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I Thought I Played Candy Crush Too Much. Apparently I'm an Amateur Compared to Some People
I’m about to admit something that I was originally ashamed of because I thought I’d been neglecting my responsibilities (family, work, Black Jesus, etc.) because of how much time I clearly had spent playing Candy Crush. Turns out, what I’m about to admit actually makes me feel shamed for having thought I was doing something…
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New York Undercover Is Getting a Reboot. Here Is Where Detective Eddie Torres May Have Been, Instead of Dead
It looks officially official: New York Undercover is coming back. A deal has been struck for a pilot production with ABC. If you’ll remember back in the ’90s, New York Undercover was a FOX television show, following Martin and Living Single on Thursday nights in that murderer’s row of black television watch-hood. The show followed…
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If There Is an R&B King Right Now, It's Not Jacquees (Yet)
I don’t know what constitutes R&B anymore. Rather, I don’t know who is an R&B artist anymore. That’s the first thing that popped into my head when Decatur, Ga., singer Rodriguez Jacquees Broadnax, popularly known as Jacquees, proclaimed himself the king of R&B for this generation. For starters, he’s 24, so I suppose his generation…
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The Hills Are Alive With The Sound of Music; One NYC Principal Decides to Die on One Anyway
If there’s one movie I’ve seen a possible, actual, literal 1,000-plus times in life, it’s The Sound of Music. If you grew up overseas on military bases in the 1980s, movies were your viewing pleasure. The Department of Defense provided us with one channel, the Armed Forces Network (or AFN, for short), and decided what…
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What Are Reasonable Expectations to Have of Rappers?
I have a theory that because of the way we curate our social media circles nowadays, I believe most of us think our circles are representative of reality. This is my story, this is my song. I also think it’s pure bullshit. We all know most of the people who inhabit America are absolutely dumb,…
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For Parents Whose Blood Pressure Gets Raised Because of Product Recalls When ’Tussin and Wine Ain’t Enough
I was driving my daughter to school this morning, gleefully coasting across the Washington, D.C., area’s Woodrow Wilson Bridge, named after possibly the most racist president of all time, a true accomplishment considering that several presidents actually owned slaves, when my phone buzzed. Like many folks, I get an alarming (no pun intended) number of…
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If You Don't Have the Keys, Don't Pack the Truck
2010 was a transitional year for me. A three-year relationship ended in the early part of the year, we had to move out of the house we lived in and go our separate ways, and I had to figure out a new life as a single man but one with a child. Life was different…
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Wu-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthin' ta F' Wit? The Creators of Shaolin Jazz Disagree
To call the Wu-Tang Clan one of the most influential musical acts of all-time isn’t hyperbole. When they burst onto the scene in 1993 as a gritty and grimey Staten Island, N.Y., counterpoint to the Dr. Dre-helmed polish of Los Angeles G-funk, music shifted, too. In the decades since, the Wu footprint has shown up…
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A Line-by-Line Breakdown of Jay-Z's Verse on Meek Mill's Song 'What's Free?'
Meek Mill’s latest album, Championships, dropped today. While I’m not the biggest fan of the Philadelphia yellsmith, I can acknowledge that because of everything that’s transpired in the past, say 18 months of his life, this album release is an event. From a very public feud with Drake (they’re cool now; Drake’s even featured on…
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I Went to Morehouse College, But Morgan State University Was the First HBCU I Fell in Love With
There’s nothing like a good ole Facebook Memory, eh? This morning, while logging into the ‘Book, I was reminded of a discussion I started on November 29, 2017 (a year ago), spurred by an episode of This Is US about which historically black college or university (HBCU) was the most well-known. Here’s an excerpt (edited…
