CBU Dec 2021 Emagazine

C B U EMAG

12.2021

‘Knights in Vegas’

HOLIDAY GLAM

Designed by Andrew Nowell Menswear

Remimakuo Annual Holiday Party

Saturday, December 11, 2021 - 7pm-12am Christian Fields Salon 6550 S. Cottage Grove Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637 The Remi brothers look forward to resuming our holiday tradition with modifications for everyone's safety. Everyone must show proof of Covid vaccination. Masks are encouraged but not required.

As in previous years, we ask you to bring a gift card, which will be given to a Chicago area organization serving LGBTQ+ youth. A $10 donation would also be appreciated. We look forward to seeing you after the hiatus last year.

Hosted by Remimakuo Media Club (312) 421-9255

Click Here To See The Trailer

The Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap explores hip-hop’s widespread cultural impact over the last 45 years — and chronicles the genesis, rise and evolution of hip-hop as a social and musical movement.

A first-of-its-kind collector’s item, the Anthology captures hip-hop's evolution from its earliest days in the late 70s to today’s contemporary artists (1979-2013). It features 9 CDs with 129 tracks, and a 300-page, coffee-table book with 11 essays and never-before-seen photographs and designs by Cey Adams, artist and founding creative director of Def Jam.

“From the outset, we wanted the Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap to be reflective of the culture, of the music, of the people, of everything that is part of hip-hop.”

DWANDALYN R. REECE "Producer's Note," Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap

Check out our Ultimate Beard Collection.

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DESIGNER VIRGIL ABLOH Designer Virgil Abloh, founder of high-end streetwear brand Off-White and the first Black person to helm Louis Vuitton’s menswear line, has died at age 41.

His family shared the news via an Instagram post on Sunday.

The post reveals that Abloh had been diagnosed with cardiac angiosarcoma, a rare heart tumor which, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine, can restrict both the inflow and outflow of blood to and from the heart.

“He chose to endure his battle privately since his diagnosis in 2019, undergoing numerous challenging treatments, all while helming several significant institutions that span fashion, art, and culture,” reads the family statement. “Through it all, his work ethic, infinite curiosity, and optimism never wavered.

Virgil was driven by his dedication to his craft and to his mission to open doors for others and create pathways for greater equality in art and design.”

After meeting the rapper formerly known as Kanye West when the two interned for Fendi, Abloh rose to prominence through several high-profile collaborations, including serving as the artistic director for Watch The Throne, Ye’s collaborative album with Jay-Z. Abloh would go on to serve as creative director of the rapper’s creative agency DONDA before taking the fashion world by storm with his first brand, Pyrex Vision – a company which daringly reimagined deadstock Ralph Lauren clothing.

In 2013, Pyrex Vision became Off-White, a luxury Italian fashion house which has collaborated with brands including Nike, IKEA, Jimmy Choo, Warby Parker and many more. He joined Louis Vuitton in March 2018, becoming one of the few Black designers at the helm of a legacy fashion house.

In 2019, Abloh’s work was celebrated with a traveling art exhibition called Virgil Abloh: Figures Of Speech.

In each city where the exhibit was shown, he also discussed his education, career and views on fashion in a fireside chat.

Last year, the artist and designer established the Virgil Abloh “PostModern” Scholarship Fund, a partnership with the Fashion Scholarship Fund “to foster equity and inclusion within the fashion industry by providing scholarships to students of academic promise of Black, AfricanAmerican, or African descent.”

In July of this year, the Louis Vuitton’s parent company Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy announced that it had acquired a 60% stake in Off-White.

“We are all shocked after this terrible news,” LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault said in a statement on Twitter. “Virgil was not only a genius designer, a visionary, he was also a man with a beautiful soul and great wisdom. The LVMH family joins me in this moment of great sorrow.”

Abloh is survived by his wife of twelve years, Shannon, their 8-year-old daughter Lowe and 5-year-old son Grey.

His passing has also left a legion of celebs and fans in shock and mourning, many of whom took to celebration to express their sadness just minutes after the announcement.

DESIGNER VIRGIL ABLOH

Rest in Peace, Power and Passion.

Click Here To See The Trailer

The long-awaited photographic memoir from basketball superstar Dwyane Wade, beautifully designed with hundreds of photos from Wade's life on and off the court.

For 16 years, Dwyane Wade has dazzled basketball fans with his on-court artistry and has built his personal brand into one of the most powerful ones in sports. In this beautiful full-color memoir, featuring more than 200 photos from Bob Metelus, who has been documenting Wade's career for more than a decade, Wade takes readers inside his fascinating life and career.

Dwyane moves from Wade's challenging upbringing on the South Side of Chicago through his college career at Marquette, where he went from unheralded recruit to one of college basketball's greatest stars, to his extraordinary years with the Miami Heat, with whom he won three NBA championships and was named an All-Star 13 times. Off the court, too, his star has transcended basketball. In Dwyane he takes readers inside his relationship with Gabrielle Union; his dedication to his children and experiences as a father; and his varied interests outside of basketball, from fashion to winemaking.

Dwyane is a deep dive into the mind and heart of one of the most compelling basketball players of all time.

Click Here To See The Trailer

Screenwriter Barry Michael Cooper working on ‘New Jack City’ sequel and prequel It’s been 30 years since the movie, directed by Mario Van Peebles, premiered in theaters in March of 1991 Barry Michael Cooper, the esteemed writer who penned the screenplays for the films New Jack City, Above the Rim, and Sugar Hill, is working on new movies. On Saturday (Nov. 27), Cooper took to Twitter to announce the working title for a prequel to his 1991 crack cocaine-laced classic New Jack City. “The Diary of NIno Brown: The Monster Reagan Created.” Prequel.

Sequel. Work In Progress. Soon. GOD Willing. #NewJackCity,” Cooper tweeted.

It’s been 30 years since the movie, directed by Mario Van Peebles, premiered in theaters in March of 1991. The storyline is loosely based on Harlem drug kingpin Nicky Barnes and a Detroit gang known as The Chambers Brothers. Cooper, a Harlem native, knew the city well, plus he had previously written an investigative feature for The Village Voice titled “Kids Killing Kids: New Jack City Eats Its Young.” That article, published in 1987, served as the foundation for what would become the highest-grossing independent film in 1991.

Wesley Snipes played the slick-talking, cold-blooded drug lord Nino Brown; Allen Payne played Nino’s right-hand man G-Money; Chris Rock portrayed Pooky, the drug addict you couldn’t help but root for. And Ice-T starred as Scotty Appleton, an undercover cop who infiltrates Nino’s Cash Money Brothers drug operation.

In a 2016 interview with Ambrosia For Heads, Cooper mentioned that he was writing both a prequel and a sequel to New Jack City. At the time, he called the sequel Am I My Brother’s Keeper and explained that it would delve into Nino’s childhood. “[It explores] where he grew up and what he overcame to become what he was, and the larger issue of what he said at the end of that courtroom [scene]: ‘‘We didn’t bring the Uzis into Harlem.,’” Cooper told the outlet.

Click Here To See The Trailer

The duo gleefully reverse-engineers the analog-era sophistication of 1970s R&B on a new album,

“An Evening With Silk Sonic.”

By Jon Pareles

Anderson .Paak and Bruno Mars revisit the bygone analog era of 1970s R&B on a new collaborative album. Credit: Harper Smith

Anderson.Paak was born in 1986.

Bruno Mars was born in 1985. The sound of their new collaborative album, “An Evening With Silk Sonic,” comes from a decade earlier, the 1970s, when the grit and funk of 1960s soul made way for a new embrace of sophisticated luxury.

Singers promised sensual pleasures, sharing ardent come-ons and velvety harmonies in opulent tracks, backed by bountiful strings and horns. Working together as Silk Sonic, Mars and Paak revisit that bygone analog era in a hybrid of homage, parody, throwback and meticulous reverse engineering, tossing in some cheerfully knowing anachronisms. They flaunt skill, effort and scholarship, like teacher’s pets winning a science-fair prize; they also sound like they’re having a great time.

Silk Sonic comes across as a continuation for Mars and a playfully affectionate tangent for Paak. Mars is a multiinstrumentalist with a strong retro streak. His voice and his verse-chorus-verse songwriting have harked back directly to Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, the Police and others, as he concentrates on thoughts of seduction, romance and, occasionally, winning someone back.

Paak’s catalog has delved into more complicated matters. On his albums, named after places where he has lived, he switches between singing and rapping, and his lyrics take on contemporary conditions; he’s also a musician steeped in live-band soul and R&B, and a hard-hitting drummer.

His songs, like “Lockdown” from 2020, confront the tensions of identity, desire, success, politics, self-expression and repression; Silk Sonic gives him a vacation from those weighty topics. On “An Evening With Silk Sonic,” Paak’s specificity merges with Mars’s pop generalities, while both of them double down on craftsmanship and cleverness.

For an album like this, Silk Sonic can use a co-sign from the elder generation, and the duo gets one from none other than Bootsy Collins, 70, the bassist of Parliament-Funkadelic — the band Mars simulated on the title track of his 2016 album “24K Magic” — and the possessor of the most liquid, self-satisfied speaking voice in the funk cosmogony. He arrives as “Bootzilla himself” on the album’s “Intro to Silk Sonic” and shows up elsewhere as “Uncle Bootsy,” certifying Silk Sonic’s 1970s bona fides by his sheer presence.

Most of “An Evening with Silk Sonic” revives the sound of 1970s groups like Earth, Wind & Fire, the Spinners, the Manhattans, the ChiLites and the Delfonics. Mars and Paak take turns delivering gritty, acrobatic lead vocals and layering on elaborate backups: creamy supportive harmonies, eager call-and-response, perky falsetto oohs.

The production, by Mars and D’Mile (who has lately worked with H.E.R. and Lucky Daye), brings back all the instrumental flourishes of the analog era: wind-chime glissandos, wah-wah guitars, electric sitar. Only one song has a credit for “programming”; the rest of the album, presumably, was played by hand, in vintage style. “Put on a Smile” caps its confession of desperate heartache with the sounds of a thunderstorm, a nod to the “quiet storm” radio formats of the 1970s. And the song structures revel in thick chromatic chords and rising, uplifting key changes — especially “Blast Off,” the album’s finale, which dreamily, repeatedly ascends as Mars asks, “Can we take it higher?”

Between the ballads, Silk Sonic switches to funk. Driven by Paak’s assertive drumming, “Fly as Me” and “777” invoke James Brown by way of Parliament. They span eras by including some rapping — though Paak announces, in “Fly as Me,” that he’s “hollering from a 1977 Monte Carlo.”

The distance between the 1970s and the 2010s also shows up in slightly rougher language and more openly materialistic lyrics. “Smokin Out the Window” is a bitter but still lovelorn song about a gold-digger ex — the lyrics use a stronger word — that has the singer “smokin’ out the window of my Benz.” And in “Put on a Smile,” Paak blends his tearful nostalgia with a designer-brand boast: “If I could turn back the hands of my Rollie, you know I would,” he sings, referring to his Rolex.

All in all, “An Evening with Silk Sonic” is a Fabergé egg of an album: a lavish, impeccable bauble, a purely ornamental not-quite-period piece.

Mars and Paak don’t pretend to be making any grand statement, but there’s delight in every detail.

Silk Sonic “An Evening With Silk Sonic” (Atlantic)

Click Here To See The Trailer

The Urban Gentlemen SHAKA KING MENSWEAR Autumn/Winter 2021 www.shakaking.com /@shakakingmenswear Photographer-Sadrea Muhammad Stylist: Terry Albert Model: Ralph Wright @_identitiesnyc Model: Chris Deloatch @chrisdeloatchofficial

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Meet

David Steward,

the tech billionaire and 2nd richest black man in the U.S.

David L. Steward is an African American entrepreneur who founded World Wide Technologies and is its current Chairman.

David Steward and World Wide Technology

His net worth is $3.7 billion according to Forbes and he is the second richest black American in the United States.

David Stewart is the CEO of World Wide Technology, a dominant ICT Company in the American space. He grew up in segregation and was at one point, the only black boy in his school.

David is a self-made billionaire and although he is from a humble background, he worked his way up the ladder of success to become one of the richest black Americans in the United States today.

His breakthrough business, World Wide Technology Inc. is a privately-held technology service provider based in St. Louis, Missouri.

The company provides support services to government bodies and the private sector.

In this article, we will look at the nature of his business and how he raised startup funds.

The company has an annual revenue of $13.4 billion and employs 7,000 people.

How David raised money for his business

What you should know

David Steward employed a business funding model called bootstrapping. This practically means starting a business with little personal capital, no investors, no inheritance, just good old starting from the scratch.

Bootstrapping means building a company from the ground up with nothing but personal savings, and with luck, the cash coming in from the first sales. The term, bootstrap refers to a business an entrepreneur does with little or no outside cash or other forms of support.

In 1990, he started his breakthrough business, World Wide Technology with his meagre savings. The company had only 7 employees and was in $3.5 million debt after few years.

David often went months without a paycheck.

The company’s breakthrough came when David was advised to go into partnership with government bodies and top private firms.

Today, the company has recorded over $12 billion in sales.

David Steward slugged it out the good old fashion way, putting together a fraction of his own money to start a business. This model is quite common with many African Americans because they have the least wealth and capital compared to other groups in the country. The African American group also doesn’t have sufficient inheritance from earlier generations.

INVESTING This 24-year-old turned $150 into $120,000 in 6 years — here are his top money tips

By Aditi Shrikant

"Make sure you have savings ... because when you invest you are putting money at risk.”

Obioha Okereke.

Obioha Okereke invested his first $150 when he was 18. He was already interested in pursuing a career in finance, and the knowledge that he wouldn't be inheriting a whole lot motivated him even more to start growing his wealth.

Now age 24 and a consultant in Seattle, he has a net worth of more than $150,000 and an investment portfolio worth more than $120,000.

"Growing up, my dad talked a lot about generational wealth," says Okereke.

"He was always emphasizing that because we are African American and there was no wealth within the family, that it was something we would have to acquire on our own.”

Okereke decided his path to wealth would include contributing to multiple investment accounts and curbing his spending. Still, his journey has not been without mistakes. Over the last six years, he made some regrettable investments and purchases, he says. Now, he helps others avoid the mistakes he made and gain financial freedom with his company College Money Habits.

Here are his top tips for saving, investing, and spending.

Saving: Automate your contributions On the first day of every month, Okereke automatically transfers $1,250 to a savings account. This, he says, should take priority before investing. "Make sure you have savings, specifically emergency savings, because when you invest you are putting money at risk," he says. "Make sure that if you were to lose money in the market it's not going to change the way you live or compromise your lifestyle.”

Automating savings contributions can reduce the temptation to spend that money as soon as it shows up in your bank account.

Investing: Start now and stay consistent "To truly take advantage of compounding and to avoid losing money to common mistakes, start out small, do your own research, and always think long term when investing," he says. "Some people think, 'I don't have enough money to start investing.' But for myself I started with $150.”

Once you make a plan, stick to it and contribute consistently. That's why it's important to "block out a lot of the noise," he says. "A lot of what you hear in the media and on Twitter is more or less hysteria.”

When he first started investing, he lost money on "hype stocks" or stocks that were widely covered by the media and have a lot of buzz. "I didn't know what I was doing," Okereke says. "It wasn't until I got an internship at Merrill Lynch that I saw the importance of investing in the long term."

Spending: Learn delayed gratification Before spending money there are a couple of questions you should ask yourself, Okereke says: "Is this something I need, or is this something I want?" and "Is this something I could put off buying?”

Asking these questions might help you learn how to delay gratification and stick to your spending goals.

"With social media, I feel there is this constant pressure to portray a certain lifestyle. But it is important to live within your means," he says. "By delaying gratification, you put yourself in a position where in the future, your money will be able to do more.”

Okereke admits he has not always been the best at doing this. When he was 21, he had $22,000 saved. To reward himself, he bought a used car — a 2009 Mercedes c300 for $11,300. "I always tell people it was the worst financial decision I ever made," he says. "It wasn't one I did a lot of research on. It was something that was nice and something that I thought would impress other people.”

That limited his ability to save while he made car payments and repairs. "Yes, it is important to enjoy life now and have fun, but it is equally important to be financially secure in the future," he says.

Serena Williams And Michael B. Jordan Team Up With VC Firm To Lead HBCU Entrepreneurship Initiative

.”

Tennis powerhouse Serena Williams and actor Michael B. Jordan have individually led impactful initiatives that sit at the intersection of sports, entertainment and activism, and now the two stars are joining forces to empower the next generation of HBCU innovators. According to AfroTech, Williams and Jordan have teamed up with the venture capital firm MaC VC for the creation of a project designed to support students and alumni at historically Black colleges and universities who are charting paths in entrepreneurship.

Jordan, Williams and the seed-stage VC company are organizing a pitch competition for HBCU scholars who have or aspire to launch their own ventures. Participants will have the opportunity to submit their business plans to investors for the chance to win a $1 million investment from Williams’ Serena Ventures and MaC VC. The winners of the competition will be announced on December 18 during the Invesco QQQ Legacy Classic Basketball Showcase Finals; a competition that Jordan founded in an effort to increase the visibility of HBCU teams within the realm of sports. A collective of venture capital firms including Harlem Capital and Thirty Five Ventures will serve as advisors.

Michael Palank, who serves as General Partner at MaC VC, says it’s imperative that the disparities surrounding access to venture capital are addressed and it starts with supporting underrepresented entrepreneurial talent. “At MaC we like to say that talent is ubiquitous but access to opportunity is not,” he said in a statement, according to the news outlet. “Two of our partners are HBCU alumni and we could not be more excited to uncover and support the amazing entrepreneurial talent we know is thriving at these universities.” Alison Stillman, the General Partner at Serena Ventures, added HBCUs “have long been centers of entrepreneurial excellence

BKc "HOLY CROSS" Varsity

With the varsity jacket being a Brooklyn Circus staple, the "HOLY CROSS" is made with quality melton wool and 100% leather sleeves, offers its wearer that timeless BKc "tailored casual" look as expected.

TS x Champion + BKc Boxing Sweatshirt This sweatshirt is made from a solid 20oz French Terry and based on an archival black-and white style that Muhamad Ali wore in training camp. Boxing has long been central to the Brooklyn Circus brand ethos. Says Ouigi, “Boxing is at the center of the African American/Black experience. It’s a platform that has historically brought together the best and worst of our culture together. That for me has always been the attraction to boxing and its role in Black Resistance, movement and future.”

New Tiger Polo (grey) Classic BKc, Fit-True to size. Preshrunk, 100% cotton, 7 oz, 20-singles, 2 button placket, tonal buttons, side vents, side seamed, double needle hems hand screened Tiger on front w/arched Brooklyn on back

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NIKE BUILT THESE IN A CAVE, WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS!

Brand: Nike.

Model: Dunk Scrap Release Date: 2021 Price: $110 Buy: Online at Nike No one has been spoilt quite like fans of the Nike Dunk Low this year. Since making its comeback, the silhouette has been leading the pack for the Swoosh family, with colorway after colorway bringing renewed attention. From original takes to retros, aged soles, and Dunk Highs, there is something for everyone.

Although differing from the traditional aesthetic of the Dunk Low, the Dunk Scrap maintains the easy-wearing low profile that fans clamor for. What sets this rendition apart from the norm is the cobblers' cutting room floor aesthetic – as the name suggests, a mix-and-match patchwork of scraps builds the upper.

In the iconic words of Jeff Bridges' Obadiah Stane in Iron Man: "Tony Stark was able to build this in a cave, with a box of scraps!”

The updated take on the Dunk has been receiving a steady stream of color updates throughout the year, most notably the "Archeo Brown" and "Sea Glass" colorways.

Completing the patchwork aesthetic is a mixed fabrication of airy mesh, soft nubuck, and suede stitched together to give the base a 3D texture.

This colorway takes on an appearance similar to that of the Basement x Nike Dunk Low which paired several different blacked-out fabrics with a gum outsole. For the Scrap, a large majority of the shoe is blacked out, with the exception of some subtle pops of blue, green, and pinks.

HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF EXTRA CHRISTMAS CALORIE

Over the festive period, increased calorie consumption can very easily become an indulgent pleasure and body image meltdown at the same time. With more social events in the calendar, more ingredient-rich meals with all the extras you only ever eat once a year, and all those boxes of temptation everywhere you go, navigating diet and training can feel challenging.

However, what if you could put those inevitable extra calories to good use? What if you could utilize the extra food you consume as fuel to perform and continue making gains?

Here’s the good news: you can.

1. Change the nutrition narrative The health and fitness industry has, through continual promotion, enforced year-round diet solutions and ways of maintaining a calorie deficit. Everything we see is geared towards losing weight.

But a prolonged calorie deficit isn’t good for the body. You might drop a bit of body fat, but everything from your sleep, to mood and cognitive function, is going to suffer. In essence, adequate fueling allows for optimal function. Obviously, there are many individual variables here to consider here, but if we can begin to see food as fuel, the change in narrative around nutrition can pose significant benefits to not only your training, but also your mindset and life outside the gym.

A calorie surplus of roughly 10% above TDEE (total daily energy expenditure, i.e. your maintenance calories) will facilitate lean muscle gain. Consuming more than this, however, will warrant some extra ‘work’ – cue festive training.

2. Utilize surplus calories Consistently strength training three times per week – with an effective* stimulus – will require fuel to repair, regenerate and grow muscle. More fuel will see you lift with more intent and offer greater opportunity to lift heavier. Progressive overload week on week should still be your goal, so as long as you’re maintaining consistency with your training, and this may be a good time to challenge yourself to lift more load (either volume or weight). *Lifting to create an effective stimulus means tipping the RPE (rate of perceived exertion) scale to uncomfortable, and challenging yourself with three to five movements on rotation over three weekly sessions (for example a squat, deadlift, lunge, press and pull).

3. Adopt higher yield workouts Outside of your three strength sessions, it may be wise to incorporate one to two workouts per week that provide greater metabolic stress – think metcons or higher intensity workouts. There are a number of tools we can use to increase output: by utilizing shorter rest periods, for example, or opting for longer and sustained efforts. Here you could opt for lower load and higher volume.

Additionally, the use of full body AMRAPs (as many rounds as possible), EMOMs (every minute on the minute) or compounded volume will create more physical adaptation, and can be a great tool to maximize calorie burn. The bigger the stimulus (i.e. the increase in volume), the more requirement for fuel – and therefore opportunity to utilize fuel!

In summary, the festive period doesn’t need to put a handbrake on your health and fitness goals. When there are additional calories to put to good use, use them effectively and to your advantage. Remember, eating to perform (alongside enjoyment) is an opportunity to make gains.

8 BEST FITNESS WATCHES FOR CHRISTMAS 2021 By: Kieran Alger

You can’t improve what you can’t measure. That’s why a reliable fitness watch is a powerful tool for setting, chasing and achieving your fitness goals. Today’s trackers offer real-time coaching to guide your training, benchmark your progress and let you know when it’s time to go hard or back off.

But the latest generation of smart fitness watches also go beyond simply measuring performance on the run, ride or in the gym. These holistic tools help you take charge of every aspect of your health, monitoring those all-important foundations of fitness with 24/7 heart rate reads, sleep, stress and recovery insights.

Whether you’re just looking to move a bit more, or you want to squat double your own bodyweight, here are the best timepieces bringing intelligence to your training.

COROS Pace 2

The COROS Pace 2 isn’t the prettiest, smartest or even most fully featured watch, but for under $230 you won’t find a training partner that offers as much bang for fitness buck. Its 30-hour GPS battery life extends up to 60 in low-power mode and at this price it offers unrivalled training time on a single charge.

Waterproof to 50m, it also packs a bigger suite of sensors than you usually find at this level, including optical heart rate, barometric altimeter, compass and thermometer. It also tracks everything from indoor bike sessions to open-water swimming – it even has a triathlon mode, something other brands often hold back for pricier models.

For lifters and gym-goers, the Pace 2’s strength training coach automatically detects your moves with a degree of reliability, and there are ready-made expert training programmes and more than 200 pre-programmed drills.

Post-beasting, a handy muscle heatmap shows you where the DOMS is likely to hit hardest, while recovery time recommendations help you decide when and how hard to go again.

At 29g, it’s light on the wrist while still packing a decent 240 x 240 pixel colour display. The nylon strap option is infinitely more comfortable and ideal for the all-day wear required to unlock the health, sleep and heart rate tracking smarts that underpin an effective training approach.

Design: 4 Insights: 5 OVERALL: 5

Huawei Watch GT3 Active

As more affordable, non-Apple smartwatches go, the GT3’s fitness credentials are right up there. It offers essentials like built-in optical heart rate, all-day blood oxygen monitoring, and sleep and stress tracking. All that’s alongside some unique skills like accuracyboosting dual-band, five-satellite system GPS-tracking, and an AI-run coach, complete with training plans and training load.

It plays nice syncing data with compatible gym cardio machines, too, and heavy users can expect eight days’ tracking on a single charge. There’s a choice of 42mm and 46mm, and the bright AMOLED colour touchscreen looks the part. It works with Android and iOS phones.

Design: 4.5 Insights: 4.5 Overall: 4.5

Apple Watch 7

If you’re a paid-up member of Team iPhone and want a smartwatch that doubles as a fitness tool, you can’t really beat the Apple Watch. Its smartwatch skills are unrivalled and its fitness credentials improve with each edition. The Series 7 adds minor updates like automatic detection for cycling, better durability with a crackresistant crystal display and water resistance up to 50m.

Its impressive array of third-party fitness apps give you hundreds of training tools with everything from run coaching to follow-along calisthenics workouts.

Add in blood oxygen and ECG health skills, plus three months of Peloton-rivalling Apple Fitness+ for free, and it’s an enticing option. The 18-hour battery life still won’t rival regular fitness watches, but improved rapid charging does help.

Design: 5 Insights: 4 Overall: 4.5

Polar Grit X Pro

The Grit X Pro has all the training insights and recovery smarts you’ll find on Polar’s other watches, including daily FitSpark workout recommendations, nightly recharge overnight recovery readouts, built-in GPS and optical heart rate tracking. But this tracker really excels when things get a bit more wild.

Its swim-proof 1o0m water resistance and a militarygrade toughness rating is backed up by improved turnby-turn navigation, so you can push further and still get home. We also love the dedicated tests that benchmark your running and cycling performance, and recovery tests that add a layer of insights to your training decision making.

Design: 4 Insights: 3 Overall: 3.5

Withings Scanwatch Horizon

More of a health tracker than an out-and-out fitness training partner, the Scanwatch Horizon puts its day-today wellness tracking into the slick and sophisticated design of a traditional timepiece. Beneath that sharp, steel chassis is one of the best heart health monitors going, with a built-in optical sensor and a bezel-based ECG test, along with a pulse oximeter for blood oxygen levels, and advanced sleep tracking with sleep stages and overnight recovery.

When it’s time to get active, there are 30 sport modes with smart workout detection. However, runs and rides rely on your phone’s connected GPS for pace, distance and mapping, and most of the detail beyond the basics is in the excellent Withings partner app rather than on the watch.

Design: 4 Insights: 3 Overall: 3.5

Garmin Enduro

If feats of lengthy running, cycling, climbing or swimming endurance are your fitness bag – or you just hate charging your watch – the rugged Enduro is an excellent all-rounder. Its full GPS battery life promises up to 80 hours, extendable to 300 in lower accuracy UltraTrac mode. Solar skills help slow the burn rate and even with an hour-a-day’s training you’ll only need to charge this once a month.

Beyond that mega battery, its training and fitness tools include suggested daily workouts, fitness performance tracking with VO2 Max, a recovery time advisor, heat and altitude acclimation, plus sleep, stress, hydration, breathing and blood oxygen monitoring.

Design: 3.5 Insights: 3.5 Overall: 3.5

Garmin Forerunner 55

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4

It’s called a Forerunner because of its very capable – and nicely simplified – run-tracking skills. But Garmin’s lightweight, entry-level sports watch actually offers a solid all-round fitness package for under £200.

Particularly if you want a more compact design and need coaching and motivation.

Keeping an eye on shifts in your body fat, body water and skeletal muscle ratios can be useful for spotting if you’re moving towards your fitness goals. And the Android WearOS-powered Galaxy Watch 4 is the first to measure this body composition metrics from your wrist.

Its three-in-one bioactive sensor tracks optical heart rate, electrical heart and Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis – the same technology used by smart scales to track changes in body composition.

A Suggested Workouts feature recommends watchguided runs and training sessions tailored to you, so it’s easy to stitch together fitness-boosting streaks. You also get built-in optical heart rate tracking, Fitness Age estimates, sleep, stress and breathing rate. The Forerunner also boasts a battery life that’ll happily survive two weeks of training, if you’re getting your sweat on three to four times a week.

Design: 3 Insights: 3.5 Overall: 3.5

You also get 90 sport modes, built-in GPS and health essentials like sleep tracking, though battery life is short and key features like the ECG readings only work with Samsung phones.

Design: 3 Insights: 3 Overall: 3

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Supercharged for pros.

The most powerful MacBook Pro ever is here. With the blazing-fast M1 Pro or M1 Max chip — the first Apple silicon designed for pros — you get groundbreaking performance and amazing battery life. Add to that a stunning Liquid Retina XDR display, the best camera and audio ever in a Mac notebook, and all the ports you need. The first notebook of its kind, this MacBook Pro is a beast.

From $1999

‘Knights in Vegas’

HOLIDAY GLAM

Andrew Nowell’s latest menswear collection is a celebration of the city of Las Vegas. The entire collection is defined by vibrant pops of colour in Brocade Fabrics and rich silks, that captures the unique character and spirit of the city.

Shot on location in Las Vegas, Nevada, the ‘Knights in Vegas’ editorial pays homage to the Rat Pack; Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr and Joey Bishop. The neon-soaked Vegas Strip with its high-end Casinos and attractions like the choreographed Fountains of Bellagio is quintessential Las Vegas and served as the perfect backdrop for the shoot. Models: Shamar, Ahiman and Taylor are the Knights of the Vegas Strip, in looks that recalled the golden age of the city. It was a time when the Rat Pack held court at the casinos and introduced the world to a dazzling new sartorial style.

Shamar Foster Silver Sequin Long Sleeve V-Neck Silver Brocade Trousers

Ahiman Sawadogo Silk Jacquard Kimono Silk Brocade Tuxedo Cotton Shirt

Taylor Borders Silk/Nylon Lace Shirt w/ Matching Trousers

Taylor Borders Silk Brocade Jacket Silk/Nylon Lace Shirt w/ Matching Trousers

Ahiman Sawadogo Silk Brocade Tuxedo Cotton Shirt

Shamar Foster Silver Brocade Coat Silver Sequin Long Sleeve V-Neck Silver Brocade Trousers

Shamar Foster Silver Metallic Peacoat Cotton Organza Shirt Cotton Trousers

Ahiman Sawadogo Cheetah Print Black Leather Jacket Dark Wash Denim Jean

Taylor Borders Faux Gorilla Fur jacket Vegan Leather Shirt Vegan Leather Blazer With matching Cargo Pants

Taylor Borders Faux Gorilla Fur Jacket Vegan Leather Shirt Vegan Leather Blazer w/ Matching Cargo Pants

Ahiman Sawadogo Cheetah Print Black Leather Jacket Dark Wash Denim Jeans

Ahiman Sawadogo Leather Cut Out Tank w/ Copper Chain Dark Wash Denim Jeans

Taylor Borders Faux Gorilla Fur Jacket Vegan Leather Shirt Vegan Leather Cargo Pants

Click Here To See The Trailer

Click Here To See The Trailer

3

Things That Happen to Your Brain When You Watch Porn

Porn has been blamed for a number of bad things happening in society today. But is it getting a bad rap? What does pornography do (or not do) to the human brain and is there something we can do about it?

Below we tackle those questions by showing you three things that really happen to the human brain after watching porn.

Sexually explicit material triggers mirror neurons in the male brain.

1.

These neurons, which are involved with the process for how to mimic a behavior, contain a motor system that correlates to the planning out of a behavior. In the case of pornography, this mirror neuron system triggers arousal, which leads to sexual tension and a need for an outlet.

Experts say, “The unfortunate reality is that when a man acts out (often by masturbating), this leads to hormonal and neurological consequences, which are designed to bind him to the object he is focusing on.” Meaning that is the thing that now turns him on instead of your mate.

You may like porn better than the real thing (yikes!).

2.

In men, there are five primary chemicals involved in sexual arousal and response. The one that likely plays the most significant role in pornography addiction is dopamine.

Dopamine plays a major role in the brain system that is responsible for reward-driven learning.

Every type of reward that has been studied increases the level of dopamine transmission in the brain, and a variety of addictive drugs, including stimulants such as cocaine, amphetamine, and methamphetamine, act directly on the dopamine system.

Dopamine surges when a person is exposed to novel stimuli, particularly if it is sexual, or when a stimuli is more arousing than anticipated.

Because erotic imagery triggers more dopamine than sex with a familiar partner, exposure to pornography leads to “arousal addiction” and teaches the brain to prefer the image and become less satisfied with real-life sexual partners.

Porn may affect your decisions.

3.

German researchers recruited 64 men between the ages of 21 and 45 who watched an average of four hours of pornography per week.

The researchers did MRI scans of men’s brains while showing them a mixture of sexually explicit images and non-sexual imagery.

“Our findings indicated that gray matter volume of the right caudate of the striatum is smaller with higher pornography use,” the researchers wrote in the journal article, referring to an area of the brain associated with reward processing and motivation.

Men who watched more porn also showed less activity in another area of the striatum, called the left putamen, which usually lights up in response to sexual images.

Heavy porn consumers also had a weaker connection between the striatum and the prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain associated with decision-making.

“Dysfunction of this circuitry has been related to inappropriate behavioral choices, such as drugseeking, regardless of the potential negative outcome,” the researchers wrote in the article.

So what does all this mean? Experts on the other end of the spectrum say that some porn can actually help relationships.

Also, some therapists recommend watching it with your mate at times.

But with everything moderation.

And when the brain starts focusing on anything that is outside of its control (drugs, porn, alcohol, etc), then it’s a problem.

On The Bookshelf Whether you are a fan of the sport of Tennis or not, most bibliophiles know and would tell you that Andre Agassi's memoir 'Open' is one of the finest, most trite yet egoistically well-written look-back-at-my-famous-life there ever was. Will Smith's penchant for detail--from the beltings at home by his raging alcoholic father to that lifealtering moment with Arnold Schwarzenegger, this man has the memory of a whale--is similar in language. The loud, self-derogation tonality of the biography is nothing but a curtain raiser to the selfobsessed, extremely talented and one of the finest salesman of Hollywood, ladies and gentleman: Will Smith for you!

'Will' impresses for two reasons: the actor presents the self-help rhetoric at periodic intervals to satiate his readers' need for a good cry, and, despite his best efforts to keep ego massages in check, his preachy anecdotes about the glorious life he gets to live as one of the biggest Black stars of all time. Will Smith sure as shell knows it's not easy being Will Smith, but success is self-admittedly his heroine and he isn't in it for rehabilitation, so he masks his insecurities and plays the game. Every single day, or so he says.

'Will' book review:

Will Smith, the superstar, confronts Will Smith, the coward

By Pallabi Dey Purkayastha

The chapters dedicated to his tender years and the subsequent bravado at home--he quit school to be a rapper, one of the firsts to win a Grammy in fact--are carefully planted emotional snippets from the life of a Black success story who catapulted to superstardom at a time when inclusion was a topic people did not talk even at support group meetings.

Entertainment must really be running thick in his blood veins for he gets candid about love and sex, slightly held back in portions where he talks about his polygamous marriage to Jada Pinkett-Smith, and his unapologetic tendency for success. "Skeptics call it self-delusion (referring to 'Summertime'); I call it ‘another Grammy’ and ‘my first #1 record.’” Will Smith is boastful and wants his life to serve as case study to those on the brink of giving up, or not. The intention is noble, the tone could have been mildly modest.

Yes, a recurring theme in Smith's memoir--which he has written with able help from 'The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck' author, Mark Manson--is the constant tussle between the invincible Hollywood star and the 'coward' buried under layers of 'overcompensation and fake bravado'. But the most honest Will Smith ever gets in this self-deprecating, megalomaniacal memoir is the part where he gets around to talking about the driving force in his life--the absolute desire to win. We learn that even when he is just playing Monopoly with his children, he is in it to win. The 'King Richard' star--one of the Oscar hopefuls this year--has zero, and we really mean 'zero', qualms about his characteristic trait of wanting to be somebody, reach somewhere in life. So, this piece of information should come as no surprise that when one of his movies smashed all Box-Office records, he wanted to surpass the actor who was making all the noise at the time: Jim Carrey. If Carrey was making $20 million a movie, Smith started bidding at 21. As a reader and lover of cinema, one cannot help but respect Will Smith's unquenchable thirst for success, and he being so brutally open about it.

In one of the first pages, Smith describes his persona as "the alien-annihilating MC, the bigger-than-life movie star, is largely a construction — a carefully crafted and honed character — designed to protect myself. To hide myself from the world. To hide the coward"--which, frankly, is a bit over the top of an introduction even by Smith's standards, but it does drive home a strong point: you love Will Smith for all the charm he sprinkles all over you whenever he is on camera, and not the sob stories that seem to have defined his formative years.

Both 'Will' and Will Smith are put ups that you love to love, sexual drama or shameful tax fiascos or not.

Men's Black Band Luxe Short Sleeve Hoodie and Short

GEN. COLIN L. POWELL, THE FIRST BLACK JOINT CHIEF AND SECRETARY OF STATE, HAS JOINED THE ANCESTORS AT 84

Colin L. Powell, the military leader that helped shape national security and blazed a trail for Black people in the armed services, passed away at 84 years old. His family announced his death on Facebook.

Powell had multiple myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells that suppresses the body's immune response. Although fully vaccinated, immunocompromised people are still at a greater risk of being infected and experiencing severe complications from the virus.

Colin Luther Powell was born on April 5, 1937, in Harlem and raised in the diverse area of Hunts Point section of the South Bronx. His parents, Luther Powell, a shipping-room foreman in Manhattan's garment district, and Maud Ariel McKoy, a seamstress, both immigrated to the States from Jamaica.

Powell graduated from Morris High School in the Bronx in 1954, then went to City College of New York and majored in geology. In the past, he spoke about being a mediocre student, carrying a C average, but then he decided to enroll in the college's Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) program. He was impressed by the friendship, discipline, and goals of the group. Cadet Powell joined the Pershing Rifles, a drill team started by Gen. John J. Pershing, a top American commander in World War I. Although enjoyable, his time in the ROTC wasn't without its challenges. While attending summer ROTC training in Fayetteville, N.C., in 1957, he was forced to use segregated bathrooms in the Deep South as he made his way home back to New York.

The general kept the Pershing Rifles close to his heart throughout his career. He was known to keep a pen set he had won at a drill-team competition decades earlier on his desk.

After graduating from City College in June 1958, he began his 35-year military career after being commissioned as a second lieutenant in the newly desegregated Army. During this time, he met the woman who'd become his wife, Alma Vivian Johnson, on a blind date. They married in August 1962. During their 59-year marriage, they raised three children Linda Powell, Annmarie Lyons, and Michael Powell, who served as chairman of the Federal Communications Commission.

Powell served two decorated combat tours in Vietnam in the 1960s, where he was wounded twice, including during a helicopter crash in which he rescued two soldiers. Due to his prowess and determination, he quickly rose through the ranks — including battalion command in Korea in 1973 and brigade command in the elite 101st Airborne Division in 1976. His peers called him a "water walker," a term of respect for the most talented officers.

Then in 1979, at only 42, he was promoted to one-star general, becoming the youngest general officer in the Army at the time. He served as Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger's senior military assistant and, in the spring of 1986, went off to command V Corps, leading 75,000 soldiers in West Germany during the Cold War. President Ronald Reagan called on him five months later to become the first Black national security adviser.

In this role, he was integral in negotiating arms treaties with Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev.

He secured another first in 1989, when he succeeded Adm. William J. Crowe as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for George H. W. Bush, bypassing more than 14 more senior four-star officers. Later that year, the general left the White House to lead the Army's Forces Command and became only the fourth Black four-star general in Army history. He was a figure that Black people in the military could look up to and challenged the bigotry of White people who doubted him.

Powell was one of the most popular public figures in America when he retired from the Army in 1993. Many people called for him to run to become the first Black president, but on November 8, 1995, he said he did not have the drive and desire necessary to run for the nation's highest office. However, in 2001 he returned to public service as the first Black secretary of state under President George W. Bush.

"I think it shows to the world what is possible in this country," Powell said of his historymaking nomination during his Senate confirmation hearing. "It shows to the world that: Follow our model, and over a period of time from our beginning if you believe in the values that espouse, you can see things as miraculous as me sitting before you to receive your approval.”

Although initially an opponent to the war in Iraq, telling President Bush, “You break it, you’re going to own it,” noting that war would destabilize the Middle East. He faced scrutiny over his decision to eventually support the war at the United Nations, especially when it was revealed there were no weapons were found. He told Barbara Waters in 2003 that it was a "painful" memory for him. When Bush was reelected in 2004, Powell tendered his resignation at the president's request.

“I’m the one who presented it on behalf of the United States to the world...[this] will always be a part of my record,” Powell said of his UN speech.

As a civilian, he kept a relatively low profile until 2008, when he endorsed thenpresidential candidate, Senator Barack Obama, with over two weeks left in the campaign.

His backing gave credence to Obama's campaign, dispelling the notion that he lacked the experience to be commander in chief.

"When I look at all of this, and I think back to my Army career, we've got two individuals, either one of them could be a good president. But which is the president that we need now…And I come to the conclusion that because of his ability to inspire, because of the inclusive nature of his campaign, because he is reaching out all across America, because of who he is and his rhetorical abilities…he has both style and substance--he has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president," Powell said on NBC's Meet The Press. "I think he is a transformational figure. He is a new generation coming into the world--onto the world stage, onto the American stage, and for that reason, I'll be voting for Senator Barack Obama.”

President Obama expressed his condolences via Twitter.

Powell left office in 2004 and spent his civilian years working to empower youth. He was the founding chairmen of America's Promise Alliance, the nation's largest partnership organization dedicated to improving the lives of children by creating conditions where they can thrive.

In an interview with The New York Times in 2007, he described himself like this, "Powell is a problem-solver. He was taught as a soldier to solve problems. So he has views, but he's not an ideologue. He has passion, but he's not a fanatic.

He's first and foremost a problem-solver.”

He is survived by his wife, children, and grandchildren.

Click Here To See The Trailer

Click Here To See The Trailer

Stream the new series And Just Like That starting Dec 9 only on HBO Max.

CULTURE

Music Makes All the Difference:

How Music Supervision and Editing Stimulate Our TV Viewing Experience

From Insecure to Atlanta, there are shows that stand out for their soundtrack. This is a look behind the music supervision process, which can be a long, arduous process.

In the season two premiere of Atlanta, Earn visits his Uncle Willie to pacify a domestic dispute between him and his girlfriend, so his uncle can avoid trouble with the law. Earn (Donald Glover) and the cops question if Uncle Willie (Katt Williams) has an alligator, which Willie warns is in his house. By the end of the episode, appropriately titled “Alligator Man,” the police are standing outside his home, demanding he comes out. That’s the moment The Delfonics’ 1972 track “Hey! Love” drops. The alligator slowly emerges from the front door to the pace of the beat. Everyone stares in awe. The scene cuts to Uncle Willie sprinting down a backstreet to escape the police.

The music timed perfectly with the alligator’s entrance.

The Delfonics sing “hey love,” implying as if the alligator or Uncle Willie is in charge of this dance with the cops. The episode garnered multiple nominations, including an Emmy for Outstanding Music Supervision.

Kat Williams also won an Emmy for his role, which he prepared by interning at an alligator farm for three weeks.

There are certain movies and television that stand out for their soundtrack or original score.

It’s obvious that it’s more than the music supervisor selecting songs they like. One must consider the director and writer’s vision, its relationship to the story, and legal rights. The success in this process shows in the results — the audience is moved.

The music of Insecure HBO’s Insecure, which returns to HBO for its fifth and final season, is full of noteworthy music moments. According to the show’s music supervisor Kier Lehman, creator and star Issa Rae intended music to be an essential element of the series. The beginning of the creative process was, “talking with Issa about what was her vision for the show. She had already kind of a musical style in mind and a concept of how we would use music, how it would be really important and play a big role. It would be an important character in the show,” Lehman said over a video call.

Lehman reads each episode script and comes up with music to send to the editing team.

Each detail is carefully considered, such as where the characters are while the music plays, or if the lyrics are going to really play a part of the storyline.

Insecure often cleverly matches lyrics and tone to a scene. In the best moments, it’s the music with a humorous undertone or the music that speaks to love that really stand out.

When it’s comedy or a party setting, you often hear catchy, under-the-radar commercial tracks playing. In Season 1, episode 5, Issa’s best friend Molly (Yvonne Orji) waits on the guy that she’s interested in to answer her text about coming to her coworker’s engagement party. As she gets ready and watches the text bubbles, “D2B (Dick 2 Bomb)” by Problem, Bad Lucc, and The Homegirl plays. It’s funny. The lyrics say “my man ain’t shit” but she won’t leave him because of the sex. That’s basically how it was for Molly in that moment — up until of course, he truly shows her he isn’t interested in a relationship. It turns out maybe he wasn’t as good as she thought.

“We look at all of the scenes, watch each one, and stop and talk about it. We might decide a piece of music is working really well, and we want to keep it and clear it and get a quote for a price of it,” Lehman said. Other times, however, they decide to scrap a song if its airtime is too short, and it’s pricey.

Raphael Saadiq, the show’s composer, will replace it with something else. The collaborative effort between him, Saadiq, Rae, and the rest of the producers and editors speak to the show’s dedication to make thoughtful music selections.

“D2B (Dick 2 Bomb)” by Problem, Bad Lucc, and The Homegirl

“You’re not going to get a show that uses music as integrally and as well as this without the creator of the show being heavily involved in that process and having the vision.”

Lehman said.

The show’s major dramatic moments highlight Insecure’s ability to move into drama and romance. In last season’s Emmy-nominated episode “Lowkey Happy,” “Risk” by FKJ and Bas, plays while they walk through an art fair, which speaks to the rekindling love building up between Issa and Lawrence (Jay Ellis). That returning flame is like a risk because they don’t want to make the same mistakes they made in the past. Although the characters discuss the lessons learned in the episode, there’s a feeling something can go wrong because Lawrence is still texting his ex-girlfriend and Issa’s former event planning partner Condola (Christina Elmore). In these contrasting moments, the audience can laugh and have a good time, or they can feel heavier emotions just like Issa and Lawrence as they navigate uncertainty and anticipation.

Music and the brain With the immersion of visual storytelling and music, the psychological functions of music meet the technical functions. In The Psychological Functions Of Music Listening, the authors cite that music takes us out of ourselves, and we can experience a flow state, peaks, and chills that are often evoked by music listening. This could similarly be interpreted as forms of transcendence or escapism.

Like movies and TV, music offers an escape into another world. The psychology article notes four different functions of why people listen to music: social functions, emotional functions, cognitive or self-related functions, and arousal-related functions. In film, music is included to arouse viewers and set a mood, while also telling relatable stories that can be emotional. In a way, the function of music could be combining social relatedness with emotional and arousal functions.

The viewer can feel a deeper connection to a scene accompanied by its music. This is especially the case when it’s an emotional scene, highlighting loss, love, anger, or joy depending on how the viewer may be feeling.

Dr. Indre Viskontas, who is a stage director and scientist focused on music and neuroscience, believes that listeners’ response to music in their brain signature will show whether or not the intention of the music selection was actually a success. At the same time, music is subjective, so it can still vary person by person. When considering the jazz piece “In A Sentimental Mood” from Duke Ellington and John Coltrane, which is both played in romantic moments in Love Jones and Malcolm & Marie, one may wonder how this shows up in a listener’s brain.

“We can listen to it in a way that frames our attention to the emotions that the character must be feeling and take us on this emotional journey as the character experiences it. We would see the same thing in our brain,” Dr. Viskontas said. “We would see essentially the parts in our brain that are involved in identifying meaning and we would see the fluctuations and tempo and emotional intensity of the piece reflected in the fluctuations of how our brain responds to it.”

In the case of Love Jones, “In A Sentimental Mood” is played during a montage where Nina (Nia Long) and Darius (Larenz Tate) are seen spending time together and falling in love. In Malcolm & Marie, the title characters, played by Zendaya and John David Washington, are kissing and talking against the backdrop of the music. The quality of this jazz piece to move in unexpected directions and produce both feelings of melancholy and romance perfectly aligns with what the films suggest. Nina and Darius — like Malcolm and Marie — love each other, but they are bound to run into problems due to lack of trust and resentment.

Julio Perez IV. video editor of Malcolm & Marie, said that Coltrane covering Duke Ellington’s “In A Sentimental Mood” was appropriate for the scene because he creates “an atmosphere of romance, but you can hear all of these notes that would sort of be the ‘wrong’ notes in a very traditional context…There would be a lot of places where they don’t fly.” Perez said he’s attracted to interweaving discordant moments or the wrong notes into a “beautiful, reflective, and deeply felt tapestry.”

He also shared his thoughts on another important scene of the film that shows the complexity behind love — as well as the characters communicating through the direct use of music. After a mean exchange between the couple, Marie hops out of the bath and sits next to Malcolm outside their home. Then she plays “Get Rid Of Him” by Dionne Warwick.

According to Perez, the song was actually written into the script by the directorscreenwriter Sam Levinson. That moment says a lot about Marie’s feelings towards Malcolm. “I think she chose to play that song with an element of seeking some sort of conciliation but acknowledging that all right-minded people that were friends with her would be saying, ‘this guy is a hot head. He says horrible things to you,’ and she might say, ‘yeah but he also can be very loving,’” Perez said.

“It’s about relationships that aren’t healthy. It’s about relationships that are very complicated.”

Behind music supervision and editing, there’s a legal process for securing the selects. Madeline Nelson, CEO of independent label Heads Music, is on the other side — at times, her team pitches for artists to be featured. When supervisors want their music, it’s a breath of fresh air to reach her company.

“We own the masters, and we are a publishing company [so] we own the pub. We’re the last stop when somebody has to come in and clear something from one of our artists,” Nelson said. “That’s a great feeling from both sides. It’s a great feeling for the person who has to clear the music that they don’t have to go all over the place.”

Clearing music is often the most challenging part of the job, as Lehman also shared was his biggest obstacle. Especially when the music is new — which is often the case for Insecure — so work on the backend hasn’t been completed yet. Going through songwriters and more, his team may push to speed up the process so they can have clearance to use the music.

“Every one of the major labels is also partnered with a film company, so [indie artists] don’t have that in that their music could get selected because of those natural partnerships,” Nelson said. “For these indie artists, it could be a make or break getting their music onto TV or on film. That could be the thing that actually takes their song over the top [and] gets them promotion money for their music.”

For Lehman, this is one of his favorite parts of being a music supervisor — he gets to help emerging artists by putting them on a large platform (like an HBO series) and exposing them to a new, large audience. Additionally, artists also reach out to send music that they specifically made with the show in mind. Sometimes they make the cut.

“People need that [exposure] because there’s just so much music… Where are you going to find things that you like or that speak to you as a person in your experience?” Lehman said.

“So you having a TV show playlist or a film playlist for a show that you really connect with already gives you a better connection with the show.”

Banner Graphic: @popephoenix for Okayplayer Story by: Sri Rain Stewart

Tips To Help You Eat Like A Local While Traveling

Millennials love food. We are apparently responsible for killing food trends, and we eat at restaurants more than any other generation. We take this same love of food everywhere we go; there is an entire hashtag dedicated to it: #foodtravel with nearly a half a million photos and videos. If you want to skip the tourist hotspots and eat like a local, here are a few rules of thumb to make that a reality.

Take A Food Tour Or Cooking Class Thanks to the Internet, food tours and cooking classes are easy to book before you even make it to your destination. I am a huge fan of Airbnb experiences because the prices are generally fair, you can read reviews, and you can fit the experiences into your schedule at your convenience. The cooking class I took in Havana made me appreciate classic Cuban cuisine and the experience provided one of the best meals I had on my trip.

Skip The Tourist Websites Websites like TripAdvisor are great for hotel reviews, but since tourists and not locals write the reviews, it can be tough to know if you’re getting an authentic local experience. Check out foodie blogs along with our resources to find great places with local flavor.

Give Street Food A Try Before you say no, hear me out. Street food can be tricky. There are no health department ratings to let you know the street vendors are following food safety rules, so if you’re in an area that is known for risk of foodborne illness, you may want to proceed with caution. But if you’re feeling adventurous (and packed your charcoal), street food can give you some of the best meals you’ve had in your life. The general rule of thumb is if you see a line of locals, the food is probably worth giving a shot.

Ask Your Bartender Or Waiter For Recommendations I’m sure I annoy the waitstaff when I do this, but when I’m in a new city or trying a new restaurant, I always ask my server what their favorite items on the menu ar.e since they have likely tried most things on it.

Do Your Research There are so many resources out there from traditional food reviews to vlogs that can give you the information you need to have a great food experience on your next trip. Most of the time you just have to do a quick keyword search on Google to find what you’re looking for — thank you Internet.

‘Dazed in the Desert’

Taylor Borders Dark Wash Denim Jean Jacket Denim Jeans

‘Dazed in the Desert’, Shot on location at the Valley of Fire State Park.

The collection featured streetwear looks set against the desolate expanse of the Nevada desert. These looks romanticized an urbanwear aesthetic through classic check jacquard, clean silhouettes and raw denim pieces.

Shamar Foster Camo/Cheetah Print Jean Jacket w/ Matching Cargo Pants

Ahiman Sawadogo Nylon Overcoat Cotton Shirt Nylon Shorts

Ahiman Sawadogo Cotton Jacquard Knit Jean Jacket w/ Matching Trousers and Hat

Taylor Borders Silk Voile Robe Cotton Jacquard Trousers

Shamar Foster Cotton Jacquard Bomber Jacket Cotton/Nylon Knit Polo Shirt w/ Matching Trousers

Photography by Phelan Marc @phelanmarc Production Assistant; Jacoby Payne Creative Consultant: Chad Groom @the_real_re_edit Model: Ahiman Sawadogo _ahiman Model: Taylor Borders @majortaylor Model: Shamar Foster @saymarss Shot on Location in Las Vegas, Nevada and Valley of Fire State Park

Taylor Borders Brocade Snakeskin Oversized Jean Jacket w/ Matching Trousers.

Every new play on Broadway this fall is by a Black playwright The Great White Way is making up for lost time this season.

The Great White Way will look a lot less white this fall.

For the past year, the Broadway community has had two pressing questions on its mind. The first was when theater on Broadway would be possible again at all, and under what conditions. The second was whether, when Broadway did return, it would address major concerns about racial representation and inequity that had been building for years but gained urgency and strength during the Black Lives Matter protests that galvanized much of the country in the aftermath of the George Floyd murder.

The first question has been answered: Broadway shows will open or reopen on a staggered schedule through December, and tickets are already on sale for most of them. And as the picture of the upcoming season comes into focus, it seems that at least some progress is being made on the second front as well. Seven new productions of plays are scheduled to begin in 2021—and all seven of those plays are by Black playwrights.

All but two of these Black playwrights are making their Broadway debuts as writers, and four of them are women. The plays themselves cover wide territory from comedy to memoir to social drama. Some are new works, some are revivals, a few fall somewhere in between; all four of Broadway's major nonprofits—Manhattan Theatre Club, Second Stage, the Roundabout and Lincoln Center—are involved in presenting them, alongside several commercial producers. (The fall slate also includes three plays, by white writers, that were already running in 2020: To Kill a Mockingbird, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and The Lehman Brothers, the last of which was in previews when the shutdown struck.)

The unprecedented attention to Black voices in the fall this year testifies to the work and effectiveness of groups like the Broadway Advocacy Coalition and Broadway Black in moving the cultural conversation forward. It seems clear that Broadway has been listening. But this is not, of course, the end of the discussion. There are still countless worthy theater works with Black content that have not yet been produced on Broadway, including the last two winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Michael R. Jackson's A Strange Loop and Katori Hall's The Hot Wing King. And although the all-Black slate of 2021 sends a positive collective statement, it is a temporary one: The five plays that have been scheduled for the spring so far, all holdovers from the foreshortened 2020 season, are by nonblack writers.

What's more, this fall may be a relatively difficult time to sell tickets, even for Broadway's most popular and longest-running shows: Tourism, which has driven sales for years, is likely to still be depressed. Some industry insiders are privately concerned that if this fall's plays are not financially successful—even if Broadway sales are down across the board—it may reinforce the perception that Black shows lack commercial legs. That's all the more reason to keep an eye out for these plays if you can. You won't just be supporting Broadway on its journey back to health—you'll be helping it find new pathways there.

Here are the seven plays by Black writers that are scheduled to run in 2021, in order of when they begin: Pass Over: Two young black men hang out on a street corner and dream of a promised land in Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu's play, which fuses elements of the Exodus story and Waiting for Godot. The play made its NYC premiere in 2018 at Lincoln Center Theater's Claire Tow space—where we described it as "an intimate political play that grapples with epic themes and is likely to leave you shaken"—and a version filmed by Spike Lee was released that year. Now that production, directed by Dayna Taymor, moves to Broadway with its original cast of three: Jon Michael Hill, Namir Smallwood and Gabriel Ebert. August Wilson Theatre. Aug 4–Oct 10. Buy tickets here.

Photograph: Courtesy Joan Marcus | Pass Over

Lackawanna Blues: Ruben Santiago-Hudson's autobiographical solo show, which he performed at the Public Theater back in 2001, pays fond tribute to the formidable woman who raised him in upstate New York in the 1960s. Santiago-Hudson directs and plays some 20 different characters in the play's Broadway premiere; guitarist Junior Mack joins him onstage to play live original music by Bill Sims, Jr. Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Starts Sept 14. Tickets go on sale Aug 10.

Photograph: Courtesy of the artist | Lackawanna Blues

Chicken and Biscuits: Skeletons come tumbling out of the casket at the funeral of the patriarch of a squabbling African-American family in this new comedy by Douglas Lyons. Zhailon Levingston, who directed the world premiere at Queens Theatre last year—whose run was cut short by the shutdown—returns to helm the Broadway transfer, with a new cast that includes Norm Lewis (Porgy and Bess) and Michael Urie (Torch Song). Circle in the Square, Sept 23–Jan 2. Buy tickets here.

Photograph: Courtesy Emilo Madrid | Chicken and Biscuits

Photograph: Courtesy Michael Davis | Thoughts of a Colored Man

Thoughts of a Colored Man: Playwright and slam poet Keenan Scott II sheds theatrical light on Black men in a group portrait of seven Brooklyn denizens with such symbolic names as Passion, Depression, Wisdom and Anger. After a successful premiere at Syracuse Stage in 2019, the show hits Broadway in a production directed by Steve H. Broadnax III (The Hot Wing King) and starring Keith David, Bryan Terrell Clark, Da’Vinchi, Luke James, Forrest McClendon, Tristan “Mack” Wilds and Pose heartthrob Dyllón Burnside. John Golden Theatre. Starts Oct 1. Buy tickets here.

Trouble in Mind: Alice Childress's Obie-winning 1955 drama, about a Black actress who challenges stereotypes while rehearsing a liberal-minded anti-lynching play, never made it to the Great White Way in its first go-around. Now it makes its overdue Broadway debut at the Roundabout, directed by Charles Randolph-Wright (Motown the Musical). The central role is played by LaChanze (The Color Purple). American Airlines Theatre. Oct 29–Jan 9. Buy tickets here.

Photograph: Courtesy of the artist, Alice Childress | Trouble in Mind

Clyde's: Playwright Lynn Nottage and director Kate Whoriskey, whose previous collaborations include the Pulitzer Prize winning Ruined and Sweat, team up again for a new work about a truck-stop sandwich stop staffed by ex-cons trying to get their lives together—and create the perfect snack.

Given Nottage and Whoriskey's track record, this will be one to watch out for. The cast for this production at Second Stage's Broadway flagship space includes Uzo Aduba, Ron Cephas Jones, Reza Salazar and Kara Young. Helen Hayes Theatre, Nov 3– Jan 26. Buy tickets here.

Photograph: Courtesy of the artist, Uzo Aduba | Clyde’s

Skeleton Crew: In Dominique Morisseau's meaty drama, firmly based in the lives and evocative language of its characters, four workers at a dying auto-parts plant are torn are torn between strategies of survival: the every-man-for-himself ethos of American individualism versus the solidarity of unions, friends and chosen families. Five years after its NYC premiere at the Atlantic's Stage 2, Skeleton Crew comes to Broadway in a new production starring Phylicia Rashad and directed by the busy Ruben Santiago-Hudson for Manhattan Theatre Club. Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Starts Dec 21. Buy tickets here.

Photograph: Courtesy of the artist, Phylicia Rashad | Skeleton Crew

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Two Black Fraternity Brothers Become First Black Menswear Hat Brand in Nordstrom

Meet the two Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. members who made history at Nordstrom with their Black-owned luxury hat collection.

Co-founders Tajh Crutch and Archie Clay III broke into the fashion industry in 2016 with their high-end hat line WEAR BRIMS. Modeled around three basic principles: family, faith, and confidence, the Troy University and Tuskegee University alums came together to break generational curses and secure their family’s future.

“When I reached out to Tajh, I knew he would be the creative genius to help bring this to life. So from there we started the journey and building the #1 hat company in the world but minority-owned was the goal because they aren’t any major big box hat companies that are minority-owned.”

The fashion entrepreneurs first met in the spring of 2011 during a new members cluster for Alpha Phi Alpha. Their bond as fraternity brothers carried over into their ambitions as fashion designers and helped them make history at a major retailer.

In addition to becoming the first Black-owned luxury hat brand to be sold in Nordstrom stores within the United States and online, WEAR BRIMS has also secured a partnership with Neiman Marcus. The genuine support the brand has received from the likes of Lance Gross, Keri Hilson, Eva Marcille, Chris Paul and Cedric the Entertainer helped get visibility in several Nordstrom stores as well as a spot in Beyonce’s Directory of Blackowned Businesses.

“It’s amazing to see people of your color making moves in the industry that’s not controlled by us and we at WEAR BRIMS want to continue to play a role in the growth of “black luxury” it’s important that we continue to empower young kids and let them know that they can create LUXURY AS WELL,” - Archie said.

WEAR BRIMS joins an emerging dominance of Black fashion designers and stylists who have created what is dubbed as “Black Luxury”. It’s a movement Archie and Tajh take pride in being a part of and are excited to see where it goes.

“We look up to the individuals like Virgil, Jerry, Don, Kerby, Kanye, and Samuel Ross – These guys have shaped the BLACK LUXURY and me and Tajh are excited to be a part of this.”

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OTHER BLACK OWNED MAGAZINES SUPPORTING MEN OF COLOR THAT YOU CAN SUPPORT

Bleu Magazine https://bleumag.com/

Krave Magazine https://www.magcloud.com/browse/magazine/736605

Swerve Magazine http://www.theswervemagazine.com/TheSwerveMagazine.html

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