Cerebus said:

bboy87 said:

she'd fit RIGHT IN down on Telegraph Avenue

True! And I love her. But Telegraph does NOT represent mainstream America.

Which is why it's so awesome

Now I miss it again

bboy87 said:

Cerebus said:

True! And I love her. But Telegraph does NOT represent mainstream America.

Which is why it's so awesome

Now I miss it again

It's not NEARLY as cool as it was five, ten, TWENTY years ago (yes, I've been going there that long - 24 years, in fact). But neither is Haight St or Golden Gate Park.

Cerebus said:

bboy87 said:

Which is why it's so awesome

Now I miss it again

It's not NEARLY as cool as it was five, ten, TWENTY years ago (yes, I've been going there that long - 24 years, in fact). But neither is Haight St or Golden Gate Park.

5 years ago......that was 2006.....yep I was hanging out over there then

and Haight, I've only been twice and that was to go to Amoeba

we need another Bay Area Appreciation thread

Where the hell in California is Telegraph?

nursev said:

Where the hell in California is Telegraph?

Berkeley

[img:$uid]http://tokerud.typepad.com/photos/dimage_x50_first_pix/telegraph_ave_in_berkeley.jpg[/img:$uid]

^^that HAD to be before 10am because it's usually packed with people of different colors, backgrounds, styles......mental stability...

Erykah, Andre 3000, Janelle Monae, and Cee Lo would fit right in

Cerebus said:

bboy87 said:

Which is why it's so awesome

Now I miss it again

It's not NEARLY as cool as it was five, ten, TWENTY years ago (yes, I've been going there that long - 24 years, in fact). But neither is Haight St or Golden Gate Park.

yeah it is more annoying and depressing now, though I am coincidentally also growing older...

bboy87 said:

nursev said:

Where the hell in California is Telegraph?

Berkeley

[img:$uid]http://tokerud.typepad.com/photos/dimage_x50_first_pix/telegraph_ave_in_berkeley.jpg[/img:$uid]

^^that HAD to be before 10am because it's usually packed with people of different colors, backgrounds, styles......mental stability...

Erykah, Andre 3000, Janelle Monae, and Cee Lo would fit right in

Oh okay...yeah she'd fit right in that crowd

nursev said:

bboy87 said:

Berkeley

[img:$uid]http://tokerud.typepad.com/photos/dimage_x50_first_pix/telegraph_ave_in_berkeley.jpg[/img:$uid]

^^that HAD to be before 10am because it's usually packed with people of different colors, backgrounds, styles......mental stability...

Erykah, Andre 3000, Janelle Monae, and Cee Lo would fit right in

Oh okay...yeah she'd fit right in that crowd

I'm thinking more Lauren Hill, Nick Nolte, Phil Spector...

scriptgirl said:

and like Sade, has a singular niche.

But, unlike Badu, Sade has a HUGE crossover audience.

kitbradley said:

scriptgirl said:

and like Sade, has a singular niche.

But, unlike Badu, Sade has a HUGE crossover audience.

Please don't bring Ms. Adu in this imma have to cut somebody

Why isn't Erykah Badu a bigger star? Relative to what? Britney Spears or any of these 3 CD's and done "singers" the record companies hype. The sillness about "crossing over has always been ridiculous, what are Black artist crossing over too? When we created it in the first damn place. Please.

-----------------

[Edited 1/22/11 12:17pm]

bboy87 said:

nursev said:

Where the hell in California is Telegraph?

Berkeley

[img:$uid]http://tokerud.typepad.com/photos/dimage_x50_first_pix/telegraph_ave_in_berkeley.jpg[/img:$uid]

^^that HAD to be before 10am because it's usually packed with people of different colors, backgrounds, styles......mental stability...

Erykah, Andre 3000, Janelle Monae, and Cee Lo would fit right in

1992, Senior cut day, my first trip to the Bay Area. We head here. You think it's quirky now!!! LOL After being overwhelmed by the awesomeness of it all, what do I see? A grown man, at that corner, with his dick out pissing all over the street.

There were vendors left and right, drug use all around...Like Timesquare, Berkeley cleaned the character out of that area in the mid 90s and while it's still cute, it's never been the same.

sosgemini said:

bboy87 said:

Berkeley

[img:$uid]http://tokerud.typepad.com/photos/dimage_x50_first_pix/telegraph_ave_in_berkeley.jpg[/img:$uid]

^^that HAD to be before 10am because it's usually packed with people of different colors, backgrounds, styles......mental stability...

Erykah, Andre 3000, Janelle Monae, and Cee Lo would fit right in

1992, Senior cut day, my first trip to the Bay Area. We head here. You think it's quirky now!!! LOL After being overwhelmed by the awesomeness of it all, what do I see? A grown man, at that corner, with his dick out pissing all over the street.

There were vendors left and right, drug use all around...Like Timesquare, Berkeley cleaned the character out of that area in the mid 90s and while it's still cute, it's never been the same.

You should go to San Francisco...it still has plenty of "character" and "characters" left!

CoolTarik1 said:

She doesn't sing pop music?

I like Erykah, and her music and I think she's eccentric and stands out as a soul artist, which is probably why she does so well, but she doesn't have that pop sound. Reminds me of when India Arie did "I am Not My Hair" and her label released the track with Akon and she gained some face time.

"Thats just the way it is"

She has made great music...but "eccentric" isn't quite the right word for her actions recently...

In my opinion, she IS a star.....men and women, girls and boys, teenagers, twentysomethings, thirtysomethings and all kinds of different people from different backgrounds LOVE her and her music. I´ve been a fan of her since day one, literally. The first Badu CD I bought was the On and On single, then the Baduism album.

Americans love her, white folks , black folks, all kinds of people from various ethnic backgrounds dig her music, I am Turkish born and raised in Germany and a lot of Turkish girls and women love her, a lot of German women and men love her music, too.

I buy all her releases automatically, that´s how much I love her music but, in all honesty, some of her material in the past two or three years has been a bit too sketchy for my taste.

I don´t want to speculate whether the reason for this were her various relationships and breakups, or the sudden fame, or giving birth to and raising three children ( from three different relationships....I´m not judging, just speaking from my experience that going from one relationship to another can sometimes draw a lot of your energy from you), or whatever.

Also, she started taking herself a tad too seriously at times...I could have done without all the cryptic stuff, particularly her 5 Percenter ideas , her monologues on stage about cyphers and ankhs and whatnot...

Not that I dislike her because of that, it´s just that it distracted from her true talent and beautiful voice and nice personality...and besides, I already know most of that stuff and look it up elsewhere if I´m interested...and it sometimes went above people´s heads.

Also, the lyrics and the music became, as I mentioned above, a bit too sketchy, not fully fleshed out like in the past....being experimental, , free and spontaneous is a good thing but come on, most of her newer material is not as deep and perfect and easy to relate to as the masterpiece that is Mama´s Gun.

I liked her last two albums and I LOVED Mama´s Gun and Worldwide Underground but I found the last two albums a bit too dark ( especially Part I) and they don´t contain a lot of memorable melodies or lyric, and that´s why I find them a bit demolike and sketchy.

But I still love them and bought them and don´t regret buying them but I skip a lot of songs. And some of the stronger songs rely waaaaay too much on old school samples , to the point of almost sounding like a coverversion. The same goes for Angie Stone, but that´s a whole different story.

And more live shows in Germany would also help her career....she is not good at using the right momentum. But I understand that it´s not that easy with three children and responsibilities.

purplethunder3121 said:

sosgemini said:

1992, Senior cut day, my first trip to the Bay Area. We head here. You think it's quirky now!!! LOL After being overwhelmed by the awesomeness of it all, what do I see? A grown man, at that corner, with his dick out pissing all over the street.

There were vendors left and right, drug use all around...Like Timesquare, Berkeley cleaned the character out of that area in the mid 90s and while it's still cute, it's never been the same.

You should go to San Francisco...it still has plenty of "character" and "characters" left!

I lived in the Bay Area for 10 years and while in the Central Valley now, it's only an hour and a half away.

sosgemini said:

purplethunder3121 said:

You should go to San Francisco...it still has plenty of "character" and "characters" left!

I lived in the Bay Area for 10 years and while in the Central Valley now, it's only an hour and a half away.

Yep all the characters are here, minus yours truly of course.

sosgemini said:

bboy87 said:

Berkeley

[img:$uid]http://tokerud.typepad.com/photos/dimage_x50_first_pix/telegraph_ave_in_berkeley.jpg[/img:$uid]

^^that HAD to be before 10am because it's usually packed with people of different colors, backgrounds, styles......mental stability...

Erykah, Andre 3000, Janelle Monae, and Cee Lo would fit right in

1992, Senior cut day, my first trip to the Bay Area. We head here. You think it's quirky now!!! LOL After being overwhelmed by the awesomeness of it all, what do I see? A grown man, at that corner, with his dick out pissing all over the street.

There were vendors left and right, drug use all around...Like Timesquare, Berkeley cleaned the character out of that area in the mid 90s and while it's still cute, it's never been the same.

I remember that Berkeley, back before they'd driven out any of the hippies, anarchists, revolutionaries, drug dealers or homeless. Then for a while in the late 90s and early 00s, as they were still in the process of trying to remove all of them, there was an big influx of gutter punks. Now it's pretty much all cleaned up prim and proper. And with that they lost nearly all of the original small businesses that were left. There was always some store turnover through the years. But the slow movement from quirky, individualistic small businesses to major name brand chains that has taken place was really the saddest part for me. Because even though their populations are MUCH smaller, if you look hard enough you can still find the hippies, anarchists, revolutionaries, drug dealers, homeless and gutter punks mixed in amongst the college students and regular folk. But the businesses that left or folded because of the numerous changes forced upon the area by the regents and the city government, you can't find them anymore, and chances are good they'll never be back.

For those who haven't been there or heard of the place, the top end of Telegraph Ave connects to the main South side campus entrance of Cal Berkeley. Besides just being a cool place to shop (in stores or at the numerous street vendor tables), get an awesome lunch or just people watch, it's also been the site of many a great march or protest. People's Park has been associated with this part of Telegraph since 1969.

Cerebus said:

sosgemini said:

1992, Senior cut day, my first trip to the Bay Area. We head here. You think it's quirky now!!! LOL After being overwhelmed by the awesomeness of it all, what do I see? A grown man, at that corner, with his dick out pissing all over the street.

There were vendors left and right, drug use all around...Like Timesquare, Berkeley cleaned the character out of that area in the mid 90s and while it's still cute, it's never been the same.

I remember that Berkeley, back before they'd driven out any of the hippies, anarchists, revolutionaries, drug dealers or homeless. Then for a while in the late 90s and early 00s, as they were still in the process of trying to remove all of them, there was an big influx of gutter punks. Now it's pretty much all cleaned up prim and proper. And with that they lost nearly all of the original small businesses that were left. There was always some store turnover through the years. But the slow movement from quirky, individualistic small businesses to major name brand chains that has taken place was really the saddest part for me. Because even though their populations are MUCH smaller, if you look hard enough you can still find the hippies, anarchists, revolutionaries, drug dealers, homeless and gutter punks mixed in amongst the college students and regular folk. But the businesses that left or folded because of the numerous changes forced upon the area by the regents and the city government, you can't find them anymore, and chances are good they'll never be back.

For those who haven't been there or heard of the place, the top end of Telegraph Ave connects to the main South side campus entrance of Cal Berkeley. Besides just being a cool place to shop (in stores or at the numerous street vendor tables), get an awesome lunch or just people watch, it's also been the site of many a great march or protest. People's Park has been associated with this part of Telegraph since 1969.

They removed all that, yet couldn't get rid of that homeless people and weed stank air that fills your nose from Telegraph to Shattuck?

I walked around there during 11:00pm on a Wednesday and Thursday and I gotta say, from the way it is now (it seems I didn't experience the most interesting times on Telegraph) it was really something else We had just left a breakdancing session at the college and while walking from there to the chinese yogurt shop 3 blocks away (it's 2 blocks from Rasputin) I saw some hilarious shit

bboy87 said:

Cerebus said:

I remember that Berkeley, back before they'd driven out any of the hippies, anarchists, revolutionaries, drug dealers or homeless. Then for a while in the late 90s and early 00s, as they were still in the process of trying to remove all of them, there was an big influx of gutter punks. Now it's pretty much all cleaned up prim and proper. And with that they lost nearly all of the original small businesses that were left. There was always some store turnover through the years. But the slow movement from quirky, individualistic small businesses to major name brand chains that has taken place was really the saddest part for me. Because even though their populations are MUCH smaller, if you look hard enough you can still find the hippies, anarchists, revolutionaries, drug dealers, homeless and gutter punks mixed in amongst the college students and regular folk. But the businesses that left or folded because of the numerous changes forced upon the area by the regents and the city government, you can't find them anymore, and chances are good they'll never be back.

For those who haven't been there or heard of the place, the top end of Telegraph Ave connects to the main South side campus entrance of Cal Berkeley. Besides just being a cool place to shop (in stores or at the numerous street vendor tables), get an awesome lunch or just people watch, it's also been the site of many a great march or protest. People's Park has been associated with this part of Telegraph since 1969.

They removed all that, yet couldn't get rid of that homeless people and weed stank air that fills your nose from Telegraph to Shattuck?

I walked around there during 11:00pm on a Wednesday and Thursday and I gotta say, from the way it is now (it seems I didn't experience the most interesting times on Telegraph) it was really something else We had just left a breakdancing session at the college and while walking from there to the chinese yogurt shop 3 blocks away (it's 2 blocks from Rasputin) I saw some hilarious shit

It's still fun and interesting and occasionally crazy, but it doesn't compare to the all out, near lawless freedom that once existed there. What they've done with Shattuck from University down is a large part of what first caused the changes on Telegraph, too. Nobody used to care about that part of town. Now days there's nearly as much foot traffic over there as the off times on Telegraph. Plus, people have discovered many more of the smaller shoping areas North of University.

Herb is partially ignored in the a lot of places in the Bay Area if you aren't a dumb ass about it. If you don't stand on the corner advertising that you are smoking (just stand back off the curb a bit in the middle of the block ), or make an obvious sale out in the open, it's likely you'll be left alone. It varies from area to area, and driving with a joing burning is still not advised. But some cities have stated publically that they're making it less of a priority for law enforcement. With all the attempts to legalize locally (and state wide), cannibus clubs and budget cuts and the Bay it actually makes good sense.

The homeless will never be gone from Berkeley or San Francisco. The difference is that now they aren't left alone. They're made to move regularly (like, more than one time in a day even - it's no longer legal for them to post ON Telegraph) and stopped (somewhat) from aggresively panhandling.

Cerebus said:

bboy87 said:

They removed all that, yet couldn't get rid of that homeless people and weed stank air that fills your nose from Telegraph to Shattuck?

I walked around there during 11:00pm on a Wednesday and Thursday and I gotta say, from the way it is now (it seems I didn't experience the most interesting times on Telegraph) it was really something else We had just left a breakdancing session at the college and while walking from there to the chinese yogurt shop 3 blocks away (it's 2 blocks from Rasputin) I saw some hilarious shit

It's still fun and interesting and occasionally crazy, but it doesn't compare to the all out, near lawless freedom that once existed there. What they've done with Shattuck from University down is a large part of what first caused the changes on Telegraph, too. Nobody used to care about that part of town. Now days there's nearly as much foot traffic over there as the off times on Telegraph. Plus, people have discovered many more of the smaller shoping areas North of University.

Herb is partially ignored in the a lot of places in the Bay Area if you aren't a dumb ass about it. If you don't stand on the corner advertising that you are smoking (just stand back off the curb a bit in the middle of the block ), or make an obvious sale out in the open, it's likely you'll be left alone. It varies from area to area, and driving with a joing burning is still not advised. But some cities have stated publically that they're making it less of a priority for law enforcement. With all the attempts to legalize locally (and state wide), cannibus clubs and budget cuts and the Bay it actually makes good sense.

The homeless will never be gone from Berkeley or San Francisco. The difference is that now they aren't left alone. They're made to move regularly (like, more than one time in a day even - it's no longer legal for them to post ON Telegraph) and stopped (somewhat) from aggresively panhandling.

That was the downside of going there (along with the stank)

bboy87 said:

Cerebus said:

It's still fun and interesting and occasionally crazy, but it doesn't compare to the all out, near lawless freedom that once existed there. What they've done with Shattuck from University down is a large part of what first caused the changes on Telegraph, too. Nobody used to care about that part of town. Now days there's nearly as much foot traffic over there as the off times on Telegraph. Plus, people have discovered many more of the smaller shoping areas North of University.

Herb is partially ignored in the a lot of places in the Bay Area if you aren't a dumb ass about it. If you don't stand on the corner advertising that you are smoking (just stand back off the curb a bit in the middle of the block ), or make an obvious sale out in the open, it's likely you'll be left alone. It varies from area to area, and driving with a joing burning is still not advised. But some cities have stated publically that they're making it less of a priority for law enforcement. With all the attempts to legalize locally (and state wide), cannibus clubs and budget cuts and the Bay it actually makes good sense.

The homeless will never be gone from Berkeley or San Francisco. The difference is that now they aren't left alone. They're made to move regularly (like, more than one time in a day even - it's no longer legal for them to post ON Telegraph) and stopped (somewhat) from aggresively panhandling.

That was the downside of going there (along with the stank)

The problem is that the criminal and violent element has become worse recently... You can't lump all people who are without housing into one element called "The Homeless!"

purplethunder3121 said:

bboy87 said:

That was the downside of going there (along with the stank)

The problem is that the criminal and violent element has become worse recently... You can't lump all people who are without housing into one element called "The Homeless!"

Not sure where you are located geographically, or your views on panhandling, but the type of homeless we're discussing (generally) in Berkeley and SF are pretty clearly just your regular old homeless folk. It's clear that this is how they are living, and that a lot of them have been doing so for quite some time. Berkeley and SF have been a sanctuary for them since the late 60s. I'm not really sure I understand your statement, though, because being without housing does technically make you homeless. However, as far as the criminal element goes, I don't give to panhandlers any longer and I haven't for quite a while. When they started aggresively getting in my face about not giving them change while wearing more expensive shoes than I do with designer jeanes and a leather jacket I was kind of done with it.

jaybendy said:

She's not a bigger star because she actually had TALENT, doesn't do your typical R&B/POP music that the record companies keep pushing on the public and she's not running around here half nakked (Window Seat excluded).

Talent does not sell well in pop music nowdays.....Tits and ass do...

cuz she ugly

Wham2011 said:

cuz she ugly

That´s your opinion but I find her quite sexy in this picture, and I usually don´t find her that sexy, really.

Thanks for the pic.

PS: Calling people "ugly" is a bit harsh, IMO.

Wham2011 said:

cuz she ugly

Beauty's in the eye of the beholder, of course, but I've always thought Ms. Wright was fine as hell.

[img:$uid]http://www.kalamu.com/bol/wp-content/content/images/Erykah_Badu2.jpg[/img:$uid] [img:$uid]http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/45906/Erykah+Badu.jpg[/img:$uid]

[img:$uid]http://www.sevensidedcube.net/wp-content/uploads/erykah-badu-window-seat.jpg[/img:$uid]

Wham2011 said:

cuz she ugly

she's ugly???

you sir, are ridiculous... and probably blind

Does anyone know where I can find that picture of Erykah Badu sitting on her bed, with a bookshelf and a Bob Marley poster in the background. Some orger posted it here a while ago but I can´t find it.

JoeTyler said:

Wham2011 said:

cuz she ugly

she's ugly???

you sir, are ridiculous... and probably blind

Yeah, she's nowhere close to ugly. And if I ever "make it" make it, knowing her history with eccentric male artists... .

On the topic though, her style & sound got funkier/heavier in the 2000s which was a big no-no for the mainstream (& unfortunately still is). Most only wanted her to stick with the ballads or the "Baduism" sound/look...She's very unpredictable, but I recall the "Window Seat" video stirred up alot of controversy on CNN & other mainstream outlets, so she's far from being what they call "indie".

Nowadays, she is arguably the most respected female (or male) African-American vocalist on the urban scene now & has become an icon (14 years since her 1st album, & still being talked about on a regular basis). And by "respect", I don't mean "Beyonce"-type respect, I mean "artistic/creative" respect. So, yeah, she is a huge star. Mostly everyone 16 y.o. and up knows who she is or has heard of her. F Soundscan...