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BuddieRoe Headlines the NCAA Men’s Final Four Halftime Show with Bun B and TSU’s Ocean of Soul Marching Band

ABOVE: BuddieRoe and Bun B perform at the NCAA Men’s Final Four Halftime Show All Photos by Quincy Green (Q Green Photography) The walls of NRG Stadium bristled with energy as the baritone sound of a marching band horn section reverberated through the cavernous hall. The sound battled against the roar of the almost 75,000 […]
The post BuddieRoe Headlines the NCAA Men’s Final Four Halftime Show with Bun B and TSU’s Ocean of Soul Marching Band first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

Published

3 years ago

April 5, 2023

Forward Times Staff

ABOVE: BuddieRoe and Bun B perform at the NCAA Men’s Final Four Halftime Show

All Photos by Quincy Green (Q Green Photography)

The walls of NRG Stadium bristled with energy as the baritone sound of a marching band horn section reverberated through the cavernous hall. The sound battled against the roar of the almost 75,000 fans that had descended on the building where Kirby meets the 610 freeway for the NCAA Division Men’s Final Four Tournament. The MC standing center court, donning a white basketball jersey surrounded by the TSU Ocean of Soul drumline, stepped back as the percussionists rocked back and forth, driving the crowd’s energy with each pound of their drums. Pushing the hair out of his face, the rapper directed his attention to the other MC standing alongside him at center court. As the music and the roar of the crowd combined into a wall of sound, BuddieRoe and Bun B continued to trade bars in the middle of the NRG Stadium.

Three years ago, BuddieRoe was using his lyrical skills to secure a win in the H-Town rap battle, a win which helped to continue to solidify his place in the Bayou City rap scene and catch the eye of Bernard Freeman, better known as Bun B. Now he has released a new album and has made recent appearances on NBC’s TODAY Show and at NCAA Men’s Final Four’s halftime show as the headliner, alongside Bun B, at NRG Stadium. Backed by Texas Southern University’s Ocean of Soul marching band, the halftime show was produced by EdENT (Educational Entertainment). EdENT is also the parent company to the wildly popular literacy initiative Reading With A Rapper, which served as the official partner for the NCAA’s Read to the Final Four program during its time in Houston.

BuddieRoe poses with TSU Motion of the Ocean dancers

BuddieRoe is the very first artist to sign to EdENT, an entertainment label with a mission to “Educate, Entertain and Evolve.” His latest offering, Lost & Found, is a collection of work that the Mo City MC crafted to appeal to fans of any age.

“I called the album Lost & Found because regardless of if you’re 15, 25, 35, or 55 there are always elements of yourself that you’re trying to find,” describes Buddie. “I just want to tell people that the person you see in the mirror right now doesn’t have to be the person you see tomorrow. I’m just trying to say what I wish someone had said to younger me.”

BuddieRoe has spent his career developing his sound and building his reputation for being a wordsmith in Houston cyphers. He’s worked with artists like Slim Thug, Lil Keke and Doughbeezy and released a string of albums including SunRise Over Briargate, 5 Days, and West Fuqua Kids: An Emotion Picture. And while he has been able to do this independently, an opportunity came a little over a year ago from an unlikely source: an educational company called EdENT.

“I didn’t have any expectations when I first started working with them,” says Buddie as he recalls the early days when EdENT was simply Reading with a Rapper, a program using musicians to help increase student involvement with literature. “I saw their Instagram page and liked what they were doing. They just had good intentions. They wanted to help kids. I didn’t know it was going to turn into this. I didn’t know everything we were going to do. I just thought we were teaching kids how to read through rap.”

Bun B performs at the NCAA Men’s Final Four Halftime Show

Reading With A Rapper, the brainchild of Jarren Small and Douglas Johnson, began as a program to teach students how to read using music and morphed into a full-fledged educational/entertainment company. BuddieRoe is the first artist to release an album under the new EdENT imprint, giving Buddie the opportunity to teach a new generation of students through his music, while also monetizing his art by licensing it for curriculum usage.

“When Jarren and Doug approached me about creating an album, they made sure to let me know I wouldn’t have to compromise my art. They just wanted me to be authentic. The lyrics are, of course, clean but I was already transitioning in that direction. I wanted to focus on improving my lyricism and not cussing was already making me do that. I just wanted to create more in-depth songwriting.”

That in-depth writing produced Lost & Found, a 15-track album where Buddie takes a long look at himself. The album features singer/songwriter Lenora and legendary UGK MC Bun B who shared the stage with him at the NRG Stadium on Monday night.

BuddieRoe opened the NCAA Men’s Final Four halftime show with “Torch,” his latest single from Lost & Found. Before Buddie and the TSU Ocean of Soul band took the stage, a snippet of the music video for “Torch” played on the jumbotrons. In the music video, which seems eerily kismet, BuddieRoe talks to his fictional teammates (played by his childhood friends) in the locker room and expresses his nervousness for his upcoming performance – the biggest yet. “Just thinking about this performance… I ain’t never performed in front of this many people before. I’m kind of shook if I’m honest,” BuddieRoe admits in the music video.

Buddie’s teammate affirms him by saying, “No reason to be nervous, bro. I’ve seen you put the work in, seen you put the hours in. As long as you prepare like you did with the games, there’s nothing to worry about.” The other teammates chime in, “Yeah, man, you got this. Trust me, you got this.”

BuddieRoe performs at the NCAA Men’s Final Four Halftime Show

As the clip ended, the horns began blaring through the speakers as BuddieRoe and the TSU Ocean of Soul band stormed the stage to perform the energetic single which seemed to be created for a stadium performance. After he set the stage ablaze with “Torch,” the jumbotron displayed a purple sky with clouds as the “Int’l Players Anthem (I Choose You)” instrumental played over the speakers. Images of Bun B and the late Pimp C during their UGK days flashed as Bun B suddenly appeared center stage to a roaring crowd. Bun B and BuddieRoe then went into a bar-for-bar performance of “Induction” and the crowd went wild. The song, which is listed as an interlude on the Lost & Found album is only two and a half minutes long but speaks volumes for the relationship between established and up-and-coming MCs in Houston.

Bun B’s involvement with initiatives like Reading With A Rapper and promising young talent like BuddieRoe speaks volumes of his character and impact. In the midst of a jam-packed year filled with personal and professional successes, Bun still finds time to give his time and energy to greater causes. So much so that the Trill Burger co-owner was also honored with the NCAA Legends & Legacy Celebration award immediately following their halftime performance.

As the game ended and confetti filled the stadium in celebration of UConn’s national championship win, BuddieRoe smiled taking it all in. He remained calm prior to his performance and after. When asked how he could remain so calm with the gravity of the moment, he replied with assuredness, “I’ve performed in front of 5 people and gave it my all. So, it’s the same commitment with 75,000. I’m just grateful. It’s bigger than me.”

The post BuddieRoe Headlines the NCAA Men’s Final Four Halftime Show with Bun B and TSU’s Ocean of Soul Marching Band appeared first on Houston Forward Times.

The post BuddieRoe Headlines the NCAA Men’s Final Four Halftime Show with Bun B and TSU’s Ocean of Soul Marching Band first appeared on BlackPressUSA.

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COMMENTARY: Jim Crow 2.0 at the Pentagon

BLACKPRESSUSA NEWSWIRE — The American people are expected to believe that one extraordinary officer after another suddenly fails to meet some undefined standard of excellence. We are expected to ignore impeccable service records while accepting that political appointees alone possess the wisdom to determine who is worthy of advancement.

Published

1 week ago

August 3, 2026

bpusa-syndication

Pete Hegseth insists that he is restoring “merit” to the United States military. But after months of dismissals, blocked promotions, and ideological purges, the evidence tells a different story. His campaign against so-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion” has become something far more dangerous: an assault on equal opportunity that falls with particular force on African Americans, while also targeting women, Latinos, gay Americans, and transgender service members.

The latest example is both troubling and infuriating.

Once again, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has reportedly blocked the promotion of an exceptionally qualified woman—Rear Admiral Amy Bauernschmidt. Bauernschmidt is no ordinary officer. She became the Navy’s first woman to command a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, one of the most demanding leadership assignments in the world. Her career reflects decades of exemplary performance, operational excellence, and leadership under extraordinary pressure.

Yet once again, a distinguished military career appears to have been subordinated to an ideological agenda masquerading as “merit.”

I call BS!

The American people are expected to believe that one extraordinary officer after another suddenly fails to meet some undefined standard of excellence. We are expected to ignore impeccable service records while accepting that political appointees alone possess the wisdom to determine who is worthy of advancement.

The pattern has become impossible to ignore.

General Charles Q. Brown Jr., only the second African American to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was dismissed despite a career that placed him among the most accomplished military leaders of his generation.

Admiral Lisa Franchetti, the first woman ever to serve as Chief of Naval Operations, was removed despite decades of distinguished command experience.

Reports have documented interventions that blocked or delayed the promotions of Black officers and women selected through the military’s rigorous promotion system.

Now Rear Admiral Amy Bauernschmidt joins the growing list of highly accomplished officers whose careers have been derailed for reasons that have never been persuasively explained.

Where is Congress?

Its silence has become deafening.

Congress has an independent constitutional responsibility to oversee the armed forces. Instead, too many lawmakers have watched silently while one of the nation’s most respected institutions is subjected to ideological litmus tests and political interference.

This is not military reform. It is testosterone-fueled performative masculinity disguised as a philosophy of military excellence.

The irony is impossible to miss. Hegseth repeatedly invokes “merit,” yet his rhetoric begins with the assumption that Black officers, women, and other historically excluded Americans must somehow justify their achievements in ways that white male officers are rarely required to do.

That is not meritocracy. It is prejudice wrapped in patriotic language.

No one is asking that anyone be promoted because of race or gender. Americans simply expect that promotions be based on demonstrated competence, leadership, integrity, and service. The officers being targeted have already proven themselves repeatedly under one of the world’s most demanding evaluation systems.

Their records speak for themselves.

The attack on African American military leadership has been especially pernicious.

For generations, Black Americans fought in segregated units, earned decorations while denied equal treatment, and repeatedly demonstrated loyalty to a nation that often failed to extend them full citizenship. They broke barriers not because standards were lowered but because excellence finally overcame institutional discrimination.

Today’s campaign against “diversity” threatens to revive old assumptions under new slogans.

The implication that Black generals and admirals somehow owe their success to affirmative action rather than extraordinary performance echoes some of the ugliest stereotypes of the Jim Crow era. Yesterday’s segregationists claimed Black Americans were inherently less qualified. Today’s culture warriors simply employ more politically acceptable language while inviting the same suspicion about Black achievement.

That is why Hegseth’s campaign increasingly resembles Jim Crow 2.0.

The targets may now wear stars on their shoulders instead of military patches on segregated uniforms, but the underlying message is hauntingly familiar: Black excellence is presumed suspect, while white excellence is presumed earned.

America’s military became the finest fighting force in history because it opened its doors to talent wherever it could be found. It grew stronger after President Truman desegregated the armed forces. It became stronger when women assumed greater command responsibilities. It became stronger when every qualified American was given the opportunity to serve to the fullest extent of their abilities.

Diversity is not a concession. It is a strategic advantage.

The nation’s adversaries do not fear an American military because it is racially homogeneous. They fear it because it draws upon the talents of more than 340 million Americans whose diverse experiences, perspectives, and abilities make our armed forces unmatched anywhere in the world.

Every politically motivated dismissal of a distinguished officer sends a chilling message throughout the ranks: excellence alone may no longer be enough if you belong to the wrong demographic group.

That weakens morale. It weakens recruitment. It weakens retention.

And ultimately, it weakens national security.

Pete Hegseth has every right to pursue military readiness. He has no right to redefine merit in ways that repeatedly cast suspicion upon the accomplishments of Black officers, women, and others who have devoted their lives to defending this nation.

America deserves better. The men and women who wear the uniform deserve better. The Constitution deserves better.

And unless Congress finds the courage to exercise meaningful oversight, history may well remember this period not as a restoration of military excellence, but as the moment political ideology attempted to resurrect, in modern form, the old poison of exclusion.

Jim Crow did not strengthen America. Jim Crow 2.0 will not strengthen America’s military. It will only diminish it

Wade Henderson
Strategic Advisor
Civil and Human Rights
wade@wadejhenderson.com

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New Judge Could Decide if Karmelo Anthony Gets a New Trial

By Emilie St. John (Contributor) Karmelo Anthony will return to court next month in his first step to overturn his murder conviction. Anthony was found guilty last month in the stabbing death of Austin Metcalf and sentenced to 35 years in prison. His new legal team has filed motions seeking the recusal of State District […]
The post New Judge Could Decide if Karmelo Anthony Gets a New Trial appeared first on BlackPressUSA.

Published

2 weeks ago

July 31, 2026

Oakland Post

By Emilie St. John
(Contributor)

Karmelo Anthony will return to court next month in his first step to overturn his murder conviction.

Anthony was found guilty last month in the stabbing death of Austin Metcalf and sentenced to 35 years in prison. His new legal team has filed motions seeking the recusal of State District Judge John Roach Jr. from overseeing the appeals process.

Two hearings have been scheduled on the motion for Aug. 9 and 10 in the Collin County Courthouse in McKinney, Texas, according to Fox4 News.

On July 14, Senior Judge Sid L. Harle of the 226th District Court was assigned to preside over the defense’s motion to recuse Collin County Judge John Roach. The assignment took effect immediately and authorized Harle to handle all matters related to the recusal request, the filing read.

The Collin County District Attorney’s Office continues to defend its handling of the case by issuing a statement to NBC 5 DFW.

“The defendant’s new lawyers have filed a motion containing several inaccurate characterizations of the trial proceedings. The entire prosecution team and I conducted this trial ethically and in full compliance with the Court’s rulings and any agreements with defense counsel. We look forward to addressing these claims thoroughly in a Court of law in the coming weeks. The jury heard extensive evidence over the course of the trial and returned a unanimous verdict. We remain confident in that verdict and the fairness of the proceedings.”

Anthony’s new legal team, made up of appellate, civil rights, and criminal defense attorneys, was retained following Anthony’s conviction.

“Our responsibility is to determine whether a legal error occurred and to ensure that every issue supported by the record is fully and vigorously presented on appeal,” the team said in a statement.

“We recognize the profound loss suffered by one young man’s family and the uncertainty facing another, and we extend our respect to everyone whose lives have been forever changed by these events,” the release reads.

Anthony was charged with the stabbing death of Austin Metcalf during a track meet in Frisco, Texas, April 2, 2025. Anthony has long maintained it was an act of self-defense.

The attorneys are representing Anthony pro bono. The nearly 200-page notice of appeal seeks a new trial because his Sixth Amendment right to a public trial was violated.

“The cumulative and practical effect of these provisions was to exclude members of the public from proceedings at every stage,” the filing reads.

The filing also focused on an alleged “handshake deal” that kept Anthony from taking the stand in his defense.

The defense filing said the agreement was that the jury would not hear that Metcalf and his twin brother had been accused of racism and bullying in the past. In exchange, they also would not see Anthony’s cellphone records or his school disciplinary record, according to court documents reported by the Dallas Morning News.

Anthony’s former defense attorney, Mike Howard, said the defense relied heavily on that deal. The team chose not to ask certain questions of witnesses or call on a separate expert witness based on that agreement. It also abandoned plans to introduce testimony and evidence about the allegations against Metcalf and his brother.

Appellate attorney Russell Wilson is now handling post-trial proceedings and Anthony’s appeal. He recently sat down for an interview, stating, “The court committed multiple errors during the June murder trial, preventing him from receiving a fair trial.”

“You know, we file motions that we expect to prevail on, but we understand that there’s two sides to every story. And at the end of the day, it’ll be a judge that has to make these decisions, but we feel confident in the positions that we’re taking,” Wilson said during an interview with WFAA. “There were substantial issues that we thought a reviewing court needed to look at. We thought these were constitutional irregularities, and we could have them addressed now. And so, we put them into a motion for a new trial.”

Bree West, a former Dallas County Assistant District Attorney, found it startling that so little time was given to Anthony’s team for such a serious “life or death” situation.

“I do think that it’s really challenging that potentially a court decided that you have 10 minutes to make that level of decision when it has the potential of being life-altering,” said West during an interview with Fox 4 News.

Judge Harle is no stranger to high-profile cases, having presided over the prosecution of a police officer charged in connection with the 2022 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde.

Anthony was convicted on June 9 of the murder of Austin Metcalf and sentenced to 35 years in prison.

The post New Judge Could Decide if Karmelo Anthony Gets a New Trial appeared first on BlackPressUSA.

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COMMENTARY: LSMFT! Lord Save Me from Trump!

WESTSIDE GAZETTE — The author criticizes Donald Trump’s rhetoric, noting his use of terms like “Dumbocrats” and “Communist” to describe Democrats and democracy. The column asserts that Trump’s current strategy involves creating doubt about midterm elections due to a lack of Republican agenda.
The post COMMENTARY: LSMFT! Lord Save Me from Trump! appeared first on BlackPressUSA.

Published

2 weeks ago

July 31, 2026

Oakland Post

Frankly Speaking

Wow! Wow! Wow! The swamp drainers have truly stepped down to new levels of stupidity. You remember Weapons of Mass Destruction? We now have Weapons of Mass Distraction. Trump has introduced Dumbocrats and Communists into the conversation about Democrats and Democracy.

Trump lies so much, and his current strategy is to set up doubt about midterm elections because he and Republicans have no agenda!

He has no “Trump “ card, but Iran has a strait! He called it a skirmish; it’s now a War. He said five days; now it’s five months. He said few casualties; now it’s 18 deaths. He knew nothing about Project 2025 but hired its architects! Trump lies about the lies and often forgets these little inventions called cameras and phones

We see and hear and then see and hear the inconsistencies.

I didn’t like 45 and dislike 47 even more!

The post LSMFT! Lord Save Me From Trump! appeared first on The Westside Gazette.

Based on reporting by Westside Gazette.

The post COMMENTARY: LSMFT! Lord Save Me from Trump! appeared first on BlackPressUSA.