| No Images? Click here   Beyoncé, me and the HBCU I should have gone toBeyoncé's Coachella performance on Saturday was more than a concert, it was a soul-stirring, praise-worthy, black homecoming-esque experience that snatched our wigs and reminded us of the beauty of black institutions. HuffPost contributor Mikelle Street captured this in him latest essay in which she examines what regrettably prevented him from attending an HBCU. Get into it below:As far back as I can remember, I have been in close physical proximity to historically black colleges and universities and their culture. Before elementary school, I lived in Gonzales Gardens, a now-demolished plot of government housing in Columbia, South Carolina. Our home was two blocks from two HBCUs: Benedict College and Allen University. In fact, my mother worked in the kitchen of one for a time.While we would eventually move from those projects to a two-bedroom apartment and then to a three-story home in the suburbs, I would return year after year, month after month to Benedict and Allen for a variety of experiences.Those moments came rushing back when I watched Beyoncé perform on stage at Coachella this past weekend, with a troop of 100-plus dancers and musicians, many of whom were HBCU alumni, putting the black collegiate experience on display. And I was reminded that I ultimately chose not to attend those schools, and instead set my sights on whiter pastures. In case you missed it
 What's trending Part of Cardi’s charm is how transparent she’s been about her past, about the fact that she is, essentially, winging this fame thing. This quality is also what makes “Invasion of Privacy” such a great record ― an album that hops from thot anthems like “Bickenhead” to confessional ballads like “Be Careful” in which Cardi admits that Offset, her (allegedly) cheating fiancé, has ”got me trippin’/got me lookin’ in the mirror different/Thinkin’ I’m flawed because you inconsistent...”But she gives so much of herself that it has created a sense of ownership for her fans, not just over her work but over her personal choices. This has always been an aspect of the transaction of fame, but it has been intensified in the digital era, in which people mistake what they are shown or indeed what they share for actual intimacy.Cardi’s life itself is seen now as a performance in which her fans have a stake. This is how we wound up with people evaluating Cardi’s pregnancy as if it were a new album — as if it were something about which aesthetic objections could be made. It’s not shocking that the first rapper to win a Pulitzer was Kendrick Lamar.On Monday, the Pulitzer Prize Board awarded him the prestigious honor in music for his album “DAMN,” calling it “a virtuosic song collection unified by its vernacular authenticity and rhythmic dynamism that offers affecting vignettes capturing the complexity of modern African-American life.”In many ways, Lamar’s ability to paint a true picture of black life is what makes “DAMN.” — and the rest of his catalog — Pulitzer-worthy. The conceptual conflicts he dissects throughout the album — pride vs. humility, love vs. lust, fear vs. trust (mostly in God), individuality vs. conformity, and, as Lamar explores in the album’s conclusion, “me vs. me” — are easily recognizable. It’s hard for black folks not to relate to Lamar’s boisterous pride in his African ancestry, his crisis of faith, his fear of returning to poverty and his anger at racial inequality.
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