Opinion
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Where the Only Pain Is Champagne
I once threw a party for myself that lasted 10 years. I want to say it was a celebration, or at least that’s how it started out. I wanted to celebrate life after so many years of being held back and held down by my illness, so I started going out and drinking almost every…
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Why Are the Men in Talib Kweli's Life Enabling Him to Harass Black Women?
There’s been a bit of a debate within The Root on how to cover Talib Kweli’s inexhaustible obsession with Maya Moody. For context, the 44-year-old rapper, who has over one million Twitter followers, grew upset when Moody tweeted the mildest of observations about the sort of women rappers tend to marry, and has tweeted at…
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I've Been a Homeowner for Two Years Now. Here's What I've Learned
THERE ARE TAXES AND FEES YOU’VE NEVER HEARD OF SEWAGE FEES LAWN TAXES NEIGHBORHOOD FEES URINE TAXES EVERYTHING’S EXPENSIVE EVERYTHING BREAKS EVENTUALLY SHIT YOU DIDN’T EVEN KNOW IT WAS POSSIBLE TO BREAK WILL BREAK I HAD A BROKEN STOOP STEP LAST YEAR HOW THE FUCK DO YOU BREAK A STOOP STEP WE HAVE SOFT FEET…
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The Root's Clapback Mailbag: The Cleaning Solution
I was a shitty brother. I never abused my sisters. I just subjected them to years of mental abuse and torture. Perhaps the greatest example of my emotional terrorism was my stance on the bathroom. Before my mother returned home from work every day, she required us to clean the entire house. My sisters and…
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Auntie Unfiltered: Lady A vs. Lady Anti-BLM
By now you have likely heard the story of the legal situation now happening between the country music band formerly known as Lady Anti-BLM Antebellum and the Black woman blues singer who has performed for more than 20 years under the moniker Lady A. In case you haven’t, here’s the Cliff’s Notes on a situation…
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A Reminder To Me and You, Your Mama and Your Cousin, Too, That You Miss 100 Percent of The Shots You Don't Take
I spend a lot of time listening to podcasts, especially those that feature Black artists. My favorite (and one I’ve written about before) is Questlove Supreme because it’s a show where they somehow book many of my favorite artists and I also feel like I could be part of the team. Questlove and the rest…
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A Reminder That Snoop Dogg Is a Sellout
Snoop Dogg has several iconic and hateful songs that many people know and love, and his upcoming Verzuz battle against DMX will induce nostalgia in those moved by that sort of thing. He is also a sellout who was still chummy enough with Donald Trump in 2011 to appear on a Comedy Central roast of…
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Is Chance the Rapper Secretly Just A Human-Sized Sheet Cake? (Probably!)
Chance the Rapper is a rapper who raps about the sort of things you’d expect a rapper with “Rapper” in their rap name to rap about. If you are not familiar with him or his work, the best way to describe him and it is “aggressively earnest.” Think of a trade school admissions counselor who…
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Tucker Carlson's Top Writer Resigns After Being Revealed as a Racist (On the Internet)
I know you will not clutch your pearls in surprise when I tell you that one of the writers behind the notoriously racist Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News has been revealed to be a virulent racist. After CNN broke the news that Blake Neff has been spending his time basically testing out material for…