CCulture
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  • 3 minute read

Understanding Our Political Divide

Me against my brother; me and my brother against our cousin; me and my brother and cousins against the stranger. –Bedouin proverb I’d come across Jonathan Haidt (pronounced “height”), a social psychologist at NYU’s Stern School of Business, a few years ago when he used the learning in his field to better delineate the differences between liberals and conservatives. Given his particular point of view, I was glad to discover this conversation he ha...
BBlog
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  • 2 minute read

The #NewBlackImagination and Hassan Hajjaj’s “Kesh Angels”

...geria’s Nneka; Kenya’s Just A Band; South Africa’s BLK JKS and The Brother Moves On, to name only a few. Then there were the filmmakers such as Kenyan Wanuri or the filmmakers in Focus Features’ Africa First program. There are visual artists making moves such as Kenyan-born Wangechi Mutu and up-and-coming Nigerian Njideka Akunyili. And, of course, on the literary front, Africa has been hot for a minute: Think Chimamanda Adichie, Chris Abani, Teju...
BBlog
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  • 3 minute read

Remembering Greg Tate (1957-2021)

...tia Maultsby (2nd fr right) and Greg Tate. Bridgett, Ginny Suss, Greg, his brother Brian Tate and his wife Maureen Mahon. At Brian’s birthday party in 2016. There was a lot written on Greg upon his passing. Here are some curated links: “Afrodisiac: A Textual Meditation on Greg Tate” by Michael Gonzales (Lithub) “Stonecoldboldness: A many-sided memorial to the writing of Greg Tate” by Robert Christgau (NPR) “The Critic Who Convinced Me That Critici...
CCulture
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  • 5 minute read

Noticed: The Expanding Limits of Black Masculinity

...es, we’ve always been style conscious, but this feels like something else. Brother Earth x The Man Who Loved Flowers #HappyEarthDay #BrotherEarth #TheManWhoLovedFlowers #MakePortraits #ForTheLoveofFlowers #Digitals A photo posted by Brandon Stanciell (@theflowerpapi) on Apr 22, 2015 at 9:02pm PDT A recent Huffington Post underscored this, using celebrity offspring Jaden Smith as a poster child for the trend that’s being called the #carefreeblackbo...
CCulture

The Next Big Thing: Tony Jaa

...ability. This is part of the reason I never really took to Sonny Chiba—his moves were too stiff. Second, I’d like to walk out of that movie knowing that if I devoted my life exclusively to training, it’s within the realm of possibility that I might be able to approach such a level of mastery. Now this second requirement precludes such feats as. . .performing any moves while flying through the air. For this reason, large portions of Crouching Tiger...
MMe

Life Changes

...the time.  And let’s not talk about how she won’t go to bed until her big brother, my 8-year-old son, does.  That certainly throws a wrench into any blogging plans you have! But the great thing is my daughter, all three years of her, is fiercely intelligent, so she’s quickly making her wishes and her presence known.  Good news is that we’re all adapting.  That’s what you do, right?  So, yeah, the equilibrium’s finally starting to come back.  Some...
CCulture

The Break Beat That Shook The World

...ideo exploring the history of the "Amen Break," taken from the song "Amen, Brother" by the Winstons in 1969.  He goes onto show how this 6-second break has been used in hundred of hip hop, techno and jungle records.  He also delves into the issues of copyright and appropriation.  A couple of points caught my attention: "Not only does the innovation within a culture grow when copyright is flexible, so does its markets and capital." and "Culture is...
CCulture

James Brown, 1933-2006

Among the names he was lovingly known as were "Soul Brother #1," "The Hardest Working Man in Show Business" and "The Godfather of Soul".  It’s not just hip hop and soul music that owes James Brown a huge debt, but American popular music and American culture in general. A hat tip to The New York Times’ Jon Pareles, who wrote a fine obit on James, who passed away yesterday (that’s somehow fitting in itself).  In some ways the article  only skims th...
BBlog

POVs On Cultural Leadership: Amber Horsburgh

...te the everyday sportsman. $1 Shave club AXE – gives younger guys an older brother’s voice and caring guidance in the mating game as they are first introduced. They also have their finger on the pulse of internet behavior and memes, quickly adapting them to suit the AXE tone. To some degree Instagram. The guys over there have taken the basic human practice of photography and applied to to social media. Duh, but think about how human taking photos...
CCulture
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“The Shadow King” by Maaza Mengiste

...As surely as my light burns in this office, I will not see my second-born, brother to a ghost, son to a phantom. Do not come back, Ettore. No matter what you hear, do not repeat your father’s history in the place he once called home. Stay in Abyssinia. Find the man you will become. This will not be my last letter but it will be the most truthful. I have always loved you. —your father, Leo. The story resonates and is made all the more powerful by t...
BBranding
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Now On PSFK: 6 Lessons From Samsung’s Jay Z Partnership

...y your product or service; and 2)keep them engaged post-purchase. Doing so moves those important metrics that keeps agencies on rosters, CMOs from finding themselves out on the street, and CEOs armed with great results to share with boards and Wall Street. The downside of any such deals will always accrue to the brand, never the artist. See my bullets above as to what Samsung seems to have gotten out of this deal. To be fair, as the Wall Street Jo...
CCulture
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  • 6 minute read

2012 In Music: 15 Albums You Probably Didn’t Hear, But Should

...e aforementioned site to track the spread of black alternative music as it moves from the margins of culture towards the mainstream. This year felt like there were a lot of strong albums that just weren’t getting recognized by most of the music press (one of the problems of their being too much music available!) that I wanted to put this list together. After all, if I didn’t, who would? Also, I wanted to underscore that there is a diversity of sou...