Once again, two of the greatest singers of all time will go head to head on the charts.

On August 31st (UK) and September 1st worldwide, Houston will be back in the limelight. Her first studio album since 2002′s Just Whitney will hit stores near you. After overcoming drug problems, divorce, dwindling sales, and more, Houston appears to have triumphed it all to return to the stage.

On September 18th, Carey brings us Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel. Like Houston she has also overcome many hurdles including two albums that failed to match her previously high sales, a breakdown, and an unhappy marriage and divorce at a young age.

But on to happier times…

Whitney’s recent performances show even though her voice is not as it once was, she is still a force to be reckoned with. Photographs of her with her daughter show happy times, she seems to have returned to a healthier weight, and she has the backing of her label and the bosses at the top.

Mariah is on a label who were willing to give her a chance when others had moved on, her ‘lambs’ stand by her no matter what, and now she is happily married to Nick Cannon who seems to be the perfect, doting husband.

But let’s cut to the chase: Whitney VERSUS Mariah.

Who is the better singer?
Who is the better performer (singing+dancing+interactions with the crowd+concerts)?
If one of them flops, which one will it be?

You decide in September…and right now in the Comments.

We can find so many negative sides to everyone if that’s all we look for.

If you’re a black man who doesn’t want to date black women and wants to tell us why, please don’t for the following reasons:

1. No one asked.

2. A preference is a preference, so why explain it?

We all have our preference. Many women want a tall man, some men want a woman with big breasts, some Jews want a Jewish partner, some Australians want to marry a fellow Australian, and the list could go on forever. If we explained every preference we have, we’d be here forever, so why bother?

3. It’s just stereotype.

If I said that black men carry guns and knives, wouldn’t you be offended? Of course! Yes some black people do carry weapons, but why label us all just for the sake of it? Have you considered that maybe your criticism applies only to women in YOUR neighbourhood? Maybe the ‘unattractive’, undesirables are the ones you attract because you share more in common with them then you’d like admit.

4. Nike was right when they said, ‘Just do it’.

Just do it. You want a white girlfriend…do it! You want a biracial girlfriend..get one! You want an Asian partner…go ahead! Black women will not suffer if you choose not to date them, so go ahead and do what you want to do. Any black women who are upset by your preference will get over it time.

5. Why further divide our community?

Black people are so divided by hair, skin tone, size, etc so you really feel the need to divide the sexes too? Only a troublemaker would insult an entire race of women the way you are. You may argue that it is only constructive criticism, but then why haven’t you given constructive criticism to black/white/Asian/biracial men and white/biracial/Asian women?

BLAH. BLAH. BLAH. Do not tell me because I do not care.

~Black women are obese.
Being ‘thick’ seems to be more accepted in the black community, but obesity is increasing across the world, and no race is immune to it. Why pretend that black women are the only ones with weight issues? I’m a member of a weight loss site, and most of the women I’ve seen there are white. There are quite a few men there too, so why pretend that black women are the main ones with a problem?

~Black women are loud.
If these men met a few loud women, why did these few women reflect back on an entire community? White, Asian, and biracial women shout, scream, and cuss too. Most of the black women I’ve met in my life know how to stand up for themselves, and that’s a good thing, so why are strong/aggressive women always put in a negative light? Not all of us want to be dainty flowers waiting for a man to pick us.

~Black women want bad boys.
It is sad when lovely guys are overlooked for ‘bad boys’ with kids they barely see, frequent trips to jail, and no employment. However, these men can’t expect us to believe that they asked every black girl they could find before striking us all off their list. If one ignorant girl wants a boy who will treat her like dirt, keep it moving until you find a smart, mature woman.

~Black women are ‘ghetto’.
None of the black women I know are ‘ghetto’ so I can only assume that these ‘ghetto’ women come from a ‘ghetto’ area, which happens to be where you reside. If they aren’t good enough for you, move.

~Black women have ‘nappy’/bad/natural hair.
Being a black man, the odds of you having ‘nappy’/bad/natural hair on your own head are pretty high. If you love straighter/curlier hair then why don’t you relax/press your hair? How can you complain about what is growing out of someone’s head when you’ve got the same thing coming out of yours? Women change so much to attract a man (make-up, clothes, etc) so can’t we at least have our hair the way we want it to be?

~Some black women have dark skin.
And some black men have dark skin as well. Basically this is a racist statement to make, and so is ‘You’re pretty…for a dark chick’, which is supposed to be a compliment.

In part two, I will tell these men why they don’t have to give these reasons.

In 2001 Destiny’s Child brought us Survivor, and independent women stood up to be accounted for. We wanted our own jewellery, our own cars, and our own houses. We wanted to be in complete control of our destinies and no man could stop us.

Was this all BS?

Lately I’ve realised that it probably is. Some women want to be financially independent, but complain if a man doesn’t open a car door for them. Some women proclaim to WANT a man but not NEED one, but then they need him to pay on their dates. Some women don’t want to be told what to do, but then rely on a man to wear a condom. Some women don’t want to be judged on their looks, but say this whilst flashing their best ASSets. Some women

Either you’re independent or you’re not. If you want to be treated equally then you shouldn’t be able to pick and choose when this happens, because men definitely can’t. They’re always expected to go to work, always expected to pay for protection even though sex (usually) involves another person, is dumped if they share the cost of a date, and so much more. Is that equality?

Can you choose when to be ‘equal’?

It even goes beyonce men versus women. You might not want to be judged for being non-white, homosexual, disabled, etc but if you stood to gain something for being ‘different’ from a ‘white, heterosexual male’, would you let being equal slide…?

Instead of saying, “I’m an independent woman” maybe we should be saying, “Yeah, I’m an independent woman…when I feel like it.”

This doesn’t just apply to countries in Africa, but other places where SOME people are eager to leave for ‘a better life’….

People just assume that being abroad is better, but I think back to the time when Africa completely fulfilled our needs. Now people act like it’s just not good enough, leave, and the wonder why the richest continent is the poorest.

They forget the stress that comes with living in Europe and America because you’re always working towards ‘the good (rich) life’, but living in Liberia and being able to look out of your window and see how the less fortunate live should be a wake up call to be grateful for what you have. I don’t want to stay in the Uk and pay for a house I won’t own for thirty years, when I can build and own a bigger house in Liberia and supply work for local people at the same time. I don’t want to pump money into major chain supermarkets/malls when I could support local producers in Liberia who don’t get million dollar bonuses each year. I want my kids to know that education is a privilege, not a right, so they appreciate it.

It’s fine if people don’t want to go back home, but don’t turn around and look down on your native country’s slow progress when you’re one of many who expect it to rebuild itself.