Happy Father’s Day!

Father’s Day is right around the corner and the one thing the men of VSB and The Root know how to do is procreate. It’s a talent really. Since we all love our children and love being parents, we decided to come together, talk about what fatherhood looks like and offer some tips for those considering the vocation and…

I’d heard of Fela Kuti before I heard Fela. But when I finally made the discovery of Nigeria’s Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti aka Fela Anikulapo Kuti aka Fela, I was done for.

I literally have zero recollection of the first time I heard Sister Nancy’s “Bam Bam.” I don’t remember it at all before college though, so I’ll just go ahead and assume I heard it at the same place I heard so many dope songs during my college tenure: (what we called) “Fashion Fridays” at Spelman College’s Lower…

For years, I knew very little about Lysette. For instance, I had no idea her actual artist name (at the time) was Lysette Titi. I didn’t know she was from the D.C. area. I had no idea she was, at one point, a lead singer for legendary D.C. go-go band Backyard Band. All I knew was that in early 1998, during my freshman…

“I didn’t expect to know this much about your dick.”

Queen Sugar’s fourth season debuted last night on OWN, and bruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh, they came out swinging. The episode, titled “Pleasure Is Back,” takes us back to St. Josephine, La., where our favorite cast of characters are all out here with their eyes on prizes and basking in the glow of love. It seems that everybody…

I don’t know what you can say about a song already called “So Amazing” that literally lives up to its title, even though the “amazing” being referenced is love. I mean, it really is so amazing to be loved, even following people to the moon and the sky above. Not much has to be said about Luther Vandross and his voice.…

I listen to a lot of music, from hip-hop to country to rock ’n roll to even Celtic (seriously, some of that harp work jams ... on the one), but when I need to hear something that digs into my soul, I go straight for gospel, and more specifically, praise and worship.

Like many of us, I spent various moments yesterday reading mixed reporting on the status of Bushwick Bill, member of pioneering Houston rap group, Geto Boys.

I hear you looking at me right now like, “How did Ray J end up ‘round here?” And to that I say, despite the fact that I have stated very plainly that I’m a fan of one Willie Ray Norwood, I didn’t put Ray J on this list, I put “One Wish” on this list because this song is absolutely fire. And it has always been. This…

One thing I’ve made it a point to do more in the past few years is dig heavier into current music coming from Africa. So many artists are breaking through (i.e., Davido, etc.) but there is just SO SO much dope music coming from West Africa—Nigeria in particular.

When it was announced that rising actor Jason Mitchell—known for his performances in Straight Outta Compton, Mudbound and The Chi—had not only been released from his contract as a series regular on The Chi but was removed from an upcoming Netflix film (and dropped by his agent and manager), the initial response was a…

Let’s just give you all the punchline first: Dear people who live in Atlanta, I made it from Morehouse College’s campus bookstore to my actual gate at Hartsfield-Jackson in under 40 minutes, while gassing up my rental car and dropping it off to the facility in between. Also, I have receipts to prove it. Seems…

I came to know this song by way of one of the greatest groups ever assembled: Immature. The trio of Marques “Batman” Houston, Jerome “Romeo” Jones and Kelton “LDB” Kessee recorded “Feel the Funk” in 1995 for the white-savior extraordinaire film Dangerous Minds soundtrack (it was also included on their 1995 album, We…

Back on May 15, we announced that as a way to engage the online VSB community with the in-person monthly book club meeting, we’d post an open thread on the day of the actual book club meeting for those who aren’t in D.C. or who would rather have a convo about the book online. Well, today is the day of the book club…

Oddisee is one of the hardest working artists in music. And I say music, and not just hip-hop, because his catalog is so expansive that it’s unfair to limit him to the genre he’s most well known for. And that’s if you’re familiar at all. Oddisee seems to live in that interesting space of being supremely highly…

I don’t neatly fit into many of the cultural lines set before me—much like many black millennials. It’s almost derivative to say I love anime in an age where black people’s love of anime now spans generations. I grew up listening to Paramore and Van Hunt and Yo-Yo Ma. It’s now Ben Howard and Valis Alps and Gunna (how…

Today, we’re going international with our Black Music Month love. As a hip-hop head who also tried his hand at music production, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time crate digging, searching through entire obscure record label catalogs, hoping to come across the perfect sample. Well, that’s how I came across Letta…

Since first discovering Donny Hathaway, he’s been my favorite singer ever. His version of “A Song For You” is one of the few musical compositions to ever bring tears to my eyes and I’ve made it a point to own every ownable composition of his in multiple formats. I’m also a Roberta Flack fan, though a very choice…