Chef: A Review
Every once in a while you hit a movie that is just plain beautiful. I mean, real life beautiful. The […]
Jason Farley
Black History Month’s Startling Omission
I love basketball. In particular, I love the NBA. I watch a game multiple times a week. And every February
Milton’s Political Uselessness
In 1652 John Milton went completely blind. His eyes had been waning, the world fading, for some time. The darkening
Dance with Us – Dance and the Christian Life
Team Farley has a number of Family Rules that are beyond discussion. Rule #1: When Billy Idol comes on the
Psalms With a Southern Accent – My Soul Among Lions
In my first church job the Pastor gave me a bit of advice that stuck. Children learn most of their
Kill You to Call – Nicki Bluhm and The Blues as Connection
The Blues are sad songs. No one wants that. And yet The Blues persist. There is little reason to believe
It’s Edited: Don’t be Duped by the Newsertainment
Editing is an art form. My son Cedric was coming in the front door a few days ago when
A Manifesto on Art and the Church
The Christian Church is in exile. Not that we are living in tents (though many church buildings may qualify as
Marxism is Boring: The Hyper-Politicization of Public Art
Everyone has to have an overarching story. A mythos that holds what they see and hear together. When I lived in
Bill Maher and the Impotence of the Tiny Heart-Obama
I make my children practice telling jokes at dinner. If I can help it, none of my progeny will have
Is Our Galaxy Worth Guarding? (A Sort-Of-Not-Really Movie Review)
It is true that nobody makes a new earth without first making a new heaven. – G. K. Chesterton (Ffinch 1986, 278) I
When the People Cheer – Strip-Clubs and Black Thought’s Poetic Insight
On The Roots newest album ‘. . . and then you shoot your cousin,” one of the most powerful tracks is ‘When the People Cheer.’ Each stanza is written from a different perspective. The third stanza, Black Thought’s stanza, is written from the perspective of a sex addict that has reached both a financial and existential low because he is enslaved to sexual pleasures. He knows that what he is doing is wrong, but he can no longer resist the strip clubs. He turns in to an after-hours joint to blow his last dollar on a lap dance.
Packaging the Tribe: Selling More than Music
Netflix’ new documentary Hip Hop Evolution is a history of the development and rise of Hip Hop and Rap. In one of the interviews, Ice T, a primeval purveyor of Gangster Rap, talks about his early rhymes: “I was just writing about my reality.” He was trying to capture “the laid back vibe of reality.” The people in the neighborhood listened because they recognized their life in his words. According to Ice Cube, another early Gangster Rapper, Ice T wrote rhymes that “were our version of what a day in the life of Los Angeles was like.” They were not trying to create a new genre. They wanted to fetter their daily insanity with verse.