Stories about how tired people — especially Americans — are of the royal wedding has become more popular than the royal-wedding coverage itself. That said, this is pop-culture history in the making, folks. You’ll be left out of watercooler chitchat if you miss it. And if the 6 a.m. EDT airtime (find it on “a…

In his new memoir, Ice: A Memoir of Gangsta Life and Redemption, rapper-turned-actor Ice-T gives readers a peek into his fascinating life and career. To quote the New York Times: “No one, after all, better embodies the darling ‘hip-hop as Horatio Alger myth’ narrative than someone who’s gone, to cite his subtitle, from South Central…

NBC has added a new twist to everyone’s favorite reality-show competition. In The Voice, a vocal competition similar to American Idol, contestants are hidden from the judges to ensure that they are evaluated only on their talent. Premiering on Tuesday at 9 p.m., the show will make contestants face Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Maroon…

StyleLikeU is a fashion blog driven by individuality, featuring pictures and video of models, designers and style lovers of all ages, races and ethnicities. Founders Elisa Goodkind and Lily Mandelbaum are less interested in the clothes and more interested in the person living inside them, which gives their site the kind of depth missing from…

HBO’s highly anticipated drama Treme, which follows New Orleans residents as they struggle to rebuild their lives after Hurricane Katrina, is back for a second season.  The new season picks up in 2006 and chronicles the lives of the residents as they move beyond the grief and try to restore all they lost in the storm. Fans of the…

The rapper in the Cuban trio Orishas has embarked on new solo effort, but he’s collaborating with some big names along the way. Yotuel Romero recently released his newest single, “Rock & Roll Con Canchleta,” with Puerto Rican rapper Tego Calderón. The single, with its mix of hip-hop, rock and conga, is available on iTunes.…

Gerald L. Early’s new book, A Level Playing Field: African American Athletes and the Republic of Sports, brings a smart perspective to the myriad ways that sports often tested out integration, long before it hit the nation’s highest courts, became a slogan appearing in a newspaper headline or started a movement that changed the nation…

It’s not a secret that the Wayans family has a knack for starring in hit TV shows. The latest to join the family TV biz is Damon Wayans Jr., who stars in the new ABC sitcom Happy Endings. The show tells the story of six friends who suddenly find themselves in unchartered territory after one…

Join Henry Louis Gates Jr., director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University and editor-in-chief of The Root, in a rare interview with sculptor and printmaker Elizabeth Catlett, who is 96 and still creating. What distinguishes Catlett‘s career, aside from her longevity, is her ability to focus on the black experience while living…

Fredericksburg, Va.’s Museum and Cultural Center will host the traveling exhibit Take Our Stand: The African-American Military Experience in the Age of Jim Crow through this summer. The exhibit chronicles black military history from the Spanish-American War to the desegregation of the U.S. military in 1948. The exhibit features reproduced images and documents from the…