Colleague Carrie Kamm commented on my last post with this: She’s probably right. Even after reflecting on the underlying themes of that post, I don’t know exactly what prompted it. I do know it came from a place where people believe all people’s histor...

I finally got around to reading Jay-Z’s Decoded after reading Kevin Nealon’s voyage towards fatherhood in Yes, You’re Pregnant, But What About Me? Rather than examining the contrasts of my literary interests, I prefer we discuss the last month of contr...

Excerpt: As in any other subculture, rap aficionados argue about which rapper has produced the most impressive output. Jay-Z has cited Nas, The Notorious B.I.G., and 2Pac as “greats”—and his career is often compared with theirs. The Notorious B.I.G. and 2Pac...

Let me start off by saying that, with many in the poetry community, I’ve gotten a reputation for my honesty and borderline snobbery when it comes to writing. I don’t intend it that way; I just have a certain quality of writing I ask for. Whether it’s m...

Hip-hop as a culture and a music genre has always had a dichotomous relationship with this word “teacher.” On the one end, many of the later generation of rappers were high school and college drop-outs, including 50 Cent, Notorious BIG, and Kanye West. Yet, ...

Kanye West recently got me to thinking about the callous facade men and women take on when not satisfied with matters of the heart. Along the lines of Jay-Z’s “They say you can’t turn a bad girl good, but once a good girl’s gone bad, she’s ...

There I go, quoting another rapper again. I consider myself a rap fan by most standards, but today especially, I recognize the power of their words. When Jay-Z speaks of the “genesis of a nemesis” when telling of the birth of a drug dealer, when 2Pac speaks ...

Part 2 of The Hip-Hop in the Classroom Series: The mainstream rap of today continues to perpetuate the same themes of sex, drugs, and violence we’ve heard almost ad nauseam since the ealy ’90s. Yet, the gems that often redeem and exalt rap into the hood̵...

I hate to brag, but: “Mazel Tov! It’s a celebration, chickens! L’Chayim! I wish for you a hundred years of success, but it’s my time!” courtesy of Jay-Z from “Roc Boys” With little paper promotion (mostly word-of-mouth) and with...

Did you ever get someone or a group of people just stare at you for no good reason? I don’t mean kids, because that’s their natural tendency. I mean adults. I’d understand if I was breathtakingly handsome, but I consider myself cool, at most photogenic...