Hello World,
I’m back for my second recap of Mary Mary’s reality show and this episode had more drama than last week’s episode…I don’t know if that’s good or bad, but let me not get ahead of myself…
Last week’s episode ended with Erica deciding to go back to Mary Mary after Tina begged her sister to reunite the gospel duo although Erica’s husband Warryn was hot about her decision…
Meet Tina Campbell, Mary Mary’s manager?
This week’s episode starts in Norfolk, Virginia as the Marys are slated to perform at the Richmond Jazz Festival…As Erica feared in last week’s episode, Tina is already late in getting ready for their performance although Tina claims she has changed since she went through hell and back last year and survived…Despite Tina being late, though, the duo performs their hits such as “Heaven” and “Shackles (Praise You)” without any issues. “The hiatus is over, and the Marys are back,” Tina says to camera after their performance.
In the next scene, Tina is back at home in L.A. with her daughter Laiah who is showing her mother her cheer. A little stiff in her movements, Tina says, “I want you to cheer like you’re from where Mommy is from not the suburbs.” (This is would be a good scene for “Black-ish.”) While her daughter is trying to “put something on it” as Tina suggests, a booking agent calls to ask Tina (because she is supposed to be managing the group, right?) about booking a performance at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill in New York, but she blows him off to put her family time first. Since Tina didn’t respond to him, he calls Erica who manages to converse with him and agrees to the performance although her son is drumming in the background like he is on stage and she is cooking with her daughter in the kitchen. When Warryn finds out that Erica scheduled Mary Mary to perform at B.B. King, he blows up. “You have no idea of the implications of what you just did.” Apparently, he spent $40,000 on promotion in that market so that Erica would be able to perform there and other venues in NYC and now that lucrative opportunity will be split among two instead of given to one…Erica wonders why she is the one planning dates for Mary Mary when Tina is the manager…
Sister to Sister Drama…
Mary Mary head to NYC for their performance and while they are there, they are scheduled to be interviewed by Jamie Foster Brown, publisher of Sister 2 Sister magazine which is a mashup of People magazine/TMZ for the black community. But before she arrives at their hotel room, Goo and Erica are tripping because it was reported on the magazine’s website that Teddy, Tina’s husband, may have fathered a child when he was out and about and Tina doesn’t know about the rumor…They tell Tina what was reported before Jamie arrives, but Tina doesn’t back away from Jamie when Jamie straight ups asks her about the rumor…She said it was false information and says, “That’s why I told my truth in the beginning.” Erica is cringing throughout the whole interview because Tina held back nothing… “Tell some, save some, sister” Erica says to the camera…I agree with Tina’s approach…Say it before somebody else says it..
Showing Her Scars aka Tina’s Testimony Part Deux…
You would think that shutting down an outside child rumor would be enough marriage drama for one episode since Tina and Teddy have put the past behind them, but Tina wants to share her testimony again and tell even more than she did the first time…This time Tina gets interviewed by Shaila Scott of 107.5 WBLS in New York…Wearing a t-shirt that states ” I Show My Scars So That Others Know They Can Heal,” designed by one of my blogger boos Rhachelle Nicol, Tina shares again how her husband had a “lot of affairs over a lot of years.” She shares how sometimes she would be under the covers screaming her sister’s song “Help” and how she felt like killing somebody. But she wraps it up by saying her life is completely better a year later and that she is no longer “trapped in a prison of brokeness.”
The Shark Tank…
Also while in NYC, Tina meets with Daymond John, CEO of FUBU and one of the sharks on ABC’s show “The Shark Tank.” He is helping Tina define her brand. When he asks her to define her brand in a few words, she states, “A test that became a testimony.” Ehhh….I’m not a branding expert, but that phrase has been used by so many Christians I don’t know if that phrase is unique enough to set her apart. But Daymond loves it and pledges to help her brand take off…So what I do know?
Remember Erica Campbell, the solo artist?
Seeing that Mary Mary ‘s show at B.B. King’s was sold out, Erica is feeling some type of way about sharing the spotlight with her sister at the venue. She pledges to show out and not waste her husband’s money since she plans to perform as a solo artist at Shiloh Baptist Church in Harlem…The only problem is that she’s tired after performing as Mary Mary…In fact, she’s so tired she is unable to make the sound check before the performance…When Tina comes to Erica’s room to check on her, she criticizes her sister for saying yes to everything and suggests that she manage her sister…Erra, Tina, you were the one that got your sister to come back to Mary Mary and add more to her schedule…Erica obviously agrees with me because she says to the camera, “You want to manage Erica Campbell, but you can’t manage Mary, Mary.”
Although the show starts off well with Erica singing “A Little More Jesus,” Erica needed a lot more Jesus because she almost fell out on stage. In fact, Tina, who was just chilling in the audience in a baseball cap, t-shirt and jeans, had to get on stage while her sister was resting backstage. And wouldn’t you know it? Before Tina starts singing, she shares her testimony yet again. She says, “It was the most challenging time of my life” and that she was mad at God. Meanwhile backstage, Erica is getting mad at her sister for sharing her testimony yet again…Will Mary Mary stay reunited? You know what to do…Watch next week and read my recap…
I Luh God and other Mary Mary news…
I don’t know if Mary Mary will stay reunited by the end of this season’s Mary Mary, but we do know that Erica Campbell is still on her solo grind…Earlier this week, Erica released her new single “I Luh God” on her reissued album “Help 2.0.”…I had to pause and gather my thoughts about this new song…Do I want to bless it or bash it? First of all, “luh” is love in Ebonics I guess…And folks are calling the song trap gospel…I thought folks listened to gospel so they could get out of the trap — not jam in the trap…
The song starts off with “I luh God, You don’t luh God, What’s Wrong Wit U?” Just typing that made my brain hurt…It don’t seem right to go from “How Great Thou Art” to “I Luh God.” The thing is Mary Mary is known for making gospel songs bump…Erebody loves “Shackles (Praise You)” and “God In Me.” They’ve got catchy beats and they are appropriately “crunk for Christ.” But this song right here confounds me almost as much as Beyoncé did when she sang “Precious Lord” at the GRAMMYs. After Erica’s initial verse, some rapper comes in sounding like a male version of Baby D of JJ Fad (remember summa lumma dumma or whatever Baby D said…) speaking in tongues…I think he says, “I lub Him, I lub Him, I lub Him” faster and faster before he stops…
Plus, I always find myself in a conundrum when I hear gospel songs that have “wordly” beats…What am I supposed to do? Am I supposed to sing along?… I guess that could work but gospel songs that are too crossover end up sounding corny to me and I can’t participate…And please don’t ask me to dance…When I hear certain beats, I involuntarily arch my back to drop it low…(Hey, no one starts off saved…) but you can’t drop it low to a song about God…Even Erica looks confused while she is singing the song… She wants to dance, but how far can she go…So she settles for doing a half Bankhead Bounce…
I’m still a Mary Mary/Erica & Tina fan, but this ain’t the song that will take me to the altar or turn me up in the club…
On the other hand, I loved her song “Help” and apparently her solo album won her the Artist of the Year Award at the Stellar Awards. And she won other awards as well. The Stellar Awards will be televised on Easter Sunday. Check your local listings and the TheStellarAwards.com for air times.
Any thoughts?
Tina also has a couple of song snippets she released on YouTube and also in her YouTube channel. Have you seen them? I think one of them is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-MoDDdIsDg
-Let me know what you think.
Hi LadyLady,
Thank you first of all for stopping by my blog 🙂 And thanks for sending me the link to Tina’s song…I love it! The church organs are awesome, and I can tell she is really feeling what she is saying 🙂 That song will be a hit I think!
I definitely did not know the Mary’s had that much going on. After the Preachers of LA and the Tankards, etc, I am wary of watching “Christian” reality TV shows. I heard Erica’s song on the radio here in the ATL. The DJ’s took a survey – Blessed or BS? (or something to that effect). I personally think the song is a little embarrassing/corny for someone who should be at a higher stature by this point in her gospel career. It’s hard to tell club bangers from gospel songs these days. “Trappin’ for Jesus” is a bit much for me. O_o Yes, I know. We catch them and then let God clean them. However, be careful of the bait you use because one may find herself compromising on every turn. It’s a slippery slope. There, I said it.
LOL at “Trappin’ for Jesus.” I like contemporary gospel but there is a difference between contemporary and the trap 🙂