(ThyBlackMan.com) Feature films and documentaries entertained and enlightened audiences at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The non-fiction films were as compelling as the crime thrillers, family dramas and adolescent romances. Nearly all left a lasting impression. Cha Cha Real Smooth (***1/2) Twenty-three-year-old writer/actor/director Cooper Raiff knows how to capture the attention ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) Nothing is drastically wrong with this rom/com. Nothing is drastically right. That’s the problem. This Valentine’s Day offering feels like a present that’s been regifted and passed along. Jennifer Lopez took big chances in her last movie Hustlers. She played a streetwise stripper and that paid off, winning her accolades for ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) Everyone knows that the best way to learn a musical instrument is by playing songs. Once you’ve learned your first song, you’re well on your way to developing your skill. But if you have decided to focus on learning to play the banjo, it’s one of the most satisfying ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) Rick Ross just dropped his eleventh solo studio album, Richer Than I Ever Been, and I think it’s safe to say that there is nothing left for The Biggest Boss to prove in hip hop. His staying power has been amazing with fifteen years in the game and his ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) Kendrick Lamar is one of the top three rappers of this generation and one of the greatest lyricists of all times. Where the Compton, California MC ranks is a story for another time but over his more than ten-year career, he has given us some great songs and classic ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) In September, two heavyweight albums dropped by two artists currently deep in beef spanning multiple years. The root of this beef is most likely something very stupid, a misunderstanding, or something small that two massive egos simply cannot let it go. Whatever it is, it has made the hype ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) At the start of the current generation of hip hop, we saw a change in who was going to be at the top of the hip hop world moving forward. The previous generation that was around when I was in high school was led by a varied group that ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) It is always humbling to learn something new. Life is, by design, a continuous journey from the unknown to the known. From the old to the new. My most recent learning experience occurred last week, when I learned of the travesties befalling our country’s youth. We often read depressing ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) Before I decided to commit myself to a career as a journalist, I worked in the trenches as a high school teacher in two departments: English and Religion. Later, I would become an adjunct professor at several colleges in Chicago and then in Atlanta. Because the world was changing ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) In April of 1775, confronted by a forthcoming uprising by the U.S. colonist, British General Thomas Gage made the decision to confiscate gun powder and weapons that were being stored in Concord, Massachusetts. However, his plan was thwarted when citizens learned of his intentions and the legend of Paul ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) Janet Jackson had a smash hit in 1986 with the help of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis called Control. I had just started graduate school, not even contemplating I would eventually become an infectious disease scientist. At the time, my focus was a dual track master’s degree in statistics and ...
(ThyBlackMan.com) “I’m built to prove myself,” chants Zed (Riz Ahmed, Sound of Metal), a rebellious British/Pakistani rapper. Brazenly, he’s sharing a new, defiant perspective on the South Asian experience in the Western world. Culture clash powers this feature film debut by documentary director Bassam Tariq. It’s a reckoning for the central character ...