For all his faults, R.I.P. Big Pun.
In honor of the biggest day in football, a classic.
I’ve been listening to Wale’s newest mixtape Folarin almost consistently for a month now in my car. As a big fan of Olubowale, I think this is his greatest work yet. Better than Mixtape About Nothing (88,000 downloads on DatPiff.Com). Better than More About Nothing (429,000 downloads). Better than his nearly 500,000-selling album Ambition.
This song in particular entitled “Skool Daze” is one that I especially like. Wale goes in by rapping about his public school experience in the DMV describing an dog-eat-dog street-imbued educational environment that few who have never experienced it would understand. As he spits here, “only me and the teacher ever went to shop class without a tool.”
Give Folarin a listen to hear a complete, robust body of work that puts everyone from Rick Ross to Nipsey Hussle to Chrisette Michelle to Scarface to French Montana to Jhene Aiko to 2 Chainz on the same project. Amazing stuff.
Dr. Cornel West explains why he has a problem with President Obama using Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s bible at his inauguration this week. It basically boils down to Obama not being about that life. Or death.
Preeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeach!!!
To do something as brazen as this you have to be SO ‘bout that life it’s not even funny. No sniper rifle, no bomb, just one guy running up on another and putting a pistol to his dome.
The would-be assassin gets stomped out by some guys in tuxes later in the video. Looks weird.
This joint kinda fire. Mel Matrix needs to put out more music more often. Jim Jones is re-igniting his street presence with this Vampire Life movement. Salute.
Racial Disparities in NYC Gifted Programs
A picture is worth 1,000 words.
This visual representation of where gifted programs are located throughout New York City’s five boroughs is startling and, even for an educator who has attended and taught in resource-poor and segregated school environments for years, surprising. Looking at places like southwest Brooklyn or northeast Queens for their proliferation of gifted programs in majority White and Asian communities or the entirety of Staten Island and the South Bronx for not having a single gifted program in their majority Black and Hispanic neighborhoods is awe-inspiring.
Also, note the map in the upper left showing where gifted programs have been shut down throughout NYC. Brooklyn as a whole seemed to fare poorly overall but the minorities of Central Brooklyn neighborhoods such as Canarsie, Flatbush, and Crown Heights seem to have fared the worst in the city.
Read the New York Times piece on it here.
Beyonce GQ Cover
Pictures like this disappoint me about Beyonce being regarded as a role model by millions of young ladies. Even Michelle Obama co-signed B as being somebody who girls the world over could look up to. LET Sasha or Malia practice this pose in their bedrooms….
It continues to reflect that however famous, powerful, wealthy, personable, independent, or intelligent you may be as a woman, without sexual appeal (especially in the eyes of males) you are perceived as lacking. Problematic.
I know so many Black women who fall into this category of having myriad things going for them personally and professionally but without the approval of males they are internally broken. It often leads to them engaging in Ke$ha-like behavior.
This is totally not the dance…but it’s still totally crazy to see.
Amazing. Terrifying. Funny. Disorientated. Honest. Awe-inspiring. Raw.
