culture
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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?…
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He’s Not Black, He’s O.J.: Simpson Manages to Get Parole in Trump’s America and We’re Shocked!
Black America figured that O.J. Simpson would be in prison forever. To hear white people tell it, O.J. is responsible for: ex-wife Nicole Simpson’s and Ron Goldman’s deaths; the current Black Lives Matter movement; Colin Kaepernick’s protest and hair; Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s maritial issues; and Drake’s supposed baby with a former video vixen. (Sidenote: How…
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Watch: Color Complex: Meet Jayne Waithera, the Extraordinary Kenyan Woman Giving a Voice to Albinism
Skin color both unites and divides us. Whether you live in India, East Africa or Japan, the color of your skin shapes your identity and opportunities. Color Complex is a narrative series that explores how people of color around the world struggle for visibility and learn to navigate the prejudices and social hierarchies associated with…
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Watch: Jay Ellis and Yvonne Orji of Insecure Talk About That Infamous ‘Best Buy Polo’ Scene
It was the swinging hanger heard around the world. I remember it like it was yesterday … Issa Rae’s character Issa in Insecure rushed back home to Inglewood, Calif., to reconnect with her estranged (and fresh) ex Lawrence (played by Jay Ellis), only to find that he wasn’t there and he’d left something for her:…