Aural Dive: “Da New Sound” by Division X

” … Spoken hieroglyphics to the rhythm of the drum.” I can see why Division X says “Nuthin’ new” about many of the rappers who want to put their stamp in the Rap game. Hard to stand out when you’re spitting formulaic fractals void of lyrical layering. That last point is what ironically makes X’s […]

Why we will regret Julian Assange’s arrest — and why we’ll have more regrets after he’s convicted

Many of you saw your long-term wishes granted: the arrest of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in London. Payback for Assange’s 2016 slow-motion DNC and Hillary hit, some of you will say. (Oh, and read this, and this. I can’t blame you for the vitriol, sort of. Most accounts describe Assange as unlikable — the kind […]

Senator Harris, the presidency, her Jamaican roots and those curious answers about weed

For whatever reasons, I have this bad habit of writing stuff and not posting it. My thoughts about US Senator and presidential candidate Kamala Harris’ interview on The Breakfast Club Morning Show well over a week ago is an example. I’ll do better … My observations about her “Whites-only bank” affiliation aside, the interview went […]

Democrat lawmakers agreed with Trump’s wall — 25 percent of the way

There’s a question I meant to raise a few weeks ago about the budget debate in Washington and President Trump’s Great Wall idea. “What would you prefer Congress to fund — $5 billion for border security or $5.7 billion for a border wall?” Yeah. That was a debate. In real life. Sure, I think paying […]

The emerging story of Jussie Smollett

I always tell you that my natural writing style is stream-of-consciousness — an approach I use for capturing my raw feelings about any topic. But that doesn’t mean I’ll write in the absence of cogent facts. You can pretty much figure that out by the number of sources I’ll cite in each post. A dose […]

Amazon’s pullout and New Yorker’s confusion about economic growth

My response — after laughing — when I heard Amazon is pulling out of that sweet deal to set up a second headquarters in New York City was short, but loaded with meaning. “Jeff Bezos must’ve thought he was playing with Independence, Iowa.” Or some other small town. But even those places are pushing back […]

Album in the Crosshairs: Saoul — Seldom Oddity EP | Special Edition | self-released | 2019

Saoul wants you to taste the bread. And be sexy while doing it. Plus, he has a new release, Seldom Oddity, to help you along … The unsuppressed, sensual funkiness of the multi-instrumentalist’s EP mirrors writer James Baldwin’s admonition to view sensuality — despite the unequal and on-the-brink times we live in — as a […]

Empty victory: young Black wrestler’s sacrifice

Reading Frantz Fanon or writers like him can make you easily relate to a dictum that seems to describe unequal societies: when you’re on the losing side, a “W” is an welcomed “W” — until you realize it’s not. I see this dictum in the angering story of Buena Regional High wrestler Andrew Johnson, a […]

Album in the Crosshairs — Annabel (lee): I Came Across a Dreamer; Youngbloods, 2018

Three dreams, guided by a polaris of better times, but for the most part pursued by somber realities while awash with indulgent compositions, vocals and lyrics. Count Richard Ellis and Sheila Brown Ellis of the group Annabel (lee) among the shortlist of creatives who can solidly deliver on such an angular approach to storytelling. Their […]

Synagogue of blood and the warlock’s spell of hatred

The warlock’s latest spell — cast since June 16, 2015 — of manipulating hatred, paranoia, and economic exclusion, remains intact. This spell, like the others, can easily integrate with each other to present society with more complexity and danger. And extensibility. We saw evidence of this on November 11, 2016. We see additional proof today […]