By J. Nadir Omowale
Originally Published in Ambassador Magazine

“I think any attractive woman in any field is always going to be underestimated.

”Kenya Moore speaks from experience. The voluptuous hazel-eyed Detroit native is a former Miss Michigan and in 1993 was crowned Miss USA. She appears in movies (Waiting To Exhale, I Know Who Killed Me) and on television shows (Girlfriends, The Jamie Foxx Show). Her bikinied body and stunning features regularly adorn the covers of men’s magazines and fashion publications.

But Kenya Moore is much more than a beautiful package. She is a business executive, an author, an entrepreneur, and a philanthropist. Beneath that curvaceous, chocolate exterior lies a bright, intelligent, funny, and driven woman who knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to use what she’s got to get it.

“People tend to discount a woman’s intelligence if she’s beautiful, and I’m no different,”says Moore.“I feel great that people find me attractive, but the challenge is always proving the stereotype to be false.”

Raised by her grandmother, Moore attended Detroit’s Cass Technical High School. Kenya loved to perform, and studied dance. She was a member of the school’s dance team and fondly recalls performing at ballgames.

Moore’s pageant career began when she and some friends entered the Miss Black Star talent pageant for girls age 13 to 16, where Moore took first runner up. “Just for the record,” she advises, “singers always trump dancers.You can never beat a good singer! It’s just a rule of the world.”

Moore kept entering pageants, and started winning. The more prestigious the pageant, the better the rewards, including cash prizes, scholarships, and even a car.

Pageants also forced Moore to improve her communication skills, overcome any fears she had of public speaking, and polish her overall presentation, which, she says, helped her become the woman she is today.

Modeling and acting were a natural progression for Moore after her reign as Miss USA, but she entered a Hollywood that is highly political and notorious for its lack of decent roles for women of color. “What I learned is that the acting world is a business, and most of the time the best person doesn’t get the job,”says Moore.“It always has something to do with name value, or the relationship the person has with the casting director, or the producer, or the director, or the studio … It rarely is about the best person who shows up at the audition.”

So Moore decided to do something different.“I didn’t like my career path, and I felt a lack of control,”she reveals. She began to set her own course in 2000 as associate producer of the independent film Trois, which became one of the highest grossing African-American movies of the year. She has produced several other projects over the last decade and hasn’t looked back.

Moore is very enthusiastic about her latest production, The Confidant, which finds the actress/producer starring alongside Boris Kudjoe (Love & Basketball, Soul Food), rapper David Banner, Asian sex symbol Bai Ling (The Crow), and Billy Zane (Titanic).

The suspense/thriller was written and directed by Alton Glass, who Moore met at the American Black Film Festival where both were nominated for best film. Neither of them won, but after seeing Glass’ horror film, Marco Polo, Moore was determined to work with him.

“What I loved the most about the Confidant script was there was no reference to color. We could have had any ethnicity play any role, and it would’ve worked. I knew that the script was so powerful, I could get the cast that I wanted.”

Not content with just acting, modeling, and producing, Moore is also passionate about The Kenya Moore Foundation, which provides scholarships to underprivileged girls at Moore’s alma mater, Cass Tech.“I look for girls who have had a difficult time in school,”she explains.“One that may have gone from a solid B average to maybe a C minus, struggling with emotional issues or just having a hard time in life in general. It’s basically telling them, ‘Look. You can get your life together, but you’ve got to get an education.’For me it’s just inspirational.‘Here is something that can help you get to where you want to be in life.’”

Moore credits much of her tenacity, her toughness, and her “hustler mentality” to her upbringing in Detroit.“I’m gonna get it done no matter what,”she asserts.“I’m not gonna hurt anybody to do it, but I’m gonna get it done, and no one can tell me no.

“I attribute those aspects of my personality directly to Detroit, because without that basic knowledge and education from street to school, I wouldn’t be who I am.”

Moore Vision Media

Nadir thanks the fantastic musicians who have made him sound so good over the past few years: Joe Abrams, James “Jamalot Indeed” Anderson, Yaminah Brock, Alesha Brown, Phred Brown, Derek Buford, Chef, LaMont Davis, Duane Dawkins, Dan Eichinger, Jason Gaddies, GT, The Reverend Dr. Brandon Holland, Kamau Inaede, Tammy Jones, Kris Kurzawa, Niko Marks, Topher Mohr, Earl Orr, Jr., Chris Sego, Freeman Spells, Jr., Ping Spells, Joey Spina, Chris Spooner, Mia Treadwell, and Rudy Washington.

Special thanks to publicist Nancy J. Phares and Spark Art Marketing, manager Cornelius Harris and Alter Ego Management, Michele Bateman of Decent Exposure, Hubert Moser of Miracle Dread Productions, Corbin Dooley of Bikiniwax Records, DJ Butterface, Reavis Mitchell, Neal Cappellino, Daniel Lee, Michael Bohannon, and all the other talented producers who have contributed to Nadir’s albums, Emily Rogers for being (as Yorg says) “the Tawny Kitaen” of Nadir videos, Ryan Myers, Jason Schultz, Landmine Design, Zeina by Design, Lisa Luevanos, Ron Harper, Bob Davis & Soul-Patrol.com, Chris Rizik & SoulTracks.com, Pierre Dumas, the 1440 Collective, Change::The Music, the EAPro Family, Mom, Kevin, all other family and friends, and most importantly, the Queen of Sheba, Akanke Rashad-Omowale. All praise be to the One Most High.

Check out this live performance video of “Workin’ For The Man” by Nadir from the 2010 St. Michael’s We Care Telethon in Monroe, Michigan. The video was produced by WUPW – Fox Toledo.

St. Michael’s We Care offers monetary and other assistance to individuals residing in Monroe County, Michigan with a life-threatening illness to be paid after the use of insurance (if any), other organizations, and/or money derived from other sources is exhausted.

This performance happened at the height of the US health care reform debate. We felt it was important to do this benefit in support of a great organization that offers aid to families and individuals in their time of greatest need.

The band is Alesha Brown (keyboards & vocals), Mia Treadwell (drums & vocals), Chris Spooner (bass & vocals), Nadir Omowale (vocals, guitar). “Workin’ For The Man” was written by Daniel Lee (aka The Invisible Kid) and Nadir Omowale. It’s the title track of the Workin’ For The Man album.

Nadir is an award winning Funk and Soul musician with one heck of a live show.

He’s a champion for the entertainment industry, and the best part is, he calls Detroit home. Learn more in CW50Detroit.com’s Q&A with Nadir.

Click HERE to Read the Interview

“Evolution Is Revolution”, a dramatic track created by EAPro’s Nadir and Iayaalis, is featured in the new trailer for TheBlackPaper.com and The Black Mastery Success Program both by success coach Veronica Conway.

Veronica is a successful entrepreneur and founder of three coaching companies, including the Black Professional Coaches Alliance, the only coaching organization dedicated to the transformation of people of African descent. She is also the co-founder of Phenom Consulting International, a company that provides life and media strategy for the entertainment and athletic industries. She has coached everyone from truck drivers to CEO’s, athletes, artists and celebrities.

Black Mastery Is The Master Blend Of Success Strategies and It Is Your GIANT First Step Toward A Better Tomorrow.

• Do you want to live in joy and abundance?

• Do you want to face challenges with more confidence and poise?

• How wonderful would it be for you to experience life – without limits?

• Can you imagine beginning to heal, – and creating a new legacy?

The evolution will NOT be televised. The (r)evolution is internal.

Begin your (r)evolution at TheBlackPaper.com today.

“Giving a different meaning to hip-hop, Frazier is using the musical genre to bring attention to issues affecting young people.”

Congratulations, WAE!

Click HERE for more info about the Silent Heroes Night Awards

Nadir & Distorted Soul earned two trophies at the 2009 Detroit Music Awards on Friday, April 17.

Workin’ For The Man was named Outstanding Urban/Funk/Hip Hop Recording, and Nadir was honored as Outstanding Urban/Funk Vocalist.

Thanks to Akanke Rashad-Omowale, Nancy Schoenheide-Phares, all the members of the Distorted Soul band, all the musicians and producers who contributed their talents to the Workin’ For The Man project, all the djs and press who have given us so much love, and all the family and friends who helped make this project possible.

Oh… and a special shout out to George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and the entire Dubya administration for screwing up the world and inspiring much of the political material that appears on this record. Thanks A LOT!

Poet, painter, emcee, singer, writer, illustrator, spiritualist, graphic artist – Iayaalis has many talents. So many that an ordinary website can’t contain her many facets.

Enter The Iayaaverse.

The Iayaaverse is a social network for those who seek – those who seek a creative environment with creative people. If you crave good art, stimulating conversation, powerful poetry and conscious hip hop, The Iayaaverse is for you.

Click HERE to Visit The Iayaaverse NOW

From The Detroit Free Press:

Local Artist Spotlight: Nadir

WHO HE IS: Jonah Nadir Omowale records as Nadir Distorted Soul and makes waves with poignant, politically minded funk music. He’s celebrating his new album, “Workin’ for the Man,” which is ripe with political commentary, with a CD-release party Saturday [Nov. 15, 2008] at the Jazz Café at Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts.

HOME: Westland.

AGE: 40. (40 is the new 20 – Nadir)

ON HIS ROOTS: Nadir grew up Elizabethton, Tenn., where he was a member of the church choir and played in the school marching band. He graduated from Middle Tennessee State University with a degree in recording industry management. Nadir played in various bands around Nashville and toured with rapper Me Phi Me in the ’90s, opening for Public Enemy and Arrested Development.

ON DETROIT: He moved to Detroit in 1999 to focus on his personal music — largely based in classic funk. “Detroit ended up being the perfect market with the history of funk and with the great stock of musicians,” he says. Nadir’s band Distorted Soul includes Yaminah Brock on vocals, Kamau on bass, Brandon Holland on keyboards, Rudy Washington on drums and guitarists Kris Kurzawa and Chris Sego. His debut album, “Distored Soul 2.0,” won a Detroit Music Award for outstanding urban funk/hip-hop recording in 2005.

POLITICS: Nadir is an avid (and liberal) political blogger (distortedsoul.com), which resulted in a blog for MTV that led up to the presidential election. Read it at: http://think.mtv.com/profile/Nadir. “If you don’t like what I’m writing about, then you probably won’t like my music either,” he says.

He combines his music with activism on the song “Guantanamo.” “I played it outside the White House protesting,” he says. “I think that every American and should go to Washington, D.C., and lobby for a cause they believe in to get an understanding of how laws are made in the country.”

ON HIS STYLE: Funk, layered with hip-hop flair, and lyrical composition. “Everything that I play has a lot of different influences. Funk is the one music that allows you to use the influences, a combination of R&B and soul and gospel,” he says, adding that politics is paramount to his current material. “I’ve been involved in the political movement to impeach George Bush and Dick Cheney.” One up-tempo song, “Impeach the President,” explores this theme.

UPCOMING PROJECTS: Nadir is recording a new album for 2009 release that will show a more intimate side of his musical persona, focusing on love songs.

“You can think about what’s going on the world and you can still have fun and dance while you’re doing those things,” he says. He is also working with 1440 Studio Collective and is helping to launch Detroitmusic.tv, a site featuring video performances by Detroit-area bands.

By Tamara Warren, Free Press special writer