Very Smart Brothas
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Prodigy Lived His Entire Life In Pain, And I Hope He Finally Has The Peace His Music Gave Me
My junior year of high school, I’d grown so self-conscious about the size and shape of my head that the mere thought of the bus rides to and from school and to and from basketball games induced anxiety and dread in me. Those bus rides were prime opportunities for “ripping sessions.” And despite my status as…
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Facebook Banned Me For Writing "N*gger" In A Piece About Racism, While Emails Calling Me "N*gger" Still Sit In My Inbox
Friday afternoon, as a reaction to the acquittal of former police officer Jeronimo Yanez in the shooting death of Philando Castile, I wrote a short piece attempting to articulate the morass of outrage and irrepressible frustration that comes attached to this type of news; a perpetual vexation and outrage that sticks and shifts and stuns…
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On The Vital And Audacious Rage Of Valerie Castile, The Newest Member Of The "Fucked Up Mother's Club"
Last Friday, an unsurprising but still disturbing announcement reverberated across the internet. A jury in Minnesota acquitted former police officer Jeronimo Yanez of all charges associated with the shooting death of Philando Castile. The announcement of the acquittal was kind of like being reminded of a slightly older, neglected wound that had started to bleed…
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Of Course The Officer Who Killed Philando Castile Was Acquitted, Because Nigger Hunting Season Is (Always) Here
I’m trying right now to find the right words to articulate the surreal inevitability of police-involved killings like this and the verdicts that follow. And I am not able to do it without repeating the millions of words I and countless others have already said when trying to find the right words to articulate the surreal inevitability of…
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This Man Cooking On A File Cabinet Grill Is The Blackest Thing I've Ever Seen This Week
I love us. “Us” being Black folks. And there is no greater time than today to flaunt and celebrate it. We are swimming in the ocean of the Black TV Renaissance resurgence, we’re the driving force of social media, our music (as always) is the soundtrack to everyone’s lives, and well… the Carter twins are…
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I Will Literally Give Someone Actual Money To Attend Dr. Umar Johnson's Hotepalooza In Brooklyn And Report On It
You might remember geographically incorrect Africa medallion soaked in Thunderbird with sentience Dr. Umar Johnson from his prominent role in last year’s Hotep Civil War. (And if you don’t remember any of that, great! Congratulations! I’m jealous of your ability to erase that shit from your mind, and please forgive me for reminding you of it.) If…
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The Anatomy of a Culture Vulture
Once upon a time, a leather catsuit-clad Chilli affirmed that a scrub is a guy who thinks he’s fly. In other news, he might also be known as busta. But since Chilli is preoccupied with exhuming her career from the grave, I’ll take it upon myself to behold the pale stable of horses that have…