Diepiriye Kuku

Luther Is Drag: The Death of Vandross

By Diepiriye Kuku

Luther took full ownership of the music. He loved the music and massaged fans’ eyes, ears, and sentiments with his arrangements, taking the plain, factory-produced, mundane regular pop hit to new, unfounded heights. [23 September 2009]

The MJ Top Ten Tribute

By Diepiriye Kuku

The ultimate list of icons to pay performance tribute to THE icon. [9 July 2009]

Short Ends and Leader: Poitier Portraying Another Magic Negro: She’s Blind, So Race Don’t Matter [22 November 2009]

Sound Affects: All Cried Out: A Queer Ear for Blues’ Wailing and Recovery [19 November 2009]

Sources Say: Why won’t rappers rap about marriage? [16 November 2009]

Sound Affects: A Dyslexic’s Wet Dream: Lift Up and Fly Like a Bird [10 November 2009]

Sources Say: The Navy bla bla bla…but not charged with a hate crime. [27 October 2009]

Channel Surfing: “RE: Raw Video of Derrion Albert 16 teen year old beaten to death ...” [7 October 2009]

Channel Surfing: Janet Jackson, Good Times, and the Current Healthcare Debate [6 October 2009]

Mixed Media: Which Way Is Whack: Romanticizing Sexual Harassment (video) [5 October 2009]

Re:Print: ‘Bending Towards the Sun’ and Why Blacks & Jews Must Pray Together

Mixed Media: Combing the Kink Out (video) [9 September 2009]

Sound Affects: Unconditional Love: Soul Music Bites Back [2 September 2009]

Sources Say: Black Gay Marriage [24 August 2009]

Sources Say: “Why Is Africa Poor?” [12 August 2009]

Sound Affects: The Legacy of Michael Jackson: “ma ma se, ma ma sa, ma ma koo sa!” Hand’s down! [22 July 2009]

Sound Affects: Monsoon Dance [20 July 2009]

Sound Affects: Mapped Out on the Body: Michael Jackson’s Vision for Inclusiveness [16 July 2009]

Sources Say: Characteristic of How ‘It’ Goes on the News [15 July 2009]

Sound Affects: Michael Jackson and Our Vision of Diversity [9 July 2009]

Sound Affects: Turn Off the Lights: Cultivating Love to Get Through Summer [30 June 2009]

Re:Print: A Quick Critique of Feminist Critique of Things Fall Apart [29 June 2009]

Channel Surfing: Black Trekkie: Tuning Out to Tune In [18 June 2009]

Channel Surfing: Kinship & Collective Fate in Heroes [16 June 2009]

Channel Surfing: ‘Heroes’ and the Coming Out Narrative [10 June 2009]

Short Ends and Leader: The Ultimate Penultimate in ‘The Color Purple’

Sound Affects: Peter Pan Makes a Comeback [12 May 2009]

Sound Affects: Feet don’t fail me now: Theme songs for breaking the chains of stereotypes in America [30 April 2009]

Mixed Media: Black people doing white people doing Black people. [14 April 2009]

Sound Affects: Queering Madonna & stardom: As contradictory as Uncle Tom, except in reverse [9 April 2009]

Sound Affects: Why Sasha Fierce is more than just “the female version of the hustler” [7 April 2009]

Sound Affects: Old Skewl B.S. aka Morality Police Bite [1 April 2009]

Short Ends and Leader: Spidey, Oedipus, Jesus, & Platonic Love [30 March 2009]

Sound Affects: Good Grief: Pop, Dialogue and Detroit Natives [24 March 2009]

Sound Affects: Janet, Madonna & George’s Unpopular Coming Out [20 March 2009]

Sound Affects: Hot Buttered Soul: Politics and Pop Culture Are Really One [19 March 2009]

Mixed Media: Mississippi Goddamn! and other fire-side chats. [17 March 2009]

Sound Affects: Morality and the Principles of Pleasure [3 March 2009]

Short Ends and Leader: Blaxploitation & ‘Slumdogs Can’t Have Dignity’ - A Critical Response to Indian Media Coverage [25 February 2009]

Mixed Media: Ike might be the ‘God of Evil’ getting you” Up in Heah!” (video)

Mixed Media: Feel Good: Ike & Tina live on Soul Train (video) [24 February 2009]

Sound Affects: “Zoom, I wish the world were truly happy”: Barack and the blues

Mixed Media: More out than Flip Wilson, Eddie Murphy & Martin Lawrence put together (video) [18 February 2009]

Sound Affects: ‘Sick and Tired’ of wife-beaters: Pop violence against women

Sound Affects: ‘Irreplaceable’ & more attacks on love [16 February 2009]

Sound Affects: Postcards from the edge: I was in a cell phone commercial [12 February 2009]

Short Ends and Leader: Obama & More Critical Commentary on Cultural Imperialism in 2008’s ‘The Day the Earth Stood Still’ [28 January 2009]