“Beloved,” at its core, is a story of multiple hauntings: The remnants of trauma left in those forced to be property, the fury of a petulant baby spirit that seems to come back from the dead to find the mother who killed her rather than let her be taken into enslavement. The book holds horrors but also questions the beginning of freedom time. “Freeing yourself was one thing,” Morrison writes, “but claiming ownership of that freed self was another.” The work of embodiment, belonging, and rest become the central themes for the characters and, by extension, the readers. For Sharpe, “Beloved” is rich in techniques for refusing the logic of slavery. One is infanticide; another, Sharpe shared with the class, is love.
She held the book and read the title aloud: “Beloved.” She paused and reframed the word for us. “Be loved.” Sharpe told the class that the book's name is “an injunction, a command, a wish, a plea, a lamentation.” To love the self, to believe the self is worthy of love, and to let that love radiate out and fill up others around you.
A thick silence settled over the classroom as the students absorbed the force of the revelation. The first and final words of the book were not merely an epitaph on a grave: They were instructions for living. Be loved. What I was witnessing, I later realized, was more than a lecture. It was a portal into Sharpe’s methodology.
100 of my favorite Hip Hop Albums of 2022
Might be excessive but there was simply just a ton of music this year that I enjoyed and found myself going back to, and I believe each of them is worth checking out. Each of the album titles here also links to either a bandcamp page or stream where you can listen to the project. Hopefully you’ll at least find one new album that you enjoy here, and as always feel free to reply with what you enjoyed and connected with the most this year. I’d love to know, and any other recommendations are definitely appreciated.
This was an incredible year for new releases, not just for hip hop but for music in general which is why i’ll be posting another top 100 list for all of the non hip hop stuff I enjoyed from this year, hopefully in the next few days. Peace.
Chart w/ titles included
2022 Hip Hop Spotify Playlist
1. Billy Woods & Preservation - Aethiopes
2. Avantdale Bowling Club - TREES
3. Cities Aviv - Working Title For The Album Secret Waters
4. MIKE - Beware of the Monkey
5. ELUCID - I Told Bessie
6. AKAI SOLO - Spirit Roaming
7. Teddy Faley - Teddy Brown Brown
8. Defcee & BoatHouse - For All Debts Public and Private [IMPORT EDITION]
9. Ka - Woeful Studies / Languish Arts
10. J.I.D - The Forever Story
11. Open Mike Eagle - Component System with the Auto Reverse
12. billy woods x Messiah Musik - Church
13. Danger Mouse & Black Thought - Cheat Codes
14. ShrapKnel - Metal Lung
15. SolarFive & Iceberg Theory - Momento Mori
16. Moor Mother - Jazz Codes
17. Serengeti & Child Actor - Ajai 2
18. Infinity Knives & Brian Ennals - King Cobra
19. Joshua Virtue - RAMA
20. Zilla Rocca & andrew - Don't Wait For Me to Leave
21. Fly Anakin - Frank
22. Cities Aviv - MAN PLAYS THE HORN
23. KILLVONGARD - I Think I've Lost It.
24. R.A.P. Ferreira - 5 to the Eye with Stars
25. Illogic - The Transition
26. Quelle Chris - DEATHFAME
27. Bloodmoney Perez - Curses
28. Fatboi Sharif & Noface - Preaching In Havana
29. Ockham's Blazer - Ockham's Blazer
30. Little Simz - NO THANK YOU
31. Theravada - Strange Voice
32. amani & robalu - I'll Be Right Black
33. Jam Baxter – Fetch The Poison
34. OKnice - Have You Tried Being Happy?
35. Davis & Foule Monk - Plum Whisky
36. Noveliss - Vagabond
37. SHIRT & Jack Splash - I Turned Myself Into Myself
38. Moses Rockwell - Until You Run out of Cake
39. Ja'king the Divine - 手术: BLACK SUN TZU
40. Archibald SLIM - Worldly Ways
41. NNAMDÏ - Please Have A Seat
42. YUNGMORPHEUS & Theravada - Up Against the Wall; a Degree of Lunacy
43. Roc Marciano & The Alchemist - The Elephant Man's Bones
44. Nas - King's Disease III
45. Lord Kayso - MOOR CHORES
46. Ace Cannons & MIGHTYHEALTHY - Mightycannons
47. Rich Jones & Iceberg Theory - Smoke Detector
48. Lukah - Raw Extractions
49. Nicholas Craven & Boldy James - Fair Exchange No Robbery
50. Ghais Guevara - There Will Be No Super-Slave
51. Lupe Fiasco - DRILL MUSIC IN ZION
52. Milc & Televangel - Neutral Milc Motel
53. ILL Conscious x Mute Won - Acres of Diamonds
54. L'Orange & Solemn Brigham - Marlowe 3
55. $ilkMoney - I Don't Give a Fuck About This Rap Shit
56. Teller Bank$ & Ed Glorious - The I & I
57. Wiki & Subjxct 5 - Cold Cuts
58. Love, Ulysses - 61,265,147
59. Vic Spencer & August Fanon - Psychological Cheat Sheet 3
60. Stik Figa x August Fanon - Heresy
61. Raz Fresco & Nicholas Craven - Boulangerie
62. QThree - U Be Ight
63. Wrecking Crew - Sedale Threat
64. eLZhi & Georgia Anne Muldrow - Zhigeist
65. Apollo Brown & Philmore Greene - Cost of Living
66. miles cooke - i used to feel things
67. Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire - I Love Y.O.U cuz Y.O.U Ugly Vol.1
68. demahjiae - Angels Wear Black
69. AJ Suede & Televangel - Metatron's Cube
70. Sacco & Vanzetti - It's Not Paranoia If They're Really Out To Get You
71. Mavi - Laughing so Hard, it Hurts
72. Rhys Langston - Grapefruit Radio
73. Steel Tipped Dove & Aloe Vera - Days Pass Strange
74. PENPALS - Dimensions of Dialogue
75. Malachi. Whitman - Happy Place
76. Denzel Curry - Melt My Eyez See Your Future (Extended)
77. Lungs/LoneSword, Phiik & Cise Greeny - Where Are The Bugs!?
78. Pink Siifu & Real Bad Man - Real Bad Flights
79. Andrew - The Rain Knows What It's Doing
80. Mattic & Parental - Down In The Rabbit Hole
81. Boldy James & Futurewave - Mr. Ten08
82. Ransom & V Don - Chaos Is My Ladder
83. Torito & Small Professor - Soiled
84. Jermiside & The Expert - The Overview Effect
85. big kahuna og & graymatter - METAL GEAR SOLID
86. Duncecap & Hajino - Go Climb A Tree
87. Earl Sweatshirt - Sick!
88. Deca - Smoking Gun
89. Freddie Gibbs - Soul Sold Separately
90. Mickey Diamond & Big Ghost Ltd - Gucci Ghost
91. Rome Streetz - KISS THE RING
92. Redveil - learn 2 swim
93. Daniel Son - The Bush Doctor
94. Dälek - Precipice
95. Jesse the Tree - Pigeon Man
96. Jason Griff - Fireside Chats 2
97. Benny the Butcher - Tana Talk 4
98. Killah Priest - Mother
99. Lord jaH-Monte Ogbon & Sadhugold - The Black Möbius
100. Kipp Stone - Room 109