Faith Renee Evans (born June 10, 1973 in Lakeland, Florida and raised in Newark, New Jersey) is a Grammy award winning R&B singer/songwriter who rose to fame even while under her late husband's rather large shadow, hip-hop icon The Notorious B.I.G.. Evans' father is Italian American; her mother is African-American. Evans has gone to sell nearly 8 million albums and singles worldwide.
After several years perfoming jazz standards at clubs and dropping out of college after her freshman year, the daughter of a white rocker and R&B backup singer decided to begin her music career, first with a young musician named Kiyamma Griffin, and later with rising hip-hop/R&B record producer Sean "Puffy" Combs, who was forming his own label, Bad Boy Records at the time.
The breadwinner of that label was a young rapper from Brooklyn, New York named Christopher Wallace. Evans, already a single mom to a young daughter, took a liking to the young rapper because of his charm, and a love affair ensued in what later became a quickie marriage ten days after meeting each other. Before the marriage, though, Evans was signed to Bad Boy and became the first female artist of the label -- and the most successful artist, second to her new husband.
Everyone first got a look at Evans when she was featured on the remix to Biggie's 1995 hit, "One More Chance". Beforehand, Evans had become to branch out as a talented songwriter penning hits for Mary J. Blige and Intro. She finally released her long-awaited debut in the fall of 1995. The self-titled "Faith" CD became a hit based on the songs "Soon as I Get Home", "You Used to Love Me" and "Ain't Nobody".
The album reached platinum status by the time a rap war had become intensified between Biggie and prolific rapper Tupac Shakur, which turned personal for both after Shakur alleged that he had slept with Evans. Evans, who was pregnant with Biggie's child, was outraged because she said she had only met Shakur for a recording.
The rivalry turned ugly after Shakur's tragic death in September, 1996 in Las Vegas. Some had speculated Biggie may have taken part in his murder, as well as the 1994 shooting of Shakur in New York. By the time of the birth of their son, C.J., in late 1996, the couple's marriage had fallen apart due to the hip-hop rivalry and rumors of Biggie's philandering, most notably with female rappers Lil' Kim and Charli Baltimore.
Evans was present at a Soul Train music awards party Biggie attended on the night of March 8th in Los Angeles, California. Unfortunately, it would be the last time Evans would hear from her husband. A few hours after she left the club,in the early hours of March 9, 1997, news had spread that Biggie was gunned down in a hail of gunshots by an unidentified assailant. Evans was devastated when she heard the news of his death and went through a deep depression.
Puff Daddy helped get Evans out of her gloom to record a tribute song titled "I'll Be Missing You". The song, which featured Puffy, Evans, and Bad Boy Records group 112, reached the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1997 and stayed there for eleven weeks. The song won Puffy and Evans a Grammy Award for Best Rap Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group.
After re-marrying and having a third child, Evans released her long-awaited follow-up, Keep the Faith. Unlike the solemn approach to her first album, this album spoke of optimism, good times and love. Among its biggest hits include the Chic-sampled tracks "Love Like This" and "All Night Long". Babyface lent her a hit song with "Never Gonna Let You Go". Outside of her own albums, Evans found another big hit with Whitney Houston and Kelly Price on the song "Heartbreak Hotel", around the same time.
The First Lady (2005)Evans released her third album, 2001's Faithfully, which included "You Gets No Love" and "I Love You". For the album's promotion, Evans went through a transformation in her physical appearance. Always a heavy-set woman, Evans shed over fifty pounds and presented a sexier image that was present for the videos to "I Love You" and "Burnin' Up". Fatman Scoop also sampled her vocals on the song "Be Faithful" in 2003, which reached number one in the UK. Afterwards, Evans kept a low profile until late-2004 when she and husband Todd Russaw were arrested for drug possession and driving under the influence. She and Russaw were sentenced to three years' probation and paid a fine (BBC News article).
After a rut of bad news, Evans rebounded with record that many of her fans have proclaimed as her strongest record to date, The First Lady (released on April 5, 2005). After finding success with her Twista collaboration, "Hope", Evans released her first song of new material in three years with "Again", a biographical account of her life struggles (its second verse mentioned the 2004 drug incident). The First Lady came out commemorating her tenth anniversary in the industry and her first record on Capitol Records after leaving Bad Boy in 2003. With the help of "Again" reaching the Top 10 of Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart, and appearances on David Letterman, BET and MTV The First Lady entered the Billboard 200 at No.2 with 157,000 copies sold in its first week, marking the largest first-week total of her career. The First Lady was certified gold for sales of over 500,000 copies within weeks of release. The second single, "Mesmerized", saw Faith going with a 70's retro-funk soul vibe. "Mesmerized" failed to crack top 50 R&B despite numerous remixes; however a dance remix by the Freemasons went on to hit #1 on the Billboard Dance Club Play chart. At the end of the year she released her fifth studio album A Faithful Christmas, a Christmas collection of new material and covers of seasonal classics, that saw her making lots of appearances on holiday TV programming. In early 2006, Faith Evans' third single, "Tru Love" (produced by Jermaine Dupri and Bryan-Michael Cox), gradually gained ground on urban/urban AC radio, becoming her 11th solo R&B hit.
AlbumsYear Album US R&B UK RIAA cert.
1995 Faith - Platinum
1998 Keep the Faith - Platinum
2001 Faithfully - Gold
2005 The First Lady - Gold
2005 A Faithful Christmas-TBA
i read in an article in i think ebony that faith never knew her father. they quickly mentioned that he was white and said that he was completely absentee and the article moved on from there.
i read in an article in i think ebony that faith never knew her father. they quickly mentioned that he was white and said that he was completely absentee and the article moved on from there.
....thats probably why she so rarely brings it up, I didnt even know faith was mixed until fairly recently, which came as a bit of a suprise to me.
i read in an article in i think ebony that faith never knew her father. they quickly mentioned that he was white and said that he was completely absentee and the article moved on from there.
....thats probably why she so rarely brings it up, I didnt even know faith was mixed until fairly recently, which came as a bit of a suprise to me.
my bf thought she was black too. i've always known she is biracial-- maybe i read that early on in her career. maybe people are surprised she's first gen and think she is MGM. i don't know but i have known other mulattos in real life who resemble faith.
my bf thought she was black too. i've always known she is biracial-- maybe i read that early on in her career.
I never caught it either. Faith's bi-racial parentage has never gotten the amount of media attention that it has for other celebs.
Quote:
i don't know but i have known other mulattos in real life who resemble faith.
Its more than just looks. She definately looks like she could be bi-racial; its her "mannerism", and speech, in addition to looks....its hard to explain.
I'm able to tell the difference between bi-racial people, and lightskinned black-americans at least 90% of the time; the difference is usually pretty clear. I just assumed faith was a keyshia Cole/Tisha Campbell type; I was wrong.
my bf thought she was black too. i've always known she is biracial-- maybe i read that early on in her career.
I never caught it either. Faith's bi-racial parentage has never gotten the amount of media attention that it has for other celebs.
Quote:
i don't know but i have known other mulattos in real life who resemble faith.
Its more than just looks. She definately looks like she could be bi-racial; its her "mannerism", and speech, in addition to looks....its hard to explain.
I'm able to tell the difference between bi-racial people, and lightskinned black-americans at least 90% of the time; the difference is usually pretty clear. I just assumed faith was a keyshia Cole/Tisha Campbell type; I was wrong.
uh oh! there you go possibly stepping on some MGMs toes saying keyshia and tisha are simply "light skinned blacks". as for me, i'm just kidding but i have made similar statements in the past, on other message boards and have had my wrist slapped for it. my father is what some or maybe even alot of people on this board would consider to be a MGM. if you are from the south you may have heard the term "redbone" before... well that is what my dad is. he has that coppery skin (which i think is beautiful), and both of his grandmothers were mixed women so i guess that makes dad 3/4 black and a 1/4 non-black (most of that quarter would be comprised of a mixture of blackfoot and cherokee but he does have a drop of german blood as well). i have always thought of my dad and his side as black folks, altho i do have a few relatives that are even lighter skinned than he is. anyway, long story short, lightskinned folks who don't have a parent or a grandparent of a completely different race have always been black to me-- i guess because that's what dad is in my eyes.
but i do respect folks' views who differ from mine. of course someone like tisha campbell must have a white relative somewhere in the mix. to my knowledge no one of pure sub-saharan african heritage is as fair skinned as her.
Posted: Sat 22 Jul 2006 00:46 Post subject: Faith Evans
Faith didn't mentioned she was biracial until 1999 when she revealed in the March issue of Ebony magazine that her father is white. She reiterated her biracial identity in MTV's biorhythm in that year. There were old pictures of her white father, her mother, herself during her childhood years in Newark, New Jersey, her adoptive hometown.
Posted: Sat 22 Jul 2006 00:59 Post subject: Re: Faith Evans
srb71 wrote:
Faith didn't mentioned she was biracial until 1999 when she revealed in the March issue of Ebony magazine that her father is white. She reiterated her biracial identity in MTV's biorhythm in that year. There were old pictures of her white father, her mother, herself during her childhood years in Newark, New Jersey, her adoptive hometown.
wow, really? i knew about the ebony article but not anything else.
the ebony article said she was basically "a light skinned version of her mother". man that magazine wants everyone to be black!
Posted: Sat 22 Jul 2006 01:17 Post subject: Re: Faith Evans
mul2std wrote:
srb71 wrote:
Faith didn't mentioned she was biracial until 1999 when she revealed in the March issue of Ebony magazine that her father is white. She reiterated her biracial identity in MTV's biorhythm in that year. There were old pictures of her white father, her mother, herself during her childhood years in Newark, New Jersey, her adoptive hometown.
wow, really? i knew about the ebony article but not anything else.
the ebony article said she was basically "a light skinned version of her mother". man that magazine wants everyone to be black!
Mul2std, that was Essence, a rabid pro-black, one drop rule lovin' black woman's magazine. I would never paid money on that rag again. It's anti-IRs all across the board. It throws a bone or two to IR couples and their children from time to time, but still, it's just hostile to IR and to multiracial identified women period.
Before then, I used to like the magazine. Now, I just don't care for it anymore.
but i do respect folks' views who differ from mine. of course someone like tisha campbell must have a white relative somewhere in the mix. to my knowledge no one of pure sub-saharan african heritage is as fair skinned as her.
I mean "black/afro-american" in more of an ethnic sense, which is not predicated in "racial purity", or skin color; someone who is 100% part of the black american ethnic group (as were their parents, grandparents, greats, ect ), and distinguished from a multi-ethnic person, who has a "mixed" family.
Quote:
i have always thought of my dad and his side as black folks, altho i do have a few relatives that are even lighter skinned than he is. anyway, long story short, lightskinned folks who don't have a parent or a grandparent of a completely different race have always been black to me-- i guess because that's what dad is in my eyes.
I dont see why there would be anything wrong with that line of thinking, and this does not impede on the people who view themselves as "MGM".
I grew up in a similarly multi-colored afro-american family. My parents are both afro-americans, but they represent complete opposite ends of the color spectrum; my mom is dark-brown, and my father is fairskinned (cream colored). Differences in skin color have always been completely irrelevant , and I was raised to think that our family was just different colors, but all of us equally "black".
Last edited by Phil345 on Sat 22 Jul 2006 02:13; edited 2 times in total
Posted: Sat 22 Jul 2006 01:27 Post subject: Re: Faith Evans
srb71 wrote:
mul2std wrote:
srb71 wrote:
Faith didn't mentioned she was biracial until 1999 when she revealed in the March issue of Ebony magazine that her father is white. She reiterated her biracial identity in MTV's biorhythm in that year. There were old pictures of her white father, her mother, herself during her childhood years in Newark, New Jersey, her adoptive hometown.
wow, really? i knew about the ebony article but not anything else.
the ebony article said she was basically "a light skinned version of her mother". man that magazine wants everyone to be black!
Mul2std, that was Essence, a rabid pro-black, one drop rule lovin' black woman's magazine. I would never paid money on that rag again. It's anti-IRs all across the board. It throws a bone or two to IR couples and their children from time to time, but still, it's just hostile to IR and to multiracial identified women period.
Before then, I used to like the magazine. Now, I just don't care for it anymore.
Stephanie
oh, my bad! i'm sorry i misquoted ebony-- altho they get on my nerves too. LOL seriously tho, i hear you about essence. i like reading it because it does have some good writing and interesting topics at times-- but i'm a cheapskate. i read it for free at the library. my fav magazine is marie claire.
Faith didn't mentioned she was biracial until 1999 when she revealed in the March issue of Ebony magazine that her father is white. She reiterated her biracial identity in MTV's biorhythm in that year. There were old pictures of her white father, her mother, herself during her childhood years in Newark, New Jersey, her adoptive hometown.
wow, really? i knew about the ebony article but not anything else.
the ebony article said she was basically "a light skinned version of her mother". man that magazine wants everyone to be black!
Mul2std, that was Essence, a rabid pro-black, one drop rule lovin' black woman's magazine. I would never paid money on that rag again. It's anti-IRs all across the board. It throws a bone or two to IR couples and their children from time to time, but still, it's just hostile to IR and to multiracial identified women period.
Before then, I used to like the magazine. Now, I just don't care for it anymore.
Stephanie
oh, my bad! i'm sorry i misquoted ebony-- altho they get on my nerves too. LOL seriously tho, i hear you about essence. i like reading it because it does have some good writing and interesting topics at times-- but i'm a cheapskate. i read it for free at the library. my fav magazine is marie claire.
IMO Essence Magazine is in no way, rabid, though it is pro-Black, much like National Review and People are pro-Western/pro-White American. I enjoy Jane magazine but it is written for White 20something middle class to affluent women. It's puzzling to me why a comment about who Faith looks like would warrant that. Has anyone seen her mother? I'd bet she does look like a lighterskinned version of her mother, much like my daughter looks like the female version of her father.
I also don't believe that Faith's father was a major part of her life. Like many celebrities, her parents split when she was young. What Essence magazine tends to do is celebrate the female, especially the many single mothers/grandmothers who raise celebrity children.
Faith didn't mentioned she was biracial until 1999 when she revealed in the March issue of Ebony magazine that her father is white. She reiterated her biracial identity in MTV's biorhythm in that year. There were old pictures of her white father, her mother, herself during her childhood years in Newark, New Jersey, her adoptive hometown.
wow, really? i knew about the ebony article but not anything else.
the ebony article said she was basically "a light skinned version of her mother". man that magazine wants everyone to be black!
Mul2std, that was Essence, a rabid pro-black, one drop rule lovin' black woman's magazine. I would never paid money on that rag again. It's anti-IRs all across the board. It throws a bone or two to IR couples and their children from time to time, but still, it's just hostile to IR and to multiracial identified women period.
Before then, I used to like the magazine. Now, I just don't care for it anymore.
Stephanie
oh, my bad! i'm sorry i misquoted ebony-- altho they get on my nerves too. LOL seriously tho, i hear you about essence. i like reading it because it does have some good writing and interesting topics at times-- but i'm a cheapskate. i read it for free at the library. my fav magazine is marie claire.
IMO Essence Magazine is in no way, rabid, though it is pro-Black, much like National Review and People are pro-Western/pro-White American. I enjoy Jane magazine but it is written for White 20something middle class to affluent women. It's puzzling to me why a comment about who Faith looks like would warrant that. Has anyone seen her mother? I'd bet she does look like a lighterskinned version of her mother, much like my daughter looks like the female version of her father.
I also don't believe that Faith's father was a major part of her life. Like many celebrities, her parents split when she was young. What Essence magazine tends to do is celebrate the female, especially the many single mothers/grandmothers who raise celebrity children.
i'm not sure if i'd use the term "rabid" in regards to essense magazine either BUT i DO think they have a pro-black slant that comes across as anti-mulatto in some senses. i think they tried to rectify this recently w/ having mariah on the cover of their magazine, to which their readers were not even trying to have it. they got alot of negative mail for putting mariah on their magazine. so maybe they should stick to be pro-black?...
funny thing is, most of these publications that want to act like mulattos don't exist sure in the hell claim halle and alicia keys, don't they? halle i can understand because she overtly identifies as black but i don't think alicia has ever made any kind of statement of the sort. i think its because she can play the piano, sing soulfully and for a time she wore her hair in braid. i guess that's what it takes to make a female celeb black enough.... i'm just rambling tho.... carry on.
i'm not sure if i'd use the term "rabid" in regards to essense magazine either BUT i DO think they have a pro-black slant that comes across as anti-mulatto in some senses. i think they tried to rectify this recently w/ having mariah on the cover of their magazine, to which their readers were not even trying to have it. they got alot of negative mail for putting mariah on their magazine. so maybe they should stick to be pro-black?...
funny thing is, most of these publications that want to act like mulattos don't exist sure in the hell claim halle and alicia keys, don't they? halle i can understand because she overtly identifies as black but i don't think alicia has ever made any kind of statement of the sort. i think its because she can play the piano, sing soulfully and for a time she wore her hair in braid. i guess that's what it takes to make a female celeb black enough.... i'm just rambling tho.... carry on.
Essence might be anti-mulatto in the sense that it doesn't represent a mulatto agenda, but then it is a pro-Black magazine so that makes sense. Why would it? To Essence the women who read the magazine are Black or relate to issues for women of African descent. We all know that People's Most Beautiful People will sprinkle some color to gratify the "minority masses" but the magazine is overwhelmingly about White people for White people. They are the same to me in that regard.
But let's think about celebrities like Mariah Carey and Alicia Keys and their possible motivations for wanting to be in a pro-Black publication. I read the Mariah article, and what it seemed to be was a open letter to the Black "community" about accepting Mariah for who she is and seeing her as a person apart from her image. The interviewer made it clear that Mariah never denied or embraced being Black, but the people around her tried to disassociate her from blackness and she had a problem with that. If Mariah didn't want that acceptance, or didn't feel some kind of belonging to it, then why would she consent to the cover and article? Alicia Keys is another celebrity that just seems comfortable with who she is. She doesn't strike me as someone who is not authentic, and would put on blackface just to sell records. She'd probably sell more records if she was more mainstream and had a less hip-hop/R&B style.
Overall I think the magazine is respectful of how people chose to define themselves and doesn't appropriate people against their will. There have even been articles by women who are not of African descent, or who aren't American.
I never hear anyone demonizing White publications like Cosmo and Vogue, whose ads and articles are flat out melanin-deficient but pretend to cater towards all women. Yeah right, I always laugh at the makeup advice talking about dark skin as olive and curly hair as loose waves. Blatant eurocentrism.
I never hear anyone demonizing White publications like Cosmo and Vogue, whose ads and articles are flat out melanin-deficient but pretend to cater towards all women
that's because you don't hang out w/ ME.
Quote:
I always laugh at the makeup advice talking about dark skin as olive and curly hair as loose waves. Blatant eurocentrism.
no shit. i hate that too... its always someone who looks like teri hatcher-- now THAT is one dark skinned, heavily pigmented, kinky haired chick.
I never hear anyone demonizing White publications like Cosmo and Vogue, whose ads and articles are flat out melanin-deficient but pretend to cater towards all women
that's because you don't hang out w/ ME.
Quote:
I always laugh at the makeup advice talking about dark skin as olive and curly hair as loose waves. Blatant eurocentrism.
no shit. i hate that too... its always someone who looks like teri hatcher-- now THAT is one dark skinned, heavily pigmented, kinky haired chick.
LMAO!!!! And the sad part is that you are NOT exaggerating!!
Faith didn't mentioned she was biracial until 1999 when she revealed in the March issue of Ebony magazine that her father is white. She reiterated her biracial identity in MTV's biorhythm in that year. There were old pictures of her white father, her mother, herself during her childhood years in Newark, New Jersey, her adoptive hometown.
wow, really? i knew about the ebony article but not anything else.
the ebony article said she was basically "a light skinned version of her mother". man that magazine wants everyone to be black!
Mul2std, that was Essence, a rabid pro-black, one drop rule lovin' black woman's magazine. I would never paid money on that rag again. It's anti-IRs all across the board. It throws a bone or two to IR couples and their children from time to time, but still, it's just hostile to IR and to multiracial identified women period.
Before then, I used to like the magazine. Now, I just don't care for it anymore.
Stephanie
oh, my bad! i'm sorry i misquoted ebony-- altho they get on my nerves too. LOL seriously tho, i hear you about essence. i like reading it because it does have some good writing and interesting topics at times-- but i'm a cheapskate. i read it for free at the library. my fav magazine is marie claire.
IMO Essence Magazine is in no way, rabid, though it is pro-Black, much like National Review and People are pro-Western/pro-White American.
I think Essence magazine is more inclusive of african descendant peoples throught the would. It is definately not a magazine that is segregationist.
I enjoy Jane magazine but it is written for White 20something middle class to affluent women. It's puzzling to me why a comment about who Faith looks like would warrant that. Has anyone seen her mother? I'd bet she does look like a lighterskinned version of her mother, much like my daughter looks like the female version of her father.
I also don't believe that Faith's father was a major part of her life. Like many celebrities, her parents split when she was young. What Essence magazine tends to do is celebrate the female, especially the many single mothers/grandmothers who raise celebrity children.
i'm not sure if i'd use the term "rabid" in regards to essense magazine either BUT i DO think they have a pro-black slant that comes across as anti-mulatto in some senses.
I disagree, I don't think they are anti-Mulatto. 2 things I've found about that magazine, probably 1/2 the staff is Mulatto. And some are biracial identified: Deborah Gregory for one. She is a writer for the magazine and Essence gave her a 2part (2 issues) where she presented her exploration of that heritage. Another writer there is a woman 1/2Black 1/2 Persian she also had an article similar to Deborah Gregory's.
I posted it in the Biracial Issues forum.
i think they tried to rectify this recently w/ having mariah on the cover of their magazine, to which their readers were not even trying to have it. they got alot of negative mail for putting mariah on their magazine. so maybe they should stick to be pro-black?...
Essence has presented biracial & multiracial issues way before Mariah, and this isn't the first time Mariah has been there. Just because they got negative mail doesn't mean they should cringe. If some of those same people saw the staff, some of who look just like Mariah they would have a problem.
funny thing is, most of these publications that want to act like mulattos don't exist sure in the hell claim halle and alicia keys, don't they? halle i can understand because she overtly identifies as black but i don't think alicia has ever made any kind of statement of the sort.
Yes Alicia Keys is probably more Black identified than Halle. She's spoken about her identify many times.
i think its because she can play the piano, sing soulfully and for a time she wore her hair in braid. i guess that's what it takes to make a female celeb black enough.... i'm just rambling tho.... carry on.
Essence might be anti-mulatto in the sense that it doesn't represent a mulatto agenda, but then it is a pro-Black magazine so that makes sense. Why would it? To Essence the women who read the magazine are Black or relate to issues for women of African descent. We all know that People's Most Beautiful People will sprinkle some color to gratify the "minority masses" but the magazine is overwhelmingly about White people for White people. They are the same to me in that regard.
But let's think about celebrities like Mariah Carey and Alicia Keys and their possible motivations for wanting to be in a pro-Black publication. I read the Mariah article, and what it seemed to be was a open letter to the Black "community" about accepting Mariah for who she is and seeing her as a person apart from her image. The interviewer made it clear that Mariah never denied or embraced being Black, but the people around her tried to disassociate her from blackness and she had a problem with that. If Mariah didn't want that acceptance, or didn't feel some kind of belonging to it, then why would she consent to the cover and article?
I agree, people look at Mariah and think she has no connection to being Black. That is a false idea, that someone who identifies as Mixed or Biracial is disassociated with their black heritage. Mariah was raise by her black grandmother for a part of her life, she grew up in a black Pentecostal church or was is Baptist. She is currently a member of a black pentecostal church. She has black friends etc etc So I doubt she is trying to escape it...
Alicia Keys is another celebrity that just seems comfortable with who she is. She doesn't strike me as someone who is not authentic, and would put on blackface just to sell records. She'd probably sell more records if she was more mainstream and had a less hip-hop/R&B style.
Overall I think the magazine is respectful of how people chose to define themselves and doesn't appropriate people against their will. There have even been articles by women who are not of African descent, or who aren't American.
I never hear anyone demonizing White publications like Cosmo and Vogue, whose ads and articles are flat out melanin-deficient but pretend to cater towards all women. Yeah right, I always laugh at the makeup advice talking about dark skin as olive and curly hair as loose waves. Blatant eurocentrism.
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as for me, i'm just kidding but i have made similar statements in the past, on other message boards and have had my wrist slapped for it. my father is what some or maybe even alot of people on this board would consider to be a MGM. if you are from the south you may have heard the term "redbone" before... well that is what my dad is. he has that coppery skin (which i think is beautiful), and both of his grandmothers were mixed women so i guess that makes dad 3/4 black and a 1/4 non-black (most of that quarter would be comprised of a mixture of blackfoot and cherokee but he does have a drop of german blood as well). i have always thought of my dad and his side as black folks, altho i do have a few relatives that are even lighter skinned than he is. anyway, long story short, lightskinned folks who don't have a parent or a grandparent of a completely different race have always been black to me-- i guess because that's what dad is in my eyes.
my fav magazine is marie claire. 
