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Social Brew. (Picture by Kelton Mattingly) Simone Ispahani took her love of coffee and combined it with her will to serve others and founded Social Brew, a new e-commerce specialty coffee company. Social Brew donates half of its proceeds to organizations fighting against human trafficking.Ispahani was a student at Biola University, in her senior year, when she co-led a three-week mission trip to India to work with women and children […]

Pharrell’s Something in the Water festival took place in Washington D.C., featuring acts such as Moneybagg Yo, Chloe x Halle, and Anderson .Paak with an all-star performance from the visionary artist himself. Joining the ranks of Drake’s OVO Fest, J. Cole’s Dreamville, Travis Scott’s Astroworld, and JAY-Z’s Made in America, Pharrell’s Something in the Water Festival is one of the many celebrity-branded music fests that have popped up over the […]

When it comes to the BET Awards, nominations for Black queer artists — especially out queer men —  have been far and few between. Since the beginning of his career, Lil Nas X has mastered the art of controversy. The rapper has used his platform to create waves of discourse — and sometimes even dysfunction — with his wild antics. From videos with satanic imagery to even selling blood-infused sneakers, […]

Brooklyn-based singer Yaya Bey is creating intricate R&B that speaks to her healing journey. Bey speaks with us about the core of ‘Remember Your North Star’, her confessional and emotionally honest album.  Yaya Bey’s newest R&B album is a healing balm she created for herself as she navigated the past few years of the pandemic. Aptly titled Remember Your North Star, Bey said that the 18-track project is a product […]

Hold onto your wigs, the Queen is back. Four days after announcing the release date of her seventh solo studio album, the eagerly anticipated act i: RENAISSANCE (out July 29), Beyoncé dropped the project's lead single, "BREAK MY SOUL." A co-production between Beyoncé, Tricky Stewart and The-Dream (who last collaborated on 2009's "Single Ladies"), "BREAK MY SOUL" honors a long lineage of liberatory queer anthems, like Diana Ross' "I'm Coming […]

Carlos Simon is a young composer on the rise, with an ear for social justice. His best known work so far, Elegy, is a string quartet in honor of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner. Next year, a large-scale tribute to George Floyd will premiere with the Minnesota Orchestra, and Simon's new album, Requiem for the Enslaved has just been released. The piece confronts Georgetown University's troubled past and […]

Beyoncé is back. Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has announced a new album, titled Renaissance, out July 29 according to a new listing for a Renaissance CD and products on her website. Several streaming services, including TIDAL and Spotify, also announced the forthcoming Beyoncé release on social media. No further details about the new album have been released. Rumors of a new 2022 release first started to spread online June 9 after Beyoncé […]

Anyone still waiting for their dream job will appreciate the meandering career path of Bartees Strange: As a teenager, he seemed to be destined for greatness on the football field in Oklahoma, then ended up... as a spokesman for the F.C.C. "I was the deputy press secretary, so I did a lot of pitching for the chairman," he tells NPR's Morning Edition. "One of those things was pitching a lot […]