James Baldwin Matters
There's a reason why Ta-Nehesi Coates is often compared to James Baldwin, and there's a reason why Baldwin's work is so relevant in the age of Black Lives Matter.
15 Jan 2018
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Hip-Hop: How We Got from a South Bronx Birthday Party to a Global Force
Even though it took time and intervention for hip-hop to expand beyond the South Bronx, that may have been for the better in the long run.
23 Oct 2017
Was the Blues Born on a Vaudeville Stage?
Black creative and economic self-determination within the music industry didn’t begin with Chance the Rapper, or Prince, or even Motown.
24 Sep 2017
You May Be Black or You May Be White But in Africa You're an American First
David Peterson del Mar explores a creation myth for a nation of black people still searching for personal and collective terra firma.
07 Aug 2017
On Wanting Sly Stone to Take Us Higher Yet Again
Sly Stone was one of the first audacious badasses of modern black pop music, a hero and then an anti-hero to millions.
02 May 2017
'Muslim Cool' Puts Its Faith in Hip-Hop, and Hip-Hop in Its Faith
Where Chance the Rapper injects spirituality into hip-hop, Muslim Cool injects hip-hop into spirituality.
26 Feb 2017
Culture and History for the Age of Trump
History doesn’t always tell us how to get it right. It sometimes warns us of the cost of getting it wrong. Art steeped in that history can remind us, if we’re paying attention.
05 Jan 2017
Harry Belafonte and the Art of Activism
Harry Belafonte's life and work looms large over this moment, when artists of color are exercising their activist voices.
17 Oct 2016
The Long, Hot Summer of 2016: How We Got Over
Simone Manuel’s winning a gold medal in this particular Olympic swimming event in this particular summer gave the especially besieged among us a chance to take a break from the siege.
12 Sep 2016
Perhaps Prince Really Did Die 4 Us
On what would have been the groundbreaking musician's 58th birthday, a reflection on his final chord.
06 Jun 2016
Kanye and Mingus: Gifted, Complicated and Proud of It
Charles Mingus and Kanye West represent an extreme form of the complicated-and-proud-of-it black man, within a society that prefers its black men as uncomplicated and untroubling as possible.
24 Apr 2016
Defending Chicago's 'Defender'
It's possible to trace much of 20th Century America’s history through the pages of the Defender, a local paper with a national impact.
03 Mar 2016
For Jazz and Gospel Artists and Audiences, Music Is Their Faith, and Faith Is Their Rock
Black music's spiritual aspect may be a given, but two new books, A City Called Heaven and Spirits Rejoice! go deep into explaining how that actually happens.
30 Aug 2015
Afropunk Is Officially a Brand and That's a Good Thing
There is a large community of alt-black folks out there, and Afropunk has given them a big tent to party under.
07 Jul 2015
The Story of Billie Holiday's Life Shouldn't Overshadow the Power of Her Music
To say that Billie Holiday's songs remain memorable because we know she lived a hard life does her artistry a most insulting disservice.
12 May 2015
'Who We Be' and the Optics of Culture, in Living Colors
Jeff Chang's cultural history tackles how race has played out across the last 50 years, and counting, of American culture.
01 Mar 2015
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