"Well, I'm Warm And Peaceful Lady Tee.."

Who knows where this line comes from?
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Time's up.
It's from Teena Marie's "Square Biz". Remember her? One of the most successful proto-hootchies the eighties ever produced? Yes, Rick James loved himself some Vanilla Child.
I bring her up because yesterday I heard this song again on an "Ol' School" station out of Philadelphia, while at work. I have always enjoyed listening to Teena rap because homegirl really had her shtuff together, may I just say. And like all songs, I try to sing along with. The faster the lyrics, the more fun.

BUT.

There was a piece of her rap that I could not get--and I'm talking for twenty years now I couldn't figure out what she was saying (to my satisfaction, anyway. I mean, some lyrics I don't care if I get them right or not. In some, I like my own version, right?).

It goes like this---
"Shakespeare, Maya
"Angelou
"And blublahblahblublahblah
"Just to name a few
"Well, I'm warm and peaceful
"Lady Tee,
"I
"GOT
"To keep two irons in the fire you see,
"Cause I'm one step below your heels
"What's the deal,
"Say WHAT?
"Flashback who's that?
"Flashback WHO'S that?
"Flashback, whooooo's that..."

Yeah, I couldn't ever figure out who that person was that she was listing after Maya Angelou.
Until I heard it yesterday. And why? Because I said the line out loud, tried to break down the syllables in my head, and tried to think who could possibly fit in Teena Marie's literary calvalcade of stars. By syllable, the two lines sound like

SHAKE
speare
MY
a
An
ge
LOU
and
NIK
blah
blu
blu
blahblah
Just to name a few...

Then like a bolt of lightning I got it.

" And NIK-ki Giovanni just to name a few..."

And the only reason I got it yesterday is because I saw her on a show on Channel 13 last month being interviewed for her nomination for a Grammy in the Spoken Word Album category.

I discovered that Ms. Giovanni has been around since Grant took Richmond (another spoken lyric which took a long time to figure out as well, which my Mom was fond of saying). Isn't it funny that I'd never heard of her until this year, yet I'd been listening to her name for the past twenty years.

As for she herself, she was captivating to me. She had a recent bout with cancer which she is surviving. Like every powerful black woman from my mother's generation who has a media outlet and is speaking to the inheritance of being black in America, I felt like I was listening to a preacher. Nikki Giovanni isn't a shouter, though. She is a rapid-fire proclaimer of viewpoint. A woman who seems to know her mind. Confident, proud, strong. Maybe she's all of 4'8"? With a perfected Disarming Smile which she uses to soften the blows of truth that she lands on whoever is brave enough to solicit them. I felt sorry for her male, middle-aged, balding white male interviewer. He definitely respected her, but tried to trip her up on some anti-Republican things she had said in the past. The woman rocketed forward and more. She said something to the effect that the stupidity of Clarence Thomas was an embarassment. All the while with her big smile. I was transfixed by her strength; I was putty.

I'm going to go get a book of her poetry and see what else the deal might be, and she will be the first poet I will have ever bought and read. She can thank the Warm and Peaceful Lady Tee if I get converted to the ways of poetry through her.

Me at 2/28/2004 07:52:00 PM

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