Source: Julie Dermansky / Getty Situated between Arkansas and the Gulf of Mexico, New Orleans, Louisiana is truly America’s city. Often dubbed the Birthplace of Jazz, its culture, people and resilience are truly the soul of America. From the food (an amalgamation of French, Spanish, and African) to the rich history, unique fashion and unmatched vibe of the city, NOLA is in a class of its own. It was our love for the city that drove us to create this series, WARD GIRLS . Through it, you’ll meet dynamic girls and women of all ages, from the various “wards,” or neighborhoods, of New Orleans and learn about the uniqueness of a city that extends far beyond the French Quarter. Source: Photography by Danielle James / Hello Beautiful In her long and rich history, NOLA has rightfully earned the reputation of a place of resilience. 13 years ago, Hurricane Katrina demolished the area, but it could not destroy the city’s spirit. Should you ever speak to her residents, New Orleanians will tell you that hurricane season is simply a reality they must face. Boarding up your home, evacuating or even choosing to stay are decisions that are, unfortunately, a way of life. It takes a certain panache and spirit to face the idea of a storm leaving you with absolutely nothing and, naturally, it forces you to look at your valuables as being more than any material possession. WARD GIRLS takes a look at the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina from a perspective of style and fashion. We wanted to examine how losing everything can impact your relationship to clothes, your thoughts on style, and sense of presentation and self. Source: Photography by Danielle James / Hello Beautiful WARD GIRLS is more than a documentary – it’s 360 digital experience. Check out the editorials to get to know women from several of the WARDS, watch the documentary for a visual experience, and check out all the original photography showcasing the style of these strong women whom were built to last.
Source: Julie Dermansky / Getty Situated between Arkansas and the Gulf of Mexico, New Orleans, Louisiana is truly America’s city. Often dubbed the Birthplace of Jazz, its culture, people and resilience are truly the soul of America. From the food (an amalgamation of French, Spanish, and African) to the rich history, unique fashion and unmatched vibe of the city, NOLA is in a class of its own. It was our love for the city that drove us to create this series, WARD GIRLS . Through it, you’ll meet dynamic girls and women of all ages, from the various “wards,” or neighborhoods, of New Orleans and learn about the uniqueness of a city that extends far beyond the French Quarter. Source: Photography by Danielle James / Hello Beautiful In her long and rich history, NOLA has rightfully earned the reputation of a place of resilience. 13 years ago, Hurricane Katrina demolished the area, but it could not destroy the city’s spirit. Should you ever speak to her residents, New Orleanians will tell you that hurricane season is simply a reality they must face. Boarding up your home, evacuating or even choosing to stay are decisions that are, unfortunately, a way of life. It takes a certain panache and spirit to face the idea of a storm leaving you with absolutely nothing and, naturally, it forces you to look at your valuables as being more than any material possession. WARD GIRLS takes a look at the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina from a perspective of style and fashion. We wanted to examine how losing everything can impact your relationship to clothes, your thoughts on style, and sense of presentation and self. Source: Photography by Danielle James / Hello Beautiful WARD GIRLS is more than a documentary – it’s 360 digital experience. Check out the editorials to get to know women from several of the WARDS, watch the documentary for a visual experience, and check out all the original photography showcasing the style of these strong women whom were built to last.
Source: Jason LaVeris / Getty On episode 3 of Insecure, we are sent through a whirlwind of emotions. On this week’s episode, we dive deeper into Issa and Daniel’s platonic relationship, Daniel struggles with compromising his musical sound to land a placement with a major artist, Issa has lost her love for her job and we’re finally getting to see Molly experience her first few days at an all black law firm. Everyone on the show is seemingly struggling with decisions they’ve made but one thing we can always count on is an amazing soundtrack each episode. This episode has fewer songs than we’re used to but each one is worthy of its place on the show. Check them all out below. Peyton – “Sweet Honey” “Sweet Honey” was written by Peyton and produced by Chase of Nazareth. Peyton is an R&B singer from Houston, Texas. She released her debut project, Roller Coaster in December 2015. “Sweet Honey” came soon after. Hit the flip for more tracks you should lace your playlist with.
Source: Johnny Nunez / Getty Cardi B’s song “Ring” is one of my favorite by far & it officially has visuals! Although Cardi said the visuals were leaked without her permission I’m sure she’s happy with the outcome because the visuals are dope. Check out the official video below, EXPLICIT LANGUAGE [ione_media_gallery src=”https://92q.com” id=”4045132″ overlay=”true”]
Source: Johnny Nunez / Getty Cardi B’s song “Ring” is one of my favorite by far & it officially has visuals! Although Cardi said the visuals were leaked without her permission I’m sure she’s happy with the outcome because the visuals are dope. Check out the official video below, EXPLICIT LANGUAGE [ione_media_gallery src=”https://92q.com” id=”4045132″ overlay=”true”]
S pike Lee ’s BlacKkKlansman delivers more than a brilliantly entertaining story. Officially, BlacKkKlansman is about Ron Stallworth ( John David Washington , son of actor Denzel Washington ), the first African-American police detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department who infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan with the help of a white proxy. The film is based on actual events discussed in Stallworth’s 2014 memoir, Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime . The actors humorously and yet believably drive home the film’s strong racial irony. Stallworth’s operation upsets a string of Klan meetings and attacks, including a comically rendered attempt to bomb the female head of the Black student union. Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman ( @BlacKkKlansman ) is in theaters now! Read our #BlacKkKlansman review! https://t.co/QuEEwp5xwf — NewsOne (@newsone) August 10, 2018 Stallworth dupes the “Grand Wizard” of the KKK, David Duke (Topher Grace). Stallworth and Duke have a series of phone conversations about Stallworth’s feigned white nationalist beliefs and the upcoming ceremony marking his initiation into the “Organization.” Drama and hilarity abound when Stallworth is assigned to personally guard Duke at the event and Duke is unable to make any connection between his new initiate and the police officer. What makes this film good is not that it successfully delivers the story it promises, but that it also exposes how our racial past has only changed its bell-bottoms for straight-legs. Or put another way, BlacKkKlansman showcases how past racism still operates in the present. Using the past to illuminate the present Spike Lee offers a parody of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s enthusiastic endorsement of the 1915 box office hit, Birth of a Nation . Birth of a Nation , based on a novel by Thomas Dixon, Jr., and unabashedly titled The Clansman, an Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan , is set just after the American Civil War. Both book and movie were used as propaganda to depict the Klan as saving the white race from the newly emancipated Blacks, rendered in the film as crazed rapists and criminals. Lee successfully uses the past, as he has done in movies like Do the Right Thing (1989) , to artistically quash the anticipated criticism that a film by a Black director that portrays white racism is guilty of being anti-white. In contrast, by integrating the facts about Birth of a Nation , Lee explodes this phoney critique and points to the real racial irony: That films depicting white supremacy are likely to be wildly popular, even praised by presidents of their time, while a film that depicts the personal and professional impacts of racism, particularly on Black people, is subject to petty but popular criticism that the film is inherently anti-white. Lee does not tread lightly, but marches into this racial terrain at the end of the movie by explicitly invoking images of U.S. President Donald Trump’s equivocation that some white nationalists are very fine people . Comic relief; deadly serious To artistically execute this heavy history in a film that runs two hours and 15 minutes is no easy feat. But Lee does not disappoint. Lee deftly offers comedy as a necessary relief. For example, Connie Kendrickson, (Ashlie Atkinson), the wife of a Klan member, Felix Kendrickson (Jasper Paakkonen), is an eager-Jane, reminiscent of a classically uncool, geekish, eager-to-please teenager. She dresses up — rather badly — in a two-piece, too loose, bright red pantsuit to pursue her first terrorist act of planting a bomb. She foils the plan and the result is pure humor. Its good to see #JohnDavidWashington restate what he told me when other interviewers mention he's DENZEL's son like his phenomenal mother didn't play the largest role in his life. #BlacKkKlansman pic.twitter.com/5LNZTRvl4C — The Extraordinary Xilla (@BlogXilla) August 8, 2018 On the other hand, Lee interestingly and expertly weaves together the serious mini-dramas in Stallworth’s life. Stallworth must face personal conflicts in his love life when his (completely fictionalized) romantic interest (Laura Harrier) holds anti-cop views. And he must deal with persistent racism when he is formally admonished and told to accept routine anti-Black sentiments expressed at work or face consequences for complaining. Confronting American racism BlacKkKlansman is, of course, not the first time cinema has been used to confront similar themes of Blacks infiltrating the KKK or using covert police tactics. These themes have been variously treated in popular culture since at least the 1960s. The 1966 film, The Black Klansman was directed by Ted V. Mikels and depicts a light-skinned Black man, Jerry Ellsworth (Richard Gilden), whose daughter is murdered by the Klan. Ellsworth passes as white to become a member of the KKK to take revenge on the organization and avenge his daughter’s death. Another iteration was developed in the 1973 cult classic The Spook Who Sat by the Door , directed by Ivan Dixon and based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Sam Greenlee. In this film, Dan Freeman (Lawrence Cook) is an African-American who becomes a top CIA agent after being trained in advanced warfare, spy work and subversion. Freeman soon resigns from the CIA and lives by day as a social worker but by night as the leader of a Black nationalist group called the Freedom Fighters. Freeman leads the group in pro-Black both non-violent and aggressive military acts against corrupt police and anti-civil rights efforts. Then there’s David Chappelle ’s famous skit of Clayton Bigsby on Chappelle’s Show . Because Bigsby is blind, raised in an all-white group home, and no one ever tells him that he’s African-American, he develops deeply racist views and joins the town’s chapter of the KKK. He learns he is Black while lecturing at a white supremacist rally when the crowd requests that he take off his hood. Even then, his views don’t change. When asked why he divorced his wife of almost two decades, he responds that it is because she is a n***** lover. So BlacKkKlansman has to be more than just another cinematic episode depicting how a Black subversive is finally sticking it to “The Man.” This story is about much more than one Black police officer who successfully and brilliantly subverted and breached the Klan to assist efforts of Black liberation. And the film certainly does more than chase laughs by exposing the inanity of racist views. BlacKkKlansman is an insightful foray into the neo-passing genre. The neo-passing genre addresses contemporary injustices and asks audiences to consider and distinguish between “classic and popular narratives of passing” where contemporary versions of passing can be about performing resistance and contesting unjust social circumstances. As a neo-passing story, BlacKkKlansman is ultimately about the current reality that African-Americans specifically, and other racial minorities in general, must continue to endure racism; that they must still argue that saying “Black lives matter” always means all lives matter. That Lee is able to highlight this through an entertaining adaptation of the past makes his latest film one to see and discuss. Vershawn Ashanti Young , professor, Department of Drama and Speech Communication, University of Waterloo This article was originally published on The Conversation . Read the original article . SEE ALSO: Review: ‘BlacKkKlansman’ Movie Review: Spike Lee Delivers An Instant Classic If Only The Spike Lee’s ‘Drop Squad’ Really Existed [ione_media_gallery src=”https://newsone.com” id=”2741958″ overlay=”true”]
S pike Lee ’s BlacKkKlansman delivers more than a brilliantly entertaining story. Officially, BlacKkKlansman is about Ron Stallworth ( John David Washington , son of actor Denzel Washington ), the first African-American police detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department who infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan with the help of a white proxy. The film is based on actual events discussed in Stallworth’s 2014 memoir, Black Klansman: Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime . The actors humorously and yet believably drive home the film’s strong racial irony. Stallworth’s operation upsets a string of Klan meetings and attacks, including a comically rendered attempt to bomb the female head of the Black student union. Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman ( @BlacKkKlansman ) is in theaters now! Read our #BlacKkKlansman review! https://t.co/QuEEwp5xwf — NewsOne (@newsone) August 10, 2018 Stallworth dupes the “Grand Wizard” of the KKK, David Duke (Topher Grace). Stallworth and Duke have a series of phone conversations about Stallworth’s feigned white nationalist beliefs and the upcoming ceremony marking his initiation into the “Organization.” Drama and hilarity abound when Stallworth is assigned to personally guard Duke at the event and Duke is unable to make any connection between his new initiate and the police officer. What makes this film good is not that it successfully delivers the story it promises, but that it also exposes how our racial past has only changed its bell-bottoms for straight-legs. Or put another way, BlacKkKlansman showcases how past racism still operates in the present. Using the past to illuminate the present Spike Lee offers a parody of U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s enthusiastic endorsement of the 1915 box office hit, Birth of a Nation . Birth of a Nation , based on a novel by Thomas Dixon, Jr., and unabashedly titled The Clansman, an Historical Romance of the Ku Klux Klan , is set just after the American Civil War. Both book and movie were used as propaganda to depict the Klan as saving the white race from the newly emancipated Blacks, rendered in the film as crazed rapists and criminals. Lee successfully uses the past, as he has done in movies like Do the Right Thing (1989) , to artistically quash the anticipated criticism that a film by a Black director that portrays white racism is guilty of being anti-white. In contrast, by integrating the facts about Birth of a Nation , Lee explodes this phoney critique and points to the real racial irony: That films depicting white supremacy are likely to be wildly popular, even praised by presidents of their time, while a film that depicts the personal and professional impacts of racism, particularly on Black people, is subject to petty but popular criticism that the film is inherently anti-white. Lee does not tread lightly, but marches into this racial terrain at the end of the movie by explicitly invoking images of U.S. President Donald Trump’s equivocation that some white nationalists are very fine people . Comic relief; deadly serious To artistically execute this heavy history in a film that runs two hours and 15 minutes is no easy feat. But Lee does not disappoint. Lee deftly offers comedy as a necessary relief. For example, Connie Kendrickson, (Ashlie Atkinson), the wife of a Klan member, Felix Kendrickson (Jasper Paakkonen), is an eager-Jane, reminiscent of a classically uncool, geekish, eager-to-please teenager. She dresses up — rather badly — in a two-piece, too loose, bright red pantsuit to pursue her first terrorist act of planting a bomb. She foils the plan and the result is pure humor. Its good to see #JohnDavidWashington restate what he told me when other interviewers mention he's DENZEL's son like his phenomenal mother didn't play the largest role in his life. #BlacKkKlansman pic.twitter.com/5LNZTRvl4C — The Extraordinary Xilla (@BlogXilla) August 8, 2018 On the other hand, Lee interestingly and expertly weaves together the serious mini-dramas in Stallworth’s life. Stallworth must face personal conflicts in his love life when his (completely fictionalized) romantic interest (Laura Harrier) holds anti-cop views. And he must deal with persistent racism when he is formally admonished and told to accept routine anti-Black sentiments expressed at work or face consequences for complaining. Confronting American racism BlacKkKlansman is, of course, not the first time cinema has been used to confront similar themes of Blacks infiltrating the KKK or using covert police tactics. These themes have been variously treated in popular culture since at least the 1960s. The 1966 film, The Black Klansman was directed by Ted V. Mikels and depicts a light-skinned Black man, Jerry Ellsworth (Richard Gilden), whose daughter is murdered by the Klan. Ellsworth passes as white to become a member of the KKK to take revenge on the organization and avenge his daughter’s death. Another iteration was developed in the 1973 cult classic The Spook Who Sat by the Door , directed by Ivan Dixon and based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Sam Greenlee. In this film, Dan Freeman (Lawrence Cook) is an African-American who becomes a top CIA agent after being trained in advanced warfare, spy work and subversion. Freeman soon resigns from the CIA and lives by day as a social worker but by night as the leader of a Black nationalist group called the Freedom Fighters. Freeman leads the group in pro-Black both non-violent and aggressive military acts against corrupt police and anti-civil rights efforts. Then there’s David Chappelle ’s famous skit of Clayton Bigsby on Chappelle’s Show . Because Bigsby is blind, raised in an all-white group home, and no one ever tells him that he’s African-American, he develops deeply racist views and joins the town’s chapter of the KKK. He learns he is Black while lecturing at a white supremacist rally when the crowd requests that he take off his hood. Even then, his views don’t change. When asked why he divorced his wife of almost two decades, he responds that it is because she is a n***** lover. So BlacKkKlansman has to be more than just another cinematic episode depicting how a Black subversive is finally sticking it to “The Man.” This story is about much more than one Black police officer who successfully and brilliantly subverted and breached the Klan to assist efforts of Black liberation. And the film certainly does more than chase laughs by exposing the inanity of racist views. BlacKkKlansman is an insightful foray into the neo-passing genre. The neo-passing genre addresses contemporary injustices and asks audiences to consider and distinguish between “classic and popular narratives of passing” where contemporary versions of passing can be about performing resistance and contesting unjust social circumstances. As a neo-passing story, BlacKkKlansman is ultimately about the current reality that African-Americans specifically, and other racial minorities in general, must continue to endure racism; that they must still argue that saying “Black lives matter” always means all lives matter. That Lee is able to highlight this through an entertaining adaptation of the past makes his latest film one to see and discuss. Vershawn Ashanti Young , professor, Department of Drama and Speech Communication, University of Waterloo This article was originally published on The Conversation . Read the original article . SEE ALSO: Review: ‘BlacKkKlansman’ Movie Review: Spike Lee Delivers An Instant Classic If Only The Spike Lee’s ‘Drop Squad’ Really Existed [ione_media_gallery src=”https://newsone.com” id=”2741958″ overlay=”true”]
It was only last October that Alaskan Bush People star Noah Brown confirmed his engagement . Rhain Alisha went from being his girlfriend to his fiancee. Exactly two years after they met, the couple took things to the next level. On Wednesday, August 15, Noah Brown married Rhain in a beautiful wedding ceremony. Speaking to People , Noah Brown and Rhain Alisha made their first official statement as a married couple. “We are so excited to start our new life together as husband and wife,” their statement reads. We would imagine so! “And,” their statement continues. “We look forward to building new memories as our own family.” That’s exciting! It sounds like they are already making plans for their life together. Noah and Rhain also gave a shout-out to fans who have supported their whirlwind romance over the past two years. “God bless everyone,” the couple says. “For all of the love and support.” Two years ago, on August 15, Noah and Rhain met in Hoonah while Rhain was traveling through Alaska. The next year, on April 17, Noah proposed to Rhain while the two of them were hiking in Juneau. It was months before he officially confirmed it. Unlike most of his siblings, Noah has not continued to be part of the world of reality television. Together with Rhain, he is forging his own path. But he is still close with his family. In fact, most of the 25 guests who attended the couple’s nuptials on Wednesday were family. “I tried on a tux for the first time ever,” Gabe Brown admitted to People . “That was weird.” Gabe’s mystery girlfriend was revealed earlier this year, leading many fans to wonder if him wearing this tux might be good practice for a wedding day of his own someday. “It’s been so hectic and crazy because we’ve had to go get these fancy clothes,” Billy Brown added. “We haven’t had time to think about it today.” Ami Brown was reportedly holding back tears as she spoke to People . “We are so happy for them,” the family matriarch announced. Ami Brown’s cancer is in remission , but she has probably wondered more than once whether she would get to see Noah’s wedding date. We are so glad that she did. Ami also said: “We wish them years of happiness.” Of course! Curiously, People did not include a statement from Noah’s youngest sister, Rain Brown. Maybe that was because she’s 15, but … she also did not post anything about the wedding on Instagram. Not as of Thursday morning, anyway. Perhaps she is saving the social media celebration for later, but fans have noticed that she also does not follow Noah on Instagram. Rain is the family’s de facto spokesperson on social media, but she’s been a little less active in recent weeks. And considering how Noah slammed Rain as “childish” and a “preteen,” we would absolutely understand if she still harbors hard feelings. Still, congratulations are in order for Noah and Rhain! And, of course, for their families. View Slideshow: Alaskan Bush People: 13 Secrets They Don’t Want You to Know
C athy Hughes , the Founder and Chairperson of Urban One, Inc. , who counted Aretha Franklin as a close friend, issued the following statement following the announcement of the Queen of Soul’s death on Thursday: Today I join my community, my industry and the world in mourning the loss and celebrating the life of my dear sister, friend, and ally, Aretha Franklin. I send my love and offer prayers of grace and peace to the members of her family, her friends and colleagues who walked alongside her and shared her with tens of millions of fans around the world. I have so many fond memories of Aretha. Throughout her career, I was blessed to share her music and her iconic story. I am humbled to have been a part of her journey and to have served as an eyewitness to the evolution of her artistry and the formation of her legacy. For more than 60 years, Aretha Franklin shared her gift and touched the world. She was a musical pioneer whose voice defines an era, amplifies a sound and reflects the range of who we are as black people. It is no wonder that Rolling Stone Magazine listed her as number one on its list of “100 Greatest Singers of All Time.” Aretha’s music commanded “R-E-S-P-E-C-T,” and that song not only became a rallying cry during the civil rights movement but also served as an anthem for women who still identify with its message, today. Her timeless classics also became historical markers in our personal journeys and our collective story as a community. She understood her progress was our progress, her success was our success, and when the door opened for her, it opened for us as well. Aretha was unapologetically black. She was committed to black music and black radio. She understood its role in her career and remained loyal to our company across the years. Like many of our musicians, Aretha’s musical roots are embedded in the black church, and gospel music was at her core. Her talent transcended genres and not only earned her the title of the “Queen of Soul” but also the distinction of being the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And while many will remember her for all of the titles she has received, I believe, Aretha Franklin, in her own words, said it best, “being a singer is a natural gift. It means I’m using to the highest degree possible the gift that God gave me to use. I’m happy with that.” And Aretha Franklin, so are we. Rest in peace my sister. With total love, respect and appreciation, Cathy Hughes Chairperson [ione_media_gallery src=”https://newsone.com” id=”3821346″ overlay=”true”]
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