Skip to Main Content

ADVERTISEMENT

Andrew Ricketts is a writer based in Brooklyn, New York. He writes about how pop culture shapes and reflects identity and has learned to trust only his mother's love and well-ripened plantains. His essays do best with sunlight and closed comments.

ADVERTISEMENT

opinion

How Lil Wayne Played Trump—And the Rest of Us

IT AIN’T TRICKIN’ IF YA GOT IT

A funny thing happened on the way to the Forbes List: Rap became less Public Enemy and more Cash Money Millionaire.

Andrew Ricketts | Published Jan 20, 2021
opinion

Behind the Mask, MF DOOM Was an Artist’s Artist

‘WHAT MY TOMB WILL SAY’

Daniel Dumile took the lesson of Paul Laurence Dunbar’s seminal poem and donned the mask to turn his career into a case study for anyone Black who wants to create without limits.

Andrew Ricketts | Published Jan 01, 2021
opinion

The Game Is Trying to Cheat Scoring Machine James Harden

WHO’S ZOOMING WHO?

Why are so many fans and writers pulling for a billionaire owner who made a fortune off of cheap labor over a player who’s changed the game? You guessed it: Race.

Andrew Ricketts | Published Dec 13, 2020
opinion

Chet Hanks Joined Clubhouse. Then All Hell Broke Loose.

MARKETPLACE OF IDEAS

The rapper-son of Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson joined the invite-only app. Like many talks on the elitist platform, it soon devolved into a messy exchange on race and privilege.

Andrew Ricketts | Published Dec 04, 2020
opinion

Why White Women Keep Getting Caught Pretending to Be Black

DOLEZAL DÉJÀ VU

Common to these scams is a willful displacement of Black people in positions of visibility, influence, and power.

Andrew Ricketts | Published Nov 27, 2020
opinion

Black Students Know the Price of Megyn Kelly’s White Lies

ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK

Megyn, I’m an alumnus of the elite school you withdrew your sons from. Your phony claim it’s a “woke” bastion now helps explain how it’s remained a cruel place for Black students.

Andrew Ricketts | Published Nov 24, 2020
opinion

The Most Ridiculous Blackness Impersonator Yet Is No Joke

‘JUST ONE MORE THING’

It’s an open secret that Blackness buys clout on social media. A white pol and troll getting nailed for sock-puppeting as “a black gay guy” is the fun-house mirror version of that.

Andrew Ricketts | Published Nov 11, 2020
opinion

This Election Again Exposed the Lie of American Greatness

SOME DREAM

The era of jingoism and wealth inequality has eclipsed the fertile red clay dreams that drew my Auntie Joy and Aunt Lu to immigrate here.

Andrew Ricketts | Published Nov 08, 2020
opinion

Slick, Insecure Soloists—Trump and 50 Cent Are Two of a Kind

QUEENS REIGNS SUPREME?

50 joins Cube and Kanye as middle-age rappers who became sad examples of how hip-hop’s solo acts cling to an outdated, broken code of ethics—one that the president can relate to.

Andrew Ricketts | Published Oct 21, 2020
opinion

I’m a Social Media Pro. My Cousin Is a Social Media Target.

CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF

YouTube’s trends dominate my professional life managing million-follower accounts, but I wasn’t ready for the infectious influence of its half-baked ideas in my personal network.

Andrew Ricketts | Published Oct 20, 2020

ADVERTISEMENT