Natural hair blog that celebrates the positive expression of positive black aesthetics. Don't forget to visit our natural hair directory, and shoppe.
Good thing we started this weekly music feature because JUNE is Black Music Month. Every week, Kinnks will feature a music video with some type of natural hair inspiration! Last Wednesday was our first musical feature Teyana Taylor.
This week we ask ourselves, who can be better than Chrisette Michele? Going through a big chop can be difficult. Can you imagine doing it in front of millions?!?! Chrisette rocks her BC with style and grace…
About Chrisette: An American R&B and soul singer–songwriter on the Island Def Jam Music Group. She won a Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance in 2009 for her song “Be OK”. Blessed with a gorgeous instrument and described as a “soulful songbird,” the Long Island native proved to the world that she could live up to the hype. Nominated for a BET Award for Best New Artist as well as two Grammy’s,
Dang - these photos make me want to chop it all off again! Think the photos are inspirational?
On her official website, Chrisette posted a poem
‘For Freedom Not For Beauty’
There’s a beauty that lives so deep inside each of us.
There’s a fickle eye that doesn’t believe anything it sees….
Did you watch Hell’s Kitchen season primer?
If you are like me, I watch reality shows and cheer for the out of the box people. This season of Fox’s Hell’s Kitchen I am rooting for Nilka and S. Why? Cause Nilka is rockin a ‘fro while S dreadlocks.
Let’s see if they make it….
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Natural Hair Supporters •
I am green with envy. A lot of us fall in love with our natural hair, and our only wish is for more! Well Ms. Teyana Taylor has it. Just Google Her Baby!
Harlem-based rapper, singer, and dancer Teyana Taylor first gained recognition across the States on an early-2007 episode of MTV’s My Super Sweet 16. By the time it aired, she had already signed to Star Trak/Interscope, helped popularize the Chicken Noodle Soup dance, and choreographed the video for Beyoncé‘s “Ring the Alarm.” Her debut album, featuring productions from Hit Boy, Mad Scientist, and Pharrell, was released in 2008. The brash pre-release single “Google Me,” produced by Jazze Pha, caught quite a bit of attention on the Internet. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide -MTV.com
Click “Read More” for Google Me Baby Video
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The first few years I was natural I was really lost. I would wear mostly ‘fros and scarfs, or variations of the two. If I was lucky my roomie would braid my hair. Sometimes I would rock braids just in the front, with a ‘fro in the back. A few times she even did Allen Iverson skeleton braids.
My mom was not very fond of my uneven ‘fros, or my black t-shirt cover up bun. She would ask “Why don’t you go press your hair”.
I didn’t understand her dislike at first. I have always known her to have short hair. Half of the time it was natural.
A few weeks before graduation, my mom asked, “Should I get a perm or cut my hair?” I of course said, NATURAL!
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Lady Kinnks • Styles • BC (Big Chop) • TWA (Tennie Winnie Fro) • Twists • Random Thoughts • Just Sayin' •
Thanks to my new friend, I am now in the loop of amazing African-centered events in the Richmond area. Friday, I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Cornel West at Virginia Union University’s The Forum on Religion and the Contemporary World! His lecture was titled LIVING AND LOVING OUT LOUD
Who is Dr. Cornel West you ask?
Cornel Ronald West is an American philosopher, author, critic, actor, and civil rights activist. West currently serves as the Class of 1943 University Professor at Princeton University, where he teaches in the Center for African American Studies and in the department of Religion.
West is known for his combination of political and moral insight and criticism, and his contribution to the post-1960s civil rights movement.
The bulk of his work focuses upon the role of race, gender, and class in American society and the means by which people act and react to their “radical conditionedness.” West draws intellectual contributions from such diverse traditions as the African American Baptist Church, pragmatism and transcendentalism.(1)
As I sat in the lecture, I took a few notes…
Expelled from School
Dr. West described himself as a young gangster. In his youth, he was kicked out of the 3rd grade for punching a teacher! He knew of his uncle that was lynched, and wrapped in the US flag. His teacher asked him to stand, and solute the flag. When he refused, his teacher slapped him, and he retaliated. Although he was blessed with a full loving family, he still had lots of rage. He explains his past “gangster” mentality is a form of rage.
