Real Talk: Talib Kweli

If you're going to bring a brother as intelligent as Talib Kweli on to speak on something as complex and polarizing as Ferguson, at least let him speak, Don.

High Enough to Touch the Stars

Jenny's my girl. She kills every scene she's in on Parks & Rec, House of Lies, Kroll Show, and everything else. And she was adorable in her spot on Drunk History. Not going to lie, I was a little upset when I found out that she's married. Her husband's a lucky guy. Especially if she gets this high with him.

Dave & Hip Hop

More from Mr. Chappelle, who made the talk show rounds this week to promote his upcoming series of shows at NYC's Radio City Music Hall. Here he talks about meeting The Roots and Kanye, and retells the 'Ye story that I first posted last summer (that video has since been removed from YouTube, though, which makes it convenient to now have this one).

Chappelle Reflects

Dave Chappelle stopped by Letterman last night to promote his upcoming concert(s) at Radio City Music Hall. The interview starts off with pretty standard stuff, but then Dave L. starts asking questions everyone really wants the answers to around the 6:20 mark. It's interesting to hear Chappelle's take on things, now several years removed from the whole episode, but we still don't get any definitive answers from him as to what exactly spurred his decision to quit, and how it all went down.



...and, is it just me, or is Dave starting to look like K-Ci and JoJo's long lost brother?

Hands-On Interview

I mean, as huge as they are, I'm more shocked she didn't touch Kat's titties every time she turned around. Hell, any of us might accidentally touch one of Kat's titties at any moment. Yup, accidentally...

*randomly reaches around...*

Can't Get Right

Ladies, just because you're like, really, really, ridiculously good looking, doesn't mean you're ready for the pageant scene. Stage presence is counted, too.

There's always print modeling and being my trophy wife, though.

Wait...What?

I honestly have no idea what the hell is going on here. I thought this was a fake report at first, but then again...it is Fox. Even their "real" news...well, needs quotation marks around the word "real." But between this reporter claiming there is a nude homosexual sex scene in Planes, her interviewee sounding mentally-challenged, and her dropping an f-bomb on live TV, this is one of the more bizarre clips I've ever seen.

Brand'd

This is my everything today. Russell Brand just completely destroys MSNBC's Morning Joe, taking Mika Brzezinski's panties with him. Only a British man can make "shaft-grasper" sound dignified.

From A.V. Club:

A video captures Brand eviscerating the hosts of MSNBC’s Morning Joe for essentially laughing at him to his face during an interview. Co-host Mika Brzezinski and panelists Katty Kay and Brian Shactman appear visibly nervous about interviewing the loquacious British comedian. Brzezinski starts the segment by admitting she's never heard of Brand, because she’s “not very pop-cultured.” The anchors titter about Brand’s outfit, whisper “uh-oh” after he mentions Americans are free to wear what they want, inexplicably plug the musical Kinky Boots, and appear shocked that Brand is able to give a coherent explanation for name of his new comedy tour, The Messiah Complex.

His Story

Here's a great interview given by God's Son on his career and music.


My boy Profound with the assist.

Hate Me Now

Mr. Nasir Jones sat down with Miss Info to discuss hip-hop fashion throughout his lifetime, especially in the 80s and 90s.

Tig Ol's

Are you Terrence Howard? No? Then don't even think of trying to be Terrence Howard. Because only Terrence Howard is Terrence Howard.

Once, back in the late 90s, Dennis Rodman tried to be Terrence Howard. But even he wasn't Terrence Howard.

Snoop's Narnia

I'm a day late in getting this posted. GQ published a fantastic piece by Drew Magary, who spent a recent afternoon with Snoop Lion talking music and smoking on that ooh-wee. It's a fascinating and hilarious look into Snoop's world—and oh what a wonderful world it is. If you haven't yet, you should definitely set aside 10 minutes to read the full article. But if you're short on 10 minutes, I'll give you a few of the highlights:

1. Snoop carries a man bag.

He arrives at Baby Blues with just a single bodyguard, whom he sheds before slipping alone into our reserved room at the back of the restaurant. He's wearing a Dallas Mavericks jersey and warm-up pants, and he's carrying a Paris Hilton-designed man purse overflowing with unopened packs of Swisher Sweets.

2. There's a guy somewhere, who worked as a club bouncer in '92, and who now feels like a jackass.

Like the time in 1992 when he was marooned outside a hot downtown L.A. nightclub, trying in vain to get inside. "And motherfucking 'Deep Cover' "—Snoop's first hit—"was playing louder than a motherfucker in there: boom, boom, boom. And there was a nigga in the club, and he told security, 'Nigga, you don't know who that is?' Security said, 'No.' They said, 'Nigga, that's the nigga who's singing on that song right there!' Yeah. And guess what, kid? I didn't get in!"

3. They make children's books about smoking weed. Wait...what?

It doesn't even seem so crazy—or at least not as crazy as it should seem—when Snoop tells me he's thinking of reading a book called It's Just a Plant: A Children's Story of Marijuana, to the 8- and 9-year-olds on the peewee football team he coaches. "Believe it or not," he says, "they need to know." (The book is about a little girl whose parents teach her about the awesomeness of weed. "This is a joint," her father tells her. "It's made of marijuana." It's a surprisingly long book. If you read it in Marijuana Time, it takes eight years.)

4. I miss Cali girls. Oh so much...

Moments later, a baby-faced blonde employee named Rachel, dressed in a teensy orange tank and blue terry-cloth hot pants, walks up to Snoop and stammers out a request: "I wanna get, uh, a picture of me expressing myself in the safe while you're looking at me expressing myself."

The safe that Rachel is referring to is the open, Skee-Lo-sized safe across the room. She hands me her camera and leads Snoop toward it. Then she turns around, does a handstand, spreads her legs, rests her feet on the inside walls of the safe, and begins shaking her booty up and down like it's a can of spray paint.

"She's obsessed with this," Doctor Dina tells me as we watch. "She's been practicing for a week."

I really miss Cali girls.

Big Boi's is Talkin'

From a recent article by The Village Voice, about Big Boi's new album:

So lets talk label bullshit. Last album Laface was fronting on clearing Andre 3000. Is that still the case?
No, that's all cleared up now. He could've been on any song he wanted to. I gave the motherfucker about 5 songs, but I guess he was just too busy. He said he had to do some Gillette shit [room erupts in laughter]. No for real. He said he had some contractual obligations.

Ouch. Hopefully there's no real bad blood between Big Boi and Dre, and that was just a playful dig at his brother. But goddamn, that's some ownage.

Ghost Toast

This 1984 Today Show interview is almost as delicious as toast from a demonic toaster.

Frisky Business

Fantastic work by Kamau Bell on this piece.


[Sidenote: That woman he interviewed was a straight up freak. And, sadly, it looks like her daughter (?) will be headed down the same path, eventually.]

Educating the Youth

Gabrielle Union (39) explains some of the difficulties in dating Dwyane Wade (30).

A Conversation with Mr. Glover

That would be Donald Glover, a.k.a. Childish Gambino. The talented comedian/actor/writer/emcee talks with Forbes.com about his success and why he hopes he never "makes it".

Gay Mafia?

I've got mad respect for Fat Joe for expressing a tolerant viewpoint in this Vlad TV interview, which is something that the world could always use more of. But saying there's a "gay mafia" in hip-hop? That sounds a little loco, papi. Don't know if I'd go that far.

Then again, he's a 20+ year vet in the game, and I'm...me. Maybe he knows something I don't.

Gambino is a Mastermind

We're living in a new day. The barrier between what a person is perceived as and who they really are is crumbling away, like the TV images of the Berlin Wall in 1989. No one knows this better than Donald Glover, who sat down with Timmhotep Aku in an interview for Jay-Z's blog, Life and Times.

L+T: Much of your music deals with people’s stereotypes, their assumptions and the labels they put on others. It’s like you’re trying to say that the average young black person is a lot more complicated, and complex than a lot of people would give him or her credit for. Right?

DG: That’s exactly what it is. I think you touched upon it with labels. That’s exactly what it is. People want to label you because it’s easy to understand. It’s easy for someone to see a black person and assume they like all these things because then you don’t have to learn anything and you don’t have to find out who that person really is. It’s the same thing with me doing comedy and rapping. It’s easy to be like, “Oh OK, Donald Glover is a comedian and every time I see him he’s going to be funny.” That’s easy to do and I think we’re in a way more complex world. No one does one thing, ever. No one’s ever done one thing. People are different things at the same time. Sometimes I’ll get girls that’ll be like “your lyrics are misogynistic” and I’m like “yeah, they are.” Sometimes I’m misogynistic, [but] like who isn’t? Everybody’s racist sometimes. Everyone—black people, white people…

This is a quick and very insightful interview with an intelligent and talented young black man who wants nothing more than for "black" to be the least-defining of those traits. Definitely worth the read.

Life + Times: Me, Myself, and I

Slangin that Charlie Sheen

You've probably already seen these interviews; even if you haven't, I'm sure you've at least heard or heard about some of the soundbites. The first one is full of the crazy quotes, the second one details more of his day-to-day life, including interviews with his "goddesses", a model and a porn star who both live in his house and help raise his kids. Maybe menage-a-boogies are the long-lost cure for alcohol and drug addiction?