Whenever I see Christopher “Kid” Reid on VH-1 or in a random commercial I ask “where is Play?” Play is the one I had a crush on, the one who was *really* cute, and, frankly, more than 50% of the Kid N’ Play equation. Although I missed them on the Mo’Nique show I’d previously heard that Play (Christopher Martin) married and divorced Shari Headley of Coming To America fame, almost died in a car accident, and became a born-again Christian. Whatevas, I just wanna see Blade Brown do that dance and hear some nice clean buddy rap…

People always ask me, “Thembi, how do you find this stuff?” Well, this week I’m going to walk you through the process because there is no reason why a perfectly sane woman such as myself should be asking any questions about Corey Johnson. Please bear with me as I take you through the tragically painful journey of discovering all there is to know about this person.

I don’t have anything to say about this.

I’m spent

There are three types of people on online: the kind who have never heard of Brother Franklin, the kind who have only seen him out of the corner of their eye once or twice, and the kind who watch his videos as often as possible just for a pick-me-up. The purpose of this post is to turn you into that last person, and as usual you’ll either love me or hate me for it.

First a primer: A few months ago a video of a man with a very special feeling about the Lord blazed across the internet.

Please note that this video was posted in May, so the “Remember The Time” combination towards the end was completely

Why is it that the older I get the more I sweat Diana Ross? I always thought she was so gorgeous and glamorous but now that I know what a *diva* is I’m in awe of the career she’s had. Undercover Black Man hipped me to this 1968 clip of a twenty-four year old Diana rocking out with some African Interpretive Dance on national television while she was still part of The Supremes. Just for some context, 1968 is the year Martin Luther King was assassinated. Blaze those trails, sister!…

I hate the internet so very much. Seriously, I start off looking into something that is borderline scholarly and end up finding types of despair that make me realize that I have no business looking on the internet with an empty stomach. I started out at Mental Floss (a nerd site) where I discovered this tickling re-interpretation of the opening credits to Diff’rent Strokes called “Disturbing Strokes.” It’s entertaining to see how much different music can change the intentions of Mr. Drummond. Check it out:

I know it seems like I always keep it real but there are too many little secrets about myself that people aren’t aware of just because they prove that I’m not “cool.”  The blackgirl acceptance theme of this blog’s title has made me realize that I need to live my Lady Law #2 – “Go where no black girl has gone before” – a little more publicly. Therefore,  I’m starting a new feature called “Thembi Keeps It Real.”

So let me keep it real with you all…I LOVE New Kids On The Block, especially Donald Edmond Wahlberg Jr…

What do you get when you cross scenes from 1941’s Hellzapoppin’ featuring black dance troupe Whitey’s Lindy Hoppers with our beloved Notorious B.I.G.’s “Ten Crack Commandments”? Check out this hot editing battle courtesy of Voidstar. The lindy hop was no joke…

This is NOT – I repeat – NOT Blair Underwood. When Mya on Girlfriends cheated on her husband with that jump-off Stan, he was played by Don Franklin, not Blair Underwood. When Regine from Living Single finally met her handsome millionaire Dexter Knight, that was Don Franklin again, and not Blair Underwood. I know it’s not just me, but for at least the first thirty seconds of Don Franklin’s screen time I’m always forced to make sure that he is not Blair Underwood, but instead his less successful alter…

Why is it that almost every black sitcom has had at least one “talent showcase” episode, while such episodes on mainstream sitcoms have been few and far between? I’ve certainly never seen anyone seriously throwing on costumes to sing and dance on Friends or Seinfeld, and the “talent showcase” in black sitcoms certainly pre-dates reality shows like American Idol. Ever since I learned that “coonery” is one of the search terms that has brought people to WWTD, I’ve been thinking a lot about our tendency to cut a rug and start up some showtime just for its own sake. I believe that random talent showcasing on black sitcoms is due to two factors: first, black sitcoms have so many multi-talented performers that can do more than just act.