Post Challenge: Technology as Millennials’ Bindle

Considering Linda’s means of escape from slavery by hiding in the garret in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs, think of a technology today that allows you to run away without going anywhere. Linda’s means of escape, hiding in the garret above her family home, allowed her avoid her slaver, while also…

Running Away, Hiding (Contemporary Connection, Challenge Post)

” Considering Linda’s means of escape from slavery by hiding in the garret in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl by Harriet Jacobs, think of a technology today that allows you to run away without going anywhere.” Today, almost all forms of technology allow the user to hide away from society without having to physically…

Where Girlhood Ends

In Jacobs’, The Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Linda’s “girlhood” seems to begin at the start of the novel, which is her early childhood. Even through the death of her mother, her mistress, and her father, this idea of girlhood remains intact. She has a sense of purity and innocence- and most…

F*ck tha Police: Profanity is Reality

N.W.A. has had a long lasting impression on rap and hip-hop music. The 90’s rap group is known for being very rebellious, selling millions of records, and making gangster rap accessible to the masses. They amassed a group of people who absolutely despised their music and the messages they were promoting, however they had a…

Rico Nasty’s Take on Haters (Post Challenge)

An example of a song where explicit language seems necessary to achieving the artistic and thematic purposes of the work is in Rico Nasty and Kenny Beats’  “Hatin.” In the song, Rico raps with a rebellious and powerful energy about her success, using explicit langauge layered onto metaphors and similes. Behind the initial understanding that…

The Importance of Historically Black Colleges and Universities Today (Opinion)

In today’s world, many people may question why HBCUs are still necessary; blacks today can go to any school they want this day and age. While this is true, I feel that there is a certain level of formation offered at HBCUs that schools like Boston College simply can not provide. Most HBCUs were founded…

B**ch Get Up: Degradation or Appreciation in Curren$y and Juvenile’s song? (Pop Up Challenge)

In 2013, New Orleans rap legend Curren$y, aka Spitta, released his beloved album New Jet City. One of the most prominent songs on the album was a song titled “Bitch Get Up”, which features another NOLA rap legend, Juvenile. Towards the beginning of the song Curren$y raps some lyrics that may seem to be horribly…

Indigo: Coming of Age Internally and Externally

In the novel Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo by Ntozake Shange, Indigo makes the following statement to her mother when her mother tells her to put her dolls in the attic, and to start worrying about things that a girl her age should be more concerned with: “Every time I tell you something, you tell me…

What is Remembered: Harriet Jacobs

“In her book, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Ms. Jacobs works to articulate to us the horrors of slavery. In my play, I work to articulate the psychological conundrum of trying to put words to that which is unspeakable.” In the final paragraph of “A Quick Note from the Playwright” from the…

The Power of Gratuity in JID’s “Skrawberries (feat. BJ the Chicago Kid)”

JID’s arrival to the hip hop scene was not a quiet one. Shortly after the release of his first album, The Never Story, critics pounced to compare him to Kendrick Lamar. The two both present immediately with the capacity to create songs with incredible hooks, versatile flows, but most importantly, lyrics that run circles around…