Old School, New School Hip Hop Merge as One as Busta Rhymes, Patti LaBelle Bring Down the House at BET Awards

There was no mistaking that Hip Hop honor reigned at this years BET  AWARDS in celebration of the phenomenally popular genre’s 50th year. It was quite a show as hip hop dance moves provided the flavor and backdrop for classic hip hop tunes as well as new rap artists street beats routines. Many of  the new songs stand on the shoulders and are drawn from the legacies of some of the icons who performed on stage last night, including Lifetime Achievement Awardee veteran rapper Busta Rhymes. Rhymes who was enthusiastically received by the crowd and given kudos by some of his stellar friends and fans before receiving his award,including Mariah Carey, Swiss Beats, Janet Jackson.?Busta gave a powerfully memorable acceptance speech followed later in the show by an amazingly energetic performance and tribute. In his speech he gave advice to new artists by sharing the story about his motivation to feed his son. He also gave recognition to recording executive Sylvia Rhône, manager Mona Carter and others in the music business who helped him along the way, making it possible for him to be where he is today.

BET production crew did an outstanding job of merging and ultimately uniting old school Hip Hop icons with some of the remarkable and up and coming young rap artists of today. This was demonstrated throughout the show with performances and cameos by Master P, Ja Rule, MC Lyte, Public Enemy, GrandMaster Flash, etc. I could go on and on. But it definitely seemed like everybody that ever mattered and matters in shaping Hip Hop was in the show in some way, shape, form or fashion.

Check out BET’s amazing recap on You Tube here.

Cynthia Wilson

Cynthia Wilson Updated Contact Information (Updated 3.30.24)

 

Multi-City Locations/Addresses:

In the Detroit area:

Cynthia Wilson 

1420 Washington Blvd.

Suite 301

Detroit, Michigan 48226

Email- creativessel@gmail.com

Other Cities TBA soon.

From the Photo Archives-Cynthia Wilson at left pictured in pink Martha’s Vineyard cap sporting VIP Media Access lanyard in the audience with other fans at special benefit music concert to support and heal traumatized Virginia Tech community as they re-start the Fall school term. Circa September 2007. For more about the concert follow this link.

Dear Blog Readers:

Thank you so kindly for making this blog a success. I appreciate your readership over the past 16 years and the Heavier Octaves blog for 19 years.

In order to improve upcoming communication of blog updates to the membership and general public, I have reorganized, switched platforms and now operate under new and improved formats for this and associated blogs via newsletter and podcast. However, I will still be posting to this blog in the meantime to minimize poaching and so that no one perceives this blog as being abandoned.

In the past invitations have been extended for you to subscribe and also to contribute and also become members of an associated entity Chaplain of Pop, which has as its related ministry tasks, prayer, providing spiritual care and support to artists and entertainers in need.In short, I am requesting now that you leave your email address and other valid contact info so I can follow up with you about contributing as a guest on a future podcast episode or to receive or contribute to the latest newsletter. You can also sign up for membership on my website or the “Pray in Place Prayer Group” in the near future. Please bear with me because I have been challenged with internet obstacles as well as health issues.

Updates will also be provided when I can via You Tube, IG and Twitter/X or Threads.  I hope to have future updates provided by a variety of contributors as well. If you are interested in becoming involved in this dynamic ministry of prayer and presence, please indicate so in your email or inbox on Facebook or DM on Instagram. Pray that I receive the messages and they are not blocked or redirected.

Past cultural/non-religious podcast episodes containing reviews of concerts, movies and political commentary will be made available for download at the Internet Archive (working on it). Stay tuned for newsletter updates. (Edited 3.30.24)

Prior inspirational podcast episodes containing religious sermons and inspirational messages can be found at the following link:

https://www.spreaker.com/show/cynthia-wilson-speaks-out

Again, thank you for your patience and understanding. It’s been a long time coming together. I’ve had several entities created over the span of 20 years.  Also, many associated emails as well. I’m making an effort to keep things very clear. You can read more about that in an upcoming book one day soon I pray. It has not been a walk in the park by any standard. To borrow a line from Spike Lee’s great movie Malcolm X,  paraphrasing Denzel’s line, I’ve “been hoodwinked, bamboozled and led astray…” on numerous occasions… I have endured in love and prayer though.

Keep me in prayer please.

Please contact me by email at creativessel@gmail.com or cynthiawilsonministries@gmail.com. You may also fill out the email contact form in the right-hand column of this blog. Your message may get through to me sooner if you just send the email directly to either or both of the email addresses above. I’m in the process of verifying the effectiveness of the blog contact menus formatted in the far right-hand column. They may not be working.

Peace and blessings,

Cynthia Wilson, 

Founder & Chief Editor 

Upcoming and Info Update

 

In celebration of Women’s History Month, stay tuned for the above special podcast series that I especially compiled from the archives. These are sermons that I have preached over the years. One of the resources I used for these sermons in addition to the Bible, of course, was Women of the Bible by Ann Spangler and Jean Syswerda. You will find my special sermons on “Women of the Bible” at the following links on the Spreaker podcast platform:

The Shummanite Woman

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/49274156

A Full Jar-The Zarapeth Widow Connection 

https://www.spreaker.com/episode/46669931

Both the “Syrophenician Woman’s Desparate Plea” and “A Gleaner’s Harvest Delayed is Not a Bountiful Harvest Denied”, are sermons that were recorded and posted on Spreaker but somehow got lost in translation. However, those links are forthcoming either by virtual relay or edits to this blog post. Stay tuned.

I hope you are continuing to enjoy Black History Month. I have taken the time to gather a few recent posts along with some from from the archives for your reading convenience. Just click on the selected links below:

https://spreaker.page.link/XeUqvX7dSpPA7xef6

https://cynthiadwilson2.blogspot.com/2023/01/marylands-first-black-governor-sworn-in.html

https://cynthiadwilson2.blogspot.com/2022/02/biden-nominates-first-black-woman-to.html

https://cynthiadwilson2.blogspot.com/2022/02/black-history-month-celebration-mother.html

https://cynthiadwilson2.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-46th-president-of-us-joe-biden.html

*This post was edited to maintain accuracy by Cynthia D. Wilson, Founder, Principal Poster and Chief Editor of this blog on Wednesday, March 22, 2023. By the way,  I began this blog ‘independently’ in 2007 while I was living in NYC. You can contact me for a CD of any of the above sermons by email or phone. Allow a reasonable time for mailing and delivery. All contact information can be found in the upper right hand column of the extended web version of this blog and on my website’s landing page which is under ongoing construction between www.cynthiadwilson.com. and www. Cynthiawilsonministries.com.

  Important: If you are using a mobile device to view this site, mobile version pages of this blog do not contain the above-referenced contact info. You have to go to the bottom of this blog page and click on VIEW WEB VERSION to bring up the right-hand column of my blog where contact info is contained.

Thank you for visiting the blog.

God bless,

 Cynthia Wilson

Humble Servant of God

Florida Rapper Flo-Rida Wins $82 Million Dollar Lawsuit Against Energy Drink Celsius

 

Rapper Flo-Rida awarded $82 Million Dollars in endorsement contract dispute with Celsius corporation. Jurors have sent a powerful message and Flo Rida’s attorney has obviously strategized brilliantly for his client. The outcome of the trial, the jury’s verdict awarding such massive damages signals that there was a financial injustice committed and he was taken advantage of by the Celsius Corporation. 

The bottom line and I have always stressed this point to clients and potential clients in the past, before entering into any business relationship there must be a sound written agreement setting forth clear and specific duties, responsibilities and valuations involved in the transaction. Wishing doesn’t make it so. There is a reason why it’s best for all parties to a contract, especially in these more complex endorsement and promotional deals to get it in writing. Even if it is reduced to writing, as it was in this case, the terms should be clear and understandable.

You should first have a “meeting of the minds”. This simply means that all parties should be on the same page about the range and scope of the agreement. Otherwise, the parties can easily get caught up in ambiguities that provide loopholes for those who are not operating in good faith, so to speak, to sway to their pecuniary advantage. Which appears to be what Celsius did here. Several terms were either left out or unspecified as to quantity and duration. How many drinks and how long? In general, ambiguities and vaguaries in agreements provide a window for finagling a business relationship to one’s advantage or to the other’s disadvantage. You may observe a party creating outright scenarios or concealing situations in which they are as the classic adage goes, “chasing with the fox and running with the hounds”, committing clear yet hidden breaches of trust or deviations from the original intent and terms of the agreement—“conflicts of interest”.

Now that the jury’s award is in and the case concluded at trial, the question becomes whether the attorneys for Defendant Celsius corporation will attempt to file pleadings, in this instance, a remittitur, to have the damage award reduced. Whether it will be used as a bargaining chip to induce a monetary settlement by the Plaintiff at a lower figure remains to be seen. Whichever way the case is ultimately resolved it appears that Flo Rida could use a good money manager and at a $30 Million Net worth according to Wealthy Gorilla he probably already has one.

Flo Rida initially asked for $30,000 dollars in damages. But he ended up getting much more than that. Sometimes God will give you more than you ask for when human wrongs  are corrected by God’s justice. God will open up the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing you won’t have room enough to contain.

Maryland’s First Black Governor Sworn In

 In a pride imbued and sometimes emotionally charged historic ceremony, Wes Moore is sworn in as the state of Maryland’s 63rd and first Black governor. The event took place in Annapolis, the state’s capital  near a site that once served as a slave port. 

The program included an acceptance speech by his South Asian immigrant female running mate, Lieutenant Governor elect Aruna Miller and a special song selection “God Bless America” performed  by HBCU Morgan State University’s choir. Wes Moore is one among three Black governors elected in the nation, including Governor Deval Patrick (2007) Democrat of Massachusetts and L. Douglas Wilder, (1989) Democrat of Virginia. He is the first elected Black Governor of the state of Maryland and one of six black governors to serve in this country as a Governor. Two had already served his state as Lieutenant Governors during the Reconstruction period.

Wes Moore was sworn in with his hand placed atop a Bible once owned by historic freedom fighter and famous SlaveryAbolitionist Frederick Douglas. Frederick Douglass’ historic family home as well as slave ports were also located in Annapolis not too far away from where the newly elected Governor was sworn in, only heightening the spiritual and historic significance of the occasion. The Douglass family home is in a quiet coastal and storied upscale neighborhood on Highland Beach, Annapolis. A stately yet humble abode,  visitors have had the surreal privilege of walking by the house in respectful honor and awe.

Congratulations to Governor Wes Moore and his lovely family, and the voters of Maryland. Your family will now occupy a home where former governors promoted Jim Crow laws and upheld the slave trade. You will also occupy a house that is surrounded in history: a statue of Kunte Kinte,Alex Haley’s character of Roots fame just a few blocks away, a statue of Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall among others. In  the words of  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. whose birthday we celebrated just a few days ago, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.” Corresponding scripture for today’s post is Amos 5:24-But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

Our ancestors-many of the faceless and nameless slaves -traded like chattel in the state of Maryland slave ports centuries ago, as well as civil rights leaders like Dr. Martin Luther King, Mr.Frederick Douglass and Rosa Parks would all be both proud and satisfied with this development. They are smiling from heaven.

Again, congratulations Governor Wes Moore and family. You stand upon the shoulders of greats.

The prayerful and a ‘cloud of witnesses’ will be fervently praying for you, your administration, the people of Maryland and the continued triumph of your leadership. God bless you.

Respectfully,

Rev. Cynthia D. Wilson, Blog Founder and Chief Editor