Contributors’ Notes

Abstract

Kelley L. Carter is an award-winning entertainment and pop-culture journalist who joined ESPN in January 2016 as a senior entertainment reporter for The Undefeated (now Andscape), which is a Black media platform dedicated to creating, highlighting, and uplifting the diverse stories of Black identity. She is the host of the digital series “Another Act with Kelley Carter,” where she gives viewers direct access to some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. Some of her critically acclaimed work has featured artists such as film director John Singleton, legendary singer Aretha Franklin, and actor Chadwick Boseman. Carter joined the Undefeated from Buzzfeed, where she was a senior editor for entertainment. Prior to Buzzfeed, she served as entertainment editor at Ebony magazine. Carter is currently based in Los Angeles, but she is a native of Detroit and graduate of Michigan State University who was working as a journalist for the Detroit Free Press at the time of J Dilla’s death.Dan Charnas is an award-winning music and business journalist; producer of records and television; and Associate Arts Professor at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. He is the author of four books, including The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop (2010), Def Jam: The First 25 Years of the Last Great Record Label, which was co-authored with Bill Adler and Cey Adams (2011), and Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, The Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm (2022). In addition, Charnas was the co-creator and executive producer of the VH1 TV series The Breaks. In the early 1990s, Charnas was one of the first writers for The Source, becoming part of a generation of young writers who helped create hip-hop journalism. He penned cover stories, features, reviews, and columns for a variety of publications on artists including L.L. Cool J, Ice Cube, A Tribe Called Quest, N.W.A. and Public Enemy.KáLyn Banks Coghill is a doctoral student in the Media, Art, and Text Program at Virginia Commonwealth University. She is also an instructor in the Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies department. Her research focuses on digital violence, hip-hop feminism, black girlhood, and digital studies.Ambre Dromgoole (she/her) is a doctoral candidate in the Departments of Religious Studies and African American Studies at Yale University. Her dissertation “There’s a Heaven Somewhere