Whitney Houston is Dead
Whitney Houston the female black pop star of the 80’s and 90’s is dead. Already blog posts have gone up and statements of condolences sent and all the words of grief now hang in the Universe. And I had thought that my fingers would not type a word in memory of the iconic diva until I found out what killed her (because I like to be the person who walks away from a mess if I did not create it). But this morning the social media networks and the shops and the street boom boxes are blaring out the sound of the vocal queen. And I am moved too to grieve.
I grew up in Jamaica where the songs of pop culture reign in dancehalls as loudly as the songs from our own industry. And I remember being a child in a bus singing on top of my voice Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Love of All”. It still holds memories for me. I thought I could sing because of this song. As a young footballer and poet I sang “One Moment in Time” to myself at night, and still whisper it as I strive to my own level of greatness. But now as I listen to the lyrics of this song I am convinced that these songs epitomize the way she lived.
Although many of us still hurt when the golden voice withered in the end because of her drug habits, or whatever caused her to be unable to hit the “Whitney notes”, she never lost her dignity her diva-dom. Her love for the stage (although there were a few missed concerts and disappointed fans-drugs does that to you) and performance still pushes us to at least respect her. We will respect her as the voice that sang the songs of heartbreak and the other woman as well as the songs about the wife. It seems that this was her greatest love; for even after she had been broken and beaten by bad choices (Bobby Brown) she returned to this habit this passion of singing even if she forgot to bring her voice.
She was 18 when I was born and already on her way to stardom. And there isn’t a time in my life when I have not had to listen to Whitney. But she like Michael Jackson represent more to me than their voice but also are a representation of black money, and how black money is always be broken.
Here when I say Black Money I am not referring to the money earned on the black market but to money accumulated by the Blacks. For many of us the stereotype of this is that we (blacks) earn from music, sports or drugs. However, it seems we are unable to sustain and create dynasties. The Legendary Bob Marley in Jamaica is one of the few musicians who died young and whose empire has lasted 30 years after his death. His empire is being propelled by his children and grandchildren. And yes I am aware that Russell Simmonds exists and Jay-Z, Beyonce, Tina Turner, Mariah Carey and the Young money crew.
But this is what comes to my mind when I think of Whitney or Michael they created a space where we now it’s possible for pop vocalist to be black and to make hits and they died before reaching 51. Associated with their names are pedophilia and drug abuse and this was the death of their careers. They were unable to recover from this no matter how hard they tried. So these iconic legendary black singers will never be remembered the way the eulogies have painted them. Whether we say good things about them after their death the negative still remains. And it is in this way that the empires though established fail to be sustained.
And I recognize that Whitney was not on the list of the wealthiest women list at the time of her death but we were all hoping for more. And we would have bought the CD’s if her return was like her debut. Amy Winehouse suffered from the same issues, however as good as she was we never expected anything less while from Whitney we knew what her greatness was and we are always looking back at that. For her there was no public turn around the way Rihanna was able to salvage herself by cutting ties with the love of her life and abuser Chris Brown. The separation of Whitney and Bobby never seemed to rescue her from her demise. She was no Tina Turner. I had hoped she would be.
Because they say everything in life is for a lesson then I hope Whitney’s life teaches upcoming stars established stars that gifts and talents bestowed on you by the universe does not exempt you from problems.
The world looks on Whitney’s life her voice and give thanks for having heard it, sang to it, motivated by it, danced to it, fell I love with the aid of it, got heartbroken because it, revived by it, breathed and exhaled with it. Laughed because it. Whitney your music served its purpose for many life is music and your music was your life.
I grew up in Jamaica where the songs of pop culture reign in dancehalls as loudly as the songs from our own industry. And I remember being a child in a bus singing on top of my voice Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Love of All”. It still holds memories for me. I thought I could sing because of this song. As a young footballer and poet I sang “One Moment in Time” to myself at night, and still whisper it as I strive to my own level of greatness. But now as I listen to the lyrics of this song I am convinced that these songs epitomize the way she lived.
Although many of us still hurt when the golden voice withered in the end because of her drug habits, or whatever caused her to be unable to hit the “Whitney notes”, she never lost her dignity her diva-dom. Her love for the stage (although there were a few missed concerts and disappointed fans-drugs does that to you) and performance still pushes us to at least respect her. We will respect her as the voice that sang the songs of heartbreak and the other woman as well as the songs about the wife. It seems that this was her greatest love; for even after she had been broken and beaten by bad choices (Bobby Brown) she returned to this habit this passion of singing even if she forgot to bring her voice.
She was 18 when I was born and already on her way to stardom. And there isn’t a time in my life when I have not had to listen to Whitney. But she like Michael Jackson represent more to me than their voice but also are a representation of black money, and how black money is always be broken.
Here when I say Black Money I am not referring to the money earned on the black market but to money accumulated by the Blacks. For many of us the stereotype of this is that we (blacks) earn from music, sports or drugs. However, it seems we are unable to sustain and create dynasties. The Legendary Bob Marley in Jamaica is one of the few musicians who died young and whose empire has lasted 30 years after his death. His empire is being propelled by his children and grandchildren. And yes I am aware that Russell Simmonds exists and Jay-Z, Beyonce, Tina Turner, Mariah Carey and the Young money crew.
But this is what comes to my mind when I think of Whitney or Michael they created a space where we now it’s possible for pop vocalist to be black and to make hits and they died before reaching 51. Associated with their names are pedophilia and drug abuse and this was the death of their careers. They were unable to recover from this no matter how hard they tried. So these iconic legendary black singers will never be remembered the way the eulogies have painted them. Whether we say good things about them after their death the negative still remains. And it is in this way that the empires though established fail to be sustained.
And I recognize that Whitney was not on the list of the wealthiest women list at the time of her death but we were all hoping for more. And we would have bought the CD’s if her return was like her debut. Amy Winehouse suffered from the same issues, however as good as she was we never expected anything less while from Whitney we knew what her greatness was and we are always looking back at that. For her there was no public turn around the way Rihanna was able to salvage herself by cutting ties with the love of her life and abuser Chris Brown. The separation of Whitney and Bobby never seemed to rescue her from her demise. She was no Tina Turner. I had hoped she would be.
Because they say everything in life is for a lesson then I hope Whitney’s life teaches upcoming stars established stars that gifts and talents bestowed on you by the universe does not exempt you from problems.
The world looks on Whitney’s life her voice and give thanks for having heard it, sang to it, motivated by it, danced to it, fell I love with the aid of it, got heartbroken because it, revived by it, breathed and exhaled with it. Laughed because it. Whitney your music served its purpose for many life is music and your music was your life.
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