2597 Search results for "rap"

When was the last time Hip Hop was this exciting and dangerous? Odd Future is the shot of badass, anti-establishment adrenaline Hip Hop desperately needs right now. Safe, parent-approved rappers are already feeling the heat; flitting around trying to figure out how to co-opt Odd Future and weather the storm. But it’s probably too late.

Before Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson became staples at the Staple Center (pun intended #swag), before bright colors and skinny jeans became cliché (jerking is played out), before krumping became accepted as a movement and not a bunch of weirdoes parading around in  face point, there was a soulful crooner that gave the West coast […]

By Justin Hill In 2008, when I first read “Gay is the New Black” on the cover of the Advocate, I CRINGED at its implications.  Even as I write, “Gay is the New Black,” it is unsettling because it elides, obfuscates and erases many tensions and concerns. You may be asking, “Why speak about it […]

Skills fund to prioritise Black and Coloured youths Chantall Presence, Eye Witness News, March 13, 2011 4th Annual African American Men Read – In ‘Brothers Mentoring Youth Through Reading’ J. Williams, The Westside Gazette, March 13, 2011 Teacher encourages students to discover themselves Kevin Tremain, The State-Journal Register, March 12, 2011 Why black Africans are […]

Last night I caught ESPN’s 30 for 30 installment, The Fab Five.  The documentary chronicles the two years the University of Michigan men’s basketball team captured the imagination–and ire–of the sports watching public.  I was a young kid when Jalen Rose, Jimmy King, Juwan Howard, Ray Jackson, and Chris Webber revolutionized college basketball and rocked […]

As political pundits, political action committees, and politicians gear up for what is bound to be another bare knuckle brawl in 2012, young activists around the country are setting agendas to intending to move their issues from the margins to the center of American life. As scholar/activist, Dr. Cathy Cohen, points out in her book […]

There was a time when a Neo Soul/alternative Hip Hop movement was a visual, popular alternative to the violence, misogyny, and materialism of mainstream Hip Hop. This article is a love letter to that glorious movement, and an explanation as to why it faded away.

I waited for Lebron James to enter the pros. I watched his first game in the league and I followed him faithfully for the next seven years. I’d found my own little superstar. I know, I shared him with millions, but I was still faithful. Typically, I’m a bit fickle, especially as a sports fan. […]

There are some relationships that are just doomed from the start: Bobby and Whitney, Amy Winehouse and drugs, Lindsey Lohan and alcohol, etc. It seems as if every time Ms. Winehouse says “no, no, no, no” to rehab she says, “yes, yes, yes” to climbing psychedelic trees. Although she claims that her penchant for indulging […]

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-T-FVR0WZw&feature=player_embedded “Letter to Lil Wayne” is a direct statement of justice from Watoto From The Nile. Growing tired and fed up with the constant degradation of Black women inside of Hip Hop music, they voice their views and opinions on this melodic track. In solidarity with other bloggers, I must share this video entitled, “Letter […]

Ever had a song stuck in your head? “Its the money, money and the cars, cars and the clothes…I just wanna be successful.” This past Sunday I would not help but repeat the Drake rap song in my head. What caused this hip-hop hook rotation? Nothing other than a South African mega church that I […]