Out of respect for elders, I haven’t been pressed to weigh in on why the venerable bell hooks might find it reasonable to refer to Beyoncé as a terrorist. Yet, I felt compelled to respond this morning, after reading this piece from Rev. Osagyefo Sekou at Truth-Out.org, that indicts an entire generation of Black intellectuals […]
Author: crunktastic
An Ontology of CRUNK: Theorizing (the) Turn Up
For your #TurnUp Tuesday pleasure, I thought I’d do a little Crunk theorizing today. As y’all already know, CRUNK is a generative term, a percussive term that centrally points to the kind of energy generated by putting disparate elements together like hip hop and feminism or black nationalism and feminism or crunk and feminism. […]
Who Will Keep Our Sisters? A Rant About the Incredibly Bad Arguments in Defense of My Brother’s Keeper
It’s Saturday Morning. It’s International Women’s Day. And I have a rant. A rant that I need to share in this community of like-minded folks. A rant so that I don’t lose my shit with some educated Black men, who need to be hemmed up by the cufflinks. On Thursday, in my weekly column at […]
CFC Talks Love with Author Kiese Laymon
Hey Crunk Family, We are incredibly excited about the next installment in our annual love series. In this video, CF Crunktastic interviews author and professor Kiese Laymon. Kiese has written beautifully about the politics of love among Black men and women, not just romantically, but in rough political times like these. Below, we are […]
Twerkers Beware: Juicy J Thinks Reading is Fundamental
Yesterday, Juicy J announced the winner of the $50,000 twerking scholarship that he began advertising in October in a partnership with World Star Hip Hop. The winner, 19 year old biology major Zaire Holmes distinguished herself from many other applicants by deciding not to twerk. It turns out twerking was not required. […]
Open Letter to Bishop Joseph Walker and the Members of SHIFT
[Note to our readers: One of the things we are passionate about is challenging structures of domination. Crunktastic is especially passionate about challenging those structures in the Church, which plays a disproportionately significant role in the lives of Black women and women of color. So the open letter printed below is in response to […]
5 Reasons I’m Here for Beyonce’, the Feminist
Last night while we were all still trying to get our lives after the Scandal Season Finale Part I, Beyonce’ stealth dropped a new self-titled totally unpromoted album. The fact that she managed to pull that ish off undetected means we can conclude only one thing: #BitchBad! Yes, I said, […]
On Black Men Showing Up for Black Women at the Scene of the Crime
Two nights ago I showed up to the Brecht Forum in Brooklyn ready to have a conversation about what we mean when we say “ally, privilege, and comrade.” I showed up to have that discussion after months of battle testing around these issues in my own crew. Over these months I’ve learned that it is […]
De-Tangling Racism: On White Women and Black Hair
Pictures from a new exhibit by photographer Endia Beal called “Can I Touch It?” showcase several white women, all corporate execs, who agreed to get a “Black hairstyle” and then have their portrait taken. Apparently, this very quotidian fixation with Black women’s bodies and Black women’s hair is now the stuff of art exhibits. This project […]
Twerking Makes the Oxford Dictionary on the Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
What do twerking and Hurricane Katrina have to do with each other? Absolutely everything. I know that y’all have been inundated with discussions of twerking since Miley’s unfortunate, insidious, and downright bad performance at the VMA’s earlier this week. There have been some really great pieces about all that is wrong with her performance here […]