Honey when I tell you all of my life was gotten this morning when I watched the Wiz..... I was screaming yaaaaaas and werrrk nonstop, and then Emerald City came in and boom... But let's backtrack. Dorothy's naturally curly hair just as bouncy as ever was the most. How many young Black girls are rocking their natural hair with vocals and acting talent to match? Don't worry I'll wait.
Let's look at Scarecrow... Who I could definitely see Chris Brown playing. Not to mention the crows throwing shade at how we are told what to think and not to think. Honey I knew what you were getting at and agreed 100%.
Tin Man...now I couldn't help but think about his story and how he lost his Bertha to the evil witch and kissing the witch and Bertha found out. It was extremely close to how Ne-yo similarly mistreated his ex fiancé (you can read that story yourself, it's heartbreaking, grab a tissue). Of course, his vocals slayed and Ne-yo always finds a way to wear a cap.
Leroy the Lion. You can't get any closer to blackness than Leroy. But David Allen Grier did an awesome job. From his story that closely related to being racially profiled or the point where he dropped down and got his eagle on with the poppies (whom I'll get to in a minute). He was every bit of awesome.
Now let's talk about the extra characters for moment. The hurricane winds looked similar to the Azkaban dementors, which made me cry because I want to see another HP movie. The poppies were thottin and boppin on another level, and these flying monkeys with their Donald Trump hair pieces had me hollering.
And then there was Queen Latifah. Oh Queen. Who slayed and worked that role like no other. She did that. Many sleep on Queen, but she was definitely made for this role.
And the other queen, Queen Mary. I know some of y'all missed it, but she revised her version of the Mary Bop and added it to her choreography. And again I was here for it.
Amber Riley, whose voice came slayed and conquered in all of her blueberry yum yum goodness was so refreshing to see.
And last, but most certainly not least, the icing on the cake of this great ensemble of #BlackGirlMagic was Uzo. From that braided crown, to the elegance of golden royalty, to the beautiful chocolate woman that she is, she reigned down from the heaven's above to slay, serve, and werk. All of my black girl hopes and dreams were right there on my TV screen being streamed from my computer.
All of this, this morning I felt so filled. Many don't understand or respect the fact that REPRESENTATION MATTERS! It is important to see diversity in television shown in a positive light. With all that has been going on in our community, WE needed this. We needed to see us WINNING. We needed to see hope and love and perseverance. And I am happy to have been able to witness it with my baby clapping and singing and dancing.
Oh and before I forget..
#BlackTwitter is phenomenal for their commentary from the night it actually aired. Y'all are truly magical.
Check out Alandrus David's Blog 8 Arms & Counting.