IT’S ALL POLITICAL

12 Dec

‘The narrative is we don’t sell records’: the Black female singers uncredited by the UK industry

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IT'S ALL POLITICAL, MUSIC, WOMEN
Their vocals and songwriting feature on some of the biggest hits, but Black women are often not credited, leaving their solo careers stunted and causing them to lose out financially Elisabeth Troy, Shingai and Kelli-Leigh, three of the singers campaigning for better credit and representation in the UK industry. Composite: PR, Tom Oldham by Jumi Akinfenwa | The Guardian Through soul, funk, disco and beyond, black female vocalists stood proudly on the front of record sleeves and on stages. Then, in 1989, Italian dance...
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4 Sep

America’s Lost Generation of Black Conductors

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IT'S ALL POLITICAL, MUSIC
 by David Patrick Stearns | WQXR Editorial The 1970s are hardly ancient history, but the decade seems like a distant world that had African American symphony and opera conductors in a few highly visible positions. Though not exactly common, Black conductors were a definite presence — long-emerging careers blossomed and young firebrands soared out of left field, each in ways that intersected around that time.   This lost generation of African American conductors led major concerts by Arturo Toscanini’s NBC Symphony, gave the...
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13 Aug

Good Humor x RZA = New Jingle for a New Era

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IT'S ALL POLITICAL
RZA and Good Humor Craft New Ice Cream Jingle Since Famous One Has Racist History TARA C. MAHADEVAN | Complex and Good Humor| PRNewswire twitter ~ insta RZA and Good Humor—the brand of ice cream known for strawberry shortcake bars and vanilla king cones—have teamed up to create a new ice cream truck jingle since the current popular jingle that most trucks use has a bigoted history. Called “Turkey in the Straw,” the famous melody “has a problematic history,” RZA explained in an announcement video on Twitter. “We come to find out it...
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8 Aug

For Black Pop Stans, the Bare Minimum Is No Longer Enough

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IT'S ALL POLITICAL, MUSIC, SUBCULTURE/LIFESTYLE
Photos in illustration by Drew Angerer/Getty Images, Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images, Larry Marano/Shutterstock, Charles Sykes/Invision/AP/Shutterstock by BRITTANY SPANOS | Rolling Stone Magazine Angela H. was marching in a Black Lives Matter protest in Hollywood on June 2nd when her friends pointed out something surprising. They’d spotted a man in black gloves, sunglasses, and a hoodie nearby in the crowd — and he looked just like Harry Styles, a pop star Angela has been stanning since 2011. She wasn’t convinced at first. “Every part of me didn’t want to believe it for...
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30 Nov

ICONS: Ideals of Black Masculinity | CCH Pounder’s Collection

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ARTS, IT'S ALL POLITICAL
Mario Moore, Red, Black and Green Armor, 2017 Imagine how I felt when my Aunt Meigan revealed that one of my favorite actresses of all time is also a family member! (Guyana is a small country, after all!) Icons: Ideals of Black Masculinity An Exhibition from the Collection of CCH Pounder at Xavier University Art Gallery The opening reception for ICONS is free and open to the public. The Xavier University and Greater New Orleans Community are invited to experience this extraordinary collection of works by...
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26 Nov

‘It was like a family’

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IT'S ALL POLITICAL
31 October 1970: A demonstration takes place in Notting Hill organised by the Black Defence Committee. Photograph: Ian Showell/Getty Images Remembering the Mangrove, Notting Hill's Caribbean Haven The west London cafe, which opened 50 years ago, became a symbol of black urban resistance by Diane Taylor | Observer, The Guardian Atwo-bedroom flat on Notting Hill’s All Saints Road can fetch up to £2m these days. But half a century ago, when property prices were a small fraction of what they are now, the road was on...
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25 Nov

The Zambian “Afronaut” Who Wanted to Join the Space Race

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AFROFUTURISTIC, BRAINIAC, IT'S ALL POLITICAL
In 1964, Edward Mukuka Nkoloso wanted to join the space race. Was he for real? ILLUSTRATION BY HEIDI & GARETH CHISHOLM At the height of the Cold War, a schoolteacher launched the Zambian Space Program with a dozen aspiring teen-age astronauts. Was he unfairly mocked? by Namwali Serpell | The New Yorker My country was born on October 24, 1964. The former British protectorate of Northern Rhodesia, taking its new name from the great Zambezi River, would henceforth be known as Zambia. A week...
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8 Feb

In Coversation: Quincy Jones

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IT'S ALL POLITICAL, MUSIC
Photograph by Art Streiber / AUGUST The music legend on the secret Michael Jackson, his relationship with the Trumps, and the problem with modern pop. by David Marchese | Vulture In both music and manner, Quincy Jones has always registered — from afar, anyway — as smooth, sophisticated, and impeccably well-connected. (That’s what earning 28 Grammy awards and co-producing Michael Jackson’s biggest-selling albums will do.) But in person, the 84-year-old music-industry macher is far spikier and more complicated. “All I’ve ever done is tell the truth,”...
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7 Feb

The Playful, Political Art of Sanford Biggers

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ARTS, IT'S ALL POLITICAL
Photograph by Eric Helgas for The New Yorker An under-sung artist upends received ideas about race and history. by Vinson Cunningham | The New Yorker Biggers’s art, layered with references to race and history, is sincere and ironic at once. Audio: Listen to this story. Three years ago, on a Saturday in spring, I wandered into a humid gallery just south of Canal Street. On display was a group exhibition called “Black Eye,” which included works by an impressive roster of established and emerging artists—Kehinde Wiley,...
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30 Nov

Zero F*cks About Miss Universe, But Miss Jamaica!

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FASHION/STYLE, IT'S ALL POLITICAL
by Kaleigh Fasanella | Allure Miss Jamaica, Davina Bennett may have been the second runner-up at this year's Miss Universe pageant, but she might as well have taken home the first place win if Twitter has anything to say about it. And, oh, do they ever. Shortly after walking onto the stage with her short Afro, Twitter was abuzz with myriad complimentary comments including, "All of that natural hair, melanated black girl magic!! 😍 ," and "MISS JAMAICA’S AFRO IS GIVING ME ALL TYPES...
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14 Oct

Abdullah Ibrahim: How Improvisation Saved My Life

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IT'S ALL POLITICAL, MUSIC
by Nate Chinen | NPR/Jazz Night in America The music of pianist and composer Abdullah Ibrahim conveys an extraordinary depth in stillness. More than perhaps any other improvising artist, he knows how to turn the solitary act of introspection into a communal experience that's both transporting and immersive. There's a history behind that sorcery, which you could say was hard-won. Ibrahim grew up in apartheid-era South Africa under the name Dollar Brand, one of the most prominent members of that country's first generation...
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5 Oct

How Bullwinkle Taught Kids Political Satire

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IT'S ALL POLITICAL
Culture critic Beth Daniels argues the cartoon moose even allowed viewers to reckon with nuclear war by Beth Daniels, Zócalo Public Square | The Smithsonian "Mr. Chairman, I am against all foreign aid, especially to places like Hawaii and Alaska,” says Senator Fussmussen from the floor of a cartoon Senate in 1962. In the visitors’ gallery, Russian agents Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale are deciding whether to use their secret “Goof Gas” gun to turn the Congress stupid, as they did to...
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30 Jul

‘Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History’ Children’s Book

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ARTS, IT'S ALL POLITICAL
Author/illustrator/filmmaker Vashti Harrison: "I sat down for an interview with Anna Sterling from AJ+ about my new book Little Leaders: Bold Women in Black History. We chatted about the origins of the project, why representation matters and some of the most inspiring stories from the whole experience! *There is one little teaser in there: My book will feature 40 American women, so my Hatshepsut drawing will hopefully make into another book! ;-)   ...
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8 Jul

Africa Now: The New Diasporic Renaissance

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FASHION/STYLE, IT'S ALL POLITICAL
Wardrobe: Abasi Rosborough   by Stephanie Smith-Strickland | High Nobiety In 2005, London-born, Nigerian-Ghanaian novelist and essayist Taiye Selasi wrote an article for Lip Magazine titled, Bye-Bye Babar. The article, a reflection on the shifting nature of African identity, presented a new term for which to describe a generation of global professionals and creatives with strong ties to the continent: Afropolitan. Selasi defines Afropolitans as, “the newest generation of African emigrants, coming soon or collected already at a law firm/chem lab/jazz lounge near you. You’ll know us by...
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7 Jul

PUMZI: SciFi Short on Climate Change, Sacrifice & Dreaming

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AFROFUTURISTIC, IT'S ALL POLITICAL
(I posted this film about 2 years ago on Facebook. It is breathtakingtaking.) by Woyingi Blog Pumzi is directed by young Kenyan filmmaker Wanuri Kahiu who studied film at UCLA. Kahiu won Best Director at the Africa Movie Academy Awards for her film From a Whisper, about the 1998 bombings of the US Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar el Salaam, Tanzania. I unknowingly had already seen her work as a director because she directed the behind the scenes documentary for Philip Noyce’s film Catch a...
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7 Jul

We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85 | 4/21-9/17/2017

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ARTS, IT'S ALL POLITICAL, WOMEN
“Waterbearer” by Lorna Simpson, 1986. Courtesy of Lorna Simpson. © 1986 Lorna Simpson Faith Ringgold (right) and Michele Wallace (middle) at Art Workers Coalition Protest, Whitney Museum, 1971. © Jan van Raay #wewantedarevolution Focusing on the work of black women artists, We Wanted a Revolution: Black Radical Women, 1965–85 examines the political, social, cultural, and aesthetic priorities of women of color during the emergence of second-wave feminism. It is the first exhibition to highlight the voices and experiences of women of color—distinct from the...
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3 Jul

D’Angelo & Bobby Seale on Past & Future of Political Protest

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IT'S ALL POLITICAL, MUSIC
D’Angelo, right, with Mr. Seale in Berkeley, Calif. Credit Zackary Canepari |The New York Times  Professor Panther by Zackary Canepari and Ora DeKornfeld | New York Times Bobby Seale co-founded the Black Panther Party. The R&B star D’Angelo speaks out on racial injustice in his new album. The two met in Oakland, California. OAKLAND, CALIF. — In early June, before the shootings in Charleston, S.C., the R&B singer D’Angelo stood beneath the blood-red awning of the It’s All Good Bakery here, peering into the window of...
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