1. The matter-of-fact way he states, “Today was not a good learning day.” Which, in this context, is the equivalent of starting a sentence with, “But I just think it’s kinda funny that ... ”
Denzel Washington is a living icon—a man so ensconced in our collective cultural consciousness that even his voice, his walk and his facial expressions are considered independent sentient beings. He was at the Golden Globes last night as his friend Oprah Winfrey received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime…
1. The name of the group: De-Von-Tré. This is such a great and appropriate ’90s R&B name that I’m shocked it was available. Kinda like when you meet someone whose Twitter handle is @John and you think, “How the fuck did you get John?”
To be clear, I am not interested in any honorary blackening or distributing any sort of cookout invitations to Juli Briskman, the white woman fired from her marketing-company job after a photo of her flipping the bird at a Trump motorcade went viral. Because while Juli might very well be swell, I don’t know her like…
1. Because I keep trying to find ways to articulate the myriad shades of beautiful and banging-ass brown found in this photo shoot — done in Costa Rica by 28 members of the Florida A&M chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, where they celebrated the 10 year anniversary of them crossing in 2007 — and I keep coming back to food.…
You know what I don’t mind? Aside from not minding if you stroke me up, (I don’t mind) I do not mind being the voice of Black America. Not on radio or television, I mean in the office and to white people anywhere. If I work at a company and there aren’t a lot of Black people around (likely) and white folks have…
According to Clover Hope, Aisha Harris, and other people I trust, Girls Trip is apparently the raunchy and randy comedy we didn't know we were waiting for and wanted until it was here. (Basically, it's the iPad of comedies.) And this makes me happy and shit, as it apparently 1) proves (again) that Malcolm Lee is…
I love us. “Us” being Black folks. And there is no greater time than today to flaunt and celebrate it. We are swimming in the ocean of the Black TV Renaissance resurgence, we’re the driving force of social media, our music (as always) is the soundtrack to everyone’s lives, and well… the Carter twins are Black.
"Punk rock" entered our lexicon a couple decades ago as an adjective attached to things with no obvious connection to punk rock music. Instead, that phrase is used as a stand-in for a certain fuck-deprived, anti-establishment, devil-may-care ethos associated with it. And it could be used to modify anything — a…
The face Harpers Ferry National Historical Park superintendent Tyrone Brandyburg made yesterday when presented a $78,333 check from Donald Trump — the same Donald Trump who plans to cut funding from the National Park Service — is a face we all recognize. Because its a face of recognition. It's the "This nigga…" face.…
Last month, Damon and I had the pleasure of visiting BET to be interviewed for a Black History Month campaign they're running called, "Great 28." Our profile dropped yesterday on BET.com. Thanks to BET for bringing us up and giving us an additional platform to share the VSB word. For the culture, for the community.…
Four thoughts about Barry White Jr. — a fifth grade literary teacher at Charlotte's Ashley Park Elementary School who has a different dap for every student in each of his three classes.
While y'all's cousin Sage Steele was on Instagram lamenting that the airport protesters might cause some people to be a little late for their flights — ultimately reminding us all to never trust a Black person named after a spice — Mahershala Ali took his SAG award acceptance speech as an opportunity to provide the…
Unless some unforeseen and arbitrarily specific and fortuitous calamity happens between now and January 20th, rendering him unable to hold office, Donald Trump will officially be President of the United States.
I’ve been to the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) twice so far - yes, that was a stunt - and it is easily the second Blackest place I’ve ever been in life. The Blackest? I’m glad you asked. That would be in the southeastern quadrant of Washington, DC, where Martin Luther…
There's no escaping capital letter Whiteness. Not here, at least.
By now, I'm sure you've seen or at least heard about the footage of the TODAY Show's makeover from Hell, where a Black model (Malyia McNaughton) had her beautiful curls turned into a bird's nest by "beauty expert" Deepica Mutyala. A bird's nest sitting on top of a streetlight on a windy-ass day. A bird's nest in a…
It's been well-established that President Obama discarded the last one of his fucks many moons ago; letting it go the same way Kappas forsake dignity at coed kickball games. We don't know exactly where he left that last fuck, but my guess would be in a bathroom sink in Ben's Chili Bowl on U Street, which is where…
I first watched Jesse Williams' speech on a phone in a lobby in a country club in Long Island. I wasn't able to watch the BET Awards (or the Game of Thrones) live yesterday because I was at a wedding reception there, but knowing both BET and HBO were going to broadcast several re-airings, I planned on watching…
The concept of being unapologetically Black ultimately boils down to a Black person being — or, at least, striving to be — their best self. And believing that this best self includes and doesn't exclude or contradict with a shameless and unabashed embrace of Blackness. Admittedly, the journey to unapologetic Blackness…
