“Blessed, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed 'bout her business and 'bout that mail”

“Blessed, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed 'bout her business and 'bout that mail”…That’s how Dasun Allah described me. I met Dasun in November of 2005 at The Source. I was working for a small entertainment publicity firm and had been tasked with generating media exposure for an independent rap artist out of Mississippi………..So while I was in NY for Island Def Jam artist Chrisette Michele’s signing party (By the way she’s so dope!!!), I decided to go and hand deliver the MS rapper’s press kits to NY hip-hop pubs for two days straight…. XXL, Scratch, Blow, Vibe, The Source and etc….As I was leaving the Source……..this guy who I’d noticed pacing back and forth, asked me, What are you soliciting? and I responded ….I’m not soliciting, I’m just doing my job, no better yet I’m just creating awareness. He smirked and took a long look at me and said, You’re Seminole Indian……….and I laughed aloud, because my maternal grandmother is Seminole Indian, but I never really bring it up. I was rather stunned that he’d picked that up immediately. I exclaimed, How did you know that?……..He replied, I know my people when I see them. The conversation didn’t end there, as I was getting on the elevator he hopped on too, and we exchanged biz cards, and interestingly he turned out to be the Editor-in-Chief of the Source. The next day I was right back at the Source, because the then music editor Michael “Ice Blue” Harris had requested additional info on the Mississippi artist. As I was leaving from dropping off the package to Ice Blue, my phone rang and it was Dasun and he was like… Yo the security guard said you were just here, we were just talking about you this morning………He then proceeded to invite me to an event that night, but I repealed and instead asked him to come out to Chrisette Michele’s signing party at Club Exit…..how surprised was I that he showed…….and I swear that damn Dasun Allah is quite the complex and unpredictable individual…..We were having a conversation on the dance floor when all of sudden he started jumping up and down when the DJ played the LOX…..I was like OMG…chill out………and he’s like, but Kayla, it’s the muthafucking LOX…….I walked off…., but anyhow, long after I left NY, he maintained contact with me…..throughout his dismissal from the Source, the cancellation of the Star and BucWild morning show and even his jail sentence, he kept in touch and I admired his strength and perseverance, he seemed to be taking his trio of disappointments in stride. He never really told me why he had gotten in trouble with the law, but as I read articles on allhiphop.com and etc., I soon found out why…..I was at a lost………………..his actions were stemming from a place that I just couldn’t understand…………Through the midst of his troubles and him keeping in touch with me, he even asked me to be his publicist, but things never really materialized, but my homie the Hip-Hop Journalist was interested in interviewing him, so I did set up an interview with her and Dasun, the interview ran on http://www.nobodysmiling.com/hiphop/interview/86016.php........... Soon after he went to jail, He was sentenced to six months, but got released early and called me when he got out; he was so detached………He was eager for me to brief him on outside happenings. He called me about two other times after that, but he just wasn’t himself…..About a week later, I was reading nypost.com, and read the following headline……Editor is One-Man Crime Wave, I clicked on the story…………..Dasun had landed in jail once again, apparently for attacking three random people on the streets of Harlem………………….What???????........ Dasun is in my prayers and I hope that he gets well, because he truly is a talented writer and has the ability to go down in the history books…for his writing …………I thought of him today…..as I realized, I haven’t been to NY in almost a year, and I remembered his words, so I decided to write down my recollections of that dude……God bless him
Until then………“Blessed, bright-eyed, bushy-tailed 'bout her business and 'bout that mail” is signing off……………….

WHO IS JUDY PACE??????
About a month or so ago, I was at CNN, and a security guard approached me and said “You look just like Judy Pace”, he then proceeded to ask a couple of guys around us and they all enthusiastically agreed. As I looked around at these dudes nodding in agreement, I thought who the hell is Judy Pace???? I then called to ask my mother, and before I could even get it out, she was like you kind of look like her!! So you know I had to google her! Here’s what I found out…Judy Pace is a beautiful ebony-skinned actress from the late sixties, early seventies. Judy was once an Ebony Fashion Fair model, and for all you old heads, she was in the movie Cotton Comes to Harlem, and a slew of other films and short-lived television series. Pace never really catapulted like she should have, because realistically there isn’t a huge dark-skin actress presence in Hollywood, well black presence period for that matter. When I saw her I instantly became intrigued by her, because of her tenacity and defiance of stereotypes. I oftentimes get complimented for being a pretty dark-skinned girl, in fact I can’t really think of instance where I was just called pretty. When I was in college, I remember a member of the basketball team said to me…”You’re pretty to be dark-skinned, and that’s rare”….WTF. To each his own. I admire Judy Pace because she pushed the envelope of Hollywood’s ideation of beauty.

Intro/The Rambler

Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, this blog is an exploration of my many adventures and mishaps LOL! as a PR neophyte. This blog is also a reflection of my multi-faceted self; I’m quite the Renaissance woman. I oftentimes wish I could have experienced the Harlem Renaissance firsthand. I love John Coltrane (My favorites are Giant Steps and Central Park West) I enjoy drawing and reading (My favorite book is the Native Son, by Richard Wright). I am extremely creative, imaginative and innovative, but like Nas….I believe that no idea is original. I soak inspiration from a medley of things…history, people, places, past experiences and etc., but before, I go on and on and on, because I can! Let me give you a little info about my PR background. I began my independent foray into PR in early 2006 and I’m going strong into 2007. I’ve worked at Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide and Edelman, and I am well-versed in a multitude of PR sectors; everything from entertainment to heathcare and life sciences, but my niche and the bulk of my client roster is synonymous with hip-hop. I specialize in bridging the gap between mainstream and the hip-hop generation….I am a true hip-hop head. I’m also a southern belle; an Atlanta native to be exact, which means I grew up surrounded by bass or as we sometimes called it “booty shake” music. Prior to Outkast and GooDie Mob, Atlanta was all about Rahiem the Dream, Kilo, Playa Poncho, and etc., but I always delved into music from outside regions, I yearned for Rap City; it was my connection to other realms of hip-hop. Even though I was only 11 years old, I can’t express how refreshing it was for me, when Outkast came onto the scene. They are my all-time favorite! I love how they continually evolve with each album, I also have a great love for GooDie Mob….Cee-lo is my first cousin and he, my grandmother, aunt and I all lived together when I was 12, right as Soul Food was coming out. I know Soul Food like the back of my hand; like I wrote it. I looked up to Cee-lo, I can remember being quite the hustler/peddler too, selling Soul Food CDs with Cee-lo’s autograph to my middle school classmates. LOL! Shout to Cee-lo! Back to my nationwide affinity for rap music, I say nationwide, because hip-hop as a whole is so regionalized, but I love it all!….well most of it anyway. Back then, my musical tastes were always deemed as different or lame as they say in ATL. I loved Wu Tang Clan, Jeru the Damaja, Souls of Mischief, Black Moon, Smith & Wessun, Ice Cube, MC Eiht, Spice 1, DJ Quik, Coolio (sike naw…I'm still mad he won the Grammy over Pac in 1996) AZ, Cormega , Mic Geronimo, Craig Mack and Keith Murray, then of course I loved Nas, Biggie Smalls, Jay-Z, Pac, Junior Mafia, Bone Thugs & Harmony, Snoop, Dogg Pound, Dre and etc., and having two older sisters 6 and 10 years my senior put me on to the ol skool, i.e. Mc Lyte, Big Daddy Kane, Run DMC, Public Enemy (pre Flav exploitation) LL Cool J, Kurtis Blow, Kid ‘N’ Play, Roxanne Shante, Queen Latifah, JJ Fad, Hammer (don’t hate), Special Ed, Whodini, Salt & Pepa (I once told my father to get his dirty mind out the gutta), Slick Rick, Brand Nubian, 3rd Bass, Nice and Smooth, EPMD, and etc. as a very young child, and OMG…I almost forgot Da Brat. Me and my 6th grade crew used to wear our hair (Actually I fluctuated between Brat braids and Lady of Rage afro puffs) like Da Brat and even formed a rap group called the JawBreakers. We were highly influenced by the Da Brat’s Funkdafied album and Warren G’s Regulate...G Funk Era. I won’t name names, because my 6th grade crew would kill me if they read this. Damn this was supposed to be my intro, but this was very worthwhile and enjoyable to write, I’m done rambling for now, but check back for my next rambler, I think I'm on to something....I’ll be dissecting and contrasting today’s reality show driven pop culture, compared to the pop culture of the 80’s and 90’s. Until then………………....