Tommy Raps.

I miss when my family was a FAMILY
I think I’m finally ready to talk about it.
The album will be called RODNEY.

Rest in Peace Uncle Bull - they say I look move smell act smile just like you. I wish we coulda been better friends.

Sometimes,
I think God
does make
mistakes—

Blk ‘26 - 08 - D’Angelo. Happy Heavenly B Day.

Happy Belated birthday! Levar Burton is an award-winning actor, director, producer, author, and education advocate. He’s best known for his roles as Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries Roots. He also hosted and produced the PBS educational show Reading Rainbow for 23 years. In 2022, NATAS, the governing body of the daytime Emmys, recognized Burton with the first Children’s & Family Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Gerald "Jerry" Lawson was an African American engineer and pioneer in home video gaming. In 1976, he led the team that developed the Fairchild Channel F, the first gaming console with interchangeable cartridges. His work is considered revolutionary and paved the way for modern gaming systems like the Xbox, Nintendo, and Playstation.

Tommy Raps Black History Month, Day 07 - Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar Duckworth is an African American rapper and Pulitzer Prize winner, known for his complex songwriting and technical artistry. He first performed as K. Dot and released early mixtapes that caught the attention of Dr. Dre, who helped launch his career.

In 2017, Lamar released his critically acclaimed album Damn, which won him a Pulitzer Prize in music in 2018. He would go on to both win 5 of the 5 Grammys he was nominated for and headline the 59th Super Bowl in 2025.

Tommy Raps Black History Month, Day 06 - Claressa Shields

Claressa Maria Shields is a professional boxer and mixed martial artist from Flint, Michigan who has held multiple world championships across five weight classes. She is the first boxer in history, male or female, to become the undisputed champion in three different weight classes during the four-belt era. Shields has helped change women's boxing.

*As of February 2025, she is a three-division champion.

Tommy Raps Black History Month, Day 05 - The Tuskeegee Airmen

The Tuskegee Airmen were a group of primarily African American military pilots and airmen who fought in World War II. They formed the 332nd Fighter Group and the 477th Bombardment Group of the United States Army Air Forces. They were treated poorly and Top Gun is actually based off of them. Smh.

Simone Arianne Biles Owens is an American artistic gymnast and advocate for children in foster care. With 11 Olympic and 30 World Championship medals, she's the most decorated gymnast in history. Biles' power and skill have allowed her to perform moves no other female gymnast has completed. She's the first African-American to win the world all-around championship and the first woman to win three consecutive titles.

Daniel Day (born August 8, 1944), known as Dapper Dan, is an American fashion designer and haberdasher from Harlem, New York. His store, Dapper Dan’s Boutique, operated from 1982 to 1992 and is most associated with introducing high fashion to hip hop culture; its clientele includes Mike Tyson, Eric B. & Rakim, Salt-N-Pepa, LL Cool J, and Jay-Z. In 2017, he launched a fashion line with Gucci, with whom he opened a second store and atelier, Dapper Dan’s of Harlem, in 2018.

Henrietta Lacks, born August 1, 1920, was a black woman with an unusually aggressive cervical cancer who passed away on October 4th, 1951. Lacks’ cancer cells are the source of the HeLa cell line, the first immortalized human cell line and one of the most important cell lines in medical research. (An immortalized cell line reproduces indefinitely under specific conditions, and the HeLa cell line continues to be a source of invaluable medical data to the present day.)

James Earl Jones was an American actor from Arkbutla, Mississippi. Jones, raised in the Jim Crow era, would go on to serve in the U.S. Army before making his Broadway debut in 1957’s “Sunrise at Campobello”. From theater, jones would pivot to the silver screen, making his acting debut in Stanley Kubricks’ Dr. Strangelove and achieving international acclaim for his vocal role as Darth Vader and Mufasa.