Blind faith: the religion of Trumpism — At the end of the 2010s, I shared an office with a life-long Republican. Despite our stark ideological differences, we got along quite well. Well enough, in fact, that she confided that she was on the verge of losing her home. …

And for a year, he was king — “I’m Rick James, bitch!” From the moment it was proclaimed by Dave Chappelle in his now-iconic 2004 “True Hollywood Stories” sketch, a faded icon of an under appreciated sub-genre was immortalized. “I’m Rick James, bitch!” It’s the most repeated catchphrase in the history of sketch comedy, yes, but its cultural…

“Great Again”: nostalgia, identity, and “othering” — Nobody not named Trump (or John Barron) ever described Donald Trump as brilliant prior to 2016. However, he has long proven prodigious in one arena: branding. Amid the “greed is good” gluttony of the 1980s, Trump successfully established his name as shorthand for American success (and excess) in all of…

The art of the con — Donald Trump’s relationship with his supporters is not that of politician and constituent. Countless other Republican politicians are now peddling policy agendas virtually indistinguishable from Trump’s, and in some cases even more “Trumpian.” Nor does it fit the mold of salesman and customer. Any product failing to deliver promised results…

Behind the smoke, Cypress Hill delivered a hit of gritty surrealism. (86/100) — Delving back into early ’90s hip-hop is like opening a time capsule. In retrospect, 1990–92 was a transitionary period - a towering suspension bridge connecting the late ’80s Golden Era to the mid ’90s Renaissance. …

America’s Packrat-in-Chief was hoarding more than just top secret documents… — What’s got two thumbs, a wall painted in Heinz, and a golf resort crawling with as many government secrets as bedbugs? This guy!

Native Tongue architects laid the foundation for a new hip-hop ecosystem. (85.5/100) — To say the Jungle Brothers walked so their Native Tongue descendants could run is to do a grave disservice to one of the Golden Era’s most groundbreaking groups. In reality, Afrika Baby Bam, Mike Gee, and DJ Sammy Bee were running with a lion’s power and a gazelle’s stealth. Straight…

2022’s top stars are taking us from quarantine days to boogie nights! — Have you found your body boogying just a little more lately? Maybe it's an involuntary shoulder-shake while stuck in rush hour traffic. Perhaps a subtle shimmy in the Starbucks line. Or maybe it’s a bit more pronounced. Instead of holding up the wall at your local lounge, you suddenly find…

Cali surrealists stewarded hip-hop through the funhouse of adolescence. (88/100) — Some albums become classics by transcending their moment, others by embodying it. In 1992, recorded hip-hop turned 13 — the age at which a sonic boom of hormones, adrenaline, and inspiration ushers in the bizarre ride of adolescence. Simultaneously, the third generation of hip-hop fans, who would grow to become…