The Tale of Two Tapes Turning Twenty-Five

Pretty good alliteration, ain’t it? Hip hop historians, scholars, and followers of the culture often cite 1988 as the genre’s greatest year in music. There was a seismic shift in which almost any and everything that came before it, was history. Run DMC may have been and still seen some success with Tougher than Leather; […]

The Gospel According to Nipsey Hussle, Pt. 3

Listen here. I’ve been putting off writing this for a little over four years. I was finishing the first draft of my book and an essay based around this song was supposed to be one of its closers. Three years ago, I created two other posts entitled The Gospel According to Nipsey Hussle and “Overtime” […]

A Thousand Words of Gratitude

April 4th marked seven years since I regained custody of my daughter. In spite of not seeing her father for five months, the little thirteen month old baby took a brief look at the man holding her and intuitively felt a sense of connection. Once it clicked, it didn’t matter her grandparents she’d spent the […]

My Favorite Editor

About three months into my tenure at Madamenoire, I received an email that instructed me to submit all pitches to their newest editor, Kweli Wright. I didn’t know anything about her. She was just a name in an email I couldn’t put a face to. It slowly changed. In 2014, I was broke and writing […]

The Reverend Mason Betha Devotional: Book of Life After Death, Chapter 10

Every Monday I will share an anecdote and/or existential life lesson based on teachings from your favorite rapper’s favorite pastor, Ma$e. “Stay humble, stay low, blow like Hootie.” Prosperity preachers often get a bad rap. The public perceive them as pompous and pious people who pillage Peter to pay themselves. Most miss the undercurrent of […]

Five Years Later…

December 8, 2006 was the day Timile Denise Brown and I officially began our relationship and December 9, 2011 was the day she passed away. I have spent as many years without Cydney’s mother as we did together. How did I feel? A way I hadn’t in years: I wanted a cigarette. I always knew […]

31

I’m no longer 30; now I’m in my thirties. 30 began and ended the same way: my day-job cutting my contract short days before I began a new year. While disheartening, it is a blessing in disguise. I was feeling a down during my final lunch break. In spite of my hesitance, I went with […]

What I Took From Lil Wayne’s Nightline Interview

Brian “Birdman” Williams was just given all of the leverage-and then some-to tell Lil Wayne “You need me more than I need you, playboi.” In 1998, Cash Money Records’s flagship artist Juvenile released the music video for his breakout smash, “Ha.” While Juve was, is, and will forever be the hottest of the Hot […]

One Year Ago

A little over a year ago I came up with the idea of starting a blog about Cydney and myself. Ever since Timile had Cydney and was diagnosed with cancer there have been many people who have been touched by our story and circumstances. Family, friends, acquaintances, doctors, nurses, and co-workers as well have given […]

Guest Blog!

Hello, everyone! I am now a monthly guest blogger for the site Too Scoops Kids. Here is the link to my first post. Enjoy and of course check the site out!