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My Washer Broke and I’ve Had to Outsource My Favorite Chore—Washing Clothes. I’ve Learned a Few Things
I always felt like if I at least had clean clothes, I could go anywhere and do anything.
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Bad Poetry, Blogs, Open Mics and Nightclubs: A Story About My Writing Journey on Pass The Peas With Panama Jackson
You know, I think I’ve told the story of how Very Smart Brothas came to be a million times at this point. In fact, Damon and I have done it so much I’m fairly certain I know exactly what he’s going to say before he says it. But what neither of us has spent a…
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An Inter-Generational Convo about Hip-Hop and JCole on Pass The Peas with Panama Jackson
When J. Cole released his latest musical offering, The Off-Season, on May 14, 2021, I knew I wasn’t going to love it. And as most self-fulfilling prophecies work, I didn’t. I maintained my similar stance of being bored with most of Cole’s music. But like any curiously dapper chap in the roaring 2020’s, I do…
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Apparently Tobe Nwigwe's 'TRY JESUS' Also Doubles as The Autobiography of Kwame Brown (as Told to Tobe Nwigwe)
When this week started, I didn’t expect for Kwame Brown to basically become my favorite person ever—a 7-foot reincarnation of every role Clifton Powell has ever played in a movie. But here we are. And why are we here? Well, basically Kwame Brown has fucking had it. Kwame Brown, the former number one draft pick…
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Talking VerySmartBrothas, White Teen Movies vs. Black Teen Movies, Jay-Z & Nas and More With Damon Young on Pass The Peas
Last week was a bit of a blur for everybody in the Very Smart Brothas universe. Damon and I wrote posts about his departure, some tears may or may not have been shed, the word verklempt made an appearance and Brick killed a guy. Either way, we’re in a new phase of this whole VSB…
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Since VSB Is Changing, VSB Is Going to Change
Friday was a fairly emotional day for me. If I’m being honest, all of last week was. I’ve known Friday was Damon’s last day at VSB for quite some time; no decision as gargantuan as deciding to step away from something you created happens overnight. Yet, even knowing it was coming Friday just felt…huge. I…
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New Edition Verzuz Jodeci? Michael Harriot Joins The Pass The Peas Podcast to Debate What Could Be a Legendary Battle
When I recently wrote that legendary 90s R&B group Jodeci was unbeatable in a Verzuz battle, I truly didn’t think it was controversial or even much of a debate. I thought, like I do with most of my thoughts, that I was just writing down that which was obvious…but not written down. I was getting…
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I Hope You Already Got That Pair of Kobe's That You Wanted Because If Not, You're About to Pay Stupid Prices For Them
On December 24, 2020, Nike (and I presume the Kobe Bryant estate, headed up by his wife Vanessa Bryant) decided to re-release the Nike Kobe Zoom 6 Protro in the green apple/black/volt-crimson colorway. The shoes, affectionately referred to as the “Kobe Grinches” (because of their super green color and the additional red laces that come…
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Award-Winning Author Topé Folarin Joins Pass The Peas to Talk About His Life, His Time at Morehouse College, His Debut Novel, A Particular Kind of Black Man and Res' How I Do
One of the coolest parts of this entire journey with Very Smart Brothas is the sheer amount of cool people I’ve had the opportunity to meet. If there’s one reason I’d tell anybody to start up that thing you want to do it’s easily because, if you do something right, the world opens up and…
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I Think I've Started to Use Avoidance As Self-Care
“…so how you feel, frustrated, irritated, sometimes I don’t know myself, I be too numb, to feel something sometimes…” – Goodie Mob, “Thought Process,” Soul Food (1995) Like, I suppose many folks do, I have my phone set up to send me news alerts over the course of the day, and from all of the…
