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I went to Target today on my lunch break with the sole purpose of getting India.Arie’s new CD, “Testimony: VOL 2, Love & Politics”. Soon as I reached the Music department… BAM, THE CD was proudly displayed in the “R&B New Releases” section. I took a minute to examine the cover (although I saw it online). There was the ‘In Love’ India on the left, and the concerned ‘Political India’ on the right. Political India looked serious, unapologetic and confident, but not mad. WE do have a Black President, “There’s Hope”! No more Katrina like incidents…right?
As I approached the CD display there were TWO India.Arie CDs. One with a bonus CD, and one without, a $3 difference. I took a second to ponder the current economic situation. Being the India.Arie fan that I am… I decided to splurg and get the CD with the bonus DVD. Forget the economy!
I wanted Anthony Hamilton’s newest CD too, but couldn’t find it. :( With double stuffed oreos, a reusable bag, and dentine gum in hand - I was ready to go.
I love India’s music so much; it just puts me in a good place…mentally. Whatever things I am stressing, I come back to the middle and release the negative energy. While I was trying to release the negative energy at work, two people were laid off. “Chocolate High” played, and I started to smile despite what was going around me. I feel like I can relate to India.Arie emotionally and physically. She looks like me, her hair is not long and curly—but kinky like mine.
10 hours later, I am sitting home in my sweats and bathrobe, it is soo very cold. I pop in my new India Arie DVD and realize two things…
1. I need to live my dream!
2. ALWAYS do what feels right and never fight it
Everyday I go to work, I feel I am fighting myself. Being natural is one things that feels right. I feel my natural hair to be a release of the soul. I recognized in the DVD India’s agony. She wants to just be herself, but she has a “social responsibility” to staying true to her perceived Afrocentric image although she does not relate to that tile. While Afrocentric is said to describe those that are proud of their roots, really anything centric is wrong. Its basically the reverse of what the Europeans have been doing for years, Your ethnicity should not be the center, but a part of a salad bowl of the world. (Geeze that was cheesy).
God forbid, you throw the black fist in the air, but be caught the next week with a press and curl. When your natural… when do you allow it to define you verses a political statement?
We are all natural—but individuals! We can not be grouped in categories! I like India.Arie because she realizes how she is perceived, but does not let it limit her. That’s partly why I feel, she came up with the song “I am not my Hair.” I am pretty sure I read somewhere her label made her where loc extensions—I could be totally wrong.
Leave it to me, to over analyze a bonus DVD.
