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A new exhibition by Kehinde Wiley in Houston displays his work in a captivating array of light and darkness.
At the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, a new exhibition by the venerated artist Kehinde Wiley is drawing heavy attention as part of a burgeoning movement by other Black artists utilizing light and darkness to enhance the impact of their artwork. The exhibition, entitled “An Archeology of Silence”, shows Wiley’s prowess at conveying the enforced silence of systemic oppression and violence inflicted on Black and Brown bodies. “That is the archaeology I am unearthing: The specter of police violence and state control over the bodies of young Black and Brown people all over the world,” Wiley writes in the description of the exhibition on the museum’s website, which continues the artistic path of his 2008 exhibition “Down”, which was inspired by works from 16th-century artist Hans Holbein the Younger, particularly “The Dead Christ In The Tomb”. Wiley’s artwork is highlighted with “framing projectors”, fixtures at each installation that focus the light in the perimeter of the artwork, thus avoiding spillage or shadows. The effect gives paintings the same visual effect of light upon stained glass.
The usage of strategically placed light on the artwork is in syncopation with other notable Black artists with exhibitions, such as the renowned Betye Saar’s “Drifting Towards Twilight” at the Huntington Library, Art Museum and Botanical Garden in Southern California and photographer Dawoud Bey’s “Elegy” exhibition which recently closed at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, where the somber lighting lent “emotional weight” to his large-scale pictures of sites near the Underground Railroad and the Richmond Slave Trail. “Twilight is the magical time, we know that,” said Saar, 97, of her latest work connecting to the human life cycle. “That’s when nothing is definite, it’s always changing, that’s the way life is.”
Wiley began to create these works with the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement and the COVID-19 pandemic, which feature Black and Brown individuals dressed in contemporary fashion down to fitted baseball caps and Timberlands styled after saints, martyrs, heroes, and other figures from the European historical painting masters such as Goya, Titian, and Michaelangelo. After its run ends in Houston on May 27, the exhibition will travel to the Perez Museum of Art in Miami, Florida where it will be on display until January 12, 2025, then moving on to the Minneapolis Institute of Art until next June.
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Bun B recently discussed his involvement with the Houston Rodeo as well as the lineup for his upcoming All-American Takeover, including Rick Ross.
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Veteran rapper Bun B is a true representative of his home state of Texas, and in a recent interview, he shared how he got to be involved with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo for his Takeover concert series celebrating Black cowboys and their contributions to Western culture. In speaking with The Madd Hatta on his Majic 102.1 radio show, the UGK MC was asked about how he got involved.“So, I had been part of a sounding board for the rodeo for a couple of years,” Bun B began, “They would come and sit with me and ask my opinion on different directions they wanted to go in.” Bun B had first performed at the event back in 2007 when Beyonce delivered her concert performance.
He continued: “There was a relationship that was formed. And then two years ago they asked, “Hey if we gave you a day, what would you do?” Just like that. And I had this very grandiose idea of bringing all these people in and we just gotta get a jet, and all that.” The “Still Trill” rapper then revealed that his wife helped him scale down his plans a bit. “That just seems like a whole lot of trouble. Why don’t you just bring a bunch of Houston people ‘cause they all live here, they can just drive,” he said.
That led to the H-Town Takeover, which featured Paul Wall, Lil Keke, Lil Flip, and Slim Thug in 2022. In its second year, the Southern Takeover featured Erykah Badu, Big K.R.I.T., Big Mike, David Banner, MJG, and Scarface. For this third year, the All-American Takeover looks to be just as huge as Rick Ross will take the stage along with Nelly, Too Short, and E-40 along with That Mexican OT. More artists are expected to be announced. The show will take place on March 12 to close out the festivities, and it will be held at Houston’s NRG Stadium. The rodeo itself will kick off on February 27. Tickets for the All-American Takeover can be found on the Houston Rodeo’s website.
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Roda Osman, a Texas woman largely referred to as “Brick Lady” on social media, has been charged with making a false assault claim where she said she was hit in the face with a brick. Osman went viral after sharing a video of injuries that were linked to the assault, raising over $40,000 on GoFundMe in the process.
Local outlet KPRC 2 reports that Roda Osman, 33, was charged with felony theft by deception after investigators discovered that Osman’s story didn’t add up. According to the report, Houston police responded to the scene of the alleged assault on Sept. 3 of last year, meeting with Osman and another woman. According to the officers, Osman was reportedly under the influence and hostile.
Osman told police that she was walking in the city when a man threw a brick at her for not giving up her phone number, according to findings from the court documents. Adding to this, Osman claimed that the driver of an Uber car service she ordered was the man who assaulted her and said that the man was part of a human trafficking scheme.
Almost two weeks later on Sept. 15, detectives attempted to contact Osman by phone but the number belonged to the woman that was on the scene of the alleged assault. The woman said she was not a native of Houston and went out drinking with Osman that night and added that Osman called male friends to provide transportation.
The woman said that when the pair entered the vehicle, Osman yelled out “why you hit me” but said she didn’t hear any sort of argument or discussion beforehand. Off the record, the woman said she didn’t think Osman was hit by a brick. The woman then said that the man suspected of hitting Osman exited the car and entered another vehicle before driving off. It was then that Osman decided to go live on Instagram with the woman suggesting she contact the authorities.
Days later on Sept. 20, Houston detectives obtained surveillance video footage and located Olan Douglas, the man Osman claimed hit her. Charging documents say that Douglas and Osman were arguing with Douglas reportedly swinging his right hand and striking Osman in the face with what appeared to be a plastic water bottle. This information has some supporters of Osman saying she was indeed assaulted but there was also an alleged account that Osman struck Douglas first.
As it stands, the issue is that the story Osman gave police neglected to reveal that she knew the man who allegedly struck her instead of it being a random person who was harassing her during her night out. This prompted Daphne Sutton, a popular TikTok user, to call Houston police and suggest that Osman made everything up because of an incident that allegedly place in Minnesota in 2020.
Sutton gave Houston police the GoFundMe link from 2020 that shared a similar bent to the Houston attack story and also obtained statements from Osman’s former roommate and friends. Minneapolis police said to Houston officials that Osman never reported the alleged assault despite launching the GoFundMe page. The roommate that Sutton spoke with also reached out to Houston police and said that Osman was scamming people out of money.
Roda Osman, who had prior criminal charges in the Virgin Islands, Minnesota, and across Texas, is currently out on bail for felony assault and domestic violence connected to an incident in Minnesota.
On X, formerly Twitter, many are reacting to the news. We’ve captured comments from all sides below.
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The childhood home of one of music’s most iconic stars went up in flames in the early morning hours of Christmas Day. According to a report from ABC13, the former home of Beyoncé, located in the 2400 block of Rosedale Street in Houston’s Third Ward, caught fire around 2 AM local time.
The fire reportedly ripped through the second story of the home where the family that lives there now was still dressed in festive holiday pajamas. According to accounts from those on the scene, no one was hurt in the fire which was reportedly under control within moments of the arrival of Houston’s Fire Department.
“They did a great job. I’m going to say in less than 10 minutes, we had a really good grip on this fire,” District Chief Justin Barnes said.
HFD is still trying to determine the cause of the fire.
The Knowles family has long since moved out of the home, but fans still consider it an iconic landmark.
While Beyoncé no longer lives in Houston, she and her family regularly host charitable events in the city. In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the global superstar and her mother, Tina Knowles, helped set up mobile testing sites in her hometown, according to CNN.
Beyoncé has offered no comment about the fire at this time.
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Source: iOne Digital / Urban One
Houston’s Honeyland Festival went down November 11 & 12 in Crown Festival Park and it was a heaping helping of Black excellence in the food, beverages, music, and art industries.
Urban One was proud to be an Official Media Partner and was on the ground to document the festivities that included Texas rap legend Bun B on hand to serve up his Trill Burgers to attendees.
“Everybody here is a Black vendor, on some level. It’s targeted for our demographic, but it’s by our demographic,” said Bun B of the festival.
Some of the acts who performed included Coco Jones, Tobe Nwigwe, Summer Walker, Miguel and Chlöe Bailey. Urban One spoke to a few Hip-Hop legends including Scarface, Slim Thug and Z-Ro, and Paul Well, besides the aforementioned Bun B.
Watch them discuss participating in the Honeyland Festival and what it means to put on for Houston in the video above.
The inaugural Honeyland Festival produced by Live Nation Urban and Endeavor-owned IMG, opens this weekend at Crown Festival Park in Sugar Land, Texas, just outside Houston.
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Headlined by Mary J. Blige, Miguel and Summer Walker (who was announced as a replacement for Jazmine Sullivan last month) the festival combines high-end eats, wine and beer for a two-day experience dedicated to celebrating and elevating Black culture.
“Black customers are underserved in the festival space and want an experience where they can enjoy food and wine and music,” says Kevin Shivers, agent and partner at Endeavor-owned WME who pitched the idea for Honeyland to WME President Mark Shapiro as a “Black Bottlerock,” inspired by Live Nation and Latitude 38’s famous food and wine-centric festival that happens every year in Napa, California.
Shivers, who has booked his artist clients at hundreds of festivals globally, says the idea for Honeyland is to create a similar experience highlighting Black-owned food and wine businesses.
“At many festivals, no matter who is organizing it, white or Black, food is an afterthought, the signage looks bad and guests are drinking out of a plastic cup,” Shivers said. “That’s not a great experience.”
Houston was chosen because of the lack of major festivals in the Texas city, despite being internationally known as the original home of artists including Beyonce, Travis Scott, Megan Thee Stallion.
“You look at Atlanta or D.C. or any of these other markets and there’s a lot of stuff going on. And we thought Houston was pretty open and we found a great site where attendees can come in and make their way around the festival and enjoy music or drinks on their schedule,” Shivers said.
Additional musical performances listed in the star-studded lineup includes Houston rappers Coco Jones, Paul Wall, Slim Thug, Scarface, and Tobe Nwigwe, who will serve as the festival’s “Houston Ambassador.”
Honeyland is being led by Staci Hallmon, IMG’s senior vp, who has previous leadership experience at Walmart, Coca Cola, Disney, Verizon and BET Networks, as well as Essence Magazine where she served as the architect of ESSENCE Festival.
Houston was ranked as the country’s No. 5 culinary destination in the country this year according to Travel + Leisure. Honeyland will highlight Black mixologists, blenders, wine experts and distillers. Single-day general admission ($95), GA+ ($140), and VIP passes ($295) are still available.
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In a new social media video, Texas rap legend Paul Wall surprised his fans with a full head of silver hair and a beard to match.
As reported by HipHopDX, Houston native went on TikTok on Monday (September 18th). “1st off, why my face look like the old man filter lol, we had a lot of fun yesterday, perfoming [sic] halftime with @Louie TheSinger and watching the @Houston Texans,” he wrote in the caption. He’d go on to describe how much fun they had at the game and show love to Texans wide receiver Nathaniel “Tank” Dell.
Fans who tuned in were immediately struck by seeing “The People’s Champ” without the buzz cut and the soul patch that has been his look for two decades. The only parts of his signature style that were evident were the Texas drawl and the stunning gold grills.
“THATS PAUL WALL !!!????” one TikTok user wrote in shock, as another in the comments added: “Ain’t no way this Paul mane.” Another commenter wrote, “When I tell you I thought he was using the old man filter I literally thought he was 20-25.”
Others praised the new look. “He has aged like the finest wine, Lord have mercy,” one wrote with the blowing steam emoji. Another joked, “Paul Wall Lookin like The H-Town Leonardo DiCaprio.”
For the “I’m Throwed” artist, the response to his new look in the video is a sign of his own acceptance of it. In an interview with TMZ, he spoke about being insecure about going gray early. “But honestly, I always had insecurities and hang-ups about my gray hair as a younger person,” Paul Wall began, “Now, I don’t mean to be ageist or any of that, but once I hit 40, it just felt like being gray was more age-appropriate. So as soon as I hit 40, I swear, all my hang-ups, insecurities, they went out the window … I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I’m letting them grays show!’”
Paul Wall is currently looking to release a new album, The Great Wall, in December.
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A video of a Black woman in Houston who was allegedly bashed in the face with a brick by a man she rejected has gone viral and sparked outrage and discussion.
As reported by Madame Noire, in video shared on TikTok, influencer and “junior scholar and former journalist” Rho Bashe posted a clip that showed her brutally beaten in the aftermath of being attacked by an unidentified man with a brick. Bashe tearfully details that the man who attacked her did so because she declined to give him her phone number. “Y’all, this man just hit me in my face with a brick and all these Black men just watched. This man…grabbed a rock and hit me in my face because I wouldn’t give him my number,” she said.
Bashe then started yelling at the onlookers for not taking any action and letting the man leave unbothered. One of them responded, “What did you want us to do?” after the Houston woman yelled at them. “I want you to be a man and do something. You gonna let a man hit me in my face?” she responded. In a follow-up video, Bashe is seen in a hospital gown in tears, with a large swollen lump on the right side of her face.“How is this okay? This is what y’all doin’ to women?”, she said.
The video has gotten numerous views on social media and spurred trolls who’ve cherry-picked videos from Bashe’s account to try to claim that her past actions justified the attack. This has led others to come to her defense, including author Candice Marie Bonbon who wrote a thread on X, formerly Twitter decrying the ill behavior: “Men searched her socials and are using her clips (she’s a feminist) to justify why men shouldn’t have intervened. This is truly hell.”
Bashe posted a follow-up video on TikTok on Tuesday (September 5th), stating that she has endured “a lot of bullying and bullshit” since she posted the original videos. She stated that her assailant “jumped in a car with a bunch of Black women” before getting away. “Y’all know who he is. Put him out there,” she pleaded. “Center his face and then talk about it because he’s the one that got to make a choice. I didn’t get to make a fucking choice.” She would then go on to thank everyone who amplified her story and defended her.
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BTB Savage, a rising rapper based in Houston, Texas, was reportedly shot and killed just hours after posting a photo of him standing in blood. The photo in question was reportedly the aftermath of BTB Savage and his girlfriend shooting and killing an intruder in their home.
Details are scant at the moment and there is a lot of speculation swirling on social media.
What we can say is local outlet ABC13 reports that a man was shot in killed in what appeared to be a targeted attack near the River Oaks section of Houston Thursday (March 30). According to the outlet, the unidentified man was driving a Mercedes when a Subaru pulled up alongside him and fired shots. Two suspects then exited the Subaru and fled on foot.
As seen in ABC13’s video report, several bullet casings were found at the scene and promoted local authorities to deem the attack as targeted. The investigation into the matter is still ongoing.
BTB Savage posted an image on social media that went viral of him standing in blood, which the rapper himself claimed was his handiwork in a recent DJ Vlad interview which can be viewed below. The image in question will not be shared on this page but it is easily searchable online. Further, it appears that BTB used the image to promote a new mixtape titled Too Much Motion.
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As BTB Savage explained in the video, a rapper looking to collaborate came to his home with a crew where he allegedly began casing the surroundings and, in the late rapper’s words, inquired about his chain. This sparked a fight and an exchange of gunfire. BTB’s girlfriend was present during the incident and also discharged a firearm in self-defense.
The chilling image shows the aftermath of the shooting after it was shared yesterday primarily via Twitter. The suspects are still at large. As this story develops, we will return with more details.
We’ve gathered a handful of reactions to BTB Savage reportedly being killed by gunfire from Twitter below.
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Photo: @btb_.savage / Instagram
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The man alleged to have shot and killed Migos member Takeoff last November is now out of jail thanks to a hefty bond being posted.
According to reports, Patrick Xavier Clark was released from the Harris County jail on Wednesday (Jan. 4). His bond was set at $1 million. Clark is set to appear back in court March 9 to stand trial for the murder of Kirshnik Khari Ball, aka Takeoff, one-third of the Atlanta, Grammy Award-nominated group Migos.
The 33-year-old had initially received a bond of $2 million after his arrest by law enforcement Dec. 1. Clark’s lawyers, Letitia Quinones and Carl Moore argued that the bond amount was excessive and unconstitutional. Under the law in Texas, bond amounts are set to ensure that defendants make their date in court and not to confine them unnecessarily if they’re unable to financially post bail. Clark had also surrendered his passport, no longer making him a flight risk.
The conditions of Clark’s release according to court records stipulate that he remains on house arrest. He’s also mandated to wear a GPS monitor to track his movements and cannot have any contact with individuals involved with the shooting investigation. This includes veteran music executive J Prince and his family, along with the family of Takeoff. He is also barred from possessing deadly weapons.
Clark was arrested after Houston police determined he was the prime suspect due to surveillance footage from that night as well as other evidence including his fingerprints that were found on a bottle at the scene. The allegation against Clark is that he pulled out a gun and fired after an argument over a dice game that fellow Migos member (and Takeoff’s uncle) Quavo was involved in outside of a bowling alley. Takeoff was struck in the head and torso and died at the scene, with police deeming him an innocent bystander.
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