Music
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28 Days of Album Cover Blackness With VSB, Day 17: Mystique's Mystique featuring Ralph Johnson (1977)
Friends, Romans, Countryfolks…this is one BlackAF album cover. The group, Mystique, signed to Curtis Mayfield’s Curtom Records, really came through with a cover that honestly sounds like the album. Mystique was an outfit that made funky-laden, lush records that were on the precipice of disco, you know, the kind of sounds cats who are floating…
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'How Does It Feel' to Know D'Angelo Is Doing a Verzuz at the Apollo and Has a Possible New Album Coming Soon?
It looks like D’Angelo is about to serve as a true “Black Messiah” of the Verzuz series and will be spicing things up for the popular online battle! The neo soul artist confirmed he’ll be hosting a “D’Angelo Verzuz Friends” on his official Instagram page over the weekend. This ain’t no normal Verzuz, either—D’Angelo won’t…
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28 Days of Album Cover Blackness With VSB, Day 16: Outkast's Aquemini (1998)
“Even the sun goes down, heroes eventually die, horoscopes…often lie, and sometimes “why”/Nothing is for sure, nothing is for certain, nothing lasts forever/But until they close the curtain, it’s him and I, Aquemini.” If you’re a fan of hip hop, and especially the “golden” era, then you probably both know and love Outkast. The group,…
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Mic Drop: These 10 New Songs Are All Over the Map of Love
Now that we have officially entered the second half of Black History Month and made it past Valentine’s Day, it looks like some of our favorite Black musicians decided it was time to let the world know what type of love they’re feeling—and on these new tracks, they seem to be in their bag! Now…
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28 Days of Album Cover Blackness With VSB, Day 15: Minnie Riperton's Perfect Angel (1974)
I love this album cover for Perfect Angel. For starters, it has an innocent feel to it, but that melted ice cream tells another tale. Plus, she outchea with the overalls with no shirt on. So it’s both innocent and sexy, with an afro for the ages. Once you consider that Minnie Riperton has a…
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28 Days of Album Cover Blackness With VSB, Day 14: Marvin Gaye's I Want You (1976)
It’s Valentine’s Day so it only makes sense to include an album cover for an album about that good lovin’. Marvin Gaye’s I Want You is that album. And there might not be a Blacker album cover. Gaye’s 1976 album used Ernie Barnes’ famous “Sugar Shack” painting—altered to include banners for the title of Marvin…
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28 Days of Album Cover Blackness With VSB, Day 13: Preston Love's Preston Love's Omaha Bar-B-Q (1969)
Have you ever seen an album cover that had you at hello? For me, that album cover would be Preston Love’s Preston Love’s Omaha Bar-B-Q (featuring Shuggie Otis on Guitar). I’d never heard of Preston Love. Or at least I didn’t know I had. You see, you know Preston Love even if you don’t know…
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28 Days of Album Cover Blackness With VSB, Day 12: Diana Ross' Diana (1980)
You know this album. I know this album. Your neighbor knows this album. Everybody knows this album by the Queen of Motown, Diana Ross, simply titled diana. Even if you can’t tell me what songs are on this album title, if you love Black music, I’m about 100 percent sure you know this cover. Everybody’s…
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28 Days of Album Cover Blackness With VSB, Day 11: Kay-Gees' Keep On Bumpin' & Masterplan (1974)
I cannot stress to you how much I love this album cover for the Kay Gee’s 1974 album, Keep On Bumpin’ & Masterplan (alternately released with the title Hustle With Every Muscle). Shot by Howard Winters and designed by Frank Daniel, this album cover for the Kay-Gees debut album is a masterclass in Black cool…
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28 Days of Album Cover Blackness With VSB, Day 10: The Brothers Johnson's Winners 1981
To be Black (especially in America) is to know the Brothers Johnson. They had several No. 1 singles on the R&B charts in the ’70s and ’80s. Even though they didn’t write “Strawberry Letter 23“—that distinction goes to Shuggie Otis—their rendition is probably the one most of us are familiar with. They also gave us…