How Grammy nominee Brent Faiyaz is building his career off streaming
When Grammy nominee Brent Faiyaz and his manager, Ty Baisden, were offered a record deal with a quarter million dollar advance, they walked away. Instead, they opted to go independent.
Why Los Angeles’ homelessness problem could be worse than anyone thought
Over 40,000 people live on the streets of Los Angeles, and counting them takes three nights.
Cities across the U.S. conducted their annual counts of their homeless populations during the last ten days in January. Most only spent one night on the task. While the Department of Housing and Urban Development requires that cities count their total homeless population every other year, LA — second only to New York in the size of its homeless population — chooses to do the tally annually. And because Los Angeles encompasses over 4,000 square miles, the count requires extra time.
“Love & Hip Hop” Star Amara La Negra Is Calling Out Racism — And Colorism
It's a scene all too common in the entertainment industry: A male producer tells a female musician she needs to change her appearance in order to be successful.
This time, when the interaction unfolded during the premiere of VH1's "Love & Hip Hop: Miami" on Jan. 1, the female artist pushed back.
How Fentanyl Gets To The U.S. From China
One of the key sources of fentanyl in the United States is China. VICE News follows the path of the dangerous drug as it moves overseas onto U.S. soil and the effort to keep it from reaching the streets.
The National Guard Is Sifting Through What Wildfires Left Behind
California’s North Bay wildfires burned nearly every house in the Coffey Park neighborhood to the ground, leaving behind piles of ash and mangled metal. Now that there’s nothing left to burn, recovery workers are left searching for the bodies of those who did not make it out alive.
Captain Estelle Hong leads the 235th Engineer Company in the California National Guard, a group of local soldiers tasked with combing through lots where houses once stood. They’re looking for valuables, firearms, and the remains of residents who didn’t evacuate in time.
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A Michigan college basement is home to the nation's biggest collection of racist objects
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David Pilgrim started collecting racist objects when he was a boy of 12 living in Alabama at the tail end of the Jim Crow era. And now, the 64-year-old sociologist's items comprise one of the largest collections of racist memorabilia in the country, housed in a college basement in Michigan.
His first purchase was a salt shaker shaped like a woman, dark-skinned, in maid's clothes and a headscarf. He smashed it to pieces seconds after buying it.
From the pole to the bar: Why strippers are becoming bartenders
Strip clubs may be a place for clients to party, but for female entertainers, they are a workplace. And over the past few years, that workplace has changed dramatically — thanks to bartenders.
Even though bartenders don’t get up on stage, the strip club bartenders dress similarly to the dancers and dance behind the bar. And because customers tend to throw money into the air, rather than handing them the money directly, bartenders have found themselves fighting with surrounding employees, including dancers, to acquire their tips.
These college students performed a play about Columbine days after a mass shooting
The cast of California Lutheran University's production about the 1999 Columbine school shooting had spent two months preparing for their debut. Then, the night before the show was set to open, a mass shooting nearby almost forced the show to shut down.
“Columbinus” was set to premiere on Nov. 8 until a gunman walked into the nearby Borderline Bar and Grill, a popular college hangout, on Nov. 7, killing 12 people and himself.
Los Angeles is spending $4.5 billion to end homelessness. Here’s what it looks like.
Harvey Franco has lived in a grey tent pitched in downtown Los Angeles for 11 years. Every morning, he wakes up at 5:30 to dismantle it and wait. Around 8:30 a.m., a group of outreach workers from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority will arrive, and ask Franco and everyone on the streets in his neighborhood how they can help him. He thinks it’s a crock.
The Black Market For Pot Is Still Thriving In California
Small-scale, veteran growers like Jason Fleming could be shut down by bureaucracy before they sell a single nug on California’s new legal weed market.
Recreational marijuana became legal in California in January, but the state already had a 22-year-old medical marijuana industry that outlined a legal route for patients to purchase pot for licensed dispensaries. But how the weed got from growers to those dispensaries was shrouded in what can only be described as a very grey area.
Inside the world of Fortnite tutors and “boosters”
Even if you don’t play video games, you’ve probably heard of Fortnite. The Hunger Games-style, last-player-standing gunfight has over 200 million users.
But it's not easy. The game’s maps and weaponry are constantly changing, which creates a steep learning curve. So players can go about improving their stats two ways: the honest way, and cheating.
Hair Braiders in New Jersey are at Constant Risk of Losing Their Jobs
Black women know what to expect when they go to get their hair braided from a seasoned professional: a wall full of every possible shade of synthetic hair, TVs playing videos from countries across the African diaspora, pictures of famous braided celebrities like Alicia Keys and Ciara, a row of salon chairs, a cluster of mirrors, an array of combs and hair gels on every surface.
Anita Yeboah's hair braiding shop in Trenton, New Jersey, is no exception.
Boots Riley And The ‘White Voice’ In “Sorry to Bother You”
If you’re not white, odds are that you’ve used a ‘white voice’ on the phone. It’s pretty useful. The ‘white voice’ can convince the person on the other end to treat you like an actual white person - which means that previously difficult-to-obtain things like bank loans, good customer service, and even prompt responses from 911 are at your fingertips. With a white voice, the world is your oyster.
Barbie is Woke Now Thanks To Her New Blog
She's got brown hair and brown eyes, and she's dressed in a black Lycra suit. That's right: It's the famous Mattel doll Barbie, in the flesh. And she's woke as hell.
Her name is America Young, and for the past three years, she's donned a motion-capture suit every month as part of Mattel’s effort to bring the 59-year-old icon into the digital age.
How The New “Halloween” Pays Tribute To The 1978 Original
The new “Halloween” movie takes a bold stance by picking up where the original film ended — and rendering the rest of the franchise obsolete. But don't relax too much. The film still incorporates the hallmarks that made the movies so popular: a group of unsuspecting teens, their stoner friend, and the masked Michael Myers slaughtering anyone who crosses his path.
Director David Gordon Green and co-writer Danny McBride, who went to film school together, have been fans of John Carpenter’s 1978 film since they were children.
Ziggy Marley Breaks Down His Latest Track “Rebellion Rises”
Ziggy Marley breaks down Rebellion Rises, the title track from his latest album on Verse Chorus Bridge.
Kurt Vile Lets It All Out On His New Album, Bottle It In.
Kurt Vile breaks down the track 'Loading Zones' off his album "Bottle It In"' for the latest installment of Verse, Chorus, Bridge.
Chvrches reviews some of the newest music in their second Music Critic , including: “Low” by Lenny Kravitz, “Heavy, California” by JUNGLE, and “Perversions of Humankind” by ADULT.
Zedd searches for music that "tickles his brain cells" in his first installment of Music Critic. Zedd reviews: “That’s a Lifestyle” by Dirty Projectors, “Made it Home” by Ahi, “Ride” by Valley Queen, and “Mammas” by the Suffererrs. Zedd's new single, “Happy Now,” is out now.
Rockstar Andrew W.K. reviews songs: Lil Peep, “Spotlight” feat Marshmello, Ansel Elgort, “Supernova,” CupcakKe, “Crayons,” and Kali Uchis, “After the Storm” (feat. Tyler the Creator, Bootsy Collins).