Lastdecember always sh*ts on Emancipation of Mimi and consistently brings up that the album wasn't all that and WBT gave it a push as if that's a bad thing. Yet, it continues to be a fan favorite. Mariah likes to sell records but she also likes to please her fans and with this disc, she was successful.

Harlepolis said:

Mariah is three quarters white so to call her black is highly ignorant.
[Edited 2/3/09 8:24am]

midnightmover said:

What on earth are you talking about??? Mariah calls herself black because her father was black! Exactly what percentage of blood makes you black? In this society, one drop is all it takes. Is President Obama black?
[Edited 2/3/09 8:31am]

kitbradley said:

President Obama is half white, half black which makes him bi-racial, just like Mariah's father. Mariah's mother is white. That makes her 75% white and 25% black. You don't have to be a maths expert to see that 75% is a lot more than 25%.

midnightmover said:

Mariah doesn't call herself black or white. She calls herself multi-racial (her mother was Irish, her father half Venezuelan, half African American).

Arnotts said:

My dick disagrees.

http://www.youtube.com/wa...mQbr7qB2Js


she needs to get that hunger back.
[Edited 2/3/09 9:28am]

If thats the case,,,,then Lena Horne ain't black either

Just another case of folks mixing up nationalities with races I won't get into it, its a new day and I won't feed into bullshit anymore.

Harlepolis said:

If you don't want to feed into bullshit, then you should discard Jim Crow's legacy and stop calling people black when black is only a quarter of their heritage. That right there is real bullshit.

midnightmover said:

I

Am

Not

Going

There

With

You

2nigh

Midnightmofo

Looks like she's trying to keep in touch with her roots.

midnightmover said:

And you're a dumbass, so we're even. Where are you getting this 3/4 from? Her father was African-American and Venezuelan which is a nationality NOT a race. He was mostly of African descent. I am a THIRD generation Panamanian, Spanish is my first language but guess what? I'm as chocolate as it gets. So, try that bullshit with someone else.
[Edited 2/3/09 11:50am]

Harlepolis said:

Say that sista!

SCNDLS said:

Mucho gusto.....

Graycap23 said:

Hola, papi!

SCNDLS said:

I believe that the real tragedy of defining race in this country (the USA) is that we are still labeling each other based on old Jim Crow distinctions. I'm half African American, half Mexican American, but I usually identify myself as black. I grew up with an African American father with adopted siblings of African and mixed races, some of which are darker than I am, and one (my youngest sister) who was born after my father remarried a white woman, which came about five years after my mother passed away from cancer. She is a full blown redhead and easily passes as a white woman, even though she is biracial. At any rate, the real tragedy and mistake of these Jim Crow race distinctions is that they used biological factors to determine cultural norms. Heck, at the turn of the century, the so-called white Americans were putting down Italian, Irish, and eastern European immigrants as dirty and inferior to themselves, so this ridiculousness is not limited to just African Americans, Latinos, and Asians.

What is interesting to me about Mariah and everyone's reaction to her is that she may represent the first real post-racial celebrity; someone who is of varied races which everyone stakes a claim to. She appeals to just about every race and ethnic group, and a segment of every race and ethnic group identifies themselves through her.

728huey said:

I agree with all that but I'm just making the point that in many cases, including Mariah's, highlighting that someone has a Latino heritage such as Venezuelan, Puerto Rican, Cuban or whatever is often a way to insinuate that someone is something OTHER than black or of African descent. And to many Americans, it's inconceivable or at least not common knowledge that a large percentage of Latinos are indeed BLACK. Not mixed, not multi-racial, just straight up of African heritage. Mariah's Venezuelan peeps are obviously MOSTLY of African descent but folks still wanna "whitewash" it.

SCNDLS said:

First of all, how do you know her father was mostly of African descent? Who told you that? Secondly, her mother is white, so even if her father was mostly black as you say (which is questionable) she would still be less than half black. So to stamp someone with a label based on something which only makes up a portion of who they are is plainly ignorant. Deeply ignorant. I understand it's a form of ignorance sanctioned by millions, but that doesn't make it any less absurd.

JackieBlue said:

Well its truth, the album has alot of filler, sorry its far from perfect, not even close. Just because it sold means nothing, shes recorded alot better. Shit Purple Rain was Prince's biggest seller but ranks near the middle of the pack with fans of his work. The issue with Mariah is you take any album track from Mimi or the last album or any in the last 15 years, and you will have a hard time placing what album they are from, thats her artistic flaw, case closed, she is a singles artist and her albums are not that good, never have been.

So she decided to be more "urban" today huh...okay!

Harlepolis said:

pfft...

lastdecember said:

You always talk about Emancipation like your opinion is fact. Some 'fillers' are solid songs that don't get released. Who said anything about perfection? I think it would have been a favorite regardless of sales. My emphasis is not on sales. You know we are never going to agree on this. I think what you want or expect from her is not going to happen, at least not anytime soon and if her discography over the last 15 yeas has been lacking then why bother? It is what it is.
[Edited 2/4/09 9:38am]

I like her look. I think this is the real her. It's how she used to dress as a teen.

BlaqueKnight said:

This is an excellent point and I agree with it 100%.

This is why I love Amy Winehouse so much. Her image is terrible, her lifestyle sucks and she's slowly killing herself with drugs and alcohol, but her music speaks for itself. Her two albums are the best music I've heard in a few years. I don't pay attention to her lifestyle, I just enjoy her great music. The image doesn't really mean anything to me. Take Prince as another example....he's acted like a real asshole at times over the years. He's bullshitted us about so many things, but I try to ignore all of that and just concentrate on the music and enjoy the great music that he continues to make. All the rest is meaningless to me.

JackieBlue said:

I never said it was fact, but i always hear that people say "oh all the fans loved it", really, i had die-hard fans, more than i was, ask me about the album (since i had it 2 weeks earlier than release) and i told them it was really good, then when they heard it they said, how could you say that album was really good? And then the more i listened to it, the album became a bore, with the exception of 3-4 cuts that were very good, the rest just seemed to lay there. And thats how mariah is, she always gives you 70-80% records, shes like Duran Duran (except they are light years more interesting). So Mariah to me is running her course, i dont even mind the fact that she is doing the hip-hop thing etc... just do something good, instead of working with Tpain or Akon or whomever, work with someone old school which you preach that you "love oldschool" and yet i see NO hint of that in any of her records, with the excpetion of "glitter". So im always going to have tough love for Mariah, but the albums to me are steadily getting worse. At least Prince mixed it up, and for every shitty rap infuenced song he gave 10-15 strong cuts.

lastdecember said:

Fly Like A Bird
Circles
Mine Again
I Wish You Knew
Say Soemthin' (her first Princey song)
kind of solidified my stance as the best of all her albums to me.

lastdecember said:

Well we obviously ran into and know different Mariah fans... those that liked it and those that didn't.

I understand what you're saying but I disagree a bit and I also think that just maybe Mariah isn't capable of giving you that special album. This might be the best that she can do (sadly). I can't chuck Emancipation though. The songs Paisleypark4 mentioned above are great and I'll throw Joy Ride and Your Girl but it's all opinion.
[Edited 2/4/09 12:39pm]

JackieBlue said:

Those are oustanding cuts too. Joy Ride is reminicent of some 90's slow jams...something SWV wudda did on their first album, kind of like Youre Always On My Mind.

paisleypark4 said:

I adore Joy Ride. It almost makes me misty. It is very SWVish too.

lastdecember said:

agree 100%!