Amy Nicole – Page 3 – The Double Scoop

THE 2016 BET AWARDS RECEIVES RAVE REVIEWS

Author: Amy Nicole

Over the last few years the BET Awards has been pretty mediocre in my opinion but this year the show was the best that it has ever been in years!

The award show opened with a performance by Beyonce which I was very surprised by because she usually doesn’t attend the BET Awards. Her set started with dancers walking towards the stage wearing African attire while an audio speech from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. played from the speakers. Beyonce appeared onstage standing in water and the dancers joined her in place on the stage. She performed the song “Freedom” from her album Lemonade which is more of a revolutionary song. She joined the dancers performing a traditional African dance and Kendrick Lamar joined her onstage for what became an epic collaboration! Their tribute to African culture and the black lives matter movement was amazing. After the performance was over the camera zoomed in to the audience and you could see the proud faces of celebrities like Spike Lee and Samuel L. Jackson nodding and smiling with satisfaction. I was definitely proud to see my generation use their platform to help evoke positive change!

Tracee Ellis Ross and Anthony Anderson hosted the show again this year. They started off the show with a parody skit of Hamilton, singing current rap songs from artists Desiigner, OT Genasis, and The Weeknd. Personally I found the skit to be very corny but I’m a huge fan of Tracee so she could really do no wrong in my eyes LOL!

I thought production did a great job of blending new and older artists for the music performance line-up. Some of the performers included Fat Joe, Alicia Keys, Future, Usher and Byson Tiller. I think it was a good blend of artist to target various age groups. Most of the performances were pretty good. Alicia Keys’ performance was my favorite.

One of the top and most talked about award categories of the night was the humanitarian award which was awarded to actor Jesse Williams. If you don’t watch the show Grey’s Anatomy you probably weren’t too familiar with who he was, but aside from being an actor he is also a well known activist who is known for speaking out about controversial issues regarding the oppression of black people. When Jesse accepted his award many people were expecting him to give a brief thank you but surprisingly he turned his acceptance speech into a full out church sermon addressing the injustices of black people and calling out our flawed and bias judicial system. When Jesse left the stage just about the entire audience was standing on their feet applauding him. I was even on my feet watching his speech from my television screaming “Yassss Jesse”! One of the most memorable quotes from his speech was, “Just because we’re magic does not mean we’re not real”.

The highlight of the 2016 BET Awards which I think most viewers would agree was the Prince tribute. I can’t say that I am a die-hard Prince fan but I do enjoy some of his music and I realize how much his music has impacted and influenced many of the artist that our out today. Instead of doing one long tribute all at once the performances were blended into different sections throughout the award show. Some of the performers from the tribute included: Erykah Badu, Bilal, Jennifer Hudson, Maxwell, Sheila E. and Janelle Monae. Each artist performed a different Prince classic and added their personal touch to the song. My favorite tributes were from Janelle Monae and Bilal.

Although the show was pretty lengthy (3 hours) it was definitely worth watching. This year the BET Awards took on more of a polished and sophisticated tone which I really liked. I’m hoping they will keep this new format up in the years to come.

Photo Credits: Billboard, Rolling Stone– Kevin Winter/Getty

DRAKE HITS DOUBLE PLATiNUM WITH “VIEWS”

Author: Amy Nicole

Drake’s latest album Views has officially been certified double-platinum by the RIAA, racking up over two million in sales. I wouldn’t say I’m a diehard Drake fan but I do enjoy most of the music that he releases. Views has several hit singles including the popular radio hits: Controlla, One Dance, and the ultimate club banger Hotline Bling.

Drake gets a lot of slack from male listeners who criticize him singing on albums but I personally think he is the only rapper who has successfully mastered being able to do both on an album cohesively. He has the style of rap that a guy can listen to but that a woman can appreciate too.

At 29 years old Drake is old enough to appreciate and reference old school samples from previous hip hop artists but he is also young enough to appeal to the younger culture. On the song “U With Me” he samples DMX’s song “How’s it Goin’ Down” while still making the song authentic.

Overall Views is a good album. Drake is successful because his music is able to appeal to listeners outside of the hip hop community and because he has commercial appeal. The RIAA has revised the certification qualifications of albums to include streaming as part of its album award determinations. Since the revised certification qualifications went into effect only 28 rap albums have earned a gold, platinum, or multi-platinum award; 5 of them being Drake albums. This fact alone speaks volumes about his talent as an artist.

Photo Credit: Rap-Up

MILESTONE

Author: Amy Nicole

Chrisette Michelle is back with her 5^th studio album Milestone which is the first album released from her independent label Rich Hipster. The album title celebrates Chrisette being in the music industry 10 years and it mostly centers around the singer’s relationship with her former music manager Doug Ellis, who has recently become her fiancé.

The couple met over 13 years ago while in business school. The two started working together which led to a romantic relationship, but shortly after their union the relationship turned hostile ending with both of them suing each other over money issues related to music production. The legal situation led to them not speaking to each other for over seven years.

When Chrisette started working on content for “Milestone” she reached back out to Ellis which led to their reconciliation and recent engagement. But here’s the shocker, Chrisette was in another relationship during her and Ellis’ reconciliation. The album intimately details the couple’s reconciliation and even explains how Chrisette broke the engagement news to the man she was in a relationship with at the time.

My favorite song’s on the album are: Diamond Letter, Steady, Soulmate, Equal, These Stones, and Meant To Be.

In the song “Steady” Chrisette claps back at haters who downplay her success letting them know she has been in the industry for over 10 years and that she has the paper to prove her success. She also reveals that she is running her own label now. In the song she sings:

You say I’m underrated,
Don’t know why I got this paper
Don’t know why I’m so hated
I think I’m must’ve made it

I think I’m must’ve made it
Ten years and counting
Shawty running label

After Chrisette became engaged to Ellis she had to take on the difficult task of explaining to the guy she was in a relationship with that she couldn’t be with him anymore because she was in love with someone else. Chrisette actually wrote her partner a letter delivering the news that she was engaged to someone else. This led to the single “Diamond Ring”. In the song Chrisette sings,

Yeah I’m writing you a letter
With the diamond on my finger
No, you never did me bad
Someone else can do me better

In the song “Soulmate” Chrisette sings about the separation between she and her fiancé and how after reconciling she can’t be apart from him anymore.

My heart ain’t whole
Just me without my soul
My being needs you
I’m just part of what makes one of two
I’m just one shy without my right side
Lose my backbone without my right side
I’m just one half without my soul

On the song “Equal” Chrisette reconnects with Rick Ross and delivers what seems to be an Aston Martin sequel. Rick Ross raps,

I’ve been in love with you for six years
Since Aston Martin Music
Drizzy came behind you on that smooth shit
So iconic with the wordplay
It’s ironic I’m in first place

In the song, “Meant To Be” Chrisette sings about the feeling of falling in love.

Baby I don’t know how we fall in love
Now, I don’t usually do this
Baby I don’t know how we fall in love
Now, I ain’t used to the feeling

In the song, “These Stones”, Chrisette responds to the critics who have something to say about her new relationship.

Haters watching me, wanna catch me slip
Yeah, I’m back with my old new
Yeah, your ‘Gram comments be rude
I still get more likes than you
Yeah, I live my life
I live it like it was my last one
Yeah, we getting down with
Any suckers, tryna catch
These stones, can I live my life?

Overall I enjoyed the album. On Milestone expect Chrisette’s usual sultry vocals mixed with a little hip hop flare and soft R&B.

Some fans don’t like Chrisette’s new sound on the album and feel like she is trying too hard to become mainstream. I disagree, I really like the new sound. I believe as an artist you have to evolve to a certain extent in order to stay current in the industry, and I believe Chrisette did a great job with evolving while also staying true to her sound and who she is as an artist.

Photo Credit:

Bloggaz With Attitude

Urban Bridgez

Mill City Nights

Soul Train

MEET THE DOUBLE SCOOP

Get to know more about Ashley E. and Amy Nicole of The Double Scoop by checking out the Vlog below.

TINDER 101

Author: Amy Nicole

I recently moved to Charlotte, North Carolina where I don’t know anyone so I decided to join Tinder. Tinder is known as a hook up site so I definitely wasn’t looking to fall in love; I joined more so to meet new people that could help me get acclimated to the city and to have a little fun.

Well if you’re not familiar with Tinder it’s a dating app mostly used by young professionals in their 20s and early 30s. To use the app you set up a profile and tailor your dating search criteria by selecting your age range and location preference. After you set your preferences you can start seeing dating potentials. If you’re interested in a person you swipe to the right and if you’re not interested you swipe left. If you show an interest in someone who is also interested in you then you would become a match and can start messaging each other. Seems pretty easy right? You would think so but now Tinder has an option where you can link your Instagram account to your dating profile. I had a couple of instances where guys who I didn’t match with tried to slide up in my DMs! LOL you ain’t slick!

After you get matched up with potentials that is when you can start the weaning out process of who is actually looking for a relationship and who is just looking to hook up. I noticed that the guys who actually wrote a bio about themselves were more sincere about wanting to find a relationship. What I also noticed is that if a person messages you first they are genuinely interested in you but if you have to message them first they most likely have plenty of other options to choose from. I avoided guys who had too much to say on their bios, especially the ones who complained about being a good guy always being overlooked. That was an indicator that the issue of them being single was most likely because of them. In all I matched with about 14 guys. Of the 14 guys I went on two dates.

Now the fun part….Date night!

So to keep the guys anonymous I’m going to give them nicknames.

My first date was with “Sergeant of Arms” because he was a military man. Well prior to going on our date we didn’t talk on the phone, we only communicated through texts and Tinder messaging. The night of the date he offered to pick me up from my place. I was skeptical because I didn’t know him but I was new to the city and we both felt it would be more convenient if we rode together. I let him pick me up in front of my building but didn’t tell him my apartment number. I also made sure to send my friends and siblings screen shots of him in case I came up missing. When I saw him in person he wasn’t bad looking but he definitely looked better in his pictures. He was also very cocky and arrogant which is a huge turn off in my book. As soon as I got in the car with him he looked me up and down and said he needed to make sure that I looked the way I did in my pictures. I was annoyed but I brushed it off.

For the first part of our date we went to a chill bar type of restaurant. Our initial conversation felt more like an interview because he pretty much went down his whole list of requirements of what he wanted in a woman. He also explained to me that he was still single because he was very picky. I just sipped my drink and listened. By this point I definitely knew I would not be going on a second date with him. After I had a couple of drinks I started to loosen up and the date started to get better. He was actually a cool guy but not really my type. Later that night we went to play pool. I didn’t really know how to play but he taught me the basics so I had a pretty good time. Overall the date was cool but I didn’t really feel like we were compatible.

My second date was with “The Tattooed Musician”. I had actually talked to him on the phone a few times before we went out so I had a better feel of his personality. The night of our date we met up in the music/art district of town called NADO. He told me that I should some-what dress up so the night of the date I wore a cute and simple day party dress. When I showed up he was dressed very casual so I was a bit annoyed because I didn’t feel like we complimented each other. He also looked very different in person to the point where I would not have recognized him if I would have saw him prior to us actually meeting. The date was cool; we had some drinks and we ate at one of the nearby restaurants. After we finished eating he bought a bottle of Moscato and we went back to his place to watch tv.

I thought we would have watched a movie but instead we watched episodes of Family Guy….. (I will leave it at that). While we were drinking and watching tv I heard someone moving around upstairs. I asked him if he had a roommate and he said he was living with his mom temporarily to save up money for a new tattoo studio. In an effort to not scare me off he explained to me that he and his mom had an agreement that when he had guest over she would stay upstairs or leave the house. (Ummmm that didn’t really help).

But hey I’m not judging, I’ve had to move back in with my parents before too. That information just would have been nice to know prior to me coming over to his place. Overall the date was cool but again just like with the first date the chemistry wasn’t there for me.

Overall Tinder was a decent experience but I realize that online dating just isn’t for me. I don’t think you can get a good feel of a person’s personality through the internet. I would rather stick to meeting someone in person where I can actually talk to them before deciding if I want to exchange numbers or go out on a date.

Meet The Double Scoop!

Get to know more about Ashley E. and Amy Nicole of The Double Scoop by checking out the Vlog below.

Empire Season 2 Review

Author: Amy Nicole

To be quite honest I had completely lost interest in Empire after watching the first half of season two. The storylines were all over the place and I felt that the series was starting to lose its authenticity. My interest for the show returned after I watched the winter finale last December. The finale ended with a pregnant Rhonda getting pushed down the stairs.

When Empire resumed last month it was revealed that Rhonda had lost her baby. In a very emotional scene the whole family is crying and comforting Andre after he learns the devastating news that his child died. This scene in my opinion definitely shifted the tone of the show. I felt the series started to become more authentic again like it was in season one. Although the Lyons are a dysfunctional family, their love for one another is undeniable. I especially love the relationship that Cookie has with her sons.

The second half of the season touches on real and relatable issues. Rhonda struggles with her faith in God after she loses the baby which causes conflict between her and Andre. I thought this was a great topic to address because so many people deal with similar issues. People try to sugarcoat religious topics so it was great that Lee Daniels provoked this type of conversation.

Mental illness is also addressed more in this season. Andre suffers from bipolar disorder and he discovers that his grandmother had the same disorder. For years the family thought that Lucious’ mom Leah Walker was dead but they later find out she is still alive and that Lucious had been secretly paying to keep her confined in a mental health institution. Andre is outraged and has his grandmother released from the facility in hopes that they will be able to establish some type of bond due to the fact that they have the same mental illness.

What the family doesn’t know is that Leah has a more severe form of bipolar disorder. As a child Lucious was physically and mentally abused by her which sheds light on why he has the type of personality that he does. Lucious can come off as uncaring and flat out evil at times so by introducing his mother to the show you find yourself having more empathy towards his character.

I’m glad mental health was addressed more this season because in the black community we tend to overlook the severity of the disease and fail to seek professional help.

Although this season touched on some heavy topics there was still plenty of drama to keep fans in suspense. Anika reveals to the family that she is pregnant by Hakeem and Rhonda realizes that Anika is the one that pushed her down the stairs.

The finale leaves viewers with plenty of cliffhangers. Hakeem is left at the altar by Laura, and Lucious and Anika get married to prevent Anika from having to testify against him in court. Although this is only a business arrangement to help protect the family Cookie lets it be known that she is done with Luscious for good. The biggest cliffhanger happens at the very end of the episode. Rhonda attacks Anika while she is standing outside on the roof of a high building. As they wrestle back and forth hanging over the balcony the camera cuts to Andre as he runs out and screams with a look of horror on his face letting viewers know that one of the women have fallen to their death……. (Now that’s what you call a season finale)!

I definitely like the new direction the show seems to be going in for season three and I’m looking forward to tuning in when it returns in the fall!

LEMONADE REVIEW

Photo Credit: Billboard

Author: Amy Nicole

I’m not shy to admit that I’m no die-hard Beyonce fan. I think she’s talented and I like some of her music, but I’m far from a being a member of the Beyhive. Beyonce recently released her visual album Lemonade and of course just like with every project she releases she pretty much broke the internet! Since I finally got some free time over the weekend I decided to see what all the hype was about.

I listened to the audio album before watching the visual so that I could really grasp the lyrics in the songs. After the first time listening to the album I thought it was decent but nothing extraordinary. After I watched the visual album I will say I appreciated the album a lot more and some of the songs that I initially didn’t care for I ended up enjoying them better the second time around. The album is delivered as a unique short film. My top five songs included: Pray You Catch Me, Hold Up, Sorry, Love Drought, and the song which has finally grown on to me Formation.

“In Pray You Catch Me” Beyonce sings:

You can taste the dishonesty, It’s all over your breath as you pass it off so cavalier

Prayin’ to catch you whispering, I’m prayin’ you catch me listening

In “Hold Up” Beyonce still sings about a cheating spouse but does so with more of an angry tone. The song has calypso instrumentals and a poppy Caribbean feel to it. In the video Beyonce walks around the streets in a yellow dress and heels with a bat breaking windows and smashing cars. In the song she repeats the chorus lines:

Hold up, they don’t love you like I love you, Slow down, they don’t love you like I love you

In one line from the song she sings:

I smell your secret, and I’m not too perfect

To ever feel this worthless

How did it come down to this?

Photo Credit: Independent

The song “Sorry” which is probably my favorite song off the album will definitely be the independent woman song of the summer. In the song Beyonce lets her cheating partner know that she is done with the drama and isn’t going to apologize for it. In the video Serena Williams twerks and dances alongside Beyonce. Serena received some backlash for her role in the video but I think the point was to show her embracing her muscular physique which she is often criticized for. The video is fun and shows women enjoying life and having fun without stressing over a man. So many songs and videos portray women crying and depressed over a guy so it was nice to see women putting themselves first for a chance.

In the song Beyonce says:

Sorry, I ain’t sorry, Sorry, I ain’t sorry

Middle fingers up, put them hands high

Wave it in his face, tell him boy bye

At the end of the song Beyonce drops the infamous line:

He only want me when I’m not there, He better call Becky with the good hair

Most fans speculated that she was referring to Rita Ora or Damon Dash’s ex wife Rachel Roy who have both been rumored to have had affairs with Jay Z.

Photo Credit: WowOne

Love Drought” is another good one off the album. The song is about a spouse losing interest in the relationship.

“Ten times out of nine, I know you’re lying, But nine times outta ten, I know you’re trying

Tell me what I did wrong?

Feel like that question has been posed, I’m movin on

The majority of the songs on the album are about betrayal, heartbreak, and infidelity which is why many people speculated that Beyonce was airing her dirty laundry about her husband Jay Z. The album also includes songs like “6 inch” featuring The Weeknd which is about an independent successful woman. Another song “Freedom” which features Kendrick Lamar touches on institutional racism and encourages women empowerment. In the video the mothers of Mike Brown, Trayvon Martin, and Eric Garner make an emotional appearance holding the pictures of their slain sons. There is also the song “Daddy Lessons” which is a song that pays respect to Beyonce’s dad for helping her become the woman she is today.

Photo Credit: Fader

Overall the visual album helps sells the entire project. I give respect when respect is due and Beyonce is a marketing, artistic genius. The short film is broken into different sections which include: intuition, anger, apathy, emptiness, accountability, reformation, forgiveness, resurrection, hope, and redemption. Beyonce recites poetry in between each section and also adds personal clips of her family and documentary footage. The visual album is beautiful and definitely pays respect to the black woman. It also encourages sisterhood and highlights the diversity of beauty among women of color. Throughout the entire visual there are women dressed in antebellum attire and women uplifting and encouraging each other. The album includes many celebrity appearances including Serena Williams, Zendaya Coleman, Quvenzhan’e Wallis, Amandla Stenberg, and Winnie Harlow.

Photo Credit: Bone Magazine

Photo Credit: Vogue

Photo Credit: Bone Magazine

The last song on the visual album is “Formation”. Initially I did not like the song but just like with the entire album the visual makes you appreciate the song more. In the video Beyonce addresses the Black Lives Matter Movement by sitting on top of a sinking police car which signifies the loss of respect for authority that many people (specifically black people) are starting to develop due to a bias judicial system. The most popular lyrics from the song are:

I like my baby heir, with baby hair and afros

I like my Negro nose with Jackson Five nostrils

In these two lines Beyonce is letting the world know that she embraces her blackness.

Photo Credit: Slate

Many people were curious to know why Beyonce named the album lemonade and she addresses this question in the album. In the short film a clip is shown of Beyoncé’s grandmother-in-law Hattie giving a speech at her 90^th birthday party. In the clip Hattie says: “I had my ups and downs, but I always find the inner strength to pull myself up. I was served lemons, but I made lemonade.”

Lemonade is a very uniquely creative album. Beyonce has been in the music industry for a long time and now she seems to be taking on more of a political/revolutionary approach to her music. Many people have argued that she is not doing enough to support change in the black community but I think she is making a change in her own way the best way she knows how. At 34 years old Beyonce is a musical mogul and she has definitely earned the title Queen B.

BARBERSHOP 3 Review

Author: Amy Nicole

It’s hard to believe that the first two Barbershop movies came out over 12 years ago! When I heard there would be another sequel added to the series I was definitely excited. I was curious to see how much the character’s lives had changed over the years.

Although Barbershop 3 focuses on the good times of catching up with old family and friends, it also addresses some serious issues such as the rampant gun violence in Chicago. In the film Calvin’s son Jalen is now a teenager and Calvin and his wife Jennifer struggle with protecting him from gang life. The barbershop also faces financial challenges and its location puts the business at risk for crime.

Over the years the barbershop and characters have gone through quite a bit of changes. The shop has now combined with a beauty salon owned by Angie(Regina Hall). This merger introduces fans to some new characters most notably Draya played by Nicki Minaj. It also ignites quite a few hilarious scenes in the movie as the men face off against the women.

Terri(Eve) is now married to Rashad(Common) who is also a new barber in the shop. She also has a baby and a stepson. Jimmy is now an established politician and JD (Anthony Anderson) owns a successful food truck business called Gansta Grubs which employs former gang members. Eddie’s character for the most part remains the same. His blunt, sarcastic and unpredictable humor will definitely keep you laughing throughout the movie. Most of the ladies will be disappointed that Michael Ealy will not be reprising his role as pretty boy Ricky….. sigh…..

Overall the movie was pretty good. I don’t think it was as good as the first two but most sequels rarely top the original. The film ignites conversations about topics such as the black lives matter movement and double standards among men and women. What I loved most about the film was the positive relationship portrayed between Calvin and his son Jalen. There is a stereotype that black men are not good fathers so it was nice to see a contradiction to that stigma in the film.

Photo Credit: Slash Film

Dessert and discussion

What do you get when you combine a room full of men and women with music, delicious desserts, alcohol, and engaging conversations about relationships, sex and dating? You get the event Dessert and Discussion curated by Alex Merritt. Dessert and Discussion is a relationship discussion tour that has been hitting different cities over the past several months. The purpose of the tour is to get men and women talking about relationships so they can learn different perspectives from the opposite sex.

I was invited to be a featured blogger for the tour stop in Charlotte and I definitely enjoyed myself! The event was held at Red@28^th Hookah Lounge. The guests were seated in a small, private area in the back of the lounge which made the setting more intimate. Before the discussion began guests were entertained by DJ Strategy and were treated to plenty of tasty desserts and drinks. The crowd was grown and sexy; I would estimate that most of the people in attendance were in their late 20s to early 40s which was a good age range to get various perspectives from both sexes.

The conversation began with everyone going around the room and introducing themselves. Alex requested that everyone create a hashtag that described their dating life which made the mood more relaxed and fun. My hashtag was #DatingAndHavingFun. The variation in hashtag names pretty much led into the relationship discussion because of course you would want to know why people selected certain names. Some of the hashtags varied from #SingleForLife to #AllTheGoodOnesAreGone. It was too funny.

Some of the topics that were discussed included: how do you know when a person wants to get exclusive, sex on the first date, and having multiple dating partners. Men and women passed the microphone back and forth giving their input on each topic. I get shy in big groups of people so I pretty much just observed and listened to the conversations. It was very interesting to hear how men and women perspectives differed on certain topics. The conversation went on for about an hour ½ and afterwards the DJ took over so that everyone could mingle.

image1 (1) — Me with fellow blogger Brittany with The Buzz With B.

After the event was over I caught up with Alex for a brief interview to get more details about how she came up with the idea for the tour.

dd5 — Me with the lovely host and event creator Alex Merritt.

Amy Nicole: So you’ve been doing Dessert and Discussion for about 7 years now. How did you come up with the idea for it?

Alex: Literally I wanted to get people over my house to discuss a DVD and I didn’t want to cook! I wanted to get men and women’s opinion about this DVD that I had watched and I wanted to know if men saw women the way that this video portrayed us.

Amy Nicole: What was the DVD about?

Alex: The DVD was called “Diary Of A Tired Black Man” which was about a black man’s struggle in the dating game. I had just moved to California and I expected it to be like a one hour thing but it ended up lasting to 1:00 in the morning. After it was over I would run into people in the street and they would ask me when the next one was.

Amy Nicole: How many cities have you toured so far?

Alex: We have been in Chicago, St. Louis, Minneapolis, we’re here in Charlotte now, and then we’re back to Sacramento where it all started. This has been going on for the past six months and in the fall when it’s time to relaunch again we plan to do another six months. Everybody needs this because most of us haven’t been taught how to do relationships. Most of our family examples weren’t even good models. This is a way to learn and get feedback.

Amy Nicole: Well I definitely learned a lot from the men tonight! How has the response been in other cities?

Alex: It has been great. Everyone is looking for a place to get their questions asked about love, sex and relationships.

Amy Nicole: So how can people get in contact with you for booking?

Alex: Dessertanddisccusion.com and alex@dessertanddiscussion.com

It was great meeting Alex; she was such a fun and vibrant host! I really enjoyed myself at Dessert and Discussion and I would definitely encourage anyone looking for relationship advice and a good time to check out the tour if it comes through your city!