culture
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Empire Recap: Heaven Help Us
Andre says that God is speaking to him. Will God have a chat with the writers and tell them to come up with a cohesive plot? The episode bounced all over the place and tried to pack in so many OMG moments that it turned into a lot of WTF. Here’s the breakdown: It’s official:…
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Great News: The Root Is Coming to Television
The Root is partnering with its sister media outlet, Fusion, to bring some of our original content documenting African-American news, opinions and experiences to the Fusion television network, Variety reports. The Root is one of the leading news websites producing engaging content for African-American audiences. Executives who orchestrated the deal describe how viewers wanted to…
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‘Black to the Future’ Is a Searing Indictment of ‘Post-Racial America’
Today, Oct. 21, 2015, is a big day for fans of the Back to the Future film franchise. It was to this date that Marty McFly, Michael J. Fox’s character in Back to the Future II (1989), traveled forward in time to save the lives of his future children. Today, in the midst of police forces with hover…
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The Lie Everyone Tells You About Having a Pregnant Wife
“If it’s a lie, then we fight on that lie.” —Slim Charles One of the best things about The Wire is that, even almost a decade after the last episode aired, you can still incorporate lines from the show to describe everyday situations. Order cream of chicken with wild rice at Panera Bread, and it comes…
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Howard University and Its Maybe Multimillion-Dollar Dilemma
The tough decision that Howard University faces—whether to keep or sell its license to valuable TV spectrum for potentially hundreds of millions of dollars—is the best thing that could happen to the school. Not just because of the money, but because making that decision forces Howard to take its underutilized assets seriously and consider its…
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Being Mary Jane Recap: Facing Fears
As the third season opens on BET’s Being Mary Jane, the scars on Mary Jane’s face from the accident have put her prime-time anchor job in jeopardy. Just the sight of David at the hospital sends M.J. into a violent rage. Mr. and Mrs. Patterson want answers. Mr. Patterson knocks David out over his babbling answer.…
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My Married Friends Aways Invite Their Husbands When We Hang Out
Dear Demetria: I’m single. A lot of my friends are married. I’ll suggest getting together, and they’ll say yes, only to hit me at the last minute with, “Hubby will be with me; is that all right?” Is it unrealistic of me to expect to still see my girls without their men tagging along? —Anonymous…
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What You Need to Know Before Catastrophe Strikes
Harriette Cole is the author of the book of meditations 108 Stitches: Words We Live By and a contributing editor at The Root. Follow her on Twitter.
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A Hater’s Guide to Hating Drake and Hating the ‘Hotline Bling’ Video
Who is Drake? Drake is a Jewish-Canadian Instagram model who’s known for dating Serena Williams and other women so thick that everyone else in the room is so uncomfortable. He also records and releases songs about Toronto and Spanx, apparently. One question in and you’re hating already! Why couldn’t you just say, “Drake is a…
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Has Empire Jumped the Shark?
What is going on with Empire this season? Last year’s glorious guilty pleasure left things on a high note but came back flat. It shouldn’t have. Not when the finale set the stage for the next chapter: After a season-long competition to determine which of Cookie and Lucious’ sons would be heir apparent to the…