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The Root Interview: Esperanza Spalding on Taking a Big Risk
Jazz is never going to die. Too many hip-hop producers sample jazz music for that to happen. But what to make of the modern-day jazz musician’s place in a celebrity-obsessed music climate? Chances are, the days of a traditional jazz musician transcending the genre are long gone. In the past decade, the popularity of jazz…
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How A Non-Gangsta Enjoys Gangsta Rap
Every morning for the past month, as I start getting dressed, I have sung (or is it rapped?) the hook to a song entitled, “BMF (Blowin’ Money Fast)” by rapper, Rick Ross. It goes: I think I’m Big Meech, Larry Hoover Getting work Hallejuah One nation Under God real [expletive] gettin money from the [expetive]…
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News Flash: Black Magazines Aren't Always That Black
Before I go into the whole Essence fashion-director uproar, some disclosure. For a total of about four years, I worked at Vibe magazine, right up until the magazine folded (it has since been resurrected under different ownership) in June 2009. I began there in 2004 as a fact checker and writer until 2006, when I…
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Keep Your Apology, Tiger
With a 13-minute speech that was covered on as many TV channels as a presidential address, Tiger Woods’ awkward public apology was surprisingly successful. But it wasn’t the puppy-dog eyes that did it for him. Tiger walked to the podium tepidly. Absent was the confidence we’re used to seeing him display on the golf course.…
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Forget Leno and Conan. Bring Back Arsenio!
In the midst of all this talk about NBC’s late-night television show shuffle, and where Conan O’Brien is going to go next, there is a healthy amount of speculation about what NBC’s 10:00 p.m. slot— the last hour of prime-time television—is going to look like now that Jay Leno is skulking at his old Tonight…
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Anika Noni Rose Talks About ‘The Princess and The Frog’
There was a moment when Anika Noni Rose, star voice of Disney’s new animated film The Princess and The Frog, suddenly knew the movie would work. It wasn’t when she started preparing for the role of Princess Tiana, the film’s main character. Nor was it when she realized she would be voicing Disney’s first black…
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Bill Cosby Live at Lincoln Center: Humble? Hardly. Hilarious? Absolutely.
Bill Cosby is 72 years old. That’s the first thing he said in his stand-up routine at the packed opera house in New York City’s Avery Fisher Hall this past Saturday. In a burnt orange-colored sweater, brown corduroys and brown dress shoes, Cosby looked exactly his age. He also performed it, charmingly so. In a…
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Will Smith Is No Fred Williamson
Michael Jai White has always been one of those “that’s-that-one-guy-you-know-who-I’m-talking-about” actors. Despite a breakout 1995 role as Mike Tyson in the HBO biopic Tyson, and most recently a part in Tyler Perry’s 2007 Why Did I Get Married, Jai White’s face has always been more familiar than his name. But with the release of his latest,…
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The Roots & Eminem Honor LL Cool J With 'Rock The Bells'
If there is one reason I tuned in to the sixth annual VH1 Hip-Hop Honors—a tribute to Def Jam Records—hosted by comedian Tracy Morgan, it was for the performances. Since the annual special first aired, Hip-Hop Honors has demonstrated how even in hip-hop, classic rap songs of yesterday can and arguably should be redone by…
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Men Have ‘Good Hair’ Issues, Too
I’ve only seen the trailer. But when Chris Rock’s new documentary Good Hair hits select theaters today, I imagine those in the dark will walk out laughing, and with (hopefully) a better understanding of the complex relationship between a black woman and her hair. But what about a man’s hair dilemmas? Finding a good barber. The…
