Everyone needs to see The Roots live at least once in their life (but probably more)

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The Roots are one of hip-hop’s greatest acts, hands down. There are no qualifiers. 

It’s not just the fact Black Thought is one of the greatest MCs of all time. It’s not just the fact they’ve given us an entire catalog of evergreen classics that we can relate to no matter what phase of our lives we are in. 

It’s about the way The Roots are an actual band, and no matter how many times you see them live, you will never get the same show twice. 

I’ve seen them multiple times a year every year since 2002 (save for the quarantine/shutdown years). Their shows are an “in the moment” vibe reminiscent of jam bands like Phish and the Grateful Dead. 

If the culture of Dead and Phish shows translated to hip-hop, people would be recording and swapping Roots shows because each one is that unique. 

Everyone needs to see The Roots live at least once in their life (but probably more)

Cassie’s revelations should be the beginning of the #MeToo moment for hip-hop

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Hip-hop is where women are bitches and hoes and only good for sex, but when they talk about sex on their own terms, it’s suddenly a problem because they are controlling their own narratives and not centering men.

Hip-hop is where women can repeatedly accuse Trey Songz of physically assaulting them, drugging them and sexually abusing them, and he continues to get a pass while appearing as a featured artist on hit after hit because that’s how this game works.

The hip-hop game is rigged, and it’s rigged against women, and as a woman who loves hip-hop, I’m tired of dancing around the issue, both literally and figuratively. 

Cassie’s revelations should be the beginning of the #MeToo moment for hip-hop

Happy birthday to Megan Thee Stallion

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Today is Megan Thee Stallion’s 28th birthday.

She should be out celebrating and driving the boat, doing hoodrat shit with her ratchet friends, but instead she has been on a self-imposed hiatus, disappearing from the public eye immediately after Tory Lanez was convicted in December for the July 2020 incident in which he shot her in her feet.

Megan deserves so much better.

For theGrio, I wrote an open letter to her.

I hope wherever she is right now, she is surrounded by love, finding peace, feeling protected, and healing herself mentally and emotionally so she can come back stronger than ever. We miss her.

Read “To Megan Thee Stallion on her 28th birthday