culture
-
Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood Is Back. Keyshia Cole Seems Happier, Hazel-E Acts Thirsty and Teairra Mari Looks Tipsy
What I love most about Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood is what I hated most about living in Los Angeles: the people. I’m not talking about L.A. natives, who are, more often than not, fine-fine-fine-fine-fine-fine, whew. I’m referring to the transients—specifically, those people who move to L.A. with dreams of being the next big rapper…
-
The Black Person’s Guide to Marijuana
On Monday a group of plaintiffs that includes former New York Jets tight end Marvin Washington filed suit against Attorney General Jeff Sessions about marijuana. No, Sessions didn’t smoke anyone’s stash (although he might need to take a couple of hits after Donald Trump fires him in the next few minutes). The suit challenges the…
-
Sunday’s Game of Thrones Episode Was All About Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and Staying Woke
Even though we’ve discussed how Game of Thrones teaches us everything we need to know about white America, breaking down the political and social metaphors embedded within each episode requires a keen eye and the ability to understand the language of literary analogy. The messages hidden beneath the layers of turmoil and conflict sometimes need…
-
Unsung: Before There Was DeBarge, There Was Switch
The story of Switch, the group that paved the way for the group DeBarge with sibling harmonizers Bobby and Tommy DeBarge, is a story as much about the journey for self-love as it is about their ability to seduce audiences with falsettos, rich love songs and lush harmonies. On Sunday, TV One’s Unsung tells the…
-
For Colored Girls Who Don’t Know They’re Struggling
“It looks like melanoma,” my dermatologist said casually as she biopsied a mysterious scar that had developed under my left temple. I was unmoved. I cried when my hairdresser found a bald spot the size of a silver dollar in the middle of my scalp while roller-setting my tightly coiled curls a month before. I…
-
They Let O.J. Out. I’m $20 Richer but Ambivalent
Moo-la la. Orenthal James Simpson got off. Again. The juice is LOOSE! And I’m $20 richer for it. (Two people on The Root staff took the bet.) I had a feeling about this one. Would Lady Justice show her hypocritical ass or keep it classy? In Nevada it can go either way. This is the…
-
R. Kelly, Usher, Kevin Hart: I Suspected. But What Was I Supposed to Do?
In the late ’90s, I was working at an urban entertainment magazine. R. Kelly’s career was scorching hot, as it had been since day one, even though by this point the Aaliyah debacle was still on everyone’s mind. Did he really marry her when she was 15? Did R. Kelly have her parents’ permission? The…
-
Don’t You Know That You’re Toxic?
Editor’s Note: Trigger warning, this post talks about the subject of suicide, and was written before the death of Linkin Park’s Chester Bennington. It can be time-consuming, this constant calibration of moods. I can’t predict when it will hit me, when my lungs will close and the room will begin to spin. When I feel…
-
Hella Homecoming: The Evolution of Insecure
Summer is indisputably a season tailor-made for black joy. ’Tis the season of cookouts, stoop-sitting, rooftop bars, music and food festivals, block parties, hand fans, summer jams and all-white affairs (“Diner en Blanc,” if you’re bougie). And for fans of Issa Rae, it is now also the season to welcome with open and sun-kissed arms…
-
Cersei Lannister Would Be an AKA: And the Other Black Greek Organizations These Game of Thrones Characters Would Pledge
In undergrad, there was a frat brother who would watch fictional movies and randomly announce which characters he thought would have tried to join black Greek organizations. Prince Akeem from Coming to America? He would have tried to be an Alpha. Jody from Baby Boy? He was Omega material. Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense?…