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Why I Don’t Steal Music Anymore (for the Most Part)
In a recent VladTV interview, living rap god Bow Wow (formerly of the “Lil’” variety) discussed his entire career. He referenced Ray J and Lil’ Kim’s “Wait a Minute,” a joint that I’d forgotten made me nod my head around the turn of the century (and the only worthwhile thing Ray J ever did that…
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Hip-Hop Has a Woman Problem
Let’s go down memory lane for a bit. Twenty-eight years ago marked the release of MC Lyte’s seminal debut album, Lyte as a Rock. It was hip-hop’s first meaningful album from a female emcee. Twenty years ago marked the release of Bahamadia’s Kollage, the best hip-hop album ever from a female rapper. With the help…
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Is It Cultural Appropriation? I’ll Be the Judge of That
Much as it pains me to admit aloud, maybe there’s something to all those stupid-ass memes that your “woke” Facebook friends like to share that compare real-life “ignored” atrocities to the asinine s—t that makes BuzzFeed headlines. That Blake Lively’s delusional Instagram post dominated an entire Wednesday lends credence to their gripes. Even I couldn’t…
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Hey Parents, Let Your Kids Be Free. Just Not Too Free
Last week, NBC News ran an op-ed from Danielle Moodie-Mills, a very smart sista whose stuff you should be reading, titled “Does the Revolution Begin With a Free Black Child?” In the piece, she identifies the sartorial and behavioral eccentricities of young black celebrities—including Jaden Smith, Willow Smith and Zendaya Coleman—as indicators of a growing…
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Beyond the Black Panther: 7 More Great Black Comic Book Characters You Should Know
If you’ve already seen Captain America: Civil War and have even a passing familiarity with King T’Challa of Wakanda, aka the Black Panther, you know that the director and writers didn’t s—t the bed with the character’s introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. As the first meaningful black character in the MCU (Anthony Mackie is…
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Showing Up Late for Concerts Isn’t a Lauryn Hill Thing
I’ve been to more concerts in my lifetime than I can remember. But I can tell you which were distinctly the best and worst that I’ve attended. The best was in early 1999, during my senior year of high school. I went to see the Roots at the State Theatre (now the Fillmore) in Detroit.…
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Why Is Hazing Still a Thing in Many Black Greek Organizations?
To her credit, my mother has always allowed me to go my own way in life, for better or worse. Even if she has something to say out the side of her mouth from time to time (like every black mama), she has never actively tried to block any of my movements. And there’s no…
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15 Truly Underrated Hip-Hop Albums
Since I had to conceal the “Parental Advisory” sticker to convince my mama to purchase my very first compact disc—Bone Thugs-n-Harmony’s E. 1999 Eternal—from Blockbuster Music back in 1995, I’ve accumulated somewhere just south of 1,000 CDs. After 21 years of collecting so much music, I’ve forgotten about certain albums that were significant to me…
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The Sad State of Black Cinema
I’ve long been of two minds about Kevin Hart. On the one hand, I appreciate that he’s a seemingly bonhomous young brother who’s built an empire for himself by selling out shows and racking up receipts at the box office. There’s little more gratifying than a black man starting from the bottom (the actual…
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6 Steps Black Folks Need to Take to Drop the Pounds
It’s now late February, which means the folks who “resolutely” started clogging the gym after Jan. 1 have long since bailed, freeing up the machines for us regulars. It’s also a great time to spread the brass tacks all over the damn floor. America is, in the medical parlance of a close gastroenterologist friend of…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
