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(ThyBlackMan.com) We asked a child to be a miracle. Not a good performer, understand me. A miracle. Every night, in every arena, under lights hot enough to sweat the paint off his face, thousands of grown people decided before the first note dropped that Michael Jackson owed them something close to salvation. That man handed it over again and again, until the handing scraped him hollow. My mama had Off […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) Los Angeles has long been a city defined by its contrasts, from its gleaming coastline to its sprawling inland neighborhoods, from its world-class cultural institutions to communities still working toward greater opportunity. At the center of that ongoing transformation is something deceptively simple: access to a quality education. Across the city, schools are doing more than teaching reading and mathematics. They are anchoring neighborhoods, inspiring civic participation, and giving […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) Most cats find a sound and ride it till the wheels come off. They stumble onto something that works, the crowd claps, the checks clear, and they spend the next thirty years doing a slightly tired version of the thing that made them. Can’t blame them either. Comfort is a warm blanket, and the industry pays you to stay under it. Miles Davis looked at that blanket and set […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) He still hasn’t given up. In the wake of the 6-3 decision of the Supreme Court tossing out his Executive Order abolishing birthright citizenship, President Donald Trump was back at it, insisting that Congress should act. He cared enough about the case that he took the unprecedented step of attending the oral argument. But he brushed off the historic loss in the Court. He posted on Truth Social: “The […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) Congress loves to wrap legislation in the language of the public interest. This year’s surface transportation reauthorization bill is no exception. Supporters describe the House Transportation Committee-passed package as a major safety bill designed to make America’s transportation system more secure and efficient. Beneath their rhetoric lies the familiar Washington story of a bill shaped less by evidence than by the demands of organized interests. Perhaps the clearest example […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) The New York Knicks, NBA champions for the first time in 53 years, have been given the keys to the city of New York. But, before they can celebrate for too long, owner James Dolan has dropped a bombshell. The team is to visit the White House of President Trump. The reaction has been split amongst fans, players and pundits alike. But, before it’s too late, here are 10 […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) “Which is better — to be ruled by one tyrant 3,000 miles away or by 3,000 tyrants one mile away?” — Rev. Mather Byles (1706-1788) Does it really matter if the instrument curtailing liberty is a monarch or a popularly elected legislature? This conundrum, along with the witty version of it put to a Boston crowd in 1775 by the little-known colonial-era preacher with the famous uncle — Cotton […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) When Pooh Shiesty walked out of federal custody in October 2025, the videos hit the timeline within hours. There he stood, flush with cash, grinning wide, Big30 at his shoulder, years in prison finally behind him, even though home confinement and federal supervision still waited on the other side. Half the industry leaned in to see what he would do with the rest of his life. A lot of […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) Few artists in modern R&B pose the moral puzzle as sharply as Chris Brown. The talent is immense, the history of harm is documented and long, and the culture has spent years dodging the plain question of how those two truths are meant to share the same room. I have been spinning his records since I was young enough to think a two step in the mirror made me […]

(ThyBlackMan.com) The song “Right Here, Right Now” by Jesus Jones opens with the line, “A woman on the radio talks about revolution, when it’s already passed her by.” There are some people who peaked in high school and never got over it – never changing their hair or general style from when they were at the pinnacle of popularity. It’s sad, really, not that the person seems frozen in the […]