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(What Did I Do to Get So) Black and Blue
Janice limply heaves the thick unabridged dictionary into the metal trash can at the corner of Vandam and crosses the street. Leaving the Shine office with the large Webster’s in her arms is a pathetic act of payback, she knows. But Janice brought the book with her when she started and she would be damned…
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Questlove’s New Jam: Throwing Cool Dinner Parties With Celebrity Chefs and Writing a Book on Food
What do Prince, fine food and Soul Train have in common? All three are major obsessions of the Roots’ Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. The Philadelphia-born drummer wrote about one of his passions in 2013’s Soul Train: The Music, Dance, and Style of a Generation. Now he’s dishing on his love of eating well with his new…
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'Yeezus' Brings Excitement Back to Music
Ebony’s Miles Marshall Lewis breaks down what Kanye’s new album means to the rap game. The sixth studio album from the rap genius is full of emotion and angst, Lewis says, and clearly isn’t like Kanye’s other work. Lewis also compares Kanye to Prince in his heyday: His new musical direction may not be radio-friendly,…
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Why Dating in Paris Isn't Black and White
Interracial relationships in America are very different than those abroad, and Ebony‘s arts and culture editor, Miles Marshall Lewis, reflects on his time in Paris and what he learned about their cultural intersection. “Thoughts about mixed couples are different in the U.S.,” I explained once the performances finished. “Black women look at Black guys choosing…
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'Roots' for Dinner, 'Django' for Dessert
As a child in the 1970s, Ebony editor Miles Marshall Lewis watched enough Good Times episodes to know black people were suffering beyond his South Bronx window — he didn’t want to watch Roots, too. He’s changed his mind now. He advises people to take in Roots, which celebrates its 35th anniversary in January, and…
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Why Zadie Smith Puts Fans Before Critics
(The Root) — Ever since her praiseworthy debut, White Teeth, at the turn of the century, British writer Zadie Smith, 36, has been lauded for her keen view of modern-day multicultural London and her ear for witty, multigenerational dialogue. Faithful readers of Smith’s subsequent titles, The Autograph Man (2002), On Beauty (2005) and her latest…
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Should We Ever Forgive Troubled Artists?
(The Root) — When Chris Brown released Fortune in June, the singer’s fifth studio album scored mostly mixed-to-negative reviews. Time magazine called it “one of the blandest R&B albums in recent memory,” but a lot of critiques took issue with Brown personally as much as musically. Rolling Stone’s reviewer complained about spending 13 songs with…
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Erykah Badu's Naked Ambition
(The Root) — For the second time since 2010, singer Erykah Badu’s naked body is going viral. Sort of. On June 1 a shocking video (i.e., NSFW) for Badu’s atmospheric cover of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” hit the Web. Performed with experimental rock band the Flaming Lips, the psychedelic track stems…
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Paris Noir
The first time I wrote an essay about relocating from Harlem to Paris, I’d been living in France for all of 10 months. My newbie reflections concerning the City of Lights were based on less than a year’s life experience in my adopted city. May 2010 will mark six years since I uprooted my hip-hop-media-centric…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
