Otherworldly Videos: Water Seed

Water Seed’s “Show Work and Prove” Future Funk Machine!

The My-Stery: Tribute to Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes

After reading Shadow and Act’s review about the TLC biopic, Crazy Sexy Cool: The TLC Story, I was reminded of how much Lisa “Left-Eye” Lopes is underrated as an artist. In TLC, some thought of her as mainly the wacky and crazy rapper of the group who burned her boyfriends house down. But if we […]

Happy 12/12/12!

As we approach another year, some believe it is the end of the world — the apocalypse — but “apocalypse” means “a revealing,” so I choose to see it only as a state of transformation. Today’s date is triple digit number and the last one for a while, so let’s celebrate this moment in time […]

Moving on the Wires: Black Weblog Awards, Andy Allo, P.OS., Tunde Olaniran…

*Voting for semifinalists begins today for the Black Weblog Awards and ends October 1. Please vote for my blog in the Best New Blog category here! *Update: On November 20th, Andy Allo will be releasing her new album Superconductor, which was executive produced by Prince and features a few songs written by him, including the […]

The My-Stery: Let Me Ride Part 1

A few weeks ago, Melissa Harris Perry gave a segment on her show about the political, economic and historical significance of transportation in the United States. Transportation for Black communities, as well as other marginalized communities, historically have been modes of displacement and transcendence, and the lack of transportation for these communities has meant entrapment. […]

Rewind: What’s So Different

Ginuwine – What’s So Different Sometimes I feel as if the world looks exactly like this video, and sometimes I wish I could stop time like towards the end of the video. A break would be nice.

Modern Griots Interview: Tunde Olaniran

Tunde Olaniran is a Michigan-based artist who “marches to the beat of his own drum.” The singer, rapper, songwriter and social activist has a background that defies any expectation others may have of him. Growing up in such places as Germany, Nigeria and London, Olaniran was raised by an American social activist mother and a […]

Otherworldly Videos: Adorn

Singer Miguel released a new song, called “Adorn” from his upcoming album Art Dealer Chic: Vol. 1. A beautiful song and video! I love how the video incorporates the painting. Already some are accusing Miguel of being gay because of the video. Seriously! First, stop implying that homosexuality is wrong and implying that there are […]

Remembering Aaliyah

This is the tenth anniversary of Aaliyah leaving us and I still miss her. Very few Hip-Hop/R&B singers today can compare to how cool she was as a singer, dancer and budding actress. To this day, I still listen to all three of her albums that she made before she passed and wonder how far […]

Taking It From the Streets: The Making of Modern R&B

Yesterday, I came across another documentary that was directed by John Akomfrah, who directed “The Last Angel of History.” The Vh1 documentary is “Urban Soul: The Making of Modern R&B,” and it covers the history of R&B from the 70s to now and how artists, like Chaka Khan, The Fugees, Lauryn Hill, and Mary J. […]