urban | male | perspective
“You don’t know who Prince is?” Jonathan asked. Tania tilted her head before replying. “I’ve heard of him. I don’t know any of his songs.” I chimed in and would lead the conversation the rest of the way. “How old are you again?” “24″ “You never heard Purple Rain?” “Nope.” Jonathan and I laughed. She [...]
I have mixed feelings on the n-word. Let’s be clear, there’s a big difference in the application of the word whether it ends with an “a” or “er.” However, the word has been in use for the purposes of hate longer than it has been in use for love. Now more than ever I think [...]
By Tiffany Patterson I was recently listening to T.R.O.Y by Pete Rock & CL Smooth. The song opens with a chorus of horns that immediately takes me back to my early childhood in Jamaica, Queens during a time when high top fades abounded and people were a little too comfortable wearing horizontal stripes and neon [...]
Hip hop, no matter how much we love it, contributes to racism in our world. I’m prepared to defend this point to everyone and anyone at any given time. While we love our genre, we have to keep in mind, that it’s hurting us, more than helping us. A close friend of mine always likes [...]
Not too long ago, SBM’s Mr. Spradley and I had the opportunity to attend EBONY’s MANIFEST event at Harlem’s BBraxton Grooming Salon. For those unfamiliar, MANIFEST is a multi-media series focused on Black men. Topics discussed include fatherhood, health, relationships, sexuality, spirituality and a few other heavy-hitters. It’s the epitome of urban male perspective. In the [...]
America has survived an astonishing 236 years now. In my opinion, that’s a blessing. Let’s consider all of the strife we have endured: a war in 1812, the solemn fratricidal war of a north that rejected a peculiar institution and a south that so desperately depended on it (we all know that there were many [...]
Chicago has a violent history. We can look back to the Race Riots of 1919, during what was called the Red Summer of 1919, which had the nation on its heels. We can even go a bit further down the historical timeline to the prohibition era event such as the Saint Valentine’s Day Massacre, in [...]
“With the same sword they knight you, they gon’ good night you with. Shit, that’s only half if they like you That ain’t even the half what they might do Don’t believe me, ask Michael See Martin, see Malcolm See Biggie, see Pac, see success and its outcome See Jesus, see Judas See Caesar, see [...]
