99 Problems Finding the 1: a love story (sort of)

Professor and punk musician G’Ra Asim claps back at chronic lovelessness in the post-covid era with heft and whimsy—and a template for a more intimate, interpersonal future

In 2004, Jay-Z released his instant classic “99 Problems,” which details the many problems in his life, expect romantic love. Fast forward over 20 years, G’Ra Asim is facing his own set of problems, except they all focus on modern romance.

Contemplating his singledom and mishaps in dating, Asim takes us through a thoughtful meditation on chronic lovelessness. Using a process he calls “thinkful wishing” as an antidote, Asim scopes out modern love, romance, and ambivalence to manifest a more loving and lovable future. Or at least someone he can list as his emergency contact.

99 Problems Finding the 1 offers cultural critique, contemplation, and experience from a millennial in search of a partner. For example, Asim observes how ascendant Black folks rarely reach “cruising altitude”—a professional plateau stable enough to focus one’s overtaxed attention on vetting potential partners. On tour with his band, he ponders the relationship between stage banter and the seedy underbelly of social awkwardness.

His bold dissection of modernity serves a central claim: admittedly a problematic fave, love is worthy and capable of reclamation and redemption. Even as white supremacy gets in the way, Asim argues that we’ll have to abandon the posture of terminal cool and hazard a little earnestness to bring love back.

G’Ra Asim is a writer, a musician, and assistant professor of creative writing at Washington University in St. Louis. His debut nonfiction book, Boyz n the Void: a mixtape to my brother blends memoir, cultural criticism and personal essays framed as letters to his younger brother, exploring blackness, masculinity and punk culture. The book was named one of the best nonfiction titles of 2021 by Kirkus Reviews. Asim’s writing has appeared in publications like Slate, Salon, Guernica, The New Republic and The Boston Globe. He previously served as writing director at the African American Policy Forum and a graduate teaching fellow at Columbia University. As a musician, he sings, plays bass and writes lyrics for the DIY pop punk band Baby Got Back Talk, recognized by Alternative Press as one of "rising Black alternative bands" and by Idobi as one of "100 Rising Artists to Listen to." Their full-length debut, Genre Reveal Party, was named one of 500 Essential Pop Punk Albums by Ruffian Books.