Anthony Mackie on Black Cinema: “Our Hustle Is Way Behind”

Anthony Mackie on Black Cinema: “Our Hustle Is Way Behind”

Anthony Mackie unintentionally created a lingering story when he shared his thoughts about the state of Black cinema. Mackie said that Blacks have not done enough to get their stories told. Speaking with NPR, the New Orleans-bred actor said his statement was “blown completely out of proportion,” but did acknowledge that it “was a bad choice of words by me.” He did, however, echo a similar sentiment, citing the

Read More

25 Arists That Need To Be Heard: Muhsinah [VIDEO]

25 Arists That Need To Be Heard: Muhsinah [VIDEO]

Muhsinah is smarter than you. Well, at least your favorite singer.  The alumnus of Howard University had the beautiful audacity to name one of her recent projects Oscillations: Sine and Triangle.

Explore Our Nation’s Capital

“I was in recording school and I wanted to be an engineer,” she says with a smile. “I was learning the inner workings of audio. ‘Oscillation’ is just another word for wave. There’s different kinds of waves; sine waves, triangle waves, sawtooth waves…I am

Read More

Pop Culture Moment #2: Tony Dungy Wins Super Bowl With Colts

Pop Culture Moment #2: Tony Dungy Wins Super Bowl With Colts

In a game where superstars of each generation set and break new records every year, it gets pretty tough to be the first to do anything, but not impossible. After all, black athletes may dominate the field but the coaching staffs (and the owner’s boxes) of the NFL have always been pretty slim on African American representatives. So when the Indianapolis Colts met up with the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl

Read More

Rihanna Goes Blonde!

Rihanna Goes Blonde!

Despite limited vocal ability, Rihanna has remained popular by reinventing her look. When she broke on the scene in 2005, she was rocking an island swag. Seven years later, she has taken to wearing blonde wigs. Rihanna posted pictures of her in the wig on Twitter and the virtual opinions were split. Some loved the look and others hated it, but you know the “You Da One”

Read More

John Legend Thinks Tebow Is “Extra-Ordinary” [VIDEO]

John Legend Thinks Tebow Is “Extra-Ordinary” [VIDEO]

Besides bring a Grammy winning R&B superstar, John Legend is a huge sports fan. He made an appearance on First Take where he sang a parody of his signature ballad, “Ordinary People.” Legend changed the lyrics to reference Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith’s constant debates about Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow. John Legend basically said everything sports fans were thinking. Yes, Tebow’s wins

Read More

25 Artists That Need To Be Heard: Wyldfyer

25 Artists That Need To Be Heard: Wyldfyer

When producer Wyatt “Wyldfyer” Coleman says he started making beats in “the lab,” he’s not just tossing around industry jargon. Before he brought the world beats like Jay-Z and Nas’s “Black Republicans” or Kendrick Lamar’s “Kush and Corinthians,” the Philly native was pioneering the mobile studio—sort of.

“Black Republicans”

“We would be at the Spelman computer lab, me and

Read More

FACT OF THE DAY: Common Was A Bookworm At FAMU

FACT OF THE DAY: Common Was A Bookworm At FAMU

Long before battling rappers on wax and cowboys on the screen, Common aka Lonnie Lynn Jr. was attending Florida A&M University on scholarship majoring in Business Administration.

Where Presidents Play and Writers Find Their Muse

The rapper formerly known as Sense had a strict three-hour-a-day studying regimen, but his mind was still on rapping. In his book One Day It’ll All Make Sense, he wrote that he recorded “A

Read More

Way Black When Honors: Leon Huff On Making The “Soul Train” Theme Song

Way Black When Honors: Leon Huff On Making The “Soul Train” Theme Song

In a recent interview with TheUrbandaily about his new album Groovy People, legendary songwriter and producer Leon Huff shared how he and his partner Kenny Gamble came to create the “Soul Train” theme song:

Exploring The Sound Of Philadelphia

..It was a dance show and he was very excited about it. He had everything in place, the only thing missing was a theme song. When he came to us he

Read More

Drake To Present At The Grammys

Drake To Present At The Grammys

Aside from being nominated for four Grammy awards this year for his collaborations including: Nicki Minaj’s “Moment 4 Life,” Rihanna’s “What’s My Name?,” and DJ Khaled’s “I’m on One.” Drake has been tapped to present at the ceremony!

“Happy to announce that @Drake will be presenting at the 54th GRAMMY Awards Feb. 12th on @CBS! #GRAMMYs,” tweeted the official Grammy account.

The 54th Annual Grammy Awards take place on February 12!

Read More

Way Black When Honors: Lenny Williams

Way Black When Honors: Lenny Williams

Even if you don’t know his name, you know his music. Lenny Williams’ classic ballad “Cause I Love You” has been sampled by everyone from Kanye West to Scarface and remains one of the most well-known love songs of the past thirty years.
Fact: Lenny Williams won a BMI Award With Kanye West for Twista’s “Overnight Celebrity”


The Arkansas-born

Read More

Pop Culture Moment #1: Chappelle’s Show Premieres

Pop Culture Moment #1: Chappelle’s Show Premieres

On January 22, 2003 Black television changed forever. Comedian Dave Chappelle premiered his late night sketch comedy show on Comedy Central filling a void in late night television that had been vacated by the likes of “The Aresenio Hall Show” and  “In Living Color.” But Dave’s irreverent humor was in a class all its own.
Fact: The Clayton Bigsby character was based

Read More

D’Angelo “Live” Mixtape [FREE DOWNLOAD]

D’Angelo “Live” Mixtape [FREE DOWNLOAD]

DJ/producer Sam Champ has compiled live versions of your favorite D’Angelo songs for this “D’Angelo Live” mixtape.

Read More

Hip-Hop And R&B Album Release Dates

Hip-Hop And R&B Album Release Dates

Here’s a look at when your favorite hip-hop and R&B albums will be available.

Read More

Frank Ocean “Voodoo” [NEW MUSIC]

Frank Ocean “Voodoo” [NEW MUSIC]

Frank Ocean has just dropped some new music, and this song is called “Voodoo.” Most interesting line: “She’s got the whole world in her juicy fruit.”

Read More

Christina Aguilera Sings “At Last” At Etta James Funeral [VIDEO]

Christina Aguilera Sings “At Last” At Etta James Funeral [VIDEO]

Today friends and family said their final good-byes to R&B legend Etta James. The iconic soul singer was laid to rest in Los Angeles after losing a battle with leukemia on January 20th. She was sent off in grand style with performances from artists like Christina Aguilera.

Watch Christina Ag sing Jame’s classic, “At Last” in the video above. How do you think she did?

RELATED POSTS:

Read More