-
Revisiting Zhané's Debut Album, the Perfectly 90s Album, Pronounced Jah-Nay
When I think of the 90s, there are a few specific groups, songs and television shows that immediately come to mind: Martin, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Jodeci, SWV, Wu-Tang Clan, Jade’s “Don’t Walk Away,” Groove Theory’s “Tell Me,” (for my money, one of the best and most 90s songs of all time) and indisputably Zhané’s “Hey…
-
6 Ways Beyoncé's Cover of 'Before I Let Go' From Homecoming: The Live Album Just Changed the Game
Last night, Beyoncé did what Beyoncé does and dropped a whole ass 40-track album, Homecoming: The Live Album, out of nowhere that we didn’t know was coming but we’re all better off for having. Beyoncé, ever since that first secret drop back in 2013, just comes through whenever she wants and takes over the entire…
-
Dear Game of Thrones Fans, I'm Going to Try Really Hard to Catch Up Because the FOMO Is Killing Me
I’m one of those people: I’ve never seen a full episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones. I say full episode because I tried to watch the first episode a few years ago and just couldn’t make it through. I don’t know what happened or why on that particular day I couldn’t complete the task. I…
-
I’m Gonna Go On Ahead and Count Tiger Woods’ Win as Another One for the Black Community. Cool? Let’s Fight
Tiger Woods made a triumphant return to Augusta National on Sunday, winning his fifth Master’s Tournament (and his first since 2005), becoming one of the oldest golfers to win a major tournament at age 43, and putting him three back from tying the record for most majors titles, currently held by golf-legend Jack Nicklaus. Only…
-
Have You Ever Thought About Your Funeral?
I’ve been to a lot of funerals in my life, so many that I really have no idea what that number is. The first funeral I vividly remember attending was in high school for a friend who went to my school. While the rumor mill was full of conspiracy theories, it was determined that he…
-
India.Arie's Acoustic Soul Was Successful in Its Time. I Think It Would Be Even More Successful in Today's Pro-Black Climate
Recently in black America, I hosted a meeting for the VSB x Mahogany Books (a black bookstore in Washington, D.C.) Monthly Book Club where we discussed the book, She Begat This: 20 Years of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill by Joan Morgan, author of the famed book When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost. The book…
-
Why You Can’t Say ‘Roll Tide!’ to Any Ole Person Up in the Target
I was reminded recently why we are taught as youth not to speak to strangers. While the goal of this lesson for children is to hopefully curb abduction and prevent being handed candy with razor blades lodged inside, it is also a lesson one can put to use as an adult. Because sometimes, something as…
-
Visiting the Lorraine Motel in Memphis Was the Most Emotional Museum Experience I've Ever Had
Today is April 4, 2019. Fifty-one years ago today, on April 4, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was gunned down by James Earl Ray while standing on the balcony outside of his room, 306, at the Lorraine Motel, located at 450 Mulberry St., in Memphis, Tenn. In the time since then, the Lorraine Motel…
-
Dear This Is Us, You Have Me on an Emotional Rollercoaster and I Just Can't Get Off: The Spoiler Alert Edition
***My G, all the spoilers. All of them.*** When the powers/writers/sadists that be behind the show This Is Us began teasing the future of the Pearson clan at the end of last season—showing us an older Tess and a much older Randall preparing to go see “her” and leaving all the questions—all any of us…
-
Rest In Power, Neighborhood Nip
Like everybody else, I was hit with and then devastated by the news that Grammy-nominated rapper, entrepreneur, wealth- and community-builder Nipsey Hussle, aka Neighborhood Nip, aka Ermias Asghedom, was gunned down in front of his own store yesterday in Los Angeles. At 33 years old, no matter what the circumstances, he was too young to…
