Late night laughter is a common problem with me and my son, especially when it’s his bedtime, on a school night, and his mom feels I’m being disruptive to our son’s week day schedule. The problem was the new Michael Jackson album, Xscape. We love Michael Jackson in our household and there was a preview of one of his new songs on the Internet.

All I wanted to do is have my son hear it before he went to sleep, just to get his opinion. So I sat my laptop on his bed, put my headphones on his head and played this song (Blue Gangsta).

Once the song went off my son said he liked it. But then he put the headphones on my head and went to another song and video. Before he hit play, he said, “this is what the kids at my school are listening to.

Sixteen seconds into this clip brought extreme laughter, from both of us. I’m laughing louder than usual because I was totally caught off guard by this kat; my son is laughing hysterically before we even get to the true silliness of the singing, because he knows he’s set a brother up. This was like watching the movie The Color Purple and then someone throwing on Soul Plane. Run DMC, LL Cool J concert in the 80’s and then someone saying “Get Ready for Vanilla Ice” or “Young MC” to take the stage. It was Just so unexpected. But very funny!

It did, however, help me deal with getting over the problems I have with how Michael Jackson’s private works of art are being dealt with. The notion that he needs to be “contemporized”. But who is the “contemporary” audience? My son helped me get over my issue very quickly by pointing out the “contemporary” audience is bumpin IceJJfish.

Look forward to and enjoy times of laughter with your children.

Love & Harmony