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Ebonics 101: Big L & E. B. White Break Bread

“Euphemisms are misunderstood as mistakes/ But it’s a by-product of the ghetto music we make/” —Canibus, “Poet Laureate II,” Rip the Jacker, 2003. Of the many reasons Hip-Hop music dogged for, one of the most unremarkable is that it teaches bad English—broken English—Ebonics. Critics argue that it celebrates anti-intellectualism, with an emphasis on rhyme rather […]

Rappers: Where Ya’ Ba**s At?

“Half these rap lyrics ain’t thought-provoked/ Just a lot of beef till they get caught and smoked/” —GZA, “Illusory Protection,” Grandmasters. “If I rhyme about home and got descriptive/ I’d make 50 Cent look like Limp Bizkit/” —K’Naan, “What’s Hardcore?,” The Dusty Foot Philosopher.  Nowadays, nothing seems to annoy this writer more than the fecklessness […]

Bruno Needs a Beatdown!

“Now, I’m sure that some of my “post racial” Black and liberal White friends will say that I need to calm down…   Back in the late 1800’s a Scottish woman wrote the controversial book “Little Black S####.” Although, the story was about a dark skinned Indian child with exaggerated Negroid features who liked to […]