culture
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Confessions of a Bad Dad on the Eve of His 2nd Child
As my wife and I careen into the last few weeks of her pregnancy and prepare for life with our new little girl, it’s beginning to dawn on me just how bad a job I’ve been doing as a parent for our first daughter. Four, almost five, years into the game, and I’m finally coming…
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If You Name It Love Jones, They Will Come
In 1997, when my college roommate and I left the premiere of Love Jones, we headed to the nearest drugstore to find a lipstick to match Nina Mosley’s. My best friend got Nina’s haircut. I teased her mercilessly, but I was secretly envious. I bought the soundtrack, the VHS and, later, the DVD. Find any…
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Young M.A.: The Most Visible Black Queer Woman in Hip-Hop Is a Misogynist
Young M.A., a gritty rap phenom who channeled the swagger of Brooklyn and the heart of ’90s East Coast hip-hop, slid onto radio airwaves across the nation in the throes of Drake’s Summer Sixteen Tour. “Ooouuu,” her viral single, is the first mainstream hip-hop record by an out, masculine-presenting lesbian that contains explicit affirmations of…
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Unsung: The Story of House Music and Pioneer Frankie Knuckles Is Long Overdue
Those tuning in Wednesday night to TV One’s Unsung: Frankie Knuckles and the Roots of House will get an unexpected surprise. Unlike previous Unsung episodes, this one is extremely ambitious. Using Frankie Knuckles—the universally recognized “Godfather of House Music” who is perhaps best known for “The Whistle Song”—as its anchor, Unsung dares to tell the…
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What to Make of Kanye West?
This piece started off quite differently. You see, after years of skating around the margins of the sentiment, I’d finally leaned into full-on “F—k Kanye West” mode. It followed years of annoyance at his trend of constantly obnoxious and solipsistic behavior. Even his admission during a recent concert that he didn’t vote at all Nov. 8…
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2016: The Year Blackness Took Over
When our cyborg descendants dig into the past from the dystopian future brought on by the evil empire assembled by our next commander in chief (whose evil aura and breathing difficulties make me 93.2 percent sure he’s actually Darth Vader), 2016 will likely be remembered as the year America was bamboozled into electing a slightly…
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Just Because You’re My Father Doesn’t Mean You’re My Parent
Season 9 of The Real Housewives of Atlanta is in full swing, and the show would not be what it is without its typical storylines. From fights over who has the most expensive and well-decorated homes to who’s sleeping with whom or who’s stepping out on whom, The Real Housewives of Atlanta continues to provide…
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Collecting Our History: How Black Memorabilia Shapes the Present Through the Past
Images of African Americans, whether they are racist portraits of chocolate-skinned people with big red lips or positive images of iconic blacks such as President Barack Obama and actress Cicely Tyson, have a lot to do with how people of color see themselves. Are they pretty and smart, or are they ugly and stupid? People…
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Your Conditioning Has Been Conditioned: Why Sexual ‘Preference’ Is Political
Though not straightforward, there is a connection between who we think is desirable and whose life has value within a white supremacist country like the United States. This question of value came to a head in the candidacy and unfortunate election of Donald Trump. What has become even truer now is that the status quo…
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Before Erykah Badu Hosted the Soul Train Awards Sunday, She Threw a Vegan Dinner: Explained
Upon my receipt of an email containing an invitation to a soul vegan dinner hosted by Erykah Badu that required the donning of a kimono, an immediate response came to mind: Of course Badu wants me to eat vegan food dressed like Kinu from A Different World. Badu doesn’t strike me as a Popeye’s Tuesday two-piece-special…