Take It or Leave It: 2023 Roundup

Things I loved this year (in no particular order)

Take It or Leave It is a weekly highlight series. Pretty much every Friday, I share a quick hit of things I’m loving.

Before I take the next couple weeks off to spend time with family, here’s my 2023 roundup complete with several lists of things I enjoyed this year (in no particular order).

Hopefully, this provides you with new finds or things you want to revisit. But if not, all good. Take it or leave it ✌️

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Favorite songs

1. “Sprinter” by Dave & Central Cee

2. “Not Strong Enough” by boygenius

3. “Always” by Daniel Caesar

4. “HEAVEN TO ME” by Tyler, The Creator

5. “Mad At Fire” by Elmiene

6. “Snooze” by SZA

7. “The Hillbillies” by Baby Keem & Kendrick Lamar

8. “I KNOW?” by Travis Scott

9. “hold me down” (feat. Jimetta Rose & Voices of Creation) by Noname

10. “Solid Plan” by Larry June & The Alchemist

In case you missed it, I wrote about my 10 favorite albums of 2023. Also, here’s a playlist of songs featured in Take It or Leave It this year:

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Favorite movies I watched for the first time

1. The Menu (2022)

2. Puss in Boots: The Last Wish (2022)

3. Shiva Baby (2020)

4. Bottoms (2023)

5. Oppenheimer (2023)

6. Barbie (2023)

7. Rye Lane (2023)

8. Gone Girl (2014)

9. The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

10. American Symphony (2023)

Follow me on Letterboxd where my Twitter drafts become movie reviews 🫡

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Favorite books I read for the first time

1. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin (2022)

2. All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes by Maya Angelou (1986)

3. The Book of Delights by Ross Gay (2019)

4. The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A Family, A People, and the Loss of a Country, 1917-2017 by Rashid Khalidi (2020)

5. The Good Enough Job: Reclaiming Life from Work by Simone Stolzoff (2023)

6. Blues People: Negro Music in White America by Amiri Baraka (1963)

7. When They Tell You to Be Good by

   Prince Shakur
   (2023)

8. No More Police: A Case for Abolition by Mariame Kaba & Andrea J. Ritchie (2022)

9. Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation by

   Anne Helen Petersen
   (2020)

10. The Black Panther Party: A Graphic Novel History by David F. Walker (2021)

I log all my reads on StoryGraph if you ever need book recommendations. It’s Black woman-owned and a great alternative to Goodreads!

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Favorite podcasts that aren’t Alex + Koku

1. Ice Cold Case by Madison McGhee

2. Stuck with Damon Young by Spotify Studios/Crooked Media

3. DNVR Denver Nuggets Podcast by ALLCITY Network

4. Work Appropriate by Crooked Media

5. The Jenkins & Jonez Podcast by iHeartPodcasts & The Volume

6. Louder Than a Riot by NPR

7. The Blog Era by ItsTheReal

8. It’s Been a Minute by NPR

9. The Take by Al Jazeera

10. Into It with Sam Sanders by Vulture

If you want to listen to Alex + Koku, here you go. Also, here’s a playlist of podcasts featured in Take It or Leave It this year:

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Favorite TV shows

1. Big Brother (CBS)

2. The Bear (FX)

3. Real Housewives of Salt Lake City (Bravo)

4. Real Housewives of New York City (Bravo)

5. Coach Prime (Amazon)

6. Abbott Elementary (ABC)

7. Claim to Fame (ABC)

8. Love Island UK (Hulu)

9. Vanderpump Rules (Bravo)

10. Survivor (CBS)

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Favorite Substack posts

1. “A softer world” by

   Katie Heindl
   for
   BASKETBALL FEELINGS

2. “Call me by MY name” by

   Dia Becker
   for
   Broke But Moisturized

3. “A Home I Never Had” by

   bobbyhundreds
   for
   MONOLOGUE

4. “The elite capture of Substack” by

   Cydney Hayes
   for
   Discussion Candy

5. “How Your House Makes You Miserable” by

   Anne Helen Petersen
   for
   Culture Study

6. “Exits: Sooner is relative” by

   Hanif Abdurraqib
   for
   BASKETBALL FEELINGS

7. “Zion Williamson Please Get Off Snapchat” by

   Madeline Hill
   for
   Impersonal Foul

8. “The pace of activism in an online world” by

   Dylan Keese-Forster
   for
   how to be a woman on the internet

9. “FIRST TIME IN A WHILE (A SHORT STORY)” by

   Nathan Abia Lawer-Yolar
   for
   Nathan’s Substack

10. “There Is No Revolution without Madness.” by

    Ismatu Gwendolyn
    for
    Threadings.

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Honorable mentions

• Song: The Drake & Central Cee “On The Radar” Freestyle – I temporarily lifted my personal cancellation of Drake just to hear “combinayshun”

• Movie: Jenin, Jenin (2003) – this documentary was released 20 years ago and it’s just as relevant today (if not more)

• Book: The Club by Ellery Lloyd – a fun mystery read inspired by Soho House

• Podcast: Intercepted by The Intercept – important discussions about national security, civil liberties, foreign policy & criminal justice

• TV Show: House Hunters (HGTV) – the perfect show to flip to after turning on the 180-minute sleep timer

• Essay: “It’s Time for LeBald” by

  Cole Henderson
  – all GOATs are bald (excluding Jokić… for now)

Before I call it, I also have to give a shoutout to Polar Premium Seltzer for being the best seltzer and usually what’s next to me while working on Feels Like Home. If it’s not Black Cherry, Raspberry Lime, or Cranberry Lime, don’t talk to me.

See you in 2024, thanks for a fun year 🫶