rafi-dangelo

Look at this photo.

Whitney throwing shade from the grave y’all!

“Beyonce? Cover moi?!”

Look at this photo.

Someone reminded me last week how much better Britney’s productions have gotten since Blackout. I still only like about 10 songs, but hey, that’s 9 more than her pre-Blackout era.

Weekly Charts.

BHM Day Thirteen: Whitney Houston.

I wrote this last year as part of a Black History Month series, but on the anniversary of Whitney’s death it seems appropriate to remind you how important she was to pop music.

rafi-dangelo:

(previously in Black History)

This has to be done.

There are far too many people who do not realize the significance of Whitney Houston and how she literally changed pop music forever. That’s neither exaggeration nor hyperbole.

Whitney.
Changed.
Music.

Period.

And I’m about to tell you how.

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12:23 pm • 11 February 2013 • Let's talk about what you think.
| whitney houston|

Worst mother of the day: Cissy Houston

Far be it from me to say mean things about old people, but I hope Cissy Houston mixes up her Polident with Elmer’s Glue. I hope she’s sitting down to watch The Young & The Restless, and the whole episode is preempted by a Presidential address. One day she’ll be knitting the finishing touches on a new afghan for the couch and run out of the yarn she needs only to find out it’s discontinued and she’ll never be able to complete it.

Oprah interviewed Cissy Houston because she’s still trying to save her little network. Apparently we want to watch this angry old lady talk about how Whitney may or may not have been a lesbian and if she was, then that’s worse than her being a crackhead.

There is a difference between a good voice and a good singer.

I made this little graphic to help you out. Click it for the fullsize version.

I’ll explain it later, but first the backstory.

I was hanging out with this guy who was trying to argue me up down and sideways that Adele is an amazing singer. I’ma tell you why she’s so popular: she has a great big black lady voice and she’s white. The End. Everything she’s doing is done a million times over every Sunday by the church ladies at New Bethel AME Zion Church of Christ Under an Elm Tree By The River. Still, she has a great tone to her voice that you can’t teach. She’s just born with that and she has a great voice. That doesn’t make her a great singer.

A great singer has great ears. All of the runs and melisma are possible because they have a great sense of pitch. They can hear the chords and sing all around, inside, and through them. Those interesting vocal runs just come out because they have great ears. On top of that, with vocal coaching and/or practice they can really hone their craft and do some amazing things.

A great voice is born, not made. You’re either born with a beautiful sound coming out of your mouth, or you’re not.

So I got bored watching the Walking Dead and made a little graphic. Left to right ranks great singing ability with the best being on the right. Bottom to top ranks great voices with the best being near the top. I graded everyone by Whitney Houston who, hands-down, had the best combination of natural-born-tone and exception singing ability.