If a song wants to be smart, it’s also got to be a little dumb. Whittle down the big idea, ratchet it up a notch, and repeat to a beat-fight the power, and imagine all the people living life in peace, because God is a d.j. Such sleight of hand can make even the most implausible causes stick.
Category: Black Entertainment
‘Split’ shocks the box office with a $40 million debut
Competing with a presidential inauguration, multicity marches and big-budget Hollywood productions, M. Night Shyamalan’s creepy psychological thriller “Split” pulled off a surprising opening weekend victory, pulling in an estimated $40.2 million. The low-budget “Split,” which cost a reported $9 million to make, blew away predictions that it would be bested by Vin Diesel’s big, action-packed “xXx: Return of Xander Cage.”
Obama praised for bridging gap between hip-hop and politics
Not only is President Barack Obama the nation’s first black president, but it’s safe to say he has been America’s first hip-hop commander-in-chief. Obama embraced hip-hop more than any of his predecessors: He’s referenced Jay Z’s lyrics and Kanye West in speeches, released playlists on Spotify that included Nas, Chance the Rapper, Mos Def and Method Man, and was caught dancing to Drake’s “Hot Line Bling” at a White House event.
Trump Team Says “Friend” Kanye West Was Not Asked To Perform At The Inauguration
Some observers wondered if Kanye West would be at the celebration on Friday, following the music superstar’s high-profile meeting with Trump in December. Tom Barrack, the chairperson of Trump’s Presidential Inaugural Committee, told CNN the President-Elect has not reached out to Kanye about appearing at the Inauguration.
Was Mariah Carey’s New Year’s Eve Performance Sabotaged?
And Nicole Perna, a rep for Carey, says the award-winning singer “was not ‘winging’ this moment and took it very seriously. A shame that production set her up to fail.”
Kyle Abraham’s Political Choreography
The Brooklyn Academy of Music’s annual Next Wave Festival, as its name indicates, usually brings us work that is new, or new to New York. But in this year’s festival you could see Kyle Abraham’s “Pavement” looking very much as it did when it premiA red, at Harlem Stage Gatehouse, four years ago.
Milpitas: Mayor lifts Jay Z lyric to explain why he plagiarized Obama’s speech
Newly sworn in Milpitas Mayor Richard Tran, the first Vietnamese American mayor in the city’s history, gave his opening remarks at a special meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 13 with newly seated councilmembers Anthony Phan and Bob Nunez taking their place on the dais. Photo by Liz Cantu Davenport In giving his explanation for lifting passages from President Barack Obama’s 2008 acceptance speech into his own without attribution, newly elected Milpitas Mayor Richard Tran cited a lyric by music artist Jay Z – without attribution.
The Harlem Hip at Lenox Saphire
There are two reasons Phil Young is an uptown legend. First, for his work as a florist: for many years, he ran the Carolina Flower Shop, one of Harlem’s oldest and most beloved stores.