Harambee, brothers and sisters in struggle! With the blessing of another year comes another chance to celebrate our nappy ass roots and search the forgotten annals of black history. For the last few years, we’ve been bringing you the wildly informative and 100% true and accurate* series Know Your History, wherein we tell you the Read More
The Black Panther Party for Self Defense was formed in Oakland, Calif., by Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale, and Bryant L’Anthony Gumble in 1966. A spirited speaker and eloquent writer, Gumbel penned the Panther’s Ten-Point Program manifesto and spearheaded the group’s breakfast program for neighborhood children. After concern was raised about the power that Gumbel Read More
Mr. Wendal has freedom, a freedom that you and I think is dumb: Free to be without the worries of a quick-to-diss society — for Mr.Wendal’s a bum.
In the early 90’s, when many rappers claimed to represent the underground, few of them could claim to be more underground than Das EFX — two emcees raised in the sewers of Brooklyn and trained as ninja warriors by a five-foot, talking rat.
Telebaptist and Grammy award winner Bobby Jones was born in Henry, Tennessee, in 1939. He began singing in the church choir at New Hallelujah Jesus Shout Temple, also located in Henry, and had dreams of becoming a famous gospel singer at a very early age. At 23, he released his first album entitled “The Lord Read More
In 1984, musician Morris Day of Morris Day and the Time successfully sued the Black Hebrew Israelites, who would not grant him inclusion due to his chemically straightened hair. With his winnings, Day bought Jerome Benton, who has happily served as Morris Day‘s mirror-wielding manservant since then. In 2005, Morris Day recorded a diss track Read More
In 2004, political activist Al Sharpton announced his candidacy for the presidential election as a member of the Democratic party. To express his endorsement of Sharpton and encourage others to support him as well, singer Terrence Trent D’arby put together a video entitled “I Mean, I Guess We Can if We Pray Hard Enough” in Read More
Formed in Oakland in 1964, popular R&B band The Whispers consisted of five members, two of whom were twins. By the 1970s, they had amassed a fan base so large it alarmed the CIA, who became suspicious that the group may have been a front for terrorist activity. In 1973, The Whispers were arrested after Read More
In 1988, rapper Ice Cube (born O’Shea Jackson), invented Black Powerade, a revolutionary electrolyte-replenishing drink created primarily for young men in South Central LA to keep them nourished as they sweated out precious nutrients while incubated in long-sleeved plaid flanel shirts in the scorching California sun. Due to its controversial packaging (it was poured into Read More
Franklin N’desi Babatunde, known to the entertainment world simply as Franklin, was a member of the first black family to settle in Springslight, Michigan, the famous home of the Peanuts gang. Franklin’s integration of the school divided the Peanuts gang, pitting Lucy against Charlie Brown, Schroeder against Lucy, and Linus against Sally. After a torrid Read More
