(ThyBlackMan.com) When Phyllis Hyman sang “You Know How to Love Me,” it was more than just a declaration. Released at the dawn of a new decade, the 1979 track captured something rare: a fluency of feeling that was confident, vulnerable, and electric. The song peaked at number six on the ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) Jay-Z stands in a rare place in American cultural history. He is not simply a rapper who became wealthy. He is a chronicler of ambition, survival, capitalism, and the psychology of coming from nothing and refusing to stay there. When I look at his words as a like-minded writer, ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) White People Created Jazz is a claim that resurfaces whenever cultural memory becomes inconvenient. It is often framed as a bold correction to political correctness, yet it collapses the moment it encounters history, geography, and lived testimony. Jazz is not an abstract idea whose origin is lost in time. ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) As this reflection is written, Wynton Marsalis stands at a rare threshold in American cultural life. After nearly forty years, he is preparing to step down as founder and artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center, the institution he helped build into a permanent home for jazz inside one ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) For many Black Americans, Muhammad Ali was never just a boxer. He was a warning, a lesson, a mirror, and in many ways, a permission slip. He gave voice to thoughts many of our parents and grandparents carried quietly in their chests. He stood in public the way a ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) Hip hop has always been political whether it wanted to be or not. From its earliest days in the Bronx, the culture spoke truth to power, chronicled poverty, resisted authority, and gave voice to communities ignored by mainstream America. Even when the music leaned toward escapism, the backdrop was ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) In your mind, you may be thinking, what book have I read that spawned me to think about to write on what I am about to print? What can I say? With that stated, the decades-old allegations of welfare fraud by immigrant Somali communities across the nation, in concert ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) Richard Smallwood was more than a gospel musician. He was a theologian at the piano, a composer who fused classical training with Black church tradition, and a writer whose lyrics carried the weight of Scripture and lived experience. His music did not aim to entertain first. It aimed to ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) This writer rarely agrees with the contemporary musical choices of my students; however, I thought this artist was different…no more! It stings when someone you admired shifts in ways you did not expect. What stood out was Nicki Minaj cheering on Trump and JD Vance during that AmericaFest rally ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) Christmas Eve always feels different. It is the night when the noise fades, the lights feel softer, and memories seem closer than usual. Before the wrapping paper and the laughter, there is a moment of quiet where music carries more meaning. On Christmas Eve, songs are not just playing. ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) Muscle car culture in the United States has long been associated with power and prestige. These vehicles sit at a unique intersection of engineering excellence and personal expression. While the early days of muscle cars are often linked to the 1960s and 1970s, a vibrant movement continues today. African-American ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) When it comes to singing about love, very few artists have ever done it as honestly as Mary J. Blige. From the moment her voice hit the airwaves in the early nineties, it was clear she was not interested in fairy tales. Mary sang about love the way people ...