Very Smart Brothas
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"Straight Outta Compton" and The Gang Called N*ggaz With Attitudes
Y’all gon’ have to excuse me for a second because I’m about to go full fanboy. NWA is my favorite rap group of all time. I love Outkast. I love Mobb Deep. I respect the hell out of Run-DMC. But NWA? That’s how you do group. I’ve written about how I discovered a lot of…
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Love & Hip Hop NY Ep. 508 Recap: The Baby Mamas Dramas
Happy Hump Day everyone! I know, this recap is about as timely as Cisco’s half-baked apologies – but you guys love me anyway. So let’s skip over the part where I tell you “what had happened was…” and get right to it. Let me start off by saying that Yandy has the worst support group…
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Why It Matters That The New York Times Refused To Refer To "White People" When Reporting On Lynchings In America
As horrified as I’ve always been by the fact that thousands of Black Americans were lynched — unjustly murdered by mobs for crimes they did or didn’t commit — I recently learned that I haven’t quite been horrified enough. Very aware of much of the chilling history associated with that act of America terrorism —…
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Kendrick Lamar, And The Beauty Of Black Rage
Yesterday, Kendrick Lamar dropped “The Blacker The Berry” — one of the most beautifully angry rap songs we’ve ever heard. He’s furious, and it’s fantastic, and we needed to talk about it. 1. This song is an exercise in compelling writing. Not just song writing. Writing period. I wanted to READ the lyrics while listening…
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What Happened With Ledisi Was Messed Up. But I Can't Get Mad At Beyonce
Russell Westbrook is a force of nature. A basketball singularity whose sole mission is to spaghettify anything existing between him and getting to the rim. Opposing point guards. Gravity. Other teammates. Common sense. It doesn’t fucking matter. He’s not the best player on his team. But he is the most unstoppable. Because, 0 for 16…
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Life As One Of The Last People On Kanye West Island
It’s 9:30 AM. I’m home. Drinking orange juice and watching Divergent. It’s the fourth time I’ve seen it this week. I keep hoping it somehow gets better. I’m always wrong. I open my blinds to let the morning sun in. The light breaks through. It’s sudden and arrogant, as morning sunlight tends to be. I open the…
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Yes, The Grammys Suck (And Have Sucked For Some Time), But Why?
The Grammys suck. This is neither a new nor a particularly provocative statement. It’s not even an opinion. We all know the Grammys suck. We continue to watch, talk, and write about them — hoping with each year that they might suck a bit less — but the slow burn of shitty continues. There is…