"Representing a career that spans genre and sound, Usher's ambition both challenges and provokes. Perhaps this is why the Atlanta-born singer continues to occupy popular culture, not only through his Grammy Award-winning recordings, but also across fashion and the fine arts, where he has emerged as a patron and collector. He identifies career as a collage. Evolution does not mean abandoning the past, but layering it, building new meaning atop experience, vulnerability, and history."
"For Usher, this work is inseparable from legacy. "I want to carry that legacy, to make certain that I advocate for Black artists, for our Black lives," he says, returning to a recurring investigation of what it means to be a Black man today. Like Usher, Rob Franklin is fascinated by ideas of Blackness and legacy. His debut novel, Great Black Hope, follows a character navigating both New York's underground and Atlanta's Black high society, grappling with expectation and belonging."
"Like Usher, Rob Franklin is fascinated by ideas of Blackness and legacy. His debut novel, Great Black Hope, follows a character navigating both New York's underground and Atlanta's Black high society, grappling with expectation and belonging. These tensions are not unfamiliar to Usher. Born in Atlanta and fostered in New York, the singer was shaped by both cities, each steeped in its own lineage of Black cultural shapers."
Usher's career spans genre and sound, with ambition that challenges and provokes. He occupies popular culture through Grammy-winning recordings, fashion, and the fine arts, acting as patron and collector. He describes career as a collage, where evolution layers new meaning atop past experience, vulnerability, and history. Legacy is central, motivating advocacy for Black artists and Black lives. Movement between Atlanta and New York shaped his identity, with both cities' cultural lineages informing his work. He translated New York's boldness and self-invention into Ralph's Club New York fragrance with Ralph Lauren. He balances artistic pursuit with family responsibilities, touring schools for his children.
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