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Energetic and Nostalgic Performances by Bell Biv DeVoe, Tony! Toni! Toné and More Helped the Apollo Spring Gala Raise Over $2 Million
This week the legendary Apollo Theater celebrated the 13 years of its star-studded annual Spring Gala. Every year the iconic Harlem landmark gathers every ounce of black excellence it can find to raise funds for its year-round artistic- and community-programming initiatives. Guess how much they raised this year? No … guess. Over $2 million! Yeah,…
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Is Black Music the Well Many Other Artists Drink From and Profit From More Than Black Artists?
What is black music? For many, it’s soul, funk, R&B, hip-hop and essentially all genres of music that reflect roots in blackness. But the industry doesn’t hear us. Music is very much a culture of “We make it, they take it.” We’ve seen it throughout history in the theft of everything we exclusively create within…
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ColorComm’s Young, Fabulous and Fly Creator Lauren Wesley Wilson Shares Her Goals for Black Women in Business
Black women have always made a way, no matter what. There’s not a lane for us? We create it. There’s not a seat at the table of us? We build the seat and the table. That’s exactly what Lauren Wesley Wilson has done with ColorComm. Wilson once worked at a PR agency and noticed there…
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Judge of Characters: Wypipo Want Everything We Have, Even Our Oppression
Why are we still talking about who can and cannot say the n-word? White people, please hear me out. There will never be any occasion when you will need to use the n-word, ever. Even if Kendrick Lamar invites you onstage and the only word in the song is “nigga,” don’t say it. Censor yourself…
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Cast of Queen Sugar Gets Real About Interracial Dating. Guess Who Was Told, ‘Don’t Bring the Oppressor Home’
It’s the hot-button topic right now: interracial dating and love. Donald Glover faced criticism around the topic after the release of his viral hit, “This Is America.” The video screamed blackness and reminded everyone that all of the art Glover’s been providing lately is also saturated with black culture. So when images of his white…
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‘Rafiki’ Actress Explains Why The Lion King Is One of Broadway’s Blackest and Most Legendary Shows Ever
The Lion King is still one of my favorite Disney movies (and stories) of all time. And I am obviously not alone. The movie has stretched onto the Broadway stage and been slaying for over 20 years! There’s no way this musical would have that sort of staying power if it wasn’t your favorite’s favorite.…
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Zazie Beetz Is the Only Thing That Matters in Deadpool 2
“I know white superheroes aren’t your thing,” The Root’s resident Suge Knight, also known as our deputy managing editor, Yesha Callahan, said to me as she tasked me with writing about Deadpool 2. No, white superheroes aren’t my thing, but Ryan Reynolds is my thing, and even more so, Zazie Beetz as freakin’ Domino! Marvel’s…
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Judge of Characters: Hello, 911? It’s Me, White America
What in the world happened this week? It seemed like racism was determined to show its casual and ugly face all over America with the terrible trend of #LivingWhileBlack. All of a sudden, black people are having the cops show up after someone white calls the cops because they’re afraid. These black folks have been…
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The 2018 BET Awards Nominees Are …
Does it look like I was left off “Bad and Boujee”? Seems like it was forever ago, but it was just last year at the BET Awards red carpet that hip-hop trio Migos sat or, uhm, stood with Complex’s Everyday Struggle hosts DJ Akademiks, Nadeska Alexis and (*cough* former host) Joe Budden, thus creating a…
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Bad Publicity Only Works for the Kardashians
In case you haven’t heard, no one showed up to Kanye West’s Yeezy X 2XU event in Sydney. First of all, I didn’t even know this was happening or a thing; nor do I know who or what a 2XU is. If I know anything about Kanye, I figure that this is a fashion collaboration…
