ATL’s brand of funk intentionally teetered on the line between the sacred & secular, un-afraid to blend the aesthetics of faith, trauma, and perseverance in vocal and instrumental performances. Therefore, ATL hip-hop artists had a multilayered challenge… the validation of what Imani Perry argues is a contemporary urban South, the creation of a ‘unique meeting ground of the traditional, the old and new, plus the ‘same old, same old.’ OutKast’s intentional disjuncture of their southerness from the space and time vacuums that often dictate how the South is understood shifts paradigms of modernity and urbanity to reflect the on-the-fringe narratives of southern blacks. OutKast pivots on the use of the South as a renewable source of cultural currency and agency for blacks. Still, it was not lost on them or their ATL-reared and -based producers Organized Noize, consisting of Rico Wade, Sleepy Brown, & Ray Murray, that they needed to demonstrate their awareness of hip-hop’s identity as an urban cultural expression that could be used to reflect their experiences in ATL. @redclayscholar Again, Dr. Gina Mae is telling it the best. OutKast brought a unique blend of the gospel to the funk to the verse and we were left with something uniquely southern. Something you can climb into your headphones and lay down with, all while feeling at home. If my series of posts on #ChroniclingStankonia has influenced you to do nothing else… Git up, git out, and #ReadReginaBradley. In due time there will be a full book review over on @dablackpositive, and I will share it here too. Also, I am looking forward to Dr. Bradley’s newest project, and I am sure I will feel just as seen as I did in the covers of Chronicling Stank. #LetsGrow #PositivelyBlackBooks #BlackAndSouthern #BlackBibliophile #ReadersAreLeaders #ReadMoreEveryday #Bookstagram #BlackBookstagrammer #AmReading #BlackLivesMatter #SupportBlackArt #HerstunReads #SouthernLiving #HipHop #RespectRap #OutKast #iRead #KaroSyrup #Karo #RedClayScholar #AlbanyStateUniversity Image description & credits in comments. (at Cairo, Georgia) https://www.instagram.com/p/CPJuRKrrT_Z/?utm_medium=tumblr

The SUNDAY SPOTLIGHT is here! And today we highlight a book that will challenge your thoughts around reading. It’s always pleasurable when you can pick up a book and be intellectually stimulated and actually learn something. I got my copy from @kindredstorieshtx. In my brief thoughts, I wrote; ✍🏾 Some great points made in this collection. Expanded my idea of reading and expounded upon some of the familiar tropes we readers parrot about reading. Reading creates empathy. That pithy saying was delightfully destroyed. And her discussion of representation writing was nuanced and prescient. “Representation Matters Art is still, ultimately, just another armed wing of the attentive arts of white supremacy: it’s the kind of art you make when someone has told you to prove you’re a human—and you agree. It’s art that makes us stupider, the way white supremacy makes us stupider: it was bad enough to rob us of life, land, and language, but style, too, babe? It’s the kind of art you make when every impulse you have is a conditioned fear response to some imaginary white specter in the audience, in the mirror.” All-in-all a very good collection of essays that takes a fine razor to the culture of book reading and inflicts a thousand cuts all the while informing and creating smarter readers. This book needs to be on your shelf. #howtoreadnow #elainecastillo #ownvoicesreviews #readmorebooks #blackbibliophile #goodreads #kindredstories #booksaremylife #readingismylife #makereadinglitagain #sundayspotlight #vikingpress (at Houston, Texas) https://www.instagram.com/p/CmUBZ7zL7zJ/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

Next up for my #mrdrc22 prompt is a book that has won a literary award by a woman of color. This book will also be my next Blog Tour post coming out in March as a debut novel. Originally published in Spain in 2020, this book has now been translated into English and will be published in the United States in March 2022. A poet, turned novelist, Elena Medel is breaking into the scene with this sweeping transformative debut novel. Thank you to the publisher for this gifted novel and can’t wait to share my review with you all! (@algonquinbooks What are you reading this weekend? #blackbookstagram #maddblackreads #blackbibliophile #wellreadblackgirl #blackreaders #readingislit #goodreads #ireadya #booksofinstagram #bookstagram #becauseofblackreaders #booknerdigans #diversifybookstagram #decolonizeyourmind #fortheloveofreading #blackgirlsread #lovetoread #blackwomenread #blackandbookish #idratherbereading #blackbookblogger #becauseofreading #readblackauthors #goodblackreads #bookrecommendation #moodreader #readallthebooks #translatedbook https://www.instagram.com/p/Caa6rIcpwcp/?utm_medium=tumblr

Black American History: Flo Kennedy “The biggest, loudest and, indisputably, the rudest mouth on the battleground where feminist activists and radical politics join in mostly common cause.” Kennedy used her flamboyant attire and outrageous comments to draw attention to injustices of all kinds from the 1960s until her death in 2000. Kennedy left Kansas, where she was born in 1916, for New York in 1942, graduated from Columbia University in 1949, then applied to Columbia Law School and was turned down. When she threatened to sue, a spot suddenly opened. She graduated in 1951, established a practice, and began taking on cases tied to her increasing involvement in the women’s, civil rights, and reproductive rights movements. Kennedy established the Media Workshop to fight racism in advertising, represented H. Rap Brown and the Black Panthers, and founded the Feminist Party, which nominated Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm for president in 1972. She was one of the instigators of the Miss America Pageant protest in 1968 and organized a “pee-in” in Harvard Yard in 1973 to protest the lack of women’s bathrooms in university buildings. Learn more: Kennedy, Florynce. Color Me Flo: My Hard Life and Good Times. Englewood Cliff, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1976. Randolph, Sherie M. Florynce "Flo" Kennedy: the Life of a Black Feminist Radical. Chapel Hill [North Carolina]: The University of North Carolina Press, 2015. Schudder, Diane and Florynce Kennedy. Abortion Rap. New York, McGraw-Hill. 1971. #blackbookstagram #maddblackreads #blackbibliophile #wellreadblackgirl #blackreaders #readingislit #goodreads #ireadya #booksofinstagram #bookstagram #becauseofblackreaders #booknerdigans #diversifybookstagram #decolonizeyourmind #fortheloveofreading #blackgirlsread #lovetoread #blackwomenread #blackandbookish #idratherbereading #blackbookblogger #becauseofreading #readblackauthors #goodblackreads #bookrecommendation #moodreader #readallthebooks #blackhistoryisamericanhistory #flokennedy https://www.instagram.com/p/CaI_polLAci/?utm_medium=tumblr

Y’all have fun today with the Super Bowl. I’m a be over here reading… ✌🏾 Happy Sunday y’all! Are y’all reading or nah? 😝 #blackbookstagram #maddblackreads #blackbibliophile #wellreadblackgirl #blackreaders #readingislit #goodreads #ireadya #booksofinstagram #bookstagram #becauseofblackreaders #booknerdigans #diversifybookstagram #decolonizeyourmind #fortheloveofreading #blackgirlsread #lovetoread #blackwomenread #blackandbookish #idratherbereading #blackbookblogger #becauseofreading #readblackauthors #goodblackreads #bookrecommendation #moodreader #readallthebooks https://www.instagram.com/p/CZ8T4qOL1lv/?utm_medium=tumblr

Things to say to yourself today and forever. Shine in your own greatness cause nobody can be you and that is 🔥!! #blackbookstagram #maddblackreads #blackbibliophile #wellreadblackgirl #blackreaders #readingislit #goodreads #ireadya #booksofinstagram #bookstagram #becauseofblackreaders #booknerdigans #diversifybookstagram #decolonizeyourmind #fortheloveofreading #blackgirlsread #lovetoread #blackwomenread #blackandbookish #idratherbereading #blackbookblogger #becauseofreading #readblackauthors #goodblackreads #bookrecommendation #moodreader #readallthebooks #blackart Art credit: unknown - please tag if you know the artist https://www.instagram.com/p/CZ5YU2lPkPc/?utm_medium=tumblr

✨Black Business Highlight✨ ✊🏾@buyblackauthors✊🏾 Joining a Book of the Month Club featuring Black authors is a great way to establish a sense of community and connection. No matter where you are on your journey as an ally or you want to experience writing from the Black viewpoint, reading a book by a Black author will further your journey. A current best seller by a Black author will be mailed to you each month. Not only do you support Black authors but Black owned bookstores too. A subscription is $37 a month which includes shipping. In exchange for your book subscription, we place 10% in an earnings pool to be given to neighborhood Black owned bookstores with physical locations, quarterly. They are vetted through their American Booksellers Association subscription, so we know they are legit. If you’ve ever thought about BOTM, now here is an alternative featuring Black authors! Buy Black Authors!!! #blackbookstagram #maddblackreads #blackbibliophile #wellreadblackgirl #blackreaders #readingislit #goodreads #ireadya #booksofinstagram #bookstagram #becauseofblackreaders #booknerdigans #diversifybookstagram #decolonizeyourmind #fortheloveofreading #blackgirlsread #lovetoread #blackwomenread #blackandbookish #idratherbereading #blackbookblogger #becauseofreading #readblackauthors #goodblackreads #bookrecommendation #moodreader #readallthebooks #buyblackauthors https://www.instagram.com/p/CZx3AvBrpmG/?utm_medium=tumblr

-• M O O D-• all Black History Year Long!! See cause Black history is 365 days. Not just for the shortest month of the year. Black history is AMERICAN history. No matter if you want to run from it or not, teach it or not, or burn books about it or not; it’s a fact. In this space we celebrate Blackness all de time!! #blackbookstagram #maddblackreads #blackbibliophile #wellreadblackgirl #blackreaders #readingislit #goodreads #ireadya #booksofinstagram #bookstagram #becauseofblackreaders #booknerdigans #diversifybookstagram #decolonizeyourmind #fortheloveofreading #blackgirlsread #lovetoread #blackwomenread #blackandbookish #idratherbereading #blackbookblogger #becauseofreading #readblackauthors #goodblackreads #bookrecommendation #moodreader #readallthebooks #blackhistoryisamericanhistory https://www.instagram.com/p/CZk131ivB59/?utm_medium=tumblr