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Mafia III Is Probably The Blackest Video Game Ever Made
If you’re rocking pearls, the disclaimer at the very beginning of Mafia III (PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, MacOS) might make you clutch ‘em tightly. “Mafia III takes place in a fictionalized version of the American South in 1968. We sought to create an authentic and immersive experience that captures this very turbulent time and…
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A Vote For Jill Stein Is A Vote In The Trash
Cornel West recently continued down his long, winding road to breaking my heart. He returned to his recurring role as a panelist on Real Time with Bill Maher, where he was even more overbearing than usual. He battled with Barney Frank and barely let my future second wife Alex Wagner get a word in edgewise;…
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A Dummy's Guide To Chicago Gun Violence From Somebody Who Lives There
I have a friend moving to Chicago this fall to start a master’s program at the University of Chicago. As she prepares to leave from her Washington, D.C.-area home, many people in her life have expressed some degree of fear for her safety following her move. As if the moment she steps out into clear…
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Hip-Hop’s Best Year Ever Can Almost Buy You A Drink
It should come as no surprise to most of you that I wasn’t the most popular kid in high school. During my 1995 – 1996 freshman year, I endured an awkward post-pubescent, pre-growth-spurt phase that had me looking like the love child of the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man and Associate Bob from Demolition Man. Making matters…
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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’” varietal) 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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What A Time For Cultural Appropriation To Be Alive
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 shit 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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Yeah, What Lauryn Hill Did Was Wack, But Artists Are ALWAYS Late To Concerts
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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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 retail CDs. After 21 years of collecting so much music, I’ve forgotten about certain albums…
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Why Won't Hollywood Let Black Movies Be Great?
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 bottom, Drake) and making…
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Fuck This Entire Election Cycle
When Donald Trump was scheduled March 11 to stump on the University of Illinois Chicago campus, I was driving to Detroit with the goal of getting out of town before the inevitable protests began. I openly questioned on Facebook the purpose of protesting Trump, as if making a scene in public wouldn’t just embolden his…
