Here’s how some of the greatest rappers make rhymes. From the simple nursery rhyme–like bars of Kurtis Blow’s “The Breaks” to the smooth East Coast flow of Notorious B.I.G.’s hit song “Hypnotize” to the speedy delivery of Kendrick Lamar’s “Rigamortis,” rhyming in rap music has not only evolved, it’s gotten better.
The video above explores … Read the rest
Niger’s new military leaders are accusing France of trying to destabilize the country by releasing captured terrorists and breaching its airspace. France has denied the claims. This comes as ECOWAS, the Economic Community of West African States, is holding an emergency summit today. ECOWAS has threatened to use military force to … Read the rest
You’ve heard that cannabis is legal in Washington DC now, but thanks to a rider added to the federal spending budget years ago that prevents the city from spending its own money to set up a retail tax-and-sale program, there’s still no dispensaries you can just walk in and buy weed like Colorado or California … Read the rest
There’s a standoff brewing in South Dakota, where two Native American Indian tribes are defying orders by Governor Kristi Noem to remove COVID-19 checkpoints from their territories. The Cheyenne River Sioux and Oglala Sioux tribes say the checkpoints are the best way to protect against the coronavirus entering their communities, which are not equipped … Read the rest
The two white men caught on camera shooting and killing Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed 25-year-old African American man, were arrested and charged Thursday with murder. The arrests came two days after video of the attack in February was shared with the public, sparking widespread outrage. Today would have been Arbery’s 26th birthday. We speak with
Nearly 100 years ago, a white mob destroyed an American neighborhood called “Black Wall Street,” murdering an estimated 300 people in Tulsa, Oklahoma. That incident — known as the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre — has been largely left out of US history books. Today, a century later, the city still has a lot of questions. … Read the rest
Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden is under fire for fondly reminiscing about his “civil” relationship with segregationist senators in the 1970s and 1980s. Speaking at a fundraiser at the Carlyle Hotel in New York City on Tuesday night, Biden expressed nostalgia for his relationship with the late Democratic pro- segregation Senators James Eastland of Mississippi
On the heels of Wednesday’s historic hearing on reparations, we speak with renowned writer Ta-Nehisi Coates on the lasting legacy of American slavery, how the national dialogue about reparations has progressed in the past five years and his testimony in favor of H.R. 40, which took direct aim at Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Coates
On Wednesday, a subcommittee of the House Judiciary held a historic hearing on reparations for slavery—the first of its kind in over a decade. Wednesday’s hearing coincided with Juneteenth, a day that commemorates June 19, 1865, when slaves in Galveston, Texas, finally learned that the Emancipation Proclamation had abolished slavery. This year marks the 400th