Spoken Word Performance - "Black Girl Blues" by MasterPiece Poet (video with partial lyrics)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post showcases a video of the spoken word "Black Girl Blues" by MasterPiece Poet.

Partial lyrics of this spoken word poem are included in this post along with editorial notes about some of the references in that poem. This post also includes brief information about MasterPiece Poet, as well as selected comments from this video's discussion thread.

The content of this post is presented for cultural and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to MasterPiece Poet for her powerful spoken word "Black Girl Blues". Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to All Def Poetry, the publisher of this post on YouTube.

****
INFORMATION ABOUT MASTERPIECE POET
From https://www.reverbnation.com/masterpiece83
"Artist Bio
MasterPiece the poetess was born in Dallas, Tx. She also lived in Arizona for seven years while studying Theatre Arts and Business Administration at the University of Arizona. She began performing and acting at the age of 6 and also discovered a love for poetry at 13. Her passion for poetry and performing arts has inspired many people. The debut album Mind of MasterPiece introduces a new genre of music coined by MasterPiece herself: rhythm and poetry. The cd chronicles her story through powerful words, emotions, rhyme, thought provoking lyrics and smooth rhythmic music that has a hint of hip hop, soul, and jazz all mixed into one. Fans recognize her as a dynamic writer with poise, talent, and beauty. She continues to maintain a balance between the arts and business by being an extraordinary poet/performer and business woman. Her hobbies include basketball, dancing, cooking, designing webpages, traveling, and watching movies. Her poet name MasterPiece stems from the idea that all artists strive to achieve and put forth their best work possible. It is a metaphor for a successful artist."...

****
SHOWCASE VIDEO: Masterpiece Poet - "Black Girl Blues" | All Def Poetry x Da Poetry Lounge



All Def Poetry Published on Aug 19, 2015

Subscribe for more poetry! http://bit.ly/alldefpoetry

....All Def Poetry is a new channel brought to you by Russell Simmons - a world-renowned champion of the spoken word art form. Fresh, riveting, and featuring some of the best voices in the genre, All Def Poetry brings you the raw power of spoken word! #AllDefPoetry

****
SELECTED LYRICS FROM THIS SPOKEN WORD
[1:22- 1:39 of this video]

Black girl, free yourself.
And when you fly
Tell ’em Fannie Lou Hamer sent you.
Tell ‘em, you are your own queen.
Tell ‘em your brown suga maple syrup can't be bought off shelves.
Tell ’em dark don’t mean dirty,
Nappy don’t mean nasty.
Loud don’t mean ratchet.
Bold don’t mean problematic.


[2:07-2:39 of this video]

We have a purpose here.
You can’t take that away.
You can’t Emmett Till our sons no more.
You can’t 16 Street Baptist Church burn our bodies no more.
You can’t walk up in the church and shoot us in prayer no more.
You can’t kill us in the jail cell and call it suicide no more.
This ain’t open season.

Black girl, you are brick.
You are mortar.
You are designed.
You are ceiling.
More than just measurement.

Raise your head.
This Black girl ain’t got no Blues tonight.
You be you.
In your Blues you beautiful as you wanna be.
Dark eyes, thick thighs, we don’t need to apologize.
-snip-
These words flow together in rhythmic form. I added the spacing for reading clarity only.

I'm sorry for any mistakes in this partial transcription. Any corrections are welcome.

Here's information regarding some of the historical references in this excerpt of "MasterPiece Poet's "Black Girl Blues" spoken word:
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fannie_Lou_Hamer
"Fannie Lou Hamer ... October 6, 1917 – March 14, 1977) was an American voting rights activist, civil rights leader, and philanthropist. She was instrumental in organizing Mississippi's Freedom Summer for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and later became the vice-chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, which she represented at the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey."...
-snip-
Regarding why she was a civil rights activist, Fannie Lou Hamer said “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired”.

**
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/16th_Street_Baptist_Church
"The 16th Street Baptist Church is a Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama, that is frequented predominantly by African Americans. In September 1963, it was the target of the racially motivated 16th Street Baptist Church bombing that killed four girls in the midst of the American Civil Rights Movement. The church is still in operation and is a central landmark in the Birmingham Civil Rights District. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 2006."...

**
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmett_Till
"Emmett Louis Till (July 25, 1941 – August 28, 1955) was an African-American teenager who was lynched in Mississippi at the age of 14 after reportedly flirting with a white woman...

Till's body was returned to Chicago. His mother, who had mostly raised him, insisted on a public funeral service with an open casket to show the world the brutality of the killing. "The open-coffin funeral held by Mamie Till Bradley exposed the world to more than her son Emmett Till's bloated, mutilated body. Her decision focused attention not only on American racism and the barbarism of lynching but also on the limitations and vulnerabilities of American democracy.

...Till's murder is noted as a pivotal catalyst to the next phase of the Civil Rights Movement."...

****
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS SHOWCASE VIDEO'S DISCUSSION THREAD
These comments are given in chronological order based on their publishing date-except for replies- with the oldest comment given first. However, these comments may not be in consecutive order. I've assigned numbers to these comments for referencing purposes only.

2015
1. Kendrick-Kamau “StreetPolitik” El-Negasi
"This is one of the dopest poems I've heard in a long. She had the wordplay and righteous aggression spelled out for you, undeniably witty but easy to digest with urgency like milk to a babe."
-snip-
"dopest" = African American Vernacular English term meaning "the very best"

**
2. MasterPiece [2016]
"+Kendrick-Kamau “StreetPolitik” El-Negasi Thank you so much!!!"

**
Reply
3. Kendrick-Kamau “StreetPolitik” El-Negasi1 month ago
"+MasterPiece no problem, thank you for creating & sharing."

**
4. lobster0right
"said the woman wearing a weave"
-snip-
"weave" (hair weave) = real or fake hair that is woven or glued to person's real hair to add length and/or fullness. (also called "extensions")

**
Reply
5. Jamesha Michelle
"Excuse you, but a hairstyle defines nothing."

**
Reply
6. Kai Jolly
"What the [profanity deleted] does that have to do with anything?"

**
Reply
7. inspirebabe_
"+lobster0right She can do what she want with her hair!"

**
8. Monkey Teeth
"+Jamesha Michelle you can't have it both ways! You can't recite verses about the veneration of black women and the uniqueness of the black women while simotaneously wearing the hair texture of a white women...some serious self worth issues going on here"

**
Reply
9. Nae2588
"+Monkey Teeth my niece is dark as night, but she was born with straight black hair, she's 8 now, and my friend her hair is still straight, never been touched by a perm, nor a flat iron or a pressing comb. her mom mainly did her hair, and her mom got thrown in prison on drug charges, so if it was nappy someone needed to do it, because white European hair as u claim, we all know can fix itself, just as soon as they get out of bed."

**
Reply
10. wild heart
"+Monkey Teeth What do you mean? She is clearly a black woman who loves herself unapologetically. Plus Black women get judged for whatever they do with her hair. Black women should be able to do whatever they want with it without being criticized."

**
Reply
11. Kai Jolly
"+wild heart I agree."

**
Reply
12. Velvet Velours
"+Nae2588 that's your niece. 90% of black people do not have naturally straight hair"

**
Reply
13. Kai Jolly [2016]
"+Zhang Yixing But some of them do lol.
-snip-
It appears that Zhang Yixing is another screen name for Velvet Velours.

**
Reply
14. Dana Newman [2016]
"+lobster0right It's not about her hair..."

**
Reply
15. Asia Speights [2016]
"....? Because white women don't wear weaves? [Profanity initials deleted] does her hair have to do with ANYTHING."

**
16. Rebecca Shogunle
"strong. powerful. insightful and definitely true beyond doubt"

**
17. Monkey Teeth
"Look how confident and proud she seems. Snatch that wig off her head and watch her confidence instantly disappear as she runs off stage embarrassed of her God given hair !"

**
Reply
18. Azandria Hudson [2016]
"Her weave isn't a mask just simply a style. You don't have to wear your natural hair 24/7 to love yourself and be woke"

**
19. Nae2588
"amazing. black power"

**
Reply
20. G Den [2016]
"Stop it! this is not about "Black Power" or hating others. it's about uplifting our Black women, specifically those who are less mixed than others (Dark Skin). I will not allow YOU to make something so beautiful ugly.

-Black Activist/Community Member"

**
21. mrschrisbrown416
"love this with the entire life of me."

**
22. Emmanuel Mango
"What's her name?"

**
Reply
23. MasterPiece
"+David Emmanuel MasterPiece.... Check out masterpiecepoet on IG"
-snip-
"IG" = "Instagram".

**
24. Snoopy Thompson
"She Tells It Like It Tis"

****
2016
25. Awo Abdi
" "our sons don't need sunscreen, they run from protection" you're lying if you say you didn't get chills."
-snip-
This comment refers to this portion of that spoken word [from 1:40-1:53] in this video:
"They say 'The blacker the berry the sweeter the juice'
But nowdays it's 'The blacker the baby, the longer the noose.'
Our sons don't need sunscreen.
They run from protection.
They get their vitamin D from laying 4 hours face down on the ground."
-snip-
"The blacker the berry the sweeter the juice" is a recurring saying in African American folk culture since at least 1922 (Thomas W. Talley's Negro Folk Songs: Wise & Otherwise (song/poem "You Love You Girl". Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/06/timeline-for-cultural-use-of-saying.html for a pancocojams post on that saying.

The line "they get their vitamin D from laying face down on the ground" is probably a referent to the August 9, 2014 shooting of 18 year old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri by Darren Wilson, 28, a White Ferguson police officer and Michael Brown's body laying unattended for hours after the shooting.

**
26. Adrian Ware
"talk about the power. You can definitely here it in her voice. So moving. The queen just spoke"
-snip-
Since the late 1960s Black nationalist movement in the United States "queen" has been a complimentary referent for a Black woman.

**
27. jack
"Great poem oh my lord! I have chills.

For anyone asking, the song is Behind Closed Doors by Muoi."

**
28. Lemonslay
"You're beautiful with your skin like moonlight and your eyes like the moon."
-snip-
These words may be found in this spoken word, but I'm not sure where they are in this video.

**
29. Sade Tucker
"I give this millions of snaps!!! Incredibly executed!"

**
30. angela modifo
"amandla!!!"
-snip-
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amandla_(power)
"Amandla is a Zulu and Xhosa word meaning "power". The word was a popular rallying cry in the days of resistance against Apartheid, used by the African National Congress and its allies. The leader of a group would call out "Amandla!" and the crowd would respond with "Awethu"[1] or "Ngawethu!"[2] (to us), completing the South African version of the rallying cry Power to the People!.[3] The word is still associated with struggles against oppression."...

**
31. Vikki Costello
"what !! amazing Queen! all I can say is powers to the most high & #Kudos cause that was God sent"

**
32. mariemonstre
"Very powerful but also a little saddening. As a mixed child, I feel hurt that she talks about us mixed children are made out of some desire to purge undesirable traits. But I say my parents loved each other. As apparently unbelievable as it seems. And she stays she doesn't want to be attacked for her appearance, yet she attacks us. Think about that."

**
Reply
33. mariemonstre
"Says* not stays"
-snip-
mariemonstre is referring to the portion of the line that is spoken at around 1:00 in this video "She got flavor- ain't that how those mulatto babies are made?"

**
34. Nina H
"Does anybody know where I can find this typed out? I cant understabd her in some parts :("

**
Reply
35. MasterPiece
"+Nina H Book will be released soon ;p"

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.

Comments About African & African Diaspora Unity In A Discussion Thread For Tiwa Savage's Nigerian Afrobeat Video "Eminado"

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post provides a portion of the comments in a sub-set of the discussion thread for Tiwa Savage's (Nigerian) Afrobeat video "Eminado". Commenters in this sub-set wrote about the subject of the influence of African Americans on African cultures and the subject of African and African Diaspora unity.

Tiwa Savage's video is also embedded in this post.

The content of this post is provided for cultural, sociological, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Tiwa Savage for her musical creativity and thanks to all those who are featured in this video. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post. Also, thanks to producer/s of this video, and the publisher of this video on YouTube.

****
SHOWCASE VIDEO: Tiwa Savage Ft. Don Jazzy - Eminado [Official Video]



officialtiwasavage,Published on Nov 4, 2013

Music Video by Tiwa Savage "Eminado"
© 2013 323 ENTERTAINMENT. MAVIN RECORDS
-snip-
This video begins with the explanation that "'eminado' means
goodluck charm."

****
SELECTED COMMENTS FROM VIDEO'S DISCUSSION
As of September 5, 2015 at 12:38 PM EST, Tiwa Savage's "Eminado" music video that is embedded above had 11,401,951 viewer hits and 2,667 total comments.

The thirty three selected comments that are presented in this pancocojams post are given in relative chronological order based on their posting date. It should be noted that these comments represent less than half of the sub-set of that particular discussion on the subject of the influence of African Americans on African cultures and the subject of African and African Diaspora unity. As of September 5, 2015 at 12:38 PM EST there were 63 replies to the first comment in that sub-thread. That comment is given as #1 below.

I've assigned numbers to these comments for referencing purposes only.

1. Saudi Baskerville, February 2015
"I can so clearly [see?, tell?] how African American culture influences African culture and vice versa. It's beautiful. We are one in the same. Love us all!!!"
-snip-
The words in parenthesis are my guesses about the word that is obviously missing in this sentence.

**
2.Xstolynne a, March 2015
"Sorry but Nigerian culture is different from AA CULTURE, PLEASE STOP THE COMPARISON, THIS SIMPLY CALLED AFROBEATS"

**
3. Saudi Baskerville, March 2015
"Never said it was the same. I see the difference, I hear the difference, I know they're different, however we are connected in ways more than one and it's evident."

**
4. Xstolynne a, March 2015
"Oh ok, because a lot of people try to discredit Nigerians and their music...Anyway One love."

**
5. Saudi Baskerville, March 2015
"Lol na I'd never do that."

**
6. The Flying KIwi, March 2015
"[profanity deleted] off lol. In African American culture, you don't value the "light skin" counterparts of your women Blackmen seem to worship.. Never mind the dark black women. They are strippers, bi&&hes* and hoes.

African American culture is an infection and burden that has encroached on the innocent African values. If you watch African music videos they typically involve the man adorning and exalting the woman. Not a trophy, a piece of flesh or sex object to show how much money they earn.

African American music these days is a disappointment and it pains me to see so more and more African artist trying to pick up this illness just to appeal to the masses...relegating and pulverising the good in black people just to make some money. Pathetic.
-snip-
*This word is fully spelled out.

**
7. Christine Freeland, April 2015
"Lol, +Saudi Baskerville I get where you're coming from with your comment and I completely agree with you. It's truly an awesome thing to see how our arts and cultures influence each other and we're all beautiful people!"

**
8. okuomose okuns, May 2015
"+Saudi Baskerville African Americans have at least 73-85% African DNA. Well to me that makes them African.."

**
9. Dulce Pero Negrita, May 2015
"+okuomose okuns African descent,yes...African, no"

**
10. The Flying KIwi, May 2015
"+okuomose okuns s "73-78%" in that case which Alien species should be held accountable for the 28-22% if DNA??

What sort of broscience is this lol..."
-snip-
"broscience" = brother science (implying that it's science that is made up by a Black man or Black men from the streets.)

**
11. okuomose okuns, May 2015
"+Jabbari A Real Ni&&a* Who Likes Hugh Jass
Neanderthal genes."
-snip-
*"Ni&&a" is my way of writing this short form of the n word. That word is fully spelled out in that screen name.

For greater clarity, I seperated the comment from the screen name.

The name "Jabbari A Real Ni&&a* Who Likes Hugh Jass" links to a page for the blogger who also posted in this discussion under the name "The Flying KIwi". I haven't found any comments in that thread which are posted under the "Jabbari" name. Those comments may have been deleted.

Okuomose okuns and The Flying Kiwi (also posting under the name "Jabbari") exchange additional comments about the DNA of African Americans. The Flying Kiwi (Jabbari) wrote that Europeans have very little Neanderthal DNA and African Americans even less. Okuomose okuns wrote that African Americans have African and European DNA, implying that his Neanderthal comments were a slur on Europeans.

**
12. okuomose okuns, May 2015
"+Jabbari A Real Ni&&a Who Likes Hugh Jass
African American music is global you cu&t*!"
-snip-
*This profanity is fully spelled out in this comment.

For greater clarity, I separated the comment from the screen name.
This comment appears to be in response to a comment from Jabbari which has been deleted.

**
13. okuomose okuns, May 2015
+Jabbari A Real Ni&&a* Who Likes Hugh Jass
"They brought nothing but weaves, stripping and swearing..To me that's bad influence.."
-snip-
Given the context of this sub-thread, I believe "they" in this sentence refers to African Americans.

I also believe that the sentence "They bought nothing but [hair] weaves, stripping and swearing" is a quote from Jabbari's comment and the sentence "to me that's [a] bad influence" is okuomose okuns' reply to that quote.

**
14. Saudi Baskerville, May 2015
"Sam, I don't appreciate your attempt at trying to make it seem like I dnt know history. Anyway, you do have a point, as far as so much of culture in general having been originated in Africa. People were stolen from Africa, so obviously that included music, language, food, everything! The diaspora is massive and so is the influence. I'm not attempting to discredit anyone or anyplace however if you were smart enough, you'd know that influence isn't a one way street"
-snip-
I'm not sure which blogger is named "Sam". "Sam" might be the blogger who posted under the name The Flying KIwi (Jabbari) or the blogger who posted as okuomose okuns.

Part of the difficulty with reading YouTube discussion threads is that bloggers sometimes use more than one name in the same discussion. Sometimes this is due to YouTube's policy or practice of encouraging bloggers to use their "real names" instead of a screen name. When bloggers consent to this change, YouTube changes all of that blogger's previous comments to his or her "real name". However, that policy or practice doesn't appear to apply to this reply to "Sam". Nor does that policy/practice seem to apply to the comments that are attributed to The Flying Kiwi (Jabbari), some of which are missing from this discussion thread.

**
15. Saudi Baskerville, May 2015
"Jabbari, me speaking my opinion was never in hopes to change yours or anyone else's. However, I find that are you defending innocence and a certain level of respect, that I too would agree is importance, meanwhile you're cursing, calling names and down talking an entire race, that one way or another stems from Africa. I suggest you open your mind to different genres of music bc right now you sound silly speaking so boardly "

**
16. Saudi Baskerville, May 2015
"There will never be peace w/ all this finger point. And regardless of what's brought to the table, you decide what you eat."

**
17. DKhisa, May 2015
"+Saudi Baskerville please ignore the ignorant africans not all of us think like that about African Americans , dont forget there are over a billion people in africa and in that billion you'll always find divisive morons like dont let his race comments get under your skin either, just like you have ignorant african americans we got out ignorant disgusting rude africans too nothing personal and doesent in anyway represent the whole continent as a whole, most of us are welcoming and dont spew nonsense like neanderthal genes or whatever that clown is talking about"

**
18. DKhisa, May 2015
"+Saudi Baskerville and hopefully his disgusting comments dont shy you away from listening to more african music and learning more about your african ancestors [.] you are always welcome in Kenya and i always respect african Americans who have a yearning to learn about african culture but get pissed of when ignorant Africans attack them for no reason [.] [profanity deleted] people like him [.] remember dont feed the troll and only you have claim to your african heritage not him or anyone else and he cant take that away from you [.] its in your blood and is as much yours as it is his [.]
-snip-
I added the periods in brackets to enhance reader clarity.

**
19. BluesInMySoul, May 2015
"+okuomose okuns Who brought weaves ?? Are you kidding me. I live in a community of West Africans from many different countries 90% of them wear horrible weaves down to their butts and bleach themselves until their skin looks red, raw, and sickly. They look like the walking dead!"

**
20. BluesInMySoul, May 2015
"+Saudi Baskerville The most disgusting and despicable aspect of this thread is the amount of idiots trying to differentiate between AA and African while Europeans are destroying Africa and America. But dumbasses are so busy trying to describe why we are so different while the rest of the world depicts us ALL as savages. Stop the madness. FOOLS in the worst way."

**
21. Saudi Baskerville, May 2015
"@bluesinmysoul I'm so glad you spoke on what's real. It seems like every time I get a comment in response to my post, I'm fighting with someone just for them to understand very obvious things. You're so right. There's a war on all of us."

**
22. DKhisa, May 2015
+Saudi Baskerville
"it's not a war on yal(African Americans) black people do this to each other all the time if you look at many African Videos i am sure by now you will see theres no unity and youll always find nigerians attacking ghanaians vice versa its a black issue sadly black people in general can be each others worst enemy look what happened in South Africa"

**
23. DKhisa, May 2015
+BluesInMySoul
"blame in on Colomentality as Fela Kuti called it it's not Africans attacking AA it's black people attacking black people because even in Alot of these video threads theres lots of nationalism and hate towards other Africans by Africans from different countries .btw im African and i dont take sides"

**
24. DKhisa, May 2015
+BluesInMySoul
"and i agree here in Africa we are suffering from a bleaching self hate and weave problem in America it's hair and colorism ..black people need to wake up on both fronts"

**
25. Saudi Baskerville, May 2015
"You are correct. It's heartbreaking"

**
26. Saudi Baskerville, May 2015
"And very dangerous"

**
27. Mamie Quiah, June 2015
"U are right sister"

**
28. Anthonia Orji, July 2015
"+DKhisa I love all my pan Africans all over the disporá but sometimes I get frustrated with some. We need globally unity for all black people instead of focusing on all the things that divide us. I still love them though I just keep praying for them."

**
29. Saudi Baskerville, July 2015
"Def, I feel what you're saying. And for every subculture of our diaspora, even if we are united, we have to be sure that unity is positive"
-snip-
"Def"= definitely

**
30. Anthonia Orji, July 2015
"+Saudi Baskerville
exactly"

**
31. U-n-I Survive, August 2015
"+The Flying KIwi You name all of the negative aspects of African American culture, and yes, there are negatives, but what about the positive aspects? What about Afro-Americans giving the world Blues, Jazz, Soul, R&B and Hip-Hop? What about Charles Drew (an African American) whose research on blood plasma led directly to the worlds first blood bank (many of which have been replicated in Africa). What about Jesse Russell, who's patents in digital cellular communication led to the world's first cell phone? What about our ancestors (MLK, Malcolm X, Medgar Evers) spilling their blood so that black people from all over the world could come to America, have access to a world class education, and provide a better life for their children? Oh, how quickly we forget..."

**
32. Saudi Baskerville, August 2015
"nice"

**
33. collins raji, September 2015
"Africans must units"
-snip-
"Units" is a typo for the word "unite".

****
EDITOR'S COMMENT
In addition to the "Afrobeat" rhythm, the Nigerian influences in this video include the females in this video who wear traditional Nigerian clothing (including head wraps) and the males who wear traditional Nigerian clothing. Another example of this video's Nigerian influences is the custom of spraying money that the boy is shown throwing at 2:46 in this video.

Pancocojams has several post about the custom of spraying money. Visit http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2011/09/pinning-birthday-dollars.html for one of those post.

The American influence is partly shown in some of the clothing and in the straight hair styles (wigs or weaves) that the singer wears. The large afro wig is an example of the African American influence. The inclusion of scenes in this video where Tiwa Savage wears her hair in a large 'fro demonstrates the influence that African American womens' natural hair movement is having in Nigeria.

****
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.

Visitor comments are welcome.