Marvin Gaye - Got To Give It Up (Soul Train Appearance)

Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" Behind "Got to Give It Up"

The most popular song of 2013 was Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" a song about partying, sex, and drugs this has been the one of the largest hits of Robin Thicke's career next to "Lost Without You." I have been a fan of Robin Thicke since I was in middle school because that is when his first album dropped although it wasn't successful he eventually would achieve commercial success with the release of his sophomore album The Evolution of Robin Thicke, One thing I have noticed on every album Robin draws inspiration from artists like Prince, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye. The first time I heard "Blurred Lines" I thought it was a new Marvin Gaye song or a sample from his mega hit "Got to Give It Up." I am going to play the Soul Train performance to the song and you will hear and see why Robin Thicke is getting sued by Marvin Gaye's family.

Robin Thicke, Pharrell Williams, and Clifford Harris Jr. aka T.I. are going to court to secure their profits and ownership from the song "Blurred Lines" they claim that Marvin Gaye's family and Funkadelic's rights owner who have asserted that the song wasn't original.

Toni's Thoughts: I have been a fan of Robin Thicke, T.I. and Pharrell for years but right is right, and wrong is wrong with that being said they need to pay the royalties and the Gaye family deserves an apology. It does not take rocket scientists to know that this comes from Marvin Gaye and Robin has been using his style for years. I have a couple of questions. Why is Robin Thicke offering Marvin Gaye's family six figures? Why did they file the lawsuit first? The next post is Marvin Gaye's Soul Train performance of Got to Give It Up.

Let's Get It On...... 40 Years Later

On August 29, 1973 Marvin Gaye released his twelfth studio album Let's Get It On. He recorded the album from 1970-1973 in Detroit, Michigan and Los Angeles, California.  This would be the first time Marvin explored new territory from a musical stand point he ventured into funk and romance themes with sexual lyric content. The album included the timeless hits "Let's Get It On", " Come Get to This" and " You Sure Love to Ball." This was the most commercially successful album of Marvin's career and this ushered in creative control at Motown which is something Marvin fought for against CEO Berry Gordy Jr.

Inspiration Behind the Album: Marvin had been suffering from writer's block and was uncertain as to how he follow the successful 1971 album What's Going On and the 1972 Trouble Man soundtrack. At this point he was dealing with issues professionally with Berry Gordy and Motown, emotional issues in his marriage to Anna Gordy, and dealing with certain traumas from his childhood. Marvin learned how to cope with these issues by a newly found spirituality and he would use this inspiration to help him grow as an artist.


Marvin's Gaye views on Love & Sex Themes of the Album:  "I can't see anything wrong with sex between consenting anybodies. I think we make far too much of it. After all, one's genitals are just one important part of the magnificent human body ... I contend that SEX IS SEX and LOVE IS LOVE. When combined, they work well together, if two people are of about the same mind. But they are really two discrete needs and should be treated as such. Time and space will not permit me to expound further, especially in the area of the psyche. I don't believe in overly moralistic philosophies. Have your sex, it can be exciting, if you're lucky. I hope the music that I present here makes you lucky."

Toni's Thoughts: I love Marvin Gaye's music I can listen to any song he has recorded and fall in the love with lyrics, vocal skills, instruments, everything about his art touches my soul. My favorite Marvin Gaye albums are What's Going On, Let's Get It On,  I Want You and Here, My Dear.

Back in the Day When I Was Young

As I have said many times before I'm a 90's baby and I'm proud that I was born and raised in that decade. When music and television still reinforced positive messages singers could really sing, and actors could really act. As a little girl I have crushes on guys like Usher, Ginuwine, Tyrese, and Lee Thompson Young although from 1998-2002 I knew him as The Famous Jett Jackson. I am sad to say that he died today from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Lee Thompson Young was born on February 1, 1984 in Columbia, South Carolina at the age of ten he decided that he wanted to become an actor. In June of 1996 he moved to New York City a year later he auditioned for the role of The Famous Jett Jackson and the pilot was shot in 1998.  The show was a huge success he also starred in the film Johnny Tusnami. After The Famous Jett Jackson ended he made guest appearances CBS's The Guardian, he appeared in the film Friday Night Lights, Akeelah and the Bee, Redemption: The Tookie Williams Story, he also had a recurring role on the show Small Ville, UPN's drama South Beach. He was currently starring on the show Rizzoli & Isles.

Lee Thompson Young was a member of Kappa Alpha Psi and graduated with honors in Cinematic Arts from University of  Southern California. He was 29 years old may he rest in peace. I know we all die one day but it comes as a surprise because he was apart of my childhood. He was a handsome and talented actor with so much promise he will be missed.

50 Years of Whitney

Yesterday marked a milestone it would have been the 50th birthday of the late great Whitney Elizabeth Houston on August 9, 1963 she was born Newark, New Jersey we love you and miss you. She touched us with her mezzo soprano gift there will never be another Whitney.  I truly believe she is at peace now.

Saluting Mr. Julius Chambers

 

 

Civil Rights Attorney & Former Chancellor @ NCCU Julius Chambers has passed away. He made a significant impact on Civil Rights law served the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, opened the first racially integrated law firm in the South (1964), one ...his landmark civil rights cases was Swann v. the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education in 1971, which led to cross-town student bus transit that helped to integrate local schools. He was 76 years old. He will be missed.

Julius Chambers was born and raised in Montgomery County, North Carolina he grew up during the Jim Crow era. As a young boy he witnessed racial discrimination at his father's auto repair business was often a target for racial discrimination, a white man refused to pay his father for the services that were being provided, his father could not afford to sue the man because he did not have a lawyer. This event inspired Chambers to become a lawyer and fight for racial and civil rights.

Chambers gradated from high school in 1954, attended North Carolina Central University he was student body President, graduated summa cum laude with a degree in History. He attended graduate school from the University of Michigan with a degree in History in 1959. He enrolled at law school at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was the first African American editor-in-chief for the school's law review and graduated first in his class of 100. Chambers also became the university's first African American to gain membership in honor society Order of the Golden Fleece, he was also a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. In 1964 he earned his  L.L.M from Columbia Law School. From 1963-1964 he served on the NAACP Legal Defense Fund in New York he was selected by Thurgood Marshall.

In June of 1964, he opened his own law firm which would eventually become the first integrated law firm in the South. Chambers and his fellow founding partners  James E. Ferguson II & Adam Stein, as well as lawyers from the LDF (Legal Defense Fund) were able to successfully argue cases against the US Supreme Court that would influence American civil rights law with landmark cases such as:  Swann v. Charlotte -Mecklenburg Board of Education ( 1971),  Griggs v. Duke Power Co. ( 1971),  and Albemarle  Paper Co. v. Mo0dy (1975).


Thank you for all of your hard work Mr. Chambers.

Let's Talk About Violence & Hypocrisy

"The country uses violence for it's justice, but then the country gets mad when we use violence for our justice."
Ice Cube (1992)
Discussing the LA Riots

"I ain’t draft-dodgin.’ I ain’t burnin’ no flag. And I ain’t runnin’ to Canada. I’m stayin’ right here.
You wanna send me to jail? Fine, you go right ahead. I’ve been in jail for 400 years. I can be there for 4 or 5 more.
But I ain’t goin’ no 10,000 miles to help murder and kill other poor people. If I wanna die, I’ll die right here, right now fightin’ you — if I wanna die.
You my enemy. Not no Chinese, no Viet Cong, no Japanese.
You my opposer — when I want freedom.
You my opposer — when I want justice.
You my opposer — when I want equality.
Want me to go to somewhere and I fight for you. You won’t even stand up for me right here in America for my rights and my religious beliefs. You won’t even stand up for me right here at home."
Muhammad Ali (1967)
Discussing the Vietnam War


Toni's Thoughts: I posted these quotes as Food for Thought and somehow I feel as though history is beginning to repeat itself.