How identity, creativity and communities evolve.
Explore the people, ideas and cultural shifts changing how we see ourselves and one another. Our coverage connects arts, media and identity to the institutions and communities shaping their direction.
With cameras locked away, concertgoers are inventing increasingly ridiculous stories about what happens onstage. The jokes reveal how much control phones have gained over the way we experience and remember live entertainment.
The Tennessee Republican says the AI-generated recreation of Lamar’s Super Bowl performance was just fun. Her record on hip-hop, her push for AI protections for artists and questions about permission have made the 12-second clip a much bigger conversation.
The Queen of Hip-Hop Soul’s new catalog deal raises a question bigger than royalties: who protects the music, memories and cultural history that helped define generations of Black Americans?
Social media has made it possible for almost anyone to build an audience. Somewhere along the way, we started treating attention as proof of expertise, popularity as proof of influence and recognition as a measure of worth.
The Swiss-born NBA player says moving to the United States changed how he understood Black identity, community and history. His story raises a bigger question about why solidarity looks different across the African diaspora.
Accuracy in Media is using undercover recordings and public pressure to challenge university diversity programs. Its campaigns are also changing who gets to hold colleges accountable.
Ancestry reports look like precise measurements, but they are estimates built from reference groups and statistical models. When those models change, so do the percentages. Understanding why matters most for people trying to recover family histories that were deliberately erased.
Stephen A. Smith has defended his White House dinner with Donald Trump as a chance to advocate for Black Americans. Rachel Lindsay and Van Lathan are asking whether the conversation produced anything meaningful.
Viral footage from a Houston appearance has reignited criticism of the R&B singer’s live shows. Some fans are asking whether they got the performance they paid for. Others are speculating about her personal life. Those are not the same conversation.
Four mass shootings in four states over one weekend left two people dead and 23 wounded. Americans mourn, communities recover and daily life goes on. The frequency of these attacks raises an unsettling question: how much violence can a society learn to live around?
At a Michigan campaign rally, Donald Trump commented on Nicki Minaj’s backside before asking her to stand. Hours after a White House aide floated her for press secretary, the moment brought a very different kind of attention to one of his most visible celebrity supporters, raising questions about gender, political loyalty and the increasingly personal nature of their alliance.
The rapper’s ride aboard Air Force One prompted a senior Trump aide to float her name for one of Washington’s most visible jobs, a post that has been empty since the last press secretary lasted five days. Whether the suggestion was serious or not, it shows how celebrity has become part of the White House communications strategy.
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