When I was 12 or 13 and living in Frankfurt, Germany, my parents loaded my siblings and me into the car and we drove about four hours south and east to a small-ish town in the Bavarian region that was the site of the first concentration camp opened in Nazi Germany: Dachau.

When I got married in October 2018, my wife and I broached the idea of going to Accra, Ghana, for our honeymoon. Now, this wasn’t a random “Let’s go to Africa!” ideation; I’d never been to the African continent in any of my travels and had wanted to go, and my wife grew up in Accra, eventually moving to the United…

I’d like to be one of those parents who can say that my kids have never heard me use profanity. But I can’t do that. In fact, if you live within a mile of my house, it is highly likely that if you have kids, they’ve heard me use profanity. Stepping on shit my kids leave to blend in, chameleon-like, on my multi-colored…

Any list of the pleasant surprises from the months of book-related touring, talks, events, and appearances in 2019 would include the week I spent in London in May. It was my first time in England—a place I never had any desire to visit. (I’ve seen Closer seven times, which I figured was enough London for me.)…

No shit.

There’s quite a bit of hip-hop cooking in the kitchen for 2020, in terms of scheduled and rumored releases. Full-length projects are expected from the holy trinity of contemporary rap greats—Drake, J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar—as well as albums that will excite the kids (Lil Uzi Vert, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie) and us old…

Firstly, I hate each and every one of you. Secondly, I’m not even sure if “firstly” is a word—it felt awkward in my mouth, like peanut butter on potato chips—but it fits with what I’m saying, so it will be today. But thirdly (and most importantly), why did you do this to us?

As a washed black dad myself, I’m well-versed in all things washed black dad. I wouldn’t quite call myself a maven just yet—you need approximately 12-15 years of washed black dadding to qualify—but I’m close, and I have the sleeping pattern and sensitive toothpaste to prove it.

Boyz II Men’s second album, Christmas Interpretations, is the best, most complete, Christmas album of the modern era—and it’s not even close. Sure, there have been great songs—Mariah Carey’s “All I Want For Christmas Is You” comes to mind (more on that later)— but as for a flawless and seamless album, you don’t need…

Kanye West had himself a decade. While he started out on a musical tear that had car speakers and arenas rocking, he ended it as a Donald Trump, MAGA-hat wearing, gospel-ish artist. The one consistency is that when he started out 2010, he thought he was God’s gift to the planet—and he pretty much ended the decade that…

I forget sometimes that Donald Trump is president.

1. When I was done making my purchase yesterday—a Wilton Icing Writing Black Pen and three Sterilite Clearview Latch Boxes with purple latches—was it really necessary to say “Remove your card ... NOW?”

What started out as a thought about going to Ghana for our honeymoon in 2018 has me and my wife preparing to head back to her home country in a few days. My wife—who was born in Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire, but grew up in Accra, Ghana, until moving to the United States in the early 2000s—hasn’t been home since 2009, so…

I was tempted to begin this by saying I’m ashamed to admit that I haven’t been paying much attention to the Democratic presidential nominee horserace, but I didn’t say the thing I’m saying I didn’t say, because it would have been a lie. I am neither ashamed to admit that nor even incrementally approaching shame. I…

The most telling revelation from the now-concluded spectacular first season of Watchmen came directly after its first episode and was inspired by its first scene—a reenactment of the Greenwood Massacre. Like many, I was surprised that HBO would launch a big-budget prestige series about angsty superheroes with a…

You know, as I watch my kids grow, I’ve come to the realization that, in life, the 3-5 age range is really the sweet spot. For kids, it’s the age before they are required to know better and thus do better so they can pretty much say anything they want (short of curse words around grandparents); they have no bills and…

If you have spent more than five minutes online in the past week, know some gang members, or (oddly) have a Google alert set for “Keyshia Cole” then you have been made privy to the song and video, “Never Knew,” by Long Beach, Calif., rapper and Crip-extraordinaire, O.T. Genasis.

So this premise is already operating at a deficit: If born, I guess, you deserve the ability to continue living, and whatever’s necessary to achieve that goal—food, water, safety, shelter, etc.—exists under that umbrella. But once we get into concepts like happiness and fulfillment, our application of “deserve”…

I promise you that I don’t engage in pure unfettered foolishness just because I’m comfortable in life. And yet, here we are doing a product review of Raycon’s E55 True Wireless Earbuds. Raycon is, of course, an electronics brand by one William Raymond Norwood Jr. also known as The Artist Formerly Known as Hey…

A now-viral image of five chicken wings—each in a different state of completion—has lit the internet on fire, sparking arguments, ending friendships, and even getting niggas disinvited to gender-reveal clambakes. In the image, each wing is listed from 1 to 5, representing the spectrum from “barely-nibbled” to “did you…