Someone I will miss for a lifetime... Teena MarieIn her last few months alive, I would shoot Teena Marie a tweet on Twitter. I never thought she would respond and if there were a response, would it be her? One incident, I read tweets from Teena about her admiration for Aretha Franklin.
She wrote, "Nobody has more love for Aretha Franklin than I do."
I wasn't offended. I saw my opportunity to try chatting with a celeb.
I responded, "Wanna bet."
She compared Aretha to the Sistine Chapel and then it was I knew that I was really talking to the real Teena. Only she would use such grammar and metaphors when describing someone. It's her trademark. She is also a wordsmith. And my recollection of Teena Marie starts here because I don't think allot of people really understood what kind of woman she was. She was more than just a musician. She was a genius.
When I first heard of Teena Marie, I noticed that she wasn't quite welcomed completely into the black community that surrounded me, including Freshman and High Schools. What I noticed was that many black women quietly, some vocally, resented Teena. My thought was that even though she was not like most in white America, she was the face and the closest to that of what prejudice black women, slavery stricken black women among the black community could could see and were reminded an age-old ancestry pillage. Even though Teena's love for R&B music was a genuine dedication to R&B, it was her white face we saw, even though she was far from a prejudice white woman. Her voice is what made her stand out. In my opinion, she had too much bravado. My mom sings like that too. I remember, in the late 80's, a friend of mine (white guy) making comment about Teena Marie. I would never play my music around most of my friends because my selection of genre and artist were not always popular.
"She tries too hard."
I was instantly offended and tried to make excuses about my music choices. It all boils down to this fact: I liked and still like Teena Marie's music. But we all know that if someone does not get to play their music whenever they want to, they hate ANY other kind of music. It's an enraged shark. But that wasn't the only reason he made that statement. Teena did try hard, and I'm glad she never gave up.
When most black women finally began accepting Teena Marie as a true talent and not as a threat was at her release of 'Irons In The Fire' and the single "I Need Your Loving". Then Teena became staple in black culture. The advocate. The egalitarian for black music and the lessor people.
Here is an interesting essay about Teena Marie's affect on race, written by Christopher J. Tyson.
My reason for pontificating about black women accepting Teena Marie into the fold is because it had only been about 15 years since Martin was assassinated, and black people were still reeling from that, and the hope that came to fruition finally in Obama. Now, here came this white chick, down for the cause though, knows music (most of us were still learning how to read music), and she was classically trained. Teena was more than a triple threat, she was underrated by most black and white people. She proved that musicians were just that: musicians, not black peopleonly or white people only, just musicians.
Angela Bofill, Randy Crawford and Phyllis Hyman were a few icons that were the epitome of black women in R & B music that seem to deserve to be in the crossover lane. For some, black women bristled at Teena's arrival, and hated that Rick James, a black man, for chosing to back a white woman instead of first backing a black woman. Rick saw what many other people saw: talent and experience in music theory, the commodity of making money in the business.
These are a few issues I saw that surrounded Teena Marie. I can only imagine what the road was really like for Teena Marie to be finally accepted, you knwo, the behind the scene issues the publice never sees about celebs. She just reminded me of this white girl that was disowned by her white peers and had to fight to be understood and was taken in by the black community. But she had to first be accepted by black women, the nurturers of the flock, and that took some time.
Today, a few days after Teena's death, it seemed that it was easy to lay claim on her as 'our own', that she was an innovator and pioneer of R&B music. She was, and she was the hardest working woman in the business. Now millions, maybe even billions of people know this about her.
What I have seen in my days of loving Teena and watching her struggle to the tops of the charts was how afraid I was to admit that I liked her music. I mean, really, liked her music. Let's face it folks, without Teena Marie, the song "Fire and Ice" would have been missing a crucial element. Back then it was cool to like Rick James, but not Teena. It was cool to like Al Green, not Marvin Gaye. It was cool to like Isaac Hayes, not Barry White. It was cool to like Diana Ross and The Supremes, not Love Unlimited. It was cool to like The Osmonds, not The Jackson 5. It was cool to like Diana Ross as Dorothy and not Stephanie Mills.
I grew up on so many music genre that if attached to rings would amount to the size of a New York City phone book. Speaking of dedications, Afrobella published this piece about Lady T.
I love Teena Marie. My top 10 songs by her:
She wrote, "Nobody has more love for Aretha Franklin than I do."
I wasn't offended. I saw my opportunity to try chatting with a celeb.
I responded, "Wanna bet."
She compared Aretha to the Sistine Chapel and then it was I knew that I was really talking to the real Teena. Only she would use such grammar and metaphors when describing someone. It's her trademark. She is also a wordsmith. And my recollection of Teena Marie starts here because I don't think allot of people really understood what kind of woman she was. She was more than just a musician. She was a genius.
When I first heard of Teena Marie, I noticed that she wasn't quite welcomed completely into the black community that surrounded me, including Freshman and High Schools. What I noticed was that many black women quietly, some vocally, resented Teena. My thought was that even though she was not like most in white America, she was the face and the closest to that of what prejudice black women, slavery stricken black women among the black community could could see and were reminded an age-old ancestry pillage. Even though Teena's love for R&B music was a genuine dedication to R&B, it was her white face we saw, even though she was far from a prejudice white woman. Her voice is what made her stand out. In my opinion, she had too much bravado. My mom sings like that too. I remember, in the late 80's, a friend of mine (white guy) making comment about Teena Marie. I would never play my music around most of my friends because my selection of genre and artist were not always popular.
"She tries too hard."
I was instantly offended and tried to make excuses about my music choices. It all boils down to this fact: I liked and still like Teena Marie's music. But we all know that if someone does not get to play their music whenever they want to, they hate ANY other kind of music. It's an enraged shark. But that wasn't the only reason he made that statement. Teena did try hard, and I'm glad she never gave up.
When most black women finally began accepting Teena Marie as a true talent and not as a threat was at her release of 'Irons In The Fire' and the single "I Need Your Loving". Then Teena became staple in black culture. The advocate. The egalitarian for black music and the lessor people.
Here is an interesting essay about Teena Marie's affect on race, written by Christopher J. Tyson.
My reason for pontificating about black women accepting Teena Marie into the fold is because it had only been about 15 years since Martin was assassinated, and black people were still reeling from that, and the hope that came to fruition finally in Obama. Now, here came this white chick, down for the cause though, knows music (most of us were still learning how to read music), and she was classically trained. Teena was more than a triple threat, she was underrated by most black and white people. She proved that musicians were just that: musicians, not black peopleonly or white people only, just musicians.
Angela Bofill, Randy Crawford and Phyllis Hyman were a few icons that were the epitome of black women in R & B music that seem to deserve to be in the crossover lane. For some, black women bristled at Teena's arrival, and hated that Rick James, a black man, for chosing to back a white woman instead of first backing a black woman. Rick saw what many other people saw: talent and experience in music theory, the commodity of making money in the business.
These are a few issues I saw that surrounded Teena Marie. I can only imagine what the road was really like for Teena Marie to be finally accepted, you knwo, the behind the scene issues the publice never sees about celebs. She just reminded me of this white girl that was disowned by her white peers and had to fight to be understood and was taken in by the black community. But she had to first be accepted by black women, the nurturers of the flock, and that took some time.
Today, a few days after Teena's death, it seemed that it was easy to lay claim on her as 'our own', that she was an innovator and pioneer of R&B music. She was, and she was the hardest working woman in the business. Now millions, maybe even billions of people know this about her.
What I have seen in my days of loving Teena and watching her struggle to the tops of the charts was how afraid I was to admit that I liked her music. I mean, really, liked her music. Let's face it folks, without Teena Marie, the song "Fire and Ice" would have been missing a crucial element. Back then it was cool to like Rick James, but not Teena. It was cool to like Al Green, not Marvin Gaye. It was cool to like Isaac Hayes, not Barry White. It was cool to like Diana Ross and The Supremes, not Love Unlimited. It was cool to like The Osmonds, not The Jackson 5. It was cool to like Diana Ross as Dorothy and not Stephanie Mills.
I grew up on so many music genre that if attached to rings would amount to the size of a New York City phone book. Speaking of dedications, Afrobella published this piece about Lady T.
I love Teena Marie. My top 10 songs by her:
- I Need Your Lovin'
- Honey Call
- Trick Bag
- Sugar Shack
- Lover Girl
- Portuguese Love
- A Rose By Any Other Name
- Baby, I'm Your Fiend
- The Mackin' Game
- Out On A Limb
When I see pictures of Teena I am reminded of a fighter against odds of many strengths and armies. But I know one thing about her, she fought them all. I wonder if there are any recordings of Teena Marie laying around her house...
