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Dear Laura Mvula: Thank You for Being the Musical Bridge for My Daughter and Me
Since my daughter was born, I’ve had two very clear objectives: 1) Raise a good human being who goes to Spelman College, and 2) Turn my daughter (and the rest of my kids) into music heads. I want my kids to be the ones who go to school talking about that new Marvin Gaye Here,…
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We Used to Have Money, Now We Have You! Is the Bedtime Story We All Secretly Tell Our Kids
Editor’s note: Corey Richardson, the author of We Used to Have Money, Now We Have You! A Dad’s Bedtime Story, is a frequent VSB contributor. If you’re a father of any number of kids, as much as you love your children, the pragmatist in you always manages to seep into your thoughts. You love your…
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Are We Still Boycotting H&M or Nah?
A few months ago, there was an issue with an H&M shirt, a black boy and a monkey. We were all like, fuck yo’ couch, H&M! And then folks shut a few H&Ms down in South Africa, and then H&M was closing down tons of stores (while opening others), and I think Brick killed a…
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The Complexity of Not Calling the Police While Black
The news has lately been inundated with examples of white folks (and even some nonwhite folks) doing the ultimate white-folkin’ of calling the police for no reason on black folks who were doing nothing but existing and living their everyday lives. From Starbucks to walking in the park with our own children or trying to…
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10 Things That Confuse Me About Kenny G’s Colonization of My Musical World
For some odd reason that I cannot quite understand, I grew up listening to a very (un)healthy amount of Kenny G. The track “Songbird”—you know the one—could be heard on any given day throughout my home as a kid. For the life of me, I do not understand why this was the case. Turns out…
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At What Age Did You First See Coming to America?
I have three chirrens. They are ages 9, 3 and 2. At this point, because children are sponges and shit, I am very careful about what I watch and listen to in front of them. The last thing I need is to have my kids absorb some super-profane content and then repeat it. I already…
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Jimmy Jam’s Episodes of Questlove Supreme Might Be the Greatest Episodes of Anything That Ever Existed
I can be prone to hyperbole. I can see proof of it in my daughter, who has adopted my penchant for saying, “This is my favorite song ever” for nearly every song she hears that she likes. We don’t do things small in the My-Last-Name-Isn’t-Really-Jackson household. I remember once playing the Sylvers’ “Even This Shall…
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Ronnie, Bobby, Ricky and Mike (aka RBRM) Is the Lemonade We Get From New Edition’s Lemons
The Temptations are one of my favorite groups of all time. But I have to caveat that: The version of the Temptations that features the “Death Lineup” (no pun intended, seriously) of David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams, Melvin Franklin and Otis Williams is my favorite. Even though that lineup is my favorite, the lineup…
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This Mother’s Day Will Be Different
Editor’s note: It’s very important for me to mention that I have two mothers. I was largely raised by my black mother, but my white mother was ever present in my life and obviously had a significant hand in shaping who I am as a person. God saw fit to gift me with two mothers…
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This Is America: Save a White Drug Addict, Jail a Black One
Much has been said of the government responses to the opioid epidemic—specifically that it is leniently and sympathetically called an epidemic (I agree with that assessment), with sights set on healing and treatment. While necessary to combat the issue, the sympathy with which our nation views the current drug scourge is, frankly, frustrating. Why frustrating?…
