Anderson .Paak: Lockdown

Beginning with sirens and chanting, Anderson .Paak’s “Lockdown” is unmistakably a protest song—despite his inimitable, gentle lilt. “Cause they throw away Black lives like paper towels / Plus unemployment rate what? 40 million now / Killed a man in broad day, might never see a trial / We just wanna break chains like slaves in the south / Started in the north end but we …

TRNK’s “MIEN” Group Exhibition of Work by Queer Artists of Color

Celebrating nuanced representations of LGBTQ+ identity, while avoiding the white gaze

Last week, NYC-based design studio TRNK launched MIEN—an online exhibition that spotlights, celebrates and sells work by queer artists of color. The photography show consists of gloriously nuanced and tender portraits that explore identity beyond the oftentimes shallow or simple concept of visibility. Rather, TRNK’s statement reads, “these images take authorship over individual lived experience while acknowledging contributions to a representative body politic.” With work …

Noname: Song 33

With references to George Floyd and Toyin Salau, “Song 33” by rapper, poet, producer and activist Noname is presumably a response to J Cole’s recent, widely lambasted release, on which he criticizes and tone-polices her. Over the mellow Madlib-produced beat, Noname (aka Fatimah Warner) meditates, “Wow, look at him go / He really ’bout to write about me while the world is in smokes? / When …