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The Root Is in Los Angeles for the BET Awards and Has No Idea What to Wear
What to wear? What to wear? First things first: I’m not cool. I’ve never been cool. Not gonna be cool. Couldn’t be cool if I tried. And the BET Awards—as well as the various colorfully dressed, still flat-and-tight-stomached young people who attend it—are cool. (Even when I was a young-’n’-flat-stomached little thing, I wasn’t cool.)…
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Artist Nick Cave Teaches Me How to ‘Let Go’ at The Let Go
I needed this. That’s what I told myself as I walked into the Park Avenue Armory on Wednesday, June 6, to see the premiere of performance artist Nick Cave’s newest installation: The Let Go. I didn’t really know what to expect. I knew that there would be music and, obviously, dance, considering Cave’s background as…
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Cardi B Is a Real Muva on Her New Rolling Stone Cover With Offset
Rappers are definitely the real rock stars of our era. They work hard, play hard, party hard, trash the occasional hotel room and get into fights. They live and love and make music worth shaking one’s ass to. (Don’t deny the power of “Bickenhead.”) Cardi B and the one-third of Migos known as Offset have…
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Note From the Editor
This Monday, The Root separated from our associate editor, Kirsten West Savali, because of an editorial-standards issue. After the Drug Policy Alliance discovered and brought to our attention a previously undisclosed and improper arrangement, Gizmodo Media Group conducted a thorough investigation and made the difficult decision to terminate her. Because of this, we will be…
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I Lost 10 Pounds and It All Went to My Head at Harlem Stage’s #Disrupters Gala
It really doesn’t take much with me. For most of my adult life, I’ve battled with my size. And it doesn’t help that the medication that keeps me on an even keel also makes me gain weight. So when I started taking antidepressants to bring my mood up a bit, I found a great, positive…
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Kendrick Lamar Gets His Pulitzer, but It’s Pulitzer Administrator Dana Canedy Who Is a Prize
There are no acceptance speeches at the Pulitzers. You get your prize. You pose for your photo and you politely exit the stage. Yet there was definitely something different about this year’s award luncheon at Columbia University’s Low Library on Wednesday, where hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar strolled in about 30 or 40 minutes into the…
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Queen Sugar and Ava DuVernay Had the Sweetest Garden Party in NYC
First things first: When it comes to Queen Sugar and director Ava DuVernay, I’m a total fan. I am biased. I am prejudiced. I am not objective at all. I love the show she created, which is beautiful and heartfelt. I love the actors who were cast to star in it, who are charming and…
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4 Hospitalizations, 3 Diagnoses, 2 Scared Parents and 1 Very Sad Woman
Editor’s note: Until recently, mental health and illness were taboo subjects in the black community. But thanks to the efforts of those brave enough to speak on it, that’s changing. In that vein, The Root team is taking this week during Mental Health Awareness Month to write about how mental health has touched our lives.…
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Dominate
I wanted to believe it didn’t mean anything. The smell of whiskey on his breath. The hurried kiss and his tongue latched around my left nipple. The gentle suckling as my abrasive wool sweater remained bunched against my throat. I told myself it meant nothing and I was nothing but an ends to a means.…
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It’s an Explanation, Not an Excuse
“He needs someone to treat him like the teacher treated Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker,” I said. The “he” I was referring to was Kanye West and his latest “Make America great again”-fueled, “deep thoughts” tweets that scream mania, but he insists he’s fine. (That is so something a manic person would say. When…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
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Cardi B Is a Real Muva on Her New Rolling Stone Cover With Offset
Rappers are definitely the real rock stars of our era. They work hard, play hard, party hard, trash the occasional hotel room and get into fights. They live and love and make music worth shaking one’s ass to. (Don’t deny the power of “Bickenhead.”) Cardi B and the one-third of Migos known as Offset have…
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Note From the Editor
This Monday, The Root separated from our associate editor, Kirsten West Savali, because of an editorial-standards issue. After the Drug Policy Alliance discovered and brought to our attention a previously undisclosed and improper arrangement, Gizmodo Media Group conducted a thorough investigation and made the difficult decision to terminate her. Because of this, we will be…
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4 Hospitalizations, 3 Diagnoses, 2 Scared Parents and 1 Very Sad Woman
Editor’s note: Until recently, mental health and illness were taboo subjects in the black community. But thanks to the efforts of those brave enough to speak on it, that’s changing. In that vein, The Root team is taking this week during Mental Health Awareness Month to write about how mental health has touched our lives.…
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Dominate
I wanted to believe it didn’t mean anything. The smell of whiskey on his breath. The hurried kiss and his tongue latched around my left nipple. The gentle suckling as my abrasive wool sweater remained bunched against my throat. I told myself it meant nothing and I was nothing but an ends to a means.…
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It’s an Explanation, Not an Excuse
“He needs someone to treat him like the teacher treated Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker,” I said. The “he” I was referring to was Kanye West and his latest “Make America great again”-fueled, “deep thoughts” tweets that scream mania, but he insists he’s fine. (That is so something a manic person would say. When…
