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The Pop Up: Deva Mahal's Vintage Soul Sound Will Grab Your Attention and Your Eardrums
Growing up, Deva Mahal’s parents made sure that their house was filled with music. “There were no places that were off limits and there were no genres where we were not allowed to go,” she says. So it’s no wonder that now, as an artist, Deva’s music is a reflection of her parents’ early influence.…
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Sorry to Bother You Has a Wild Alternate Reality Centered on Black People
There’s something so powerful about Boots Riley declaring in his debut, Sorry to Bother You, that black people are allowed to be a part of a movie with an alternate reality. This film is set in an alternate present-day Oakland and it follows Cassius Green (Lakeith Stanfield) as he struggles to make something out of…
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Judge of Characters: Wypipo, Stop Killing Everything Fun
Wypipo have an inane ability to zero in on things that were once cool or hot (depending on who you ask) and make them wack. Case in point, that time Donald Trump Jr. used “lit” on Twitter to talk about Justice Kennedy’s retirement. Now that “lit” is dead, I was thinking about what else colonizers…
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The First Purge Is Triggering AF, But Y’lan Noel as a New Black Action Star Makes It Worth the Watch
Thank God for black heroes on the big screen! If Black Panther proved anything, it was that we’ve been starving for black action heroes. The Marvel blockbuster hit gave us black hero after black hero and I’m still reeling in the warmth of pride in my chest over Wakanda. The First Purge is certainly no…
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The Cast of Power Talks Season 5, Redemption and Forgiveness
Starz’s top-rated show Power is set to come back this Sunday, July 1, thrusting us right back where we left off: into shock and mourning. But first … season 4 spoiler alert!!! Ready? You were warned! (And you had a whole year to get caught up.) Most of us are still shook from Raina’s tragic…
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Judge of Characters: We Gotta Be Civil to These Supremacists for What?
Why is it an issue of civility when Auntie Maxine Waters says this to a crowd of people: Let’s make sure we show up wherever we have to show up. And if you see anybody from that Cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create…
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You Gotta Put Me On: For the Artists Who Haven’t Quite Reached Mainstream Success but Are Killing the Game
When black people who are musically inclined choose to pursue a career as an artist, they are proclaiming that they not only believe in their talent but also don’t subscribe to the conventional ways of making an American dream a reality. These people are dreamers with thick skin. Rejection is palpable when you choose to…
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Ericka and Ebony: ‘Our Love Is Not Complicit in White Systems’
“I feel like people don’t hate our love. They hate who we are. I think the world hates black people,” Ericka Hart said. She and her man, Ebony Donnley, share a love that is revolutionary. “I am so used to being hated just by my very existence, that being in partnership with someone and our…
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OWN’s Love Is ____ Aims to Redefine #RelationshipGoals
Many of us want love to be wrapped up in an attractive package with all the bells, whistles, hugs and kisses. I know I do. Father God, please let my mate be smart, kind, generous, a dreamer but a doer, mentally stable, financially free, an advocate and a consumer of therapy, and also, can he…
