the king and the queen

Houston rap legend Bun B and his queen reveal their proven tips for romance

Queenie and Bun B will help you keep the trill in your relationship.

Photo by Queenie

Houston rap icon Bun B is a bona fide media star, with his role as part of the legendary hip-hop duo UnderGround Kingz, his successful solo career — his new album drops on March 16 — and his hilariously revealing appearances as a political correspondent on Vice. His interests have made him a rap Renaissance Man: Bun hosts a popular (and comical) Trill Meals cooking show, and frequently serves as a talk show pundit, and as a guest lecturer at Rice University.

Bun and wife, Queenie, are widely heralded as Houston’s most trill couple. In their first foray into dating advice, the pair shares with CultureMap tips on how to nail that first date, and how to make sure the trill is never gone.

CultureMap: What’s the best place for a first date?

Bun B: You want some place public — you don’t want some place intimidating, with dark corners. You want something well-lit, open, and somewhere friendly and has really good service.

Queenie: Somewhere like The Grove, downtown, open air, a lot of light, romantic. You can take a walk in the park.

CM: Dinner and drinks — who picks up the tab?

Bun: I think it depends on who asked whom out. (I’m sure Queenie will have a different view on that.) But, I think if you’re the man who asked the woman out on a date, it’s kind of expected that you pay for it. You’re only gonna be thinking about not paying for it, if you think the date went well.

So, don’t go asking somebody to go on a date, and you’re not prepared to pick up the tab.

Queenie: Whoever asked the other on the date, should pay. But, based on how I was raised, I think the man should pay when he sees the woman is willing to pay.

CM: What’s a safe way to make your move to show you’re interested?

Bun: There’s a lot of sexual assault stuff going on right now, so you’re gonna have to do it with your words, and with your eyes. Be careful what you say: Women will tell you that you can talk your way out of a good situation easily — she could be ready to seal the deal, and you can over-talk yourself.

Make eye contact. Let her know you’re interested in what she’s saying, and let her know you’re interested in her.

Queenie: Be a flirt — be a good flirt. Don’t be an overbearing flirt. Tell him, "I’ll call you when I get to the office." Don’t just text — hold a conversation.

CM: As a rule: kiss on the first date?

Bun: It really depends on how the first date goes — you can tell how it’s going. (I didn’t kiss Queenie on the first date, but she’s not a big kisser in that sense.) You’ve got to be able to read body language — if she’s been receptive and has been laughing and touches you, she may be open to being physical with you. But you’ve got to read those signs right.

Queenie: Yes, you can. If you’re into that person, their teeth are clean, and their breath doesn’t stink and you’re feeling each other, you can kiss on the first date.

Bun [to Queenie]: You didn’t kiss me on the first date!

CM: How soon do you call or text after the first date?

Bun: If you really hit it off, you’re going to be texting by the time you get back to the car. But if you like the person, it’s safe to wait until you get home, maybe an hour after the date. Don’t be clingy.

Queenie: I’m calling as soon as I get in the car. After the date, if he asks me to call him, then I’ll call him. But once he stops answering the call, I stop calling.

CM: If you’re married, can you ever stop giving gifts for Valentine’s Day?

Bun: As a man, you still have to celebrate Valentine’s Day. I was a big rose guy. I started with a single rose, then a dozen, then several dozen, then different colors — then it got to the point where Queenie said, "You don’t have to do this anymore." She has gone from gifts, to memories.

Queenie: Valentine’s Day is every day, if you’re married and in love — it’s not just one day out of the year.

CM: Is there such a thing as setting the bar too high with gifts or planning for a special occasion?

Bun: I don’t think you should throw money at gifts. You should really listen to your partner, the things that they like, something they might have said in an offhand conversation, that they didn’t realize you paid as much attention — set the bar high. But it’s not how much you spend. I remember I would always do air guitar, that one yea, Miss Freeman bought me an actual guitar.

Now, she didn’t know I couldn’t play guitar — because I was so good at my air guitar.

Queenie: There’s never a bar too high for a gift. Never let anyone talk you out of a gift you want to give, if that gift’s from the heart.

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Winter weather warning

Arctic air will bring hard freeze to Houston this weekend

Photo by Uliana Sova on Unsplash

This weekend could bring ice to Dallas-Fort Worth and beyond.

With many Americans still recovering from multiple blasts of snow and unrelenting freezing temperatures in the nation’s northern tier, a new storm is set to emerge this weekend that could coat roads, trees and power lines with devastating ice across a wide expanse of the South, including Texas.

The storm arriving late this week and into the weekend is shaping up to be a “widespread potentially catastrophic event from Texas to the Carolinas,” said Ryan Maue, a former chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“I don’t know how people are going to deal with it,” he said.

Forecasters on Tuesday, January 20 warned that the ice could weigh down trees and power lines, triggering widespread outages.

“If you get a half of an inch of ice — or heaven forbid an inch of ice — that could be catastrophic,” said Keith Avery, CEO of the Newberry Electric Cooperative in South Carolina.

The National Weather Service warned of "great swaths of heavy snow, sleet, and treacherous freezing rain” starting Friday in much of the nation’s midsection and then shifting toward the East Coast through Sunday.

Temperatures will be slow to warm in many areas, meaning ice that forms on roads and sidewalks might stick around, forecasters say.

The exact timing of the approaching storm — and where it is headed — remained uncertain on Tuesday. Forecasters say it can be challenging to predict precisely which areas could see rain and which ones could be punished with ice.

Meteorologists at WFAA say it's too early for an exact forecast across Dallas-Fort Worth. But it's good to start being weather aware.

Here’s what to know:

Cold air clashing with rain to fuel a 'major winter storm’
An extremely cold arctic air mass is set to dive south from Canada, setting up a clash with the cold temperatures and rain that will be streaming eastward across the southern U.S.

“This is extreme, even for this being the peak of winter,” National Weather Service meteorologist Bryan Jackson said of the cold temperatures.

When the cold air meets the rain, the likely result will be “a major winter storm with very impactful weather, with all the moisture coming up from the Gulf and encountering all this particularly cold air that’s spilling in,” Jackson said.

Texas could be a harbinger for other parts of the South
Some of the storm’s earliest impacts could be in Texas on Friday, as the arctic air mass slides south through much of the state, National Weather Service forecaster Sam Shamburger said in a briefing on the storm.

“At the same time, we’re expecting rain to move into much of the state,” Shamburger said.

Low temperatures could fall into the 20s or even the teens in parts of Texas by Saturday, with the potential for a wintery mix of weather in the northern part of the state.

Forecasters cautioned that significant uncertainty remains, particularly over how much ice or snow could fall across north and central Texas.

“It’s going to be a very difficult forecast,” Shamburger said.

An atmospheric river could set up across the Southern U.S.
An atmospheric river of moisture could be in place by the weekend, pulling precipitation across Texas and other states along the Gulf Coast and continuing across Georgia and the Carolinas, forecasters said.

“Global models are painting a concerning picture of what this weekend could look like, with an increasingly strong signal for ice storm potential across North Georgia and portions of central Georgia,” according to the National Weather Service's Atlanta office.

Highway and air travel could be tangled by the storm
Travel is a major concern, as Southern states have less equipment to remove snow and ice from roads, and extremely cold temperatures expected after the storm could prevent ice from melting for several days.

The storm is also expected to impact many of the nation’s major hub airports, including those in Dallas-Fort Worth; Atlanta; Memphis, Tennessee; and Charlotte, North Carolina.

Polar air from Canada to keep northern states in a deep freeze
Unusually cold temperatures are already in place across much of the northern tier of the U.S., but the blast of arctic air expected later this week is “will be the coldest yet,” Jackson said.

“There’s a large sprawling vortex of low pressure centered over Hudson Bay,” Jackson said of the sea in northern Canada that’s connected to the Arctic Ocean. “And this is dominating the weather over all of North America.”

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