laurarichardson said:

Has anyone read the fukin article then or what!?

bashraka said:

honer said:

Has anyone read the fukin article then or what!?

"To read more about why Prince doesn't curse in his songs anymore, his thoughts on record company heads and his full Nile Rodgers interview, pick up the June issue of ESSENCE, on newsstands May 9."

http://www.essence.com/20...june-cover

Alexandernvrmind said:

That cover bites.... I wished P put as much energy into producing great work as he does trying to look as corny and gay as possible

Once again someone commenting on the cover rather than the actual article!!! P has been wearing this look for over a year it is not something new and he actually looks a little more masculine with the fro than with straight hair so I do not get the "gay" crap. He has such a soft face he would have to be industrial accident to look hard in the face.

langebleu said:

honer said:

Has anyone read the fukin article then or what!?

"To read more about why Prince doesn't curse in his songs anymore, his thoughts on record company heads and his full Nile Rodgers interview, pick up the June issue of ESSENCE, on newsstands May 9."

http://www.essence.com/20...june-cover

Useless!

HAS ANYONE READ IT? or are we just happy to not buy it and twat on about the companys photoshopping skills?

Is it only available in the US?

honer said:

langebleu said:

"To read more about why Prince doesn't curse in his songs anymore, his thoughts on record company heads and his full Nile Rodgers interview, pick up the June issue of ESSENCE, on newsstands May 9."

http://www.essence.com/20...june-cover

Useless!

HAS ANYONE READ IT? or are we just happy to not buy it and twat on about the companys photoshopping skills?

----- It should hit the newstands tommorow. I will pick up and report back.

maybe it is a shitty cover because it is a shitty magazine?

Dr Boyce Watkins: Let’s Face it, Essence Magazine has lost it’s “Essence”

by Dr. Boyce Watkins

The revelations by former...ance White both intrigued and concerned me. Last year, White revealed that she was fired after battling the magazine’s corporate overseer, Time Warner Inc. According to White, Essence was being pushed in a direction that she felt was designed to dumb down the black woman in America, focusing more on fashion and beauty tips than more serious issues of the day. This is a far cry from what Essence used to be when black people were truly running the show.

Not to say that I was surprised, but I admittedly long for the days when my friend Susan Taylor stood at the helm of the magazine, and Essence represented something black, extraordinary and authentic. There was a time when we fully understood that the power of media wasn’t just for making money, it was also for shaping minds. In fact, Adolph Hitler once said that if you want to control a group of people, all you have to do is control what they read, watch and hear.

For much of my life, when I thought about Essence Magazine, I thought about black women. Now, when I think about Essence, I think about what white people want black women to become. The mind can be under occupation in the same way that one colonizes a foreign country, and in the space of African American media, it’s difficult to argue that we’re not a conquered and imperialized group of people.

The pressure to assimilate is overwhelming when I look at how most of the radio stations our kids listen to are owned by big corporations like Clear Channel, who don’t care that commercialized hip-hop music is teaching young boys how to grow up and become murderers and r*pists. Television Networks like BET seem to believe that it should once again be illegal for black people to learn how to read. Even TV One, the “good version” of BET (a network that most of us respect), is 49% owned by NBC Universal, implying that they remain officially black-owned by a mere technicality.

Essence is one of the latest victims of the perpetual paper chase that turns us into the kinds of economic addicts that are produced by a racially-oppressive capitalist society. As black kids, we grow up believing that our goal in life is to sell our soul to the highest bidder, and that it’s OK to be an asset on someone else’s plantation, as long as our overseers allow us to live in the big house. This opens the door to a life of fancy cars, giant homes and expensive meals at the finest restaurants, where we charge it to the game without realizing that there is a massive debt to be repaid.

Then, one day, you look in the mirror and the person you see no longer has a soul. Like the hooker on the corner who gave her baby away for another vile of crack cocaine, you realize that your worth in this world has been reduced to the size of your paycheck (which can be taken away as soon as they are finished with you). The community you love languishes and dies, while you sit in the warmth of your corporate office with a boss telling you that the plight of “those people” has nothing to do with you.

I understand this well, because I know capitalism. I’ve been teaching Finance at the college level for the last 20 years, and one thing I know for sure is that the powerful temptation of money can lead us to become something that we’re not, and it can literally reshape the structure of our psycho-sociological DNA, turning a righteous mission into an abandoned one. I believe this is what happened to Essence magazine, and quite frankly, it disgusts me.

I wasn’t surprised in the least to hear former Essence editor White say that the corporate captains who own Essence were pulling the strings and dressing the magazine up in black face. I could hear the voices of thousands of black women on our blogs who, through women’s intuition, could tell that something was wrong. I’ll keep things simple: If you want to understand why most corporations or politicians do anything that doesn’t make sense, just follow the money. Its much more profitable to sell beauty tips and relationship advice than it is to discuss controversial topics like racism, poverty or the prison industrial complex. Purely capitalist organizations are not designed to incur these kinds of risks.

I don’t hate Essence Magazine, but I think that we should not define the magazine by what it used to be. Instead, we should define it by what it is. Essence Magazine is NOT a publication designed for the empowerment and independence of African American women. It is a magazine that is run and owned by a big corporation with mostly white shareholders who have positioned the brand to get access to the spending power of African American women. Ladies, the magazine is certainly wired to SERVE you, but it is not wired to LIBERATE you. There is a very big difference between the two.

Susan Taylor left the building long ago and Essence has “evolved.” The painful truth that we must realize is that to truly create black-owned media that empowers the African American community, we must be able to think beyond the financial bottom line. Economic inequality is the last great hurdle of black civil rights, and overcoming starts with the power of OWNERSHIP.

the comments section under the article is pretty interesting too

http://naturallymoi.com/2...s-essence/

[Edited 5/8/14 13:32pm]

[Edited 5/8/14 13:33pm]

its an interesting read. not much as it relates to NEW information. i've liked cheo hodari coker as a writer since his days at The Source, he's come a LONG way. but this is not too deep, just a relaxed look at a show, before and after. i liked how it sounds as if P's shoot with Randee St. Nicholas went. he shows up, poses, changes jackets a couple times, poses (real naturally), looks at the pics and keeps it moving. lots of celebs hangin' at his suite after the show (janelle, chapelle, liane havas, marsha ambroshious, etc. just vibing, singin' and hangin' out).

he does talk about how the 75th show on the PR tour almost "broke him" because with the movie and album being out, he thought everyone wanted to hear the songs exactly as they recorded. and that's what they did. he says he owes a great debt to the Revolution but he's doing something different now and likes how his new band can be "in the moment"

the NR interview is cool. ppl made it seem like he was being a SUPER journalist or something. good questions though. it harkens back to what Cheo says in the article, when you are with him privately, he's not shy but very normal and engaging, only few ppl get to experience that side of him and it seems like Nile did. its a respect thing. I thought it was interesting that Nile said he regrets not working with Miles Davis because he thought he was playin' about wanting to.

on another note, DAYUM, Dr. Watkins! That's some HARD truth in that article. Susan has left the building indeed! my wife and mom subscribe but i don't think they've seen this article!

honer said:

langebleu said:

"To read more about why Prince doesn't curse in his songs anymore, his thoughts on record company heads and his full Nile Rodgers interview, pick up the June issue of ESSENCE, on newsstands May 9."

http://www.essence.com/20...june-cover

Useless!

HAS ANYONE READ IT? or are we just happy to not buy it and twat on about the companys photoshopping skills?

CAN YOU READ? TODAY IS MAY 8th!

Who is gonna read the damn thing before it hits the news stand? Not too many people other than subscribers I imagine.

Calm the fuck down and stop whinng at least till AFTER May 9th.

3rdeyedude said:

maybe it is a shitty cover because it is a shitty magazine?

Dr Boyce Watkins: Let’s Face it, Essence Magazine has lost it’s “Essence”

May 6, 2014

by Dr. Boyce Watkins

The revelations by former...ance White both intrigued and concerned me. Last year, White revealed that she was fired after battling the magazine’s corporate overseer, Time Warner Inc. According to White, Essence was being pushed in a direction that she felt was designed to dumb down the black woman in America, focusing more on fashion and beauty tips than more serious issues of the day. This is a far cry from what Essence used to be when black people were truly running the show.

Not to say that I was surprised, but I admittedly long for the days when my friend Susan Taylor stood at the helm of the magazine, and Essence represented something black, extraordinary and authentic. There was a time when we fully understood that the power of media wasn’t just for making money, it was also for shaping minds. In fact, Adolph Hitler once said that if you want to control a group of people, all you have to do is control what they read, watch and hear.

For much of my life, when I thought about Essence Magazine, I thought about black women. Now, when I think about Essence, I think about what white people want black women to become. The mind can be under occupation in the same way that one colonizes a foreign country, and in the space of African American media, it’s difficult to argue that we’re not a conquered and imperialized group of people.

The pressure to assimilate is overwhelming when I look at how most of the radio stations our kids listen to are owned by big corporations like Clear Channel, who don’t care that commercialized hip-hop music is teaching young boys how to grow up and become murderers and r*pists. Television Networks like BET seem to believe that it should once again be illegal for black people to learn how to read. Even TV One, the “good version” of BET (a network that most of us respect), is 49% owned by NBC Universal, implying that they remain officially black-owned by a mere technicality.

Essence is one of the latest victims of the perpetual paper chase that turns us into the kinds of economic addicts that are produced by a racially-oppressive capitalist society. As black kids, we grow up believing that our goal in life is to sell our soul to the highest bidder, and that it’s OK to be an asset on someone else’s plantation, as long as our overseers allow us to live in the big house. This opens the door to a life of fancy cars, giant homes and expensive meals at the finest restaurants, where we charge it to the game without realizing that there is a massive debt to be repaid.

Then, one day, you look in the mirror and the person you see no longer has a soul. Like the hooker on the corner who gave her baby away for another vile of crack cocaine, you realize that your worth in this world has been reduced to the size of your paycheck (which can be taken away as soon as they are finished with you). The community you love languishes and dies, while you sit in the warmth of your corporate office with a boss telling you that the plight of “those people” has nothing to do with you.

I understand this well, because I know capitalism. I’ve been teaching Finance at the college level for the last 20 years, and one thing I know for sure is that the powerful temptation of money can lead us to become something that we’re not, and it can literally reshape the structure of our psycho-sociological DNA, turning a righteous mission into an abandoned one. I believe this is what happened to Essence magazine, and quite frankly, it disgusts me.

I wasn’t surprised in the least to hear former Essence editor White say that the corporate captains who own Essence were pulling the strings and dressing the magazine up in black face. I could hear the voices of thousands of black women on our blogs who, through women’s intuition, could tell that something was wrong. I’ll keep things simple: If you want to understand why most corporations or politicians do anything that doesn’t make sense, just follow the money. Its much more profitable to sell beauty tips and relationship advice than it is to discuss controversial topics like racism, poverty or the prison industrial complex. Purely capitalist organizations are not designed to incur these kinds of risks.

I don’t hate Essence Magazine, but I think that we should not define the magazine by what it used to be. Instead, we should define it by what it is. Essence Magazine is NOT a publication designed for the empowerment and independence of African American women. It is a magazine that is run and owned by a big corporation with mostly white shareholders who have positioned the brand to get access to the spending power of African American women. Ladies, the magazine is certainly wired to SERVE you, but it is not wired to LIBERATE you. There is a very big difference between the two.

Susan Taylor left the building long ago and Essence has “evolved.” The painful truth that we must realize is that to truly create black-owned media that empowers the African American community, we must be able to think beyond the financial bottom line. Economic inequality is the last great hurdle of black civil rights, and overcoming starts with the power of OWNERSHIP.

the comments section under the article is pretty interesting too

http://naturallymoi.com/2...s-essence/

[Edited 5/8/14 13:32pm]

[Edited 5/8/14 13:33pm]

Wow, this is the third negative comment about Essence on the thread already...seems excessive.

Did they fire you or something to make you go out of your way to bitterly diss the magazine this way?

2elijah said:

I like that he supports Yeswecode. A program that Rebuild the Dream is involved in, where they teach/train disadvantaged youth about computer coding. Awesome.

That's an excellent initiative that he's supporting. Glad he's still committed to education.

thisisreece said:

Is it only available in the US?

Looks like the print edition is US only. They have a digital edition for tablets, Itunes, Amazon, etc.

babynoz said:

2elijah said:

I like that he supports Yeswecode. A program that Rebuild the Dream is involved in, where they teach/train disadvantaged youth about computer coding. Awesome.

That's an excellent initiative that he's supporting. Glad he's still committed to education.

Yes it is. I am looking for a coding program for my nephew. He loves video games. So one time I told him that he spends so much time vested in playing video games on his game systems, and computer, that I told him that maybe he should invest in it, by learning how to create video games, etc. He agreed..lol, and now I'm trying to find one for him to attend during the summer. There really is not that many in NYC, and most are only for a week. Most of the programs are for summer camps, and allows a parent to choose a week/2 weeks or more, and it does cost a lot of money, but I feel it is worth the investment in so many youths' future.

babynoz said:

thisisreece said:

Is it only available in the US?

Looks like the print edition is US only. They have a digital edition for tablets, Itunes, Amazon, etc.

This morning on my way to work, I got on the train, and this lady I sat next to, was heavy into reading that magazine. I peeked at some of the pages when she turned the page and saw it was a long interview. Later on, I bought the magazine, and enjoyed reading both articles, including Prince interviewing the great Nile Rodgers.

[Edited 5/8/14 19:22pm]

honer said:

controversy99 said:

honer said:

Useless!

HAS ANYONE READ IT? or are we just happy to not buy it and twat on about the companys photoshopping skills?

This is one of the funniest, least selfaware responses to a comment that I've ever seen on the org. Um, today is May 8th. The person posted that the magazine will be on the newstands May 9th (the future). Then you respond that this information is "useless". Hilarious. Like another person said, only subscribers have had a chance to read the full story ... so please calm down for a minute. . . . (Sorry if that sounded harsh. It was just too funny.)

What is funny is a bunch of nuts going on and on about the Photoshop and while the article will not be on the newstands until tommorow why not discuss what the article might be about instead of the photoshopping. The same crap when on with the MOJO article which I believe no one on this board wrote anything about that interview either just comments about the pics. Very silly

laurarichardson said:

controversy99 said:

honer said: This is one of the funniest, least selfaware responses to a comment that I've ever seen on the org. Um, today is May 8th. The person posted that the magazine will be on the newstands May 9th (the future). Then you respond that this information is "useless". Hilarious. Like another person said, only subscribers have had a chance to read the full story ... so please calm down for a minute. . . . (Sorry if that sounded harsh. It was just too funny.)

What is funny is a bunch of nuts going on and on about the Photoshop and while the article will not be on the newstands until tommorow why not discuss what the article might be about instead of the photoshopping. The same crap when on with the MOJO article which I believe no one on this board wrote anything about that interview either just comments about the pics. Very silly

The only person on here talking ANY sense!

Deleted langebleu -= moderator

As someone mentioned earlier, the thread is about the COVER, so it's perfectly logical that most comments are about the COVER. If we want to discuss the ARTICLE when we have had a chance to read it, let's start a new thread titled PRINCE ARTICLE IN ESSENCE or something along those lines, o.k.? Otherwise, in the immortal words of Prince himself, "Shut up already, damn!"

honer said:

laurarichardson said:

What is funny is a bunch of nuts going on and on about the Photoshop and while the article will not be on the newstands until tommorow why not discuss what the article might be about instead of the photoshopping. The same crap when on with the MOJO article which I believe no one on this board wrote anything about that interview either just comments about the pics. Very silly

The only person on here talking ANY sense!

Deleted - langebleu - moderator

Grog said:

As someone mentioned earlier, the thread is about the COVER, so it's perfectly logical that most comments are about the COVER. If we want to discuss the ARTICLE when we have had a chance to read it, let's start a new thread titled PRINCE ARTICLE IN ESSENCE or something along those lines, o.k.? Otherwise, in the immortal words of Prince himself, "Shut up already, damn!"

Thank you!

Grog said:

As someone mentioned earlier, the thread is about the COVER, so it's perfectly logical that most comments are about the COVER. If we want to discuss the ARTICLE when we have had a chance to read it, let's start a new thread titled PRINCE ARTICLE IN ESSENCE or something along those lines, o.k.? Otherwise, in the immortal words of Prince himself, "Shut up already, damn!"

honer said:

The only person on here talking ANY sense!

Deleted - langebleu - moderator

Since when do we start 2 threads everytime he's in a magazine?! I cant tell you my contempt for that comment as Das Moderators will delete it.

babynoz said:

honer said:

This is the best! Most revealing print innerview he ever did...

Alexandernvrmind said:

That cover bites.... I wished P put as much energy into producing great work as he does trying to look as corny and gay as possible

r u one of the "plants" on here to make negative remarks consistently?