Music From And Inspired By The Original Motion Picture For Colored Girls

Posted In: For Colored Girls

Kimberlie Pesa says...

You'll love this! Very, very empowering. I work in a hair salon, and I mixed these songs in a playlist and my clients rave about the selections from For Colored Girls, before they know the songs are from the soundtrack.

Posted on January 31, 2011

Karolyn Saintignon says...

"For Colored Girls" is the soundtrack to Tyler Perry's new movie starring Janet Jackson, Whoopi Goldberg, Loretta Devine, Phylicia Rashad and Macy Gray among others. The movie is an adaptation of a stage play, and Perry's translation of this to a movie has earned tonnes of harsh reviews.



The soundtrack, on the other hand, is a winner and an all women affair with something for everyone. Opening is "Main Title", a haunting string-swathed classical piano piece with poetic recitals by Loretta Devine, Kimberly Elise and Janet Jackson, followed by the retro Soul "Longer And Stronger" by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings. The lilting "All Day Long (Blue Skies)" is seventies Stevie Wonder-style Jazzy Soul done by Estelle, while "What More Can They Do" by Laura Izibor is groovy with echoing guitars. Lalah Hathaway lends her dusky vocals to the soulful piano ballad "Sun" while "Ansomnia" with stabbing bass, electro beats and swirling synths features Zaki Ibrahim.



"Settle" is acoustic Soul with Gladys Knight and choir-style backing vocals. "La Donna In Viola" is a Classical piece and features Karen Slack, Andrea Jones-Soloja and Hollywood Symphony Orchestra. "Sechita (A Senhora Em Amarelo)" is another recital, this time featuring Anika Noni Rose, Carondelet Percussion Ensemble against a clunky Jazzy backdrop. The bouncy Pop/Rock "Stand Up" features Macy Gray, and maintaining the tempo is Janelle Mon

Posted on February 1, 2011

Clinton Delamarter says...

How come when I get a book on hair care, it doesn't talk much about hair care? This book is like a hair autobiography. I actually think it's just a bunch of filler because the author doesn't even offer that much hair advice. It's basic stuff that you should already know if you have eyes to see and ears to hear.



Anway, she advocates using a texturizer to smooth the kinkiest of hair. It's kind of funny, but right now it's stylish to have nappy hair-only if it's fake or has a texturizer in it. Whenever I look through a "natural" hair magazine, all I see are nappy weaves. That doesn't make sense to me: why buy a fake nappy hair piece when you can grow it from your scalp for free?Don't be fooled by the texturizers.It doesn't matter if you get it done at home or at a salon- a texturizer is just a relaxer slapped on your head and rinsed out after 5-10 minutes. A texturizer won't make your hair easier to manange or give you curls like Tracee Ellis Ross or Rachel True. A texturizer is a chemical, it's ruff, and you *will* be considering a weave eventually, depending on how frequentlyyou texturize.



But back to the book. Lonnice wears her hair in twist out and shows all the marvelous styles she can make. Whoop dee do. What's hilarious is how there are three photographs showing her hair getting long and longer from wearing a twist out for a few days. Don't be fooled by that either. All she's doing is tilting her neck back. Some chicks on haircare websites do stuff like that. They'll post a message that says, "Look! My hair grew 4.5 inches this month from the 100 vitamin pills I'm taking!" When you see their "new growth," it's not growth at all but necks being tilted all the way back. But folks get excited anyway. Whatever!



The best hair care book I read is "No Lye" by Tulani Kinard. There are pictures of damaged hair, different hairstyles, oils to use, etc. It's a good book to read and get some advice if you're natural but keep in mind that only YOU know what's good for your hair to keep it healthy. Don't run out and get a texturizer because someone said so.

Posted on February 1, 2011

Tamekia Gouveia says...

In June of 1998, my mother told me she was going natural, and gave me this book to read.I picked it up and read if from cover to cover.Since that day, I have not used a blow dryer or curling iron on my hair! I started bycutting my hair very short.I then used ideas from the book to style myhair.It has been a year, and I now have strong, beautiful, curly, naturalshoulder length hair.This is an excellent book, the author seemed to knoweverything that I had been going through my entire life.I have tryed allthe perms, curls, etc.I've also had one bad hair day after another. Wearing natural hair has given me a freedom that is impossible to describe. I don't spend alot of time or money on my hair anymore, and I am proud towear my hair in its natural state, the way God intended.I have receivednumerous complements, but most importantly, I have found my natural hair!To the author--Thank you for taking the time to write this excellentinformative book.

Posted on February 2, 2011

Hilaria Laroche says...

I had been considering cutting my relaxer and going natural.This book gave me the needed push to go on and do just that.She was very honest about the reactions you get when you cut your hair off.I had to deal withall the comments about how a woman should have long hair, but her bookhelped me from getting depressed.During the growing-out period, I wouldget depressed sometimes because I thought my hair would never grow back toits original length.Many times I wanted to put a relaxer in it again. However, this book (and braids) helped me make it.Whenever I was close toscheduling a relaxer appointment, I picked up the book and read over itagain and looked at the pictures of her beautiful, healthy, NATURAL head ofhair.Now, I have my own head of healthy, NATURAL, hair past my shoulders. It was a long year, but it was worth it.Her styling ideas are also veryinteresting.The BEST part, though, is how healthy my hair is now thanksto her tips on hair products as well as lessons on the anatomy of blackhair.

Posted on February 3, 2011

Jacinda Underdahl says...

Thank God for this book!My hair has been natural for six years now and I couldn't be happier-thanks to this book.I felt like she was writing about MY hair horror experiences with perms and idiot hairdressers (I'm sure just about every African American woman can relate to at least one of Bonner's experiences!)The hairstyles are indeed practical and beautiful, excellent information about our hair structure and products to use and most importantly-HOW to treat our hair (ie:using satin pillowcases & scarves instead of cotton for sleeping).I was also pleasantly pleased to see that my hair became naturally wavier with time by consistently using these styling methods over the years (especially the Corkscrew crimp style-my favorite); my hair became easier to manage.I think that EVERY black woman should have this book-even if she doesn't prefer natural hairstyles!

Posted on February 3, 2011

Astrid Leichty says...

Sistas, watch out for this book. it sneakily pretends to advocate embracing your natural hair, while advising you to chemically distort it to create the styles in the book. As if we can't wear our hair "down" without putting *some* kind of chemical in it. She should see my hair; it sure as hell look better than hers!



The good hair she portrays in the book is always "texturized" to give the looser, closer to European curl that we were encouraged to lust after from an early age. I am currently doing a degree that partly involves formulating products that alter the chemical structure of the hair. My course, and some of the real hair stories you see everyday have taught me this much:



1) Texturizing your hair is still relaxing your hair, it's just a case of relaxing the curl less.



2)None of these processes can change your actual texture, despite the misleading name. If your hair was coarse when it was curly, it will be coarse when it's straight. Why do you think our hair still looks different from white people's even when it's mad straight?



3) Furthermore, every nap wasn't created the same. If your hair has more of a zig-zag pattern than a curl, or has a looser curl, then the "texturizer" might actually straighten your hair , even if you leave itin just a few minutes. Some people think their curl is tighter than it is 'cause it has lots of texture (the kind of "grip" you feel when you rub your fingers down a strand), so the curls are real separate and look like a 'fro. Imagine the shock they get when a "texturizer" leaves them bone-straight.



Brittenum Bonner might preach one thing, but what she practices belies it. Her message is tainted with calcium hydroxide & does nothing to stop women maligning their own hair. Ultimately, it ends up reinforcing that samedestructive lie that drives so many sistas to the caustic chemical "fix" in the first place.

Posted on February 4, 2011

Micha Inglese says...

I was disappointed by this book.When I wore my hairnatural (with absolutely no hint of texturizer), I found it difficult to duplicate many of the styles featured in this book.If you have truly kinky, afro-textured hair and prefer NOT to wear a comb-through hair texturizer (texturizers are made up of chemicals, by the way), I'd look elsewhere for hair care tips.

Posted on February 4, 2011

Kris Sherod says...

I am enjoying the music from and inspired by the original motion picture, "For Colored Girls."My favorite song is track #5 entitled, "Sun" by Lalah Hathaway.

Posted on February 4, 2011

Laraine Blumenfeld says...

I agree w/ Deborah in D.C.-- I, too, decided to go "natural" (my real self, right?) back in '96. Well, I had seen the author of this book on "Oprah" and had seen the book in '94 in the stores. Picked it upin '96 and wore braids for a year in order to grow out the real deal. Well,when you look at the pictures in this book, you HAVE TO REALIZE that theauthor's hair is TEXTURIZED. Agreed: why go natural just to put"mild" chemicals in it? Natural is natural, period. A texturizer,much like a regular relaxer, when applied wrong can damage your hair. NowI'm sitting here in '99 wishing I had kept it absolutely natural since '96.Instead of having a head full of slightly damaged texturized hair, I couldhave a head full of beautiful NATURAL hair. Don't get fooled by thebeautiful hairstyles in the book. They're ALL texturized. What's NATURALabout that?

Posted on February 6, 2011