Rest In Peace, Whitney

Whitney Houston passed away on Saturday. It was so sudden... I found out on twitter smh. I had just finished spending the afternoon volunteering at a horse rescue with Diana when I just signed on to twitter. Someone tweeted "it can't be true.. not Whitney." My phone updated 100 times in 10 minutes. It was so crazy. I went to my apartment, turned on CNN and listened as Don Lemon confirmed her passing. The TTs on twitter soon enough became a playlist of Whitney's greatest hits.

Her death brought back my love for R&B from the early 90s. It's always been there but mainly for the late 90s. I got on iTunes and bought her self-titled album and the Bodyguard. I remember the first time I saw Whitney with the buzz cut.. my mom had that album on cassette. She pulled the case out of this box full of other tapes and there was this thin, stately black woman with such short hair like I'd never seen before. The first cds I remember having were The Bodyguard and Mariah Carey's Music Box. Listening to The Bodyguard made me listen to Mariah Carey's Music Box and Daydream so I had to buy both. And then I saw an icon for TLC's CrazySexyCool album. I played the last song on the album, Something Wicked Come My Way and I remembered every. single. word. I could not believe myself. I used to LOVE that song. I started remembering how hard I practiced Left Eye's verse from Waterfalls and how upset I was when this kid in my class doubted me when I said I knew the verse by memory. Ha!

But long story short.. Whitney was a bridge. She's younger than my parents by about 5-7 years. My parents listened to her in the 80s and respected her in the 90s. I grew up with her in the 90s. She was a bridge between generations. Her and Michael (you could probably add Prince and Madonna in there too). They were the two that bound my parents musical tastes to my own. That's what is so sad. There are ties that bind my parents and I. Many actually. We're a tight and very close family. But to know that some of those ties, no matter how weak are loosening.. well that's sad.