You're Grounded!

Blame Imus for the heightened passions flowing after our final DT event: a film screening and panel discussion at University of Chicago, part of a 2-day symposium that asked, "Does Hip-Hop Hate Women?" The Natalies were sitting on a panel of academics when an older black gentleman stood up in the audience, his tan tailored suit suggesting his marched-with-King Civil Rights bonafides. The man proceeded to trash, then dismiss hip-hop with a wave of his hand. Then he stormed off.
*Deep sigh*
Let's be clear: our pre-Imus book contains many, many rants against the misogyny rampant in some kinds of commercial rap--at times subtle, other times expletive-filled. But with all due respect, The Natalies could not sit quietly as our elders condemned the entire culture and generation that we call hip-hop without taking the time to learn anything about it. So Nat. M tried to shed some light:
"You know, I'm really tired of hearing from these Civil Rights Generation folks, who are really smug..."
Yes, as our fellow panelist Mark Anthony Neal remarked later--Nat M. went there.
As the event winded down, a 60-year-old black woman made a beeline down the auditorium steps toward Nat. M, interrupting her conversation with another jaded CRM audience member. "You were out of line!" the woman scolded Nat.
She might as well have sent her outside to fetch a switch off the tree.
Somehow, some people seem to have the mistaken impression that those of us in the Hip-Hop Generation are still children. Um, The Natalies are 30 YEARS OLD! One of us even got kids! We are too damn old to be grounded.
Ironic because the overwhelmingly positive response to the book from our parents' generation has been the most surprising and heartening development we've seen on the book tour. We will take the fact that this little fisticuff happened on our final out of town event as progress.

Turns out we actually are grounded--kinda. We've had a blast touring these past several months, jetting from coast to coast to promote Tyrone. It's been grand, but it is time for us say goodbye. In the words of Megan: 'Well, Mr. Berger - I guess this is it...'

This Spring we both will be starting new gigs--Natalie M. has accepted a position covering Chicago's South Side for Chicago Public Radio. Natalie H. has taken a position as an assignment editor in the Washington Post's Sunday Outlook section.
So...all those snotty jabs you heard us make against mainstream media? How we said there was no one media C-O-N-spiracy because we've worked in MSM and they are not that organized? That stereotypes don't die because they have always worked and media types are too lazy to figure out something new? How the MSM are "not evil," but have "evil-like qualities"?
Just kidding! We will be putting hot sauce on our crow.

Gender & Hip-Hop at U of Chicago

CLICK the image for more details...

The B-word

This photo was taken before a DT event at Illinois Service Federal, one of the oldest black banks in Chicago. In this shot, Nat M. is assuring Ty Andrews, the bank's incredulous assistant V.P. that it is totally OK if he reads the word "bitch"-- out loud-- while he introduced us. Caution is always advised when dealing with that word, but in this case, Bitch is a magazine that has published Nat M.'s work. We always get a kick out of watching people squirm when reading that part of her bio.

Maven, Nat. H's 3-year-old (and Nat. M's goddaughter) came along for this leg of the DT tour in Chicago. She was in good spirits at the bank Friday night--despite dealing with three cancelled flights in one week (#%^$@!@! airlines!). She took her job of handing us the books to sign very seriously. But Maven wasn't feeling well at the next day's DT lecture at Englewood library for the Public Square, part of the Illinois Humanities Council's "Know More" series. She curled up in mommy's lap and slept throughout the lecture and Q&A that followed.

Madame Walker Theatre Center

On March 10, we were the featured authors for the Madame Walker Theatre Center's spring literary series in Indianapolis. It was a homecoming of sorts: Natalie H's mom Serena was the business manager at the historic theater in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She signed the Hopkinson girls up for creative writing, drama and dance in the center's Youth In Arts program. Pictured here are our Indianapolis Fam: Back, from Left to Right: We have Bruce L. Williams, V.P. of the Walker, Serena Hopkinson, Rev. Moja Ajabu (Debo's dad), Kelli & Diana Daniels, Angie & Ann Brown. Front row: Shannon from the Indianapolis Recorder, which co-sponsored the event, and The Natalies. Thanks everyone who came out and Mr. and Mrs. Daniels for the hospitality!

Live From West Palm Beach

Nat. H has NOT defected to the broadcast side of the news business; She is just giving an interview with a local station that filmed a reception and booksigning at her family's home in West Palm Beach, FL. Many city officials stopped by to wish The Natalies well and also see the the progress of the restoration of the house built in 1926 by a Renaissance-Era Tyrone: James Jerome "Cracker" Johnson, a a black man, who made his fortune in real estate and as a bootlegger/numbers runner. Historians say he loaned (bribed?) the city of West Palm Beach $50,000 to balance the budget during the Depression. West Palm Beach Mayor Lois Frankel stopped by, bought a book and delivered some really kind remarks about Deconstructing Tyrone and the family's restoration efforts. Thanks to the Palm Beach Post, especially C.B. Hanif for coming out to Pyramids Bookstore the editor/historian Jan Tuckwood for stopping by the house and publishing this review. Thanks so much to Nat. H's mom Serena Hopkinson for hosting and organizing!
Update: Click HERE to read the article in the Palm Beach Post about the restoration project.

United States of Hip-Hop

Did we dream it?
Jump off yet another plane, open up the Sunday paper, skip to the Washington Post Book World section and here is this cover illustration for the Jan. 28 issue headlined "The United States of Hip-Hop." Inside are reviews three hip-hop related books, including Deconstructing Tyrone and To the Break of Dawn, a new book on hip-hop by our new BFF William Jelani Cobb. Must be a dream, since we just got back home from kicking it in Atlanta. Also: when Jelani agreed to blurb our book back in Feb. 2006, he jokingly predicted that our books might end up getting grouped together for reviews.
Was NOT a dream, which means that he must be clairvoyant, too...The layout in the print edition of Book World inside had pics of a fedora-and-blinged out Kwame Kilpatrick and other hip-hop generation folk. You can check out the dreamy-but-real review to our book HERE.
Later that week, the Natalies appeared on a panel discussion about black masculinity in hip-hop on Thursday (2/1) at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery which followed an advance screening of "Beyond Beats and Rhymes," Byron Hurt's fantastic documentary which will have its PBS premier on Feb. 20. Michael Eric Dyson was supposed to appear on the panel with us and Byron but he had a last-minute scheduling conflict. We still had a great discussion.
Well folks, our Tyrone done made it to the Smithsonian. Whodathunkit?

HOTLANTA

This is a photo is a group shot taken at Atlanta's Shrine of the Black Madonna Cultural Center on Saturday Jan. 27. The pic is, from left to right, of Valerie, who did that amazing biography of Zora Neale Hurston, Natalie H., Roz&Kristina--our Atlanta hostesses with the mostess, and Natalie M. all surrounding Jelani who gets the prize for suffering through not 1, but 2 Tyrone talks in one weekend. Debo's sister Nzinga stopped by, as well as Nat. H's neice and nephew, Kamen and Jadon Rose, our old HU friends, Seth, Mimi, Mia. Also: Ernie, the two Megans, Candice and her mom.
Later we headed to the Water Tree Arts Gallery in Tucker, Ga., where Nat. H's brother in law Ben Rose invited us to do a talk and check out his studio for his new multimedia company Great to meet his business partner Jason, too. Good the see them repping the Midwest in the ATL.

Spelman

here is a picture with a handful of Spelman students we did a talk with in Cosby Hall on the Atlanta campus. We had a really eye-opening to hear how issues of black masculinity play out on the Atlanta University Center campus. The most dramatic part of the talk came when one of Nat M. childhood friends, MikeFlo, was barred from entering Spelman's highly secured campus--he finally got in but not until having to wait for a half-hour outside. Tyroninity indeed. He felt especially resentful about being treated like a suspect being that he went to Clark Atlanta and is a taxpaying resident just blocks away from campus. The Spelman prof Dr. Cobb took the blame for the incident because he forgot to let the guards know we would be speaking; But he explained that there is a good reason why they keep the campus on lock--all kind of crazies coming on campus jeopardizing the women's safety. One Spelman student piped in that her dad is hassled a lot too, but he's happy beacuse that means his babygirl is safe. It was sweet when one student apologized to him and said she understood how he felt. At the heart of it it was a town v. gown issue relevant to most college campuses, complicated, of course, by perceptions of black masculinity.

Portland, Oregon

This picture is of The Natalies in the Oregonian newsroom. Thanks, Randy, for the great photo. Nat. M interned at this newspaper 10 years ago. We gave a talk, a brown-bag discussion to the newsroom about the writing process and Tyrone, and making the leap from newspaper writing to book writing. It was really well attended. Then we went out to dinner with a group of journalists as we've done in every city, to find out the latest gossip and trends in the industry. We are happy that the Oregonian seems to be doing better than many and they definitely have a cheerier disposition than most... Thanks for asking us to come in, George Rede!
The only regrets about the book-signing the next day at the Talking Drum bookstore in Portland was that we didn't get a chance to talk to Reggae Bob. The day before we hoped be a guest on his radio show "Good Times," but we got caught up at ETA. We had a great discussion with a school teacher in the audience, a white man who teaches mostly hip-hop-obsessed boys of color, who asked us to suggest some other books that he could share with his class.
We went out to Higgins which is run as a fully sustainable restaurant, featuring only local meat and seafood and outstanding service. Good environmental practices taste delicious..We also went to the famous Powell's Bookstore which did serious damage to our pocketbooks. As we checked out of the world's largest bookstore, the clerk asked us if we found everything we needed. After the Natalies dropped a C-note a piece, we had to say, yes, unfortunately, we did. We did get a cool Powell's shirt for Rudy which he seemed to like.
Thanks to our hosts Emily and Linda!

ETA

We returned back to Chicago for an event at ETA Creative Arts Foundation in Chicago--where Natalie M. used to do children's theater. We even saw the old drama teacher! JoeMoore mouthed to the Natalie's "no cuss words" before we started reading. Thanks to Tom, Shayne, Corliss, Donna, Kim, Phaedra et al for coming out. Afterward, we kicked it with Chi-town style with Nat M.'s mom Yvonne and her "fun friend" Pat pictured here at a local dive in chicago where the Natalies ignored a sign at the entrance shooing away folks under the age of 35. Felt like old times....

Tyrone--and LeRoy in the Tundra

"Welcome to paradise" the pilot from Midwest Airlines (home of freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies)quipped as we landed on the runway of the Twin Cities airport. As soon as we stepped outside the airport and were assaulted by the 6-degree air (minus-15 with the wind chill) The Natalies thought, hmmmmm...maybe not so much. This was Natalie H.'s first time to the tundra and she had to harken back to her childhood days in Edmonton, Alberta.
The weather was literally the ONLY thing we could complain about this stop on the book tour. Our Minneapolis reading at Amazon Feminist Bookstore was by far our most diverse. There were academics, neighborhood folks, students, journalists; white, black, Indian, Native American; old and young. The good people of the Minneapolis Star Tribune gave Tyrone the hook up in the newspaper -- 3/4 of the features section front before jumping inside. About 70 people crammed the basement to listen to the Natalies wax about media images and media agency. Minnesota Public Radio taped the two-hour talk/q&a. (We sure hope that Gary Eichten uses our material.) One black woman from the South talked about whether LeRoy, from back in the day, was the same archetype as Tyrone. We met the filmmaker Rachel Raimist and a Howard alum brother who offered us $50 bucks for our personal dog-eared copies when he learned the books were sold out ("Those are worth even more!") After the sell-out reading, we headed over to the home of "LiquorMan" Steve, an old pal of Natalie M. from her Twin Cities days. He graciously gave us an after party. Toward the end of the night, Steve started remembering his days as lead singer of his band Banther, which was part of the Minneapolis Sound . He even knew a guy named Romeo Blue. This is Steve in the picture from the early 1980s.
And then we met Mary. Mary is Steve's former vocal coach. Minutes after meeting us, Mary offered to serenade us with a song about "making dreams come true."

This must be what folks are talking about when they talk about the thing called "Minnesota Nice" This is the state that just elected Keith Ellison, a black man and the nation's first Islamic U.S. Congressman. He took his oath of office using Thomas Jefferson's Koran, which we learned from a local politico at Steve's party, was done at the excellent suggestion of a lovely librarian who happened to be from Minnesota. Nice.
A middle aged white guy who came up to The Natalies after the signing. "I saw the article in the paper. I said to myself, 'I live in the neighborhood, I should check it out'...I'm so glad I did."
So are we. So are we.
Thanks to Aida, Chris and Gia; Nancy; Gita and Nancy Nova; T.C. for being our limo service; Duchesne Drew; Brock and LaDawn; Erin and the boys; and Chuck.

Tyrone conquers Beantown

The New Year is here, and Tyrone is definitely feeling a strong gust of wind to his back. DT was featured in the January issue of Ebony Magazine--the one with Will & Jaden Smith on the cover (check out page 32). AOL Black Voices published an excerpt and interview with us. The critic Kam Williams named us #2 in his top-ten list of best books of 2006, while we made the Women & Children First Bookstore in Chicago named bestseller list reported to the chicago tribune, beating Obama. We've done pretty well getting coverage in print media and radio, but now more and more invitations are starting to trickle in for corporate, academic and activist groups for The Natalies to appear for speaking engagements and panels. And we still have book tour events in Minneapolis, Cleveland, Palm Beach, Atlanta, Chicago and Indianapolis and D.C. planned for 2007.
That wind gust is not particularly helpful for Nat. H's 2007 calendar filled with school field trips and PTA meetings--not to mention a dissertation to complete by May, or Nat M. whose freelance writing and college teaching plate is filled to the brim. But clearly these are really wonderful problems for a first-time authors to have and we feel happy to have them.
We went to Boston Dec. 16 at the request of our friend Greg who is a former newsroom colleague quoted in DT Ch. 4 and also went to high school with Nat. H's husband in New Orleans. At the bookstore, Jamaicaway Books in Jamaica Plains, we learned the owner's daughter was a recent HU grad, proving once again, that the mighty mighty Bison are everywhere (insert maniacal laugh here). It seemed our role in Boston was just to set the ball rolling and we were really happy to sit back and listen to the sparks fly. Our reading from DT inspired a bout between a hipster mom and a Civil Rights Generation man, going head-to-head over the value of hip-hop. We hope this means the book will spark similar conversations, debates, and ultimately more understanding for others.
The biggest AHA! moment for Boston came after the reading. The Natalies and several journalist friends were lingering in the store afterward. Now just to preface, journalists are constitutionally a whiny bunch. But as we told truly awful horror stories and tales of being young black professionals, the so-called Gatekeepers, working in The Media we realized that we might just have the workings of another project. More on that later.
Thanks for Greg for hosting us and Keith for the hospitality at that great Italian restaurant in Boston. We were surrounded by so many friends we didn't feel any of the famed chills coming from the CACs living in the home of Crispus Attucks and the Tea Party.
Allison: clearly Boston is not NEARLY as bad as you say...right?

Can Tyrone get some Brotherly Love?

Philly, Dec. 8. Another city, another "Crash" moment. This one came courtesy of Ed, the manager of Haru, a chi-chi-fu-fu sushi-fusion spot in Philly where our girl Katrina made reservations for us to kick it after a DT reading. Clearly not realizing Katrina was black, Ed called her earlier in the day to warn her that a group had booked an event at the restaurant , so it wouldn't be the "usual Haru experience." Pressed to elaborate, Ed said it was going to be a "rappish, thuggish" vibe and mumbled something about somebody named Lloyd Banks. To be honest, we were ourselves scratching our heads wondering what the "bitty" was described on the event flier (as in, "Who is Sexiest Bitty in the City?") But the deejay was on point and the crowd didn't look any more thuggish than we did--The Natalies, a nonprofit exec, a physician, a political journalist and a white-collar government worker. We did get a kick out of seeing Ed squirm when Katrina introduced herself. OOOOOPS! Then we made Ed pose for this picture. To quote Maven: Please! Somebody! Help me!

Earlier that night, we read at the legendary Robin's Book in Philly. From jump, we had to work overtime to soften the furrowed eyebrows, crossed arms and foregone conclusions from the brothers on the front row. Other than one customer's lengthy soliliquy which started from Shaft, wandered over to Earth Wind and Fire, then concluded ten minutes later with an analysis of Ahhnold in Terminator, the discussion stayed on message: No, this is NOT a male-bashing book. But no, it's also not Angie Stone's song either. We are proud to say that the black men in the audience seemed to get that this was truly A New Look at our peers, coming from a place of love. We think it worked. We sold out all of the books in the store.

Imagine our surprise, then, that our toughest Philly critic turned out to be a black woman columnist who came to Robin's halfway into the reading and published a column about us the next week. Usually, we are just thrilled to have "Natalie" spelled without an 'h'. We shrugged when a couple academic types basically called us pseudo intellectuals. When a Detroit writer said we suffer from ADD, we took it in stride. But for this Inky columnist to accuse us of "Maligning Black Men," bringing to mind several notable contemporary novelists, their imitators and the crappy movie adaptations that followed---them is fighting words! Deep sigh. We promptly whipped up a letter to the editor, which the Philadelphia Inquirer told us is being considering for publication. We could not stand for such dribble to be floating around about DT based on half a book talk and apparently not reading past page 1 of the introduction, where we explain who Tyrone is. The Media! Huff.
Tyrone, we definitely feel your pain.

Beyond Beats and Poppin' Bottles with Tyrone...

For weeks now, folks have been urging us to check out "Beyond Beats and Rhymes,"a new documentary by Byron Hurt (pictured to the right) which looks at hip-hop and masculinity. The thinking was that given the timing of the film and DT, our projects have the potential to have great synergy. So far that's been the case quite unintentionally: In November we appeared with Byron on Blackademics, a radio show on D.C.-based WPFW Pacifica radio station at the urging of host Shani. Our friend Lisa is trying to put together a panel discussion with Byron and us at a law school in the Spring. Well, On Dec. 2 while we were in Chicago for an event, The Natalies finally were able to check out a screening of the film at the Cultural Center. Long story short: Byron's documentary is terrific! Beyond Beats is a passionate multimedia essay in the vein of a muckraking Michael Moore which probes masculinity gone wrong in hip-hop. There have been others maybe most notably the performance artist Sarah Jones who have covered similar themes in the past, but we are hopeful that this particular sermon will reach beyond the choir. The most obvious reason is that the man behind the camera/microphone is a brother, a "real" brother, former college football player and Que dog, who is stepping to his peers, man to man, asking uncomfortable questions about the directions that hip-hop is going--coming from a place of love for the culture and concern for its future. Hip-hop afficionados will nod heads and enjoy the classic video clips and interviews with folks like Chuck D, Talib Kweli, Jadakiss, The Clipse, Russell Simmons, Busta Rhymes, Kevin Powell, Mos Def, De La Soul, William Jelani Cobb, Nelly, Mark Anthony Neal. Then we hear from countless anonymous hip-hop fans like revelers at Daytona Beach Spring Bling, trannies and white hip-hop fans on safari. We won't spoil the film but several high-profile hip-hoppers straight-up play themselves--especially when the subject of hypermasculinity, homosexuality and misogyny come up. Judging from all the awkward silences, eye-shifting, and stuttering that followed Byron's questions, many men of hip-hop are plain old scared to say they scared. Byron, thanks for a terrific film and showing how comfortably masculinity and awareness of gender issues can coexist in one body. We're sure The Natalies aren't the only ladies who have noticed how great it looks on you(: We look forward to crossing paths again in the future. The film airs in February on PBS; check out a clip HERE)

Earlier that day before we saw the screening on Dec. 2, we attended a brunch sponsored by the Windy City Chapter Links chapter, "Champagne Breakfast with Tyrone" at Pearl's Place on 39th Street. At least 75 people showed up and we got all teary -eyed up there, speaking in front of all of Nat. M's parents and old childhood friends, neighbors and even an English teacher!! We met Ginger, one of the B.A.P. girls who made a splash with their book and were generous with marketing advice early in our process with DT. After the bottles were popped we moved 100 units in one morning and could have done more. Thanks so much to Yvonne Moore, Nat M.'s mom who organized, and Alma Dodd who hosted us at her restaurant in Bronzeville and Aunt Joyce for a great, personal introduction. Thanks to Charese for taking us out afterward and Tom and Suzanne for coming out to kick it afterwards in the West Loop.

Motown madness

The picture to to the right is of a writer and photographer who came to one of our Detroit events. More on that in a second.
We had a lot of anxiety going into this trip to Motown. All along, Nat M. was reluctant to read about Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in his hometown because the subject is too raw and too close to Detroiters, being that he is the current mayor. The Natalies heard rumors on the grapevine that there was some official concern about the chapter. Nat H. --whose only authority on Detroit was a week we spent finishing up the manuscript there last year--naively said, eff that! We stand by our work! Bring it on!
Well, we did. We spoke at Wayne County Community College - East Side campus. As Nat. M read the chapter detailing the strengths and foibles of their mayor and his rocky relationship with the media, the tension was so, so thick...Let's just say that Nat. H has a brand new level of respect for the judgement of her book partner. No one walked out, and many bought books, but it was quite a ride for everyone on both sides of the podium. Thank-you, students administrators at WCCC for being open-minded enough to hear our our crazy ideas on Detroit politics and sexuality. When the smoke cleared, it lead to one of the most engaging discussions and rewarding experiences we've had so far on this tour.

The next day were at a Detroit bookstore, Shrine of Black Madonna, we were expecting an empty house being that so many of our friends bailed to watch the Michigan v. Ohio State football game. One friend said the game was "a once in a lifetime opportunity." Sorry 'bout your luck...The death of Michigan football coach legend Bo ...(what IS his name?) affected bookstore attendence and bumped us off of more than one media interview. Our Detroit friend Nichole was one of the few to skip the game. Said something about how she couldn't get into college football because it was too much like $40 million dollar slavery...Some how, life went on. We sold out the books at the Shine and we had a terrific discussion. We also sat down for an interview with a writer from Wayne State's student newspaper, who later concluded that DT suffers from ADD. Thanks for the review, Meghana! We enjoyed talking journalism shop with you. And thanks Thomas Richardson, a Detroit attorney who is also an avid photographer, for the lovely pictures.
Special shout outs to Carrie, our hosts Kenny and Rachel, Chastity, also Chris, Don, Peter, Renee, and Nichole and Naomi for dinner.

Chi-town

Here is the JoeMoore, Nat. M's dad, holding a Tyrone placard at Chicago's Women & Children First Bookstore after a reading on Thursday 11/16. We counted many victories in the Chi. For one, it's the first time no one has asked us "is this male bashing?" or "why are two women writing this book?" Progress! The turnout was great; it was Nat. M's hometown but a lot of strangers came, which is needed to get Tyrone out in the world. JoeMoore sat in the front row and could be heard clearing his throat, shifting in his chair and otherwise wincing each time his daughter used a curseword. Afterwards Joe&NatMoore playfully argued about who embarassed who more...(thanks to all who came out to kick it afterward, J-Roc, L.B. and )

The next week JoeMoore invited Nat M. do a reading before the legendary Boule group. He warned her beforehand to curb the cussing because this was a group of older black men. Um, yeah, right. Talk about highbrow/lowbrow. These men were off the hook and wanted to know about strippers and their dads, a la Chris Rock, and had plenty of questions about the so-called "DL." Nat couldn't get through the introduction without a barrage of questions. One man commented, after hearing the "Tyrone at Work" chapter that he was envious people in the hip-hop generation because we're rebellious and will walk out of a job, if necessary, to do our own thang....All we can say is "wow!" The Natalies may not solve world hunger. We haven't discovered the cure for cancer or AIDS. We may not even tell you who Tyrone really is. But if reading our work leads accomplished members of the much famed Civil Rights/Greatest Generations to be envious of us, the so-called slackers of droopy drawers and potty mouth, we think we just may be on to something.

So-called Poster Girls

"I tried to come to see you at Busboys & Poets last night," said the voicemail from our friend Yolanda Saturday morning. "But I got turned away. What I'd like to know is: was that a concert or a book reading?"
It was easy to see how one might be confused. We took the stage at the artsy/intellectual D.C. hotspot (see some of the crowd that did get in at the picture to the right) with a spotlight on us at the table covered in white linens. Outside the restaurant/cafe/bookstore's Langston Room, a no-nonsense bouncer blocked dozens of people at the door, providing increasingly testy explanations of fire code regulations to an increasingly irate crowd, including one cameraman who was to film the event, Nat. H's husband Rudy, separating him from the kids, and one salty customer who came all the way from New York to see us. Inside, we had no idea about the commotion outside, and had a blast. The audience laughed at all our jokes, clapped after we finished reading the 2 excerpts, and followed up with a lively Q&A session afterward. A long line of people spread across the room for autographed books, which the store ran out of before we even finished reading.
It was a lot to take in for two little colored girls from the Midwest. We thought of all the rejections from publishers, agents, newsroom tyrants and other kinds of haters. We cued Mike Jones as we recalled writer Amy Sohn's description of her own rise from "pathetic nobody to poster girl for the urban literati."
Tyrone hasn't been out a month yet but all of our hard work and hustling has begun to pay off! The dams hath broken! First Busboys, next, world domination! We called up the owners of Karibu Books, where we were to appear the next day, and blew up their phone with text messages and voicemails urging them to make sure they were well-stocked at the Pentagon City store where we would be appearing, stat!!!
We arrived at Karibu around 2 p.m. the next day and posted up at the front of the store at a table. A slow trickle of folks come into the store, mostly our friends who got locked out of Busboys. After about 2 hours, at the gentle, but firm urging of the store clerk who needed to make way for the next author, we called it quits. All told, we made a fistful of DT sales that we weren't expecting. If we were still wondering about our place in the literary galaxy on Saturday afternoon, we got it on our way out, when Nat. M went to the Karibu cash register to buy 2 gifts. Nat M. handed her credit card to the clerk, who stood in front of a stack of unsold copies of DT. The clerk eyed the credit card, looked up at Nat M and said: "Can I see some ID?"

Tavis, Oxy and On the Phone With Ti-rone

Our interview with Tavis Smiley finally aired on Sunday 11/5.
We made another quickie trip to L.A. for a gig at Occidental College 11/6 to kick off their "Exploration of Blackness" conference. We got in late Sunday night and had arranged to meet with Brian Price, Nat. H's old friend from high school, and his wife, also an HU grad Nikel.
At Monday's talk at Occidental, students filled the auditorium of every hue. Introduced by theme music, we read the "Tyroninity" chapter which breaks down the Tyrone code, then afterward, we continued the discusssion with a roomful of select students. Thanks Alexandria for feeding us off your meal card, and the countless other Oxy students and administrators who ferried us around, paid our hotel and otherwise gave us the star treatment at the urging of Kenjus and Ryan, the two organizers extraordinaire of Oxy's Blackness exploration. We would have paid good money to see their conference earlier this year, the highly controversial "Exploration of Whiteness" conference. The study of Whiteness and privilege is one of the most exciting fields of academic research going. Strangely enough, there was no such backlash to the Blackness conference. Apparently to some people, it is still only OK to look at "black" problems, and "white" problems are strictly off limits.
After lunch we borrowed an Oxy administrator's office to conduct a 30 minute phone interview with "On the phone with Ti-rone" star Brad Sanders, who Brian agreed to hook us up with. (Good looks, Brian!) Both The Natalies grew up in the Midwest listening to Sander's On the Phone with Ti-Rone radio advice column Cla'ence Updates recapping the soaps. And of course, Brad tapped into the Tyrone code before Erykah. During an interview for his radio show, We had a giggle-filled repartee with Brad about our Tyroninity theory. We explained our thesis that Dave Chappelle aptly diagnosed the formula for deciding whether a media figure is good or bad for The Race. It is a blurry, ambiguous and fine line to straddle, but there is nothing in between: you are either dancing or shuffling, playing or getting played, a pimp or pimped. We gave Brad/Ti-Rone/Cla'ence a few examples.
Flava Flav--shuffling
Been shuffling for a minute. Was dancing with Public Enemy in the 1980s, but something went awry on cable.
Kanye West--dancing
KW is in full control of his trickster powers. Just listen to Kanye explain to MTV why he recently stormed the stage to protest losing at the MTV Europe awards: "It was not a publicity stunt, but I wouldn't be against doing something like that as a publicity stunt," Kanye told MTV. "How can you pull a publicity stunt at an awards show? Why are you there for? You at the award shows for publicity and to stunt...I think more people should drink when they at award shows...If you was in a dream world right now, what would you do? That's what I be doing...If anything, people should have an inspiration from it."SOURCE.
Later on that evening we sat on a "Blackness" panel with black Oxy faculty and the Natalies found ourselves in the bizarre position of defending Tiger Woods and Condi Rice from the black authenticity police. We don't understand Condi and The Cablinasian's choices but we don't blame them for the racism that drove them there. Let's keep it moving, people! Nothing to see there. To us, "Blackness" is about focusing on the real solutions to real problems facing black people. And sometimes it takes a trickster remind us about the crucial details.

A Great Day in Harlem

We are happy to add to our growing string of DT endorsements, this one to the right from one of Harlem's finest comedians, Sleepy Floyd! We met Sleepy Floyd at a cafe after a lively reading at Hue-Man books in Uptown on 10/30. The afternoon began with a fine Jamaican feast courtesy of Nat H.'s in-laws living in a beautiful brownstone nearby Hue-Man books(Thanks Aunt Mae & Aunt Birdie!) Then we walked over to the store near Magic Theaters. As in every city we've toured so far, HU, once, again, represented. Hard. Not only did the store run out of books, but our HU folk saved us from the spectacle of the Two Natalies coming to blows with one customer over our analysis of the "babydaddy" phenomenon. We won't go into details, but we still blame Russell for instigating.
Afterward we and a group of HU folk (and one from the other HU) went out to eat at the Harlem Cafe. (Thanks to Steve, Chana, Bernard, Kamilah, Alexis, Rashida, Jazimine, Jadasa, Ben, Russell, Aida for all coming out.)

As the night wore on, the cafe turned into an open-mic comedy and we found ourselves in the front row, VIP section. The emcee, Sleepy Floyd quickly introduced us to the fine art of the dozens, Harlem style. He said Nat. M looked like "tinkerbell" in her fly Anthropologie skirt, and that Nat.H's metallic-colored bubble vest looked like she was about to be microwaved like a potato. After we told him about DT and our signing at Hue-Man earlier that day, Sleepy made the requisite, but still dreaded "male-bashing" accusation. We spent a long time on this issue in the Introduction of DT but in each city we go to, our answer to this question has gotten shorter and shorter. (No....Next?) But we love you, Sleepy and we won't hold it against you--especially since you sprung for Appletinis and we got this nifty picture out of it.

Hip-Hop Evolves at Vertigo

"Can I get the Tyrone discount?"
This was the question from this brother at a DT event at Vertigo Books in College Park, Md. on Saturday 10/28. It is the least we could do, being that he single-handedly inspired our book and all. But seriously, thank you, Tyrone Stewart, PhD student at Maryland, for coming out and supporting us Saturday 10/28. Meeting Tyrone was just one of many pleasant surprises that came out of the panel discussion "Mic Check: Hip-Hop Evolves." The Natalies were on a panel featuring Spelman history professor William Jelani Cobb who has caught fire in the past several months over his Essence story telling the open-secret about Black men and the sex trade in Brazil and has a new book on hip-hop coming out early next year. We were also looking forward to seeing our old BFF and Hilltop alum Ta-Nehisi Coates, who now writes for Time magazine. Unfortunately Ta-Nehisi had a last minute family emergency and was not able to make it but the incomparable DC poet,DJ Renegade took his place instead and as always, represented. It is always a treat to hear Renegade's perspectives on being a hip-hop deejay in the 1980s, among his other vast pools of knowledge. Moderator Esther Iverem of seeingblack.com did a great job of not only neutralizing Renegade's love affair with his own voice (love ya renegade!), but also steering the discussion beyond the woes of contemporary hip-hop which we are frankly tired of preaching before the choir about.

Instead we had a provocative discussion about the evolution of one of the most important cultural movements of our time. We all shared our Brown Sugar moments. Nat M. read from the "hip-hop" chapter in DT about her adventures hanging out with video vixen Melyssa Ford in Chicago. We heard Renegade's theory of hip-hop as the "Age of the Gilded Ghetto Pass." Hip-hop has taken a similar trajectory of other art forms, such as blues and jazz, Renegade explained, but the inversion of class values may be one legacy that rap can call its own. Esther allowed the last word to go to the Natalies who urged the audience not to accept external definitions of hip-hop (usually ones ignorant and sensationalist), and also, remember that hip-hop at its best is an art form not a business. By that measure, artists such as Jean Grae, are the most successful hip-hop artists working today. Also, in the rapidly changing media landscape, a shakeout is going on which is allowing more consumer choices, so that means that despite the challenges to the integrity of the art form, there is only one direction to go...Up, of course.

Other evidence that hip-hop has evolved was sitting in the audience. First there was of course Nat H's two children, Maverick and Maven, but also the Parker kids, the Brown-Andrews kids, and Crooms-Porter child, and Marcia's son Dave. Afterwards, at Nat H.'s husband Rudy and Renegade's insistance, we took everyone out to eat at Famous Dave's restaurant with Nat M.'s sister Megan, and Kyle, who comped us a copy of the new Callaloo journal's amazing Hip-Hop issue which he edited. Thanks Bushead Ed for filming the event for us and thanks to everyone else who came out: Steve from the PG Arts Council, Jared, Lezli, Shani, Allison, Lonnae, Ralph, Natasha, Yolanda,Cousin Kim with Robert and Derek & Tracey. Thanks also to Delece & Ben, two Maryland journalism students who came out to cover the event for the Black Eclipse and the Diamonback student newspapers. Thanks Bridget for organizing!