MEET Cocoa.

Yes, yes y’all… I was tagged by Dj Fusion of Black Radio is Back, and now I have to tell all you lovely readers out there in web-land a little bit about me… Six little things to be exact. 6 little random things… So here goes nothing!

I am hopelessly and utterly obssessed with Harlem. I was born there, and I left when I was younger to move into a house in Queens. However, I still went to school in Manhattan, and almost everyday after school my girlfriends and I would go uptown to shop, hang out and just keep up with the action. I have fond memories of Grant’s Tomb, Rucker Park, African-American Day parades, and troopin up there after the Puerto Rican Day parade in the summertime. Shopping on 125th street for fly jeans and jackets…. Eating cold icee’s and cut pineapple on the blocks in the summer. Or even the SLAMMIN’ arroz con pollo in Spanish Harlem… It was all love. I was on my own by 17, and at 21 (after college), I moved right back to Harlem. Recently, I moved to Brooklyn where I currently live (and absolutely LOVE), but my heart is always in Harlem. I’m constantly calling my peoples out there to catch the latest on the fashion and hood-gossip of course! There is no other place better in my mind besides Accra, Ghana. That is where my parents are from and where my roots are. If I could put those two places randomly together, I would definitely have my heaven on earth!

I am hip-hop’s biggest fan. I honestly can recite any hit song word-for-word from 1983 to 2005 (only because I started losing interest around then)… Ask anyone who knows me. I’m truly sick with it, lol. But what most don’t know about me is that I love, love, looooooooove 90’s alternative rock and punk music. I love Nirvana, Nada Surf, Red Hot chilli Peppers, Smashing Pumkins, Weezer, Garbage, The Cranberries, Dead Kennedy’s, Hole, NOFX, In Living Colour, No Doubt, Rancid, Soundgarden, Guns N’ Roses, Metallica, Oasis, The Verve, etc. One of my favorite songs of all time is “Violet” by Hole. Big ups to Courtney Love! I can rock out to that joint any day of the week. True story!

If I could meet any person– dead or alive it would have to be Kelis (Although Bob Marley is a VERY close second). I am a fan, but besides that we have both been in very close proximity to one another even when I didn’t know it. She dated this guy in my high school (Lani) and would come by after school everyday. The chicks hated on her hard (she had an attitude and  a super-hawt, super-short platinum afro)– but I always thought: “That girl is flavor, man!” One day I was rockin a silver nautica vest, and she stopped me in the hallway and said “Yo, I like ur vest… that’s hot!” 6 months later I saw I Hate You So Much Right Now on MTV. I was like: DAMN! Had I known she was gonna be the fierce musician she is, I prolly woulda said mush more than, “Oh this ol’ thing? Thanks”… She’s from Harlem (like me)  she’s a Leo (like me– and Leo’s are the BEST chicks around– f whatchu heard!), and she’s not afraid to be different. In those ways we are very, very  similar. All things considered, the bitch is BAD– superfly and don’t give a you-know-what about what anyone thinks about it. I dig that. That is sooooo me. Her music is thoughtful but rebellious, political yet sexy, fun but informative. You don’t get that everyday. Kelis, if you’re reading: have your people call my people!

When I was 20, I was attending Emory University in Atlanta, and I cut a demo. I thought it was pretty hot, so I hustled my way into getting a meeting with Star Trak’s A&R. I flew back up to NYC, and the meeting went great! He told me I had a “look” and a “sound”, and he would most definitely pass it off to Pharrell! I was so happy, I almost crapped my pants (but I didn’t, don’t worry)! Anyway, about a month or so later, the label was having legal problems with Arista, and til this day I will never know whether Mr. Williams actually heard my stuff, or if I was just cast to the waste-side. My biggerst dream was to be on stage with N.E.R.D, The Clipse, and Kelis– I felt at that point like I could almost TASTE it. Ahhhh, well. I always had journalism to fall back on! I have always had a deep passion for writing– and it wasn’t always just music. Poetry and journalism were also part of my passion for writing… And who knows? Maybe one day my dream will come true! I still do music from time to time, and if that ever happened for me– great! But if not– I STILL LOOOOOOVE what I do!

Randomly when I was 13, I watched the movie Grease a bunch of times. I developed a serious (and probably unhealthy) crush on John Travaolta. I would watch the movie a gazillion times a week. I stayed up late to see Welcome Back Kotter on Nick at Nite, and I rented everything from Saturday Night Fever to Face Off. But I didn’t stop there. I even made a damn scrap book with magazine clippings of his latest movies and events (I know y’all are thinking I’m REALLY psycho,now huh)? But when I turned 14… Poof! The magic was gone. Maybe it was because I had a cute-lil-puppy-love boyfriend by then… Who knows? All I know is even I look back on that time and scratch my head like…. HUH??????

I feel that Half Baked is the best comedy of all time. Period. I don’t care what anyone has to say– this movie is my all-time fave. Coming from me, that’s pretty serious because I am a movie-buff for sure! I [ay for unlimited rentals monthly on blockbuster online. This movie is vintage Dave Chappelle and it’s genius! The cast was perfect– the plot was hilarious and the subject matter? Well…. You know! Let’s just say– fun times were definitely had by ALL while watching this flick. It’s a classic love story… Of a man, and his MARY JANE! LOL…. Sorry, inside joke that you would only understand if you’ve seen it. For all of you who might not know…. GET WITH IT! I beg of you…

And that my friends, concludes the 6 random facts about me thing… Now I have to figure out who I’m going to tag. Thank you for stopping by a taking a little peak into my insane membrane. Come back anytime, ya hear?!!