Cultural Appropriation: Katy Perry and Audible Appropriation
Today’s lesson will be about appropriation.| The appropriation that I will speak on has nothing to do with the simple “taking something of use from…
Hip Hop
Lil Wayne is Being Racially Delusional
Lil Wayne has been professing his “best rapper alive” mantra for years. Beyond that, however, is the business acumen of an intelligent young man. Still,…
“The Get Down” – Reason Behind The Rhyme
Before watching The Get Down, I understood hip hop to be in a strange place. In fact, there is a systematic divide between the old…
Ice Cube Talks Superpredators, Clinton, & Not “Feeling The Bern”
Ice Cube recently sat with John Heilemann of Bloomberg TV where he discussed a range of topics. They discussed the induction of his former pioneering rap…
Phife Dawg Died On My Birthday
Phife Dawg (Malik Taylor, the 5 Foot Freak) died on March 22, 2016. And yes, I am extremely saddened. A group that became a musical…
Kanye West for President in 2020?
It appears as if yet another entrepreneur is bidding to be a future president of the United States. Kanye West, last evening announced that he…
N.W.A Didn’t Kill Hip Hop or the Black Community
Straight Outta Compton, the movie documenting the rise and fall of gangster rap groupN.W.A, came out this weekend to much success. Round about numbers suggest…
‘Straight Outta Compton’ Scares White People
So, apparently the movie Straight Outta Compton that tells the story the iconic rap group, N.W.A, has “certain people” on edge this weekend. According to…
Kendrick Lamar and Black Hip Hop Masculinity
One of the challenges of doing cultural criticism is when the critic begins to infer their own meaning onto something that was not intended by…
Marlon Wayans vs. Lord Jamar: Gays Destroying the Black Community?
So as I’m perusing my Twitter timeline, as per usual, I see an apparently heated exchange between comedian Marlon Wayans and rapper Lord Jamar of…