culture

The John Singleton-directed episode of The People v. O.J. Simpson begins with O.J. in jail, reminiscing about being at the club, which included Soul Train lines, excessive pelvis thrusting and lots of coke. Across town at O.J. lawyer Robert Shapiro’s office, the attorneys are eating lox and whitefish on O.J.’s dime. Shapiro starts the meeting…

Looks like a good smattering of black Hollywood’s best and brightest will not be in Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium come Oscar night, but instead will be fellowshipping with the residents of Flint, Mich., to raise money and awareness for the beleaguered city struggling through an odious water crisis. Director Ava DuVernay, singer Janelle Monáe, actor Jesse…

Disclaimer: The following words do not work if you are allergic to common sense or if Kanye West is your spirit animal. They work only if you have pledged allegiance to good decision-making. Until I saw the movie Brown Sugar in the early aughts, I’d never heard the term “trust yourself.” That might sound crazy,…

A few weeks after the clusterf—k that was the Anti release (shoutout to the newly unemployed Tidal team member who tripped and hit the big red button hours before he or she was supposed to), Rih Rih decided to bless us with some choice visuals for her first single, “Work,” and she did not disappoint…

For those who have been faithfully watching FX’s ratings juggernaut, The People v. O.J. Simpson, and keeping up with recaps on The Root, waiting for Johnnie Cochran has been an exercise in patience. Well, the wait is over. Courtney B. Vance took a few minutes out of his promotional schedule to chat with The Root about…

“Trayvon Martin could have been me.” Those were the words a visibly shaken President Barack Obama expressed to the country one summer day almost three years ago, a week after slain teen Trayvon Martin’s killer was acquitted of all charges and allowed to walk free. President Obama, like much of black America, was despondent about…

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced on Twitter Monday that Kendrick Lamar will induct N.W.A into the organization at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., this April. N.W.A will join Cheap Trick, Chicago, Deep Purple and Steve Miller as this year’s inductees. K. Dot will join presenters Kid Rock, the Black Keys, Metallica’s…

It wasn’t so much the photo of former NBA point guard Delonte West in a flannel shirt and leather vest neatly hiding the hospital gown that threw me. It wasn’t West’s dazed look or his closed eyes or the report that he was shoeless in a Houston Jack in the Box parking lot. All those…