Beaten Rhymes and Strife: The Instinctive Travels of A Tribe Called Colonized Jared Ball A documentary film about the legendary rap group A Tribe Called Quest should be a very big deal. A film about them should be as wide-ranging as this collective of talent. And the film should be as powerful as the time…
Read moreBlack August and Crises of Hip-Hop as Euphemism
Again, as we roll into the month of August we’d like to begin our tribute of Black August a bit early… If you didn’t know already, let me be the first to tell you that there is indeed a crisis in hip-hop politics and intellectualism. It is a crisis of separation, a crisis of deracination…
Read moreDr. Ronald Walters: Africana @ 40 (Part One)
Dr. Ronald Walters was among the most honest, hard-working and supportive scholars whose work in African American politics was unparalleled. He was a prolific author, counsel to political elites, a supporter of nearly every Black college student on the east coast (if not the country) and as comfortable speaking to power as he was speaking…
Read morePorn and Mail: New Media, Same Old Sh!t
It may be an emerging technology but the internet isn’t changing a thing. I don’t mean literally of course. The internet is changing the primary format of communication and it is certainly changing the way our brains work, the way synapses grow, and has definitely impacted our ability to concentrate or to stay focused. But…
Read moreBradley {Chelsea} Manning, Political Imprisonment and the Myopia of the Left
*Originally published July 13, 2011 / Black Agenda Report and before Bradley became Chelsea Manning Bradley Manning, Political Imprisonment and the Myopia of the Left Jared Ball As long as we continue to allow the United States to function as an empire it will. And as long as it treats many of its own “citizens”…
Read moreThe Music Industry Reloads: It’s Not Dead Because We Didn’t Kill It!
The Music Industry Reloads: It’s Not Dead Because We Didn’t Kill It! by Jared A. Ball* Look around and you will find no shortage of people describing what they call “the death of the music industry.” Music sales are down and, therefore, the industry is done. On the political Left this is a great thing…
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