*in my best Westside Gunn voice* Have you ever eaten Juicy Lucys in a bar on a Sunday? I’ve enjoyed coming down to New Orleans to celebrate my birthday for the last few years. The vibe is one that I can appreciate in this phase of life. I look back now and I see the early signs that me and the Cresc...

Three days after my birthday, I stood in the midst of a searing art installation in the middle of Soho and shed some tears. And I was perfectly fine with it. Let me back up a bit to explain what work of art brought me to this point, by getting a little personal.I’m in the last year of my forties, an...

You’ve heard the famed Billie Holiday song “Autumn In New York” (and if not, please rectify that immediately). It’s the one song I find that brings a promise of better things to come, to spark some joy for the fall season ahead. It’s what ran through my mind as I left the subway at 81st Street this ...

Maybe the one part of Blackness that others outside of it can’t comprehend is the world-building in the word-building we experience in our music. That process that reflects our culture. Something one eases into like fingers dipped in stylinggel or oil before going to weave someone’s hair into someth...

There’s a quote from one of the characters in one of my favorite books, Sembene Ousmane’s God’s Bits of Wood. Itgoes, “Before one has white hairs, one must first have them black.” I’ve always felt that it signified holding onto the lived experience one gets when they’re young, to bolster the wisdom ...