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(ThyBlackMan.com) Every few years the culture circles back to the same question, and the name sitting in the middle of it never changes. Is Drake real hip hop? Brothers argue it in barbershops, in group chats, in comment sections that turn into warzones by noon. That question refuses to die because the answer depends entirely on what you believe hip hop is supposed to be in the first place. Let […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) During President Trump’s recent state visit to China, Chinese leader Xi Jinping made reference to the “Thucydides Trap” when describing the United States and China. In political science terms, the “Thucydides Trap” essentially means that countries on the decline should learn to accept countries on the rise or risk being set on a dangerous collision course. Xi’s analogy appeared to say that China is on the rise while the […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) Walk into almost any bar in Boston right now and you will hear bagpipes. Not on the speakers, actual bagpipes, carried by actual Scottish fans in kilts who have taken over the city like they were always supposed to be there. Locals have not minded one bit. They have bought rounds, learned chants and laughed at the orange traffic cones that keep turning up on the heads of the […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) MS NOW commentator Ali Velshi was not alone in complaining that women are “underrepresented” in Congress. It is true that women account for 51% of the U.S. population but only 29% of the House members. To which I say, “So what.” Basing the notion of fair representation on racial, gender or ethnic identity needs to be put in a folder — a paper folder stored in a dusty steel […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) With the passing of Clive Davis at 94, respect has to come first. Before we talk about records sold, artists signed, labels built, or how many voices became household names under his watch, prayers and condolences go out to his family, loved ones, friends, and all who knew him away from the public stage. The world knew the music man. His family knew the man. Death has a way […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) On June 18, Barack Obama stood in Jackson Park on Chicago’s South Side and tried, not very successfully, to hold back tears. Not performed emotion. Not the composed, camera-ready version of feeling that politicians learn somewhere along the way. Michelle was up at the podium talking about him, about his parents, about the girls, about what she described as his unshakeable values, and he kept looking down at his […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) Last week I had dinner with a good friend of mine who is a top executive in media.  He is a very prominent publicly recognized figure who shall remain nameless. Politically, I consider him a liberal, though he would argue the point, but I digress. He wanted to know my thoughts about ESPN sports commentator, Stephen A. Smith. Smith and I travel in the same circles, but he has […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) When God asks you to remember something, whatever your level of spiritual maturity, it must register on your conscious radar that He would do so only for good reasons. Would God ask you to remember something that was trivial and of no importance? Hardly. When righteous Lot was fleeing from the devastation taking place in Sodom and Gomorrah, his errant wife looked back and became a pillar of salt. […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) In a new interview this week, Hillary Clinton identified the key decision that resulted in President Donald Trump’s election in 2024. It all boiled down, in her view, to a “terrible miscalculation” – former President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s decision to run for re-election. Mr. Biden made a “terrible mistake for himself, his legacy and for the country” in deciding to seek re-election at the age of 81. Had […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) For weeks Donald Trump has been waffling between threats of annihilation and promises of a “deal” to end all deals to resolve the Iran war; a war he started at the behest of another nation. Time after time Trump has said the Strait of Hormuz would be opened or else and the free flow of commerce and trade would be restored. None of this has happened. Now once again […]