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De La Soul's Classic Album De La Soul Is Dead Is Turning 30. It Was The First Album I Fell In Love With
You never forget your first love. As cliché as it sounds to say that hip hop was my first love, in my case, it’s actually true. I don’t remember anything else becoming as essential to my being as devouring all of the homemade mixtapes my older sister’s friends made for her. As a military brat…
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9 Predictions and General Thoughts About J. Cole's Newly Announced Album, The Off-Season
On May 4, Jermaine Cole, aka Light-Skinned Jermaine and famously known as J. Cole, announced the May 14 release of his sixth studio album, The Off-Season, along with (presumably) the album cover. As is always the case when Cole announced a project, drops a loosie and/or a project, the Internets light up—no pun intended—in all…
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Talking VerySmartBrothas, White Teen Movies vs. Black Teen Movies, Jay-Z & Nas and More With Damon Young on Pass The Peas
Last week was a bit of a blur for everybody in the Very Smart Brothas universe. Damon and I wrote posts about his departure, some tears may or may not have been shed, the word verklempt made an appearance and Brick killed a guy. Either way, we’re in a new phase of this whole VSB…
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Since VSB Is Changing, VSB Is Going to Change
Friday was a fairly emotional day for me. If I’m being honest, all of last week was. I’ve known Friday was Damon’s last day at VSB for quite some time; no decision as gargantuan as deciding to step away from something you created happens overnight. Yet, even knowing it was coming Friday just felt…huge. I…
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New Edition Verzuz Jodeci? Michael Harriot Joins The Pass The Peas Podcast to Debate What Could Be a Legendary Battle
When I recently wrote that legendary 90s R&B group Jodeci was unbeatable in a Verzuz battle, I truly didn’t think it was controversial or even much of a debate. I thought, like I do with most of my thoughts, that I was just writing down that which was obvious…but not written down. I was getting…
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Jodeci Is Unbeatable In a Verzuz Battle: A Scientific Breakdown of Black Excellent Proportions
As is often the case after Verzuz “battles,” folks get to ruminating on potential matchups, etc. Also, I’m folks; I do this after every Verzuz. Last night’s love-fest featured Method Man and Redman, two staples of 90s era hip-hop, though Method Man has become quite the actor, and Redman is, well, still one of the…
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I Hope You Already Got That Pair of Kobe's That You Wanted Because If Not, You're About to Pay Stupid Prices For Them
On December 24, 2020, Nike (and I presume the Kobe Bryant estate, headed up by his wife Vanessa Bryant) decided to re-release the Nike Kobe Zoom 6 Protro in the green apple/black/volt-crimson colorway. The shoes, affectionately referred to as the “Kobe Grinches” (because of their super green color and the additional red laces that come…
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Man Saves Wife From Bobcat in Viral Video, Becomes Legend in 2 Games Like Pee Wee Kirkland
By now, if you’re lucky, you’ve seen this viral video circulating the social medias. In it, a man whose name I do not know (but I imagine we will all learn soon enough; hopefully he isn’t a raging racist or was in D.C. on January 6th, etc.) becomes a legend in 45 seconds. I have…
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Award-Winning Author Topé Folarin Joins Pass The Peas to Talk About His Life, His Time at Morehouse College, His Debut Novel, A Particular Kind of Black Man and Res' How I Do
One of the coolest parts of this entire journey with Very Smart Brothas is the sheer amount of cool people I’ve had the opportunity to meet. If there’s one reason I’d tell anybody to start up that thing you want to do it’s easily because, if you do something right, the world opens up and…
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I Think I've Started to Use Avoidance As Self-Care
“…so how you feel, frustrated, irritated, sometimes I don’t know myself, I be too numb, to feel something sometimes…” – Goodie Mob, “Thought Process,” Soul Food (1995) Like, I suppose many folks do, I have my phone set up to send me news alerts over the course of the day, and from all of the…
