Personal
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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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Why Did Prince’s Real Revolution Never Take Off?
A few years ago I favourited a tweet by B.J. Novak that I never forgot. I never forgot this tweet because I knew that it was a prophecy. For some reason, we act like entertainers are immortal, usually because they create media that we have the ability to preserve, well… forever. Our perceived humanity of such people is taken away until they die. Oh. This seems to be especially true for underrated artists–the ones that are perceived to be too different and unwilling to undermine their artistic integrity for sales. Despite how well-respected he was in his industry, I will forever claim that Prince is one of the most underrated artists…
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For What Would Have Been Michael’s 58th
I don’t know if there will ever be an artist that had as much of an impact on me as Michael Jackson. I can’t even tell you the first time I heard an MJ song, how old I was, or what song it was. I can’t remember because I feel like his music was always there, even though I was born in the mid-nineties. By the time I could say that I consciously remember listening to him, he was well past his prime. This definitely says something about the legacy this man was leaving even while still alive. When I first started using Youtube in 2006, I would spend hours watching…
