Share this:

Poems in Black Heart Magazine By Righteous Teacher

Dear Readers,

As we celebrate Poetry Month, Check out 2 of poems published by Black Heart Magazine earlier this year by Poet Righteous Teacher

The two pieces are entitled Perform My Blackness: Open Letter to Africana Studies and Black Studies Majors and America is Me America is NOT Me.  Both poems are selected works in the collection America is Me America is NOT ME  from poet Righteous Teacher.

Peace & Love,

Righteous Teacher

“Almost always the creative dedicated minority has made the world better”- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

 

Oxymoron (Album Review)

SchoolBoy Q released his 3rd album in February entitled Oxymoron. So far the reviews are mixed. I find myself loving it own day and hating it the next. The album is gritty, and offers metaphors and wordplay fitting from “that inner city lifestyle.” Schoolboy Q gives us an array of punchlines and melodies that falls flat at times. Maybe its because i was expecting more. Either way, I give it a solid 3 with room to grow. We take a quick look at the good, the bad (+,-) and my favorite track off the album……

+ Man of The Year

Great mix of lyrics and metaphors that make you think over a jumping hook. “Home of the paid on the first/then ni$$a going broke by the third,” perfect depiction.

-His and Her Friend
Song just isnt for me. A little too hypnotic. Puts you in a trance, but not a good one.

**Favorite Track***

Studio ft BJ The Chicago Kid

Find myself putting this track on repeat. Killer Hook while SchoolBoy Q does something unexpected. This is a Low-key gem on the album that might go overlooked through the hardcore feel.

 

What is your favorite track on Oxymoron? Let us know your thoughts…

Two Cents: Hip Hop Is Education

Two Cents: Hip-Hop Is Education

Visual culture acknowledges the reality of living in a world of cross mediation. Though we may not understand them, semiotics is readily presented in everything that we see in society. What we see shapes how we interpret the world.  What remains equally important is the influence of mass media and the signs portrayed on adolescents and our youths. Hip Hop is said to be one of those mediums most influential on inner city youths. However its connection lies in negative connotations of sexual exploitation, and images of gangsters. Attempting to appropriate positive messages in the inner city youth community, The 2-Cent Ent. projocts carry a goal of reshaping the music that is marketed towards its inner city youth demographic. By combining the music artists and songs most adolescents know (Lil Wayne) with the goal of reading, “Every Girl” is thus blanketed into an educational spoof, re-written to encourage children to “read every book in the world.”

The intelligence behind this video lies in its invaluable blend of popular culture to achieve an immediate goal of educating young minds through the media’s vacuum. The parody acknowledges the cultural realities of the world in which their audience resides. Previously messages towards reading to achieve have been presented in other forms of media (television shows) with the PBS syndication of The Reading Rainbow and the ever popular NBC commercial featuring the slogan: “The More You Know.” However, the 2-Cent Ent. projects put an interesting twist towards those same goals, by playing off popular culture and at the same time changing the social and cultural relationship of Hip-Hop and Education towards the inner city communities.

-Righteous Teacher

(Check out the Every Book video below and look at their website for more information about 2-Cent Ent.)

Jay-Z-Magna Carta Holy Grail (Album Review)

Magna Carta (Loooong Oveerdue)

Magna Carta Holy Grail. This album is the reason I often wait a week to begin writing a review of an album instead of writing it when I first listen to it. I spent a good time not being a fan of Jay Z. It wasn’t until The Blueprint album that I actually openly acknowledged that Jay Z was a good rapper then went back and re-listened to his previous albums. Jay is one of those artists that you can’t judge his albums on the first or second listen. He’s become very adept at placing subtle meanings and gems in his lyrics that many admittedly do not catch on the first, second, or even third listens sometimes and find them months later enjoying songs of his they initially disliked. I’ve already seen it happen with many songs on this album and it’s only been out a couple weeks. There’s such a polarizing effect around any project Jay Z is involved in that it often does take a short amount of time for people’s real opinions to actually form away from the hype of the initial release and this album was no different.

“Holy Grail” ft. Justin Timberlake starts the album off. Jay says it’s the best he’s ever heard Timberlake sound on a song. While that’s to be debated, what can’t be is how hard the beat hits when it drops. Lyrically Jay does hold his own against the track as he waxes poetic about the relationship he has with being famous. “Holy Grail” is evident of one of the major gripes about Magna Carta…the lack of standout “oh man let me rewind that” bars from Jay Z. The song isn’t bad by any means but there is nothing about it that stands out as amazing outside of the beat. “Picasso Baby” , the album’s official first single I’m guessing since it’s the one Jay Z shot a video for, has a ridiculously hard hitting beat from Timbaland but this is one of the songs where Jay honestly sounds bored to me. While that’s been one criticism by some of the album as a whole, it really seems to show on this song.  Jay could have done much more with this beat. “Tom Ford” however makes up for the apparent laziness Jay showed on the previous track though. With a catchy hook and beat it’s easily one of the songs from the album that will get stuck in your head, but it’s the ease in which Jay Z attacks the track that makes it appealing. No, he’s not saying anything relatively mind blowing but that’s not always needed to make a good song.

“F**kwithmeyouknowigotit” has a beat from Boi-1da and Timbaland that simply can’t be denied. This song could have been an instrumental and still been good enough to make the album. Problem is not only does Rick Ross make a guest appearance on it, but Jay Z adopts what’s probably the most overused and terrible flow in rap music right now. It can be found in any song by Rick Ross, Chief Keef, and anyone else who can’t actually rap that well. Jay’s a trendsetter in rap not a follower, and that flow simply doesn’t work for him on this song. I listen to this song for the hook and beat only admittedly.  “Oceans” ft Frank Ocean is by far one of the best songs on this album. The chorus is evidence of something Jay often isn’t given credit for and that’s slipping certain messages in his lyrics. When Ocean sings “I hope this black skin don’t dirt this white tuxedo before the Basquiat show/And if so what f**k it “and Jay comes with a nice Billie Holiday punchiline by rapping “On the holiday playing Strange Fruit” it’s shows how the song offers the perfect combo of a bit of the introspective Jay with the brashness that many of his fans enjoy the most. “F.U.T.W.”  has Jay Z once again reminding the listener that he’s beaten the odds and though it’s a typical Jay track lyrically he does have some nice bars with lines like “America tried to emasculate the greats/Murdered Malcom gave Muhammed the shakes”.

“Somewhereinamerica”  is a nice inclusion in the album but it should have been longer. “Somewhere…” comes off more like a freestyle but has Jay offering interesting lines like “See I’m still putting work in/Cause somewhere in America Miley Cyrus still twerkin”. “Crown”  is easily one of the top three beats on the album and Jay manages to deliver on the track as well with lines like “Dropped it in the water made it disappear/I made it reappear I had that b***h on a rope”. “Heaven” features another hook by Justin Timberlake and Jay using the Jay Hova/God comparison to create a decent song. “Versus” is a collaboration between Timbaland and Swizz Beatz production wise and Jay comes through with what can barely be considered a verse so one of the best beats on the album is essentially wasted. “Part II (On The Run)” lyrically offers nothing amazing admittedly but the chemistry between Jay Z and Beyonce on this song, the sequel to “’03 Bonnie & Clyde”, combined with amazing production is what makes this one of the best songs on the entire album.

“Beach Is Better”  works as a nice interlude into another standout on the album a collaboration between Jay Z, Nas, Pharrell, Timbaland, Swizz Beatz, Justin Timberlake, and Beyonce who are all credited on the song. Pharrell’s beat is the perfect backdrop for Nas and Jay to ride perfectly and Jay flips Mase’s old flow from the classic “Feel So Good” nice in his opening bars. “JAY Z BLUE” has Jay opening up about his fear of fatherhood and not measuring up to be good enough. It’s a fear many new father’s share but it’s interesting to hear the often guarded Jay open up about it. While some may not think it comes off as sincere, it can’t be denied that it’s an honest side of Jay that would be nice to more often. “La Familia” is another unfortunate waste of a beat though not because it’s too short. It’s because Jay Z really doesn’t talk about anything. It’s like hearing Jay in Rick Ross mode again for 3:34 in a NY accent. It really is a shame nobody told him to do better because this beat deserves better. “Nickels and Dimes” is not only a great make up for the previous song but a very nice, strong close out to the album. In it Jay answers those who question his efforts in giving back with the lines “The purist form of giving is anonymous to anonymous” and directly responding to criticism from Harry Belafonte with the lines “I’m just trying to find common ground/’fore Mr. Belafonte come and chop a n***a down/ Mr. Day’O major fail/Respect these youngins boy it’s my time now/Hubolt homie two door homie/You don’t know all the s**t I do for the homies”. This response has generated a lot of debate about whether or not Jay Z crossed a line of disrespect. That’s up to the listener to decide but I can understand both sides of the argument.

While this album is certainly not the best Jay Z has ever done, it is not a bad album by any means. It actually manages to offer up something new from Jay Z in an area he’s only sparingly opened up about in the past. Even though there’s few lines on the album that can be added to Jay’s collection of his personal best of all time, there is a sense of Jay finally coming a sense of acceptance and being comfortable. Not comfortable in the way he feels he still doesn’t have to compete with current rappers, that’s evident in his failed attempts in “F**kwithmeyouknowigotit” and “La Familia”, but he’s comfortable where he’s at in life. He’s spoken on some songs in the past about being uncomfortable with being the glare that comes with fame but throughout this album there’s times where Jay seems to finally accept that he’s at a place that will always draw scrutiny regardless of what he does. As he says on “Picasso Baby” “No sympathy for the king huh n****s even talk about your baby crazy”……

Album Tracklist

1. Holy Grail (feat. Justin Timberlake)
2. Picasso Baby
3. Tom Ford
4. FuckWithMeYouKnowIGotIt (feat. Rick Ross)
5. Oceans (feat. Frank Ocean)
6. F.U.T.W.
7. Somewhere In America
8. Crown
9. Heaven
10. Versus
11. Part II (On the Run) (feat. Beyonce)
12. Beach Is Better
13. BBC (feat. Nas, Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, Swizz Beatz, Pharrell & Timbaland)
14. Jay-Z Blue
15. La Familia
16. Nickels and Dimes

Wale-The Gifted (Album Review)

Wale The Gifted

Wale is in the midst of accomplishing something no other rapper from Washington, DC has done before, be successful. See there’s a rule here in DC, I was born in DC and have lived and around the city my entire life and that is that our own homegrown Go-Go music, centered on percussions and a conga set up unique to Go-Go music alone, rules above all. If you want to be a well known rapper here you have a better chance of it happening being in a Go-Go band than actually being a traditional rapper.  Even when it comes to rap music the climate here has always lent itself more too southern and west coast rappers than East Coast rappers. There’s a reason one of Wale’s favorite topics is the “haters in his home who don’t support him”.   If you ask most people late twenties and up you will probably see Scarface and Devin The Dude and Bun B ranked as the favorite rappers.

Enter Wale whose style lends itself to the very East Coast rap style the majority of his own city does not openly embrace. As my younger brother who is 21, and a Wale fan himself, said “Dudes my age don’t care about a double entendre. Most of them don’t even know what that is.” His first album Attention Deficit wasn’t well received, commercially speaking, but his follow up Ambition which saw him switch to a more southern, trap style beat selection was much more successful. Even though commercially Ambition was more successful and gave Wale more mainstream recognition he’s still managed to be plagued by the criticism of being a “pseudo intellectual who tries too hard”. Through two commercial albums and countless mixtapes it’s still hard for many to get a grasp on just who Wale is other than a guy who is real easy to make mad on Twitter.

Wale’s third album The Gifted seeks to answer all those questions. The album starts off with, what else, a short skit about haters that leads into the intro “The Curse of The Gifted”. If you’ve heard Wale promoting this album he’s been using the phrase “new black soul” to describe the theme musically of the album.  One thing Wale has always taken advantage of is the use of Go-Go music, and live instruments in his music and from the intro through the first half of the album it works well. The second single “Love/Hate Thing” being a standout among them and showcasing Wale’s biggest strength which has always been his vulnerability expressed through his lyrics. “I lost a lot of friends and they ain’t even dead/When I was on my way up why you ain’t see the stairs/Lord father if I opted to follow them/My heart would tear for my dreams let me know that you hear”.  “Sunshine” and “Heaven’s Afternoon” which actually has Meek Mill using his inside voice find Wale once again flowing effortlessly over the music and still delivering lyrically. “Golden Salvation” (Jesus Piece), another standout on the album, finds Wale tapping into another talent of his which is concept songs from another person’s first person perspective. “Bricks” ft. Yo Gotti and Lyfe Jennings is a song where the titles may be misleading but definitely worth both the listen and the message Wale gets across though “Vanity” is a definite miss and should have been scrapped. “Gullible” being another standout of the first half of the album with Wale spitting “But not before I gave birth to several episodes/Our generation is cursed we got too many clones/We just believe and gonna repeat what we was told/ And all the bullets are prodigal to the gullible”

The lead single “Bad” and it’s remix ft. Rihanna are both very well done songs but an instance of a weakness of Wale’s. Certain times he simply tries too hard and throwing in punch lines about prevent defenses just seem out of place. Though Wale has made a clear effort to not be pegged as a niche Go-Go rapper, the music at its core is party music and when Wale does go all in 100% with the Go-Go sound it’s ironically resulted in some of his most well received songs both locally and commercially. “Clappers”, which borrows from legendary band EU’s classic Go-Go song “Da Butt”, ft. Nicki Minaj and Juicy J is no exception and will be certain to be in heavy DJ rotation this summer. “Rotation” brings along Wiz Khalifa and 2 Chainz for what I’ll just say is a very uplifting song while Ne-Yo brings a nice hook to “Tired of Dreaming” with an unfortunate guest verse from Rick Ross that could have been replaced. “Simple Man” despite having a few standout lines like “To each his own but each of them is known to steal or rob you/So jails are overpopulated but know there’s seats in college” overall is a bit underwhelming. The Just Blazed produced “88” delivers in a big way with Wale going to his well known sports book bag of punch lines out the gate with “I ain’t JR Rider but these wolves coming for my spot”. The final song on the album “Black Heroes” with the second verse being one of it not the best verse on the entire album.

So what do you get from Wale’s The Gifted? You seemingly get an artist both lyrically and musically expressing a feeling of always having been caught between two worlds. A portion of the album sees Wale expressing that even though he himself was more focused on school, he was still close enough to the wrong side of things to have a clear understanding of the danger that running the streets of D.C. carries for a young man. He also shows that while he can make the stereotypical song about women and parties he’d much rather touch on something with substance and trying to find that balance to finally be accepted both home in D.C. but universally for his abilities on the mic. This is the album that just may be able to build on the momentum he has coming off the Ambition album and garner Wale that respect he craves. Well as long as he can stop cussing out people on Twitter.

-B.P.

*Standout Tracks

-Sunshine

-Golden Salvation (Jesus Piece)

-Black Heroes/Outro About Nothing

Official Tracklist

1. The Curse of the Gifted

2. LoveHate Thing (Ft. Sam Dew)

3. Sunshine

4. Heavin In the Afternoon

5. Golden Salvation (Jesus Piece)

6. Vanity

7. Gullible

8. Bricks

9. Clappers

10. Bad (Remix)

11. Tired of Dreaming

12. Rotation

13. Simple Man

14. 88

15. Black Heroes

16. Bad (Ft. Tiara Thomas)

When Did You Fall in Love w/Hip-Hop (Answers Revealed)

Here at wordsbyjcharmz we asked the people to respond to one question:

I personally grew up on Hip-Hop and R&B from my listening to my parents jam on the with their stereo blasting, but Hip-Hop hit me hard on my own in the mid-late 90’s. For me it was artists like Biggie Smalls (Juicy) , LL Cool J (I Can’t Live Without My Radio), The Lost Boyz (Renee) and Tupac (Keep Ya Head Up) that took me into its grasps forever…I even asked guest columnist B.P even responded via twitter to answer when did he Fall in Love with Hip-Hop...

@wordsbyjcharmz When I first heard Outkast's ATLiens album.

— MamboSauceAndNikeBoots (@4oreverNADay) June 29, 2013

The post did generate some buzz with some favorites, RT’s and replies from people across the world into Hip-Hop. We even got some mildly sarcastic suggestions like Soulja Boy.  The rest of our readers have spoken given us various artists across different generations of Hip-Hop that we all can relate to. Lets take a look….

https://twitter.com/JoeyTurnpike/status/351124451678617600

https://twitter.com/Slapadelic/status/351481170380333056

https://twitter.com/blkdangerfield/status/351426856173580289

https://twitter.com/blkdangerfield/status/351426957373747200

“@wordsbyjcharmz: When Did You Fall in Love w/ Hip-Hop?" In the Mid 80s in Elementary School thanks to Run DMC, Beastie Boys. EPMD & Rakim

— Mike Sonksen (@MikethePoeTLA) June 30, 2013

@wordsbyjcharmz lol it's embarrassing but when I heard the chronic album

— Jay R (@jayrbestbyfar) June 29, 2013

For most of us Hip-Hop has always been apart of us. There will always be a song, an artist (old or new) that will remind us why we love the genre so much. It is who we are. It is a culture, it is apart of us. For me it is easy to say,  “to hip hop. I loved you, I still do…and I always will” (Brown Sugar).

-Righteous Teacher

Yeezus (Album Review)

Our Guest columnist ‘B.P.‘ here at wordsbyjcharmz shares his take on the new Yeezus album by Kanye West that dropped on June 18th 2013. Complete track list is also provided below.

 

Yeezus Album Review- Written By B.P.

 

“This sh** is making my ears bleed”

“Son, he’s the Hip-Hop version of Radiohead”

 

These are the words of two people whose musical opinions I hold in high regard, who do not at all know each other at all. They both have very similar tastes in music but hold vastly different opinions on Kanye West’s new album Yeezus. There seems to be no middle ground with this album and elitism on both sides. Either you’ll love it or hate it. As a person who lives in  that gray area in the middle extremes like this are often very hard for me to digest which is why I didn’t trust my initial feeling I had when I listened to Yeezus.

So I gave it a second listen and a third listen and finally somewhere midway through I just had to accept that I did not like the album. I’m not against genre blending or experimenting in Hip-Hop. I support it all the way. I hate how we as fans often box in rappers (I’m guilty of this too) into our own little boxes. However an important part of branching out and trying something new is making sure the product is actually good and Kanye just didn’t deliver on this attempt. Not in the music itself but in the one part that make a rapper good… and that’s simply rapping good.

Songs like “New Slaves,” “Bound 2”, “Black Skinhead”, and “On Sight” gives us that classic Kanye. Arrogance, wittiness, and just enough self reflection to show a side of vulnerability that he made popular within a genre more known for making grand attempts at covering person flaws as opposed to openly discussing them. If someone were looking to any songs on the album to speak to what’s good about it, those are the songs I’d direct them too. I’d even go as far as to say that even with me disliking the album “New Slaves” is by far one of the best songs and my favorite songs of the year in any genre across the board.

“You like almost half the album. How can you say it’s bad?” is the question from someone I had to answer just last night. The problem is that for one, 4 out of 10 is still only 40% which isn’t good. Another problem is the songs that are bad, are REALLY bad. As I said before, I’m all for experimenting in hip-hop. Go for it, experiment, and genre blend, make the music sound as big and stadium like as you want I just ask one simple thing. Don’t forget that you’re a RAPPER and at some point your lyrics and flow will be used to judge the album as well. This is where Kanye really doesn’t deliver more than anything. “I’m In It” is ruined by horrible lines like “Your pu**y’s too good I need to crash/You’re ti**ies, let ‘em out, free at last” and “Eating Asian pu**y all I need is sweet and sour sauce”.

“I Am A God” actually does deliver lyrically but musically it’s just too much. There’s something to be said for simplicity and that’s something Kanye used to master not only lyrically but musically as well. As he’s gotten bigger so has the production he uses and it’s not always necessary. I know in theory it fits with the theme of the record but again it’s another miss in its attempt.

I’m not blind to the fact of why a good number of people dislike this album. I’ve seen many who don’t like the album clamoring for the “Old Kanye” back. The College Dropout-Late Registration Kanye to come around again. Get over it.  That won’t happen, Kanye is nearly a decade removed from the things in his life that led him to make those albums and if any artist personal life influences their music, good or bad, it’s Kanye West.

I’m not of that opinion however. I’ve enjoyed the evolution of Kanye West musically and even being disappointed with this album won’t stop me from listening to and anticipating the next project he’s involved with. All I ask is that through the continued growth musically don’t forget that as part of hip-hop growth lyrically is always priority number one. Every genre has their one standard for judging it’s artist that will never be questioned and in hip-hop the quality of lyrics will always reign supreme over everything else. This one area is where Kanye has failed to deliver on this album and as hip-hop elitist as it sounds, that’s one area I doubt I’ll ever budge on using as part of my criteria for judging a rapper’s album.

-BP

 

Yeezus Tracklist

01. On Sight (Produced by Daft Punk)

02. Black Skinhead (Produced by Daft Punk)

03. I Am A God (Featuring God)

04. New Slaves (Featuring Frank Ocean)

05. Hold My Liquor (Feat. Chief Keef & Justin Vernon)

06. I’m In It (Feat. Travis Scott)

07. Blood On The Leaves

08. Guilt Trip (Feat. Kid Cudi)

09. Send It Up (Feat. King L)

10. Bound 2 (Feat. Charlie Wilson)

Performance Arts & Africana Studies (Message to Incoming Students)

In February 2012 , I was honored enough to go back to my college and participate in a conference and deliver the closing remarks with another Africana Studies graduate (the speech i delivered will be posted later).

This poem is from the closing ceremony during the Central Pennsylvania Consortium Africana Studies Conference at Dickinson College February 2012  on “Performing Memory, History and Identity in the Black World”

The Negro must climb the racial

mountain but don’t look down

cuz’ negroes are falling off the raft.

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay in the water

wade in the water, dead.

But where are all the Negro spirituals?

So soulful uplifting the nation

black citizens, my people.

 

Where is that voice of reason?

Contemplating the true dilemma,

as that Strange Fruit in America.

The Poet, The Writer, The Lyricist…

who turns black pain into black art

by squeezing the rhythm and blues

out of neo-slave narratives.

 

The Preacher, The Singer…

lifting every voice to sang a

harmonious oral history of

the black experience,

The unconventional black artist

The Comedian, The Actor

who like those tall tales passed

down from African Griots,

paints a vivid history rooted

in the melody of black struggle.

 

The pain echoed though

the wonders of performance arts

the continuity as fluid

as our black identity

as we break the verbal

barriers of the written language

and turn generations of silence

into a inter-disciplinary approach

of black subjectivity, one

fused with the cadence of rhymes

and a multitude of expressions

-Righteous Teacher

America is Me, America is NOT Me

America is Me, America is NOT Me

 

America is Me

The hope, the promise

That withered on the backbones

Of relatives that stitched

the (red) blood and blues

spewed from black dreams

on the stripes of the American flag.

America is Not Me

Our founding fathers

built a country on morals

That once deferred dreams through

Slavery and assassinations.

Gunning down black thoughts

Like runaways.

Yet still…

America is Me

The (new) hope, the promise

that lingers on the transgressions

of a new generations belief

In politics and not the politics of color

Or (the) color of an American citizen

Change? Yes we can

Because…

America is Not me

As it currently stands, until

we no longer minimize the values

of our fellow American citizens.

Whose burdens are entangled

In the same star spangled banner

that we all pledge allegiance too.

For…

America is me, America is NOT me

Her thorns, ever so prickly, as i peel off the,

She love me, she loves me not petals

from Americas rose. The same rose

that once grew Tupac from concrete

yet gunned him down w/o justice

America is me, America is not me

-Righteous Teacher

Adidas Tries to Get a Kick Out of Slavery

Tasteless. If their ever was a word to describe thoughts on the Adidas JS Roundhouse Mids it is tasteless.  Sneaker companies have been targeting urban youth for the longest with relentless ad campaigns. Urban communities support sneaker giants despite their often unaffordable prices. But how far is too far? When a company decides to evoke inspiration (intentional or unintentional) from the degradation of slavery.  The tagline even reads: “Got a sneaker game so hot you lock your kicks to your ankles?”

Since the photo of the sneakers went viral, social backlash has been relentless. The sneakers  features  orange shackels. The urban community has spoken out with their displeasure. The hip hop community has also voiced complaints including Taleb Kwel (below)

“WTF @adidas sneakers with SHACKLES? Which morons approved these? Do better. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2160977/Adidas-unveiling-new-trainer-orange-shackles-like-worn-black-slaves.html,” he tweeted June 18th.

“@NickNoir @adidas the sneakers are historically ignorant. Are their more offensive things in the world? Certainly”

“@NickNoir @adidas aggressively markets to urban. They should know better & be more sensitive. So should the artist. Wack.”

“@Laxincat11 news flash. ALL should be offended by insensitivity to the slave trade, white OR black slave trade.”

“@Laxincat11 newsflash- African slave trade built America & blacks twice as unemployed as whites today. Remove your head from your a**” (Talib Kweli’s Twitter)

Adidas at first defended their new sneakers but have since changed course and canceled its August 2012 release date.  Adidas claims in a statement, “We apologize if people are offended by the design and we are withdrawing our plans to make them available in the marketplace.”

To Read more..

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/fashion/adidas-pulls-shackle-shoe-outcry-racism-article-1.1098306#ixzz1yFaOYahp