Amber Rose: Islandista swagger jacker?

Hip-hop's enfant terrible (which is saying a lot when you think about it) Kanye West launched a new, very minimalist photo blog yesterday.

And of course he had to give his arm-candy Amber Rose some shine. With this photo.



[caption id="attachment_2111" align="aligncenter" width="405" caption="Photo credit: kanywest.com"][/caption]

Look familiar? Of course it does to you islandistas. It is a (weak) re-creation of islandista Grace Jones' iconic photo on the cover of her Island Life album, shot by her lover/collaborator Jean-Paul Goude.



[caption id="attachment_2112" align="aligncenter" width="405" caption="Photo credit: Jean-Paul Goude"][/caption]

Of course, as we have mentioned, this is not the first time Amber and her handlers have tried to re-create (I would have to say re-create rather than pay homage because there is no reference to Grace in any of the editorial for either of her attempts) iconic Grace Jones images.

And of course, there is a long-established tradition of obscuring the accomplishments and reputations of black women and black people in general by putting a white or light face on or above them.

And we have seen plenty comments thus far in the blogosphere about how hot the pic is and even some saying it is better than the original - that Amber Rose's pose is more "feminine"and "sexy" than Grace Jones.


We're just saying...

But what do you say? When does imitation cross the line from being the sincerest form of flattery to being a rip-off?


Our take on it?

Grace was the best to ever do it. *Kanye shrug*

Video of Rihanna's comeback performance!

Rihanna hit the stage with Jay-Z and Kanye West last night at Jay-Z's huge September 11th memorial concert at Madison Square Garden, to perform Run This Town.

What a lot of people don't seem to realise is that this is actually her first performance since the Chris Brown beating incident back in February.

It had been touted for over a month now that her comeback performance would be on the season debut of Jay Leno's new show , also with Jay and Kanye to perform 'Run This Town'... but that performance is set for Monday, September 14th.

So last night was actually her big comeback.

And ... not bad. We all know Rihanna is no vocal wonder but for the most part, she manages to sound about as good as she does on the album and more importantly... she looks the part!

 

Michael Jackson - analysing an enigma and legend

Ever since Michael Jackson's death on Thursday afternoon, I have been seeing clips of this video on various news broadcasts about Jackson's life. I saw it so many times and the few moments were so captivating that I had to go find it for myself.

It is a clip of the Jackson Five performing on the Ed Sullivan show in 1969 when Michael would have been 11 years old.

To me, it shows what we have really lost with MJ's death. But then again, we seemed to have lost that joyous, smiling, confident little showman from years ago, long before Thursday, June 26, 2009.

Wuhloss...who tell Kanye say that?

Wuhlosss... peppasauce! Kanye (purposely I'm sure) stirred things up yesterday at an album listening session for his new album 808 and Heartbreak yesterday.

Asked about the inspiration for his album which is a major departure from his 'College' trilogy in that he sings.the.whole.damn.THING! , Kanye said that artistes need to switch it up every now and then.

Which of course we at islandista totally agree with - did a post on that just at the end of Crop-Over pointing out that some of our soca artistes need to do just that.

Then he decided to mix things up according to Hip Hop Chronicle UK:

‘This is a wakeup call … people in music get comfortable … Rappers get comfortable’.

Kanye said this was the case with Beyonce.

‘Rihanna was the best thing to happen to Beyonce’

Oooohhhh! I cannot wait to see what is going to be the reaction from the psycho Beyonce fans out there... cos you know Rihanna is like their public enemy number one as it is, just because of speculation and stupid gossip.

Of course, what Kanye said is absolutely right. Rihanna's success has obviously compelled Beyonce to step her game up, since people will clearly compare Rihanna to her until both their stars fade. Rihanna made a bold move with Good Girl Gone Bad to step out of the niche that was being created for her - to stop being the same proto-type light-skinned, long wavy weaved, RnB-lite pop princess as every other chick in the game (Christian Milian, Mya and Ashanti pop to mind) and be different. And it has worked for her. She still is not the greatest singer out there but she is getting songs these chicks would love to have and you can't keep our girl from the top of the charts these days at all!

All because she switched it up and kept it interesting. That's how you maintain a career.