It's Valentine's Day!

From Amazon.com

If you've found your guy, Valentine's Day is great for cheesy, over-the top sentiment.  On that note, I have to dedicate this post to Keith Sweat's classic album, Make It Last Forever.  Yes, I know that some brothers can't stand him, but that's because nobody, but nobody, begs for a woman's love quite like Keith.  Their efforts to woo simply pale in comparison.

Mr. Sweat just wanted the love of a good, faithful woman, and he wasn't afraid to tell us exactly how he felt.  If you don't feel something for somebody after hearing this masterpiece of New Jack Swing-era wooing, your heart's made of cement.  I admit to snickering at the most Velveeta of his lines and some synthesizer-laden breaks, but download it for your man.  He could probably learn something from Keith--romance is a lot easier when you're bold about expressing your feelings.

I was just a little girl when it came out in '87, but it was a staple on V103 in Atlanta for a long time.  I downloaded a copy onto my iPod not too long ago, and was struck by the difference between the love songs of the '80s and the f*** songs of this millennium.  Please believe that I will be singing "Make It Last Forever" karaoke-style at my wedding reception with my future husband, whoever he may be.  It's one of my all-time favorite duets.  "How Deep Is Your Love" and "Right and a Wrong Way" were fire too.

I totally believe that to truly be in love, you have to have the right mindset.  The right music is a part of that.  If I check a man's iPod or his CD collection early in the dating cycle and see only misogynist hip-hop filled with odes to strippers and shawtys down for whateva, I know right then that he's not ready for me.  If his R&B collection starts at the Jodeci era, he might not know too much about love (a real man needs an encyclopedic collection of slow grooves---some Isley Brothers, Sade, Marvin Gaye, Luther, Al Green, Teddy P...) but I'll give him a chance.  If I see only tracks from the Dru Hill era to the current day, I know he knows nothing and I need to bounce.  He gets a reprieve only if I can find sufficient quantities of Maxwell or D'Angelo.

Regardless, I wish you all the good lovin' that you deserve today.  But check his iPod before you leave the driveway.