Very Smart Brothas
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Yeah, Maybe the NBA (the Players, the Media, the Front Offices and the Fans) Ain’t as ‘Woke’ as It Pretends to Be
The NBA has successfully branded itself as the professional sports league that embraces progressive politics and the individual freedoms of its players—the “woke” counterpoint to the NFL. You don’t have to be very cynical to see the intentionality behind this. The National Football League has a lock on the sort of people who politicians refer…
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Yeah LeBron, This Ain’t a Good Look [Updated]
After watching the fourth quarter of last night’s explosive Los Angeles Lakers and Houston Rockets game live, and after watching the ensuing fight(s) from approximately 17,000 different angles, the single most entertaining thing is how Chris Paul turns into an impression of Kevin Hart doing an impression of someone about to fight, and how this…
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Dear God, It's Me, Panama. I See Rain in the Forecast for Spelhouse Homecoming Next Weekend. Let's Talk
Dear God, What up, doe!?! How you doing, Big Homie? I be reading the news, so I can tell you’re either super busy or taking naps upon naps. No shade, Big Bro. I’m just saying I noticed that chaos is abundant. You know what, this isn’t starting out well. I really wanted to write you…
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Reflections on My #VerySmartWedding Less Than A Week After It Happened
To quote Shug Avery from The Color Purple, “I’se married now!” Last Friday, in glorious fashion and with glorious weather—and three wardrobe changes—by the end of the night, I had a wife and great memories of a wonderful wedding experience. Quite simply, ‘twas a ball … all day long. As a culture commentarian, and because…
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All of the Food in New Orleans Is the Best of All the Foods. How Is This Possible?
Before flying there for Essence Fest in July, I’d never been to New Orleans. Since then, I’ve been there twice, once for Panama’s bachelor party, then Sunday and Monday of this week to speak at Tulane University. Between the three separate visits, I’ve been there eight days total. In those eight days, I’ve probably eaten…
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I’mma Let Y’all Finish But SNL’s Chris Redd Just Did the Best Kanye West Impression of All Time
I have either run out of things to think and say about the things Kanye West is (presumably) thinking and (definitely) saying or I have exhausted the will to make that effort. I’m not sure which. Either way, the result is the same. MAGA Kanye possesses the intersecting veneers of “fascinating” and “disturbing,” but the…
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Terence Nance and Damon Young on Random Acts of Flyness, Intentional Acts of Blackness, and the Beauty of Lotion
Four things you don’t really need to know before watching this (but I’m going to tell you anyway) 1. Although this video is 12 minutes of Terence Nance (the creator and star of HBO’s Random Acts of Flyness) and I talking about everything from subverting the white gaze to the performance of masculinity (and the…
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Yeah, Telling Black Women ‘To Carry Pepper Spray’ to Fight Street Harassment Is Missing the Point
While at lunch with a friend a few years ago, she couldn’t locate her lip gloss, so she emptied her purse out on the table to find it. She didn’t have much in there—an iPhone, a wallet, her keys and a small make-up kit. And also, a can of pepper spray. She noticed me noticing…
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Mural Depicts Dallas Cowboys' Dak Prescott in 'The Sunken Place' for Anti Protest Comments
Although Michael Jordan’s “Republicans buy sneakers too” (a statement he might not have actually said) is oft-cited as a juxtaposition to the very public activism from many contemporary athletes, he was definitely not the only star of the ‘90s finding oxygen and endorsements behind the both sides shield. Where a person like former Chicago Bulls…
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Just Remember That Your Punk-Ass President Would Never, Ever, Ever Call LeBron James Dumb to His Face
We have known, since we’ve known who Donald Trump is, that Donald Trump is a racist. Perhaps his name hasn’t always been associated with racism, but racism has always been attached to the Donald Trump package, like an IKEA refrigerator equipped with a complimentary ice maker. We know, for instance, that he was sued decades…