Entertainment
Forex’s “Connected” Turns 20: It Set a Pattern for My Life
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I recently threw out about 95% of my physical compact disc (CD) collection. I didn’t wish to do it, but for the past 4 years they’ve been sitting in boxes in my storage unit, unopened, in a back corner—it was time.
Of course, as soon as they were gone, I immediately felt a sense of unease concerning the music collection I had just consigned to the dump. Sure, most of that music might be on streaming services, but I don’t even know all of the albums I threw away, which implies that on the subject of more obscure music, I’ll probably never hear it again. And there have been lots of of mixtapes and albums I’d recorded myself, including Little Brother’s debut album, “The Listening,” which I burned to CD using the University of Maryland-College Park’s best Ethernet connection. My version of “The Listening” featured songs that ended up on the ultimate released album, in addition to a few tracks that ended up on The Foreign Exchange’s “Connected,” which turns 20 on August 24 and, on the time, was probably the most different-sounding hip-hop albums I’ve ever heard.
The first song I heard from The Foreign Exchange, the collective of rapper/songwriter Phonte Coleman and producer Nicolay, was “Nico’s Ruin” a song I believed was on “The Listening” (because I downloaded the entire album and it was a part of that batch of songs) but it surely didn’t sound prefer it fit. When I came upon that the song was for one other, more musical project, I could not wait to listen to it because I loved “Nic’s Groove” and still do. As a musical production, it’s perfect.
The album was well worth the wait. Connected was a revelation on the project. While it didn’t sound like “traditional” hip-hop (on the time), it was a hip-hop album, through and thru. It also showed how versatile and talented Phonte was as an artist. Over a multitude of synths and melodic chords, Nicolay created the proper musical soundscape for Phonte to explore his various skill sets. From rapping and singing to adding harmonies when appropriate, Phonte was a revelation as an artist; there’s a reason Drake, probably the most famous artists on the planet, called Phonte and Little Brother inspirations. He put hip-hop in a different light. While Kanye West took hip-hop and gave every suburban kid a license to select up a mic, Connected had a neo-soul feel, but for rappers.
Music
Turns out you possibly can spit real verses over slow synths, muted drums, and a bunch of keyboard patches, which isn’t exactly latest or original in 2024, but it surely wasn’t precisely the norm in 2004. For a band trying something different, Phonte and Nicolay got here through and delivered. After listening to the album again, I couldn’t help but feel that if the identical album were released today, it could be received with even greater fervor than it was in 2004, when it was a critical darling and widely praised by media outlets.
Interestingly, The Foreign Exchange also set a blueprint for the long run of how we could collaborate without sitting in a room together. On a personal level, Damon Young and I used The Foreign Exchange as a form of North Star once we created our now-defunct, award-winning website Very Smart Brothas. Connected got here about entirely without Phonte and Nicolay ever meeting in person, but by putting the complete album together via email and fast messaging. Damon and I didn’t meet for the primary time until our first book launch party in Washington, D.C., in April 2011, three years after Liz Burr and I began the blog. We wrote and published the book together without ever meeting in person and barely talking on the phone. We put the book together in a similar way, via email and fast messaging. Although we didn’t title our book Connected, we actually could have done so, and the message would have worked just in addition to The Foreign Exchange.
I find myself returning to Connected often in 2024 since it jogs my memory of a younger, more fun time in my life. I began blogging just a few months before the album got here out; the music seemed so fun and interesting and soundtracked a few years and the most effective weeks of my life. Connected is considered one of those albums that connects me, no pun intended, to a time in my life that holds true memories. For that reason, it’ll all the time be an album that holds meaning in my life.
We are connected now and eternally.
Entertainment
The subversive genius of Kendrick Lamara Super Bowl – i
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The last 12 months of Kendrick Lamara were so full of expressions of “all time” that it began to sound like a hyperbola, which will be present in Braggadocious Rap. The winner of the best rap rap of all time. The most dominant victory for the meat of the rap of all time. Greatest rap dis record of all time (twice!). The best yr every rapper had all time. And finally, when he was reserved for a performance through the Super Bowl Lix in Nowy Orleans, Lamar became the star of probably the most anticipated and possibly probably the most visible rap solo.
The pressure was tangible. Lamar was imagined to set the rap standard in Super Bowl, and at the identical time dig the door to follow more solo. He was also under pressure to perform the worldwide death key to his most public opponent, Drake – but not a really nasty way to not stop his historical performance. Add pressure on the last minute to do something as a form of protest, while Donald Trump was present, and we’ve got Lamara in the middle of the moment, which seems to last perpetually.
From Frenchmen Street to St. Charles, murmurs about what Lamar’s performance would bring from comparisons to Prince show in 2007 to speculation that he would do something more wicked to Drake than before. It seemed not possible to beat a strap. But inside quarter-hour Kendrick Lamar gave us what we would have liked. He was difficult, proud, vindictive, funny and solemn. He was black and subversive, trolling and joyful, and thru all expectations, fights and unpleasantness was ultimately victorious. Lamar was aspiration, inviting us with him.
In short, Lamar was all the pieces that they do; And give us us.
America is all the time the primary hero of Lamar’s music. Is it a state of hood because of this of extremely black existence on this country, as described in his debut album; White house within the background of its next album cover 2015; Or a rally scream against colonial scourge on his biggest song, “Not Like Us”, Lamar all the time rises against what it means to be black and American. That is why the very first thing we saw in his performance through the break was the actor Samuel L. Jackson dressed like an uncle himself in regards to the presentation, in addition to a voice in Lamar’s head, telling him to play it safely and humble for America.
When Lamar opened the series with compatriots jumping out of his Buick GNX, the metaphor of his neighborhood and the Americana attacks, he was admonished by his uncle herself to root himself. And when Lamar and his dancers created the human American flag on the pitch during their hit “Hugg”, it was clear that there could be a greater statement in regards to the country when he needs a mirror probably the most. The query was then how far Lamar would go.
During his performance, Lamar desired to convey a message and a series of messages directed on to black individuals who need a place of rest for our hearts. This is what he did great during his feud with Drake. He put Drake to his Canadian Nemezis attack part of Lamar’s attack as an extension of the plant, whose goal is to destroy black people. Yes, Drake is a colonizer in accordance with Lamar, nevertheless it’s not nearly it. It’s about getting rid of all colonizers. So when Lamar dropped his strongest Easter egg egg – Serena Williams – this can be a blink for a very black audience.
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Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
Williams was the goal of Drake and America repeatedly in her profession. She was unjustly targeted at brave to be great or, within the case of Drake, selfless in a relationship. During the performance “Not Like Us” Williams danced on the pitch – the center finger to Drake and reminds him that Lamar defended her and culture within the song. But if you happen to remember, within the Olympic Games in 2012, Williams celebrated his gold medal by walking on the pitch. Movement, tribute to her roots Compton and something that black people have been doing for hundreds of years Another opening of the attack Too many individuals accused her of being a “ghetto” and too conceited to dare to shout their hometown and revel in victory.
Lamar gave Williams an area to regain this dance when he raped in regards to the disease of individuals who don’t belong to the identical universe because the black perfection that’s attempting to tell us what to do.
This revolt fueled Lamar’s performance. Just a few weeks before the show through the Drake break He issued several legal actions This seemingly tried to stop Lamar from doing “not like us.” Again, this Drake said as something aside from part of a hip-hop culture, because he tried to silence one other artist and stop our collective joy. So when Lamar told us that he knew that individuals didn’t want him to perform a song through the show or suffered, Uncle himself warned Compton MC in order that he proudly doesn’t fly too near the sun. It was a mix of Drake and America, that are ironic, taking into consideration Drake’s Canadian heritage, but in addition a strategic movement supported by Drake’s actions.
The refusal to silence Lamar is one other signal for us. Just take a huge, much like Joker, Already a viral smile On Lamar’s face, when he said Drake’s name, while he performed “not like us.” Look at the way in which he allowed the audience to say “pedophile” and sing with tens of hundreds of people in full superdome, who shouted “minor” – one of the more stunning moments of the entire game, let alone performances. Lamar laughed at anyone who dare to stop the momentum and inspiring us to do the identical.
Christopher Polk/Penske Media by Getty Images
The album Lamar fell as a surprise in November, it was created in the meanwhile. The songs are huge and clearly created to the stadium. And they worked. “Squabbble Up” and “Peekaboo” fit nicely next to recognized juggernauts, reminiscent of “DNA” and “All the Stars” (Shah sounded ideal for 2 songs, which she also performed, which they can’t be ignored and they can’t be lost and they can’t be lost. future talent of this system). But probably the most surprising song presented through the Super Bowl was “Man at the Garden”, whose chorus “I Desice It All” is one other proud and strengthening singing for black people. Finally, the passion of “TV OFF” seemed appropriate to the top of the Lamar set. And with “Game Over” written within the lights within the stands at the top of his performance, it appears that evidently Lamar is able to walk from probably the most battle curve in rap history.
Lamar won and demanded to search out victories in his own battles.
After using the euphoria of the performance without Pun, I wondered why Lamar gave up “in order” – the spring, which became a protest hymn for the Black Lives Mater movement, bathtub kill US dead on the streets for sho ” – he earned earlier when he appeared when he appeared during a break. years ago. Why not give us this moment? I hope it was a creative decision and nothing more.
But on this lies up the hill of the battle of protest music in Super Bowl. Lamar performed between the top zones through which the slogan “Final racism“It was once. Just a few days before the Super Bowl NFL, she decided to remove the password, coinciding with the national recognition of Dei, through which the achievements of black individuals are questioned as much as all the time. Occurring through the program during a break for a company reminiscent of NFL means silent participation in this sort of empire, even within the face of raised black fists on the road of 20 yards. And for a certain sector of the audience, nothing Lamar says or doesn’t install this participation. It can’t be all the pieces for all people and we should always not ask celebrities to wear freedom on their sleeves at every step. But Lamar invites these expectations and expectations along with his catalog, and when he opens shows with one of the best rappers on this planet dressed up for the personification of America.
How our expectations are subject to its actual enforcement is a social litmus test. But I can truthfully say that I believe Lamar is all the time trying. See him to see the artist at the height, who tries to provide us one of the best and strengthen the identical as he’s human, although he’s imperfect. In the brand new rap era, through which our once entangled luminaires have gotten an increasing number of toothless and disappointing, a man who’s attempting to make his biggest moment is good enough to achieve respect and feel proud.
For the primary time I saw Kendrick Lamar live in a small bar at sixth Street at South by Southwest, Austin, Texas a half a long time ago. Several hundred fans packed the room and almost fastened to the ground when he made cuts from his mixtape. There was something then. Seriousness. The desire to be one of the best and forbids the homies and fans for a ride.
Now Lamar has done all of the things that rappers say that in the future they’ll have the option to realize of their most self -destructive bars. He achieved status on the goat level. And he could make the break a circle of victory for himself – he would deserve it.
Instead, Kendrick Lamar poured into us. It’s such a phenomenal job that has not forgotten. In this fashion, you normally take scrutinized quarter-hour live, which MC needed to face and switch into immortality.
Entertainment
Reach viral porcelain skin with a new Pat McGratha – Essence product
![](https://360wisemedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Reach-viral-porcelain-skin-with-a-new-Pat-McGratha.jpg)
Thanks to the kindness of Pat McGrath Labs
This time last 12 months, the legendary Pat McGrath makeup presented one among the best appearances of the fantastic thing about all time on the last Maison Margiela Margiela show in John Galliano in Paris. Theatrical appearance from the Nineteen Thirties – renovated within the moist lower abdomen of the ARC bridge nearby His infamous– shaky models in dolls with porcelain skin have been caught.
After the concert, the cosmetic community begged McGrath to disclose the key of its technique shocking glass, which has been played by makeup artists since then. “I have never seen how makeup looked so viral,” he says when she revealed her process within the master class. “I believe in full disclosure.”
![Achieve viral porcelain skin with a new Pat McGratha product](https://www.essence.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/patmcgrath2_1706642201264_hpEmbed_6x13-Cropped.jpg)
Now, a week before the anniversary of the series, The Beauty Celebrity has developed its iconic moment of the runway into a one-stage peel-off mask: the Skin fetish: Chealed mask 001. What once was the mystery of makeup, which through the show took about three years to master, is now possible to realize only a skin for skin care.
With moisture Skin fetish: lofty perfection of brush blurThe mask is applied to thin layers on the skin, drying one before applying the following. Couture Beauty without a multi -stage process, there’s a varnish within the kind of tangul, which may be applied to makeup or on bare skin, after which easily crack and tear.
![Achieve viral porcelain skin with a new Pat McGratha product](https://www.essence.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/20240125_MaisonMargiela_HC_SS2024_Selects_Biel_57.jpg-Cropped.jpg)
Unlike the skin of the series, which required distilled water mixture, pharmacy masks and Clear Gloss skin illustrator Loaded into the airbrush, 001 glass is stuffed with skin care ingredients. Enriched with floral water, glycerin, aloe vera leaf extract and allantoin, the secret’s to make your pores seem to vanish.
From the usage of the mask to the best facial points – like cheekbones, the back of the nose and chin – after dispels the sides with the fingertips, and even mixing the mask with shadow to the eyelids from it Palettes from MothershipInfluencing the McGratha pro suggestions can transform a viral look into its own. “This is the beauty mentioned again for makeup lovers around the world,” he says in a press release. “Wear him, love it, do it yours.”
Entertainment
Serena Williams was a real star of the show during the Super Bowl break
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During the Super Bowl in 2025, the tennis legend Serena Williams occurred an unexpected and unforgettable appearance. During Kendrick’s electrifying performance, Lamar Williams took the field, without effort to walk to his hit song “Not Like Us” dripped in a completely blue band and a few sneakers have Maniere X Converse.
Just as fans exploded over the tennis champion, who pulled into his roots Compton, Williams was equally delighted that he was part of Lamar’s historic moment. In a film published to XShe shared behind the scenes of the care of the stage.
“Man, I didn’t go to Wimbledon,” Williams has joined. “Oh, I would be fined.”
Her commentary refers to the viral moment from the Olympic Games in London in 2012, when after defeating Maria Sharapov Williams, he broke into a solemn dance, which resembled C-Walk. This movement caused controversy amongst tennis officials, which prompted Williams to clarify later:
“First of all. It was only a dance – she said in response to the critics’ fears about belonging to the gang of choreography, Per the Guardian. “Secondly, why are you asking me about it? If anything, it’s best to attempt to ask me questions to boost me, not bring such things … I finished with this query. “
Kameo Williams also added fuel to the basic voltage in Lamar’s efficiency. As the ongoing dispute with Drake remains to be developing, his Super Bowl set was full of subliminal shots. Williams appeared only strengthened the drama, taking into consideration her past rumors with a Canadian rapper. Now the details of the relationship of two remain unclear. In 2015, it was each apparently noticed that in a restaurant, and Drake appeared in the Williams tennis match. Although they each never confirmed their affair, Drake revealed The undeniable fact that his song “Too Good” with Rihanna talked about Williams. Ultimately, things didn’t last between them when Williams began to satisfy along with her love, Alexis Ohanian, in the same yr.
After their fall, the case became disordered when Drake took a stab at Ohanian, calling him “Group” in his song in the middle of the ocean in 2022. While Williams largely ignored Drake’s excavations, her walking to the dress about him-with approximation from 117.3 million viewers —Sent a clear message.
![The SUPER BOWL Kendrick Lamara show was perfect](https://thegrio.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=428,height=241,fit=crop,quality=80,format=auto,onerror=redirect,metadata=none/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/GettyImages-2198645429-scaled-e1739221067945.jpg)
(Tagstotransate) Serena Williams
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