Urban Thought Collective

People often say that love is a many splendored thing. I have no idea what the Hell that means. What I do know is that love makes you happy sometimes. It can make you loopy as well. You can be confused by it. And it’ll often make you go apesh*t on that mother******* if he ever lies to you one mo’ ‘gain…or something like that. Love will definitely work you over. At the other end of the tunnel, you’ll either be stronger for it or you’ll be wishing that b**** would go back to her mama…or something like that. Anyway, this week we’re taking a look at love and the ways relationships affect us. On to the videos! But first, a little shameless self-promotion…

Threadless T-shirts – My girl and I are trying to get our original slogans selected to be printed on t-shirts. Click the link and vote “I’d wear it”! Vote! Vote! Vote! I’ll send an apple pie to everyone who votes.

The Black Rock Collection – This is my new website that will be updated weekly with my original short stories.

Musiq | “Half Crazy”
“And really? I just want my friend back.” Yeah…bout that. This video is so autobiographical, I could’ve sworn Musiq wrote it with me sitting next to him. I’ve been here before, as I’m sure many of you have. Do you take your platonic relationship to the next step, or do you just stay friends? It can end up working out beautifully. It can also end up working out really, really horribly. Like so horribly, there is no “awkward scale” when you meet because it spontaneously disintegrates by the sheer force of you two being in the same building at the same time. Sometimes you just have to roll the dice and hope for the best.

Janet Jackson | “Anytime, Anyplace”
“I don’t care who’s around.” This song makes me all tingly inside, I don’t mind telling you. Because ladies? Real talk. When you speak these words, that’s like giving us the green light. Which. Is. So. Cool. And by cool, I mean “Freaking Awesome!”

Kelis | “Caught Out There”
Yeah…well…yeah. Ladies, sometimes men lie. Shocking, I know. Sometimes men cheat. Even more shocking, right? Sometimes men just…piss you the eff off. I know this. I apologize. We don’t always mean to piss you off. Sometimes we’re just trying to be funny, and you don’t get the joke. Sometimes you really don’t get the joke…sometimes to the tune of “This Negro will never get any again, for the rest of his natural life, or even if he comes back as a zombie, I swear to God!” This is your let off some steam song, because we know you just have to sometimes. OK, we cool now? Cool.

Bobby Womack | “That’s The Way I feel About You”
“You gotta put it with the toils and strife.” Bobby Womack, ladies and gents. Just listen. No need to concern yourself with my blather…

Common | “The Light”
“Gotta be something for me to write this.” Sometimes he and she just click, and it’s a beautiful thing. You get all the jokes, and they’re hilarious, by the way. You can’t keep your hands off of each other. You miss him when he leaves, and vice versa. You give each other pet names, you wouldn’t otherwise dare to say in public. She gives you “the look” often. I think the fellas know what look I’m talking about. Life is good. Every day is a holiday. Every meal is a feast…until you make an offhanded remark about the asymmetry of her breasts and she then decides that hating your guts and cursing you out every five minutes is a good use of her time. But up until that, life’s a peach.

Diallo Tyson is a filmmaker, writer, beat miner, [self-proclaimed] comedian, and old school music junkie. In his spare time, he contributes to the music blog, Finessed & Blessed and is a collaborator for the sports/pop culture blog The Commission. He can be reached at ddog_tap@hotmail.com. Step into a groovin’ time machine every other Monday on UTC.