Due to her stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Alice Walker has been disinvited as a speaker at the University of Michigan.
Acclaimed emcee Kendrick Lamar dropped one of the most astounding rap verses in recent memory yesterday, igniting a frenzy on twitter that has yet to die down. Lamar calls out practically every big name in Hip Hop by name, challenging them to step their game up.
Following a week-long media frenzy surrounding the rift between icons Jay-Z and Harry Belafonte, Bakari Kitwana of Rap Sessions and Mark Anthony Neal of Left of Black sat down to unpack the shortcomings of the recent Jay-Z/ Belafonte debate. Rather than perpetuating the beef between the Civil Rights Generation and the Hip-Hop Generation, they […]
One of my favorite Dave Chappelle bits, and trust me, there are many, is his Ja Rule joke, wherein he hysterically describes how our celebrity worship can make us do absurd things sometimes: (NSFW) httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo-ddYhXAZc
Sometimes Black folks are so hard on Black folks. To much attention and fanfare, actor Romany Malco published an article last week in Huff Post outlining his take on the Trayvon Martin case. In a crisp and spirited litany, Malco aligned himself with the chorus of folks who have decided that the Trayvon Martin case […]
–Rashad Smith, Rochester, New York. Remember when we use to tune in to MTV and watch TRL, waiting on our favorite videos on the countdown? What about Pop Up Video on VH-1, that contained informational bubbles, trivia, and sexual anecdotes that kept us intrigued… remember that? Most certainly we cannot forget the comcial Al Shearer of […]
The “Where Are the Voices” Roundtable Discussion on Advocacy in Entertainment featuring from left to right, Kimberley Elise, Aaron D. Spears, Elise Neal, Rev. Omarosa Manigault, and moderator Jasiri X (Photo by Thomas Reynolds) Do Black Celebrities Have A Duty To Speak Out? Certainly Mr. Belafonte thinks so. In the above video he calls the silence of […]
After losing their mother to cancer, Makia Underwood, 32, Zakia Clark, 29, and Tasha Clark, 27 began wearing shirts and hats with “F— Cancer” emblazoned on the front. A security guard at a Philly mall took issue w/ the language, and kicked them out.
The Open Society Foundations has announced an award of $1.2 million to the 2013 cohort of Soros Justice Fellows. The fellows, a mix of emerging and established leaders, include investigative journalists, lawyers, grassroots organizers, policy advocates, and scholars.
In the above clip, Grammy award winning Hip-Hop artist/activist, Che “Rhymefest” Smith and public intellectual and Scholar in Residence in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Syracuse University, Dr. Boyce Watkins, go back and forth on the significance of Rick Ross, Lil Wayne, and Tyler the Creator losing endorsement deals. They also debate what percentage of Lil Wayne’s music is […]
A screenshot from the music video, “We Changed the Game” directed by Khamisi Norewood, for the Game Changers Project Much has been made over the recent activism in Hip-Hop over the last few weeks, especially after seeing community pressure cause Rick Ross and Lil Wayne lose lucrative endorsement deals. I recently came across a very interesting […]
Forty years ago today, the murder of a NJ State Trooper led to the imprisonment and conviction of Assata Shakur. To commemorate this “anniversary,” the FBI will announce today that Assata Shakur has been added to the Most Wanted Terrorist List; and doubled the reward for her capture.
