what is happening to gen x black men?
the types of texts i receive
I’m the author, journalist, producer, and podcast creator Danyel Smith. SHINE BRIGHT HQ is where I freestyle about music and culture. And regardless of what some say? It’s Black History Month, and it’s Black History Month daily over here. Feb. 1 was about Janet Jackson and Michael Jackson. Feb. 2 was about duets. Feb. 3 was about Beyoncé, and Grammys history.
February 4 was VIBE magazine (which I will likely go back to). Yesterday was Natalie Cole’s Inseparable. So far this month, I’ve done a post a day (which is crazy, because I have projects with hard deadlines). But I like doing it, and I deeply appreciate the response. February 6 was The Bodyguard, and btw, the full SHINE BRIGHT HQ archive is here. Your daily (for now!) Black History Month newsletter continues, so ⤵️
The above was with regard to Irv Gotti. As noted by Derrick Bryson Taylor, Irving Domingo Lorenzo Jr.
founded the record label Murder Inc. and helped shape the sound of hip-hop and R&B in the late 1990s and early 2000s when he shepherded the careers of Ja Rule and Ashanti. [He] died on Wednesday at 54.1
Ashanti talks about the abuse she suffered from Gotti, here. According to The Hollywood Reporter,
The cause of death has not been announced, but the music mogul did suffer a number of strokes in recent years and had also battled diabetes-related issues.
Next in the text thread:
“We Reminisce Over You” is this:
I did an insane amount of reporting for this piece. And along the way, I resisted creating a spreadsheet. I thought it was dehumanizing. But, in the end, it brought the dead to life for me. It turned them into a community. I looked at the spreadsheet so much I put it in the essay:
Stare at the spreadsheet long enough, and names push limb-like through Excel’s cells. The stacks of narrow boxes are like coffins in a queue. No list could include all who are gone. Already I’m guilty about the absence of neighborhood superstars and the critically unacclaimed. I also have not listed the men in rap who walk among us but who are dead inside.
The full story is here. And I’m not going to lie: my working story playlist is depressing:
other Black History Month-type things:
Is a song pop or hip-hop? Why are hip-hop and rap often classified as a single genre? Can a song be multiple genres at once? Such a smart piece from
He’s installing a man to run the Department of Health and Human Services who believes that Black people should not be given the same vaccines as white people. From
. More, here.The Black women educators behind HillmanTok University, right here.
Terence Blanchard, one of jazz’s most esteemed trumpeters, on Quincy Jones.
In music,
Danyel
Beautiful artwork, Danyel.
LOVE your use of color, images, fonts, once a blank-screen to make what could be a 100% depressing story POP.