I'm from the old school when you wrote to your favorite rapper's fan club wishing they'd send a personalized, autographed picture to post on your wall. A real wall with tape! I only got one picture of LL Cool J that wasn't autographed and I had to hide because I didn't want my parents to know that I was drooling over a half-naked man with a gold rope and Kangol hat.
But I'm not that old, I have a twitter account-two actually! One for my professional, academic life that shares articles and headlines that most people find boring and the other to follow people like Chris Rock, Common, various reality show stars (Draya, Jennifer Williams) and Rihanna (@badgalriri). Now I probably don't fall under typical Rihanna Navy fanbase as I haven't "followed" her on twitter since she started out in 2005. I can't even be sure which account she tweets from...there's one with 9K followers and one with 28M (can you guess which one?). I am however a fan of her music. Every version of my iPod, iPhone, iPod touch has several of her albums and singles. Dat gal cyan sing!!! And what I like about her is her attitude: seemingly carefree, often guarded, fun and serious about her paper! I watched her on Oprah with her mom, I've heard her anger and heartbreak through her songs and I've seen her give the media the middle finger...this girl is real! Even my 62 year old mom loves her. Is it her island roots? (We're Haitian but close enough!) How many pop stars come from island nations and crossover to gain notoriety worldwide? The last I checked, it was Bob Marley and I dare you to find someone else.
One of the other reasons why I admire her authenticity...this will sustain her through all the bullshit that most celebrities go through. She seems to have a solid circle of friends to fall back on and she has a home base that she can rejuvenate and be private. She's relatable. I may not have her money, her talent but her songs make me feel like she understands what it's like to be a "good girl gone bad". We all have that side of us and it's fun to watch someone express it the way she does.
So why do I write all this? I decided to follow her because I read one of the best articles about a fan who met Rihanna after her Chicago concert. It confirmed what I thought all along...she's beautiful, inside and out.
Now if I can only get her to come to Boston... :)
