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Critical Noir: Confessions of a ThugNiggaIntellectual
If you need to know what the boundaries of diction are, listen to my reformed ghetto-ass.
13 Feb 2020
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Still a Riot Goin' On: Fela Kuti, Celebrity Gramscians, and the AIDs Crisis in Africa
Mark Anthony Neal
25 Feb 2003
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Still Love H.E.R.
. . . I've come across more than a few hip-hop generation artists and intellectuals who are beginning to show strains of gray in their locks, twists, beards, and fades.
Mark Anthony Neal
29 Oct 2002
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Cosby Redux
The root of hip-hop generation displeasure with The Cosby Show was not simply that the show wasn't 'political', but rather the show did in fact serve the political function of diverting attention away from the harsh realities of Reagan-era social policies.
Mark Anthony Neal
17 Sep 2002
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Three the Hard Way: Black Art Outside the Flow
Ain't nothin' wrong with cats payin' the bills with their art. But there's always a real cost associated with stayin' true to your art, when market demands suggest that there's more money available following trends.
Mark Anthony Neal
18 Jun 2002
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Revolutionary Soul Singa: Meshell Ndegeocello
Critical Noire -- Revolutionary Soul Singa: Meshell Ndegeocello -- Ndegeocello has never felt a need to defend or explain the supposed ambiguity that is so crucial to her music . . . an admittedly complex and creative articulation of what it means to be 'blackwomanbisexualbassplayersentientbeingGramscianintellectualandrevolutionarysoulsinger'.
Mark Anthony Neal
14 May 2002
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Nuyorican Nostalgia
As the post-9/11 politics of New York City threatens to force the city's "people" into small self-interested enclaves, the music of Masters at Work is an all too timely reminder of the common vision that the Nuyorican spirit has forged with some many of New York City's inhabitants.
Mark Anthony Neal
22 Apr 2002
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Lifestyles of the Rich and Tenured?: The Black Public Intellectual Under Siege
. . . (T)o raise questions about black faculty who are 'intimidated' by gatekeepers within black institutions is to risk access to and influence within those very institutions. No politically astute black mainstream politician is willing to do that.
Mark Anthony Neal
28 Feb 2002
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Bellbottoms, Bluebelles and the Funky-Ass White Girl
. . . the collaboration between Nyro and Labelle . . . placed the issue of gender and sexuality in the mix alongside traditional critical musings about race.
Mark Anthony Neal
14 Jan 2002
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The E-Double and the Trouble Man: Marvin Gaye and Erick Sermon "Turn on Some Music"
Music aficionados and classic soul listeners are also likely up in arms at 'Music', Eric Sermon's digitized duet with the late Marvin Gaye, who was murdered by his father on April 1, 1984.
Mark Anthony Neal
29 Aug 2001
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Big Pimpin' Bourgeois Style: the Demise of Tavis Smiley's BET Tonight
: Like the surreal Laura Esquivel novel that Rashid 'Lonnie' Lynn invokes in the title of his brilliant new release Like Water for Chocolate.
Mark Anthony Neal
28 Mar 2001
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McGruder's Follies: Playa Hatin' BET in Public
In my last two columns, I have come dangerously close to setting a trend in which I consistently attack the 'hick' culture. Not wanting to make enemies among people I don't hate, this time I'm turning the microscope on a general suburban blight of conspicuous consumption: the SUV.
Mark Anthony Neal
14 Feb 2000
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