Minding My Business – Part Three
[The conclusion of a three part series] Hip-hop is where it is today, and looks the way it does today — not because of a diabolical conspiracy — but largely because of its own success, its own mainstreaming. Hip-hop once existed in isolation, in a political and cultural incubator (one that allowed for Native Tongues, […]
Minding My Business – Part Two
[A continuation of a previous entry] In the early 90s when two white Pop radio programmers did what hundreds of their Black counterparts at Urban radio were unwilling to do — program hip-hop aggressively — they shared a quite unexpected consequence. Keith Naftaly and Rick Cummings suddenly became the voice of young people of color. […]
ALERT: The Real Story of The Source, At Last
It’s been over a decade now since the original editorial team that created The Source magazine walked out in mass protest. That moment began the magazine’s long, slow and painful decline. I had the privilege to work with the leaders of that original team – Jon Schecter, James Bernard and Reginald C. Dennis. In those […]
Minding My Business – Part One
Talking may put your business in the street, but blogging puts your business everywhere. For some, that’s a frightening proposition. Yet — since returning to New York — my personal life has already become the subject of a monthly column in cyberspace. So launching this site on the anniversary of my return to the East […]