The Brooklyn neighborhood of Brownsville depicted in Ka’s music is austere: stripped of all artifice, heightened by religious levels of penance and gratitude. There’s constant talk of being damned, of making the best of bad situations brought about by poverty, the police, the drug trade and the irrevocable nature of the street ties that bind. But the rhythms and bars that Ka evokes never seem one-dimensional. His voice flows through the cracks of street corners where friends have been gunned down, the straightforwardness of his writing giving rise to dark, cavernous alleys and cupboards reeking of instant soups and despair. The scope of early projects like iron works and Pedigree of bereavement is quite expansive and heartbreaking on its own, but Ka’s work became more powerful once he began to use themes and concepts to canonize his story into an epic in its own right.

The trials and tribulations of Ka’s life, and the wisdom and trauma that accompanies them, are given new context on each album, recycled like rainwater. In 2013, he redrew his stories under the guise of chess and other strategy games on bet of the nightthen did the same with Bushido code on 2016 Honor killed the samurai. He turned to literature for framing devices, including The Manchu Candidate (2015’s Preservation-product Days with Dr. Yen Lo) and Greek and Christian mythology with the years 2018 Orpheus versus the Sirens (a team with California producer Animoss) and the 2020s Cain’s lineage. By 2021 A martyr’s reward, he had turned the lens on himself, examining his legacy as one of rap’s most consistent songwriters. Many rappers have compared their music to therapy, but the stark minimalism of Ka’s words evokes the catharsis of uncomfortable revelations uncovered over years of deep reflection.

languishing arts and *Woeful Studies—*his ninth and 10th studio albums, released back-to-back earlier this month—combine the self-analysis of A martyr’s reward with an examination of how learned behaviors can compound and exacerbate the seemingly endless cycles of poverty and oppression that specifically affect black people. Hard-learned lessons from cops who might be “vegan, how they plant the base” and kids who spend an entire school year in a pair of pants rub shoulders with his thirst for both emotional and circumstantial truths. “The wise listener hears every soup kitchen and every line of bread,” he says on Languish“Last Place”, the closing piece. After embracing her upbringing, Ka engages her music in clearing cobwebs for those who walk similar paths. Compared to his other albums, the relative brightness of the beats here – all self-produced except three by Animoss and one by Preservation – draws attention to the melancholy of his stories more than ever. Healing from trauma takes time; Languish and Sad continue the slow unfolding in a typically beautiful way.

Ka’s journey with metaphor and prose is truly astounding. On Languish opening “Full Cobra”, he communicates his place within hip-hop and its community with consummate efficiency: “I do this picturesque rap, it’s true; it’s not a trap, I brought escapes. The “escape” is both literal and figurative: Lucky enough to have come out of the trenches, Ka writes songs that purge bad thoughts from his present while contextualizing his past. The clever pun of bars like “I was in a hole, you don’t know half” (“Eat”) or “We not innocent, we into dollars” (“We Not Innocent”) never overshadows his triumph of being here to say them Every song on these two albums is peppered with lyrical gems like these, delivered in the characteristic raspy murmur of weathered sage.

Ka’s minimalism in vocals and production draws attention to the open space in her songs. Where the typical Ka rhythm feels dull and worn, as if it had been lifted from classic Turner films, Languish and Sad contain the most lush music of his career. The orchestral strings and occasional electric guitar hits that accompany “Ascension” are reminiscent of Jay Electronica rapping over Jon Brion’s score for Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. Flutes and a throbbing theremin sample give “Touch锑s counted blessings a sickly mood, while triangle, bass and horns punctuate Ka’s memories of the comfort of dinner parties turned into celebrations and the anxiety of watching the police scans on “I’m tired”. The second half of “Eat” sets an emotional piano loop against Ka’s harrowing ruminations on neighborhood numbers from his childhood and confronts the bad habits he’s clung to: now, instead of throwing that. It’s a bittersweet moment, his relief at having managed to rub up against the reality of others who are still suffering.

The world Ka lives in is suffocating in its emptiness, but her presence and persistence fill the field with cinematic magnitude. The broad perspective manifests itself in languishing arts and Dismal studies‘ separate albums status. Both have clear beginnings, middles, and endings, but there is no symbolic yin and yang relationship between the two, no concordant moments or differentiated production quirks. Putting the records side by side just underscores the point he’s trying to make. Ka’s music scars come with lessons he feels compelled to pass on. For the first time, he fully assumes the role of teacher, claiming the title of griot for his time as wounded street soldiers. His growing confidence in his role as the progenitor of the New York underground seeps through the subtle changes that give both albums their meticulous shine. But it’s the glimmers of hope that set them apart in Ka’s catalog. For him, those who don’t know their history – of race, of family, of rap – are compelled to repeat it. He has never seemed more determined to lead by example.

On May 19 local time, EXO leader Suho attended Stanford University’s Korean Studies Conference to talk about his own experience of K-pop’s growth and influence in the world. the world. He joined SM Entertainment founder Lee Soo Man at the conference.

The two, along with Girls’ Generation (SNSD) member Sunny, were in the United States for the grand opening of SM ENTERTAINMENT SQUARE in Los Angeles. During his visit, Suho attended the conference among revered guests and speakers who had gathered for the 20th anniversary of the Korea Program at Stanford University’s Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center.

Suho’s enriching words seemed to have struck the ears of the attendees who quickly saw him entertain them with original questions and answers which he delivered brilliantly. Calling himself the guardian of EXO and the guardian of K-pop, Suho didn’t forget to mention his adorable fans, EXO-L, and his members. He joked with the audience, making them laugh with his timely humor and creating an overall jovial speech that drew on his long and successful experience in the industry. He gave his honest take on how he thinks music made by Koreans is K-pop and it’s a genre that is continuously evolving.

Charming as always, EXO’s leader Suho has definitely left with new fans to add to the millions of others who look up to him. SM Entertainment shared the update on its Twitter and called it “sharing personal stories as a K-Pop artist of how he felt the global influence of Korean culture in everyday life at through recreable content “”.

Join the biggest community of K-Pop fans live on Pinkvilla Rooms to get closer to your favorite K-Celebs! Click here to join.

ALSO READ: May 2022 K-Pop Comeback & Debut Schedule: TXT, iKON, SEVENTEEN, Kang Daniel & More

Anthony Anderson graduated from HBCU.

According to The Wrap, the “Law & Order” star – who plays Det. Kevin Bernard on NBC’s longtime police procedural — graduated from Howard University with a BFA from the newly established Chadwick Boseman College of Fine Arts. The outlet confirms that Anderson did not receive an honorary degree – on the contrary, the outlet confirms that the actor and comedian returned to school alongside his son, Nathan, to earn the degree thanks to an honest day’s work.

Previously, Anthony Anderson revealed he dropped out of the prestigious HBCU for financial reasons – and it was his son who inspired his return to college.

“Thank you to my son @hotboynato for inspiring me to go back to school to complete my degree after being accepted to Howard University. This is just the beginning!” he wrote, in part, on his Instagram page, which you can see below.

It’s just the latest achievement for the longtime actor, whose success on shows such as “Black-ish” (opposite Tracee Ellis Ross – where he earned around $400,000 an episode before it won’t air) earned him a net worth of $25 million, per Celebrity Net Worth. And, as he said, this is just the beginning.

Let’s see how her two children chart their own paths to success.

Editorial Note: The net worth shown in this article is a speculative estimate taken from various online sources.

Kyra Anderson

According to her Instagram page, Kyra Anderson is a postpartum doula in Houston, TX. Her account says she’s a certified Mama Glow doula, which means she’s part of “a global maternity education organization providing #doula service to #pregnant #women and new #mums.” Kyra also said she’s been “on the road” for a year.

Nathan Anderson

Like his father, Nathan Anderson graduated from Howard University. He is also following in Anthony’s footsteps in the entertainment industry as an entertainer.

The Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies will wrap up its 50+1 anniversary celebration with a symposium April 21 at the Cook Center for Public Arts and Humanities, according to the AAADS website. The 50th anniversary celebration has been moved to 2022 to avoid complications from the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the AAADS website.

The 50+1 anniversary is a celebration throughout this spring semester honoring 51 years of the AAADS department at IU. The celebration includes events such as panel discussions on African and African-American history, contemporary issues in African-American culture and more.

The symposium will also showcase the history, culture, and achievements of AAADS students, according to the symposium website. AAADS Professor Valerie Grim will lead the symposium along with Michael Tillotson, Associate Professor of African Studies at State University of New York Cortland.

Related: [IU to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month]

The AAADS department was founded in 1970 as the Department of African American Studies, making it one of the oldest departments of its kind in the United States, according to a report by IU Today.

Past anniversary events include a panel discussion on reparations, a presentation of feminist and African diaspora issues through film, and a discussion of Jayna Brown’s book “Black Utopias: Speculative Life and the Music of Other Worlds,” according to the AAADS website.

“North American languages ​​are dying and disappearing tremendously,” linguist Jedd Schrock said in a interview with Underline earlier this month. “A lot of them have already left and we don’t really have a record for them. Kalpauyan is a rare case where there are no speakers, but we have this huge body of existing Kalapuyan recordings.

Esther Stutzman, her two daughters and her granddaughter, Aiyanna Brown, all Kalapuyan descendants and registered members of the confederate tribes of the Siletz Indians, are on a mission to revive the lost language of their ancestors using several voluminous Kalapuya dictionaries . According to the article, these dictionaries are the product of a decade-long passion project by the late Paul Stephen McCartney, Sr., whose fascination with the Kalapuya language compelled him to devote his post-high school teaching years to compile and organize it.

Each four-volume set contains over 3,000 pages and weighs 20 pounds, with two books of English-Kalapuya translations and two of Kalapuya-English translations. McCartney, who died last year at 81, was not a trained linguist but loved the language and thought Kalapuya was “beautiful”, according to Aiyanna Brown, a descendant of Kalapuya.

Learn to speak a silent language

“When Paul contacted us and asked if we wanted our tongue back, of course we said yes,” Brown said. “We didn’t even know it was possible.” Regarding McCartney’s dedication to the project, Brown explained that he wanted to “keep the language alive”.

“This is probably the largest group of Kalapuya speakers in the world,” Stutzman said during a semi-regular language study, which she started at her home in Yoncalla, western Oregon. , after the dictionaries were published in December. “And we speak the language at the preschool level.”

Dictionaries as resources

Schrock and fellow linguist Henry Zenk, Ph.D. in anthropology and is a leading authority on Oregon’s native languages, note that McCartney’s dictionaries are not grounded in core language practices, making them largely unviable as academic resources.

However, they say the extended glossary-like word lists serve as an accessible gateway into the language for non-academics. That assessment is echoed by David Lewis, an enrolled member of the Confederated Grand Ronde Tribes and a professor in the Department of Anthropology and Ethnic Studies at Oregon State University, who advised McCartney early in his efforts.

The usefulness of publications outside of academic circles is evident in the informal speaking sessions at Esther Stutzman.

“Language is a heritage thing,” Schrock said. “If it hasn’t been said for a long time, it takes a lot of courage to try to say it again.”

He added, “The people who can bring Kalapuya back are the Kalapuyan people. So it’s great that Esther and her family are doing this.

The Dictionary Project

McCartney had access to a wealth of written records and some audio recordings of ethnographic interviews with John Hudson, a Santiam Kalapuyan who died in 1954. Hudson has often been referred to as the last “L1” Kalapuya speaker, meaning he has grew up in a home where the language was spoken first. But Zenk says at least one other L1 speaker outlived Hudson — and was likely the last speaker: Stutzman’s great-aunt Laura Blacketer Albertson, née Fearn. According to Stutzman, Albertson died in 1971.

Hudson’s audio files from the 1930s through the 1950s are the only historical sources of spoken Kalapuya, except for recordings of Kalapuya songs from 1914-1915. According to Zenk and Schrock, additional audio recordings may be housed at the Library of Congress, although researchers have yet to locate them.

When McCartney dug into the corpus for his project, he contacted Stutzman and Lewis, the OSU anthropologist and ethnohistorian, for advice. Stutzman remained active throughout the process and enlisted her granddaughter, Brown, who started a GoFundMe page last year to raise money for the printing of dictionaries, just as McCartney’s health was failing.

On his deathbed and unable to speak, McCartney delivered a message to Stutzman inquiring about publication prospects. Stutzman assured him that the dictionaries would be printed. McCartney died two days later.

Thanks to $10,000 raised through GoFundMe, the first set of 100 dictionaries were printed in December. A second set of 50 sets was funded by an additional $3,000 raised. As long as there is demand and funding, Brown says the prints will continue. These early sets were delivered to OSU, the University of Oregon, and Portland State University, as well as K-12 institutions and others.

Using dictionaries

The Stutzmans point out that oral storytelling is an integral part of Kalapuyan culture. Esther, 79, is a respected storyteller and hopes to acquire enough language skills to convey these stories, or at least parts of them, to Kalapuya. Brown, 22, is proud to help facilitate deeper cultural understanding within her generation and for future generations, including her own children one day. She called her role in the project “empowering.”

“Our main hope for dictionaries is to share our language,” Brown said. “As long as we spread our language and our culture and more people see and understand them, they are less likely to disappear.”

She continued, “Language connects people to their heritage, and it’s another way for us to reconnect to our homelands and our ancestors.”

Brown acknowledges that dictionaries are a “starting point,” but not an all-in-one resource for fluency. Stutzman, who is also descended from Western Oregon Coo the peoplehopes more participants will join the language studies, saying, “We really want to start this project and involve a lot more people.”

The Kalapuya people

According to Lewis, who has a Ph.D. in anthropology, the Kalapuya people have lived in western Oregon for nearly 15,000 years, once occupying more than a million acres in the Willamette and Umpqua valleys. Zenk said the Kalapuyans were mentioned in Lewis and Clark’s journals, although the Corps of Discovery never encountered them. The first documented Euro-American contact came through fur traders in 1811, according to Zenk.

The best-preserved Kalapuya dialects, according to Zenk and Schrock, are the northern Tualatin and central dialects of Mary’s River and Santiam, spoken by John Hudson. The linguistic lineage of the Stutzmans goes back to Yoncalla, the southernmost tribe for which only word lists and patchy phrase documentation exist, largely derived from field notes of anthropologist Melville Jacobs’ interviews with Albertson, the Esther’s great-aunt, in the late 1920s. McCartney’s dictionaries distinguish between different dialects, which are distinct but similar.

Lewis, who is the great-great-grandson of John Hudson, recounts about 20,000 Kalapuyans historically lived in no less than 19 tribes and tribal bands divided linguistically by regions of the Willamette Valley: North, Central, and South. By 1850, that number had fallen to around 1,000, a catastrophic decline fueled by white settlers introducing new diseases. The Kalapuyans were among several western Oregon tribes to sign treaties with the U.S. government between 1848 and 1855.

Over the years, Lewis said people have sometimes expressed surprise that the Kalapuyans are still around and that modern Native Americans exist.

“I say, ‘Well, I’m here,'” Lewis said. “I feel like the Kalapuyans have been ignored for a very long time. We’ve been wiped from the history books. It’s almost like the story starts with the settlers, the white people in the area. But we start to see more interest.The dictionary is a springboard to help bring more interest and attention to the language itself and to the culture.

By Stacey Newman Weldon