pop culture
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White Guy Acts A Fool, Black Guy Gets Maced For Being In The Vicinity
Thank the lord for camera-phones, photogs, and civic-minded individuals who give a shit. Especially considering everything going on in Missouri right now, its kind of cool to hear non-Black people have the back (unsuccessfully) of a young, Black guy. Because it’s been that kind of week, such is the story of 25-year-old Raymond Wilford who…
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No Future In Ciara's Future (Except The Baby She Named Future Jr, Of Course)
The future looks grim for Future and Ciara, apparently. Because there’s no Future in Ciara’s future. (Except Future Jr, of course.) Sometimes I think one of the ways God shows us his sense of humor (other than allowing Ann Coulter to exist) is when situations occur that call for one of those waaaaaaaaay too easy puns.…
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Fear, Love, And Robin Williams
There’s one part about being in love that people currently there don’t really share. Admittedly, this seems practical. I imagine they want others to eventually be there too, so they volunteer personal examples of the want, weightlessness, and fulfillment associated with it to make others eager to join their club. I’m currently experiencing this. And…
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Waiting For 'Black Jesus' To Rise
(Aaron McGruder’s highly anticipated ‘Black Jesus’ debuted last night. Damon and Panama exchanged a few emails about it this morning.) So, let me tell you about my day yesterday. Between 8am and 11pm, I wrote an 800 word piece for EBONY, wrote a 400 word piece for Madame Noire, edited and formatted Alex’s piece yesterday,…
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Why Gospel Rap Struggles for Acceptance
“…people ask for God, ’til the day he comes/see God’s face, turn around and run/God sees the face, of the man/God shakes his head, says he’ll never understand…” ~ Dice Raw of The Roots, “Understand” …and then you shoot your cousin I’m not a fan of gospel rap. Well most of it anyway. I’ve listened to…
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Beyonce Inspires Two Very Strange Women To Make Shitty Music
My expectations weren’t exactly high when waiting to listen to Lil Kim’s addition to “Flawless.” But, because I respect my elders — and because her Hardcore poster remains one of the most seminal moments of my life — I listened to it. And it made me sad. Ok. I’m lying. Kim’s very public deterioration over…
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Swagger Wagon: Here's How I Like My Cultural Appropriation
By now, I’m sure most people have seen the commercial/video for the 2015 Toyota Sienna minivan. It features a new version of the Sienna family (The Neuberts) from the original “Swagger Wagon” video from 2010. There’s one big difference between the 2010 version and this latest 2014 version. The 2014 version is exactly how I like my cultural…
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Why I Love Natural Hair
[I’m speaking on a panel entitled, The Men’s Perspective Panel, on Sunday, August 3, about men’s opinions on women and natural hair. I figured I might as well get a few thoughts out in advance spread my wings a bit. The panel is apart of the Naturalista Hair Show happening in Silver Spring, MD, on…
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Facebook Goes Down, Eduardo Saverin Does Shmoney Dance In Celebration
Ok. This didn’t really happen. Facebook did really go down at around noon, but there’s no footage of Eduardo Saverin or the Winklevoss twins doing the Shmoney Dance in celebration. But…there’s no footage of them not doing it either. So, who knows? Still, we can dream. Roll Call is a daily collection of interesting news stories,…