culture

Just when you thought Jay-Z had jumped the shark—letting his Caesar get nappy, hobnobbing with Coldplay, not really seeming interested in trying at his craft—he comes back hard with ‘D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune)’ in which he channels some Blueprint-era vitriol toward the inundation of Auto-Tune that has flooded hip hop in the last few years.…

On May 29th, Officer Joseph R. Rios III  of Passaic, New Jersey exited his police cruiser and started mollywhopping 49-year old Ronnie Holloway according to the Associated Press. And even if the AP hadn’t told us that, an outdoor security camera would have. Why did Rios assault Holloway? Let’s go to the tape…

DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ legend no stranger to being tossed out of places, was asked to leave a Kansas City venue on Saturday evening while doing a set in Kansas City. Performing in the downtown Power & Light District—which some call the Power & White district stemming from dress-code restrictions which seem targeted at keeping…

Hoping to prosper off the momentum President Obama created last fall, the Democratic gubernatorial hopefuls for Virginia have been trying to corner the vote that helped the 44th President carry that state. State Sen. R. Creigh Deeds, former Democratic National Committee chairman Terry McAuliffe and former state delegate Brian Moran have spent the last portion…

While returning from an economic development trip, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin may have been exposed to Swine flu. CNN has reported that another passenger on Nagin’s flight is being treated for symptoms similar to that of the Swine flu and Nagin, his wife, and a member of his security detail are being held in…

America has fallen for the Obamas. The history, the high glamour, the PDAs on the White House lawn. It’s a universal picture of love. But for many successful black women, with college degrees, ambitious careers and five-year plans, that enchantment has become something of an obsession. Those of us hoping to find suitable mates in…

At the University of Pennsylvania’s annual career fair, held on Sept. 16, 2008, things seemed pretty normal; blue-chip companies like Citigroup, J.P. Morgan, Barclays and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York had come to woo a bumper crop of undergraduates from the prestigious Wharton School. As business cards flashed, a tremor went through the…

Recently, I was on a panel for black journalists discussing how to build a career as a self-employed journalist. When I did this same panel a few years ago, the attendance was sparse. This year, there was standing room only.  As jobs dry up in newsrooms, more and more of my comrades are being forced…