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“R&B Divas” recap (2.5): A Good Day to Cry Hard

You guys. This episode. Oh lawd, just prepare yourself for this episode.

It begins in the ATL where all the divas meet for lunch. Faith informs the group that they’ve been invited by Sheryl Lee Ralph (of the original broadway cast of Dreamgirls) to all perform at “Divas Simply Singing,” a benefit concert in LA for raising HIV/AIDS awareness which is going on its 22nd year. While LaTocha and Angie Stone can’t make it, all of the original divas are on board and begin packing their bags. And when I say packing their bags, we’re talking clothes, three ounce bottles of lotion, and a whoooole truckload of emotional baggage.

Get ready for some real talk about AIDS, kids.

Let’s start with Monifah. As she prepares her fabulous purple suitcase, she talks on the phone with Terez. We learn that her brother, Kevin, died of AIDS in 1995. She feels she’s never done anything to honor him, so she’s excited for this chance. God. Mo!

We then move to Keke, who has a serious storyline coming up, but who we first see being silly at her house, hanging out with Michael, two of her sons, and one of her super gay brothers. She tells her sons they need to know about AIDS. They nod and say, we know, Ma. “Condoms!” Good boys! But she extrapolates on the point by nuking a hot dog in the microwave until it’s gross and exploded-looking and tells them that’s what their weiner will look like if they stick it in the wrong hole without preparing. Which pretty much wraps it up, I’d say. Oh, Keke Wyatt. You never disappoint.

Now to Nicci, who has a heartbreaking conversation with her daughter Brandi in their kitchen before Nicci takes off for LA. She tells Brandi a little more about her uncle Kenny, Nicci’s cousin, who also died of AIDS some time ago. Kenny was really more like a brother and best friend to Nicci growing up, and when he was diagnosed with the disease, it was in the early early stages of the epidemic, when people still didn’t understand it and were simply terrified of it.

She continues telling the story to the rest of the divas when they all meet up in LA, that it’s the stigmatism and the way her family ostracized him that still haunts her. They would whisper: “He gay. He got that disease.” She wishes they had known they didn’t have to be scared of him, that they couldn’t contract it by being too close when he coughed. She wishes they would have hugged him more, kissed him more. Nicci!

Sheryl Lee Ralph is also at this lunch with all the divas in LA, looking classy as all get out, and after Nicci finishes her story, she shares this sobering statistic: the AIDS quilt is over 55 miles long. But less than HALF A MILE of it is dedicated to people of color.

Half. A. Mile.

Real. Talk.

She says the only reason for that is shame, folks not being willing to come out and talk about it. Keke says, “People like me.” And now Keke starts to cry, and cry hard.

I warned you about this episode, y’all!

While most of the table is bewildered, including Sheryl Lee, Keke finally comes out with the fact that a “loved one” of hers that she’s extremely close with is currently living not just with HIV, but full blown AIDS. And some of that talk about stigmatizing is striking a chord, because she clearly has a hard time talking about it, made harder by the fact that her family member doesn’t want anyone except close family to even know. As Keke says, people treat them differently once they know. Keke!

It seems shocking in a way that so many people in just this small group of women are so closely affected by AIDS. But in a much more sobering way, it’s actually not that surprising at all. Which is why we still have so much work to do.

After such a heavy lunch, Syleena decides they need some retail therapy time to lighten things up. Although lightening things up doesn’t happen completely, because life coach Mo thinks Keke needs some further decompressing time. Which she probably does. So Mo sits her down on the couch and essentially says, girl, I’m scared to sing at this thing, too. But it’s important that we do it anyway. And then all three of them share a great MILF hug.

All this and the ladies haven’t even started singing yet! Don’t worry! It gets even worse!

And by “worse,” I mean the level of tears is at an ALL TIME HIGH.

The waterworks start in rehearsal, first with Nicci, who’s singing “That’s What Friends Are For.” She says this was the first song that, for some reason, made her realize that AIDS didn’t just affect her family; it affects everyone. She sings the first verse but when she tries to swing into the chorus the tears start. And of course they do! Because this song makes me cry on a regular, every day basis! Throw in the memory of a dead loved one and anyone would be done with!

Things don’t go much better for Keke, who gets so concerned about her emotions during rehearsal that she decides she just needs to change the song to one that won’t make her cry as hard. Which seems unfortunate to me, as she must have chosen the original song for a reason. Luckily, Sheryl Lee is in the wings to swoop in with some killer advice, telling Keke that she might cry whether she switches the song or not. (True.) She just has to say true to the moment. (Yeah.) And if she gets to that point that she has to cry–well, then she has to own it. (Exactly.) I like Sheryl Lee.

Show time.

Faith’s up first, looking fierce as ever and killing it with her emotional song, “Tears of Joy.” Up next is Keke, who deliberates about whether she wants to address the crowd or not. She ends up doing so, dedicating the song to her loved one, doing her part to speak up about AIDS. I think this also helps loosen her up, and she does a stellar job through the first half of the song, until a certain point when the tears threaten to take over. As she pauses at the mic, her hand over her face, Mo and all the other divas hold their breath back stage, whisper words of encouragement. And after a moment or two, that Keke Wyatt jumps right back in, belting out the words as if she never stopped, and when she does, the entire audience at the Nokia Center gives her a standing ovation, and it is all TOO. MUCH.

When she walks backstage afterwards, Syleena and Mo crowd her with hugs and congratulations, even as Keke herself is still overcome. “You did that, boo,” Monifah says. Faith says she can really see Keke growing up. It is a pleasure to see.

Syleena Johnson’s up next, who very appropriately sings her song “Stonewall,” which she describes as the ultimate song about coming out on the other side after a struggle.

Mo, who has made a commitment to be tear-free during this thing and holds true to her promise, sings her song “It’s Alright” without a hitch. She’s also introduced to the crowd as our girl, “OUT on black TV.” Damn right.

Last but not least is Nicci, whose fate in the crying department is not as bright as Keke’s. She gets almost through the first verse before she breaks down, but there doesn’t seem to be a light at the end of the tunnel here. As she tells the camera, she was done, on emotional overload. No more singing left in her. But divas don’t let each other drown, so Faith, Mo, and Syleena quickly get themselves microphones backstage. And when Monifah walks out on that stage, flawlessly bringing in the next line of the song, the crowd gets up on their feet again and I should be out of tears at this point but they keep coming! Nicci describes it as if she was in a movie, and in the midst of her breakdown heard angels singing. Simply put, it was brilliant. And after it all, it’s Nicci’s “enemy” herself, Syleena Johnson, who tells the crowd, “Nicci Gilbert, ladies and gentlemen!” once the song is through, and walks her off the stage, hand in hand. One of the best R&B Divas moments to date.

There was so much in this episode to celebrate, in a bittersweet way. The addressing of the real and heartbreaking problem of silence and shame when it comes to AIDS in the black community. (In all communities, really.) The acceptance of the queer black community that is inherently also linked to that. Expressing both pain and hope through song. And as always, supporting a sister in need. Lordy, lordy, lordy, was it a wonderful hour of television. I only wish more people had seen it.

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