Going Black: The Commodification of Hip-Hop Culture
“The commodification of hip-hop leads to a watering down of its content. As corporations try to capture as much of the market as possible, they ‘tone down’ hip-hop’s radical aspects to make it as palatable for consumers as possible.”
The 126-Year-Old White Gaze of Vogue
Why does it matter so much to have a black photographer shooting the cover of Vogue? Tyler Mitchell is the first in the magazine’s long history.
US Embassy
“I wanted to punch Uncle Sam and scream” – Tzy Jiun Tan visits the US embassy in Malaysia, in a poem amid the Trump regime.
On Interracial Relationships, The Sunken Place and Middle-Class Whiteness
“I started noticing all the times when my Dad and siblings were the only people of colour in a social group.” — Zoe Jane Patterson weaves personal experience with an analysis of Jordan Peele’s film Get Out to talk about race.
Alphabet for the Second Language
Tzy Jiun Tan recontorts the alphabet to free herself from a colonial tongue.
Only in Poetry, I have power
A middle finger to white guilt. New in milk & vodka.
It is more than just Rendang
Food is cultural history and ancestral pride. Tzy Jiun Tan writes about Malaysian Rendang.
Worms; Or, Why White People Don’t Know How to Talk About Race
"White privilege is the pathetic squeak of indignation that comes when someone suggests that something is not about us," Zoe Patterson writes in this new essay.