know, the really, really, really bad ones that’s from the 1980’s and is all about the government being behind end-of-the-world destruction and you’ve got really crappy editing in all of the fight sequences? Yeah, well, that’s kinda what it looks like we’re going in 2013, thanks to the government. It’s no secret that there’s cameras everywhere and that the government probably knows more about us than our parents, side chicks and family members, but to the extreme that we’re starting to learn about now? Verizon phone calls (thank God I have T-Mobile), Skype, Google/Yahoo searches, huh?
The National Security Agency and the FBI are tapping directly into the central servers of nine leading U.S. Internet companies, extracting audio and video chats, photographs, e-mails, documents, and connection logs that enable analysts to track foreign targets, according to a top-secret document obtained by The Washington Post. The program, code-named PRISM, has not been made public until now. It may be the first of its kind. The NSA prides itself on stealing secrets and breaking codes, and it is accustomed to corporate partnerships that help it divert data traffic or sidestep barriers. But there has never been a Google or Facebook before, and it is unlikely that there are richer troves of valuable intelligence than the ones in Silicon Valley. Equally unusual is the way the NSA extracts what it wants, according to the document: “Collection directly from the servers of these U.S. Service Providers: Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube, Apple.” (Washington Post)
And don’t worry, you know there’s always that statement that’s supposed to make us feel like this is for our own good:
President Obama, speaking publicly for the first time about his administration’s mass collection of phone and Internet data, said Friday that the programs have made a difference in tracking terrorists and are not tantamount to “Big Brother.” Obama addressed the mounting controversy about the programs during remarks in California, ahead of a highly anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. As the administration moves to declassify some of the details about those programs, Obama assured that his administration is trying to strike the right “balance.”
“In the abstract, you can complain about Big Brother and how this is a potential program run amok, but when you actually look at the details, then I think we’ve struck the right balance,” Obama said.
Obama acknowledged that the U.S. government is collecting reams of phone records, including phone numbers and the duration of calls, but said this does not include listening to calls or gathering the names of callers. “Nobody’s listening to the content of people’s phone calls,” Obama said. (Fox News)
All of you married pervs can relax now, there’s no worries about the government hearing your 1-900 phone calls! LOL. That all still doesn’t calm me down with the social sites they’re examining now. Let’s be honest, there’s been some e-mails that you wish you could take back, especially during the prime of MySpace. LOL. Guess we’ll have to wait to find out just how much info will be provided. All you nerds out there better clear out your hard drives or get a back-up! LOL.
2. Black Beauty
I don’t know if I’ve ever told y’all, but I’ve always had a big crush on Foxy Brown. Now don’t get tight, I also had one huge one on Lil’ Kim, but that was really based on my obsession with Notorious B.I.G. being the best rapper ever and knowing he probably really made Kim his bottom you-know-what. Well, in terms of Foxy, she’s always won me over by her dark complexion, thugged out attitude and “swagger.” Yeah, pardon the out-dated expression. LOL. It kinda made me choke up to hear her on “The Combat Jack Show” talking the way she did. I don’t know about y’all, but she just doesn’t seem all there, and considering everything’s she’s been through in this industry, who can blame her? Big props to VIBE for sitting through over 2 hours of audio, these are some of the hottest highlights:
On her history of upgrading dudes
“When you’re 14 and your nickname is good [p—y], what does that say? That means that you have to be, at some point, you have to have that… And then you’re with the strongest dudes. You have to break them down mentally… Nothing makes me like a person more than intelligence.”
On insecurities about her dark skin
“I had the worst insecurity. Because my mom is light-skinned. My mom is very light-skinned, and she’s from Trinidad. She would always tell me to make me feel better, because all the women in my family are light, she would say: ‘I wish I could go to the beach and just get dark.’…And I think we all have that, even in this generation now, with my nieces or my little cousins who are dark-skinned, they have that innate type of… It’s something that I don’t think ever would probably change.”
On what kind of dudes she likes
“I just like powerful dudes, even if he was just the dude on the block, but he just had that respect. That’s why my longest relationship with Spragga [Benz], my first true, true, true love, he’s a militant dude… He just stands for something.”
On her dad’s absence
“My dad leaving just left a huge hole in my heart… Later on, after they divorced, he started getting high and he was really bad. My dad had a welding shop and I would be coming off tour and pulling up on the corner and he’d be sitting on top of a crate, just shriveled up. But he was still my king, still my dad. My brother tried to fill the void, but your dad is your king, for a little girl. He’s the one that tells you that you are a princess, you are beautiful. He trains you to know that a man should open a car door for you.”
On getting permission to use the name “Foxy Brown”
“Foxy Brown was Pam Grier. I was 15 years old and she told me, ‘I’ve done damage to this name.’ In the ’70s, every dude wanted to… and every girl wanted to be her. She told me, ‘I want you to make your Foxy bigger than my Foxy.'”
On her brothers always having her back
“The one thing that I’m very grateful is that I did nothing without my two brothers, Anton and Gavin. It’s unheard of to put your brothers on the cover of XXL. XXL said, ‘We don’t put people’s brothers and sisters on the cover. Are you kidding me?’ It was for us getting our own subsidiary label. We had a real joint venture with Def Jam and it was huge… I was like, ‘They have to be on the cover with me.'”
On her relationship with Jay-Z
“Jay was always Jay. He was always that dude, whether it was him going out of town and in the streets, he was always that dude. Where I came in, I don’t think Jay himself… Clark wanted it for myself and Jay more than we even wanted it. But I don’t think Jay saw past ‘Can’t Knock the Hustle,’ the streets. And [then] my records crossed over and went pop and they were Number One all over and ‘Ain’t No Nigga,’ the format of that record is so hip-hop.”
On the day she lost her hearing
“It was the morning of the funeral, so imagine. I was in Brooklyn. I wasn’t home in Jersey. This was my mom’s younger sister, she passed away from cancer. And Jay was leaving to go out of the country and found out, cancelled his trip and said, this is family. I need to be here… When I woke up [on the morning of the funeral] it was so quiet. It was a quiet you would never know. It was a quiet that I’ve learned to make work for me now, because I had to mentally find a way to flip it to my advantage and say, well, the serenity that I hear when I have that moment, I can sit down and read a book. I can sit down and create and I don’t hear the normal wind. There was absolutely no sound. It’s a sound that will drive you crazy. Jays the funeral, my family’s at the funeral… I got on my knees… I said, ‘God, what’s happening to my world?'”
On telling Jay-Z she’d lost her hearing
“He’s there [at the church] waiting and he’s like, ‘I have to talk to you.’ I can’t pick up the phone ’cause I can’t hear so I just go straight there. He tells me something in my ear, and I say, ‘Jay, I can’t hear you’… I’ve never seen him that emotional. He looked broken. He said, ‘Can you hear?’ I said, ‘No.'”
There’s plenty more and I would highly suggest sitting back with a cold drink, some popcorn and watching something with the sound muted while you listen to this. The co-hosts are pretty funny and you get to hear a very emotional Foxy Brown telling everything. Very touching if I might say so myself.
3. Moment of the Week: Waka Flocka Flame Destroys But Saves A Marriage
There’s just some things you have to applaud and after finding out Waka Flocka Flame was responsible for helping a 50+ year-old woman finally gain the courage to leave her husband? Y’all know it had to go in here. Really nothing more to say than, “I’m single, lady.” LOL. Joking.
Now, my ex-husband and I had always had problems. We were on a typical bad relationship roller coaster; good times followed by bad times followed by good times and so on. Finally, the good times were just too far between and although the bad times subsided too, we fell into a very polite and civilized existence. That is, until Waka came to town.
My ex NEVER liked rap, my interest in rap & rap artists, or my blogging about rap. When I knew Waka was coming to Ft. Lauderdale, my husband basically said he wouldn’t prevent me from going (as if) but he didn’t want me to go. When I didn’t immediately agree not to go, things got worse. He basically implied that (and I’m paraphrasing) “many black men would be putting their bodies in close proximity to mine.” Also, “since I was so enamored of Waka, if Waka asked, I might go out clubbing with him and end up doing something I’d regret.”
I had DM’d him a few times before the concert to tell him I was coming & would be the old white lady with reddish hair in the front. When I got my turn for the photo, I said, “Waka, you follow me on Twitter.” He replied, “Oh yeah, you said you was comin’!”
I was so thrilled! It really made my night, my week, my year, my decade. And when I got home, I realized that I’d gotten TWO photos with Waka; the first one was when I replied “Oh yes, Waka, that was me!” and was all googly-eyed and giggling like a schoolgirl. The second photo was the posed shot.
So, basically, the experience with my ex of the Waka concert made my mind up for me. It was time to make that break, and live my life without looking over my shoulder or being beholden to an immature man who didn’t appreciate me or the interesting turns my life might take. We’ve been divorced for a few months now. I couldn’t be happier. (Bossip)
SMH. All from seeing Waka Flocka Flame? LOL!
4. Mrs. Butterworth: Nicki Minaj
I don’t want to hear it, y’all. Yes, she’s been featured on here before but something about Nicki as of late has been making a lot of us some very thirsty doggies. You might even go as far as to say desert thirsty doggies! LOL. Just shut up and enjoy the still-shot twerking. LOL.
5. Rappers Say The Darndest Things
I’m not gonna even lie to y’all, I’m short on time, it’s raining and I’ve got to really run so it was almost a blessing this worked out the way I wanted it to, there’s only ONE doggy that gets the SMH treatment and it’s hard for me to do. Understand, my goal is to one-day have a “NO DOGGIES SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS” Friday, but there’s always someone who puts themselves on blast. Thus, it’s gotta be Jadakiss. Kiss, you must have heard about me boasting about Rick Ross being a real “boss” these days but that doesn’t mean you go and work for him. SMH. You’re doing yourself like Busta Rhymes. I understand you think it’s hot to join a “hot” team, but when you’ve accomplished more in your career than Ross, you can’t allow yourself to fall under him. C’mon, for real? Y’all be the judge.
“The LOX might get an offer from MMG. That’s what that’s about. I’m signed to Def Jam though for three or four more albums. But definitely that was one of the places that were inquirying about the new LOX album. You’ll hear about a couple more. The LOX album is definitely coming.” (XXL Mag)
***Aight, apologies y’all, I know this week’s Pulse Report was pretty quick and to the point, but it’s a nasty a** rainy day in New York! LOL. I’m not ready to put my money on the San Antonio Spurs, especially after one game and the Heat aren’t giving me an overabundance of hope either. This series could go seven games, winner takes all. The only reason I don’t want to see the Spurs get it is because T-Mac would get a free ring. C’mon, doggy, word? Riding the bench to a championship and now getting the metal too? LOL. I guess Eddy Curry did it last year. SMH. Aight y’all, catch you doggies on Tuesday! -BB***
buttersworth SUCKED we seen her ass plenty of times
I can’t even get through the Foxy Brown interview. I really wanted to though. It just seem like.. Idk, heartbreaking to hear this sista struggling to complete sentences.
What a disgusting and filty society we live in. Good is called evil and evil is called good