HuffPost Live: No Hard Knock Life—Jay Z & the American Dream

From running cocaine in Brooklyn to sitting atop $460 million, President Obama calls Jay-Z an "American success story" in a new campaign ad appealing to young voters.

Hosted by:

 

• Marc Lamont Hill

GUESTS:

• Touré (New York, NY) MSNBC Host and Author @toure
• Mark Anthony Neal (Durham, NC) Professor of Black Popular Culture at Duke University @NewBlackMan
• Marty Grace (Brooklyn, NY) Hip Hop Artist and Minister @martygrace164
• Rahiel Tesfamariam (Washington, DC) Columnist at the Washington Post @RahielT
• Tom Cunningham(Los Angeles, CA)Creative Director for Leadstar@tomistalking

HuffPost Live: When Nicki & Mariah Fight, All Women Lose

While the Nicki Minaj / Mariah Carey "diva feud" makes for good gossip & better ratings, it only reinforces the image of black women as mean, untrustworthy & dangerous.

Hosted by:
 

• Marc Lamont Hill 

GUESTS:
 

• Joan Morgan (New York, NY) Journalist, Author and Cultural Critic @milfinainteasy
• Mark Anthony Neal (Durham, NC) Professor of Black Popular Culture at Duke University @NewBlackMan
• Pat Sandora (New York, NY) Sr. Producer & Host of 'Likes or Yikes?' on @ivillage @PatSandora
• Regina Walton (Berkeley, CA) Freelance Social Media Consultant @reginawalton
• Rahiel Tesfamariam (Washington, DC) Columnist at the Washington Post @RahielT

Left of Black S3:E3 | Where Are the Discussions About Poverty and Youth Violence in the 2012 Presidential Race?

Left of Black S3:E3 | October 1, 2012

Where Are the Discussions About Poverty and Youth Violence in the 2012 Presidential Race?

Left of Black host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined via Skype  journalists Rahiel Tesfamariam and Mychal Denzel Smith in a discussion of youth violence and poverty in the United States and the lack attention given to these issues in the 2012 Presidential Election.

Tesfamariam is founder & Editorial Director of the on-line magazine Urban Cusp and a blogger and columnist for The Washington Post and The Root DC, and Smith is a freelance writer, social commentator, and mental health advocate whose work has been seen at The Atlantic, The Nation, The Guardian, Ebony, Huffington Post, The Root and The Grio.

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Left of Black is a weekly Webcast hosted by Mark Anthony Neal and produced in collaboration with the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University.

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Episodes of Left of Black are also available for free download in  @ iTunes U

Poverty, Youth Violence and the Anniversary of The Occupy Movement on October 1st Left of Black

Poverty, Youth Violence and the Anniversary of The Occupy Movement on October 1st Left of Black

As the 2012 Presidential Election season went into high gear, several issues, notably the poverty rate in the United States and the apparent rise of youth violence in American cities like Chicago, were nowhere to be found on the agendas and talking points of either Presidential candidate.

With the anniversary of the Occupy Movement as backdrop, journalists Rahiel Tesfamariam and Mychal Denzel Smithjoin Left of Black via Skype, to discuss these and other issues, including Jay Z’s dismissive remarks about the goals of The Occupy Movement and Mitt Romney’s now infamous comments about the so-called “47%.”

Tesfamariam is founder & Editorial Director of the on-line magazine Urban Cusp and a blogger and columnist for The Washington Post and The Root DC, and Smith is a freelance writer, social commentator, and mental health advocate whose work has been seen at The Atlantic, The Nation, The Guardian, Ebony, Huffington Post, The Root and The Grio.

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Left of Black airs at 1:30 p.m. (EST) on Mondays on the Ustream channel: http://tinyurl.com/LeftofBlackhttp://tinyurl.com/LeftofBlack. Viewers are invited to participate in a Twitter conversation with Neal and featured guests while the show airs using hash tags #LeftofBlack or #dukelive. 

Left of Black is recorded and produced at the John Hope Franklin Center of International and Interdisciplinary Studies at Duke University.

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Follow Left of Black on Twitter: @LeftofBlack

Follow Mark Anthony Neal on Twitter: @NewBlackMan

Follow Rahiel Tesfamariam on Twitter: @RahielT

Follow Mychal Denzel Smith on Twitter: @mychalsmith

Bakari Kitwana On Kanye West at #OccupyWallStreet (VIDEO)

Bakari Kitwana and Urban Cusp On Kanye West at #OccupyWallStreet

As the nation and global community turns its attention to the rise of the Occupy Wall Street movement, celebrity involvement has been a growing hot topic. Last week, controversy erupted over Kanye West's presence at the protest site, Zuccotti Park in New York City, at the invitation of Russell Simmons. One article of particular interest, Why Kanye West Doesn't Belong at Occupy Wall Street, was written by GOOD Senior Editor Cord Jefferson. Highlighting the selling price of his outfit and his image as the "Louis Vuitton Don," the writer concluded by saying that "what OWS doesn't need is everyone who'd like to be seen as a populist jumping on Rboard for a photo opportunity before leaving to go buy $500 jeans. Lip service and deceit is what got us into this mess in the first place."

Watch this videotaped discussion to hear Urban Cusp's Editorial Director Rahiel Tesfamariam reflect on the author's points with Bakari Kitwana, who has a forthcoming new book entitled Hip-Hop Activism in the Obama Era. Kitwana has been seen and heard on CNN, Fox News, C-Span, PBS and NPR. He is the CEO of RapSessions.org and Senior Media Fellow at the Harvard Law-based think think, the Jamestown Project. Kitwana is also the former editor of The Source, co-founder of the National Hip-Hop Political Convention and author of the best-selling The Hip Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African American Culture.