Pop Cultural
Fantasizing About an Island Girl
There has never been a better time to be an Island Girl. You know the type—tanned skin, a scanty two-piece, and English tinged with a foreign accent. She’s probably a good dancer, knows how to sway her hips. The Island Girl sits on a beach, sipping on a cocktail. Inexplicably, her hair looks good wet.
Can Nicki Minaj Save the American Dream?
Amidst these depressing statistics, there are people set on giving the American Dream any sort of jump-start to keep it ticking. Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé are the latest.
America’s Most Important Leading Man
Yet the scene stuck out to me the first time I watched it. As I continued watching, I realized why the opening scene felt so important. Dev Shah, played by Aziz Ansari, is a sexual being. The first time he’s shown on screen, the series’ Indian-American protagonist is naked. And that in itself is what makes the show, “Master of None,” revolutionary.
DAMN. and the Consumption of Black Art
Within the span of 10 minutes, I’d listened to three different Kendrick Lamar songs on the radio. Though it felt excessive in the moment, it’s not incredibly surprising. Throughout his career, Kendrick Lamar has had 28 songs break onto the Billboard Hot 100, including all 14 tracks from his most recent album DAMN. His music has frequented radio waves, college parties, workout playlists, and everything in between. But the Compton-bred rapper’s popularity begs a simple question: What is it about his music that makes it so popular amongst a broad, and largely non-black, American public?
