the hardline

News of singer Usher Raymond’s filing of divorce papers lit the Internets ablaze, but I could help but wonder how this affects all those people who thought Usher was Father of The Year not quite two years ago. I’m happy he’s going in for full joint custody — it’s the only way to fly —…

Madonna just got approved for another brown bouncer. I guess she’s a lil long in the tooth to make milk-mongers the old fashioned way, and since she started out the gate on the late side anyways, so she’s trying to make up for lost time by becoming the Old Woman in The Shoe, collecting random…

I’m a real fan of rapper-turned-singer T-Pain‘s songwritiing and innovation, but his most recent bit of bling makes me sad. See, T-Pain paid 410K for an insane peice of jewelery, and just raised the bar for ridiculous hip-hop coonery to a whole new level. He says he splurged because he can, and I believe him.…

When Chanequa Campbell cried racism after Harvard refused to let her graduate behind a drug deal gone bad, I knew she had failed. Cries of racism have lost their potency, thank God. Her peers won’t ride for her, and small wonder why. The days when you could just print up a t-shirt slogan and start…

I’m not sure why the Rev. Jeremiah Wright won’t just shut up and keep the president’s name out of his mouth. Even given the way he nearly brought down an election with his rhetoric, Wright still finds a way to talk about Barack Obama. I understand that he’s aman of the clothe, called to a…

By now, you know that my Cleveland Cavaliers took an “L” to the Orlando Magic a few weeks back, and instead of doing the customary congratulating of the victor, the Cavalier’s Lebron James made a beeline for the team bus. When asked for an explaination later, he said he wasn’t sure why it makes sense…

De La Soul is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the release of “3 Feet High and Rising” on Tommy Records, an album that changed alot about hip-hop production and challenged narrative conventions of the time. With their manner of speech and dress, they didn’t exactly fit in the super-black power militancy of the day. But…

PAGE SIX is reporting—as if gossip pages “report” anything”—that Roland Martin and Anderson Cooper are bringing CNN’s Arbitron numbers down. I don’t know if there is any truth to that, and CNN isn’t telling. Personally, I’m like a “not” fan of Roland’s: I don’t watch him if I can help it, but I’m pulling for…

Some of youse may be late on this, but the video of hipster rapper Charles Hamilton getting popped in the jaw by his ex-girlfriend has been floating around the Internets for a minute now. It starts off where most of these things kinda YouTube promo-farts start off—banal, self-serving. Hamilton decides it would be a good…

I’ve lived in Cleveland for most of my life, and I’m probably the worst local sports fan ever. The teams here routinely fail, so as a consequence, if you are a Clevelander, you usually adopt another city’s team as your own, just to have some hope in your life. The Cleveland Cavaliers have renewed my…