Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone
“I’ve never changed my hair. I’ve never changed my color, I have always been proud of myself, and my fans are proud of me for remaining the way I’ve always been.” – Nina Simone
When I think of Nina Simone I think of her dark chocolate skin, her full lips and her tight ‘fro. Her looks were and still are every bit as relevant and powerful as the songs she sang. As a matter of Read more...
FLYASPORA: Our Olympian Grrrls
By last Sunday’s Olympic Closing Ceremonies, I was so ready for that flame to be extinguished and the Games to be over and done with. I hate to admit it, but I had grown tired of the Olympic coverage. It went about five days too long and the spoilers didn’t help motivate me to watch a competition in which I already knew who won gold. I certainly could’ve done without the synchronized swimming, the diving– Read more...
Why Sparkle is Whitney’s Perfect Farewell
Last Thursday would have been Whitney Houston’s 49th birthday and I still cannot wrap my mind around the fact that she is dead. Six months after her shocking death and her passing feels as sudden and as unreal now as it did that day in February when she drowned in her Beverly Hilton Hotel bathtub. Unlike Michael Jackson’s death where many of us felt like we somehow had let the King of Pop slip through Read more...
Trader Joe’s: My Kinda Fast Food
In 1995 I called myself “relocating” to Los Angeles to work on a music project and to make a name for myself in TV and film. Forget making a splash in Hollywood, I was going to create a tidal wave. Two weeks went by and I was clear about one thing: I hated La La Land! The only water works I was creating were the tears I cried at night as I longed to get Read more...
Not Your (Stereo)Typical Muslima!
Friday before last we awoke to the news of the massacre in Aurora, Colorado. Even though my heart was breaking for the senseless murders, I like many of us who identify as Black, held my breath and hoped and prayed that the killer was not Black. That he or she did not look like me. Later I found out, after perusing quite a few blogs and Twitter feeds that many Muslims had the same anxious Read more...
In A Sundress & On My Queen Game!
“The dress must not hang on the body but follow its lines. It must accompany its wearer and when a woman smiles the dress must smile with her.” -Madeleine Vionnet
When the thermostat hits 85 degrees or higher I don’t want some hot fabric wrapped over my legs and stifling the flow of air around my thighs and treasure-box, so shorts and capris are out of the question. Honestly, if I could’ve gone butt-naked every Read more...
FLYASPORA: Kehinde Wiley & Grace
Kehinde Wiley’s “An Economy of Grace is a study of poise, flyness, beauty, class, glamour and Blackness. And today it will all come to a close.
The women– Homegirls. Ena, Treisha, Shanatavia, Dacia. Brooklyn. Fulton Mall-shopping, Beyonce loving, mothers who take pride in a good manicure. Their poses are based on historical portraits of “society women” by Jacques-Louis David, Thomas Gainsborough and John Singer Sargent. Their clothes– long luxurious gowns reminiscent of neo-classical French romanticism. Read more...
Sex, Lies & Videotape: Erykah Badu & Rihanna
Read more...“The erotic has often been misnamed by men and used against women. It has been made into the confused, the trivial, the psychotic, the plasticized sensation. For this reason, we have often turned away from the exploration and consideration of the erotic as a source of power and information, confusing it with its opposite, the pornographic. But pornography is a direct denial of the power of the erotic, for it represents the suppression of true
Lauryn Hill, H&M’s Swimwear Ads, & Vibe Mag
What’s up? In the midst of finishing up proposals, handling social media for clients and making my page minimum for my book proposal, I haven’t had a chance to post on theHotness.com in a minute. But I’ve been busy posting on Facebook. Oh you didn’t know? That’s right, theHotness has a Facebook page that stays poppin!!!
Our post on H&M’s new swimwear ad campaign featuring a thick sister is getting so much love. So glad Read more...
FLYASPORA: QUEENS
Bawse. Sharp. Foine. Smart. Mahogany. Awkward. Classy. Regal. Erotic. Heard. Loud & Clear. Honey. Sho Nuff. Soft. Sexy. Hard. Foxy. Brown. These are Mickalene’s queens. Shoot, let’s keep it real, these are OUR Queens. Our mamas, our aunties, our sisters, our homegirls, our teachers, our grandmas. us. Crown high. Roots–deep & low. Bout it.
- “Rumble” (from the “Brawling Spitfire Wrestling” series); 2005
Brooklyn-based artist Mickalene Thomas is best known for her photographs and her elaborate Read more...