June 7, 2011

Grooves, Videos

Rihanna’s “Man Down”

Reading actress Gabrielle Union’s tweets this morning about her attempt to kill her rapist at the tender age of 19 bought Rihanna’s video for “Man Down” right back to center and in living color for me. Please don’t let the beautiful rural Jamaican backdrop, pulsating beats, or Riri’s rude gyal rumpapapums fool ya, “Man Down” is about rape and more specifically, the very real and possible psychological fallout from such a crime. Rihanna, I feel, Read more...

May 17, 2011

Grooves, Videos

Ledisi’s “Pieces Of Me”

“People just don’t know what I’m about/ They haven’t seen what’s there behind my smile/ There’s so much more I’m showing now,” sings Ledisi on her new single Pieces Of Me from her forthcoming album of the same name. Last night at the Samsung Experience in the Time Warner Center Ledisi sang “Pieces” with a conviction that made her lean hard on the mic stand towards the audience all awhile her eyes remaining wide open. Read more...

April 1, 2011

Grooves, Real Talk, Videos

Happy 11th– Still Jill Scott Hot!

 

Yesterday, March 31st marked 11 years of Hotness… theHotness that is. As I sit here contemplating the future of this here blog, I suddenly remembered the beginning and what it felt like creating the very first issue of theHotness. The evening that I closed that issue and it was finally ready to “go out into the world” I felt exhilarated. I was filled with anxiety, stress, pride and eagerness. Because of my job Read more...

March 16, 2011

Best Of, Videos

What is theHotness?

 

It never fails. I give someone my business card and I get an, “Ooohh, what’s theHotness” and, usually if it’s a dude, a raised eyebrow and a wink will accompany this sentence. Um no. Sorry, wrong kind of hotness, sir. I’m not running a Heidi Fleiss den of sex and scandal. “It’s a dotcom… we celebrate the brains, backbone and beauty of brown girls,” I respond. I hate to do it, but I always Read more...

March 9, 2011

Art, Lifestyle, Videos

Pregnant Breakdancers Catch Wreck

March 5, 2011

Real Talk, TV/Film, Videos

theHotness: Week In Review (03.05.11)

 

So this ends the first week of Women’s History Month. Yeah! And oh what a week it was. Tiger blood? The Oscars? Kim K’s god-awful Jam? Lil Kim’s face?

Let’s take it from the top: Already said to be the whitest Oscars in decades, The Academy Awards lived up to everyone’s expectation of homogeneity. I didn’t even bother to tune-in. I just wanted to see the dresses and the next morning Read more...

February 16, 2011

Grooves, Videos

Who is Esperanza Spalding?

 

“I’m not gonna sit around and waste my precious divine energy trying to explain and be ashamed of things you think are wrong with me.”
-Esperanza Spalding

Without having to arrive in an egg, without having to don Betty Rubble’s Flinstonesque leopard print costume, and without having to shake her as$, Esperanza Spalding stunned most of America and nabbed the Grammy on Sunday night for Best New Artist.

In March 2009, thanks to my Read more...

January 27, 2011

Videos

Cree Summer on Foxxy Love

January 18, 2011

Best Of, books, Grooves, TV/Film, Videos

Best of 2010 & 2011 on theHotness Tip

18 days into the new year and it’s already been a doozy. The first week I had to travel to South Carolina to attend the funeral of my ever charming, charismatic, and ambitious cousin, Michael. That same week another cousin suffered a mild stroke at the meager age of 42. On top of worry, grief, regret and frustration, I’ve been dealing with an awful case of writer’s block. I’ve been consumed with thoughts about the Read more...

May 6, 2010

books, The Goods, Videos

Pam Grier – Funny, Fly & Foxy

Yesterday, for the second time in my life, I had the wonderful privilege of seeing and speaking to actress, icon and Black super heroine– Pam Grier, who was in Harlem promoting her new book: Foxy: My Life in Three Acts. I first met Ms. Grier two years ago at the Black Girls Rock Awards gala at Lincoln Center. She was humble, outgoing, gracious and bad to the bone. Our chat was brief, but her Read more...