Top 10 Posts Readers Loved in 2015

(Remember this? This was the old banner for Artz of Culturez)

As you can see Artz of Culturez went through several minor changes in 2015. First, I got rid of the blogspot extension. Then I swapped the letter ’s’ to the letter ‘z.’ I also posted an armature head shot of myself on the home page so you can put a face to the ideas that fill up the pages of the blog.

Related Story: 2014 Top 10 Blog Posts for Arts of Cultures

Some of the new ideas include, Artz of Culturez TV, Diggin’ in the Crates, and Empty-Nest Chronicles. However, I couldn’t help but notice that when I created the Money Culture tab and filled it with personal finance postings for Money Method Mondays, the page views went though the roof. Turns out readers want to know more about how to handle their finances.

The Big Chop in Corporate America

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- Minority Opinion: Zendaya, Rancic Works it Out

- Cashing in on Braids

- Oh SNAP! 

Looking forward to your comments below, or you can e-mail your views to TCsViews@gmail.com.

NYT Opens Pandora's Box to Race in America

The New York Times is running an Op-Docs series featuring personal stories around race. Individuals give viewers a deeper look at how racial issues in America effects them directly.

• A Conversation With Police on Race
• A Conversation With My Black Son
• A Conversation About Growing Up Black 
• A Conversation With White People on Race

The latest installment, A Conversation With Black Women on Race by Joe Brewster and Michele Stephenson, is bound to pull on the heartstrings of any woman of color. It definitely tugged at mine especially when one of the storytellers tried to explain the internal racism that takes place within the Black community. Her story immediately triggered several memories of when I was called a racial slur by someone who had the same color skin and hair texture as me.

"Why do you speak like a white person, don't you know you ain't nothin' but a nigga?" 

As I write this blog post, I recall every moment when my mother told me, as a young child:

"You are black, ugly and that your nose is too big."

These are the internal racial tensions that the storyteller talked about, which plagues Black America everyday.

Until we work on ourselves, educate our children, inform our neighbors and individuals from other backgrounds, we will continue to have these issues. I applaud The New York Times for taking on this project, and I hope that these stories will resonate through the masses.

Watch and listen:

Please feel free to leave your comments below, or you can e-mail your views to TCsViews@gmail.com.

Related Stories: 

• D'Angelo, Bobby Seale Discuss Race in America

• Things I Tell My Black Son

• Things I Tell My Black Son Pt. 2

Diggin' in the Crates: A Tribe Called Quest

ATCQ Album Cover

It's seemed like only yesterday that I heard Bonita Applebum playing on the radio through the hallways of my high school. But it wasn't just yesterday. All this week, A Tribe Called Quest has been popping up all over the airwaves and nightly talk shows to celebrate its 25th anniversary of their debut album People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm.

Out of all the members of the group Q-Tip was my personal favorite. (My sincere apologies Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi White.) 

The one in the middle is Q-Tip

I personally never owned the album but now is good time to add People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm to my music collection. And I've got to get Pharell William's rendition of Bonita Applebum.

So far the best interview I heard about the 25th anniversary aired on NPR's All Things Considered. I learned that the album made some feel like it was "an iconoclast's mission statement" from the hip-hop era of the early 1990s. The group, which started out during their teenage years, are all grownup and appears to be ready to bring hip-hop back to life. Well, at least this is what I hope.

Take a listen.

The Media is Not Trying to Distract You

Guest Post: by Felicia Speakes

So, there’s been a lot going on in the media lately. Just about every week, a Black person becomes a victim of a crime. Either nine Black people are shot at church by a racist, or a cop kills a Black person during a “routine” traffic stop. With the onslaught of social media, we’re consuming these stories like food at a buffet line. All it takes is one photo or one headline and BOOM! … a story and the fallacies and opinions that come along with have traveled across the country and half way around the world.