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#BackChannel: Mute R. Kelly, ‘This Is America,’ And Being A ‘Professional Black Girl’

A Texas woman filed a lawsuit Monday accusing R.Kelly of sexual battery and knowingly infecting her with herpes. This is the latest in a decades-long string of allegations against the R&B artist that detail an array of misconduct, including his repeatedly holding women against their will in a “sex cult.” Hollywood leaders recently renewed the #MuteRKelly movement to demand that companies who profit from his music cut ties.

Host Frank Stasio speaks with pop culture experts Natalie Bullock Brown, filmmaker and adjunct professor, and Mark Anthony Neal, chair of the department of African and African American studies at Duke University. They are joined by Yaba Blay, Dan Blue endowed chair in political science at NCCU, to discuss the second season of her podcast 'Professional Black Girl.'

Host Frank Stasio talks with popular cultureexperts Mark Anthony Neal and Natalie Bullock Brown about the fate of R. Kelly in this episode of #BackChannel, The State of Things’ recurring series connecting culture and context.Neal and Bullock Brown also discuss how coffee shop Joe Van Gogh cut ties with Duke University amid tension over a university vice president’s complaint about rap music.

Plus, they examine Childish Gambino’s smash hit “This Is America” and Janelle Monáe’s new album “Dirty Computer,” which critics hail as an album in which Monáe is unabashedly herself. They also talk about a new divorce plotline in the ABC sitcom “Blackish” that positions marital issues as part of a working relationship, and they review the new Netflix docuseries “Bobby Kennedy for President” that chronicles Robert F. Kennedy’s political career.

Childish Gambino's "This is America"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYOjWnS4cMY

 

North Carolina Central University professor Yaba Blay joins the conversation to preview the second season of “Professional Black Girl,” her short form video series profiling women who unapologetically embody black girl culture.Blay is the Dan Blue endowed chair in political science at NCCU. Natalie Bullock Brown a is filmmaker and adjunct professor, and Mark Anthony Neal is the chair of the department of African and African American studies at Duke University in Durham.

 

Professional Black Girl Season 2 Trailer

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dF1fTWBu_Yc

  

 

 

 

Actor Donald Glover attends a special screening of 'Solo: A Star Wars Story,' hosted by The Cinema Society and Nissan at the SVA Theater on Monday, May 21, 2018, in New York.
Evan Agostini / Invision/AP Photo
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Invision/AP Photo
Actor Donald Glover attends a special screening of 'Solo: A Star Wars Story,' hosted by The Cinema Society and Nissan at the SVA Theater on Monday, May 21, 2018, in New York.
Promotional artwork for Janelle Monae's new album 'Dirty Computer,' which was released on April 27, 2018
Courtesy of Pandora /
Promotional artwork for Janelle Monae's new album 'Dirty Computer,' which was released on April 27, 2018
Dr. Yaba Blay and her granddaughter, Nazahah, rocking the signature Professional Black Girl gear
Courtesy of Yaba Blay / WUNC
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WUNC
Dr. Yaba Blay and her granddaughter, Nazahah, rocking the signature Professional Black Girl gear
 Filming Professional Black Girl Season 2 in New Orleans; pictured here with the "Mother of Twerk, "Cheeky Blakk and Moe Joe, founder of Bounce Fitness.
Courtesy of Yaba Blay / WUNC
/
WUNC
Filming Professional Black Girl Season 2 in New Orleans; pictured here with the "Mother of Twerk, "Cheeky Blakk and Moe Joe, founder of Bounce Fitness.

Copyright 2018 North Carolina Public Radio

Anita Rao is the host and creator of "Embodied," a live, weekly radio show and seasonal podcast about sex, relationships & health. She's also the managing editor of WUNC's on-demand content. She has traveled the country recording interviews for the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps production department, founded and launched a podcast about millennial feminism in the South, and served as the managing editor and regular host of "The State of Things," North Carolina Public Radio's flagship daily, live talk show. Anita was born in a small coal-mining town in Northeast England but spent most of her life growing up in Iowa and has a fond affection for the Midwest.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.