common
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Common on Putting His Money Where the Government Won't
Rapper and actor Common is investing in black children across the country by donating money to public schools. He and his mother, Mahalia Hines, Ph.D., teamed up with Burlington Stores and AdoptAClassroom.org to fund school supplies for students nationwide, including Puerto Rico. “Instead of educate, they’d rather convict the kids,” Common rapped, in front of…
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Tribeca Film Festival 2018: A New Film on Blue Note Records Takes Us Beyond the Notes
A horn riff. A thump of the bass. A tinkle of the keys followed by the “boom-bap” of the drums. These sounds are the hallmarks of legendary jazz label Blue Note Records, which was the first recording showcase of talents like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk and many more who would go on to…
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There’s a Time and Place for Professional Pseudonyms, and It’s When I’m Securing the Bag
My name is not Panama Jackson. I mean, it’s my name, but it’s not my name, ya know. It’s a pseudonym—a nickname created through some happenstance while I was trying to write and stay gainfully employed. Because of what I do for a living, Panama Jackson has significantly overtaken my real name in terms of…
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Common and Angela Rye Call It Quits
CNN correspondent and activist Angela Rye and rapper Common are a couple no more. According to Page Six TV, Rye confirmed the split, saying: “We have and will always be friends. He is an amazing human being, and I’m a much better person because he’s a part of my life. May we all keep loving…
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Common Has Secured the Bag and Now He Just Makes Dad Rap
Common is killing the game; or, in today’s parlance, Common has secured the bag. I’m almost 40 years old, which means that I grew up in the ’80s and ’90s listening to Common (née Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr.) when he was rapping about watermelons and communism and asking to borrow a dollar. I still own…
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Perfect Music Moments in Black History: The Roots and Common ‘Act Too (The Love of My Life)’
The Roots’ fourth album, 1999’s Things Fall Apart, is largely regarded as the album that put them over the top. While Organix, Do You Want More?!!!??! (personal fave) and Illadelph Halflife were all dope albums with superb hits—“Silent Treatment,” “Clones,” “Proceed” and “What They Do” immediately come to mind—Things Fall Apart is the one where…
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This Conversation With Erykah Badu Will Make You Wonder if She Dabbles in Hotepery
“I don’t care if the whole group says something; I’m going to be honest. I know I don’t have the most popular opinion sometimes,” Erykah Badu said during an interview with Vulture that left me wondering if years of breathing in incense fumes could cause brain damage, because these opinions of hers are problematic, to…
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Watch: The Chi Brings Black Joy, Says Actress Tiffany Boone
Actress Tiffany Boone gets satisfaction from showing the humanity of Chicagoans. “I think people think of Chicago as a super-dangerous place. These are human beings. Nobody wants to kill someone just to kill someone,” the up-and-coming actress told The Root. Boone plays Jerrika, a natural-hair beauty from the “right” side of the tracks, in Lena…
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Erica Garner’s Funeral Was Marred by a Family Dispute, but Her Unapologetic Warrior Spirit Could Not Be Diminished
Erica Garner’s short life was marked by her unbridled, studied passion for justice. And that passion, that pain, spilled over into her funeral service Monday evening. Her father was Eric Garner, whose last moments were captured on video as he sputtered, “I can’t breathe” 11 times on July 27, 2014. For Eric Garner, there was…
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Lena Waithe’s The Chi Expertly Gives the People of Chicago Humanity and Backstories
The Chi is the type of TV show Chicago deserves. If you leave it to the media, the limited picture that’s painted of Chicago turns anyone who’s never been there away from ever coming to Chi-town because of the seemingly limitless examples of violence that plague the city. But we can’t allow the media to…