The As-I-Amber Podcast & BlogNew episode “Insecure Times” featuring Solomon Hillfleet. We’re talking Issa Rae’s #InsecureHBO & more! This episode is now available on Spotify, iTunes/Apple Podcasts! Like, Comment, Share and click here to listen (www.anchor.fm/asiamber)
Check out the latest episode of my “As-I-Amber” podcast featuring a special guest, my mommy! This episode, “Quarantine Chronicles”, is now available on Spotify, iTunes/Apple Podcasts and other podcast platforms. Click here: 📲 anchor.fm/asiamber
Scrolling through social media I noticed that sometimes a persons online persona and offline reality at times don’t align. Are you really who you “post” to be? Check out the latest episode of my “As-I-Amber” podcast available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
Apple/iPhone users click here!
Check out my Missy Elliott playlist available on Apple Music (click here) under “asiamberjamz” and below on Spotify.
Missy Elliott is the recipient of the 2019 MTV Video Music Award’s Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award. Missy is so talented and deserving of the award. She’s produced and written for so many people! I can’t wait to see her performance and other shenanigans that go on tonight at the 2019 Video Music Awards.
Spotify Users click here:
Do y’all remember Diddy’s “Making the Band” on MTV?! It was like American Idol meets The Real World. The concept of the show was having thousands from across the country go to an audition to be in a Rap, Pop, or R&B group. Then, judges narrowed it down to a certain number of people and put them all in a house with a camera crew to see which ones would and could endure the boot camp style vocal coaching and dance lessons and “make the band”. Sounds intense, but it made for great TV! I remember when the show aired in the early 2000’s and talking about what happened on the show the next day at school. This was before Instagram was invented, before Twitter hashtags, and when Facebook was only for college students. I remember classmates being passionate about who would and wouldn’t make the band and who their favorite members were in the musical groups: Danity Kane, Da Band, and Day 26. 
Recently, as I watched Diddy’s “CAN’T STOP WON’T STOP” music documentary on Apple Music. Sean “Puffy”/”Diddy” Combs was an intern and A&R exec at Mr. Andre Harrell’s Uptown Records, yet was eventually fired. When this happened Diddy started his own Bad Boy Record Label in the early 90’s. I began to wonder what would have happened if all these groups/ Bad Boy Records artists would have lasted. When I see groups in 2017 like Fifth Harmony, Migos, and ABC’s Boy Band I immediately think of the Making the Band Reality series. 
There was so much talented displayed on the show, but not everyone made the band. Some people could sing, but couldn’t dance. Some could dance, but couldn’t sing, and some could do both, but personalities didn’t fit a group dynamic. I recall choreographer, Laurieann “Boom Kack” Gibson, yelling at the future band members was always funny to me. And who could forget the time Diddy made Da Band walk all those blocks to get him some cheesecake to see how passionate they were about having time in the studio to record?! What are your memories of the reality tv series “Making the Band”? Do you think the show will ever make a comeback or if MTV will ever release the series on DVD or a streaming service? I could go on for days, but here’s a playlist to recall those moments in time. Also, there are a few YouTube clips from the series. Check them out when you have the chance.
The hour and a half film, “The Photograph”, directed by Stella Meghie, starring Issa Rae and Lakeith Stanfield, in my opinion, was a cute romantic drama about a journalist and photographer’s daughter. Maybe I’m biased because I went to school for journalism, like taking pictures, and have been a fan of actress-producer, Issa Rae’s work since her YouTube series “The Misadventures of An Awkward Black Girl” to HBO’s “Insecure”, but I liked this movie!
Ultimately you’ll have to watch for yourself because everyone thinks differently and has experienced different things in life. If you’re not a fan of romance or love story films then this movie may not be for you. In media, it’s kind of rare in 2020 to see a love story or romantic film between a young black couple.
As a millennial black woman, it was refreshing to see a young dark-skinned black woman and a young black man navigating love and life without being a dysfunctional “Love & Hip Hop” drama, traumatic “struggle love” stereotype. I usually don’t like the romantic type of movies, but this film was pieced together so beautifully. It was nice to see a darker-skinned black woman be the love interest and not the “sidekick friend” always consoling everyone else and being without a love interest.
It was also nice to see a young black man in a movie that was not an athlete or a criminal. From the song choices curated by musician Robert Glasper, ranging from songs by Anderson Paak and Lucky Daye, to Issa’s flawless skin and makeup I give the film production a 9 out of 10. I wish certain parts were more in-depth, but maybe that’s the purpose of art to make you come up with your own ending. Go check it out for yourself and see the movie trailer below.
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