The Diversity Complaint

Every now and then America picks on something to either pick on or hype up. I'll give you examples. Oh 50 shades of Grey is fantastic, the whole nation gets 50 Shades fever. Oh Emma Stone is the next best thing, the whole nation goes crazy and decides they love her and cast her in everything. Most recently, a new show "Girls" written, directed and produced by 25 year old Lena Dunham debuted on HBO, everyone raved about it and it was the topic of discussion, both good and bad (still not sure why) but anyways suddenly the criticism that it lacked diversity came up and quite frankly I was surprised. A lot of TV shows "lack diversity" so to speak (anyone remember the "Friends" backlash), so I couldn't quite for the life of me wonder why Girls was being singled out. I usually don't care about how many minority characters are in a show but at the time I  think I read an Essence article that made me kinda see their point for a second but it quickly left my mind...till two things happened that made me actually think about the topic.


There's this reality show on the Sundance channel called "Push Girls" about women who are paralyzed from the waist down and are in wheel chairs. I was watching an interview with them and one of the girls said she definitely feels that their "kind" are under represented on TV. I was like hmm. Then there is this new show on ABC Family called Bunheads, when it premiered Shonda Rhimes (writer and creator of Grey's Anatomy, Private Practice and Scandal who is famous for having minority characters in her show) tweeted:


"Hey @abcbunheads, really? You couldn't cast even ONE young dancer of color so I could feel good about  my kid watching this show? NOT ONE?"


Harsh words?

I don't know but it got me thinking. For one, let's be realistic, everytime someone bitches about lack of diversity, the first thought is "no black people" even though there are a bunch of other minority races. Based on what the Push Girl cast member said, the hard truth is every group of people cannot be represented on a 30 minute or one hour show. Everyone will have a complaint - the gays, the little people, people with downs syndrome etc etc. Some may say noone makes complaints when all black shows have no white people (come to think of it, there wasn't that much noise made when Kelly - the only white character from "The Game" was fired from the show). The response is usually that they already have enough shows and have more opportunities than their black counterparts.

Speaking on Shonda's tweet, I actually understand where she is coming from. I think sometimes as Nigerians, we forget that African Americans have a different view point and upbringing. I've heard so many times by older African Americans how excited they were when they saw someone like them on TV and it gave them hope that they could pursue a dream. ABC Family caters to a younger teen/tween crowd and I can see how easily a young black girl might think being a ballerina is "just for white people", sometimes I think we underestimate how easily influenced young people are especially by the media. In conclusion, do I think TV shows have a social responsibility? Yes but there are limitations. I think for a show about adults like Girls or Friends, it's a bit silly to complain about no minorities because hopefully you have lived life long enough to form and know your own relationship with minorities. The argument about being realistic is moot because tv and movies are not reality. With a show that affects young kids/teenagers, I feel it can't hurt to make extra effort in showing more minority faces.

Some things to think about before I go though is, again noone can be pleased because I am pretty sure I read an article about how having the token black guy or girl in shows is cliche and we can't forget that it's a business and unfortunately, all black shows don't cross over to mainstream audience like they used to, so there's that to consider. What do you think? How important do you think racial diversity is on a TV show?

Introducing - Adaku

SOUL SINGER ADAKU RELEASES DEBUT SINGLE "OR YOU CAN"

 

In her own words, Adaku describes "Or You Can" as a song about being there for a friend, a lover or a loved one who needs a shoulder to lean on and most importantly a "big ass fro" to lay on. Initially posted on Youtube as a bedroom recording and a deviation from the usual YouTube cover videos, "Or You Can" took on a life of its own with over 15,000 YouTube views and troves of positive feedback that Adaku decided to create a studio version of "Or You Can" and release it as a single. Superbly written and produced by Adaku, it is a beautiful acoustic song with great lyrics and soothing guitar play that leaves the listener captivated and enthralled.

 

 

ABOUT ADAKU

 

ADAKU is a US-Based Nigerian Singer/Songwriter from Rivers State who has had to hide her talent and passion for singing in order to fully complete her degree education in Electrical Engineering, an education which has finally culminated in a Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering. Throughout her education however, Adaku continued to immerse herself in music whenever and wherever she could - her YouTube covers of popular songs such as Bruno Mars' "Grenade", Adele's "Someone Like You and Nneka's "Heartbeat, garnering over 100,000 views on the popular video platform. 

 

Gifted with an amazing voice, the Singer/Songwriter who also plays the guitar and piano is set to storm the world with her uniquely sublime talents and is certainly well on her way on this journey as she was featured on YouTube's home page as a part of the month of June's Fresh face. This included a full day's feature on YouTube's music homepage.

 

  

MEDIA & BOOKINGS:   

Please direct all media and booking inquiries to Management >>adakumusic@gmail.com 

 

 

MORE ADAKU 

Facebook: http://facebook.com/Adaku 

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/muzikizoxygen

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/muzikizoxygen

Season Finales

Hi guys. TV season for the most part is about to go on hiatus for the summer. If you are looking to make sure you don't miss the season finales of your favorite shows, here's a compilation of dates (past and future) for your knowledge:

How I Met Your Mother - May 14
Parks and Recreation - May 10
Modern Family - May 23
House (Series Finale) - May 21
Person of Interest - May 17
Revenge - May 23
New Girl - May 8
Gossip Girl - May 14
Vampire Diaries - May 10
The Office - May 10
Grey's Anatomy - May 17
The Big Bang Theory - May 10
Smash - May 14
Fringe - May 11
Once Upon a Time - May 13
Desperate Housewives (series finale) - May 13
Bones - May 14
Private Practice - May 15
Missing - May 17
The Mentalist - May 17
Scandal - May 17
Army Wives - May 20
American Idol - May 22
Dancing with the Stars - May 22
Glee - May 22
Law and Order  - May 23
Top Model - May 30


Have a lovely weekend!!

$$ Child Support $$

Child support is so common now in the States, it's like a past time. It's the best the law can do to hold guys (in most cases) accountable for their children. In some cases, it seems unfair. I've always been fascinated by the whole child support thing because we all know that money isn't solely going to the kids, a lil' sumn sumn is going to the mama's packet (at least in my opinion). Now when it comes to celebs, the amounts they pay are so ridiculously large I am wondering how they spend that much on just kids. Say, you even say it goes to school fees can't the dad just pay that separately. Anyhue, thought I'd just share with you some amounts that are being paid out there in Hollyweird.
 Eddie Murphy pays Mel B $51,000/month
 Linda Evangelista is in court requesting $46,000/month from her baby daddy (Salma Hayek's husband) Charlie Sheen pays each of his baby mamas (Denise Richards and Brooke Mueller $55,000/month. Total of $110k
Melissa Etheridge pays her former wife $23,000/month and even then she is requesting more
Usher pays Tameka child support but is demanding an increase because she feels his income has increased substantially since their divorce. (WHat has that got to do with the kids??)
When Britney got a divorce, she had to pay Kevin Federline $20,000/month
Russell Simmons pays Kimora Lee $40,000/month P Diddy pays about $250,000/yr total to all 3 of his baby mamas
Mel Gibson paid his baby mama $750,000, still pays for the house and will continue to pay additional support for the kid
Tiger Woods ex wife Elin cashed out big with $100mill, I can only imagine what he has to pay in child support for 2 kids.
The head scratcher of them all is NY Jets QB, Antonio Cromartie. This fool has 10 kids and twins on the way by 8 different women. Now he has a $35million contract but in 2008 he had to request a $500k advance so he could pay off outstanding child support payment. I can't even imagine what those are.

Some of these amounts are some people's salaries for the year! What do you think? Is this okay because they are celebs or you think it's too much?

What's in a fake name?

We all know that most celebs change their names. Here are a few to add to your useless knowledge pile.

Ginuwine - Elgin Lumpkin
Snoop Dogg - Calvin Broadus
Macy Gray - Natalie McIntyre
Jack White - John Gillis
Miley Cyrus - Destiny Hope Cyrus
Bruno Mars - Peter Hernandez
Amos Lee - Ryan Massaro
Nicki Minaj - Onika Maraj
Clay Aiken - Clayton Grissom

25 movies to see before Oscar Night

It's award season again. Yay!. As always here's EW's recommended 25 movies to see before Oscar Night:

1. The Artist
2. The Descendants
3. War Horse
4. The Help
5. Hugo
6. Midnight in Paris
7. Moneyball
8. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
9. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
10.The Tree of Life
11.Beginners
12.Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2
13.The Iron Lady
14.Rango
15.My Week with Marilyn
16.Shame
17.Albert Nobbs
18.The Ides of March
19.Kung Fu Panda 2
20.Bridesmaids
21.J.Edgar
22.We Need to Talk about Kevin
23.Drive
24.Young Adult
25.Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory

Yea. I am straight dulling this year. I have only seen 8 movies. I can tell you for sure some movies I won't be seeing like War Horse or Hugo. Let me know which ones you've seen.