The General's Briefing

In 1990, a federal judge in Florida declared an album legally obscene for the first time in U.S. history. The album was  As Nasty As They Wanna Be  by 2 Live Crew. Record store owners were arrested for selling it. Members of the group were arrested for performing it live. The Broward County Sheriff's Office raided stores and confiscated copies. And Luther Campbell, better known as Uncle Luke—t...

I woke up this morning feeling blah. I looked at my phone. And it was dry. Again. And it hurt. Then I thought about Monty—my first love, the man who introduced me to hip-hop. And I felt 12 years old again. Then I started yearning for love. And the anxiety crept in. So I took a nap. Because that's what I do when the pain gets too close. So I started sending out emails. Taking care of business....

Thirty years ago, I was 11 years old when I saw a boy on a talent show tape, rapping on stage. I was immediately captured. A few weeks later, he rode down my street on a moped, stopped, and we talked. And that was it. That was the beginning of everything. His name was Monty. And he was my first love. But Monty wasn't just my first romantic love. He was the boy who introduced me to the grit and...

It's Sunday morning, April 19, 2026. I'm 41 years old, four months shy of my 42nd birthday. And I just woke up with a realization: I deserve to be valued. Not simply treated as pussy. Not simply treated as "high value pussy that is supposed to be unattainable." But valued as a whole human being. And I'm asking myself: How did I get here? How did I learn to accept crumbs? How...

I always tell my friends, "Don't ever sweat a man when he disappears. Because niggas NEVER leave. Sooner or later, he will be back around." And I was right. They always come back. Always. One ex keeps calling. We were on-and-off for six years. And even though I've moved on, even though I've told him I'm done, he keeps calling. Another guy is hitting me up. I met him two y...

A few weeks ago, I received an email that changed everything. The subject line read: "Oxford Handbook of the Harlem Renaissance - Chapter Acceptance." I had to read it three times before I believed it. My chapter, "Godmother's Price: Zora Neale Hurston and the Sacrificial Bargain of Patronage"—had been accepted to the Oxford Handbook of the Harlem Renaissance, published by ...

I want to tell you about three songs that changed the way I understand love, maturation, and the impossible standards Black women are held to. These three songs span 16 years of Jay-Z's career. And together, they tell the complete story of the maturation gap between Black men and Black women: "Song Cry" ( The Blueprint , 2001) - When he wasn't ready "Lost One" ( Kingdom...

I was in the fourth grade when I bought my first TLC album.  Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip.  I had the tape. I played it until it broke. I memorized every word. I studied the album cover. I wanted to be Left Eye. By the time  CrazySexyCool  came out, I was in middle school. And TLC was everything. Me and my friends had dance routines to "Waterfalls" and "Red Light Special." I ha...

I woke up this morning exhausted. Not the kind of tired that sleep can fix. But the kind of tired that comes from disappointment. The kind of tired that comes from realizing something you didn't want to believe. I woke up this morning and I realized: Most people have a price. I've been doing community work my entire adult life. Educating my people. Putting us in spaces we've never been...

I became aware of hip-hop in the late 1990s. And the artist who shaped my understanding of love was Jay-Z. I was a teenager when  The Blueprint  came out in 2001. Jay-Z taught me what love was supposed to look like. In "A Girl's Best Friend," he rapped about diamonds and material love. In "Girls, Girls, Girls," he cataloged all the different types of women he'd been wit...

In this bonus episode, I tell the story of when I fell in love with hip-hop. I was 11 years old when I saw Monty on a talent show tape, rapping on stage. I was immediately captured. A few weeks later, he rode down my street on a moped, stopped, and we talked. And that was it. That was the beginning of everything. I talk about how I started writing rap songs in a composition book because I was in l...

An hour ago, someone sent me a message on Instagram. They said, "That 8Ball & MJG song 'Don't Make' reminds me of you." And they're right. If you know that song, you know exactly what they meant. It's the song where 8Ball is basically saying, "Don't make me have to show you who I am. Don't make me have to remind you that I'm not the one to play wi...

I have 5 businesses. I'm a PhD candidate. I'm a federal program manager. I'm a campaign manager. I'm a community organizer. I'm a mother of two autistic boys. I'm suing the school district and my apartment complex. And by every metric, I'm winning. But I'm also exhausted. And I'm lonely. And I just realized: I haven't been in a relationship longer than 9 mon...

In 1995, Terry McMillan gave us  Waiting to Exhale —four Black women waiting for Black men to get it together. Waiting for them to commit. Waiting for them to choose them. Waiting for them to show up. Waiting to exhale. Thirty years later, in 2026, we're STILL waiting. The last time I was in a relationship that lasted longer than 9 months was from August 2005 to January 2009. That's 3.5 ye...

Twenty years ago, I was raped by a man named Jino Vitale. I went to the hospital. I had a rape kit done. I told the man I loved. And nothing happened. No arrest. No justice. No accountability. Not because the system failed me—though it did. But because I left the hospital before the police arrived. Because the man I loved, Chance, didn't believe me. He said I was only saying it happened becaus...

In 1991, John Singleton released  Boyz n the Hood  with a devastating statistic: "One out of every twenty-one Black American males will be murdered in their lifetime. Most will die at the hands of another Black male." This is the perilous environment—the crooked room Black boys are born into, long before they ever have a chance to make a Faustian Bargain. Before we judge Black men for &q...

In 2016, Beyoncé released  Lemonade  and sang, "He better call Becky with the good hair." The internet exploded. And then, the most predictable thing happened: Beyoncé was blamed. Not Jay-Z. Beyoncé. Fast forward to 2026. Cardi B just had another child while separated from Offset, who cheated on her multiple times, including while she was pregnant with their first child. And the internet...

In 2001, Jay-Z released  The Blueprint  and rapped about the hustle—the streets, survival, and staying real. By 2009, on  The Blueprint 3 , he declared, "I'm not a businessman, I'm a business, man." Same artist. Same series. But a completely different identity. This is the Faustian Bargain in action—the deal Black men make when they achieve mainstream success. They gain wealth, p...

In November 2023, Cassie Ventura filed a lawsuit against Sean "Diddy" Combs, alleging years of physical abuse, sexual assault, and sex trafficking. The lawsuit was settled within 24 hours. And the community said, "Well, she got her bag." Then, in May 2024, CNN released hotel surveillance footage from 2016 showing Diddy brutally assaulting Cassie in a hotel hallway. He kicked he...

On July 12, 2020, Megan Thee Stallion was shot in both feet by Tory Lanez. She told the truth. She identified her shooter. And instead of being believed, she was put on trial—not just in a courtroom, but by us, by the community that should have protected her. Her body was scrutinized. Her sexuality was weaponized. Her pain was turned into a meme. People made jokes. They questioned her story. They...

On February 19, 2026, I organized a historic gubernatorial forum in DeKalb County, Georgia, bringing together candidates, elected officials, and hundreds of voters to engage in the work of democracy. But while I was doing that work as a Black woman, over 350,000 Black women lost their jobs in 2025. Black women's unemployment rate surged from 5.4% to 7.3%, the highest in four years. We made up...

Welcome to the first briefing. In this episode, The General introduces the frameworks that will guide this entire series: the Faustian Bargain and the Sacrificial Bargain—two distinct paths Black men and Black women navigate when they achieve success in America.