the ramblings of a chronic over thinker

started from the bottom now we where??

clearly at the top! using gold to lotion is a sign of wealth, right?

not familiar with the drake song? started from the bottom now we’re here! here meaning the top! the pinnacle! success! “look ma we made it!”

I done kept it real from the jump
Living at my mama house we'd argue every month
*Playa, I was tryna get it on my own
Workin' all night, traffic on the way home
And my uncle calling me like, "Where ya at?
I gave you the keys told you bring it right back"
*Playa, I just think it's funny how it goes
Now I'm on the road, half a million for a show

so if you’re not a drake fan, or familiar with the song, it’s cool. it’s really just a statement of success and stating how far one has come to reach the top. but what is the top? what is success?

i was in a great conversation about success and we concluded that success isn’t the top. success is the amount of times you slipped off the top and then had to climb back up again. that’s one of the real meanings in my humble opinion. the ability to KEEP going no matter what comes or what goes. we start to believe that ‘making it’ is all we need to be focused on. the reality is, making it and continuing to stay positive, in spite of life/living, is what we should be pushing as a narrative. “look ma, i made it!”, is great and everything, but believe me, you’re not going to just get to coast after that. trust that things get more complicated when you have a view from the top.

feels amazing!

i definitely feel like i have reached ‘success’ here and there a few times, and it felt amazing, it felt wonderful, it felt good! i have also slipped off my ‘top’ probably more than i reached the top, but i’m still here, enjoying every slip, slide and climb. i wonder if jeff besos slips here and there? i mean, he IS human right?

✌🏾-p

*replaced the derogatory word

I am not my hair analysis

I like to think about hair a lot. As a hairstylist, this should make sense, but sometimes I think hair might be taking up too much of my brain space. Lately, I’ve been noticing a lot of it in music, so I’ve decided to analyze a few that mention or talk about hair, in a short and simplified format just to put a little rock in your shoe. So that maybe next time you turn on your favourite Spotify playlist or absentmindedly turn the radio on in your car, or while you’re walking down the aisles at Safeway and you hear a song you know arbitrarily, you’ll stop and think a little bit more about the words.

I’m writing about the song “I am not my hair” by India.Arie featuring Akon. If you’ve never heard this song, I would suggest you stop reading now, go listen to it, and then come back. 

The song opens with rapper Akon taking us back to a time in his younger life, trying to get girls and trying to land a job, but having problems with both because his hair is deemed unattractive for one and inappropriate for the other. What would you do it this situation? Style your hair so you can land the girl? Cut it all off so you can nail that job interview and impress the big guys in suits? Either way you’re sort of forced to compromise what you really want right? He says so himself at the end of this verse; he didn’t see success, until after he cut it all off anyways.

Then bops in India Arie. She she gives us a timeline of hairstyles in her life from a young age up until adulthood, dealing with harmful hairstyles, harsh chemicals, and dealing with hair loss. All of these are very common scenarios for young black women with tight afro hair. And along with that comes, shame, embarrassment, sometimes bullying, all in an effort to conform to an image that other people want you to be. 

Later on in the song, India asks a very important question: does the state of her hair actually matter? And that question can be extended to us, and even beyond hair. Does our appearance inherently change our value as human beings at all? I think the easy and obvious answer is no. But if we all believed that as a society, songs like this wouldn’t be written, right? 

There are people who look different from us, who behave differently from us, who speak differently from us, and we judge them. I think all of us are born with prejudice towards others not like us, whether we like it or not. 

The answer to this question is given in the song specifically in the chorus as India sings: 

I am not my hair

I am not this skin

I am not your expectations, no 

I am not my hair

I am not this skin

I am the soul that lives within

One of my favourite things about this song is that the answer is in you. 

It’s 2024. We all know racism exists, that’s not a secret. If you pay attention to the news, you will know that there are still children in the U.S. that have been suspended from school because they refuse to change their hair to meet the standards of the school dress code. Standards that are inherently racist. You may know that we’ve come very far since this song has been released. There are laws that have been enacted so that people with different hair textures can’t be refused jobs based on their hair. (For more information on this, I highly recommend you Google “the Crown Act”). 

This song is almost 20 years old, and its message is still incredibly accurate to today’s society. But I think this song is really trying to get across the message that it’s about self acceptance first. It’s about the soul that lives within. It’s not about placing the blame on the people that create the expectations, or even making them change their perspective. It’s about you accepting you for who you are, knowing where you’re worth comes from, and that your hair has nothing to do with that.

Chanté 

💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵Happy Valentine’s Day💙🩵💙🩵💙🩵

the fresh perspective...

FOR AL Smile

Smile though your heart is aching Smile even though it's breaking When there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by If you smile through your fear and sorrow Smile and maybe tomorrow You'll see the sun come shining through for you

Light up your face with gladness Hide every trace of sadness Although a tear may be ever so near That's the time you must keep on trying Smile, what's the use of crying? You'll find that life is still worthwhile If you just smile

That's the time you must keep on trying Smile, what's the use of crying? You'll find that life is still worthwhile If you just smile

That's the fresh perspective...

One moment in time

This Whitney Houston song has such great lyrics.  I just posted an excerpt of it, but feel free to click on the link to see the video and hear the whole song.  Happy Monday!

"One Moment In Time"**

Each day I live I want to be A day to give The best of me I'm only one But not alone My finest day Is yet unknown

I broke my heart Fought every gain To taste the sweet I face the pain I rise and fall Yet through it all This much remains

I want one moment in time When I'm more than I thought I could be When all of my dreams are a heartbeat away And the answers are all up to me Give me one moment in time When I'm racing with destiny Then in that one moment of time I will feel I will feel eternity

**an excerpt

Peace

the fresh perspective...

I love this song....  Happy Valentines and LOVE to you all!  I'm sorry about the cheesy video but this song, this song!  I love the horns and I love the lyrics... Enjoy!  

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwKxp9JS_3E]

We are in love

I know you so well I can tell by the sound of your voice If you're really in love with me And you are You are You know I can't lie If I say to you 'baby, I love you' Then baby, I love you And I do I do I do could it be that's the Phrase you thought never would phase you Well baby, you better hold on tight 'Cause I'm the one who's supposed to Kneel down and propose, well alright I might, I might So, when I kiss you good-night Just sleep tight with the thought that you'll Always be caught up in love with me And you'll dream that the stars up above Have the answer of whether we'll be Or whether we won't be In love Well, we are We are

That's the fresh perspective...

the fresh perspective...

RIVER

It's coming on Christmas They're cutting down trees They're putting up reindeer And singing songs of joy and peace Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on

But it don't snow here It stays pretty green I'm going to make a lot of money Then I'm going to quit this crazy scene Oh I wish I had a river I could skate away on

I wish I had a river so long I would teach my feet to fly I wish I had a river I could skate away on I made my baby cry

He tried hard to help me You know, he put me at ease And he loved me so naughty Made me weak in the knees Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on

I'm so hard to handle I'm selfish and I'm sad Now I've gone and lost the best baby That I ever had I wish I had a river I could skate away on

Oh, I wish I had a river so long I would teach my feet to fly I wish I had a river I could skate away on I made my baby say goodbye

It's coming on Christmas They're cutting down trees They're putting up reindeer And singing songs of joy and peace I wish I had a river I could skate away on

-Joni Mitchell

One of my fave Christmas songs.  Never really realized how good it was till recently.  That's the fresh perspective...