“What this country expects of women is really affecting millions…”
This video hits home. Too many times in my young life, I’ve been sitting there in Sha’s position while my date/girlfriend/friend etc is spending an excessive amount of time getting ready to go out. From hair to makeup and outfits, it normally takes well over an hour. When you tell them they’re beautiful as is, they look at you crazy and remain unconvinced. To some degree, as men we have to realize a woman’s self-image isn’t just predicated on what we reaffirm, but what society and culture defines as beauty. Nonetheless, Sha Stimuli does his best to champion our women’s natural beauty on “Wake Up & Go.”
You’ll recognize the sample as a short loop of the Isley Brothers’ “For the Love of You.” The beat never drops the original’s full melody, which actually works in making the song standout over the usual loops producer’s do. Lyrically and visually, Stimuli covers all the bases: the hours in the beauty salon, the amounts spent for makeup, the negative body image, and the secret yearning for the LSLH (Light Skin Long Hair) ideal.
Of course, his woman (model K-Syn) is naturally pretty, but just doesn’t see it. Even watching Chris Rock’s Good Hair doesn’t do the trick. But when you think about the images of black women in popular culture, especially the distorted view in commercial Hip-Hop, it makes perfect sense why many of our women have a twisted self-image.
Sha has a winner with this one. Email it to some of the women in your life. This song is the first leak off Sha’s The Break-Up Part 2: The Proposal, which is scheduled to drop in mid-March.
[...] taking its name from the pedestal he puts his woman on. Although not as socially challenging as “Wake Up & Go,” Stimuli crafts a satisfying listen that should fit in well on The Break Up Pt. 2: The Proposal [...]