Is Janet's Nakedness Gonna Make You Cop That Album?

Janet...


I’ve been in a lot of bookstores over the past 6 weeks. And I’ve seen a lot of almost naked pictures of Janet Jackson. I’ve seen the cover with the white stripe over her boobs. I’ve seen the cover where she’s squeezing a breast. I’ve seen at least 2 midriff baring covers, one with the cutesy “JD’s” belly ring even. I’ve been around for a minute so I know that Janet has not always bared this much when promoting an album. She’s literally taking her clothes off for this one. I’m not here to say she should dress like an old school marm or Jenna Jameson, I’m here because I wonder how much these photos are impacting YOUR LIKELIHOOD of COPPING that album. I want to know if all of these pictures has you itching to go to the local music store, or wherever you purchase your online music. Does it?

I was a Janet Jackson fan before all the pictures. I’m probably still one underneath my disappointment with all the photos. One photo, okay. Two photos, okay. But now when I go to the store with my daughter, the image is that Janet Jackson isn’t a music talent, she’s a woman who likes to be pictured practically nude on a BUNCH of magazine covers. Hey, it is what it is. My daughter hasn’t been around 20 years.

I’m sure the music industry engine has revved up this “Almost Naked” Janet Jackson campaign in hopes that it’s gonna make US so ready to buy the album on the day it drops. Problem is: A beautiful body doesn’t make you forget some lackluster tracks. Have you heard the first two tracks that they’ve released to the public? The whisper song with Nelly? Come on, that record sounds old as hell. Even the second song, the one with JD in the video, I’m not feeling it. I’m not feeling the songs so much, I can’t even remember the song names. And, I’m a music lover. Does some marketing genius think that photos are more important than the music? If so, they need to produce a Janet Jackson calendar and not an album.

Y’all know that I love music and so as painful as it is for me to feel that Janet Jackson’s new album isn’t going to be hot, I feel overwhelmed to say so. An artist of Janet’s caliber doesn’t have to reduce herself to boobs and azz on a ton of magazine covers in order for us to notice her. Her talent is what made us love her in the first place. In 20 years, has Janet forgotten that? Has Virgin Music forgotten that?

In closing, I want to say, that I hope I’m wrong about Janet’s music. I hope that she has some headbangers on the new album; something that will make me nod my head like “Son of A Gun,” something that will excite me like “Got “Til It’s Gone.” I’m standing by the radio and searching the internet waiting to hear that Janet Jackson headbanger from the new album. And, I truly, deeply, hope that it’s coming.

And I still want to know if all the photos got ya’ll running to the store to cop the album or are ya’ll like me waiting for some new hot music from Janet. Let me know. And, if some of you internet junkies got some hot singles that I haven’t heard, please email me!

The Music Industry Needs A Mechanic

When I first started my career as a writer, I chose to become an entertainment journalist out of my sheer love of music and culture. Imagine what it was like to grow up listening to and loving KRS-One and then see him do a live-show and then be sitting down with him across the street in the hotel lobby kicking it. And were not talking about sex, or money, were talking about music- real music.The BlastMaster


I have memories of Will Smith battling Steady B in a radio studio LIVE. And Will won. I saw LL Cool J perform I need love on a maroon couch while standing next to my Dad who was trying to ignore the weed smokers who were standing next to us. This was 19 years ago. These experiences injected my body with such a love of music I was high when I turned up the radio. These experiences were the reason that I chose to write about music and culture.



I came into the music business as an idealistic journalist. I thought the majority of the people that I would run into would be music lovers. I thought the people that I would come across would be living to uplift the culture. But the reality of the music business is so much different. People are drawn to the celebrities, people are drawn to the money, people are drawn to the spotlight, they forget about the music and the culture. Their only concern is getting paid or being in the spotlight.



The music industry needs people that genuinely care about the industry. Like a car needs a mechanic to make sure its running properly, the music industry needs people, who are not trying to be bought, to make sure that the industry isnt becoming wack! And Im not saying that these people cant make money, Im saying care about some good music. Allow the industry to move forward. I dont see anyone raising their hands to be the mechanic, so Im going to raise my pen in the air.



Right now we need a mechanic to tell some of the fellas to stop glamorizing strippers in every song. I mean lets be real: strippers dont have the best life and yet every other song on the radio is talking about the stripper. Reality check: The stripper is really struggling. More than likely, she hates her job, got some cash flow problems, and possibly a guy whos dogging her out. And if it wasnt for the money that some of the funny-faced guys were giving her, she wouldnt be smiling at dudes pretending to be happy. Is she really happy?


Every stripper Ive never met wished she lived in some posh palace, a nice Allen Iverson type dude to take care of her, a phat ride with some Funk Master Flexxx rims, and knot in her $3,000 couture purse. The stripper doesnt bend over for fun. She bends over because its the best way that she feels that she can make a living. Folks who are rapping about strippers, need to rap the realness about that lifestyle. Talk to a stripper and get a clue. Right now the music industry is producing so many stripper songs that its making girls who have good jobs wonder if they should be wrapping their legs around a steel pole. Come on now, mechanic check. If the girl with the good job quits and becomes a stripper, what job is the stripper gonna have?


Again, I love the music and the culture, but if you need some suggestions for stripper songs lets talk about how the man is going to help her so that she doesnt have to strip anymore. Lets call it, My Girl Dont Strip.



If you want to know how I really feel about music and culture, check out my hip hop novels- EXCLUSIVE and PRIVACY. Theyre everywhere, just like TI.



www.yasminshiraz.net