Essays and Reviews
Salon: The emotional labor of being a Kanye West fan is not paying off
Kanye West is a longtime champion of offering up “new ideas,” as he raps in his newly released single “Ye vs. the People.”
Salon: Black pain isn't a video game: The possibilities and pitfalls of virtual reality in the Black Lives Matter era
Everyone has the license to tell a story from their own perspective and lexicon. Virtual reality technology is gaining popularity for elite storytellers, and people have the power to employ this new technology to invent their truth however they see it, changing the way we think about sharing our experiences, thoughts and ideas.
Salon: Beyoncé's radical invitation: In "Lemonade," a blueprint for black women working through pain
Beyoncé just shared her testimony through the ministry of song. Saturday night on HBO, Queen Bey took us through the visual anthology of her highly-anticipated album “Lemonade,” a narrative of grief, told in stages — intuition, denial, anger, apathy, emptiness, accountability, reformation and forgiveness.
Salon: I'm tired of suppressing myself to get along with white people
I pocket my black rage, and swap "hey girl" for hello. But in making others comfortable, I'm making myself sick
Salon: "To Pimp a Butterfly": Kendrick Lamar's unapologetic black American dream
At turns bombastic and vulnerable, Lamar tackles race, depression and economics in his blistering new album