Said (Sa’id)

Now is a great time to read ‘Ghetto Brother,’ the memoir of Benjy Melendez, published by @SuperchampBooks. Instant download now available. amazon.com/Ghetto-Brother-Fo…

4/ So listen to the hook on “The Heart Part.” It’s NOT the actual hook from the Marvin Gaye song “I Want You.” It’s an *interpolation — Kendrick reshaped the context and it’s sang slightly different.

3/ Re: the *interpolation being a slight change of the original chorus, think Nas singing “STREET dreams are made of…” “Street Dreams” is an interpolation of the Eurhythmics song “SWEET dreams.”

2/ An *interpolation is a slight altering of the words (and/or melody) from the original song. The hook on “The Heart Part 5” is NOT the same chorus on Marvin Gaye’s “I Want You,” it’s altered, changed. NOT a *sample.

1/ Re: Kendrick Lamar’s “The Heart Part 5” and Marvin Gaye’s “I Want You” — It’s NOT a sample. It’s a *replay and an *interpolation. A *replay is when musicians “replay” the music, essentially make a cover version (or parts thereof) of the original song. That’s not *sampling.

12/ Dinah Washington trusted Ruth Bowen, another Black woman in business, at a time when others sought to partner only with white booking agents who typically boxed Black music artists in and narrowed their career arcs, never believing they could fill the same venues as whites.

11/ Dinah Washington’s trailblazing work and insistence that Black music artists have the same opportunities to perform in big arenas is one of the reasons Black music artists are able to perform at bigger performance venues today.

10/ More “controversy” 👇 Dinah Washington was a business woman who studied the game then beat it! She built a booking agency, Queen Agency, with her business partner Ruth Bowen. (The name Queen comes from Dinah Washington calling herself “Queen of the Blues.”)

9/ At a time when the music industry, drenched in overt racism, looked to only prop up light-skinned singers, Dinah Washington wasn’t having that. In addition to her beauty, she was quick-witted with a forceful humor. Think Def Commedy Jam’s Adelle Givins before Adelle Givins.

8/ Dinah Washington was beautiful, dark skinned, and sexy with body. Think Loretta Devine in Waiting to Exhale. Irresistible! She had 7 (SEVEN) husbands (one she married twice, so 8 if you want to be technical about it). She was hot girl summer 70 years before Hot Girl Summer.

7/ She didn’t take shit from anyone. She didn’t bow down to the music industry. She didn’t follow conventional wisdom. She was her own woman, and she showed you her power.

6/ “Controversy”👇 Dinah Washington spoke up! She believed that Black music artists should play the same big clubs, theaters, and gigs as whites.

5/ Immersed in the Black church and gospel music from an early age, she played piano at her church’s choir while she was still in grade school, AND *directed her church’s choir while she was a teenager.

4/ “What A Difference A Day Makes” was the hit song that Dinah Washington is most known for. But it doesn’t begin to speak to her vocal range or tell her full story.

3/ *Life is foreshadow* applies perfectly to Dinah Washington, a strong, forward-thinking Black woman who exhibited leadership, drive, independence, and talent from a young age.

2/ One thing I always say to my son,@amiralisaid: “Life is foreshadow.”Even when we can’t see our future, there are often early markers in our lives that not only indicate where we’re headed, but the temprement we’ll use to get there.”

1/ Here’s why you don’t hear so much about Dinah Washington, the great blues, jazz, and soul vocalist of the mid-20th century: She wasn’t no joke! As a singer and as a business woman.

Between Billie Holiday and Aretha Franklin, there was Dinah Washington. 🧵

This is INSANE. He has to put up $100 in Tesla shares for every $20 in borrowings! Say What now?😮 “$62 billion in Tesla shares to back the loans.” PLUS a potential margin call if Tesla stock falls below 43%. These terms mean only one thing: Lenders think he might balk.

That time Isaac bagged Roxy Blue on the Love Boat.

A question of bad timing and competing visions. @sarafischer reports on the pending doom (dismantling) of CNN+, which was just recently launched with $300 million already spent and “100s of jobs to support the service.” axios.com/discovery-cnn-plus…