PDF Articles by From Afros To Shelltoes
Ask Ed & Sugar:Black Leaders Who Pimp Sistas
Pimps don’t always congregate on corners. They often reside in pulpits, NAACP Conferences, corporate board rooms, and university classrooms. Being a leader comes with perks, and sadly, some men of power and influence feel entitled to pimp the trust and adoration of women to their sleazy self interest.
Ask Ed & Sugar: Will Obama’s Win End Racism?
To answer your question, at best, racism in America will remain the same. At worst, there will be more calculated attempts to push us further into the margin…if that is at all possible.
Carla Aaron Lopez Talks Feminism/Self Hating Negroes
Give a camera to a notorious rebel hell bent on reframing womanhood and black cultural production, and the end result is the left of center wonderland orchestrated by lens master/wordsmith Carla Aaron-Lopez. The sassy sista has an opinion on everything from outlandish gas prices to the trite themes watering down hip hop. So much so; that I had to share her heady response to our column Ask Ed & Sugar: Do Women Own Their Issues? Peep or exclusive rap session on crybabies, self hating Negroes gone wild, and third wave feminism.
Ask Ed & Sugar: Isaac Hayes Lives On
Hayes music will still be the soundtrack for a groovy Friday night with your foxy lady, a funky good time at a modern day juke joint, or theme music to your Saturday afternoon cleaning ritual. He is still our past and present all in one. Future generations should take notes from Black Moses’ ability to let the music speak, even though he no longer can.
Ask Ed & Sugar: Bernie Mac’s Legacy
It’s very easy to talk about Mr. Mac’s cussin’ and vulgarity, but very difficult to see his evolution. He went from doing comedy on the train in Chi town to having his own FAMILY television show. And you know white folks ain’t in the business of giving too many black folks their own show!!
Ask Ed & Sugar: John Edwards’ Adultery
What is hard to fathom, personally, is why in this era of relentless media inquest, do men like Detroit Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick, President Bill Clinton, Jesse Jackson, and others keep getting caught with their pants down?
Ask Ed & Sugar: Do Women Own Their Issues?
It could be the relationship needs some shaking up, but there’s nothing wrong with doing a personal inventory. On a real serious note, you shouldn’t stay with a woman just because you have history. It could be bad history in disguise. Be sure you’re in it for the right reasons..
Ask Ed & Sugar: Lil Wayne Hip Hop Savior?
There is hip hop outside of the billboard charts. Artists like Killer Mike, Little Brother, Dead Prez, and Jean Grae–to name a few–are dope but rarely get their just desserts when it comes to folks ‘best rappers” lists. Lil Wayne’s flow is sick, but to say he saved hip hop discounts the contributions of so many underappreciated hip hop heads keeping the spirit alive.
Ask Ed & Sugar: Harvard Prof. Pays Kids To Learn
In most cases, money in and of itself is not a problem. But it’s the messages that comes with the money that can make it dangerous. For example, in hip hop, artists are praised for being thugs, gangsters and pimps…not for being scholars.
Damn Good Albums: Erykah Badu
Baduizm was a regular niggas dream gettin’ me through finals, death threats, heartbreaks, suicidal ideation, and my parents (now divorced) rocky relationship. In many ways, “Other Side Of The Game” became my personal soundtrack (and still is) as a young man developing in a world where free spirits have hell to pay.
Damn Good Albums: Maxwell
It was the smoothed out love letter every brother in the world wanted to write….but was too damn cool to tell his women!!! Maxwell’s 96′ release also marks a dramatic tone shift in music as mid tempo grooves, jam sessions, and incense became the craze as industry execs, looking for a clever marketing term to push record sales, developed the flawed title neo-soul ( soul is soul…and that never get’s old)
Erykah Badu Black Queen Or Baby Mamma
To be frank, Erykah Badu is further from the stereotype of project baby mamas than the Pluto is to Earth. The key difference is Badu ain’t runnin’ around lookin’ for the next man payin’ for nails and hair with a car to take her shoppin’. She has built sound relationships with some cool brothers and it didn’t work out the way we, on the outside, thought it should.
Get Your Follow On!!