this weekend's essay: you go back jack, do it again...
maybe i'm getting old, but on my way home the other day, i started thinking about things i want to come back in style. this, interestingly, was spawned by jack fm playing tone loc's 'wild thing' during my commute. initially i wondered, 'does tone loc have a greatest hits collection?' and then i thought, 'part of me misses the day when a hip hop song like this could've been a hit.' so then i started thinking about some of the things i want to see comeback that've yet to have another moment in the sun. though cross colours and used jeans almost made the list, i quickly decided it wouldn't really matter if they came back in vogue or not; it wasn't like i could afford them then, and i sure as hell can't afford them now. but anyway, here's a list i came up with:
- skating parties: if i threw a skating party (invited everyone i knew), would you come? i'm talking about regular ass skates, yo. no blades. just some paperbag brown skates with the orange wheels. unless, of course, you got speed skates with the funky fresh laces.
- geometrical/asymmetrical hairstyles: i gave myself a haircut for the first time the other day, and as i was clipping away i thought, what if i hooked myself up with a lil gumby and put some parts around my temple? that woulda been hot shit, right?
- real dancing: i'm sick of this dry fucking on the dancefloor shit. i wanna go to a house party and see some folks wop it out. tom and jerry, nigga! tom and jerry!
- 19th century novel titles: if you pay any attention, you'll notice that 19th century novels tend to have two titles. so, instead of just being moby dick, the entire title is moby dick; or, the whale. there's also clotel; or, the president's daughter. i like that. give me a very plain title that speaks directly to the narrative. i don't wanna have to think to hard about why a novel is titled something. and if the first title might not be sufficient, give me another one. i like choices.
- writers who call themselves writers: i think this has to do with spoken word, but i'm sick of muhfuckas running around here calling themselves scribes and wordsmiths and shit. writer is a sufficient answer for questions concerning one's occupation or hobbies.
- low gas prices.
enjoy el fin de semana.
posted by summer of sam @ 09:34
language alone protects us from the scariness of things with no names. language alone is meditation. ~toni morrison
17 Comments:
hand-written communication. i got a four page letter in the mail last week, and it made me feel so special! emails are so impersonal.
also, respectful children. or i should say more respectful children. not these brats who back-talk their parents like they have the right to, or treat any and all adults like shit.
Things I want to see come back:
good music in general
Smif n Wesson (w/Beatminerz)
Pepperidge Farm Cookies in 7-11
Manners
Eddie Murphy (Coming to America era)
Kotter
O.C.
LL Cool J's around the way girl.
bring biking shorts back in black with the bright color line. "Women only"
if you had a skating party i would come.. and i do have have four wheels on some cute white skates. don't play.
bomb pop trucks that come right before church, so they can get your money and you can get cussed out.
the whole family meeting for family dinners.
people doing eachother's hair for free on the front porch.. and it actually looking good..
jim crow.. so black people can be pushed back into their own neighborhoods.. so we can get the revolution right this time.
Amen Summer! Writers who call themselves writers (lol!) and real dancing especially. Dude's these days can't dance, they can only simulate sex. I admit I begrudgingly give a courtesy grind with my dance partners just to be nice and these niggas won't let me separate and two step for anything. On the other hand these house dancers (think 1st season Chapelle's Show spoof on Mitsubishi ads) wit' they jumping & funking is a lil' too much for me.
Skate party it is! Why am I excited for that Bow Wow movie? Malcom D. Lee the force behind the greatness that was Undercover Brother is handling it.
Pants that fit. I am sick of 40 year old men walking around sagging. I do not want to comment on the youngsters but cmon brotha's y'all know better.
Sexless Movies. I'm sick of seeing it all. I don't want to watch the humpin' give me the illusion.
The Shing-a-Ling: need I say more.
Oh and the Whitney Houston who used to sing. (Aw hell to the naw he didn't)
You got Steely Dan on the play list and quoted…you are a badass motherfucker. You know it. I ain’t got to tell you that. Some people just don’t understand.
And dry-hump dancing? Makes me cry its so bad.
can i say that we hosted a roller disco in fayetteville, AR that was so hot it is becoming an annual event?!!! Go for it!
Tom and Jerry, n*gg*...
*dead*
that's funny, cuz just the other day as i was watching ray-the movie- i couldnd't help but say out loud, "DAMN, i wish those cute ass 'club dresses' would come back because everyone is NAKED in the club nowadays..." *scheme-scheme plot-plot* i am SO wearing a vintage wedding gown to the white party tomorrow.
dancing for the sake of shakin' a money maker or two. (and leavin' it at that).
dinner parties/potlucks/rent parties
real emotionally intimate conversations that doesn't require a personal crisis, yak or green to get it started.
trust.
black neighborhoods in a pre-crack era.
a recognition of cool that didn't have to do with how much is spent on clothes/cars/hair/yadayadayada.
seperate but equal (and have it really happen)
puttin' other folks kids in check and being appreciated for it.
a time when it felt like, "damn, i'm glad my ancestors died so i can vote...look! i'm voting...and look! my vote is couting like i'm a human being..." (this is also a figment of my retrospective imagination, but it's a good stretch)
feeling safe walking down the street at night, in a black neighborhood as a black person and/or woman
...so much to say...
55th St. in Chicago before "urban renewal." Seriously, if you've seen pictures of it before the 70s, it was really cool. Now it's lame. And my nightlife suffers for it. (Apologies to those who have no idea what I'm talking about).
Real, honest-to-god, diy punkrock kids. And along with that, donate-what-you-can basement shows.
Private I shows. This generation needs its own "Rockford Files."
oh yeah, all the other stuff about black neighborhoods and add pre-gentrification so they stay black neighborhoods...
i want hip hop to be back to the way it was
I went to a skate party back home for my homegirl who was turing "30" and it was the old skate music too, but kids were there on scooter and that kind of runied it....overall it was fun.
I would like to to see respect period come back, where men opened car doors for ladies and kids had fear in their hearts when the street lights came on.
Old tom and jerry cartoons, so much fighting in cartoons today is bad and teaches kids to express their anger with violence instead of talking about it.
I have to say dido on the old school black neighborhoods where neighbors helped each other and people cared about mowing the lawn and keeping up the garden.
"Dancing", dry humping has to be outlawed for real!!!! It is gross looking and I don't care for someone to be all up in my ass, man or woman. The way slow dancing used to be was good enough for me.
I figure that's about it and Summer I love your list!!
Blu
"black neighborhoods in a pre-crack era." -i feel you.
-parents actually raising their kids.
-grandmas being grandmas..i see alot of grandmas with fake nails and hair and shit.
-rollerskating. even though i was always one of them people that fell when i went too fast.
-being able to find a job
-looney toons,liquid telivision, in livin color.
-real musical talent
and so much more.
1. When "nine-to-five" actually meant "nine-to-five," not "eight-to-eleven."
2. When people weren't so busy that they couldn't indulge in *real*, intimate conversation that lasts for hours.
3. When a liberal arts education didn't have to justify itself to a corporate mindset.
4. When listening to music didn't mean going all around with an i-Pod or discman stuffed into your ears to drown out all the city noise and allow you to exist in your own world, but rather was an experience for which time was set aside to focus exclusively on the beautiful sounds emanating live or from the grammophone speakers.
5. When most music was worth being listened to in this fashion.
"Yo! MTV Raps" hosted by Ed Lover and Dr. Dre on the weekdays, and Fab 5 Freddie on the weekends, like the shit was circa '92.
Post a Comment
<< Home