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Relax, Everyone. White Rappers Aren't Taking Over
I returned home this weekend after spending the previous week on a cruise ship. Which means the last 48 or so hours have been spent reacclimating to real life and attempting to rid myself of the remnants of cruise culture. I have to keep reminding myself that I won’t be eating 17 full meals a…
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How To Be Really Good At Being A Down-Low Brotha
Remember back in 2004? When gay Black men pretending to be straight became America’s boogeymen, getting blamed for everything from H.I.V. rates to your half-empty bottle of juice in the office fridge? (“Man. Damn DL brothas must’ve drank my apple juice again. Fuck J.L.King!”) And remember how everyone — well, everyone except Tyler Perry —…
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Three Quick Thoughts About Robin Thicke's "Get Her Back"
1. I don’t know how sincere Robin Thicke’s begging happens to be. None of us do, actually. Not even Paula Patton. But, I do know, though, that by crafting this album, he makes us all skeptics. Perhaps I’m just a natural skeptic. I still don’t believe it’s not butter. But, if someone is sincerely trying to…
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"New Black" Is The New Black
This level of awareness isn’t inherently negative. The process of thinking about Blackness doesn’t make you love it any less. Sometimes, it makes you love it more. And, as The Blackest Names tournament proves, it can be fun. But, an existence in and navigation of a place where you’re perpetually forced to examine how your…
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Entire Internet Surprised Women Like An Attractive Man
It’s one of the 10 most ratchet things I’ve seen this year. And six of those 10 are twerk videos. All taking place in Waffle House bathrooms, someone’s grandmom’s kitchens, and Waffle House parking lots. And all featuring young women with as many tattoos as criminal citations. And I loved every second of them. I…
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Jason Whitlock, Greg Howard, And Speaking Around "Company"
Because of some mechanical issues, a Megabus trip last week from D.C. to Pittsburgh — a journey that’s usually six hours long — ended up lasting close to nine. Aside from spending an hour cursing my decision not to just drive to D.C. and back, I spent a good part of that trip reading Greg…
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Why I'm Totally Here For Kyla McMullen's List Of 73 Sexy Science Sistas
1. Because my homie Dahlia Haynes is on it. She’s #30. And I don’t know if she’s rocking a shirt or one of Jadakiss’s jean jackets with the sleeves cut. 2. Because I can think of several women who could have made the list, but didn’t — including the women I profiled for EBONY’s “Sistas…
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Welcome To The New VSB
“What the hell are we doing?” This is an accurate synopsis of each of the dozens of conversations Panama and I have had in the past three years about the future and direction of VerySmartBrothas. We’ve both often joked that it has managed to stay afloat in spite of ourselves. But, after a couple years…
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A Story About My Dad
It was a Monday. I was 11 years old, a guard on the St. Barts Bruins JV basketball team. We were a week away from our first game of the season, and our hot-to-death new uniforms — reversible tanks with our last names on the back and long cotton shorts with the school’s logo on…
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I'll Never Stop Saying the N-Word
Writing at Very Smart Brothas, Damon Young says that there is an appropriate time and place to say the word “nigga,” and determining one’s audience is an integral part of figuring out when that time is. Interestingly enough, my knowledge of and affinity for words could be an argument for not using some of them. Since there are…
