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Beyonce's "Freedom" Is Her First Anthem I Can Appreciate Too, And I Really Appreciate That!
I joked before that the difference between Beyonce 10 years ago and Beyonce today is akin to the difference between regular-sized human being Barry Bonds and head-the-size-of-a-city-street-trashcan Barry Bonds. Even adding that she’s made such improvement as an artist that she’d be suspected of doping if she was an athlete. A better analogy, perhaps, would compare…
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Melania Trump Says Her Husband Isn't Hitler. Which Totally Makes Me Think He's Actually Hitler
There’s a brunch party I plan on attending Saturday. There will be people there. Many of whom I will know. Some I will not. Some of these some will (probably) introduce themselves to me. And some I might introduce myself to. The start of those conversations will probably look something like this: “Hey, are you…
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Here Is the Darth Becky Mount Rushmore
It’s been a few weeks since Beyoncé turned the entire Internet into a collection of underqualified Easy Rawlinses—theorizing, guessing, hypothesizing and attempting to deduce the identity of Becky With the Good Hair. (The verdict? Maybe it was Rachel Ray. Maybe it was a MacGuffin. And maybe it was just Beyoncé’s new way of saying Sasha…
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George Zimmerman Reminds Us (Again) That Nothing Has Killed Him, Yet
Every several months or so, George Zimmerman, a congealed collection of the pus escaping from a surgically lanced rectum boil, reminds us that he’s still not dead. He has become especially good at this; at inching his way to the recesses of our collective consciousness. And then, right when he’s on the precipice of abject irrelevance, of…
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There's A Video Called "Hoteps Hoteppin" And You Should Watch It Right Now
Why? Well because the first 90 seconds is a great (and hilarious) answer for anyone who asks “What exactly is a hotep? I don’t get it.” And because it was created by Radha Blank, who goes by RadhaMUSprime, writes for Empire, and actually has things like “she’s a GhostFace-meets-Moms-Mabley mash up” and “You can expect…
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4 Beloved Contemporary Classics That Would Be Hated if They Came Out Today
I was late to the Love Jones train. Now, being late to things isn’t something that’s particularly uncommon with me. I think I was the last person on earth without a cellphone (didn’t get one until 2002), I started binge-watching Game of Thrones last spring, and I didn’t realize the Weeknd was just one person…
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An Investigation On Why Good Sex Sometimes Sounds Exactly Like Mac And Cheese Being Stirred
It is an indisputable fact that sex, when its good, often sounds eerily similar to a serving spoon stirring a pot of macaroni and cheese. This is something I first noticed over a decade ago while running an afterschool program and taking a trip to the kitchen where the daily meal was prepared. And seeing it…
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20 Things 50-Year-Old Black Men Get to Do Without Giving a Damn
The realization that I’m officially closer to 50 than I am to 18 hit me while I was playing basketball last week. My legs were feeling especially springy, so I decided to actually try to dunk instead of doing the nonchalant, rim-grab, “almost” dunk thing I do to convince people—myself included—that I can still dunk if…
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Why Black People Care So Damn Much About Potato Salad, Explained
What is potato salad? Potato salad is a popular side dish that comes in many different versions in many different parts of the world. In Southern Germany, it’s generally prepared with vinegar, potatoes, oil, mustard, vegetable broth, bacon bits, parsley, red onion and topped with chive and served warm. In Sicily, its made with string beans and…
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Will There Ever Be A Lemonade Moment For Black Men? (If So, Who Will Create It?)
Last Thursday, I sat on a panel at The New School with Jamilah Lemieux, Johnetta Elzie, Terrell Starr, and Chris Witherspoon to talk about how new media affects and informs social activism, art, journalism, writing, and our understanding of what it means to be Black. Oh, and Lemonade. We definitely talked a lot about Lemonade. Because it…
