bapu vaitla

Tag: hip-hop

  • Black on Both Sides, Mos Def (1999)

    Black on Both Sides, Mos Def (1999)

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    I hated my nose growing up. It was too big, too bulbous. I wanted a white nose: Roman, aquiline. The insecurity grew milder as I got older, but it wasn’t until I saw the album cover for Black on Both Sides, and then listened to the music, that I understood how thoroughly I’d been brainwashed.…

  • RTJ4, Run the Jewels (2020)

    RTJ4, Run the Jewels (2020)

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    RTJ4 dropped a week after George Floyd’s murder and a few months after COVID-19 hit the world stage. In retrospect, the most painful aspect of 2020 wasn’t the horrific events themselves. It’s the blinding realization that the world is just the same as it was before. No major legislation addressing police brutality passed; no overdue…