Plug Research Showcase Takes Over NYC’s BLVD Nightclub Just two days into CMJ and we’re already yearning for our beds, although the line up last night at BLVD made the delirium from sleep deprivation worth it. Up to deliver an ear-orgasm were Blu & Exile, Shafiq Husayn, DJ Spinna, Pharoahe Monch and Bilal. Blu & Exile opened up, ripping the stage to shreds and turning the audience into a swarm [...]
Tabi Bonney Rocks Fat Baby It’s officially CMJ week in New York City! The College Music Marathon and Film Festival is a week-long, city-wide music fest showcasing some of the most promising talent in the world. We’ve decided to hit as many shows as our bodies will allow us to. So with a drink in our hand and our camera lens zoomed in we were all geared up for the [...]
Photo by Jaecyne Howell www.moonrisingnyc.com 4th Annual Event Shines Light On Phenomenal Black Women By Uzy Igweatu The fourth annual Black Girls Rock! Awards took place last weekend at The New York Times Center in New York City. Hosted by Regina King and Tracee Ellis Ross, the fundraising event brought out a host of celebrities in support of Black Girls Rock!, an organization founded by DJ Beverly Bond as a [...]
The worst thing about made-for-TV shows is usually the duration. Counting some 11 acts billed to perform at the the MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMAs) – that’s excluding Wyclef and Akon – and factoring in the inevitable downtime for set changes and fluffs, I prayed my attention span would co-operate. Pop the hood for a full account of the night that was MAMAs 2009 in Nairobi, Kenya.
Sandra Laing (Sophie Okonedo) is a dark-skinned girl growing up in apartheid South Africa in the ‘60s. Like that’s not tough enough, she’s also the natural daughter of white Afrikaner parents, Abraham (Sam Neill) and Sannie (Alice Krige) and, therefore, a genetic throwback to a black racial heritage. This is the true story of Skin, and every bit as excruciating as it sounds.
TROUBADOUR (A&M/Octone) Rating: 4/5 Watching the MOBO (Music of Black Origin) awards in 2007 I distinctly remember turning my nose up at the sponsor, Western Union. All that horrible yellow branding, I thought, was some of what was so wrong with that shambolic event. Just not sexy. I realize now that I was missing the point. When you need cash sent in a quick hurry from elsewhere outside banking hours [...]
