Janet Jackson VMA 2009 Tribute to Michael Jackson

My first thoughts when I viewed this was relief that it started off well and included dancing, real dancing. I accidentally deleted my copy after I cut the show into segments. Always back up your work people!

I admit that I teared up a bit watching Janet perform and she was emotional at the end as well. Good job! This is what should have been done in the first place.

Vortex of Coonery: BET Awards Withholds MJ Tribute to Get Us to Watch Their Crappy Show

We were hoodwinked and bamboozled last night!! So many of us turned to watch in the hopes for a glorious celebration of a music artist's legacy. Instead we got the ol' bait and switch. So V.O.C. it is. That's the new term I've coined and the first application is being used for last night's BET Awards. What happened to that "promised" Michael Jackson tribute? 

So many people are still rendered speechless and feeling the loss of the greatest artist of our generation that we needed something to relieve the pressure. We wanted to celebrate the music. We wanted to dance in our living rooms and feel a little bit better. We're just fans and feel horrible. We can't imagine how it must be for this who really cared about MJ feel. Especially with the crap that passes as music today, we really need something familiar comforting and good. And let's face it, music is one of the few things blacks have left holding the collective (that's left) together in some cohesive form where we can relate to each other.

Well wouldn't you know Debra Lee did diddly squat for a tribute. She had the nerve to stand on stage and discuss how much work and effort they made throwing something together on three days notice. They added a few segments attached to prior scheduled performances. That's not a tribute. If that was the best they could do she needs to be fired! BET will reap the rewards of getting their highest ratings I'm certain. Most of us don't even watch BET anymore because the programming offends us so.

Jamie Foxx was the ringmaster for this lunacy. His opening sequence was funny if for no other reason than he looked ridiculous. His continuous plugging his upcoming tour became the running joke of the evening. Had it been a drinking game, I would've been plastered in no time.

Here's a message sent on Twitter which sums it up: After its MJ tribute fiasco, Viacom, BET's parent co. says BET is changing its name to WSN [We're Sorry, Negroes]

New Edition who were the first post modern boy band heirs to the Jackson 5 did a brief medley. We thought there was more coming but that was basically it for the rest of the night. Apparently all of the top-tier talent decided they were going to do their own tribute on their terms. I'm now really grateful they weren't involved in this fiasco. The other highlights were bringing out Keith Sweat, Bell Biv Devoe and Guy but it wasn't their performances that set the stage on fire - it was the fact these songs actually sound better 12+ years later than what's out now. Of course if we also deconstruct where the insults began we can look squarely at BBD for that horrid song Poison, take aim and fire at them.

The labels were clamoring for their artists to perform current material. I have to say the people they had on were boring, boring, boring or highly offensive. Mary Mary sang what I guess is supposed to be gospel song because it has the word God in it. The video quality is so-so but so is the song! Another set of artists following their version of religious dogma to disapprove of the "gay lifestyle". Yet they're right there in the gutter with the rest of the "heathens". The song, God In Me is set to the music used for Foxx's song Blame It On the Alcohol. This is considered progress? Not even Queen Latifah adding a rap could save it. By the way why was she of all people performing with them?

Maxwell gave the best performance of a current song so his label should be pleased. He was a calm moment in a sea of chaos.

I nearly lost it as I figured out the song Lil Wayne was rapping (Every Girl) was about sexing as many women as you could when he and the other male performers had allowed under-aged pre-teen girls to share the stage with them - including his own daughter! That was completely unacceptable - to us only apparently. What is this, an R Kelly recruiting fest? Can we open a case with child protective services for that? It took me so long to figure out what he was saying to begin with because everything was bleeped out to the point where I wondered out loud why he'd even bothered.

Beyonce wore a couture outfit that made no sense and her performance of combining Ave Maria with Sarah McLachlan's Angel with something else did not work. It was just awkward because the pacing for the show was so off.  But I was so glad to see her because at this point everything else had been so bad that I knew she'd at least elevate it from the gutter. We decided she was dressing as a bride for Michael Jackson like a version of A Nightmare Before Christmas.

The OJay's had already had a pre-planned tribute and they even performed. It was a welcome relief as more than half the show was over and people were despondent by this time. They weren't even trying that hard and outperformed everyone who'd been on previously!! If anyone deserves kudos Eddie Levert should get it. He's lost two sons in the prime of their youth and is still kicking butt as a live performer. I hereby declare the Hunger Strike episode of the Boondocks to be real, not satire. In it Huey decides he won't eat again until BET changes its programming. Debra Lee is reimagined as Debra Leevil, Reginald Hudlin pontificates about his Harvard degree and they discuss how BET's real agenda is to destroy black people (I featured the 1st half of it in yesterday's post). Leevil is dissatisfied because she doesn't think their efforts are fast enough. I think we can assure her the destruction is moving along quite nicely. The only difference is that Stephen Hill took Hudlin's place.

When I watched the commercials in between the Awards show, they really showed the plan for destruction in action. One is a reality show featuring Toya & Tiny: one is the woman who's the ex-wife of Lil Wayne (was that her child on stage?) and "T.I.'s woman" as the other one describes herself. I have no idea what the purpose this show will serve other than to give a forum for more foolishness. Another features the mother (who's an admitted former drug addict) and the sister (in garish makeup) of R&B singer Keyshia Cole. Who also had a reality show. Ditto. The others are talk/gossip shows hosted by Mo'Nique and Wendy Williams respectively. 

Two actors decided to do a reenactment of the movie Baby Boy on stage which apparently plays on BET quite often where the male and female leads yell at each other over their child. One was nominated for an Oscar earlier this year. She should hope no Academy members watched her being in her "element" last night. Martin Lawrence and Jamie Foxx decided to do a "spoof" movie trailer where their characters Wanda and Sheneneh rob a bank. I fear that it was in fact a movie idea that's been pitched. 

Like surviviors from a war we tried to bargain with each other by making up a new meaning for BET. It wasn't Black Entertainment Television, it was Blacks Eliminating Themselves for example. I made a comment that if Harriet Tubman knew what would come to pass she would have turned around and left an increasing majority of those she helped flee enslavement. I wasn't joking. 

The one thing many of us had in common while watching was our collective and increasing outrage that we'd been duped. We won't be fooled again. One other interesting thing occurred. All ten of the trending topics on Twitter were related to the Award show or the artists performing - or those we'd wished were there to save us from viewing hell. These topics are automatically generated based on the content of messages. Apparently a few whites were upset by the momentary lack of focus on them as indicated by a Tumblr account captioned: "OMG Black People!" We're in a post-racial world white people so there's no complaining allowed. You have to share if you don't want us "complaining" about your domination tactics and singular focus. The page has since been pulled. Oh snap! People forget their Twitter stream of messages are public unless they lock them.  Every account featured on that page with the names of the people who made racist statements was distributed so these people could be directly confronted.  

Joseph Jackson was highly suspect as he chose to spend red carpet time discussing his new record label than the legacy of his son. Considering Michael labeled him cruel and abusive one would imagine it was an understatement. The only thing that saved the show from being a complete waste of time was the appearance of Janet Jackson and she spoke at the end. I could've skipped the entire thing and watched the highlights on Youtube. I wish she had just been taped off-site. She didn't need to be there wading through that mess.  

The other thing that bothered me was how people in the audience derived pleasure from and recognized these songs and were singing along. The Lil Wayne grooming girls for rape fest aired right before this sequence. There's blood on the dancefloor but people are oblivious to it. The same people were effectively on stage the entire night but didn't help uplift the quality of the show. I think the majority of us online were thinking, "This is what passes for black music nowadays? I feel old". We're not (that) old people; it's just utter crap being produced. I would say we could storm the barricades but I fear that war has been lost. We can only free ourselves, separate and not watch ever again.

Give Janet Jackson Her Due

I'd like to have a conversation about our failure to properly recognize the musical and cultural contributions of some of our most talented and innovative recording artists. It is no coincidence that they are usually female....and African-American. Quick: name a current female MC or rap artist who's currently in the Top Ten...Twenty....Thirty?. Exactly. 

So you'd think a superstar like Janet Jackson would have been able to avoid showing up on the Missing Music Artist files but such is the fate of many undeserving talents. Now I am unable to offer a complete analysis of the ins and outs of maintaining a career in music industry, but I can tell you the times produce the artists - not the other way around. 

If people started demanding quality music and stopped supporting the lowest common denomination perpetrators this flood of Auto-tuned, low grade, embarrassing fakeness would end with a quickness. Some people have a vested interest in promoting the gutter because it fits into their disempowerment plans. There was and still remains racism and sexism at play that marginalizes many great creative talents. 

I'm also sure many can recall the Dallas Austin "effing for tracks" video that was pulled from the internet. It highlighted the practice where many female artists have sex with male producers for favors and a choice selection of songs. I bet we could go down a list of artists that draw a question mark as how they got a record deal, why they were "dating" so and so and who got promoted by their label - and who didn't. After he almost went to prison for having drugs in Dubai you would've thought Austin would've learned a little humility and the art of keeping your mouth shut - but I digress. 

I also can only offer my opinion on what Ms. Jackson is using for inspiration these days. I think she was at her best when she had a message that was focused on something productive. First it was autonomy, next it was social justice and later it was her exploration of her sexuality. For me personally I felt she lost her voice when she listened to other people telling her to compete directly with Madonna and/or believed those that would give her credit for being innovative but not Janet. I don't know if this actually happened, but I noticed a huge shift in her public persona and music. Some of which I felt wasn't authentic and didn't necessarily care for.

Perhaps it was insecurity or a response to being thought of as less than. The focus on securing male validation felt like an abandonment of her earlier progressiveness. We know how African-American are constantly under assault and have internalized indoctrination of worthlessness. Just look at what Lil Kim has done to her face and body as proof of that. Being famous and wealthy does not provide cover or relief for that. Black women's bodies have been promoted by others to be open, available and unrapeable. Can I be blunt? When the breasts started going out on window display Jackson alienated me as an early fan.

Either way Jackson was on the verge of a career resurgence when the ill-fated SuperBowl mishap occurred. We'll never know whether it was an accident or a publicity stunt run amuck, but the damage to her career had been severe. A hint of decollate wasn't the same thing as the full monty and she got a lot of negative feedback. If you do a Google search the #2 subject after her name is "wardrobe malfunction". It's been years and people are still talking or thinking about it. I've made my feelings clear on this: Justin Timberlake got away with murder while Janet has been hung out to dry. That's racialized sexism at its bloody worst. 

I'd like to focus on the positive though and I'm certain that Ms. Jackson is capable of being musically relevant again IF she is willing to return to a message of uplift or something else with a deeper meaning. The "I'm so breathy, cute and sexy" look doesn't work with Mariah Carey and it doesn't work with Jackson either. We are capable of dancing to something of substance just as easily as something of folly. The (0ver)sexualized imagery smacks of desperation - at least to me and was too close to being compared to Madonna. The same Madonna that thinks nothing of lifting bits and pieces of everybody else's culture and creating a new image around it. I usually liked her but I was always amazed how her whiteness protected her scrutiny of it. That may not be a fair comparison or situation for they are two different artists....but I think there's a certain racism prevalent where a Black woman will always be demonized for being sexually "free" in a public forum. Jackson has far too much talent to rely on displaying her body and relying on youth for appeal. 

In the meantime, we have Janet's amazing body of work to review. We can see her influence across a spectrum of artists. She deserves the credit, yet so many of Jackson's most ardent copiers (thieves!) have the nerve to give it to Madonna. Some of us aren't fooled - or impressed. I can write about and speak about it, but let's look at the evidence: music videos. See for yourself.

The Imitator

The Originator

More Evidence

See this video where Janet turns the tables on the typical male female dynamic. Almost masculine imagery as the women take on an aggressive role, initiate the contact and control its execution. What was empowering is that they did not leave with the male romantic interests but left them in the dust - literally. This is an empowering message for women regardless of their orientation as well. I'd love to have discussion of this video from the LGBT community. 

Compare this in contrast to the rather backwards pining of Beyonce and crew for a "hood" guy and the hyper masculine images on display. The role of the men are limited by definition. Further this is problematic in it being the only depiction of the Black male. Hood, ghetto, tough, animalistic even. They were trying to control the beast of the hip-hop misogyny with fake empowerment. Soldier = Thug = Criminal.

There are many other artists who've been influenced by Jackson but I want to keep this post somewhat brief. What are your favorite Janet Jackson videos, songs and what impact has her career had on you?

Cuz I Want to Talk About Something Other Than Power, Corruption and Lies

Janet Jackson has ended her relationship with Island Def Jam records. Yet she’s still dating the guy running the company. Her latest release Discipline was a great big flop and I guess she thought it best to cut her losses. THIS IS WHY YOU KEEP THE MAN AND YOUR BUSINESS SEPARATE. Either one area thrives and the other…does not.

I was trying to think back to the last Janet release that I actually liked and it took a while. Now don’t misunderstand I admire MISS JACKSON for her talent and numerous career accomplishments, her charity work and acting ability but I’ve been extremely disappointed. Don’t even get me started on (Pariah Scary) Mariah Carey. Her Betty Boop meets Marilyn Monroe act is sooo beyond tired. If Mary J. Blige can put out consistently relevant but still quality music why can’t they?

Lately I find myself hard-pressed to part with my hard-earned cash to buy albums (yeah I kick it ol’ skool). There was a time when we consumers could rest assured when we purchased music we’d be getting at least a 75% satisfaction quotient instead of feeling ripped off with 1-2 decent songs and an album of filler crap.

So I’d have to pass on the last couple of JJ albums though there were a few good singles. I think I’d have to go back as far as Velvet Rope or the Janet album – now that was a great release! Of course Rhythm Nation and Control are considered classics now, but how long ago was that?

Part of the problem is that Janet’s reputation was trashed. Let’s call it the “Black Woman’s Burden” over the Super Bowl fiasco. Justin Timbersnake got to walk away scot free and Janet got the shaft.

If it had been Madonna she would’ve said F-U and meant it. Of course Madonna wouldn’t have been sharing the stage with anybody in the first place. No the MTV Awards where she kissed Britney and Xtina doesn’t count. That wasn’t a performance – that was a stunt.

The only way I could see a problem scenario for Madonna would’ve been if she had been on stage with a Black male singer but I can’t think of any artist who would’ve been performing with her. Usher? No way. Ne-Yo? Too fey. Chris Brown? He makes her look too old.

Besides Madonna already had her ‘Black man” controversy over kissing the Black saint in her Like A Prayer video. Pepsi had been sponsoring her but by the time they pulled the plug she’d already cashed that check!! Haha!

We know there’s an entire library set of rules and double-standards when it comes to the display and portrayal of sexuality between white women and black women. Janet is musical royalty. Britney was praising Madonna to the high heavens but stealing all of Janet’s moves – remember the chair routine in the Stronger video?

As much as I respect MISS JACKSON her music has sucked lately. I have no idea how difficult it must be to maintain your career after getting to superstardom but she needs to go back to Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis pronto. Or find new collaborators who are REAL musicians and writers, not just Garage Band knob twiddlers. Yeah I’m calling you out Palow da Don. And please….no rappers…no voice box. She needs someone respectable NOT just popular today. **Call Peven Everett**.

Prime example of this is Madonna, who’s latest album sucks too. The whole Timbaland/Kanye/Pharrell dance is now over. Or it should be. Confessions On A Dancefloor was a masterpiece. Like Erotica. Like Ray of Light. Not as bad as American Life but not close to Bedtime Stories – which was her last foray into R&B land.

I always cracked up at Whitney Houston’s musical turf outrage over Madonna working with Babyface. “I worked with FACE first!” Good luck on that comeback.

I’ll give props to both Janet and Madonna for still being out there and still selling the sexy. Speaking of sexy Tina Turner is on tour. As well as Cher. And Bette Midler. Sharon Jones of the Dap Kings is out there kicking butt as well.  

Nobody says anything about the Rolling Stones or Aerosmith performing and being old(er). I saw the Police reunion show. I thought it was very mechanical and kept thinking they were counting their money and calculating when they could end the show and go to bed that night.