culture

On Kanye West’s new album, Yeezus, he raps on the song “I Am God” the following line: “In a French-ass restaurant/Hurry up with my damn croissants.” It’s typical Kanye fare, a boast and a complaint in one couplet, but members of the Association of French Bakers don’t seem to be familiar with West’s work, or…

In 1959 Motown released its first hit song, “Money (That’s What I Want),” which also put Berry Gordy’s small Detroit-based R&B label on the music map. Theoretically, it should have done the same for Barrett Strong, who was 19 at the time that he wrote the song and recorded the original version. But in a…

From Thursday to Sunday, college-football fans around the country celebrated the annual return of their beloved game. But as is the case with most HBCUs, it wasn’t the opening kick-off that had alumni and students filling stadiums; it was the halftime show, and nowhere was that more true than at the Florida Citrus Bowl, featuring…

Beginning in the early hours of Sunday morning, a wave of gunfire spread throughout New York City. According to the Daily News, 17 incidents were reported, but in a separate story (also by the Daily News), one shooting in particular has outraged the Brooklyn neighborhood in which it took place.  A 1-year-old Brooklyn boy was…

Back on Aug. 18, Fox Sports sideline reporter Pam Oliver was doing what she usually does: giving viewers at home the latest updates on the Indianapolis Colts and New York Giants, who were scheduled to kick off their preseason game. Out of nowhere, while broadcasting, Oliver was hit in the side of the head by…

What was supposed to be a bust for counterfeit sports jerseys turned out to be so much more, after federal agents raided the home and business of Richard Schmidt. The Ohio resident, who is an ex-con, was discovered to have the kind of firearm stash that your favorite rapper only raps about, according to the…

(The Root) — Talk about ugly timing. Word comes from Atlanta that on the very day on which thousands gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to mark the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, the sons of Martin Luther King Jr. were dragging their sister into court, accusing her of planning to keep using their…

In a nod to author Norman Mailer’s 1957 description of whites who appropriate black culture as “white Negroes,” David J. Leonard writes at the Chronicle of Higher Education about a new subgenre of hip-hop called frat rap. It serves up rhymes about all things white and middle class, he says. Adele, Justin Timberlake, Eminem, Teena…

Writing at Time, John McWhorter argues that speculation about Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker’s sexuality is all wrong. It would be greatly advantageous to the New Jersey Democratic Senate candidate to be an openly gay politician on the national stage, he writes. “I don’t intend to answer.” “So what does it matter if I am?”…

South African President Jacob Zuma’s office said on Sunday that Nelson Mandela has been discharged from the Pretoria hospital where he had been receiving treatment since June, according to CNN. The former South African president will continue his recovery at home. “Madiba’s condition remains critical and is at times unstable,” President Jacob Zuma’s office said,…