It’s Thanksgiving week.

What’s good y’all?

Thanksgiving is this week and it’s going to be different this year for everyone. But one thing that won’t change is…thee QUALITY of the food we’re all going to have.

[TL;DR — Megan Thee Stallion’s debut album is here, Verzuz is back for its second season and the American Music Awards happened.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• The end of year is coming which means the Best of 2020 Lists will be coming soon…
• Juwan has covered one of the most popular actors of the past few years (John Boyega) and he’s not discussing Star Wars theories but the real life situations John has dealt with. …

The Christmas commercials have arrived too early.

What’s good y’all?

I feel like companies skipped directly over the Thanksgiving commercials and went straight to the Chirstmas ones. Mind you, I am one of THOSE Christmas people but I promise I don’t start until the day after Thanksgiving. Also…any of y’all got one of those new next gen consoles?

[TL;DR — Kyle and Paul are doing their thing outside of The Renaissance, the new Spider-Man game is out and we still have things in the works as usual.

ANOUNCEMENTS

• Kyle has been doing his thing over on his solo platform with his latest piece covering Ariana Grande’s new album — go peep it! …

We made it past Election Day 2020.

What’s good y’all?

Election Day has come and gone which means the ads, videos and commercials informing us about our civic duty have stopped. But, as Twitter said this doesn’t mean life will be perfect now but there are reasons to celebrate in one way or another.

[TL;DR — Saturday Night Live is happy the election is over, death is still taking people from us and we have multiple things coming soon to the platform.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Our last newsletter was officially our 10th one! S/O to YOU for reading it (if you did) and all the ones we’ll have for you going forward! …

We’ve reached 10 newsletters!

What’s good y’all?

Wow, we’ve already reached 10 of these! Might be minor to some but it’s major to me. Also…it’s November *gasp*

[TL;DR — We got a verse from Kendrick, the BET Cyphers were fire af and Juwan has something political to share that’s worth reading.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• We’re still here to give you advice or rather — RapVice, if you need it.
• The Best of 2020 Lists will start popping up soon…we’ll probably contribute to the conversation in one way or another.

ARTICLES

Here’s what we published recently:

Lil Wayne, JAY-Z, other hip hop stars considered for Trump admin’s celebrity-studded HHS political ads by Juwan J. Holmes

Juwan really goes in with nothing but the facts on how the narrative of celebrity political endorsement is still being pushed and this piece just shows a few of the many reasons this needs to stop. …

Spooky Season is ending soon…

What’s good y’all?

October is coming to a close which means it’s time to decide how we’re going to do Thanksgiving dinner this year. But first we have to wonder if Trick or Treating will be cancelled by the government this Saturday.

[TL;DR — Paul wrote about posthumous releases, Google Play Music has shut down and Ty Dolla $ign dropped an album with a very ironic and effective name.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• Juwan has been hard at work dropping news articles on our page that cover stories with a little more depth than I do over here. …

The death of an entertainer leaves a rift between their body of work and their unreleased creations. That leaves creators the task of seamlessly getting over it.

Losing an artist sometimes feels like losing a family member. While our face to face interaction with them may not have been anything more than a two minute meet & greet, we still feel like we knew them. Their artistry was our escape from the harsh realities of life and when it seemed like nobody was there — they were. All we would have to do is press play and they would arrive with the same comforting energy every single time.

With all artists there are songs that exist that we don’t get to hear. This happens for a variety of reasons, and there’s nothing we can do about it from the fan/listener side. When an artist passes away, these songs go through a more tenuous process before being shared with the world — whether the artist wanted them to be or not. As a “real fan” of an artist, you naturally anticipate new music but at the same time, would not want to do something that feels like you’re betraying them. …

Apparently, October’s only half over. Who knew?

What’s good y’all?

We’re basically halfway through the month of October, which means we’ve still got half of month of every platform telling us to register to vote and of course to actually vote. 2020 is a whole thing, and this election is hot trash fire, but I think we can all agree at the least that “I didn’t know how” when it comes to voting is unacceptable.

TL;DR — Megan Thee Stallion and Solange both added ‘writer’ to their resumes — well, non-music writing anyway. Friday was a good day for old school music heads. The Billboard Music Awards had all your typical award winners, award speeches, and social messages. …

The Renaissance Rundown: Heat 7

What’s good y’all?

Have you watched any scary movies yet? Or listened to their soundtracks? If not — you should.

[TL;DR — Jay Electronica dropped his SECOND album this year, Kendrick Lamar did NOT leave TDE and we’re promoting the latest playlist curated by our very own Paul K. Barnes.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

• While r/hiphopheads can be a great place for hip hop discourse we have one that we think is better right here!
• We’re still here to give you advice or rather — RapVice if you need it.

ARTICLES

Here’s what we published recently:

Why I Don’t Listen to Every New Song by Juwan J…