James Rashad is a journalist and cultural writer based in Newark, New Jersey. His work has been featured on WBGO and NPR, covering business, politics, and Black American life. He founded West Ward Beans to close the gap between sharp reporting and real community impact—media that informs, equips, and moves. As Editor-in-Chief, he leads the West Ward Cafe newsletter and oversees editorial strategy across the platform. A hip hop artist who writes poetry daily, his work sits where media meets culture.
Owner Omar Bareentto on building a multicultural coffee shop where Newark comes to stay, learn, and create. In the Oromo language of Ethiopia, qaalii...
Twenty-five vendors. Seven hours. One principle Black Wall Street understood a century ago. Before 1921, Greenwood Avenue in Tulsa, Oklahoma, operated on a simple...
A conversation about vulnerability, creative valleys, and the power of strategic interdependence The backyard of MaryMike House was packed, the energy electric, but CyphTwo...
HYCIDE XPANSE, where wellness isn’t an add-on to creative culture—it’s the foundation. Imagine your feet planted firmly on your yoga mat, breathing yourself through...
A nostalgic celebration at Newark Symphony Hall proved what textbooks left out—Newark and Harlem’s creative movements were never separate. They were siblings. There were...
How HYCIDE XPANSE’s inaugural wellness event reframes Amiri Baraka’s call to action—raising consciousness starts with tending to ourselves “The artist’s role is to raise...
Audible’s The Prophecy Season Two launches at Harlem Parish, proving the future of Black storytelling sounds a lot like its past The Harlem Parish doesn’t need...
How the 5th Annual Wavy Awards proved independent artists are building sustainable infrastructure on their own terms In Times Square’s legendary Quad Recording Studios—where...