Gen Z Doesn’t Know Music And AI Might Be the Only Fix
Editor’s Note The music industry has changed, and not necessarily for the better. In this provocative essay, Joseph Rodriguez argues that today’s corporate songwriting machine has left an entire generation disconnected from the craft, history, and soul that once defined popular music. Bu
Forget Everything You Know: Your 30s Are When Reading Counts
I’ve gained this newfound passion for reading lately, and it’s unlike anything I’ve experienced before. I’ve never been particularly averse to reading. I’ve always understood it to be fundamental, and I was actually good at it. In school, I enjoyed popcorn reading and r
WE’RE ALL RIVERS (YOU DON’T KNOW ME, ANYONE, OR YOURSELF)
Don’t ever tell me you know me. Like, how reckless of you to say something like that. “Oh, I know him very well.” Yeah right. No. See, I don’t take it upon myself to assume that I really know anyone, because people change. People evolve & they could be one version of themselves w
PBS Kids Raised Us (90s Babies) Different
There’s something about PBS Kids that just hits different for those of us who grew up in the 90s. It holds a special place in our hearts. Now, it wasn’t the flashiest channel. It didn’t have the best graphics/animations or the coolest commercials (because, well, it had no commercia
“A Poor Craftsman Blames His Tools”
We know this proverb to basically mean that someone unskilled or incompetent at a task will often make excuses for their poor work by blaming their tools rather than taking responsibility for their own failings. Yikes. I heard this phrase listening to a podcast the other day, and it made me think ab
The Unfinished Page: Embracing the Writer’s Journey
There is a subtlety that comes with writing, a relaxation that comes with it as well. So, one of the things I’ve learned about being a writer is that, in order to consider yourself a writer, well, you have to write. When I think about all the time I’ve spent at a computer desk staring [&
The WhiteBoy That’s “Accepted by the Hood”
Okay, let’s cut through all the noise. I’ve seen the Druski skit and couldn’t stop laughing. I feel like we all know the guy he’s portraying. We went to school with him, or maybe you have someone like that in your family. Here’s the crazy part, though. When Druski dropp
Delusion at Scale: 100 Men vs. Reality
Somehow this is where we are. 100 unarmed men vs. one silverback gorilla. Who wins? That’s the question. Or at least, that’s the distraction that’s been gripping group chats, barbershop arguments, podcast tangents, and TikTok comment sections for the past week like it’s a matter of national
Why Brotherhood Is So Important
Someone sent me this post on Instagram and asked how I felt about it. After revisiting this thread some weeks later, I thought it would be cool to share those sentiments and dive a bit deeper. Y’all know I like to zoom out, look at the macro, and find value in the ways we can […]
The Hip-hop Mogul Is Dead
I still remember the summer of 2016 when the XXL Freshman Class dropped. They got it right. It felt like a new era of hip-hop was being ushered in. I had been a fan of Uzi since I heard “Top” for the first time. I think I found out about the song from a tweet. My younger cousin gets the [&h