Startling Juxtapositions: Pilot Impostor by James Hannaham
Hannaham reserves his most vivifying language for planes and crashes.
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Posts Tagged: hip-hop
Doublethink: A Conversation with Cortney Lamar Charleston
Cortney Lamar Charleston discusses his new poetry collection, DOPPELGANGBANGER.
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Swinging Modern Sounds: Observations on the Occasion of a 100th Column
The clash of opinions about music is music itself.
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Swinging Modern Sounds #103: Song Turned Blue
I’m not writing confessionals; I’m trying to write hooks.
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To Pimp a Mockingbird: A Lesson Plan
Literacy, you know firsthand, is a tool, is a motivator, is the beat of education.
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The Good, the Bad, and the Unf*ckwittable: Talking with Ron A. Austin
Ron A. Austin discusses his debut novel, AVERY COLT IS A THIEF, A SNAKE, A LIAR.
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Swinging Modern Sounds #99: One of These Days It’s Gonna Set You Free
I’m just being an artist. I’m just being creative.
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The Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #196: Alan Chazaro
“[P]art of writing is cementing some sort of memory.”
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The Rumpus Poetry Book Club Chat with t’ai freedom ford
t’ai freedom ford discusses her newest collection, & MORE BLACK.
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Swinging Modern Sounds #96: Voices of Displacement
Thank God music has wings and it can fly wherever, even countries we can’t reach.
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The Rumpus Mini-Interview Project #173: Hanif Abdurraqib
“I mostly hope that upon putting down this book, a reader crafts their own love letter to someone living.”
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If You Don’t Know, Now You Know: Talking with Joseph Rios
Joseph Rios discusses his debut collection, SHADOWBOXING: POEMS AND IMPERSONATIONS.
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Twenty Years of Miseducation: Joan Morgan’s She Begat This
Morgan has a lot of gaps to fill—and a lot of traps to potentially fall into.
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Reinventing the World: José Olivarez’s Citizen Illegal
If they come for one of us, they will come for us all.
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Wanted/Needed/Loved: Carlos Arévalo’s Lost & Found Hendrix
It felt like someone had taken my memories from me.
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Making Sense of the World: A Conversation with Dessa
Dessa discusses her recently released album, Chime, where she stands on the intersection of poetry and performance, and self-care for busy artists.
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No Pressure: Bieber, Blackness, the Cult of Perfection
Bieber is like a prism that reflects back whatever you want to see.
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STRIPPERDADDY
My thoughts hovered above the scene pondering the reasons why and time felt like the waves of a puddle lapping against cracked asphalt.
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The Woman Behind the Curtain Pulling the Levers: Talking with Zinzi Clemmons
Zinzi Clemmons on What We Lose, representations of blackness, and life’s influences on writing.
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Wanted/Needed/Loved: Franklin James Fisher’s “Rhoda”
I have to work to get the sounds, but then the magic kicks in.
...moreThe Butt Song
Last night as my husband got ready to go out [my daughter] grabbed his coat and said, “Call 1-900-Mix-A-Lot and kick those nasty thoughts.”
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The Rumpus Book Club Chat with Danzy Senna
Danzy Senna discusses New People, inhabiting her characters without judging them, playing with the reality and surreality of identity, and pushing against traditional story arcs.
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Empathy Is Cheap: A Conversation with Brandon Harris
Brandon Harris discusses his memoir Making Rent in Bed-Stuy, gentrification in New York City and Brooklyn, the homogenization of American cities by corporate America, and whiteness of film culture.
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Staying Syncretic: A Conversation with Kool A.D.
Kool A.D. discusses his debut novel, OK, the war on drugs, systemic destruction of left-leaning movements by the government, and the inability to escape American capitalism.
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Slang and Swagger: Riffing with Jeff Chang
Jeff Chang discusses his latest book, We Gon’ Be Alright: Notes on Race and Resegregation, his work in hip-hip journalism, and the beauty and humanity of political protest.
...moreAlbum of the Week: Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN.
With rumors and speculation about another new record dropping on the second Coachella weekend flying, Kendrick Lamar’s fourth studio album DAMN. (out via TDE/ Interscope) has already established itself as an instant classic. Lamar, who prefers to identify as musician and a writer rather than a rapper, called his album “Very urgent.” DAMN. is a […]
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Vincent Toro: Challenging Whiteness and Refusing to Be Colonized
Poet Vincent Toro on his debut collection, Stereo.Island.Mosaic, his writing process, and searching for identity.
...moreAlbum of the Week: Sampha’s Process
After collaborating with the likes of Beyoncè, SBTRKT, Jessie Ware, Drake, Kanye West, Frank Ocean, and Solange, 28-year-old British singer, songwriter and producer Sampha has finally released his first solo album, Process, via Young Turks. A significant and evocative title, anticipating the changes happening as listeners work through the LP’s forty minutes: the personal growth Sampha undergoes in taking his […]
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Luke Cage: When Representation Isn’t Enough
This show’s true strength is its diverse portrayal of African-American subjectivity and morality, amongst both the male and female characters.
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VISIBLE: Women Writers of Color: Tara Betts
Tara Betts discusses her newest collection, Break the Habit, the burden placed on black women artists to be both artist and activist, and why writing is rooted in identity.
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