Volume 134 No. 16
THE BLACK MEDIA AUTHORITY • AFRO.COM
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NOVEMBER 15, 2025 - NOVEMBER 21, 2025
AP Photos/Chris Pizzello
Hip-Hop fans worldwide are celebrating the 2025 class of inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, including Big Boi (left) and André 3000 of the award-winning group, OutKast, and the members of Salt-N-Pepa, Sandra “Pepa” Denton, DJ Spinderella and Cheryl “Salt” James (right).
Outkast, Salt-N-Pepa enter Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
By Andrew Dalton Salt-N-Pepa highlighted gender inequality in the entertainment industry and the music of Outkast brought waves of emotion on the night of Nov. 8 at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony. The power of women in music was called out loudly early in the evening at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles during the induction of Salt-N-Pepa.
“This is for every woman who picked up a mic when they told her she couldn’t,” Cheryl “Salt” James said in a rousing speech accepting her, Sandra “Pepa” Denton and DJ Spinderella’s entrance into the hall. James brought up their fight to reclaim their master recordings from Universal Music Group. “The industry still doesn’t want to play fair, Salt-N-Pepa have never been afraid of a fight,” she said.
They took the stage for a medley of their hits, opening with “Shoop” then sliding into “Let’s Talk About Sex” before En Vogue joined them for their joint hit “What a Man.”
Outkast rocks the house, but not entirely together
Outkast didn’t perform together for the first time since 2016 as some had hoped, but the duo stood together on stage, surrounded by a crew of friends and cohorts as they
gave grateful speeches after doing rock-paper-scissors to decide who would go first. Andre 3000 gave a long, rambling, funny speech — “I’m freestylin’ y’all!” — that ended in tears when he talked about their very beginnings in a basement “dungeon” in Atlanta in the early 1990s. He choked out the words, “Great things start in little rooms.” Andre sat out the performance but Big Boi, wearing
shorts and a fur coat, started off an express tour through the Atlanta duo’s discography that included Tyler the Creator, JID and Killer Mike. Janelle Monáe joined them to shake her way through “Hey Ya” and Doja Cat delivered a sly and soulful take on “Ms. Jackson.” Stevie Wonder led a funky and flashy tribute to the late Sly Stone to open the show that streamed live on Disney+. An edited version airs on ABC on Jan 1.
Wonder was joined by Questlove, Leon Thomas, Maxwell, Beck, Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers for renditions of Sly and the Family Stone hits “Dance to the Music,” “Everyday People” and “Thank You.” Jennifer Hudson joined them to wail through “Higher.” Stone, who was inducted into the hall in 1993, died in June. This article was originally published by The Associated Press.
Facing fire and funding cuts, farmer fights to save his land By Megan Sayles AFRO Staff Writer msayles@afro.com
afro.com
New York farmer David Haughton had hoped the end of the COVID-19 pandemic
would bring relief from his revenue challenges. But, just as he began to recover, new funding gaps under the 47th president’s administration brought hardship back to his farm. In March 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced that it would cancel the Local Food Purchase Assistance (LFPA) Cooperative Agreement Program, which had helped farmers like Haughton sell
produce while supplying fresh food to communities in need. Haughton’s major customers, like The Campaign Against Hunger and GrowNYC, were directly affected. “Because of the cut, we actually lost 60 percent of our market,” said Haughton. “Some of them Continued on A2
Paul SancyaAP Photo/Paul Sancya
City Council President Mary Sheffield speaks during an election night watch party after winning the mayoral race on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025, in Detroit.
Black leaders shine in 2025 November elections By Corey Williams
Photo courtesy of David Haughton
New York farmer David Haughton is seeking donations after a fire destroyed his home in August 2025. The disaster came on the heels of federal funding cuts that eliminated many of Haughton’s customers and threatened his farm’s survival.
City Council President Mary Sheffield will be Detroit’s newest mayor and the first woman to lead the city. She joins Sharon Owens, who was elected as the next mayor of Syracuse, N.Y., and Dorcey Appelyrs, of Albany, N.Y., and a long list of other historic makers who won their races this month. Sheffield defeated popular megachurch pastor the Rev. Solomon Kinloch in the
Nov. 4 general election. She will take office in January and succeed three-term Mayor Mike Duggan who announced last year that he would not seek reelection. Sheffield thanked voters in her victory speech election night, addressing those who voted for her and those who didn’t. “I am here to listen to you, to fight for you and to serve you,” she said. “Because, at the end of the day, we all want the same thing, a Detroit that
Copyright © 2025 by the Afro-American Company
works for everyone.” Detroit has had 12 consecutive years of balanced budgets and the city has been showing historically low violent crime numbers. Its population also has grown following decades of losses. Earlier this year, the U.S. Census estimated Detroit’s population at 645,705 — a gain of 12,487 residents since a May 2024 estimate, according to the city. Continued on A2