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Black People Are Individuals – Stop Lumping Us Together
At the height of the Black Lives Matter movement last year, people of different races, countries and social identities were showing their support for the black community. Whether it was genuine, or they were just jumping on the bandwagon to not look bad, awareness was spreading about the societal issues that plague the black community due to both direct and institutional racism. This was all great, but the trendy period of addressing anti-black racism exposed some other issues when it comes to how black people are perceived by non-black people. At one point, non-black people started making pretty basic social media posts to prove that they support BLM (i.e., out…
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Listen to the Silence of Your Non-Black Friends
We’ve all heard the sayings: “Everyone wants to be Black until it’s time to be Black” or “Everybody wants to be Black, but nobody wants to be Black” …or something along those lines. In times like this, we really get to experience the meaning of these phrases. A few years ago, I made the conscious decision to dissociate myself from the white/non-black people of colour in my life who I noticed were enthusiastically down with the fun parts of black culture but who I would never hear express any sort of opinion over the injustice that is regularly suffered by the black community. You know the ones… the ones who…
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5 Books by Black Women to Read During Quarantine
We’ve entered our second month of social distancing and self-isolation due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Although there is now a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel with some countries and Canadian provinces discussing entering the early stages of reopening the economy, it seems like we still have at least a few more weeks before social distancing rules are relaxed. If you’re running out of shows to binge-watch on Netflix, why not do what our ancestors would have done to pass the time without internet access: read. I did some research on what books I would be interested in and plan on reading during this time. I…
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What to Watch for This Black History Month
The first Black History Month of the decade is upon us. Everyone–black, white, and every shade in between–may have an opinion on these annual 28 days (29 this year – wooh!) dedicated to blackness, but regardless of opinions, Black History Month is hard to ignore if you live in the United States, Canada or the UK. This decade also marks 100 years of African-Americans recognizing Black history; even though Black History Month only became recognized in the United States in the 1970’s, historian Carter G. Woodson first brought up the idea of a Black History Week in 1926. Here is a short list of some new media to consume this…
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Is Jimi Hendrix Black?
Of course he is, but we forget that fact. Here’s the issue: If I ask the average music fan to list legendary rock legends, Jimi Hendrix would likely be one of the first names out of anyone’s lips. However, I’m sure if I poll the streets asking people to name iconic black music legends, Hendrix would be a mere afterthought. For example, here is a list titled “12 Black Musicians Who Changed Music Forever,” and Jimi Hendrix is not on it. We all know the narrative of African Americans being the originators of two major music genres that are, ironically, probably the least popular among black listeners today: rock and…
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I’m black first, a woman second.
Which part of my identity is the most overpowering? Should I be more loyal to my race or my womanhood? I would frequently ask myself this question as a child. I used to imagine a scenario where a line was drawn on the ground—one side representing blackness, the other womanhood—and I would have to choose a side to stay on forever. I can’t explain why I put so much stress on myself over such hypotheticals at age 8. I later dismissed this scenario on the grounds of absurdity and because I realized that it is idiotic to think that you must be more loyal to one part of your identity…
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Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino Review
The Arctic Monkeys released their sixth studio album earlier this month, after a five-year hiatus. In truth, no two Arctic Monkeys albums are alike–the band’s discography has a unique, but not an entirely consistent sound. That being said, Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino is definitely the band’s boldest effort so far, deviating from the harder, more psychedelic rock sound of the critically acclaimed AM. However, this comparison does not mean that Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino does not deserve its own acclaim. The end result of Alex Turner overcoming his writer’s block, this album is unique in that Turner used a piano to compose it, rather than his usual guitar, which explains the softer sound…
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Top 10 Albums of 2017
2016 was a great year for music and it brought on excitement for what 2017 would have in store, and this year did not disappoint. However, what was interesting about 2017 is that a large number of well-established popular artists released albums this year, such as Ed Sheeran, Drake, and Taylor Swift, but newcomers and underdogs seemed to have favoured the opinions of critics and captured the attention of listeners. This was a great year to have your music career kick off, as many of the best albums of the year are debut albums. There is one particular music genre that took over this year: trap music. This mass takeover…
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Artist of the Year
This isn’t about whether you like her or not. This isn’t about whether you think that she is musically talented or not; after all, she is a trap artist, not the next Sade. I encourage anyone who thinks that there is another artist who has had a better year than Cardi B to challenge me. Many people have been following the Bronx-born rapper since her early days on social media, most notably, since her legendary “a hoe never gets cold” post. My first time seeing Cardi B on screen was her debut on season 6 of Love & Hip Hop: New York. I remember hearing her talk for the first time and…
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#menaretrash
If you mindlessly scroll through your social media feeds on a regular basis, especially Twitter, you have probably read or even used the viral phrase “men are trash,” or some variation of it (e.g.,”niggas ain’t shit”) at one point or another. This seemingly trivial yet actually controversial claim is the epitome of the current phase of third-wave feminism driven by the age of social media. In using social media as the main tool of influence, feminism is now more ubiquitous than ever. A single tweet, although restricted to 140 characters, has the power to attack hyper-masculinity and challenge sexism. In case you really are not familiar with #menaretrash, here are…
