verysmartbrothas
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Why Jeremih’s Song ‘Oui’ Bothers the Hell Out of Me
I’m not a fan of Jeremih. I’m also not not a fan of Jeremih. In fact, Jeremih exists in a space where I typically forget he exists until one of his songs pops up on a Sirius station I listen to and I read the info and I’m like, “Wow, he’s still around, eh? Well,…
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How Former TV News Anchor Wendy Bell Is Suing for the Right to Be Racist, Explained
Who is Wendy Bell? Wendy Bell was a lead anchor for WTAE-TV, Pittsburgh’s ABC affiliate. But since she is no longer employed by WTAE (and apparently no longer employable), her only current job title is Professional White Woman. Why is she no longer employed and employable? On March 9, six people were killed in a…
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10 Things You Can Say About LeBron if You Still Want to Hate Him but Have Run Out of Things to Say
So, after LeBron James returned to Cleveland and delivered a championship to a city that hasn’t seen one since the Paleolithic era, and did this while … beating the team that just completed the best regular season in NBA history; coming back from a 3-1 deficit (something that has never been done before in the…
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What Would It Take to Scare America Into Passing Stricter Gun Control?
It’s been exactly one year since Dylann Roof decided to make himself infamous by walking into Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church—less than five minutes from where I’m sitting now—to, according to prosecutors, commit murder, get his racist merit badge and join the ranks of the worst people from South Carolina ever. He accepted the kindness…
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10 Possible Demographics for Steph Curry’s Ridiculously Ugly Curry 2 Low ‘Chef’ Sneakers
NBA MVP Stephen Curry should be on cloud nine right now. He’s leading a team favored to win the NBA Finals; he has a beautiful family, including a wife who’s definitely putting in that “dual income” work; and he reportedly inked a deal with Under Armour that’s worth nine figures. And, according to something I…
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Hip-Hop Has a Woman Problem
Let’s go down memory lane for a bit. Twenty-eight years ago marked the release of MC Lyte’s seminal debut album, Lyte as a Rock. It was hip-hop’s first meaningful album from a female emcee. Twenty years ago marked the release of Bahamadia’s Kollage, the best hip-hop album ever from a female rapper. With the help…
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Allen Iverson Turned 41 This Year … and 25 Other Reasons Why I Feel Old Right Now
While I’ve been watching the Cavs play the Warriors during the NBA Finals, it’s been hard for me to look at Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue and take him seriously. Not because his team has been getting mollywhopped by Golden State in the first two outings. No, it’s because he will always be the guy Allen…
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Naomi Campbell and the ‘Twice as Good’ as White People Myth
Recently, for The Guardian, Naomi Campbell shared an excerpt from a limited edition, two-volume book that chronicles her life as a groundbreaking and highly successful supermodel and all of the opportunities stemming from that. Yet for all that is shared in the excerpt—her as a supermodel, her speaking with world leaders as a contributing editor…
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A Guide To Reading VSB For People Who Just Now Discovered VSB
Hello, person who just recently discovered VSB. My name is Damon Young, and I’m the editor-in-chief and co-founder of VSB. That’s me in the picture with the sunglasses and the egghead. The fashionable fella to my right is Panama Jackson, senior editor and also a co-founder. Here’s another picture of a much, much, much, much-less-drunk…
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Welcome To The New VSB
“What the hell are we doing?” This is an accurate synopsis of each of the dozens of conversations Panama and I have had in the past three years about the future and direction of VerySmartBrothas. We’ve both often joked that it has managed to stay afloat in spite of ourselves. But, after a couple years…