culture

The tension between Chris Brown and Drake is well-documented, from club brawls to barb-filled interviews. Saturday was no different, when the Toronto MC was asked about his adversary, according to MTV News. “Don’t ask me sh— about that man when I come up there and leave that man alone. Stop preying on his insecurities,” Drake…

(Special to The Root) — “Is it better to have my son in a small school with fewer resources and supportive teachers, or a larger school with more resources but administrators who aren’t exactly nurturing?” —Monica Blakely Thank you for your question. It is a good one that many parents ask themselves when thinking about…

(The Root) — Something amazing is happening today. Your favorite musical icons from the 1990s are putting down the microphones and picking up the pens (or paying someone to do it for them) and writing books giving relationship advice aimed primarily at black women.  The success of Steve Harvey’s Act Like a Lady, Think Like…

Man’s mother eats lots of watermelon while pregnant, man is born with watermelon-shaped birthmark, man grows up to hate the fruit. This is Theodore Johnson’s story, and although he’s aware of the historical significance of the red and green fruit, he writes on the Huffington Post that he’s tired of the weight blacks allow the…

Tiger Woods recently announced his new relationship with Lindsey Vonn on a gossip magazine cover, but Khalid Salaam writes on the Shadow League that his choice of women plays into an old stereotype of how to get ahead as a black athlete. Posing for last month’s cover of People Magazine – with his new lady, Olympic skier…

If you’re heading to see 42, the biopic about Brooklyn Dodger Jackie Robinson, be prepared for a sanitized version of his life and racism in America, writes Grantland‘s Wesley Morris. 42 is a Hollywood movie about American racism in which the objects of that racism must summon their most noble selves. [Screenwriter and director] Helgeland, who’s…

After his older brother was killed, Anthony Colon was inconsolable. But as he matured, his feelings of rage became seeds of forgiveness for Michael Rowe, his sibling’s murderer, reports CNN. Then one summer day, a chance encounter while visiting a friend at the Eastern Correctional Facility in Ulster County, New York, changed his life. He…

Following Jay-Z and Beyoncé’s well-publicized recent trip to Cuba and the MC’s subsequent song, film director Phil Lord, son of a Cuban refugee, wrote an open letter to Jay-Z. In it, Lord calls him a “dupe” for not being smarter about his island vacation, according to the Huffington Post. But for me, Cuba is not…

A Louisiana Parish Council recently voted to make sagging pants illegal and punishable by fines of up to $100, writes Gawker. The Council of Terrebonne Parish (a council that sounds mystical and awesome, but is being totally uncool here) has brought comfort to old people everywhere who somehow believe that the unstoppable whims of fashion…

On Friday, Kobe Bryant suffered a popped Achilles tendon during a Los Angeles Lakers game and his trainer announced on Saturday that he will be out for the rest of the season, reports CNN. Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant will be out for six to nine months after rupturing his Achilles tendon, a Lakers…