Name: KeithHometown: Minneapolis, MinnesotaAge: 59Age You First Fell in Love: I've fallen in love in more ways than one, but I married my real deal at 20.Love Is: When you do things [for that person] without thinking twice, you do things without hesitancy, it's automatic. You do it all unconditionally.On Atlanta: I moved to Atlanta when I was 19 in 1973 and it has definitely changed. You know being from Minneapolis, I loved it down here. I went to Georgia State and there were so many beautiful black women walking around. Natural hair was the norm, it was everywhere. Our best pickup line was, "I love your hair." I moved to East Point and I remember when I called an apartment leasing office, the woman on the phone told me, "You better hurry, all these coloreds are trying to move in!" (he laughs), but that's how it was. Black people were more scattered, you'd never see as much black people as you do now in places like Stone Mountain or Cobb County. Things have definitely changed.On Music: Earth, Wind and Fire or Parliament, that P-Funk. We bought that automatic! There was no need to listen to a single first, we just went down there and bought the record. Our music was about the struggle, you could hear it in the music. This generation is more about money and drugs and sex. Except for Tupac.On Being Black: Your generation is proud of their accomplishments, what they've done, who they are. We were just proud to be black, that's all we needed.

[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