Founding Members

New Eyes founder Timmhotep Aku is a Brooklyn-bred cultural worker who has written and edited for Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, NPR Music, Complex, and others over his two-decade plus career. His ongoing multimedia and experiential project, 'Subject To Change', includes writing, art, event production and curation, pedagogy, and his monthly radio show of the same name which airs on London’s NTS Live.

Ivie Ani is an award-winning journalist, writer, critic, and on-air host covering music, culture, and entertainment. A Nigerian-American Bronx native and New York University graduate with degrees in Journalism and Africana Studies, she uses reporting, criticism, and tastemaking to enlighten, engage, and produce work with a purpose. Her work has been published  in The New York Times, GQ, Vanity Fair, VIBE, Teen Vogue, The Village Voice, Pitchfork, and more. She recently contributed to J. Cole’s The Fall-Off Magazine, introduced Wizkid at the 2025 Tribeca Film Festival, and voiced the introduction for Burna Boy’s historic Madison Square Garden headline show. A former editor at Complex, AMAKA Studio, and Okayplayer, she is a recipient of Harvard’s Eminence Award and the 2024 Unlabelled Journalist of the Year Award.

Melvin Backman is a writer and editor based In Brooklyn, New York. He has written about fashion, books, and other cultural subjects for The New Yorker, New York Magazine, Spook, GQ, SSENSE, Vogue, The Nation, Columbia Journalism Review, The Drift, and other outlets. He is a Browsing the Branches tote bag recipient, library science student at Queens College, and an editor for The New York Public Library. He occasionally updates his newsletter, If You Pleats.

Elena Bergeron is an editor and writer focused on music, streaming video and other forms of artistic expression, both in their substance and what they reveal about how we live now. She edits criticism, features and essays, and occasionally writes profiles, analysis and news for The New York Times. Her goal as a journalist is to expand coverage of pop culture from within the mainstream.

Peter A. Berry is a culture journalist with over a decade of experience as a writer and editor. He's managed news teams, broken national news, and been a columnist and critic at places like XXL, Bloomberg, COMPLEX, Stereogum, Billboard, Pitchfork, Variety, Okayplayer and many others. He currently pens Stereogum's monthly rap column, Say What's Real, and he hosts his own independent newsletter and podcast, Rate It Or Love It.

Lawrence Burney is a writer, editor, critic, and long-time documentarian of the Baltimore/DMV music scene. His work has appeared in publications such as New York Magazine, GQ, Washington Post, and Pitchfork. His first book, No Sense in Wishing, a collection of essays, was published in July 2025 via Atria Books. The book was also named the 2026 recipient of One Maryland One Book, a statewide collective reading initiative. Burney’s second book Sing Back To Me — a critical assessment of electronic dance music made across the Black Atlantic — will also be published by Atria Books in 2028.

Mankaprr Conteh is a Sierra Leonean American journalist who has spent a decade reporting at the intersection of global entertainment and sociopolitical life. Formerly a staff writer on Rolling Stone’s music team, she authored intimate cover stories on pop stars Megan Thee Stallion, Janelle Monáe, SZA, 21 Savage, Cardi B and Rema. The latter became the magazine’s first Black African cover subject in its nearly 60-year history. Mankaprr was also the founding columnist of Rolling Stone’s “Made in Africa,” a monthly examination of the continent’s art, politics and influence. She has previously written and reported for Pitchfork, Vogue, ELLE and Essence. 

Andre Gee, who runs his self-titled Substack, is a leading critical voice in journalism. Andre’s sharp analysis and fearless reporting has earned him LA and New York Press Club awards. A prolific writer for outlets such as Rolling Stone, New York Times, Complex, and Okayplayer, Andre has interviewed the who’s who of contemporary rap and dared to delve into dark corners of the rap and music industry. His definitive dissections of rap’s move towards MAGA and the flawed politics of hip-hop capitalism have brought attention to pivotal but underexposed issues and changed the cultural conversation in hip-hopcription goes here

Dylan Green is a journalist, critic, and podcast producer based in New Jersey. They are a co-founder, writer, and editor at Hearing Things, a worker-owned music publication, and the creator, producer, and host of the Reel Notes podcast, which covers the intersection of hip-hop and film. Their work has been featured in The New York Times, Pitchfork, and The Fader, among other publications. Reel Notes: Culture Writing on The Margins of Music and Movies, an essay collection and guide to the world of culture journalism, is available now via 4PM Publishing.

Clover Hope is a prolific writer, editor, critic, and NYU professor. She has worked across various media, producing audiobooks, documentaries, and special projects alongside her cultural journalism, writing for outlets like Wired, GQ, and New York Magazine, as well as cover stories for Elle, Esquire, and Vogue. Hope has held editorial positions at Billboard, Vibe, XXL, Jezebel, and Pitchfork. She authored the award-winning book, The Motherlode: 100+ Women Who Made Hip-Hop, the first comprehensive history of women rappers, published by Abrams Books in 2021.

Shamira Ibrahim is a Brooklyn-based culture writer by way of Harlem, Canada, and East Africa, who explores identity, cultural production and technology. She is currently a regional editor at Africa Is A Country – a digital publication that offers a critical perspective on various social, political, and cultural issues affecting Africa, pushing back on continental legacies of colonialism and exploitation – as well as a contributing writer for Acacia Magazine. She is also on the advisory council of Critical Minded, a grantmaking and learning initiative that supports cultural critics of color in the United States.

William E. Ketchum III is a journalist and critic covering the intersection of music, culture, and society spanning more than 20 years of interviews, essays, and criticism. His expertise has been recruited by dozens of outlets, including New York Times, Billboard, Vulture, Guardian, XXL, Ebony, and more. He has worked as deputy editor at VIBE magazine, provided cultural commentary for shows on NPR and BBC, and wrote scripts for Apple Music’s award-winning audio series Hip-Hop DNA. William has also written biographies for artists such as Nicki Minaj, Flau’jae, and Young RJ of Slum Village. He was recently handpicked to contribute amongst an ensemble of respected editors and journalists to debut “The Fall Off Magazine,” a 144-page editorial publication commissioned by Diamond-selling and Grammy Award-winning artist, J. Cole

Jessica is a New York-based writer with a decade of multimedia experience across culture publications including Complex and VIBE. She has since expanded into marketing, bringing creative copywriting expertise to campaigns spanning the health, tech, and education industries.

Natalie Meade is a first generation, Caribbean-American writer, journalist, and professor with deep roots in Jamaica and Montserrat. She covers the arts, culture, and environmental politics in the West Indies and the diaspora. Natalie’s work is published in The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, Vogue, Lux, and the L.A. Times. Her reporting offers a critical lens that analyzes colonialism's pervasive legacy, which looms over the region. Natalie is a member of The New Yorker’s editorial staff, and she teaches at the C.U.N.Y. graduate school of journalism.

Marcus J. Moore is an author, curator, professor and music journalist whose work has become essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the emotional and political undercurrents of Black artistry. With a voice that merges academic rigor and deep listening, Moore has spent two decades documenting the intersections of jazz, hip-hop, soul and experimental music, tracing how those sounds shape one’s identity and community. Moore’s work has appeared in publications including The New York Times, TIME, The Nation and The Atlantic, where he has cultivated a reputation for essays that combine reporting, criticism and history.

Alphonse Pierre is a New York-based music critic and culture journalist. His reviews, interviews, profiles, trend pieces, and more can be found in Pitchfork, where he writes the frequent Off The Dome column. His focus is on highlighting and thoroughly analyzing regional rap scenes. In 2025, he received an ASME NEXT Award for journalists under 30.

Dimas Sanfiorenzo is a New York-born editor and journalist who specializes in coverage centered around hip-hop, pop and random internet stuff. He has written for BET, VIBE, BBC, Essence, and more. He is currently the music editor at Complex. He previously served as the editorial director for Okayplayer and Okayafrica.