The 2010 Year in Review: Willow Smith "New Princess of the ROC"

I'm a few days late on this whole Willow Smith "Whip My Hair" phenomenon, but I finally heard the song this morning and I must admit it is catchy. Behind the song there's a little more going on that seems to be fueling the track beyond the normal buzz. Of course Willow is the 9-year-old daughter of Hollywood power couple Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith, it's a tremendous help when mommy and daddy have the resources to indulge in your dreams by providing you with the platform to showcase your talent and spread it through the industry to the masses.


I was floating through the realm of Twitter when the song hit the net and subsequently had it going nuts. No less than 60 people I'm following tweeted immediately about how much they dug the song and the comparisons to Rihanna commenced. Whoa, pump your brakes; we don't want to compare any child to Rihanna. Not saying that Rihanna is a great singer, but she's an adult with racy behavior and questionable talent, so let the child be a child. Yet, I still didn't listen, I really didn't feel the need to hear a song by a 9-year-old.

Then, word started to spread that she had signed a deal with Jay-Z's Roc Nation label and my interest rose a little. But I still didn't listen. I figure it was just another tactical move by the Jigga Man in his never-ending quest to be a billionaire. Another merger with Will Smith can't hurt the net worth, the two are already partners in ventures with Carol's Daughter and the Broadway production of "Fela", and so this seems to be natural agreement of sorts. Let the Illuminati/Scientology rumors begin…

But I digress, back to the track.

The song is a banger, with a hypnotizing beat and infectious hook, it is sure to keep school parties rocking this fall. The little girl can sing too! Her voice sounds beyond her nine years at points and she wasn't outperformed by the bass. I nodded my head, caught a boogie and bust out a few in-home only Chris Brown moves. I'm still trying to catch the lyrics to ensure the content is age-appropriate, though I'm sure it's going to bang from your daughter's iPod to happy hour, because it's better than much of what we've been hearing all year. However, I don't want to hear this song when I'm surrounded by 30-year-old women, it's a kid's song after all.

The great thing about all of this is there's a wide-open lane in the kiddie performer lane for Black babies, even though their family seems to have eyes on all of the spots, because Beiber fever has invaded the hood. The timing is perfect because little Black girls can really use someone they can identify with, though she is privileged, she still looks like them and that may go a lot further than we realize.

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