Month: March 2017

Kandi Burruss and Tameka “Tiny” Cottle are finally getting their due credit (and coin) for influencing Ed Sheeran’s “Shape of You.”

Sheeran decided to add Burruss and Tiny to the song credits after weeks of social media users noting the similarity between his track and TLC’s 1999 single “No Scrubs,” co-written by the two Xscape members and Kevin “She’kspere” Briggs, who was also given a writing credit. 

People pointed out that two lines in Sheeran’s song (”Boy, let’s not talk too much/ Grab on my waist and put that body on me”) have a comparable lyrical rhythm to lines in “No Scrubs” (”No, I don’t want no scrubs/ A scrub is a guy that can’t get no love from me”), according to Billboard.

Burruss, who currently stars on reality show “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” shared a post on Instagram thanking Sheeran and celebrating “Shape of You” holding the top spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 for seven consecutive weeks. 

 The “T.I. & Tiny: The Family Hustle” star also posted about the song on Instagram, stating that she was “blessed.” 

“Shape of You” is Tiny’s second Billboard No. 1 hit based on writing credits and Burruss’ third. 

With this and the reunion of Xscape after nearly 20 years, these ladies are winning.

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Source: HuffPost Black Voices

Writer and co-host of Buzzfeed’s podcast “Another Round,” Tracy Clayton, Tweeted on Tuesday morning about a Lyft driver who mansplained to her what an airport terminal was. 

The concept of “mansplaining” was first articulated by author Rebecca Solnit in 2008, and women recognized the phenomenon immediately. Because, who among us hasn’t had a man patronizingly explain something that we already understand?

It resonated so deeply that the term was eventually added to Oxford’s online dictionary and even appeared on Jeopardy. 

So, when Clayton asked women who follow her to share their “most infuriating” mansplaining stories, the anecdotes started rolling in.

Are you irritated yet? No? 

Clayton responded that the stories women were submitting were making her want to “bite her phone in two.” 

She also pointed that, in response to the stories, some men on Twitter were trying to mansplain mansplaining. 

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Big Sean and his mother, Myra Anderson, will provide middle and high school students across the country with the necessary tools to break into the music industry with their new learning platform, “Mogul Prep.”

Launched through the rapper’s Sean Anderson Foundation, the blended educational curriculum will introduce students to industry leaders, and feature insights on the skills needed to be a mogul in entertainment-related careers, according to a press release. Educators and students will also have access to over 100 hours of common core- and CTAE-aligned curriculum including 7 modules and more than 21 lesson plans. 

During an interview with RollingStone.com, the Detroit native said that he aims to share insight with students into the various alternative opportunities available in the music industry – including managing and publicity.

“That’s the point that these kids need to see: You can still be in the music industry and not necessarily be a performer,” he said. “When I stand on that stage, there are at least 30 other people that have something to do with me standing there. Business managers, publishers, publicists, agents, booking agents, creative directors, lighting technicians, sound guys — all these different jobs that they don’t teach in high school.”

In November 2015 the initiative launched as a pilot program for students in the metro Detroit area, “Mogul Prep.”

For Sean’s mom, who’s a former educator, “Mogul Prep” will also offer a solution to actively keep students informed and engaged.

“As a former teacher I know how difficult it is for teachers to develop lesson plans that consistently keep students actively engaged and are aligned to core standards,” Anderson said in a press release. “I also know how powerful providing students with a relevant and real world learning experience can be. I am happy to say that Mogul Prep solves both of these problems.”

As part of his “I Decided. Tour,” Sean will introduce his informative lesson plan to 200 students in four cities, including Detroit, Ml (Fox Theater) on April 1, Silver Spring, MD (The Filmore) on April 8, Atlanta, GA (Tabernacle) on April 18, and Miami, FL (The Fillmore) on April 20.

For more information, including the availability of “Mogul Prep,” click here.

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Tory Burch just played themselves.

The fashion company premiered a new ad on Tuesday to promote their spring/summer 2017 collection. The video, directed by Giovanna Battaglia Engelbert, features English model Poppy Delevingne and two other white models dancing to “Juju on that Beat” by Zay Hilfigerrr & Zayion McCall (who hopefully got paid for this).

*sigh*

Engelbert told Elle Malaysia that her vision for the ad was to make it “playful” and “chic.”

“’Juju on That Beat’ is a happy song; I like the fact that it is a very easy song, too,” she said. “The girls learned the moves very quickly and they had fun. The best part was watching them rehearsing and doing the song because they enjoyed themselves for real, which made this whole process very fun.”

But the director, who is white, got a few things wrong. Not only was this video cringeworthy, especially when the lyrics “and you know my hair nappy” come around, it also features no black people. The viral dance for “Juju on that Beat,” a sample derived from Crime Mob’s classic “Knuck If You Buck,” was created, popularized and perfected by young black people.

Engelbert shared the video on Instagram and a while many of the comments were positive, some users said that it was inappropriate for the brand to use black music and dance without featuring a single black person. But they managed to give a monkey-shaped handbag a cameo. 

“As someone who has always liked Tory Burch as a brand, this is a huge disappointment. @bat_gio @toryburch is cultural appropriation at its worst. If your trying to broaden your demographic you might have missed the mark here. For the non-demographic, this ad is confusing and inappropriate #culturalawarenessanddiversity,” one person said. 

“Please include a diverse cast when creating your next video,” another user commented. “It left me feeling some kind of way seeing a blonde girl dancing to a song that comes from the African American culture. With all the political heartache they’ve been through this past year, please strongly consider adding a beautiful African American woman to your next film. Thank you!”

Black people already have a tough time breaking into the fashion industry. The very least these companies could do is cast black models if they’re going to profit off of black culture.  

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As the Marvel’s newly released series “Iron Fist” remains the center of a whitewashing debate, the creator of the original character doesn’t seem to be taking the criticism well.

Former Marvel editor-in-chief Roy Thomas, who introduced the character over 40 years ago with artist Gil Kane, recently spoke to Inverse about the topic. Thomas, who wasn’t involved in the new series, bashed the debate over cultural appropriation, saying it’s “crap.”  

“Don’t these people have something better to do than to worry about the fact that Iron Fist isn’t Oriental, or whatever word?” Thomas told the outlet. “I know Oriental isn’t the right word now, either.”

The newly released series features white actor Finn Jones as main character Danny Rand, a supernatural martial arts master. Though this stays true to the source material, the show has been criticized for depriving Asian actors of an on-screen opportunity in a series that undeniably borrows from Asian culture.

In the interview, Thomas discussed his thoughts on the new series. He said he had no problems with the show sticking with the source material and casting a white actor as a master of supernatural martial arts. But he seemed to take issue with those accusing the new “Iron Fist” of whitewashing.  

“I just think some people have too much time on their hands, I guess. They have an infinite capacity for righteous indignation,” he told the outlet. “By and large, that tends to be misplaced quite often … ”

The former Marvel editor-in-chief explained that he’d feel indifferent if the show had cast an Asian lead, but claimed that there’s nothing wrong with a white Rand. He also argued that Rand was a character from a different time and wasn’t created to represent a certain race, later adding that through his work, he aimed to “reach out to all races.”

While he mentioned that if a story were “really racist or degrading,” it’d warrant a conversation, Thomas asserted that “Iron Fist” didn’t fit in that category. He suggested that those involved in the debate should just create a new character themselves, instead of “constantly complaining.” To make matters worse, he even mentioned that Rand could’ve had a “buddy who was Asian.” 

Thomas’ comments didn’t go over well.

Jessica Henwick, who plays Colleen Wing in the series, took to Twitter to point out why his “Oriental” comment was problematic.

Some viewers of the new series seem to differ in opinion from “Iron Fist’s” original creator. NPR’s Eric Deggans pointed out that by casting and amplifying a white actor, “Iron Fist” actually is troubling. The critic, a self-proclaimed “superhero-aholic,” notes that the series minimizes Asian people and culture while also perpetuating a white savior narrative. 

“These are white characters, usually male, often misfits who find their true calling by coming to an environment filled with people of color and leading them,” Deggans said in a segment. “In ‘Iron Fist,’ Rand trained in a hidden city with Buddhist monks and becomes their greatest warrior.” 

Additionally, a number of fans on social media have deemed Asian actor Lewis Tan the best part of the show. Tan himself had been passed over for the lead part and he previously told HuffPost that an Asian lead would’ve benefitted the show. 

“There is a large group of people that want to see themselves represented as the heroes of the story and they are making their voices heard,” he said.   

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“Space Jam,” a film released in the golden age of CDs, will be reissued on vinyl in honor of Record Store Day. 

It’s been over 20 years since Michael Jordan was called upon to help a ragtag crew of Looney Tunes secure their freedom from intergalactic Monstars in the 1996 classic, which also provided a backdrop for R. Kelly’s “I Believe I Can Fly.” But vinyl fanatics can have the real jam going down as soon as April 22. 

Packed with 14 tracks, including Kelly’s self-empowerment ballad, the reissued soundtrack will feature other favorites such as the Quad City DJs’ “Space Jam,” Seal’s “Fly Like an Eagle” and All-4-One’s “I Turn to You.” 

Supported by an organization of independent record stores that goes by the same name, next month’s Record Store Day will see a number of other special editions made available on vinyl, Consequence of Sound reports. 

Previously unreleased David Bowie tracks, a few Prince re-releases and Thelonious Monk’s only recorded soundtrack will all be free to purchase, along with dozens of others. But as we wait for a sequel, “Space Jam 2,” to maybe-or-maybe-not materialize, we know what the real highlight is.

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When Trevor Noah found out that conservative firebrand Tomi Lahren was suspended by The Blaze for claiming to be for abortion rights, he was sympathetic. 

Noah and Lahren have disagreed publicly about things like the decision of NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick to kneel during the national anthem at games to protest against the way black people are treated in America, but Noah said on Tuesday’s “The Daily Show” that he didn’t think she should be suspended for “speaking her truth.” 

“I was offended [by the suspension],” Noah said. “I was so offended, I wanted to protest. Unfortunately, there’s no type of black people protest Tomi is comfortable with, so I guess we should just move on.”

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A New Jersey school is coming under fire after an elementary school class held a mock slave auction.

Fifth-graders at Jefferson School in Maplewood held the mock auction while under the supervision of a substitute teacher, NJ.com reported.

The website said the activity was not part of the curriculum in the South Orange-Maplewood School District.

“There was a sale of a black child by white children in the classroom,” Tracey Jarmon-Woods, parent of a student in another class at the school, told CBS New York. “If you’re demoralized — sold on a block in 2017 — it may affect you the rest of your life.”

“I’m disgusted, really disgusted a child was bought,” another parent, who was not named, told the station. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

The classroom’s regular teacher found out about the mock auction, which had been videotaped, after returning and sent a letter home to parents. 

The teacher, who has not been named, said the incident would be used as a “teachable moment to elaborate on the gravity of this part in our history,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by The Maplewoodian website.

The school district sent a statement to the website saying it did not condone the activity. It blamed the substitute and said it would “look again at training and improved supervisory protocols for substitutes.”

The statement from Suzanne M. Turner, the district’s communications director, did not offer an apology.

Superintendent John Ramos later apologized at a school board meeting.  

A letter sent to parents from the school said the video shows the students treating the auction “lightly.”

“The jovial nature of the video suggests that either there is a lack of understanding about the true barbarity of a slave auction, or a lack of awareness of how treating this topic comically is offensive,” the letter said, according to ABC New York. 

The letter said the incident would be turned “into an opportunity for our students to learn and grow.”

The incident comes on the heels of an assignment at another school in the same district in which students made posters for slave auctions.

The district apologized for that incident as well. 

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Four Florida corrections officers who reportedly locked a mentally disabled inmate in a scalding shower for two hours will not be charged in his death.

The Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office said its lengthy probe found no basis for criminal charges and characterized the 2012 death of inmate Darren Rainey, 50, as an accident. 

“The evidence does not show that [the inmate’s] well-being was grossly disregarded by the correctional staff,” reads the 101-page report authored by Assistant State Attorneys Kathleen Hoague and Johnette Hardiman. The document was released late Friday.

Rainey, who had schizophrenia, was just months into a two-year prison sentence for cocaine possession at Dade Correctional Institution on June 23, 2012, when authorities say he defecated in his cell and smeared feces on himself. Guards locked him in a shower stall and turned on the water, which The Washington Post described as “scalding hot, possibly as high as 180 degrees.”

Roughly two hours later, Rainey was found unresponsive. A nurse told a 911 operator Rainey’s body “appeared to be burned,” according to the report, and witnesses said his skin appeared to be slipping off his body.

Inmate Harold Hempstead, who is incarcerated for burglary and armed robbery, told investigators Rainey appeared to be in distress earlier, and was heard yelling, “I’m sorry,” “I won’t do it anymore,” and “I can’t take it no more,” according to the report. The investigators said they found the inmate’s account “inherently unreliable and therefore not credible.”

Inmate Gary Brown, who is serving life for murder, said he saw Rainey’s body after it was removed from the shower and it looked like a “boiled lobster,” according to the report. Several other witnesses described steam coming out of the shower and seeing Rainey’s skin appearing red or peeling. The investigators downplayed the descriptions, attributing Rainey’s appearance to friction or pressure from medical staff’s attempts to revive him.

Authorities identified the corrections officers involved in the probe as Ronald Clarke, John Fan Fan, Cornelius Thompson and Edwina Williams.

The Miami Herald reported the shower where Rainey died was used by guards as a tool to punish inmates – a claim also made by several inmates interviewed by the investigators. The newspaper said guards had a penchant for starving inmates and forcing them to fight.

The New Yorker, citing interviews with witnesses, reported the shower water temperature at the time of Rainey’s death was “hot enough to brew a cup of tea.” Two days after he died, prison officials using a meat thermometer gauged the water temperature at 160 degrees, which The Washington Post said exceeds the state limit by 40 degrees.

In a 2016 interview with The New Yorker, Harriet Krzykowski, a former counsellor at the correctional institution, said water from the faucet was so hot that she used it to make noodles.

The state attorney’s investigation, however, found no reliable evidence of the water temperature when Rainey was locked inside the shower.

Dr. Emma Lew, a Miami-Dade deputy medical examiner who declared Rainey’s death an accident, said the autopsy showed no evidence temperatures in the shower were “excessively high.” Rainey, she said, sustained “no burn injuries.” She listed the cause of death as “schizophrenia, atherosclerotic heart disease and confinement inside the shower room.” 

“The most likely mechanism of Mr. Rainey’s sudden death was a cardiac arrhythmia associated with his underlying atherosclerotic heart disease … it is reasonable that these factors in combination initiated a chain of events that culminated in Rainey’s death.”

An attorney for the family, Milton Grimes of Los Angeles, told The Associated Press the family is “disappointed and heartbroken” that the investigation is closed.

“This is not justice for Darren, for his family, nor for the mentally ill who have been subject to similar abuse and mistreatment,” he told the AP.

Rainey’s family last year filed a federal lawsuit against the Florida Department of Corrections. The case is pending.

The assistant state attorneys who authored the report said there’s no evidence Rainey was abused or mistreated. They found the actions of the corrections officers appropriate.

“Placing an inmate who has defecated upon himself in a shower to decontaminate himself is not conduct that is criminally reckless,” they wrote. “There was no evidence of any intent to harm Rainey.”

David Lohr covers crime and missing persons. Tips? Feedback? Send an email  or follow him on Twitter.

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Don’t feel guilty if you can’t remember the last time you and your partner got it on; sexless marriages have become almost endemic in modern society. According to data scientist Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, the top-searched marriage complaint on Google is “sexless marriage” ― and it only takes a second to stumble upon advice forums, like the Dead Bedrooms board on Reddit. 

But couples in sexless marriages don’t have to go on quietly suffering. Below, psychologists and sex therapists share their best advice for revving up your sex life. 

1. Work out your marital issues first. 

Nothing kills your sex drive quite like unresolved relationship issues. If there’s emotional baggage between you and your partner, address it head-on, said Chris Maxwell Rose, a sex educator and the creator of the Pleasure Mechanics online courses. 

“Practice radical honesty and forgiveness outside the bedroom,” she said. “Take a walk or a drive together and share all of the emotional baggage that has been getting in your way. Then, make a joint commitment to move forward together.” 

2. Acknowledge that there’s a problem in the bedroom. 

The most effective intervention to a sexless relationship is surprisingly simple: Partners need to acknowledge the problem and express interest in reconnecting sexually, said Kimberly Resnick Anderson, a sex therapist in Los Angeles, California. 

“Just having an honest conversation can quickly shrink the elephant in the room,” she said. “Honoring the value of sex in a relationship is the first step toward reconnecting. Believe it or not, it’s not uncommon for couples who have avoided sexual contact for years to leave my office after just one session and go home and have sex.” 

3.  Spend a few hours every week getting touchy-feely.

Sex isn’t always going to be spontaneous. To get things started again, carve out two windows of time a week where all you do is touch. Think of it like a grownup makeout session, said Gracie Landes, a sex therapist and marriage and family therapist in New York City.

“Focus on your own sensations while you touch your partner, then gradually add in more mutual touch and slowly build up to intercourse,” Landes said. “But only pursue that last step when you’re both ready, comfortable and confident.” 

4. Use your memories to your advantage. 

It’s going to take some time to get in a sexy frame of mind. To get there, New York City sex therapist Megan Fleming recommends reminiscing about a really hot sex experience from your past. 

“Replay it in your mind’s eye, like watching a movie,” she suggested. “You have to really allow yourself to reconnect with how the experience felt, incorporating all five senses. It’s important to realize you have the power to turn yourself on long before your partner enters the room.” 

5. Read erotica or watch porn together. 

It helps to have an active imagination during sex, but if you’re struggling to imagine something that gets you or your partner off, outsource the job, advised Ian Kerner, a sex therapist and the author of She Comes First: The Thinking Man’s Guide to Pleasuring a Woman.

“Many of the couples I work with are surprised at how hot it can be to read erotica together,” he said. “Others enjoy watching porn and letting their fingers do the talking.” 

Kerner’s top erotica recommendations include old-school works like Emmanuelle by Emmanuelle Arsan, the Story of O by Pauline Reage or Delta of Venus by Anais Nin. If you’re more of a visual person, you may want to give ethical, women-friendly porn a chance. (Kerner recommends the films of Jackie St. James or Erika Lust.) 

6. Find out what your partner is craving sexually, and learn how to give it to them. 

Chances are, your turn-ons have changed over time. The same is probably true for your partner. Take the guesswork out of the equation by talking openly about your sexual interests, said Keeley Rankin, a sex therapist in San Francisco, California.

“Sexual needs can change over time and it’s important to ask every once and a while, ‘hey, what have you been craving sexually?’ Once you find out, learn how to give that to them,” she said. “If they want something you’re not familiar with, let them teach you.” 

7. Develop new “sex menus” together.

Try to picture your sex life this way: Just like there are different food groups that make up the food pyramid, there’s a limitless amount of sex positions and kinks to explore to keep your sex life vibrant and healthy. Read the Kama Sutra, search sex positions online ― do whatever it takes to get excited about sex again, Kerner said. 

“I often ask couples to come up with menus that emphasize different themes: emotional connection and love-making for instance, or fantasy-based menus that emphasize imagination,” he said. “And if you’re on the run, put the ‘quickie’ back on the menu ― whatever it takes!”

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