Photo courtesy of Getty/Michael Loccisano.

If you haven’t checked out HBO’s The Defiant Ones by now, you are truly missing out on a gem. It’s a revealing look into the lives of music’s most influential dynamic duo, Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine. TDF is a four episode mini series that leaves no subject about the “power-bros” off the record. You want drama, comedy, romance, and amazing freaggin’ music – it’s all there for you.

Why I enjoyed it…

The Hits
The soundtrack to this thing and insane. Sure I might be biased because I grew up with the music these guys put out and felt super nostalgic, but it was truly epic. It’s easy to forget how many hits these guys were apart of but with the retelling of their story, it’s all inspiring to hear. You have the likes of N.W.A, Dr. Dre, Snoop, Ice Cube, Nirvana, Bruce Springsteen, Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson, Gwen Stefani and No Doubt, U2, Stevie Nicks, Fleetwood Mac, and so many other artists featured. Off the music alone, I think you’ll enjoy it. Like seriously.

Photo courtesy of G L Askew II, via HBO

The Videography
Allen Hughes did a phenomenal job with the direction and filming of this docu-series. It was shot beautifully and he really managed to get revealing interviews from everyone their team spoke with. You feel like you’re literally listening to your folks tell this bomb story about your family history – in glossy, Hollyhood music video format though. The detailed shots are so intricate that you could sense even the smallest emotional queues and this is just from the cut aways people! It’s as if he’s speaking through the cinematography. Watch it, it’s truly mesmerizing.

Photo courtesy of Joe Pugliese /AUGUST/ HBO

The Truth
These interviews are jaw dropping. I sat there like “Noooo, nooooo this couldn’t have happened. This wasn’t a thing.” Guess what, it did and it was. This thing is scandalous in the best of ways. There are stories of crime, abuse, drunken debauchery, drugs, sex, and the list goes on. Legendary artist dropping eff-bombs is just the icing on the cake folks. A viewer is made privy to personal details on historic music industry incidents from over the last 20+ years. You finally receive your “welcome” behind the velvet rope.

The Comedy
Snoop Dogg has to be my favorite person out of all of this. I mean everyone had humorous moments, like the story of when Dre almost ruined his Apple deal with ONE drunken Facebook video, or when Eminem revealed his annoyance with slinging Beats headphones in the early days. But that held no comparison to the comedic relief Snoop Dogg provided throughout the entire documentary. He’s awesome and yes he’s high as a kite, but he does not bite his tongue in the least. You know he’s telling the truth. So here’s the real lesson, you want to find out what was really going on…ask Uncle Snoop.

Watch it, it’s totally worth a good binge on your couch. They truly did it for the culture. <3

-D.Wright

First off, I’d like to say that Rep. Maxine Waters  is my soul sister. She’s my fairy shade mother and queen of giving no effs. Representative Waters is strong, opinionated, all about her business and taking the social media stratosphere by storm with her no nonsense approach to political buffoonery. This woman is sprinkling her sweet-and-sassy Black Girl Magic all over Washington and taking no prisoners as she gains new fans across the country.

I obviously love her, and think she’s hilarious but there are so many reasons why she’s caught the attention of the world and millennials in particular…Her trolling skills are none to be reckoned with. Over the past year she’s trended on Twitter with her remarks on the 2016 elections, James Comey, her Black woman at work situation that stemmed from inappropriate comments made by staunch conservative and terrible human being, Bill O’Reilly, and now from her latest command to her adversaries – never waste her time. Auntie now has us all reclaiming our time and we’re here for it.

Photo courtesy of the Los Angeles Sentinel.

Even though she was clearly sending a message to Treasury Secretary  Steven Mnuchin, we can all learn a lesson from those three simple words – reclaiming my time.

I’ve decided to give you good people a good word today and here it is…

When to Best Reclaim Your Time

• Reclaim your time from pointless conversations
• Reclaim your time from failing relationships
• Reclaim your time from dead end jobs
• Reclaim your time from sabotaging yourself

Photo courtesy of Elle.

Reclaim your time from pointless conversations.

Why on earth would you argue with someone just for the sake of argument? My dad always told me to never argue with a fool and I don’t take that advice lightly. Sure, debates are cool but if you’re consistently finding yourself locked into stressful conversations that are causing you to lose brain cells and sleep, go ahead and reclaim your time. Move around and don’t engage in petty conversations or become the person mad at yourself for falling into traps you saw set. Then for my net gnats, don’t tempt yourself. Don’t voluntarily jump into the black holes of Twitter hashtags and Facebook comments. Go read a book or something. Reclaim your time.

Reclaim your time from failing relationships

If your romantic, familial, or friend relationships are terrible going nowhere fast (not at your doing)…do yourself a favor and reclaim your time. Get out of there quick! There’s no need for you to engage in unhealthy interactions with people who don’t honor the person you are or are working to be. Don’t argue with your uncle at the cookout. Don’t throw wine on Susan at that nice charity gala. Reclaim your time. Surround yourself with people who bring the best out of you and lift you up in life.

Reclaim your time from dead end jobs

If you’re unhappy and ready for a change, it’s time to stop giving energy to those jobs doing nothing for your purpose. I’m not saying be an idiot and quit the job that’s paying your bills, I’m saying begin to align yourself with work that makes you happy and helps you leave the footprint you want on the world. Consider getting extra training or certifications for your dream job or even create your own job! Just don’t sit there and complain about “the man” taking the best years of your life when you can create the life you want doing the work you’re passionate about. I’m just saying, reclaim your time.

Reclaim your time from sabotaging yourself

This is a tough one because you might actually think you’re always awesome and continuously winning (but no one else does because you’re a joy kill or a leech) or you might just be the one who beats yourself up over the smallest feats. Stop it! Reclaim your time. You have to snap out of self destructive behaviors and seek sound, healthy counsel from those who can help you be your best self. If your friend tries to course correct some things they see going awry, reclaim your time and reroute. If you are your own worst enemy and suffer from low self esteem… stop it right now! Reclaim your time. Do some soul searching, find a spiritual advisor or therapist and get to work. Be that light you desire to see!

Photo courtesy of Vibe.

Maxine Waters was just trying to tell this dude to get to the point. I challenge us all to get to the point and stop wasting valuable time.

Thank you Auntie Maxine…thank you. You are eternally my #WomanCrushWednesday! <3

-D.Wright

I’m gonna start with, I love this site and app. FitMenCook is super easy to navigate and extremely functional. I never expected to actually like it but a buddy of mine recommended it because I’m terrible at making healthy food choices and asked him about his lunch.

I know, you’re probably thinking, “you’re so skinny, you probably don’t eat much… blah blah blah.” Well here’s a confession, last year my New Year’s resolution was to give up canned chili. You read right, canned chili. I love canned chili. I mostly love it with chips, cheese and jalapeños. I definitely love it over rice. Wolf Brand and Hormel are my favorites and I know it’s not great for me but I don’t care. I’d say my love for canned chili is worse than my Chef Boyardee ravioli obsession and those perfectly greased Jack In The Box tacos that I’d practically vacuum up during my teen years. I fiend for my special chili dip like every couple months or so these days, but  it used to be pretty bad. I thank God for a high metabolism and newly found common sense. I only eat it every couple of months and this is precisely why I needed the app. I have to get more creative with my seasonings and dinner choices if I don’t want to die of high blood pressure and clogged arteries.

I Hate Working Out

Let’s get to the nitty gritty though. I hate working out. I hate it because it feels like a routine I can never finish and since I don’t see many changes, I don’t feel motivated. Now food, I love, and I think it’s a brilliant plan to change my body with something I love. Food is something that I can commit to and FitMenCook is a wonderful website with a bomb app you can download to get recipes ranging from quick and easy to complex and showy. You  can even use a the Healthy Habits Challenge calendar to hit personal goals. It’s pretty impressive how thought out this site it. I highly recommend taking a visit and finding a dish to start with.

15-Minute Pineapple Pepper Chicken

With how cool the site and the app was, I had to try it out for myself and decided to test the 15-Minute Pineapple Pepper Chicken recipe for my first attempt. Kevin, supplies you with a grocery list that even helps guide you down the aisles of where you can find the ingredients. I will say, it was a bit of a scavenger hunt but I located everything I needed. When I got home, I followed the directions and added spinach for my veggie. Then, voilà, a tasty meal I could enjoy for about 3-4 days! It was well seasoned, easy to portion out and extremely satisfying. You should definitely try it out for yourself.

If you decide to test out any other recipes, feel free to share them with me here or on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook! <3

-D.Wright

Music lovers, have I got something for you! A friend of mine introduced me to my new favorite thing, and it’s a music discovery app appropriately named Discovr.

There are so many music streaming and sharing services out there to a point where it can be a little overwhelming to try and find new artists to check out these days. My music go-to’s have always been blogs or friends with amazing taste in music…but what if you want something even simpler than that? Discovr might be the answer for you.

With the Discovr app, you can:

• Search thousands of artists
• Play newly discovered music from the app
• Open an artist’s music in Spotify or iTunes
• Share your new discovery with other music lovers

You start by downloading the free app on your iOS or Android device, search a familiar artist you like, the tap on their name and discover other similar artists through a dgized music tree. It’s pretty cool and really simple to follow.

Another great feature being able to pull up your  music in either Apple Music or Spotify! It’s extremely intuitive and easy to use and did I mention…free?! You can’t get any better than that.

I’ve been using it for a few days now and have found talents like Jessie Ware, DVSN, Parachute and a few others to dive into. If you’re adventurous or just searching for someone new to check out, Discovr offers you a sure fire way to learn about artists you might have never heard of from all over the world! Of course the music nerd in me is pretty stoked. Feel free to share your new discoveries with me — happy listening. <3

-D.Wright

Happy 4th of July good people! I’m grateful for freedoms I get to experience in this country but will never forget the difficult past of my people… This is the complexity of being a minority in America and specifically (in my case) Black in America. There are some things we will always have different perspectives on but that’s the beauty of cultural experience. We’ll always have something to share and exchange with those willing to listen. Today I celebrate the future of freedom. <3

-D.Wright