Paying Homage
A verified registry of the people building, making, and shaping what shows up on black.wiki. Over time, verified entries will receive plaques, certificates, and contributor cards — a durable record of who put in the work.
Kiese Laymon — Heavy
Writers
2018 Laymon memoir on his Mississippi childhood, body, food, and writing.
Killer Mike — Michael
Musicians
Killer Mike's 2023 solo album exploring fatherhood, faith, and the Black Southern interior.
King of New York
Filmmakers
Abel Ferrara's 1990 crime drama featuring Laurence Fishburne as Jimmy Jump — a performance that announced a generational talent.
Lauryn Hill — The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Musicians
1998 album — first hip-hop album to win the Grammy for Album of the Year.
Mahershala Ali — Moonlight
Filmmakers
Mahershala Ali's Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Moonlight (2017).
Mariah Carey — Daydream
Musicians
Mariah Carey's 1995 fifth album — her commercial and creative peak.
Marvin Gaye — Let's Get It On
Musicians
1973 album that redefined R&B sensuality and Black male vulnerability.
Marvin Gaye — What's Going On
Musicians
1971 concept album about a Vietnam veteran returning to a country tearing itself apart.
Mary J. Blige — My Life
Musicians
Mary J. Blige's 1994 sophomore album — the album that made her the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul.
Maxine Waters — DNC Speech 2020
Writers
Maxine Waters's prime-time DNC speech in 2020.
Maya Angelou — I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Writers
1969 autobiography centered on Angelou's childhood in Stamps, Arkansas.
Maya Angelou — On the Pulse of Morning
Writers
Maya Angelou's 1993 Clinton inaugural poem.
Megan Thee Stallion — Traumazine
Musicians
2022 Houston rapper's third studio album following her testimony in the Tory Lanez trial.
Nas — Illmatic
Musicians
Nas's 1994 debut album recorded at age 19.
Notorious B.I.G. — Ready to Die
Musicians
The Notorious B.I.G.'s 1994 debut album.
NWA — Straight Outta Compton
Musicians
NWA's 1988 debut album that established gangsta rap as a major American genre.
Octavia Butler — Kindred
Writers
1979 time-travel novel that drops a modern Black woman into a Maryland plantation in 1815.
OutKast — Aquemini
Musicians
1998 album from the Atlanta duo that proved Southern hip-hop could be experimental, lyrical, and chart-topping at the same time.
Outkast — ATLiens
Musicians
1996 OutKast sophomore album that pushed Southern hip-hop into Afrofuturist territory.
Outkast — Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
Musicians
2003 double album — first hip-hop release to win Album of the Year at the Grammys.
OutKast — Stankonia
Musicians
2000 OutKast album that broke Southern hip-hop into national pop consciousness.
Patrice O'Neal — Mr P
Filmmakers
2011 album from Black comedian Patrice O'Neal recorded shortly before his death.
Patricia Hill Collins — Black Feminist Thought
Writers
1990 sociological foundation text of Black feminist epistemology.
Patti LaBelle — Burning Hot
Musicians
Pittsburgh-born R&B icon Patti LaBelle's 1979 solo establishment after LaBelle disbanded.