I have a thing for Wise Jalapeno chips, so I went to the bodegato get some the other day, and ended up in a conversation with aneighborhood man who was old enough to be my father, aboutPhilly and Detroit.
He mentioned that his son is at Temple. He asked me if I went toTemple, I [...]
Archive for December, 2008
Detroit and Black Labor
Saturday, December 27th, 2008Michelle Wallace and Illmatic
Thursday, December 25th, 2008The World Is Yours (Remix)
Rare is the person who can conceptualize the hood,in all its pain, beauty and promise.
Two pieces that do this are Nas’s Illmatic andMichele Wallaces, Black Macho and the Myth of the Superwoman.Whats strikes me about both pieces is that they illicit anemotional response. In addition, Black Macho is particularlymoving [...]
Sweeter Than Ben and Jerry’s
Thursday, December 25th, 2008All Clips Gaffled from Grand Good
I saw Tribe at a Rock the Vote Concert in ‘96, somewherein the boonies of California.
I don’t remember them being so pleasurable to watchas Qtip is in the above clip.I hate sterile hip hop shows, where people stand aroundlike they are bored at an industry party.
This clip indicates that Tip’s [...]
Not Gone Be Able to Do: The Love Below
Monday, December 22nd, 2008Matthew and (Re)ninaForte Green, Brooklyn June 2008
It’s been about a month since my relationship ended, or -if youwill, changed.
I have never known a human being that I could spend fiveor six consecutive days with and not want to kill them afterday 3, or be enraged at them, or see the roots of [...]
Advice for New Bloggers: How to Build Your Readership
Saturday, December 20th, 2008Readership is built, reader by reader. I was remindedof this last Thursday. I was waiting for the train, and a manmade small talk with me while we waited on the platform.Once the train arrived and we sat down he proceeded toinquire about what I “did”, then told me he had a 9 [...]
Rafi Kam and Underachieving Hip Hop Writers
Thursday, December 18th, 2008Last month Rafi posted an exchange with Oh Wordcontributor Abe Beame about why he didn’t run a pieceabout Stakes is High on his site.
Rafi is snarky. He points out my mistakes it irks the sh-t out me. He also has a “write the f-ck better” tone.
That being said, after I read this [...]
The Silence of Black Women Writers
Thursday, December 18th, 2008Black writers are a cursed lot.
By its virtue of its origin, suture and function, black writing ismission conscious and is necessarily a hazardous undertaking. In turn being a black writer is an enobiling, exigency and black literature constitutes one of the supreme enrichment’s of black culture and black life. This has been and is [...]
Black Women, Property Twice
Wednesday, December 10th, 2008Courtesy of Str8OuttaNYC
(Video of an Altercation between Black Israelites
and some Black women passerbyers.)
About a month ago I was sitting in a Professors office explaining myresearch interests (labor, sex, Black women), how I was workingon a theory of how Black Women are Property Twice. He listened,became agitated then finally said, “I really don’t like when peopletry [...]
Paul Beatty is an Effin Genius
Thursday, December 4th, 2008I read Slumberland last September in one evening. Yes, it was that good. Its a book about a DJ who makes theperfect beat and sets off to Germany on a mission to find a jazzartist, the Schwa, to make it complete.
Race, Hitler, Jazz, Interacial Dating, Porn, you ask for it, its in this [...]
