Nnene

Name: NneneHometown: Lithonia, Georgia and Imo State, NigeriaAge: 23Age You First Fell in Love: At this stage in life, I haven't experienced true love.Love Is: Love is beyond mushy romance, it is recognizing the flaws in the other individual and still working to enhance and transform each other. It is someone caring about your mental, spiritual and physical state and growth. I think it is society that has misconstrued the idea of love, it has lost its meaning. As a Nigerian, I have seen that love is a part of life and that you can have everything and still feel incomplete without someone to share it with. Not waiting for components; there again why Nigerians go from single to married is because we look for the right person, there's no need to date multiple people. African culture taught me to also pray to receive real love and to not be fooled by everything that glitters.

Edmund

Name: EdmundHometown: Riverdale, Georgia and Accra, GhanaAge: 21Age You First Fell in Love: 16Love Is: I was sixteen when I first fell in love with someone, who at the time, I felt was my soulmate. Everyday, I felt as if I couldn't live without that person and I didn't get over [them] for two years. Personally, what I have learned from love is being able to love a person based on their faults and using it to bring out the best in that person. Coming from [Ghana], my views on love generate from my parents. Which shows me that love is unconditional and love overcomes all weaknesses between two people. But it has also taught me that beliefs, morals and values play a role in a relationship filled with love. I have always been taught to pick someone who shares those beliefs that I have and have found that dating within one's ethnicity accompanies that value strongly.

Neka

Name: NekaHometown: Doraville, Georgia and Port Harcourt, NigeriaAge: 24Age You First Fell in Love: 19Love Is: In all senses of the word it is by far the most powerful human emotion that there is. Love's greatest attribute, I think is its power to overcome fear. So in the romantic sense, love is the ability to be fully vulnerable with someone without reservation. Culturally, my idea of love is intertwined with the understanding of the importance of family. Through love, even the tough variety, all issues within family can be resolved. God is love, fully.

Moyosola

Name: MoyosolaHometown: Lagos, NigeriaAge: 25Love Is: Love is placing someone else's interest before your own. I think 1Corinthians 13:4-7 is a perfect definition of love. Growing up in a Nigerian household, I didn't hear "I love you." expressed as frequently as I heard it expressed in American households. However, I know I am loved because of the sacrifices and the support I have received from my family. As a result, I try to show love to my friends and family by being a source of support and encouragement.

Akwaaba Means Welcome

[audio http://blackloveproject.files.wordpress.com/2014/01/01-i-love-music.mp3]Welcome to Black Love Project!I am very happy and thankful that you've taken the time to visit.My name is Monique and I am a music lover. A deeply passionate music lover who finds a relative story in every song I hear. Music, for me, is a personal experience, seeping into almost every aspect of my life. This means that music finds itself woven into my love life. For every serious love affair or fleeting crush, there is a song, a chorus or sixteen bars to remind me of every memory. From every kiss to every heartbreak, there is a song or songs that serve as my personal soundtrack.The idea of Black Love Project came to me when I experienced what it is to love a musician. Our time together always felt like a love scene out of a blaxploitation film: brown flesh upon brown flesh, coarse hair and thick lips, a hazy room filled with music, there was always music. We created our own soundtrack of songs that mirrored how sweet and intensely passionate we were. And when the sweetness turned sour and sadness and anger settled in, the songs showed the same. It is no secret that art imitates life. It is the reflection of the people, an artistic immortalization of life's ups and downs. The songs that reminded me of him, I was sure reminded someone else of an old lover. As I tend to view and relate most things through a historical and musical perspective, I understand there is a great relationship between song and life, love most especially. The quest to study the link amongst relationships, socio-political circumstances and the art created during respective eras, blossomed into Black Love Project.Black history has often been written and told by others. However, the music, derived on that Great Continent, has been an important historical archive of black people. It is the tradition of our bloodline, to preserve our story through word and song. It is the continuation of tradition through the people of the Diaspora. It is the black story told by the black story teller. Black Love Project aims to explore and expose such stories. To create a soundtrack of our harrowing and rich history.I hope you'll join me on my quest and perhaps, along the way, share your own story of love, your own history.Thank you again for visiting.love,MoniqueSong: I Love MusicArtist: The O'JaysAlbum: Family ReunionWriter: Kenny Gamble and Leon A. HuffReleased: 1975