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Painting Black Men to Be Seen and Respected as Powerful Figures in the Art World
Jordan Casteel wants to change the staleness of the high art world and how it views black men. The Denver artist has been painting portraits of people in her community before she was an art student at Yale and it evolved as she made a home in Harlem, N.Y. “As I moved to Harlem,” Casteel…
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Watch: Inside the Mind of a Random Fly Director
Terence Nance is the lead visionary behind HBO’s Random Acts of Flyness and was recently named as the director for Space Jam 2. His first film, 2012’s An Oversimplification of Her Beauty, won rave reviews at Sundance and put Nance on the map in the indie film world. The film even impressed Jay-Z, who became…
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Watch: Teenager Turns Bullying Into Booming Brow Beauty Business
At only 17 years old, Tania Speaks turned her pain into a huge profit after classmates bullied her for her bushy eyebrows. She is now the founder of the successful beauty product, Brow Boost—as well as the recent men’s grooming line, Beard Boost. Throughout elementary and middle school, Tania was verbally and occasionally physically abused…
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Watch: Joe Morton Takes Us Through His Iconic Film and TV Appearances
Joe Morton is widely known for his Emmy-winning role as Elijah Pope on ABC’s Scandal, but don’t get it twisted, Morton has been Forrest Gump’ing through a lot of iconic shows and films including What’s Happening, Sanford & Son, Terminator 2 and even M.A.S.H. “Papa Pope” walks us through some of his roles over the…
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Spike Lee Compares David Duke’s Favorite President’s Administration to the KKK
BlacKkKlansman director Spike Lee sees a lot of similarities between the Ku Klux Klan and today’s administration, specifically around fear-mongering and coded rhetoric (see: the origins of Trump’s popular slogan- “America first.”) “Historically, “America First” was used by the Klan in the 1920’s against immigrants,” said Lee. “This stuff is not new … it’s just…
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Watch: Stars on the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards’ Red Carpet Put Some R-E-S-P-E-C-T on Aretha’s Name
MTV, I’mma let you finish—but Aretha Franklin was one of the greatest singers of all time, so I would expect the Video Music Awards to go above and beyond to pay her proper respect. The Root’s weekend social media editor Corey Townsend hit the red carpet at the 2018 MTV Video Music Awards to get…
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Broadway Star Uses His Platform to Bring the Arts to At-Risk Students
It’s back-to-school season, but not all students have access to art programs especially under the current administration. Actor, singer and activist Bryan Terrell Clark wants to change that. He currently stars as George Washington in the award-winning, hip-hop-influenced musical, Hamilton, and has co-created InDEFINED to help expose more young people in disenfranchised communities to theater…
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11-Year-Old Nigerian Artist Creates Stunning Portraits of Figures in His Community
The youngest professional artist in Nigeria is gaining international exposure for his stunning lifelike portraits. Eleven-year-old Kareem Waris Olamilekan draws family members, friends and other community members from his makeshift art studio in Lagos. He also recently caught the attention of French President Emmanuel Macron. Watch the video above to learn more about this amazing…
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A Look at the Superfly Soundtrack, Then and Now
Superfly, the remake of the classic flick Super Fly, hits theaters today. The film’s soundtrack is executive-produced by Future. Future, Imma let you finish, but the original Super Fly (1972) had one of the most iconic soundtracks of all time. Produced by Curtis Mayfield with songs like “Little Child Runnin’ Wild,” “Pusherman” and “Give Me…
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Why Everyone Needs to Know About Alice Marie Johnson, the Great-Grandmother Who Is Serving a Life Sentence [Update: Johnson’s Sentence Commuted]
Updated: Wednesday, June 6, 2018, 3:53 p.m. EDT: President Donald Trump commuted Alice Marie Johnson’s sentence on Wednesday, and she will be released from prison after spending 21 years behind bars for a first-time, nonviolent drug offense. Trump didn’t give Johnson a full pardon, which would have cleared her record. Instead, he opted to reduce…
Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude
