When Clipse Reunited at Something in the Water — I feel drawn to brotherhood, to the platonic and familial love that happens between men, especially Black men. The laughs we share that feel so endless like they could kill us as the breath leaves our bodies; the smiles that breathe life back into us. Life-giving love, resurrection love. Love…

My Case Against Dance Circles — At any party, I always look forward to the part of the night where the pleasantries stop and the stank face begins. Where a particular song can bridge the gap between me and those I love, those I haven’t talked to in a while, and those I’ve never met before…

Examining Kendrick Lamar’s Artistic Choices — TW: r*pe, SA & abuse I want to talk about artistic choices. The choices that artists make in the making of their art, in the pursuit of making meaning with their art. In 2013, Baden and I hopped into his car after class and drove two hours from Elon University…

Chance The Rapper’s Biggest Flex on Coloring Book — There was something special about Chance the Rapper’s Coloring Book run. It’s easy to distill that era of Chance music down to ‘God Raps’ but there was a depth there that Columbus, Ohio writer Hanif Abdurraqib speaks to in the first essay of his book, They Can’t Kill Us Until…

Remembering Frank Ocean’s “White” — During the week, if my workload permits, I usually listen to about two podcast episodes a day. I especially love podcasts that hinge on a conversation or discussion between multiple people where I can hear the fun they’re having. That’s the environment Koku and I try to create on our…

But eventually, the applause stops. — I witnessed something otherworldly. At least that’s the way it felt the night Russell Westbrook broke the NBA record for most triple-doubles in a season against, and I affectionately say, my Nuggets. My love affair with the Denver Nuggets started in 2003 when they switched to the powder blue and…

An essay about basketball but really about Grandma — Grandma showed me superheroes—which is to say my love affair with basketball began in Grandma’s basement. At a table often covered in newspapers, scattered with steamed blue crabs and splotches of Old Bay, we would sit for hours in front of Grandma’s TV as I’d watch names once unfamiliar grow…

When Kanye West bridged multiple generations of rap to breathe life into his career — I didn’t realize, while watching the 2010 BET Hip Hop Awards’ G.O.O.D. Music Cypher, that I wouldn’t get to experience something like it ever again. Not in that way. As long as I’ve known about the BET Hip Hop Awards, the cyphers have been the most anticipated parts of the…

We’ve been taught our favorite celebrities can earn untouchability—but at what cost? — I am someone deeply bound by nostalgia. I think often about the people and art forms that shaped me in elementary and middle school. How Kanye West got on live TV during a Hurricane Katrina charity telethon and said, “George Bush doesn’t care about Black people.” How the first-ever episode…