A few days ago Dj Stylus shared this video on Facebook and I haven’t been able to shake it since. He quipped, “I’m surprised that I saw this before Thembi, aka the mistress of all things obscure and Negronian.” Yeah thanks, but courtesy of  this video I’ve developed a mild phobia related to brown leather and fringes. I’d never seen Fox’s Celebrity Duets let alone this performance, but there is so much squatting and doing-the-most-ness on the part of Alphonso Ribero that Chaka Khan’s trademark extraness is almost a mere distraction. Just watch…

I know I’ve been slipping with timely posts of the quiz, but I keep realizing that I have to make them harder. Yes, you read that right. Here are this week’s standings…

“The Grio’s 100″ is a comprehensive list of black influencers from ten fields: sports, education, business, science and the environment, media, service an activism, politics, health, pop culture, and the arts. The list is driven by the need to highlight the next generation of history-makers. We’d expect to see Oprah Winfrey listed as a leader in business and Lebron James at the top of the sports field, but are you familiar with Derek Pitts? As Chief Astronomer at The Franklin Institute he has the potential to make a major difference in the Science and Technology realm (he…

Let’s just say that the first round of scores were great, and that with enough luck and brainpower anyone can still take the lead or certainly place. I’m going to have to make these questions harder!

It’s hard to believe that twenty years have passed since Nelson Mandela was freed and the African National Congress decriminalized as an organization, but February 11, 1990 began a new era of multicultural democracy in South Africa. I saw Nelson Mandela speak a few years ago and as inspirational as his talk was I couldn’t stop reminding myself that this man had endured twenty-seven years of imprisonment for challenging the unjust racist system of apartheid – while the world watched.

Whenever I see Christopher “Kid” Reid on VH-1 or in a random commercial I ask “where is Play?” Play is the one I had a crush on, the one who was *really* cute, and, frankly, more than 50% of the Kid N’ Play equation. Although I missed them on the Mo’Nique show I’d previously heard that Play (Christopher Martin) married and divorced Shari Headley of Coming To America fame, almost died in a car accident, and became a born-again Christian. Whatevas, I just wanna see Blade Brown do that dance and hear some nice clean buddy rap…

I almost didn’t bring back the Black History Month Pop Culture Challenge this year. To be honest, I’ve been hit with a wave of winter malaise that’s kept me from being as enviably sharp as my usual quick-witted pop culture genius self. There’s still just enough random trivia floating around in my head to make this fun, so here goes nothin’…

I started the Black History Month Pop Culture Challenge in 2009 as a way to shake some of the staleness off of February. Sure black cultural phenomena from 100 years ago and history makers that live today are…

Black female entertainers have always walked a fine line between the stereotype of the vulgar, oversexed temptress and the large, asexual mammy figure. When it comes to creating a comedic persona, there’s nothing less-funny to black audiences than trite, overdone stereotypes (or, so I thought until Madea came along, but I digress**). Moms Mabley circumvented all of that by presenting herself as an toothless old lady in a bathrobe and raggedy hat who also had the foulest mouth around and couldn’t keep her mind off of sex.

It doesn’t seem like most of America is feeling the Hope anymore. Anyone could have predicted the fierce opposition that Obama has faced in office, and sadly he is on track to become a single-term mistake. How can Obama fix this? Well, in addition to the obvious need for progress on his campaign promises – health care, managing our two wars, and reviving the economy – Obama should reach for some low hanging fruit. If he does anything in his four years the least he can

After my much needed hiatus I’m refreshed and re-focused…well, sort of. Since I spent the first week of the new year laying low I only absorbed all of the motivational “let get it in 2010!” talk from afar, and am rejoining the online community in a regular winter blues state of mind. It’s cold. It’s not just December on the East Coast cold, it’s freezing. I spent my time away in FLORIDA where it was only fifty degrees or so, which is way better than the negative temperatures I would have faced at home but still a huge rip off