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Inside Jay-Z's 6-Hour Art Performance
On Wednesday, New York City was abuzz when news leaked out about a very unique Jay-Z performance happening at the Pace Gallery. For six hours the rapper would be performing the song “Picasso Baby,” a single from his new album, Magna Carta Holy Grail. Numerous media outlets rushed their charges out to the scene to…
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Miss USA Goes Online to Date
The next time someone suggests that online dating is only for the loneliest and most desperate people who can’t get a date in real life, tell them about Nana Meriwether. The 2012 Miss USA beauty queen, who resides in New York City and is of South African descent, was recently discovered on the popular dating…
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Fact-Checking the Finances of Jay-Z and Other Rappers
We all know rappers tell tall tales about a lot of things, from the alleged life of crime they lived before they made it big or what they would do if they saw the cops. (No one’s going to shoot a cop for real. Come on.) And no subject is more popular to lie about…
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Female Inmates Sterilized Without Consent in California
From 2006 to 2010, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation sterilized nearly 150 women without getting the proper state approval, according to the Center for Investigative Reporting. The procedure, known as a tubal ligation, was performed by doctors under contract with the CDCR. The doctors were given state funds to perform the procedure, which…
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Race Not Addressed in Zimmerman Trial
In a New York Times article, writer Lizette Alvarez reveals how, even with race being a significant factor in the amount of exposure the Zimmerman trial has received, it has been the elephant in the courtroom that no one wants to acknowledge. For African-Americans here and across the country, the killing of Mr. Martin, 17,…
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Yasiin Bey Gets Force-Fed for Human Rights
Yasiin Bey (widely known as the rapper Mos Def) teamed up with the human rights group Reprieve to release a four-minute documentary on the controversial force-feeding procedure undergone by Guantanamo Bay detainees during Ramadan. The video premiered on Sunday at The Guardian‘s website, the day before Ramadan begins. Ramadan observers fast throughout the month. Although…
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Bill O'Reilly Suggests Jamie Foxx Is Racist for Trayvon Martin T-Shirt
When the BET Awards aired on Sunday, one of the more notable fashion choices was worn by Jamie Foxx. The Academy Award-winning actor wore a simple T-shirt with an image of Trayvon Martin in a hoodie emblazoned across it. Nothing flashy, but certainly powerful — and, apparently to the people at Fox News, controversial. Spotted…
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Jay-Z Changes the Rules in the Recording Industry
When Jay-Z announced his new partnership with Samsung — in which his next album, Magna Carta Holy Grail, would be made available exclusively to the first million Samsung users who downloaded the app — there was lots of talk from him about new rules, along with many questions. Chief among them: Would those million downloads of…
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'Shark Tank' Wants Black-Owned Businesses
Like most mainstream reality-competition shows, Shark Tank on ABC seems to suffer from a lack of diversity, but the show’s producers, Mark Burnett and his company One Three Media, are determined to change that next season. On Aug. 23, casting directors will be on hand at the Kingonomics Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Investment Conference in Washington,…
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'The Butler' Ordered to Change Name
The Butler has been one of this year’s most buzzed-about films. Posters and advertisements with the film’s title can be seen in theaters and on billboards. A trailer has already been released as well. But now the Weinstein Co., the studio in charge of releasing the film, will have to rethink one part of its strategy:…
