Jalylah Burrell
Hello, Babar
Seattle-bred, Brooklyn-based cultural critic Jalylah Burrell riffs on anything and everything.
More of the Same: The Grand Dissapointment of Obama's Acceptance Speech
Brooks & Dunn's "Only In America" cleaned up for Barack Obama Democractic Party nomination acceptance speech last night, an intriguing choice given the Hawaiian-born candidate's reliance on Stevie Wonder's soulful stylings throughout the campaign. "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" was his kicker. As the Boston Globe reported in January, Obama's playlist was exclusively R&B and pop so this decision to go Nashville at that unprecedented moment in history that so many of us witnessed last night was strange. I'll go a step further and call it calculating. It's an obvious overture towards "middle America," which is just code for regular white people, working and lower middle class whites, in particular.
Previous Entries
Kimberly and Katrina: 3 Years Later
I abandoned plans to see Raphael Saadiq and Janelle Monae at the Highline Ballroom to see "Trouble the Water" at the IFC center tonight. Courtesy of Kimberly Rivers Roberts,...(read more)
Getting it Wrong: Class Commentary
In advance of Michelle Obama's address to the Democratic National Convention last night, Jezebel published a post forecasting it's impact titled: "Michelle Obama At The DNC: An Opportunity To...(read more)
"The affirming embrace of a father's love..."
When Michelle Obama, beaming in green, shared her father's work ethic and familial committment during her Democratic National Conventional address this evening I felt more than a tinge of...(read more)
Recent Comments
professorf says:
You're on to something here. I have been following his penchant for Stevie throughout this campaign as much for what it says about Obama as what it portends to say about Stevie. Politicians are...(read more)
mb83 says:
ohh Erykah!!! i hope she brings heat when she plays at chastain. So sad i missed the show. I was so close yet so far . . ....(read more)
Rakesha13 says:
this is still a sad moment ...(read more)