culture

NBA player Lamar Odom has had problems with drug use since the early days of his NBA career. But if TMZ reports are true, the problem could be more intense than the marijuana use to which he has admitted in the past. Odom could be addicted to crack cocaine. TMZ broke the story … Lamar…

The U.S. Postal Service on Friday unveiled a new stamp that commemorates the historic 1963 March on Washington, the Associated Press reports. The image shows marchers carrying placards calling for jobs and equal rights, with the Washington Monument as a backdrop. Rep. John Lewis remembers the moment well: More than 250,000 people marching toward the…

Writing at the Washington Post, Courtland Milloy expresses disappointment with Saturday’s commemorative 50th anniversary March on Washington, calling it “a day filled with irony as speakers criticized the status quo that some black leaders have helped maintain.” Unlike the march in 1963, organized by socialist intellectuals A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin, the updated version…

Eric Deggans writes at CNN that the unspoken argument propelling the debate surrounding the horrific deaths of Chris Lane and Trayvon Martin is the conflict over institutional prejudice and racism. This past week, Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends” and The Daily Caller website both reported the three teens who killed Lane were black. The Daily Caller…

Former GOP congressman Allen West reached a new low when he attacked prominent Democrats for failing to speak out against three black Florida teens accused of beating up a white kid, Gregory Kane writes at BlackAmericaWeb.com. What has West in high dudgeon is the incident in which three black teens attacked a 13-year-old white boy on a…

Robin Thicke’s team reportedly made Marvin Gaye’s family a six-figure offer in an effort to avert a nasty copyright-infringement battle, but the family rejected it, Billboard reports. According to sources knowledgeable with the lawsuit, the settlement offer came after Frankie Christian Gaye, Marvin Gaye III and Nona Marvisa Gaye accused Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” hit single…

Calling it “questionable” that George Zimmerman was acquitted in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, former Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed uncertainty about whether the case would have lasting power in the public’s mind, the Associated Press reports. Speaking on CBS’s Face the Nation, Powell said cases like Martin’s “blaze across the midnight sky”…

Tens of thousands of people came to the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on Saturday to observe the 50th anniversary of the famous march, the Associated Press reports. Speakers called for marchers to continue fighting for King’s dream, saying it includes equality for gays, Hispanics, the poor and disabled. The event was an homage to…

(The Root) — Aug. 25 marks the 15th anniversary of The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, arguably one of the most important albums of the hip-hop generation. The album was so resounding and influential that it is still cited by many artists as the greatest release this side of Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Hill’s first album —…

Because music executives have little faith in the profitability of female solo artists, women, who were once a dominant force in hip-hop, have become almost completely invisible in the industry today, Feminista Jones writes at Salon. But who are the notable women in mainstream hip-hop today? There is Nicki Minaj who, while often charismatic and…