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Rolling Stone •

How 'Love Island USA' Got TV's Best Pop Soundtrack

The summer of 2024 solidified Love Island USA as a top reality-TV choice for households across the country, and 2025 is proving to be a repeat success. The series — which puts a dozen twenty-somethings on a remote villa in Fiji where they are filmed at all hours, all for the sake of finding love or the possibility of a $100,000 cash prize — has tapped into the zeitgeist yet again. 



All the gold-star elements of last year’s hit have returned: Beloved host Ariana Madix is back, a new crew is...
Office Magazine •

Somewhere There With Imani Dennison

Dennison’s return to the film festival circuit follows 2023’s film Bone Black: Midwives vs. The South, which depicted southern Black birth workers and doulas. In addition to her work in film, the Louisville artist is the lead curator of Black Science Fiction, an experimental collective that hosts spaces dedicated to preserving Black imagination across mediums and disciplines. All of these points of creation inform The People Could Fly, which takes its name from the book of Black folklore by Virginia Hamilton.
GQ •

How 'The Ultimatum: Queer Love's Mal Wright Became a Menswear Style Star

Over the summer, The Ultimatum: Queer Love became a Netflix smash. The reality dating show gave five couples an eight-week deadline to either get married or split up—and while all five duos wound up going their separate ways, one contestant did emerge as a clear fan favorite and breakout star.

Mal Wright (she/they), a former corporate HR leader, won over viewers by remaining their intentional and genuine self onscreen—and pulling off a truly remarkable array of masc-leaning, streetwear-inflecte
Teen Vogue •

The Adult Survivors Act Underscores How a Statute of Limitations Benefits The Rich and Powerful

As the expiration deadline approached this November, an onslaught of high profile cases were filed against politicians and music industry moguls alike. Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and celebrities like Jamie Foxx, Steven Tyler, Russell Brand, Axl Rose, Bill Cosby, and more were all accused of misconduct. Cuomo, Adams, Foxx, and Rose have all denied the allegations against them. Tyler has not responded to the suit, according to the Associated Press, nor has B
Andscape •

25 albums that defined rap’s last 10 years

Hip-hop is 50 years old. An old soul that defined many lives. But the beauty of hip-hop is that it’s also just beginning. While much of the conversation this anniversary year has focused on the genre’s foundational moments, we often shortchange more recent parts of its history.

The last decade of hip-hop has been highly criticized, as youth movements often are. The kids have been called out for “mumble rap,” charts skewed by streaming, and a perception by some OGs that the new generation of sta
Essence •

Op-Ed: U.S. Media Is Failing The Public On The Crisis In Gaza

The question of who gets to write the first record of history has always been about power and who gets to bear witness. It has been the work of Black and brown cultural workers, writers, journalists and artists that have been crucial to correcting the historical record when perspectives of oppressed people are erased. The current siege of Palestine has shown the hollowness of so-called “objectivity” in media and the encroachment of Palestinian erasure.

For many Americans, these past few weeks m
Office Magazine •

On the Flesh of the Archive

You do a very specific kind of printmaking, can you say more about the kind that you do and how it differs from more popular forms of the medium?

Yeah so, I predominantly do [woodcut] relief printmaking, which is basically when you just carve into a surface. But my specific medium is woodblock prints. Because initially when I was getting into it, wood could be found in the dumpster.

I also do screen printing and lithography, but lithography needs a lot of materials and access, so I do somethin
Teen Vogue •

Black Queer Musicians Are Thriving Both in and Out of Major Labels

In 1996, Prince performed on The Today Show with the word “slave” written across his face. It was his way of speaking to the constraints of his record deal and to the reality that Black artists can be exceptional but never an exception to the weight of exploitative record deals.

By the end of that same year, the multi-hyphenate artist was finally released from his 18-year-long deal with Warner Bros, along with regaining his masters. Prince’s frustrations with the music industry, its constraints
NewsOne •

The Front Page: Jemele Hill Is Telling Her Truth

We’ve all seen Jemele Hill on television and in print, always expertly waxing poetic about the issues du jour with her signature convincing style of communication that’s helped propel her career to enviable heights.

And now, in the inaugural digital cover for NewsOne’s new Front Page editorial series that recognizes and celebrates agents of change around the country making waves in their respective communities, Hill goes into great detail about her journey from a humble start in Detroit all the
Cult Classic Magazine •

ABRA - Cult Classic Magazine

What if there are no words for what happens when time reminds us of how human we really are? No words to describe how we struggle to wrap our arms around the possibility that humans have never been the deciders of time or space. No words to make sense of the fact that many of us are just cloudspotting and dreaming of the next tomorrow.


Some authors have tried and nearly touched on what those moments in time do to the human understanding of truth. As Toni Morrison says so eloquently in her 20
NPR •

On 'This Is Why,' Paramore emerges from our collective fever dream

On 'This Is Why,' Paramore emerges from our collective fever dream

In her book Trick Mirror, Jia Tolentino writes of a globe-dominating phenomenon that "is built to distend our sense of identity," "cheapens our understanding of solidarity" and "destroys our sense of scale." Her words, published in 2019, were about internet culture. But a year or so later, you could have mistaken these as descriptions of another kind of viral crisis that has distorted every aspect of life on earth, on and offscr
Oxford American •

Terence Nance's Interdimensional Healing

he spiritual practice of Black liberation is the largest task at hand. It requires pulling at the root in every aspect of our lives. Through his sharpest storytelling to date, Terence Nance gives his audience various possibilities on how to face the challenge head-on. Nance is a director, actor, producer, and the creative leader of the hyper-surrealist HBO series Random Acts of Flyness, which returned for a second season in December 2022. SubtitledThe Parable of the Pirate and the King, the new
Pitchfork •

Flo Milli: You Still Here, Ho ?

If Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion are seniors in the school of pussy rap, then Flo Milli, Kali, Lakeyah, and Yung Baby Tate are the well-known sophomores. The grandchild of legends like Lil’ Kim, Trina, and Missy Elliott, modern-day pussy rap comes equipped with a sharp eye for sexual prowess, deprioritizing men, and getting to the money, a recipe that’s already elevated stars like Latto, Saucy Santana, and City Girls. Among the later class, Alabama’s Flo Milli has brought cutting bars and knoc
NPR •

MAVI's clearheaded songs of endurance

On 'Laughing so Hard, it Hurts,' the rapper grows into his voice

On Laughing so Hard, it Hurts, the 23-year-old Charlotte rapper MAVI seeks the strength to sustain. His raps pull salvation from Black spiritual traditions to offset the pernicious influence of fame. "Hope when I get into heaven God hand me a blunt / And it's some Runtz," he raps on "Reason!" later adding, "It's legal for corporal punishment if God your teacher," assigning purpose to the pain. Black folklore has a long history of
Essence •

Georgia On The Line: Inside Stacey Abrams' Race To Make History

Stacey Abrams is campaigning to become the first Black, woman governor of Georgia. With the help of her community, it can be done.

Stacey Abrams walks into the small office we’re meeting in dressed in a red blazer, an undershirt, and dark gray slacks. I can tell she is ready for the end of this 12-hour-long press day. Regardless of her tiredness, there’s no slouch in her walk. She moves through the world as someone who has known her purpose since before she took her first steps. Her winning smi
uDiscover Music •

Sylvester: Finding Home In Disco

In 1992, poet and LGBTQ activist Essex Hemphill wrote of being Black and openly gay, “we are a wandering tribe that needs to go home before home is gone….there is no place else to go that will be worth so much effort and love.” Sylvester James Jr., a Virgo with a flair for the dramatic, found that home in music.

Listen to Sylvester on Apple Music and Spotify.

Sylvester grew up in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles during the Civil Rights Era with his grandmother in a strict Pentecostal hous
VIBE.com •

Every Song On SZA’s ‘CTRL’ Ranked

SZA’s 2017 Top Dawg Entertainment release of her debut album, CTRL, shifted the foreground of contemporary R&B and remains in the lexicon of classic albums that withstands the test of time and context. No matter where you are in life, hearing SZA’s late grandmother, Norma, utter the words, “Also you black heffa, yeah you, you stand your ground/ ‘Cause I feel the same way/ If you don’t like me, you don’t have to fool with me,” cleanses the soul.

It is easy to say that music is a portal through t
Mic •

Mic.com staff writer pieces

Clarissa Brooks is a journalist, and a community organizer. Originally from Charlotte, NC, Clarissa works to blend her love of community, ethical journalism and scholarship in a way that will create a better world. Clarissa has been an ONA HBCU Fellow, Know Your IX Campus Organizer and Summer Fellow for Students For Education Reform.From mobilizing communities, hosting teach-ins, leading direct actions, and developing policy her love of community always comes first.
Harper's BAZAAR •

What Could Have Saved Oluwatoyin Salau?

From June 9, 2020, until her death four days later, Oluwatoyin Salau was most likely alone and terrified. She was facing the end of her life, but she had met this kind of death before. Her life in its darkest pockets had told her that she was not worth finding. But across town, other Black girls, the ones who had clothed her, housed her, and deep-conditioned her hair just a few days before, were looking for her, desperately wanting to remind Toyin that she was somebody worth saving.

Ashley Laur
InkedMag •

A Man of His Word-Gunna (Inked Magazine Cover Story)

The measure of a man holds a lot of mythology. From ideas of character to valor and all methods of thinking around purpose, it can mean everything and nothing all at once. For Gunna, a man with the leading rap album in the country, his mythology begins and ends with the promises he has made to himself and the people he holds close.

We meet Gunna, dressed head-to-toe in cream knit cashmere alongside a small entourage, wrapping up a day-long photoshoot with famed photographer Cam Kirk. The 28-yea
Oxford American •

A Return to the Black Mountains with Moses Sumney

n late 2021, Moses Sumney released Blackalachia, an hour-long concert film and accompanying live album recorded in the midst of the 2020 summer of uprising. Sumney filmed his feature-length directorial debut in two days with a full crew in the Blue Ridge Mountains of western North Carolina, creating an in-depth exploration of intimacy and vibrancy that leaves those watching unable to see where the lines of majestic nature and performance depart. In the film, we initially encounter Sumney nestled
Rolling Stone •

Meet Saucy Santana, the Rising Star Taking Over More Than Just TikTok

Before their single “Material Girl” became a bonafide TikTok phenomenon, the rising Florida rapper Saucy Santana spent his time as the makeup artist to the Miami rap duo City Girls. Their professional relationship quickly blossomed into a friendship and creative partnership, and it’s not hard to see why. Like the Miami girls that gave us quotable classics like “Pussy Talk,” Saucy Santana is a natural social media star, often appearing in Instagram Live clips and generating micro-trends, like “Ca
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