KLMNO
Style
monday, february 24 , 2020. washingtonpost.com/style ez re c
Media
the wall street Journal’s
china staff urges the paper
to apologize for a headline
that china called racist. c2
book world
amber sparks’s “a nd i do
not forgive you” is an eye-
popping short-story blend
of the real and surreal. c3Music review
marc anthony had a capital
one arena crowd in full
swoon with charm and a
long set of his salsa hits. c3carolyn hax
they think their blogger
daughter is missing out on
her teens. actually, they’re
missing out on her. c8BY CHRIS RICHARDSE
very time a young rapper dies, an
old outKast lyric flashes across
my brain and cuts across my
heart. It’s a couplet by Big Boi, the
unflappable half of the great Atlanta rap
duo, and it goes like this: “Man, [I] don’t
want no trouble, a playa just want to kick
back with my gators off and watch my
little girl blow bubbles.” even if you don’t
know that “gators” means shoes, it
should hurt to hear those words on anyday of the week. In this song — in this
murderous world — a completely mun-
dane domestic future is something that
needs to be wished for, then fought for.
Those lyrics entered the greater rap
consciousness back in 1998, one year
after the notorious B.I.G. was killed, one
year before Pop smoke was born — and
on Wednesday morning, Big Boi’s lament
had suddenly formed a bridge between
the two. Like Biggie, Pop smoke was a
bold rapper with a colossal voice, raised
in Brooklyn and gunned down in LosAngeles, dead before he even had a
chance to think about kicking off his
shoes.
The shock of the news felt intense but
familiar, like the continuation of a
rhythm — the result of having spent the
past three years watching rappers die
younger and faster. In December, Juice
WRLD died of a drug-related seizure at
age 21. Last March, nipsey Hussle was
shot dead in the daylight at age 33. In
september 2018, Mac Miller died of a
see notebook on C3critic’s notebookAn unfair, relentless rhythm
Rappers keep dying fast and young. How should we manage our grief?
When Donald
Trump was
elected, t he media
spent m onths
figuring out how
to cover a far-
from-ordinary
presidency.
some will argue
that many journalists never rose
to t hat challenge — that they
normalized Trump a t every turn
and n ever s uccessfully conveyed
to the p ublic a clear and v ivid
picture o f how he has t oppled
democratic norms and marched
the c ountry toward autocracy.
To b e sure, they made
adjustments.
Big Journalism began to call a
lie a lie. It b egan to call r acism by
its n ame. It b egan to offer fact-
checking in r eal time.
In o ther w ords, journalists
adapted — within the framework
of their tried-and-true beliefs.
We’re not “part of the resistance,”
said new York Times executive
editor Dean Baquet; “We’re not at
war with the administration; we’re
at w ork,” Washington Post
executive editor Martin Baron said.
These were thoughtful, reasonable
remarks, and they set the tone for
much of how the mainstream
media — from nPR to the broadcast
nightly news to regional
newspapers — has proceeded.
And t hen came Trump’s
impeachment. And h is a cquittal.
And n ow, a new era for t his
president who chooses to believe
he’s b een vindicated.
Call it Trump Unbound.
In t his new era, Trump has
declared himself the nation’s c hief
law enforcement official. He h as
pardoned a raft o f corrupt officials.
see sullivan on C5In ‘Trump
Unbound’
era, time to
step it up
Margaret
SullivanBY KEITH L. ALEXANDERAll my life I had to fight.
You told Harpo to beat me.
Us never part makidada.
Thirty-five years after “The
Color Purple” was released in
movie theaters, these classic lines
are as welcoming as a family
reunion, a cookout or a black
college homecoming.
While the film has been cele-
brated by diverse audiences, for
many African Americans, this his-
torical drama following a south-
ern black woman across four de-
cades has developed bone-deep
resonance. on social media,
scenes have become memes and
memorable lines have turned into
catchphrases.
In 2019, when any unknown
Democratic candidate declared
they were running for president,
another popular line from the film
— “Harpo, who dis woman?” — was
posted o n social media above a link
to a news story announcing the
new entrant’s candidacy. And last
February, Beyoncé sent an Insta-
gram birthday greeting to her Des-
tiny’s Child bestie Kelly Rowland
that quoted the hand-clap rhyme
between sisters Celie and nettie by
writing to Rowland “us never part... makidada.” I n 2015, rapper Ken-
drick Lamar referred to one of the
character sofia’s most popular
lines, “A ll my life I had to fight,” on
the introduction to his resistance-
themed anthem “A lright.”
In recognition of the movie’s
continued salience, Fathom
events and Turner Classic Movies
rereleased the original film in
theaters sunday for one day only,
giving moviegoers another
chance to see it on the big screen.
see movie on C2
appreciation‘ The Color
Purple,’ 35
years later,
is timeless
BY PETER MARKSNEW YORK — You can teach an
old show new kicks.
Look for proof to the bravura
audacity of director Ivo van
Hove’s movingly gutsy new “West
side story,” the much anticipated
Broadway revisit to the master-
work by the ’50s hive-mind ge-
nius of Leonard Bernstein, ste-
phen sondheim, Jerome Robbins
and Arthur Laurents.
Van Hove and his choreogra-
pher, Belgian postmodernist
Anne Te resa De Keersmaeker,
vowed to come up with a “West
side story” f or a new century and
a new audience. In the process,
they’ve devised one that honors
the old century and an older
audience, too. With some slim-
ming and slicking, they’ve re-
duced the running time: As the
intermission and some music
have been cut — bye, bye (sad
face) “I Feel Pretty” — the tragedy
of To ny and Maria unfolds in an
astonishing, breathless hour and
45 minutes.
Packed into these 105 minutes
are exhilarating new dances to
succeed those of the late, great
Robbins; a set of movie and video
images, projected onto a gigantic
screen onstage in the Broadway
Theatre; and a recasting that pits
the Latinx sharks against a Jets
crew, many of them played by
actors of color, too. Who is fight-
ing whom for new York City turf?
Well, this “West side story” i s the
tale of an America in 2020 that is
destroying itself from within.
Van Hove, a To ny winner in
2016 for his direction of “A View
From the Bridge,” had never
staged a Broadway musical be-
fore. His approach here is irrever-
ent, in the sense that there’s not
much dis cern ible sentimentality
for the form. This leads both to
thrilling artistic liberties — and a
minor glitch or two. on the glori-
ous side is the full emotional
embrace of the romance between
a new generation’s Tony and Ma-
ria, played by the marvelously
paired Isaac Powell and shereen
see theater on C4theater review
An exhilarating new ‘West Side Story’ is unlike any you’ve seen
Jan versweyveld/Broadway theatre
“West side story,” directed by ivo van hove and choreographed by anne teresa De keersmaeker, gets
some worthwhile revisions to appeal to a new century and a new audience.washington post illustration; clockwise from Bottom left: pascal le segretain/getty images (lil peep); chris pizzello/invision/associated press (Juice wrld); suzanne cordeiro/
agence france-presse/getty images (pop smoke); marlon correa/the washington post (mac miller); kyle gustafson for the washington post (nipsey hussle)