Questlove's How Hip-Hop Failed Black America, Part III: What Happens When Black Loses Its Cool?

Questlove: What Happens When Black Loses Its Cool?
WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 03: Musician Questlove attends the 100th Annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton on May 3, 2014 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Teresa Kroeger/GC Images)
WASHINGTON, DC - MAY 03: Musician Questlove attends the 100th Annual White House Correspondents' Association Dinner at the Washington Hilton on May 3, 2014 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Teresa Kroeger/GC Images)

Can I start this essay by asking a rhetorical question? Have you heard of black cool? It used to be something ineffable but indisputable. Certain African-American cultural figures — in music, in movies, in sports — rose above what was manifestly a divided, unjust society and in the process managed to seem singularly unruffled. They kept themselves together by holding themselves slightly apart, maintaining an air of inscrutability, of not quite being known. They were cool.

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