Put Some Respect on Her Pink Cadillac (August 2018)

“Sassy, Soulful, Sexy, The Queen, The Original Ree Ree. Her voice made you groove and feel like a Natural Woman. No pill needed when you heard her because she healed you like Dr. Feelgood. Those big tatas stopped us on the Freeway of Love and made the boys jump, jump Jump To It. (yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah)

With 18 grammys that Sparkle on her mantle of course she gave her man (and men) Something He Can Feel. But don’t get it twisted, when Auntie Ree Ree found out he was full of it, she quickly told bruh she wouldn’t be a link in his Chain of Fools. She’s a Do Right Woman in need of a Do Right Man. You see she lived during Ever Changing Times when MLK marched on the Selma Bridge Over Troubled Water and required R-E-S-P-E-C-T, Oh, Freedom, Freedom, Oh Freedom, Yeah Freedom so you better Think cause Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves. You heard her say it once and ladies we keep repeating it to these guys to this day, Take of care, TCB if you want to sock it to me, sock it to me. Owww! 

See Ms. Franklin wasn’t a stranger to our Precious Lord’s will being the daddy’s girl of a baptist minister in the Motor City. She was always Day Dreaming about His Amazing Grace and loving him a little more each day because down in her spirit and soul she knew of his Deeper Love. She found her Angel who would set her free. Through her music ministry, I’ve found when the mountain was high, I still believe, when the valley was low, it didn’t stop me, I Knew You Were Waiting For Me.

So today I Say A Little Prayer For You, her family, close friends and the fans who loved her so because It Hurts Like Hell, that’s the way it feels when someone who enriched our lives for decades with their love and gifts passes on. Breathe! (Taking a deep breath, not Waiting To Exhale)

Aretha Franklin, Thank you for allowing us to rap on your door and tap on your window pane of soulful melodies. You are our flower, a rose and we all know, A Rose Is Still A Rose, Darlin’ you hold the power. You kept evolving and blooming with hits past, present and future that we will endlessly Rock Steady to. Yes, that’s what it is, what it is. Our Rose and Our Queen of Soul is riding out in her Pink Cadillac up yonder.”