Hanif Abdurraqib

The newly released concert film is a joyous celebration of faith—and of how Aretha moved even secular audiences toward the holy.

Often relegated to the small print, session musicians helped create the most iconic songs of the last century. Hal Blaine was one of the greatest, and quietest, among them.

Don Shirley's actual life was remarkable. In the movie, he's a prop for a white person.

The Trump presidency feels built to wear people down.

For people who exercise great power, accountability after death is a small price to pay.

In director Steve McQueen's new movie, the heist is about much more than money.

If I spend enough of my lived experience fighting my way out of lies, I might find myself too exhausted to receive the truth when I'm done.

The common script is for the oppressed person to offer absolution. But who is served by such forgiveness?

The singer made news with the first real political statement of her career. It was overdue—and oddly depressing.

On Botham Shem Jean and the American obsession with criminalizing dead black people.

The funerals of my Muslim childhood were quick and modest. But I've learned to love the extended gospel funeral. Aretha's homegoing reminded me why.

Beyond tics in dialect, code-switching often requires a shift in ideology.

It's in times of tragedy and shame that I miss Fred Rogers the most.

People love to romanticize empathy. But do they ever act on it?

It finally got too hard for me to separate the sport from the league's flaws—especially its glaring refusal to countenance protest.

Suffering songwriters have long helped listeners feel less lonely. If only we could repay the favor.

West's outlook, like that of the alt-right, claims underdog status as a way of selling an ideology of power.

In the last month, I watched every Timberwolves game in an attempt to tune out something larger.

What happens when suicide forestalls any possibility of justice?

Celebrating three poets whose work is as trenchantly political as anything on an op-ed page: a poetry of labor, of representation, of hope.

Young people have been leading protests for decades. What makes Parkland different?

There are a lot of reasons people dislike the Patriots. Many of them are rooted in the intersection of politics and sports.

Analyzing the persistent pressure on black audiences to root for products that aren't always very good.

A look at Justin Timberlake's rare flexibility in self-fashioning—a flexibility that his idols didn't always enjoy.

Many critics have praised Martin McDonagh's nuanced portrayal of bigotry. But his black characters are mere devices—and the bigot's redemption never really feels earned.

For me, Christmas Carols evoke hope in a way that Christmas itself never can.

Remembering Lando, and Colt 45.

The very things that make outdoor concerts so special—freedom, escape, intimacy with strangers—are the first things that the terrorist tries to take away.

Macklemore has taken a break from checking his privilege. The results are deeply refreshing.

I have seen the movie seven times, and it helped me survive the summer.

The comedian was able to cross over to white audiences without ever bowing to those audiences.

Detroit is yet another example of America's need to exculpate itself by watching black people die.

Why the pop maven ditched the American flag.

On his new record, Staples comes across as an archivist, a relentless world-builder, a griot on the porch.

Tired of these petty, increasingly irrelevant real-life candidates? Here is a deep and methodical analysis of our fictional presidents, and whether America deserves them.

Anxiety is clearest when it’s loud—and most dangerous when it’s quiet.

Marvin Gaye and the unlikely patriotism of resistance.