Culture
We’re not calling out Nicki Minaj. We’re calling her in. By Oni Blackstock and Uché Blackstock / Wash Post
Lill Nas X’s “Montero” Is Sturdy and Sincere Pop. By Spencer Kornhaber / The Atlantic
After Shuttering for Almost Two Years, the Village Vanguard Reopens to Live Audiences. By Daniel King / Mother Jones
Separate But Not Equal: Racial Bias In Salon Culture. By Jill Di Donato / HuffPost
Anti-Communism and A Raisin in the Sun. By Denise Lynn / AAIHS
The Question Michael K. Williams Asked Me Before Every Season of ‘The Wire.’ By David Simon / NYT
Colson Whitehead on moving from Underground Railroad and Nickel Boys to Harlem Shuffle. By Laura Miller / Slate
Take a Look in the Mirror: The Horror of the New “Candyman” Is Complicity. By Edwin Rios / Mother Jones
Theme songs: Meet the Black music and musicians who serenade us from the small screen. By Denise Oliver Velez / Daily Kos
Michael K. Williams, Omar From ‘The Wire,’ Is Dead at 54. By Julia Jacobs, Annie Correal, Matthew Haag and Jeremy Egner / NYT
Fulton Leroy Washington Was a Prison Painter. Now He’s an Art-World Star. By Karlos K. Hill / The Nation
Asian Americans Are Finally Getting the Heroes We Deserve. By Jeff Yang / NYT
Donda: Kanye, the hype, controversy, music, & the Drake feud, explained. By Aja Romano / Vox
Spike Lee’s NYC Epicenters 9/11-2021½ is Timely, Powerful, and Personal. By Odie Henderson / Roger Ebert
My Friend, Ed Asner. By Ed Rampell / The Progressive
R. Kelly trial shocks, exposes abuse of Black women and girls. By Alia E. Dastagir / USA Today
Candyman’ Director DaCosta Is 1st Black Woman To Debut At No. 1 In U.S. By Sharon Prutt Young / NPR
Ruth Negga on Her Role in Rebecca Hall’s ‘Passing.’ By Malika Rose / New York Mag
Aretha Franklin and the Futility of Trying to Portray Her Onscreen. By Salamishah Tillet / NYT
Chadwick Boseman’s death shed light on colon cancer, but rates remain high among Black people. By Curtis Bunn / NBC News
Lee Morgan’s ‘Live at the Lighthouse’ was a masterpiece that turned out to be a farewell. By Shannon J. Effinger / Wash Post
R. & B. Nostalgia Embraces Rap Influence on “Cheers to the Best Memories.” By Sheldon Pearce / The New Yorker
Collaborations between Black women are sparking a golden age for female hip-hop. By Natachi Onwuamaegbu / Wash Post
For Aretha Franklin, a Grudge Was a Way to Earn R-E-S-P-E-C-T. By Christopher John Farley / NYT
Aretha Franklin: The Little-Known Traumas That Fueled Her Music. By Julie Miller / Vanity Fair
Black women are finally shattering the glass ceiling in dance. By Sarah L. Kaufman / Wash Post
R. Kelly Faces Reckoning After Years Of Suspicion. By Tom Hays / HuffPost
Cornel West on Why the Left Needs Jesus. By Emma Green / The Atlantic
‘Respect’ Screenwriter Tracey Scott Wilson On Evoking Aretha Franklin, The Activist. By Taryn Finley / HuffPost
The Misunderstood Talent of Gladys Knight. By Emily Lordi / The New Yorker
