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Logic, Kendrick Lamar, and the Frustration of Derivative Artistry
At first listen, Logic’s major label debut album Under Pressure is brilliant. It’s listenable. It’s well-produced. He’s a very, very gifted lyricist. He even managed to weave his album together with a voice over reminiscent of one of my favorite albums of all time, A Tribe Called Quest’s Midnight Marauders. But while I listened to…
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On Really Wanting To Like J. Cole More Than I Actually Do
I’ve never had more people ask me how I feel about an artist than I have about J. Cole. It’s interesting, really. Somehow, J. Cole is like a hip-hop Hatfields vs McCoy standoff. People either love or give no fucks about J. Cole. And the folks who love him stan so hard for him it…
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Dear America, Where's My Hug?
“…so how you feel? Frustrated, irritated, sometimes I don’t know myself I be too numb, to feel something sometimes…” ~ Khujo Goodie of Goodie Mob, “Thought Process” Soul Food (1995) As the news of Eric Garners murderer – and I use that term with all of the weight it carries considering that the medical examiner…
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F*ck The St. Louis Police Officers Association And Everything They Believe In
If you watch the news, you’ve probably seen or at least heard about the pre-game display that a few of the St. Louis Rams football players put on when walking out of the tunnel on Sunday before they, the Rams of St. Louis put an otherworldly ass whippin’ on the Raiders of Oakland. Five players – Stedman…
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Rapper Drops Mixtape. Just May Pay For It With His Life
What will follow is the most ridiculous thing I think I may have read in life. I don’t even mean that in a cavalier fashion. I mean that in the most sincere way possible. Like, when I say that I don’t like J. Cole, like, at all, I say with the utmost sincerity. That’s how…
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Sample Literacy Test: Would You Have Been Able To Vote?
The movie Selma is coming to theaters in a few months and the cracker jack marketing team behind the movie decided to drop the bomb on the masses early. As part of the promo for the movie, they crafted a literacy test, complete wtih questions that were used to bar some Black folks from voting in…
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When Being Educated, Rich, and Privileged Doesn't Stop You From Being Black
I often joke with people that I didn’t know I was poor until I got to college. The reason I say this (we weren’t really poor) is because I remember, way back yonder in 1997 when I graced God’s land of Morehouse College, encountering Black folks who came from means. Not that my family was wanting for…
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Love & Hip Hop Hollywood Ep. 9 Recap
Another day, another hour of my time Mona Scott-Young has taken from me that I can’t get back. The fact that I willingly hand it over is beside the point. This past Monday’s shenanigans involved the whole cast and crew and dare I say that there was a bit of common sense involved? I dared…
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Fireball Whiskey Has Some Stuff In It That They Use To Make Anti-Freeze. So?
I read a story yesterday that Fireball Whiskey is being recalled in Europe. Why? Here’s why: Late last week, the whiskey’s European bottler informed the makers of Fireball that they were out of compliance with European regulations. The Fireballers prepare two versions: a recipe for Canada and the United States containing the chemical, propylene glycol, and a…
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Master P Didn't Ruin Hip Hop, Jay-Z Did
Yeah, I said it. Any discussion about what happened to hip-hop – and by what happened, I mean the apparent downfall of it – usually starts and ends with the South and the rise of one Percy “Master P” Miller and the point when he and his No Limit tank invaded NYC and DJs began…
