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Black consumers only like sports games.
This statement comes from professor and game designer Derek Manns while talking at the Game Developers Conference. Many publishers believe that games like the Madden and NBA 2K franchise appeal more to the Black gamers than other games. That is not true.
The world of digital streaming may be gearing up for the battle of the decade all thanks to Jay Z’s latest business venture that may come dangerously close to stepping on Apple’s toes.
Jay Z only recently purchased Aspiro, the Swedish company behind Tidal and WiMP, but it seems he’s already transformed Tidal into a top-notch competitor with the potential to overshadow Apple’s upcoming Beats streaming service.
There are certain names, certain brands and certain businesses that are deemed undefeatable in the eyes of many — hip-hop mogul Jay Z and tech giant Apple are among the names on this list.
So who wins a battle that pits both of these giants against one another?
According to the New York Post’s sources, here is how the match is stacking up so far.
In Apple’s corner we have rap icon Dr. Dre and mega-producer Jimmy Iovine who have been teaming up to overhaul Apple’s upcoming Beats music service.
In Tidal’s corner, we have hip-hop mogul and versatile entrepreneur Jay Z, international singing sensation Beyonce, self-proclaimed creative genius and rap veteran Kanye West, the leader of her own navy and Billboard chart-topper Rihanna … need we go on?
To be fair, all of the music moguls involved have a list of connections in the music and entertainment space that could trump a full encyclopedia set in length, and it’s hard to imagine any of them wouldn’t get their phone calls answered when they’re ready to talk business.
Sources claim, however, that Jay Z is possibly the only man who is actually more connected than the Beats duo.
“There’s only one person with a bigger Rolodex than Jimmy Iovine and that’s Jay Z,” one source said.
Jay Z’s advantage doesn’t just stop at connections and contacts either.
While Tidal is earning a reputation as the streaming platform “by artists, for artists,” Apple’s iTunes service has already garnered a negative reputation for playing hardball with record labels.
That type of reputation could be difficult to overcome as the company prepares to launch its Beats service.
“Jay Z’s whole approach is, they’re created by artists, supported by artists,” one anonymous label executive told the New York Post. “The more players the better.”
With Roc Nation under Jay Z’s belt as well, he has a plethora of key players in the music business that his company represents, including Kanye West and DJ DeadMau5.
It creates a possible team roster that is not only extensive in size and impressive in the overall quality of music, but also extremely diverse.
With his own loyal following of hip-hop heads, his wife’s team of pop-loving BeeHive dwellers and DJ DeadMau5’s fanbase of both progressive-house music lovers and those who are just fascinated with his funky mouse heads, Tidal already has a diverse network ready to be tapped into.
Not to mention Tidal made a huge play by securing a deal with Taylor Swift shortly after she cut ties with Spotify.
“If you are Jimmy, you’ve got to be thinking, this guy is beating me to the punch at trying to get all the artists,” another source said.
Jay Z’s rumored guest list for his New York launch event for Tidal on Monday is yet another look into the wide span of award-winning artists who are getting behind the service.
Reports revealed that Rihanna, Madonna and Coldplay are just a few of the major stars who are rumored to be attending the lavish event.
It all signifies a few powerful first blows coming out of Tidal’s corner, but since Apple’s Beats service doesn’t plan on launching until the summer it’s hard to gauge how powerful the response will be from the opposing corner.
Regardless, one thing is already certain.
As another source put it, Jay Z is clearly “disrupting Apple’s venture.”
Made with Code – Maddy
Source: Made With Code
At some point, nearly every child had dreams of being a superhero.
The most compelling conversations on the playground centered around what superpower would be the coolest to have or debating the end result of an epic Superman versus Batman battle.
It was action and fantasy that drove most children to have superhero-filled dreams.
For Milumbe Haimbe, that wasn’t the case.
Haimbe also shared a deep desire to become a superhero, but it wasn’t about a cool costume or unleashing vengeance on the evil villains of elementary school.
It was about the possibility of creating and defending a world of peace, a world of economic equality, a world free of stress and depression. She wanted to be the heroine who created a world that was essentially the exact opposite from that of her own.
“I grew up in Zambia in the 1980s, an era that marked the beginning of the country’s worst economic crisis,” she wrote in a special post for CNN. “My childhood memories are of a prolonged state of emergency that was characterized by acute food shortages and an economic decline where the basic needs of the average Zambian family were barely met.”
That very real universe that created Haimbe’s reality left her, her siblings and her close friends working to develop an extraterrestrial language that might be able to reach some of the most popular superheroes of the time.
“Our goal was to send an SOS out to the superheroes in the galaxies,” she added.”…[P]erhaps a spaceship would come down to Earth to save us from our dreary lives and carry us into outer space.”
With so many popular heroic figures to choose from, Haimbe had no idea if it would be Superwoman or the Incredible Hulk rescuing her and her siblings from their “dreary lives.”
What she did know was that the hero would probably be a male and would definitely be white.
At least that’s what mainstream America would want her to think.
The creative spirit inside her grew into an impassioned woman who knew it was about time that younger women in Africa had a young, Black super-powered girl to aspire to be like some day.
So Haimbe created Ananiya.
Ananiya is a 17-year-old girl who joined a fictional resistance at the age of 13 in Haimbe’s graphic novel “The Revolutionist.”
“The Revolutionist” is still described by Haimbe as a “work in progress.”
The series will follow Ananiya as she navigates the complexities of a distant future that is still far too much like the past.
“As the masses are thrust into a state of emergency, Ananiya’s world is characterized by curfews police raids, censorship and propaganda,” Haimbe continues. “Will the revolution overcome? With this literary and visual offering, I describe a world that is both like — and at the same time very much unlike — our own. As a young, Black female, my protagonist, Ananiya, is the most unlikely hero for the revolution.”
Samuel R. Delany
Delany is a successful sci-fi author and literary critic. He has taught at the University of Buffalo and at Temple University. Over his long career, he has earned four Nebula Awards and two Hugo Awards — one for “Babel-17” in 1966 and the second for “The Einstein Intersection” in 1967. His novels focus on issues of sexuality, mythology and language. Some of his sci-fi works include: “The Bridge of Lost Desire,” “Distant Stars,” “Driftglass: Ten Tales of Speculative Fiction,” “The Einstein Intersection,” “Empire: A Visual Novel,” “Empire Star,” “Equinox,” “The Fall of the Towers,” “Flight from Neveryon (Return to Neveryon),” “Hogg,” “The Jewels of Aptor,” “Mad Man,” “They Fly at Ciron,” “Times Square Red, Times Square Blue,” “Trouble on Triton: An Ambiguous Heterotopia.”
Virginia Hamilton
Hamilton is a children’s author who has written 40-plus books in her career. Her most popular work is “M.C Higgins, the Great.” That book earned her the Newbery Award in 1975 and the National Book Award in 1974. Her books include: “The All Jahdu Storybook,” “The Dark Way: Stories from the Spirit World,” “Dustland (Odyssey 2),” “Justice and Her Brothers (Odyssey 1),” “The Gathering (Odyssey 3),” “The House of Dies Drear,” “The Mystery of Drear House: The Conclusion of the Dies Drear Chronicle,” “Sweet Whispers,” “Brother Rush.”
Ava DuVernay
DuVernay is obviously one of the first directors to come to mind, and it’s not just because of her recent sweep of award season nominations. DuVernay’s Selma proved that she has the ability to navigate the complexities of the ever-present humanity that still lies behind a great hero, and that’s going to be key when it comes to Marvel’s Black Panther film. “Selma showed her ability to deconstruct the myth of a heroic figure like Martin Luther King and reveal his humanity,” The Mary Sue wrote of the director. “And not only does she reveal the man behind the legend, she shows how much the man who helped shape a movement could leave such a powerful legacy that would be elevated to mythical status. The tension between the man and the mythos is at the heart of most successful superhero stories, and is particularly crucial for the Black Panther, who is not simply a costumed crusader but a leader of a nation.”
Ryan Coogler
Coogler has actually emerged as a crowd favorite on many online forums and in some social media circles. Coogler is the man responsible for capturing the emotionally charged, politically compelling social commentary that was present throughout Fruitvale Station. The film captured the tragic and heartbreaking story of Oscar Grant, the unarmed Black father who was fatally shot by a BART police officer in Oakland, California. “Coogler’s exploration of police violence avoids being simply a preachy drama focusing on a tragic moment in recent history,” The Mary Sue explains. “Instead, it is a deeply moving character study whose protagonist is far more than just a tragic victim, depicted as a deeply sympathetic and fallible human being who is instantly relatable.” That ability to leave the “preachy” approach behind while still pulling key social commentary and controversial discussions to light is exactly what Black Panther’s director would need to possess.
The Venice Biennale has taken progressive steps in regards to diversity, appointing its first African director, Okwui Enwezor, in December 2013. Now the annual contemporary art exhibition is set to take further steps forward by including more than 35 Black artists in the 56th annual Venice Biennale (May 9 to Nov. 22, 2015). Enwezor (also the director of the Haus der Kunst museum in Munich, Germany) states, “No event or exhibition of contemporary art has continuously existed at the confluence of so many historical changes across the fields of art, politics, technology, and economics, like la Biennale di Venezia,” and the inclusion of so many black artists is reflective of that. Featured artists include Kerry James Marshall (work pictured), Wangechi Mutu, Chris Ofili and Steve McQueen.
This post is courtesy of AFROPUNK. To read more from Alexander Aplerk visit afropunk.com
America Chavez (Marvel)
Chavez goes by the codename Miss America and serves as the leader of the Young Avengers. Her strange and mysterious past as an inter-dimensional powerhouse would be a sight to see on film. America Chavez was raised by her mothers in the Utopian Parallel, where they sacrificed themselves to protect her. Her powers include: flight, super strength and the ability to kick inter-dimensional portals open.
Batwing (Lucas Fox) (DC)
The second Batwing is the son of Lucius Fox, weapons builder for Bruce Wayne. This Batwing is reminiscent of Batman Beyond, where Batman serves as a mentor to the hero, and a suit with enhanced features gives the wearer abilities. Lucas Fox has had many confrontations with his father about becoming a hero, and the drama could play well on the big screen.
“Lannister. Baratheon. Stark. Tyrell. They’re all just spokes on a wheel. This one’s on top, then that one’s on top and on and on it spins. Crushing those on the ground. I’m not going to stop the wheel. I’m going to break the wheel.”
And just like that, Daenerys enters the Game of Thrones monologue hall of fame. Let’s be clear, Dem Thrones is the most interesting TV show on, period. You wanna battle out for that “Best” title? Go ‘head, homie. I’ll be over here enjoying some Arbor Gold in the brothel that Petyr Baelish left behind in King’s Landing while you’re working out those semantics. Don’t worry about the fact that half of the most compelling characters we started with are dead now, season 5 expands the world even more on top of a world you needed a TI-86 calculator to keep track of anyway.
Now, my fellow Senators, I’ll direct you to the gentleman from New York, Mr. Calhoun, who is less than optimistic about Thrones moving forward because of the quality drop-off of the books in the series. I would counter that the goodwill that David Benioff and Dan Weiss (the showrunners) have built over the first four seasons and the problems with the source (Books 4: “Feast for Crows” and 5: “Dance of Dragons”) give these cats a lot more license to go way left and improve upon the mythology. These dudes are prime to go off script. Think of this as every time Kanye West shows up at an awards show without the white tears and 40 think pieces the next day.
As I’ve written before, your boy is still pretty excited for what is coming this season because Westeros and Essos are still the best vacation spots every spring; as long as you don’t actually have to visit there and can people watch from your couch.
0:20 – I know he’s like, 14, but Tommen is probably a terrible kisser. Him getting the greenlight with Margery Tyrell is like being born with a silver spoon in your mouth while kissing one of the most beautiful women on TV before you’re 15th Nameday.
0:30 – Tyrion sees a dragon flying overhead and is in equal awe that HBO expanded its CG budget.
0:36 – Pretty sure the dragon getting his Smaug in (pre Desolation) is Drogon, the one that Daenerys named after her late husband Khal Drogo. You know, the big black one that is perceived as the most dangerous and unruly of the dragons. Gotdamnit George. Really? Sigh.
0:49 – Brienne…in the snow…ok.
1:08 – Yo Chess Game!
1:16 – If you don’t read the books, you may not know them yet, but the Sons of the Harpy got no chill whatsoever. They’re like the Guilty Remnant from The Leftovers with swords and birthright.
Source: Read more from William Evans at Black Nerd Problems
“The Untamed” is a graphic novel comprised of seven comic books. In the prologue, a character known as the Stranger makes a deal with his wife that allows him to rise up from the pit of hell. Armed with his burning hatred and the knowledge that he can’t be killed by mortal means, Stranger is resolved to make good on his promise.
The Stranger is given an ultimatum: Escape hell for seven days for the price of seven guilty souls or a chance for revenge. A chance for vengeance. The Stranger finds out they’re the same in the end.
Ten years ago, in the town of Oasis, Stranger ruled with wretched wickedness; his only hope of salvation was his wife and young daughter. But when Stranger was betrayed by one of his followers, he and his family were murdered. Now, Stranger’s only objective is to end those who ended him and finally reunite with his family.
Along the way, Stranger meets Niobe Ayutami, an innocent child who reminds him of his daughter, reunites with his young con-man apprentice Stutters and squares off more than once with his brother, Phylax. He and Phylax both love a woman named Lariel, a master manipulator who complicates Stranger’s mission all the more. Each day, Stranger is faced with any number of obstacles – from supernatural creatures such as Silver Elves and Morkai (children of the moon) to human foes like the new mayor of Oasis and his guards. These enemies require every ounce of his intelligence, hatred and knowledge of his city to overcome. Will Stranger be cunning and ruthless enough to deliver on his promise of seven guilty souls in seven days?
Darrell May and Peter Bergting drew most of the gorgeous artwork for “The Untamed,” and the duo had many other contributing artists submitting stunning character designs along the way for warrior-like Silver Elves and a menacing skeletal priest among other creatures. Notably, the character of Niobe is based on Amandla Stenberg (Rue from The Hunger Games). With her long braids, striking face, along with one intense blue eye and one brilliant brown eye, it’s nearly impossible to forget why she represents purity and Stranger’s morality.
Throughout the series, the colors literally jump off the page, thanks to the artists’ consistency in choosing certain colors for certain scenarios. For example, with the exception of a few kills, every time a murder is committed, the page is drawn in ethereal colors: deep grays, cloudy blues and jet blacks. This makes the brilliant red of the blood spatter stand out on the page so that readers’ eyes are drawn to it and invariably linger a moment or two.
Read more from guest blogger Diondra Powers at Black Girl Nerds