John Jackson, Jr. Weighs in on Celebrity, Beyonce Style

from The Chronicle Review

Knowles Knows
by John L. Jackson, Jr.

I had a long conversation with Essence magazine's Jeannine Amber last month. She was working on a cover story about Beyonce Knowles, and she wanted to chat a bit about how celebrities negotiate fandom, its commonsensical expectations and its worst excesses.

Part of the point of that Essence article, which has just hit newsstands, was to discuss Beyonce's attempt to maintain a modicum of privacy in an age of Reality TV'd hyper-access. She is known for being pretty cagey about the most basic facts of her personal life, including her marriage to hip-hop mega-star Jay-Z.

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Hudson Family Tragedy Puts Focus on Urban Violence

from NewsOne.com

Jennifer Hudson's Tragic Spotlight
by Stephany Rose

As a native of Chicago, my prayers and heart go out to Jennifer Hudson and her family. However, my sympathy and concerns are not reserved for the Hudson family alone. They stretch long and wide, covering the hundreds of victims and victims' families whose murders go unsolved and remain out of the national spotlight.

Amidst the details of America's DreamGirl Jennifer Hudson's tragedy, will the heinous incident turn a national eye upon a pandemic quite often ignored in urban centers across America?

When shots rang out in the vicinity of the 7000 S. block of Yale Ave, early Friday morning, residents nearby thought nothing of it; or if they did, chose to ignore them.

Such a response surprises few who live in or are aware of the temperament of Chicago's Englewood community. For many residents, violence in Englewood is to be expected. This sense of normalcy is one reason Hudson tried to persuade her mother to move. Her mother refused, wanting to remain close to family, friends and sense of being.

The Englewood community, once a thriving residential and business district only minutes from the Chicago Loop, today can provide a bastion of fodder for Hollywood financed gangster movies. Boarded and abandoned buildings line the avenues from 7000 to 5500 South, between the Dan Ryan Expressway and Western Avenue.

Drug transactions are as common, if not more, as grocery shopping. Additionally, the widespread collapsing of public schools and the demolition of public housing facilities have left redistributed gangs fighting for new and old territory.

Coined, "America's Midwest Bagdad," Englewood is a constant site of warfare. At one time it was racial aggression and systematic redlining inflicted upon African Americans who attempted to move into the predominately Irish Catholic community during the height of the Great Migration and then after World War II. Today, it is the site of black genetic annihilation couched within the phenomenon of the prison industrial complex, a breeding ground for behavior that leads to incarceration.

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***

Stephany "Stiletto" Rose is a poet, performer, community organizer and author of Stilettoed Roses Bleed (Interstices, Inc. 2004). She is an Assistant Professor of English at Claflin University.

Born in the Bronx: The Cornell University Hip-Hop Conference

Cornell University Hosts Hip Hop Conference and Celebration

Celebrating Hip Hop History
October 31 - November 1, 2008

Afrika Bambaataa and other pioneers of hip hop will travel to Ithaca, N.Y., to speak at a two-day conference celebrating Cornell University Library’s acquisition of “Born in the Bronx: The Legacy and Evolution of Hip Hop,” a collection that documents the early days of hip hop with recordings, photographs, posters and more.

Events on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1 will include music, performances and lectures by several of hip hop’s founders, and roundtable discussions led by prominent speakers from the hip hop and academic communities. Cornell University Library will host the event, which will highlight the one-of-a-kind historical materials.

***

Conference Schedule

Thursday, October 30, 2008
Cornell Cinema, 7:00 p.m.

Wild Style with filmmaker Charlie Ahearn.
1983. USA. Directed by Charlie Ahearn. 1 hr 25 min. With Grand Master Caz, Cold Crush Brothers, Fantastic 5, Grand Master Flash

"Joyous, raucous, and explosive, Wild Style is the movie that made Hollywood wake up to hip-hop..." (Cinefamily). Many of the participants in the film will be on campus for Cornell's hip hop conference. Ahearn will also present Bongo Barbershop (2005, 8 mins), a return to the place where hip hop began. More information on hip hop film screenings at Cornell Cinema Oct. 24-30.

Friday, October 31, 2008
Bailey Hall, Cornell University

3:00 p.m. Welcoming Remarks

Johan Kugelberg, author and curator, editor of Born in the Bronx: A Visual Record of the Early Days of Hip Hop. Sean Eversley Bradwell, Assistant Professor, Center for the Study of Culture, Race, and Ethnicity, Ithaca College.

Hip Hop Histories

Jeff Chang, hip hop historian and award-winning author of Can't Stop Won't Stop: a History of the Hip-Hop Generation and editor of the anthology Total Chaos: The Art & Aesthetics of Hip-Hop.

4:30 - 6:30 p.m. In the Beginning: A Conversation with Hip Hop's Pioneers

Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Caz, Grandwizzard Theodore, Roxanne Shante, Popmaster Fabel, Tony Tone, Pebblee Poo, Disco Wiz. Also: Images of the Bronx: Hip Hop Photographs by Joe Conzo. Please see participant biographies for more information. Registered participants at the conference have the opportunity to submit questions to the pioneers in advance. We encourage you to do so here. The moderator will take as many questions as time allows.

6:30 - 8:30 p.m. Dinner option for conference attendees

Robert Purcell Community Center (RPCC) Marketplace Eatery
Three amateur DJs from Cornell University and the region showcase their styles!
$10 Admission includes dinner at award-winning buffet including The Mongolian Grille, Ancho's Latino Cuisine, and more.

8:30 - 11:00 p.m. Music by Hip hop pioneers and others

Pioneers of hip hop culture will demonstrate old school D.J., M.C., b-boy/b-girl styles, with special appearance by DJ.J.Rocc.

Saturday, November 1
Alice Statler Auditorium, Cornell University

9:15 - 11:00 a.m. New Hip Hop Scholarship

Scholars, faculty and students present recent research on hip hop.

11:00 - 12:30 p.m. Teaching Hip Hop: A Lecture and Discussion

Mark Anthony Neal, Professor of Black Popular Culture at Duke University, "Teach the Bourgeois and Rock the Boulevard: Hip-Hop and the Academy."

12:30 - 2:00 p.m. Break

2:00 - 3:30 p.m. Hip Hop Futures: A Lecture and Discussion

Tricia Rose, Professor of Africana Studies, Brown University. Author of the influential and groundbreaking book, "Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America" will speak about the future of hip hop and share ideas from her forthcoming book: The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip Hop and Why It Matters (Basic Books, December 2008).

Defending Palin? Challenging Media Sexism

from NewsOne.com


LEFT OF BLACK
Sexism, Misogyny and Sarah Palin
by Mark Anthony Neal

Much of the election news cycle these past few days has been devoted to wardrobe issues, specifically, the amount of money that the Republican National Committee has spent on clothes and makeup for the Vice-Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin. In addition, questions have arisen regarding Palin’s use of Alaska state funds for travel with her family, travel that may not be related to her official duties as Governor.

That many cable news networks felt compelled to devote air time to speculation about the cost of Palin’s wardrobe and her family’s travel itinerary is the by-product 24-hour news programming. This incessant need to fill every hour with content, no matter how trivial, contributes to the dumbing-down of an American electorate salivating for information. But there’s something more troubling at play here, an issue that has everything to do with the brave new world that Sarah Palin and Hillary Clinton have ushered in.

Senator Hillary Clinton and Governor Sarah Palin share very little ideologically or politically, but during the 2008 election cycle, they will be forever linked by the palpable sexism that has accompanied mainstream media coverage of their campaigns. Frenzy over the cost of Palin’s RNC sponsored wardrobe is not unlike the mocking of Clinton’s pantsuits. In a society largely concerned with the physical attractiveness of women, it’s not surprising that women politicians with national constituencies would also be subject to beauty contest standards, even by so-called respectable journalists. Indeed, the lack of mainstream commentary about the not-so-hushed descriptions of Palin as a “MILF” and Clinton’s lack of so-called MILF appeal speaks to how insulated many of us are to how these dynamics function in media coverage.

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Change! (Makes U Wanna Reminisce)

Its been eight long years since the boys said wassup to each other. Even with the effects of a down economy and imminent change in the White House, the boys are still able to come together and stay true to what really matters.

Remembering Levi Stubbs

from Vibe.com


CRITICAL NOIR
Man Enough: Remembering Levi Stubbs
by Mark Anthony Neal

There are two recordings, both from the early-1970s, that perfectly capture the significance of Levi Stubbs, the long-time lead singer of The Four Tops who died on October 17th. "Keeper of the Castle" was the first single and title track of the Four Tops' debut recording on the ABC label in 1972, after a decade long stint at Motown. A year later the group recorded "Are You Man Enough?," which was featured on the soundtrack of the film Shaft in Africa. Both tracks, written by the team of Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, presented a compelling view of masculinity in the early 1970s at a time when fictional and iconic figures such as Dirty Harry and Shaft were offering more animated and often unrealistic views of masculinity.

"Are You Man Enough?" easily tapped into the musical formula that fueled the success of Blaxploitation anthems such as Marvin Gaye's "Trouble Man," Curtis Mayfield's "Superfly" and Isaac Hayes's "Shaft," with Stubbs's vocals serving as the perfect conduit for the hypermasculine rhythms that the aforementioned Blaxploitation icons largely embodied. With box-office appeal--Berry Gordy initially approached Stubbs to play the role of Louis McKay in the film Lady Sings the Blues--and a rumbling baritone rivaled only by Barry White and Hayes, Stubbs easily fit alongside the sex symbols of the Soul era.

"Keeper of the Castle" told another story though, urging men "red, yellow, black, white, and brown," to be fathers to their children and a providers for their families. Despite this rather antiquated notion of manhood, at its core "Keeper of the Castle" celebrated loyalty and responsibility. These attributes best described the private Levi Stubbs, who despite the opportunity to seek solo success like so many of his peers--Smokey Robinson, David Ruffin, Eddie Kendrick and most famously Diana Ross--remained loyal to The Four Tops, fronting the group for nearly 50 years.

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Hip hop, black masculinity, black femininity, race, class, R. Kelly, Obama . . .

The Morehouse College English Department presents

Dr. Mark Anthony Neal
Duke University

&

Dr. Stephane Dunn
Morehouse College


In Dialogue

Hip hop, black masculinity, black femininity, race, class, R. Kelly, Obama . . .

Thursday, October 23 2008, 2:30 pm
Morehouse College, Wheeler Hall

There is a market for everything man
There is a market for pet psychologists nigga. There is a market for twisted
shitfetish video's. For nipplerings, for riverdancing, for chocolate cupboard roaches..
But you can't find one for cultured hardcore reality and hiphop?

- Immortal Technique

Elisha Cuthbert Photo Shoot Pics

Jessica Simpson Photo Shoot Pics

Jessica Simpson Profile

Name: Jessica Simpson

Birth Name: Jessica Ann Simpson

Height: 5' 3"

Sex: F

Nationality: American

Birth Date: July 10, 1980

Birth Place: Dallas, Texas, USA

Profession: actress, musician

Education: J.J. Pearce High School Richardson in Texas (graduated in 1998)

Husband/Wife: Nick Lachey (member of 98 Degrees; born on November 9, 1973; married
on October 26, 2002 in Austin, Texas; separated on November 23, 2005; filed for divorced in December 2005; divorced on June 30, 2006)

Father: Joe Simpson

Mother: Tina Simpson

Sister: Ashlee Simpson (actress; born on October 3, 1984)

Claim to fame: Album: Sweet Kisses

Jessica Simpson Biography

Jessica Ann Simpson (born July 10, 1980) is an American pop singer and actress who rose to fame in the late 1990s. She has achieved seven Billboard Top 40 hits, and has three gold and two multi-platinum RIAA-certified albums. Simpson starred with her then-husband Nick Lachey in the MTV reality show Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica. She has also begun working as an actress, and is the older sister of Ashlee Simpson, an internationally successful pop rock singer and actress.

She was born Jessica Ann Simpson in Abilene, Texas, the daughter of Tina and Joe Truett Simpson, who was a minister and psychologist. As a child, she began singing at her local Baptist church. At age twelve, Simpson unsuccessfully auditioned for The Mickey Mouse Club. While attending J.J. Pearce High School, she recorded a gospel music album with Proclaim Records. The record company went bankrupt and the album was never released. Simpson left high school at age sixteen (she later earned her GED), and toured the Christian music circuit. After Columbia Records executive Tommy Mottola heard one of Simpsons' independent releases, she was signed to the label.

Emma Watson : Wallpapers

Emma Watson Profile

Name: Emma Watson

Birth Name: Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson

Height: 5' 6"

Sex: F

Nationality: British

Birth Date: April 15, 1990

Birth Place: Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Profession: actress

Father: Chris Watson (lawyer; divorced)

Mother: Jacqueline Watson (lawyer)

Brother: Alex (born in 1993)

Grand Mother: Freda Watson

Claim to fame: as Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter films.

Emma Watson Biography

Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson (born 15 April 1990) is a French-born British actress who rose to prominence playing Hermione Granger, one of three starring roles in the Harry Potter film series. Watson was cast as Hermione at the age of nine, having acted only in school plays. From 2001 to 2007, she starred in five Harry Potter film instalments alongside Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Grint. She will return for the final two instalments: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, due to be released in 2009, and the two parts of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Watson's work in the Harry Potter series has earned her several awards and more than £10 million.

In 2007, Watson announced her involvement in two non-Harry Potter productions: the made-for-television adaptation of the novel Ballet Shoes and an animated film, The Tale of Despereaux. Ballet Shoes was broadcast on Boxing Day 2007 to an audience of 5.2 million and The Tale of Despereaux, based on the book by Kate DiCamillo, will be released in 2008.

Emma Watson was born in Paris, France, daughter of Jacqueline Luesby and Chris Watson, English lawyers. Watson has one French grandmother, and lived in Paris until the age of five, before she moved with her mother and younger brother, Alex, to Oxford, England, following her parents' divorce.

From the age of six, Watson expressed a desire to become an actress. By 10, she had starred in school plays, including Arthur: The Young Years and The Happy Prince. She had never acted professionally before the Harry Potter series. "I had no idea of the scale of the film [series]", she said in a 2007 interview with Parade magazine; "[if I had] I would have been completely overwhelmed".

Sonal Chauhan Hot Looks In Green

Sonal Chauhan Profile

Name: Sonal Chauhan

Date of Birth: 16 May 1985

Place of Birth: Uttar Pradesh, India

Height: 5'8"

Age: 23

Debut Movie: Jannat

Sonal Chauhan Biography

Sonal Singh Chauhan (born May 16, 1985) is an Indian fashion model and actress. She has won several beauty contests and made her acting debut in the movie Jannat directed by Mukesh Bhatt.

She was born in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh, India , originally hailing from the state of Uttar Pradesh/UP. Her father is a police inspector, and she has one elder brother and two younger sisters. She studied at DPS, Noida and then Philosophy honors at Gargi College in New Delhi. Sonal stands 5 feet and 8 inches (173 cm).

She was crowned as the Miss World Tourism 2005 at Miri, Sarawak state of Malaysia. She was a noteworthy former Miss India contestant. She is the first Indian to have claimed Miss World Tourism title. She has been a popular model of Delhi, and has appeared in a number of advertisement campaigns in print and electronic media. She appeared in the ads of brands like Ponds and Nokia. She also appeared on the cover page of FHM magazine.

She made her debut in Mukesh Bhatt's Jannat paired opposite Emraan Hashmi. She played the character of girl called Zoya who works in a call center. She is the love interest of Emraan Hashmi, a bookie. Sonal has also been signed by Mukesh Bhatt for Raaz 2, a sequel to the 2002 movie Raaz.She has signed a three film deal with Vishesh Films.

Being a model for two years, having an experience of various ramp shows and print campaigns for big brands like LG, Reliance CDMA, Hero Honda Passion, Nokia, Hindustan Times, Delhi Times, and many more.

She has also signed a Telugu movie called Rainbow casting Rahul and Sindhu Menon. The movie is being directed by V. N. Adithyas.

Carrie Underwood : Wallpapers

Carrie Underwood Profile

Name: Carrie Underwood

Birth Name: Carrie Marie Underwood

Height: 5' 4"

Sex: F

Nationality: American

Birth Date: March 10, 1983

Birth Place: Checotah, Oklahoma, USA

Profession: musician

Education: Checotah High School (graduated in 2001)
Northeastern State University (majored in Mass Communications with an emphasis in Journalism; graduated on May 6, 2006; magna cum laude; BA)

Relationship: Chace Crawford (Gossip Girl cast member; born on July 18, 1985), Tony Romo (Dallas Cowboys' quarterback; born on April 21, 1980; broke up)

Claim to fame: American Idol 2005

Carrie Underwood Biography

Carrie Marie Underwood (born March 10, 1983) is an American pop country music singer-songwriter who won the fourth season of American Idol. Since then, she has become a multi-platinum selling recording artist. Her debut album, Some Hearts, was certified 7x platinum and is the fastest selling debut country album in Nielsen SoundScan history. Her debut album, Some Hearts, has yielded five #1 hits on the country charts in the United States and Canada: "Inside Your Heaven," "Jesus, Take the Wheel", "Don't Forget to Remember Me", "Wasted," and her biggest hit to date, "Before He Cheats." In addition, Underwood scored another Top 10 Billboard hit with her charity single, "I'll Stand by You." Some Hearts sold a total of 7 million Recording Industry Association of America-certified copies as of February 2008, in addition to being the best selling album by an American Idol contestant, in the United States, to date, it is also the best-selling solo female debut album in country music history.

Her second album, Carnival Ride (which is certified 2x Platinum by the RIAA) was released on October 23, 2007. It has so far sold over 2 million copies and has produced two #1 country hits, "So Small." and "All-American Girl", "All-American Girl" currently sitting at #1 on the Billboard Country chart. Underwood's Christmas single, "Do You Hear What I Hear?" peaked at #2 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary charts.

Aside from her vocals, Underwood's success is attributed to what many fans recognize as her wholesome image. In general, many of her songs also present inspirational and uplifting themes and messages. To date, Underwood has sold over 11 million copies worldwide in the last two years.

Carrie Marie Underwood was born to Stephen and Carole Underwood in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and was raised on her parents' farm in rural Checotah, Oklahoma. She has two older sisters, Shanna (born 1970) and Stephanie Underwood Shelton (born 1973). Underwood had performed at Robbins Memorial Talent Show in her childhood. As a young child, she sang in church, and for Old Settler's Day and Lion's Club, local events in Checotah. In 1996, when Underwood was 13, her manager at the time tried to get her a recording contract at Capitol Records. However, due to management changes at Capitol, it never materialized.

Underwood graduated from Checotah High School in 2001 as salutatorian. After high school, she attended Northeastern State University in Tahlequah. She graduated magna cum laude in 2006 with a bachelor's degree in mass communication and an emphasis in journalism Underwood is a member of the Alpha Iota chapter of Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority, For two years during the summer, she performed in Northeastern's Downtown Country show in Tahlequah. She also competed in numerous beauty pageants at the university and was selected as Miss NSU runner-up in 2004.

Franklin Raines Meet Willie Horton

from NewsOne.com

LEFT OF BLACK:
The Financial Meltdown and John McCain’s Willie Horton
by Mark Anthony Neal

As his poll numbers have declined and the strengths he possesses on the issues of foreign policy take a back seat to the economic crisis, it’s no surprise that Senator John McCain has resorted to the time-tested strategy of fear-mongering. When not referring to Democratic opponent as “that one” and depicting him as the boogey-man who will come into your house late at night and steal the very air you breathe hasn’t been enough, the McCain campaign has created surrogates to make Barack Obama guilty by association.

The newest boogey-man on the block is Franklin Raines. And Senator Obama’s purported relationship with the former chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of Fannie Mae (the Federal National Mortgage Association), has been at the cornerstone of attempts by the McCain campaign to depict Obama as dangerous for the American economy.

Raines elevation to “boogey-man” follows a pattern we’ve witnessed where Senator Obama’s opponents use figures like Reverend Jeremiah Wright and former Weather Underground radical William Ayers to question his preparedness, his judgment and his integrity.

Why not? It worked for Republican nominee George Bush’s anti-crime presidential campaign against Democrat Michael Dukakis in 1988, when a now-infamous television ad about a black felon named Willie Horton scared the living daylights out of white America.

Read Full Essay @

Classic "New Jack" Analysis from Barry Michael Cooper

from The Huffington Post

When Politics Became The New Hip Hop
By Barry Michael Cooper

The Gen-Y'ers have truly made the connection between Barack Obama and Hip Hop. They are his advance team on Facebook, My Space, and Friendster, an army of Millennials that has assisted the Obama campaign in raising hundreds of millions of dollars online. For this new paradigm--young white kids (and Asian, Latino, African-American, and multi-racial kids, too)--the culture of Hip Hop allowed them to embrace a black man without fear, suspicion, or loathing. These same Gen-Y'ers will go to a Jay-Z concert and know all the words to "Regrets" or "Lost Ones." Michael Phelps motored Beijing's Olympic blue cube -- stoked by the fires of Lil' Wayne lyrics playing in his head -- en route to a record eight gold medals. These same Millennials are also educating their parents around the breakfast and dinner table, letting them know that the Baby Boomer version of the American Dream, the Woodstock, flower power, peace, love, and Haight-Ashbury, has grown up in Eminem's 8 Mile of Detroit, Snoop Dogg's Long Beach, and Common's South Side of Chicago. Their world may not be a ghetto, but the Millennials have broadbanded it into their very own 3-G global 'hood. Which, incidentally, is Obama's hood, too.

Read the Full Essay @

Broken Social Contracts--A Film Short by Laura L. Rahman

The Film discusses how two historically black colleges confront accusations of sexual assault on their campus. Broken Social Contracts depicts the necessity for conversations in the black community on our relationships. Can dialogue go beyond music videos and lyrics? Activists, students, and scholars weigh in our communities gender roles...trailer includes Mark Anthony Neal, Duke Univ. Prof.--Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Spelman Prof.,--Cynthia Neal Spence, Spelman Prof.--(Bilal) Mark King, Morehouse Prof.--Johnnetta B. Cole, President Emeritus (Spelman & Bennett),-- Pearl Cleage, Writer/Activist--M.Bahti Kuumba, Spelman Prof.--Patrica McFadden, Activist,---Andy Lowry, Spelman Prof.--Adia Harvey, Georgia State Univ. Prof--Mychael Bond, Britny Ray, Star Tolerson, Marcus Edwards, Tony Anderson, Tiara Dungy & Spelmans Violence Against Womens Class.

The Thug & The Candidate

from Vibe.com

***

CRITICAL NOIR:
The Thug(s) and the Candidate: Musings on Black Masculinity
by Mark Anthony Neal

"That black men who display hypermasculine characteristics fetishize--that is, simultaneously love and loathe--those considered less masculine or, to be explicit, that niggas covet faggots has been unmasked in insightful criticism. That faggots desire to be niggas has occasioned less critique..."

--Vershawn Ashanti Young, Your Average Nigga: Performing Race, Literacy, and Masculinity

***

One of the prevailing theses of the current election season is that Senator Barack Hussein Obama is not the round-way-brand of black man. Such a premise is palpable only to the extent that one chooses to read Obama against the image of marketplace confections of black masculinity, particularly those that legibly erect centuries' old tropes of danger, bestial behavior, and sinister eroticism. The idea that we should distinguish between the candidate and the thug(s) is one of the defining truisms of polite society--less a measure of the candidate's humanity and more so an index of the tolerance within said polite society.

But black men do not live in polite society--however effectively they earn their keep within those spaces--and even the candidate's wife understands this, telling CBS news months ago about her fears that her husband might get shot at a gas station in Chicago as opposed to being assassinated on the campaign trial by some desperate political actor yelling "traitor." As Chris Rock surmised some time ago, niggas don't get assassinated, they get shot--and there always been more of a chance that the Senator from Illinois's fate would be decided by a bullet intended for a nigga, as opposed to that intended for the candidate, because quiet as it's kept--Harvard pedigree notwithstanding--Obama never stops being a black man. And this is perhaps the implicit message of Byron Hurt's recent film short Barack & Curtis: Manhood, Power and Respect. The film is a brilliant and thoughtful intervention on the subject of black masculinity at a moment when Senator Barack Obama is poised to redefine black manhood for much of the world.

There is a telling sequence early in Hurt's Barack & Curtis, where radio journalist Esther Armah, states that "Barack equaled Harvard, someone like 50 Cent equaled hood; hood equaled virility, Harvard equaled impotence." That Armah's compelling observation is rarely disturbed speaks to the extent that many of our perceptions about black masculinity have been finely shaped by a market culture that makes it easier for us to go to sleep at night, because we can so effectively distinguish the niggas from the black men. As such Barack Obama and Curtis Jackson are little more than brands, in a highly volatile and fabulously lucrative, politicized marketplace.

Read the Full Essay @