In the spring of 2004, I quit hip-hop. It wasn’t the first time. Our relationship was stormy from the start. Hip-hop was my first literature, and it was Rakim, not Fitzgerald, who first made me ...

Despite hip-hop ruling us in the 80s, and the general prohibition on "liking that white shit," there were always certain groups that broke through. No idea why. But among them were Tears For Fears.

In college, I was astounded by how many white people considered themselves serious fans of Public Enemy. Somehow, one of the most pro-black hip-hop groups in history became the sound track for ...