Chronicles of a B-boy Superhero at the Hip-Hop Museum, DC

..As the interview ended Lord Finesse made his way from behind the table.  I cued the footage to the 1:28 minute mark, the exact moment Finesse could be seen speaking on the panel.  I did not say a word, I only turned the screen towards him so he could see what I was playing .  He stopped, checked it out, then realizing it was me, nodded his head and said "what's up?"  This all got Jeremy Beaver's attention and he said:

"Hey what's that?"

"It's footage from across the street, Howard University back in 1992 when we used to host a hip-hop conference.  This is rare footage featuring Lord Finesse on a panel, and participating in the DJ Contest.  As far as I know I am the only person that even has this footage."

"Email that to me so we can add it to the museum"

***record scratch

(This is not what we do here!)

##

This occurred Friday December 14, at the Hip-Hop Museum, DC which is directly across the street from Howard University's School of Business.  The event was an induction ceremony for the legendary Lord Finesse, and I went on a secret mission to attend this in person.  The reason being actually goes back to 1992.

Howard University used to host the Cultural Initiative Hip-Hop Conference when I was a student.  1992's conference was the second year of the conference's existence.  I had a camcorder (Minolta Master C-606) and recorded lots of footage of the conference from the panels, the inaugural DJ competition, and some performances. 

The Hip-Hop Camcorder

I had the footage archived on VCR tapes, until about a year ago when I finally obtained the means to digitize this event and store it in the cloud.  Doing a search online yields little to no information that this event ever took place, let alone there being any videos of the event either.  The Conference took place well before social media was a thing, and the only gadget some people had were beepers.

As I was going through the footage, it hit me that I should do something with it.  If I am the only person that has actual video of the Conference, I feel it's my duty to preserve this piece of history somehow.  I decided I would make a documentary about it!  I talked it over with one of my mentors, Maureen Singleton (will be credited as an Executive Producer), and she had a great suggestion for a way to tell the story, which would require locating people who I have in the footage, and get them to provide their perspective about what they remember from the event.  That's a great idea as far as I am concerned.

The VCR tapes of the Hip-Hop Conference

I started to take all the footage and edit it in iMovie, and came up with a teaser of sorts.  I posted it online through various social media channels, and got a pretty good reception from folks.  On Twitter the footage got the attention of Lord Finesse and we started to exchange messages via email.  I let him know my plans, and told him that I'd like to sit down with him so he can be involved, once I knew this would take off.  I don't believe in wasting people's time, and at the same time I want to make sure everyone involved can get properly compensated for their participation.  He was very agreeable about my proposal, and told me to stay in touch.

A few weeks ago, I saw a notification on Facebook that Lord Finesse was going to be inducted into the Hip-Hop Museum of DC.  I did a little research and saw that the location for the event was directly across the street from Howard University which I found...interesting to say the least.  My first thought was why something like this does not already exist on Howard's campus?  My second thought was whose in charge of this?  I asked folks in my network from the DMV area, and no one really seemed to know what the story with this museum was, other than it was actually a recording studio of some sort called Listen Vision Studios.  I did a bit more sleuthing online and this seemed to be a legit operation.  I reached out to Lord Finesse to see if he was actually going.  He confirmed to me that this was legit, and he'd be there.  I decided that I would go too, as it would be a good chance to meet him and show him more of what I had, and also to see what's the story with this museum.

I arrived in DC mid-afternoon and made my way toward Howard.  I had the cab driver drop me off in front of the bookstore, and chose to walk up Georgia Ave a few blocks to the address of this museum.  I made it to the address, which had two flights of stairs to go up and opened the door.  There were a couple of people inside cleaning up, and one of them said to me, "we're not open for tours yet." to which I responded by asking about the induction ceremony.  They confirmed it was taking place at 5 and I asked if it was open to the public which it was.  I said I'd be back.  From what I could see the space was definitely a recording studio, I could not at that point, yet make out much of the museum part.  I figured I could go check-in where I was staying, grab some food, and make my way back in time for the start.

Death Row Records Electric Chair on display at the Hip-Hop Museum, DC 

By the time I got back it was dark and rainy, but making my way back inside the space, the ceremony I could see had started, and sure enough there was Lord Finesse sitting behind a table being interviewed by Jeremy Beaver, founder of Listen Vision Studios.  Luckily, there were only a handful of us inside, maybe about seven of us so i was able to get a good view of the interview, which was streaming live and being recorded.  I took a seat, content to bide my time.

At one point they played footage of Lord Finesse on "Yo MTV Raps" with Fab Five Freddy, where he did a freestyle, and I smiled because I remembered the episode, and was able to even recite a few of the bars from what I remembered.  The induction ceremony/interview lasted roughly an hour with an interesting segment taking place towards the end called Unboxing.  According to Jeremy, every week they do the show, they do an unboxing of hip-hop memorabilia that they receive in the mail.  I believe I heard it said that these items were from eBay.  Some items that were unboxed during this segment were a copy of Public Enemy's "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" album on vinyl, autographed by Chuck D and Flavor Flav which came in from Lenexa, Kansas, and a Macola Records Jacket which came from North Hollywood, CA.  I believe I found the listing for the jacket here.  I bring this portion of the show up to highlight how I started this piece, which we can now revisit.

***REWIND

Lord Finesse & Jeremy Beaver, Founder of Listen, Vision Studios

As the interview ended Lord Finesse made his way from behind the table.  I cued the footage to the 1:28 minute mark, the exact moment Finesse could be seen speaking on the panel.  I did not say a word, I only turned the screen towards him so he could see what I was playing .  He stopped, checked it out, then realizing it was me, nodded his head and said "what's up?"  This all got Jeremy Beaver's attention and he said:

"Hey what's that?"

"It's footage from across the street, Howard University back in 1992 when we used to host a hip-hop conference.  This is rare footage featuring Lord Finesse on a panel, and participating in the DJ Contest.  As far as I know I am the only person that even has this footage."

"Email that to me so we can add it to the museum"

I did not even respond to this 'request', instead processing what he asked me.  Here I am in DC, across the street from my beloved Howard University at a recording studio, which is also serving as a hip-hop museum, where the founder just interviewed an all-time legend, who I happen to have rare, unseen footage of from 1992 at a conference that took place across the street back in 1992, which to my knowledge CANNOT BE FOUND ANYWHERE ONLINE, and I am just supposed to 'email' this to you?

You can't even do me a solid and at least ask my name, who I am?

You can't even ask me if the footage can be licensed from me?  I just watched you unbox a bunch of hip-hop memorabilia that I believe you said you ordered off of eBay, so clearly you have some type of funds. 

Am I not worthy for some type of financial consideration, Mr. Beaver?

I did not even respond to his request, but I 'politely' took his card and continued to rap with Lord Finesse and by now a small group of people gathered around us (not Beaver) as we talked about the Hip-Hop Conference, and I made mention to those who were listening what my intentions were for what I had.  Lord Finesse asked me to play what i had of him at the DC Contest, and i of course obliged him.  He invited me to roll with him the following day on Saturday, but I told him I was returning back home.  He asked where I came from, and I told him Long Island.  I told him how great it was to finally meet him, and we would catch up soon so that I could complete my mission of creating a documentary of this footage.  I was able to snap a photo with him before I left.

Yours truly with Lord Finesse

As I exited the building into the night, where the rain had picked up considerably, all I could think about though was this Jeremy Beaver asking me to email him my footage so he could use it in the museum.  I guess on one hand, he's doing what he's supposed to do which is ask because you never know how a person would respond, and there may have been a time where naively I would have just sent it off without thinking about it.  But on the other hand, I did not think that was cool at all.  I have my own plans for my blood, sweat, and tears, and outside of any of the artist who are featured in my footage, no one gets to build up their platform, before I get a chance to build up my platform.  Once the documentary is complete, maybe i'll reach out to this guy with a real plan on how I want it showcased and presented, because it is quite honestly a piece of hip-hop history from the area.  But that is not happening before Howard University, and myself can reap any benefits that this project yields.

Until then check out the teaser that I released of my footage and stay tuned for an EXCITING announcement in the early part of 2019!

Word up son, word!

The Origin Story of a Game Tester

I was commuting to work on the LIRR, during the first week of October on a Thursday, when I received word that my entire department in NYC for Connected Devices Quality Assurance was being shut down, and I was getting laid off from work at Disney Streaming Service (formerly BAMTech Media) the following day.  That was supposed to be a great day, as it was the first day of New York City Comic Con which I was planning to attend after work via my 4-day Professional registration badge and had scheduled the next day as a vacation day.  Instead, I just became Craig from Friday, and was losing my job on a day off. 

I was upset, scared, and felt very hopeless at first.  How am i going to feed my family?  How will I keep the roof over our heads?  These questions and a million other things were racing through my mind.

Eventually I just closed my eyes, and stopped...

I thought about how this all started.  'This' being my career, and how I turned answering a simple newspaper ad into the opportunity of a lifetime.  I was not going to let this temporary setback, no matter how unexpected and devastating define me.  Sometimes in order to move forward, we have to look back.  So I thought about how I got on my career path.  It's a story that provides the kind of balance and focus I need to get through this transition  while also has empowering me to share what I am going through right now.

Rewind back to the summer of '98 when my homeboy DJ Parlay hit me up and told me he saw an ad in the paper that simply said, "Do you want to get paid to play video games?" for a company called Acclaim Entertainment.  I was only slightly familiar with the company by their name.  They weren't EA or Squaresoft, but I was definitely familiar with some of the games they put out like NBA Jam and NFL Quarterback Club.  Little did I know they were actually based out of Long Island in a city called Glen Cove, which was not too far from where I lived at the time.  A video game company in Long Island?  This was news to me.  Plus I wasn't even aware of what a job making video games even looked like.  If you asked me I probably thought it was something that only super smart people did, writing computer languages or something, which I didn't know how to do.  Having a job as described in this ad did not sound like an actual job, it sounded more like fun and playing video games was already a big hobby of mine going back to the days of the Atari 2600. 

As far as I knew then video game companies were either in Japan or on the West coast, and being a product of the east coast, those places were just so far away to me.  My peer group at this time was either in the music biz, or trying to make it in the music biz, and I was right along with them trying to make my mark in that industry as well.  I did not know any black folks who were in to the actual business of making video games other than playing Madden football, NBA Live or fighting games.  If I was going to do this "getting paid to play video games" thing, it was going to be uncharted territory. 

So Parlay and myself decided we would try to get this job.  What we had to do next was go to an Open House at Acclaim Entertainment on an early Saturday morning to get interviewed.  Unfortunately every other young adult from Long Island must have seen the ad too, because it seemed like there were hundreds of other folks out there.  Parlay and I got on line and we were given numbers which were in the 70's.  Shortly after receiving our numbers though, the person from Acclaim who was in charge of everything announced they were only taking numbers through the mid forties.  They thanked everyone for coming out, but told the rest of us to go home, and keep an eye out for another announcement of an Open House.  I was not going to let this setback deter me from what I felt was a dream job, so instead of going home right away, I came up with an idea. 

I told Parlay we should just wait around for a bit and let all these other kids go home, that way when these Acclaim people come back around and see it was only two of us left, we could convince them to do our interviews.  What did we have to lose?  Parlay was with it. 

So we waited.

If I remember correctly, we went to a deli down the street, got ourselves some sandwiches, re-entered the building, sat in the conference room, and even made some long distance phone calls if you can believe it!  We must have been in that conference room at least an hour before an HR representative came back and realized we were still there.  She asked us who we were and what we were doing.  I explained the 'scheme' to her, and asked her very nicely if she would interview us for the job.  I felt like I really pleaded our cases well to her. 

She politely told us both to go home.

BUT

She did acknowledge that this plot was a first, and admired the initiative it demonstrated.  She promised to give us a call the following week.  True to her word, the following Tuesday she called me and conducted a phone interview which went well.  I was asked to come back for an in-person interview a few days later where I was asked such questions as, "what are your favorite video games?" (Answer: Final Fantasy VII), and "how would you improve a game that you played?" (Answer: NBA Live - I would add the ability to play with using older players and teams from the past). 

A few days later I was hired as a Game Tester for Acclaim Entertainment in a temp to hire position getting paid hourly working on the day shift Thursday - Monday 7-3PM (weekends were MANDATORY for this position).  My primary job duty was to basically "write up anything wrong that you see" on the soon to be launched NFL Quarterback Club '99 for the Nintendo 64.  I was being paid to play video games, for the purpose of finding "bugs" (malfunctions) in the software code or as I liked to tell folks, I was paid to break things so that the product worked as expected when they were released to the public.  Trust me it is a real job, and is not as easy as some may think, but I have ALWAYS had fun doing it.  Perhaps in the future I'll write more about this. 

That's my origin story so to speak when it comes to how I got started in my professional career which has primarily been that of a Senior Quality Assurance Analyst.  Acclaim Entertainment is where it began, but in the years that followed I would go on to work at Rockstar Games, Avalanche Studios, Major League Baseball Advanced Media, and The Walt Disney Company working on projects such as the Grand Theft Auto franchise, Red Dead Redemption, Midnight Club, The Warriors, Just Cause 3, the WWE Network app, HBO NOW, MLBTV, and the ESPN+ app just to name a few.  As long as I always remember to show some initiative by thinking outside of the box, my next opportunity will never be too far away. 

Get Ready!

Master Ace & Craig G Live on Mr. Magic's Rap Attack Show 11-5-1988

Hip-hop radio shows based in the New York City area back in the 80's, at any time could have artists come through to be interviewed or perform live on the air.  It is one of the many reasons why it was always important to have your cassette and tape decks ready, because you never knew who would show up on any given night.  This spontaneity was one of the reasons why the culture was so exciting back in these days.  

The Mr. Magic Rap Attack show, which aired on 107.5 WBLS on Friday and Saturday often had members of the Juice Crew come through the station.  For those who do not know, the Juice Crew was a collection of emcees from Queens, Brooklyn, and Long Island, whose members included Biz Markie, Big Daddy Kane, Roxane Shante, MC Shan, and Kool G. Rap.  Marley Marl (also a member of the Juice Crew) was the station engineer of the Rap Attack Show and produced many of the records the Juice Crew released at this time.  Needless to say, a lot of their records debuted on the Rap Attack Show, thanks to Marley Marl. 

As I have been going through my personal cassette collection and listening to these classic radio shows recently, I have stumbled upon yet another gem.  The Rap Attack Show from Saturday November 5, 1988 with Juice Crew members, Master Ace and Craig G live on the air.  At the time of this airing, both of these emcees were fresh off their respective performances on the classic track "The Symphony" which also featured Kool G. Rap and Big Daddy Kane.  This may have been one of Master Ace's earliest appearances on the Rap Attack Show, while Craig G was a staple on the air already having released his solo records "Dropping Science" and "Duck Alert".  These two spent a few minutes trading verses over Eric B & Rakim's "To the Listeners".  

I've digitized the cassette and uploaded the segment which you can listen to the in embedded YouTube link below.  Enjoy! 

Rare Chuck D interview from Hofstra University P5 Hip-Hop Show (September 1988)

On September 10, 1988 the "Dope Jam 88" hip-hop tour made its way to the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, NY, just a few traffic lights away from Hofstra University.  Eric B & Rakim, Boogie Down Productions, Kool Moe Dee, Doug E. Fresh and a few other acts were on the bill that evening.  Unfortunately this particular show is most remembered for a young man being stabbed to death inside of the arena.  Arrests were made, but that did not stop officials from the Coliseum from instituting a ban on rap concerts in the venue (which to my knowledge lasted until Jay-Z's "Hard Knock Life" tour, which featured DMX, Method Man & Redman, rolled through in 1999)

One of the advantages of living in Long Island during this time when hip-hop on the radio was mainly relegated to night time slots, was the plethora of shows that could be heard almost on a daily basis.  Friday and Saturday nights, I was able to tune in to the hip-hop radio shows on the big stations from New York City, like 107.5 WBLS (Mr. Magic's Rap Attack) and 98.7 KISS FM (DJ's Red Alert & Chuck Chillout), as well as Adelphi University's WBAU on Monday nights, and Hofstra University on Saturday night.  Hofstra's station was 88.7 FM WRHU and their hip-hop show was called P5 (Post Punk Progressive Pop Party) hosted by Jeff Foss.

I used to record all of these shows on cassette whenever I could.  Some of them were labeled, but too many had no label on them.   Back when recording these shows was part of my regular routine, even if a cassette was unlabeled, I used to know what was on each them, based on the brand of the cassette and how much tape was on either side of the spool.  Having that sort of relationship with my music, gave me that super power.  Through the years that ability has faded, so now a little more work is needed in order to figure out what is on these recordings.

When I find time these days, I pop in the unlabeled cassettes and play them from Side A to Side B, making note of any highlights.  Imagine my surprise when I recently played a tape that had the Hofstra University P5 show on it, but more importantly featured an interview by Jeff Foss of the one and only Chuck D of Public Enemy!

The interview is about ten minutes long, and Chuck used his time to speak about Nassau Coliseum's decision to ban all rap concerts in the aftermath of the Dope Jam concert, saying that the ten thousand people that peacefully attended the concert, should not pay for the action of "ten knuckleheads".  He also discussed giving back to the community, plans for a world tour that Public Enemy was embarking on that November, and how the recently released "It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" had just hit a milestone on the Billboard charts.   I am not 100% sure, but I believe this is from September 24, 1988 for all the history buffs out there.

I have not heard this interview anywhere else online, so if you enjoy it, drop me a line in the comments, and please share!

Link to interview: Chuck D interview from WRHU FM P5 Hip-Hop Show September 1988

And here is a video from Yo MTV Raps that was recorded at the Nassau Coliseum Dope Jam concert with some interviews with Doug E. Fresh, KRS-1, and a few others:

It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back: 30 Years Later

As a fifteen year old in 1988, any allowance money I received was spent on comic books, or records.  The closest place to buy music was a record store in Hempstead called Disc N Dat, which was on Main Street.  A few times a month I would ride the bus there to check out the latest releases on vinyl or cassette tape.  That year, "Strictly Business" by EPMD, "Follow the Leader" by Eric B & Rakim, and Big Daddy Kane's "Long Live the Kane" were just some of the purchases added to my small, but growing collection of hip-hop records.  One such trip into Hempstead that summer led me to purchasing what would ultimately become my favorite album of all time, and that's Public Enemy's "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back"

From the moment I got home and took it out of the cover, it stayed in rotation on my record player for the rest of the summer and well into the new school year. The music was pro-Black, political, and made quite an impression on me.  There were plenty of hip-hop records in these early days that were conscious, but nothing like this.  The lyrics Chuck D was kickin' along with HOW he delivered them, thanks to his booming voice, over these incredible beats crafted by the Bomb Squad were like nothing ever heard before.  The inside packaging of the record came with the lyrics for each song, which allowed me to rap-a-long with each listen. Using their music as a vehicle to attack white supremacy, and uplift Black people, Public Enemy may as well have been real super heroes.  Having streamed it in its entirety recently, it dawned on me how timely and relevant this album remains during this Trump Error of America.  Here is a breakdown:

(I have previously written about the first time I heard the song "Rebel Without A Pause" which can be read here.)

Back cover of "It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back"

Don't Believe The Hype

Before Trump and his base popularized the term 'Fake News', Public Enemy's "Don't Believe the Hype" was made in response to some inaccuracies written about the group from Rock music journalists'.  While not fully aware of these circumstances at the time, I interpreted the song as a call to not take things at face value, not believe everything you hear, and to know your sources for information to better help form opinions.  Society today seems to absorb what they see online or posted somewhere as truth without verifying if its an actual fact, and as we learned from the Election of 2016, vast amounts of misinformation were spread far too easily.  Before accepting any information as fact, let's remember: Don't Believe the Hype!

Night of the Living Baseheads

This album was released at the height of the crack/cocaine epidemic that ravaged the United States.  Media coverage back then made these drugs synonymous with Black people, which shaped perception, and policy on how to combat the problem; harshly.  "Night of the Living Baseheads" was this album's powerful anti-drug statement.  The video in particular showed how these drugs were not just in Black communities, but on Wall Street as well.  Ironically, today the Opioid drug crisis has been framed as a white people problem, yet recent studies show that this drug is devastating the Black community as well.  Treatment for this addiction seems to be readily available in white communities, yet for Black victims too often the only options seem to be punishment via harsh drug laws or death.

Black Steel In the Hour of Chaos

With its haunting piano sample from Issac Hayes' "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" the subject of this song was Chuck D receiving a letter to register for the military, and his refusal to comply which landed him in jail.  Chuck's booming vocals defiantly rapped, "Here's is a land that never gave a damn, about a brother like me and myself because they never did" as his explanation.  There is a long history in this country of criminalizing and punishing Black people for taking a stand on social issues from Muhammad Ali, and his refusal to serve in the military when he was drafted, to Rosa Parks for not giving up her seat on a bus for a white person.  The most recent example of this is former NLF quarterback, Colin Kaepernick and the stance that he took, of taking a knee during the National Anthem prior to football games to protest police killings of Black people.  Cynics may say he is just not good enough to play in the league, yet his stats from the last season he played say otherwise.

She Watch Channel Zero?! 

Viewers of daytime soap operas were the target on this song, especially if they only seemed to watch or care about these types of programs, and not balance that out with activities that had more substance as highlighted by Flavor Flav's line "Read a book or something, Read about yourself, Learn your culture you know what i'm saying?"  Today the gender specific-ness of this song's title would not fly as both men and women are responsible for their fair share of ratchet television viewing.  The message remains the same though.

Caught Can I Get a Witness

This song addressed one of the biggest legal issues in the hip-hop music business back in 1988 which was music sampling.  How much of a song could be sampled to make a new beat, and how much would the original artist be paid for their work being sampled?  The biggest legal issue facing artist in 2018 is music streaming and getting paid properly.  Although these rates have gone up as of 2018, they still do not seem to be where they should be.


These are some examples of how my favorite album is still relevant thirty years past its release.  I wonder how this will hold up over the course of the next thirty years?  Time will tell.

Here are some videos off of the album.

"Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" 

"Bring the Noise" (original version) 

"Don't Believe the Hype" 

With "Black Panther" Black Women are No Longer Hidden Figures in Hollywood Blockbusters

By the end of its third weekend at the box office, “Black Panther” will become one of the ten highest grossing movies of all time. 

This is a remarkable achievement for any movie, and especially historic in this case since there is Black talent in abundance on BOTH sides of the lens. When it passes “Finding Dory” to enter the top ten list, it will be able to add at least one more accolade to its already long list of accomplishments. It will be the first movie on this list that proudly, and so prominently, feature Black women in a Hollywood blockbuster. 

Black actresses have been somewhat M.I.A. as main performers on the all time domestic grosses list for films. Out of the ten highest grossing movies ever, Black women have only been cast with major roles in four (one of the women appeared in two of the movies). Even more disheartening, those parts did not allow them to be seen for who they really are, in their natural beauty. They have literally been “hidden figures”. 

Lupita Nyong'O, Zoe Saldana, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw have each played characters in some of the biggest movie money makers ever. However, they each were relegated to parts that did not allow them the opportunity to appear in their own skin, instead appearing via computer effects. There is nothing wrong with doing this sort of work, but when opportunities are so few and far between for Black women in Hollywood films, compared to their counterparts, this situation is worth pointing out.  

Lupita Nyong'O as Maz Kanata in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens"

Academy Award Winner Nyong’O appears twice on this list courtesy of her role in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” (#1 on the list) and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” (#6 on the list) as Maz Kanata, a computer generated (CG) character. Lupita provided voice work and motion capture, but otherwise there is no way to tell its her under the special effects. 

Zoe Saldana as Neytiri in "Avatar" 

Zoe Saldana played Neytiri in “Avatar” (#2 on the list) who is an alien CG character with blue skin. Just like Lupita, Zoe provided the motion capture and voice work for this performance and did not show off her black skin any time during the movie. Saldana is no stranger to these types of performances, as she has worn green skin for her portrayal of Gamora, an alien assassin, in the Marvel Studios franchise “Guardians of the Galaxy”. To be fair though, she can be seen in the role of Lt. Nyota Uhura in the reboot of the “Star Trek” movie series, a character originally made famous by Nichelle Nichols in the original TV series. The new movie series is not on the list of top ten highest grossing movies of all time, so it would not be considered a blockbuster. 

Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette in "Beauty and the Beast" 

Finally, “Beauty and the Beast” (#9 on the list) featured Gugu Mbatha-Raw as Plumette, a character trapped in the form of a feather duster. The movie does show Gugu’s human features eventually, but not until the movie’s climax.  She spent more time being seen as an inanimate object, than being seen as a Black woman in this role! 

None of this is to say that there is ANY correlation between hiding Black women, equals a movie will earn more money, but Daisy Ridley (“The Force Awakens” and “The Last Jedi”), Kate Winslet (“Titanic” at #3), Bryce Dallas Howard (“Jurassic World” #4), Maggie Gyllenhaal (“The Dark Knight” #7), Scarlett Johansson (“Marvel’s The Avengers” #5), Felicity Jones (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” #8), and Emma Watson (“Beauty and the Beast”) all had opportunities to star or co-star in blockbusters and they were each seen exactly as they are in real life. Where were these opportunities for Lupita, Zoe, Gugu or any other Black actresses? These three beautiful, black women could not have starred as the female lead in any of these other movies and those films not had the same financial success? 

This is a problem more exclusive to Black women. Black men who feature in movies from this list such as John Boyega (“Star Wars: The Force Awakens and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi”), Samuel L. Jackson (“Marvel’s Avengers”), Morgan Freeman (“The Dark Knight”), and Forest Whitaker (“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”) all appear in their own Black skin in these movies. 

The “Black Panther” showed us Black women as a General, Spy, Queen, and an Inventor in featured roles. This movie’s financial success does not excuse Hollywood’s poor track record for how Black women are displayed in its biggest films, but hopefully it highlights the issue, and leads to action that can remedy this problem. 

So this is another reason to root for the financial success of the “Black Panther”.

#WakandaForever

A Week In the Life of a Star Wars/Marvel fan

I was going to write a post last night, to talk about some of the things I was looking forward to this upcoming week such as the new Kendrick Lamar album dropping this Friday along with our first look at a little movie coming out in December:

Rumor has it the first trailer/teaser for the latest entry in my all time favorite movie franchise will be dropping during Star Wars Celebration in Orlando, Florida at the end of the week; somewhere between when it kicks off on Thursday or Friday when the actual Last Jedi panel takes place.

Like I said I was going to write something, but pulled back at the last minute.  Started listening to some Fela Kuti instead and have no regrets.

Then Marvel decided to turn a normally boring Monday morning into an event by unleashing this:

THOR: RAGNAROK TEASER!!!  I had no idea this was dropping today.

(insert every happy/excited emoji right here)

That party people, is how you get the blood flowing on a Monday morning!  AMAZING TEASER for a franchise that 'some' folks are not as warm about compared to other Marvel franchises.  Well dare I say, the naysayers may be taking cover right about now.  So here I am writing something now.

Full disclosure: I LOVE the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  Sometimes I feel like I want to live there, because the worst part of the movies is when they end, and I have to wait months on end until the next entry comes out.  So I LOVE when there is news from official channels about the upcoming movies whether its a poster, footage in the form of teasers and trailers, to when tickets go on sale weeks ahead of time.  I've made it my business to be at the first showing of these movies at 7pm Thursday the day before their official release on Friday because I cannot risk being spoiled about ANYTHING once the movie is out.

And of course when it ends I am sitting in my seat waiting for the post-credits scenes, cuz Marvel always likes to tease the future.  I can't decide which tease was better when Nick Fury teased the Avengers Initiative to Tony Stark at the end of "Iron Man", or the appearance of Thanos at the end of "Avengers"?

Sidenote: it kills me seeing folks get up to leave when the credits are rolling.  I just want to shout to them, "WHERE ARE YOU GOING? THERE IS STILL MORE TO SEE!!!"

So while I had every intention of writing last night about the things I was looking forward to this week, sometimes its the things that we do not see coming that end up making us just as happy as well.

But who am I kidding....If the "Last Jedi" teaser has a lightsaber igniting along with hearing the first bit of new dialogue from LUKE MOTHERF_CKIN' SKYWALKER in over three decades, how could that NOT be the best thing to happen this week?

May the Force Be With You
Make Mine Marvel

"Many Facez" by Tracey Lee: 20 Years Later

1997 will be remembered as the year that saw the release of the Notorious B.I.G’s  double album “Life After Death”  on March 25, mere weeks after he was murdered.  A few months later the Wu-Tang Clan dropped their double LP “Wu-Tang Forever” on June 3.  Sandwiched in-between those two releases was a debut album from an up & coming emcee who hailed from Philadelphia and who made a name for himself in Washington, DC while attending Howard University.  Powered by the hit single “The Theme: It’s Party Time” and featuring the last recorded verse from Biggie while he was still alive, “Many Facez” by Tracey Lee is celebrating twenty years since its release in 1997.

Now what’s interesting about this album is those of us who were involved in its creation cannot quite pin down the exact date of its release.  Sure if you do a search for it in Google, it comes up as March 25, 1997, but keep in mind this album dropped at a time before Google was really a thing, of indexing history and the internet as we know it today.  Plus this is the same date that Big’s album dropped.  I personally do not recall picking up “Many Facez” on the same date that I picked up Big’s album.  Quick story: I used to road manage Tracey, and we were out on the road somewhere in the United States, and earlier in the day on March 24th we were at a Mom & Pop record store at a strip mall type location.  The owners told us that they would open up at midnight to start selling Big’s album, and we definitely planned to return later that evening so that we could pick up Big’s album as we continued on our promo run (special R.I.P. to the one and only Garnett Reid who took us out everywhere on the road).  When we returned later that evening, I remember picking up Big’s album, but not Tracey’s. We surely would have grabbed multiple copies of each had both been available for sale.  

Marley Marl & Tracey Lee outside of Hot 97 in NYC

I do remember that the record label, Bystorm/Universal originally planned to release Many Facez on March 25.  There was a belief that record buyers who went to pick up Biggie’s album, would also pick up Tracey’s album.  Speaking for myself I never thought that was a wise idea, and my recollection, thankfully, was that at the 11th hour a decision was made to delay the album by about 2 weeks, making the new release date April 8, 1997.  This is the date I remember, and oddly enough if you look up Mancy Facez on Amazon, April 8 is what comes up as the original release date.  Plus its chart history over on Billboard.com indicates that it debuted two weeks after “Life After Death” instead of debuting the same week.  It’s a fascinating, small controversy that Tracey and I have good banter over!

As far as the album goes, “Many Facez” was a concept album showcasing the different sides of Tracey, or the many faces.  They were, L, Rock, LR, Tray, and Mr. Lee.  These personalities allowed Tracey to be versatile in his song making using wih different flows, different rhyme patterns, and different styles; it all just depended on which face he was wearing.  Back then we probably did not articulate this concept as well as we could have, but as the album gets older I appreciate it more and more.  Listen to the album today, and you will see what I mean.  

Yours Truly, Pharohe Monch, Tracey Lee & DJ Parlay

One of the areas of “Many Facez” where this was evident was in the sequencing of having the song “Repent” appear before “Give It Up Baby” the second commercial single released from the album.  “Repent” was an LR record, and it was as far away from being a commercial record as there could be as exemplified by the hook, “don’t you hate n-ggas who make records for b-tches?”, yet this record was followed by its antithesis “Give It Up Baby” featuring Tray, the ladies man, a record that was made to have commercial appeal and get spins on the radio.  This was purposeful sequencing and one of the ways the concept of “Many Faces” was meant to come to life.  

My favorite record on the album hands down is “Stars in the East” featuring another one of HU’s finest in One Step Beyond (Kenyaflow, MID, and John Doh representing the Bronx, Newark, and Philly respectively).  The Jones Girls “Nights over Egypt” sample alone makes this a classic record, and Tracey in the L persona trade verses with Kenyaflow and MID was nothing short of magical.  This song could still be released TODAY and it would be a smash, it’s that good!

Biggie, D-Dot, Yours Truly, and Tracey Lee

“Keep Your Hands High” will always be special, because this is the last record that Biggie did a verse on while he was still alive.  Recorded at D&D studios, Biggie and Tracey traded verses as if they had been rhyming together for years, and I could not help but think that this would be the first of many collaborations between the two of them, since the head of Tracey’s label, Mark Pitts was also Biggie’s manager.  A few weeks later in Los Angeles on March 9, 1997, Fate would have other plans as Big was murdered shortly after leaving a party that we had also attended.  When it came time for “Many Facez” to drop, we were unable to use Biggie’s name on the sticker that would showcase songs and features on the album.  I didn’t even know that sort of thing required permission.  Live and learn.  

Of course I can’t talk about this album without talking about the hit single “The Theme: It’s Party Time”.  Catchy, infectious, a roof raiser, or party starter you name it THIS record was the SHYT in ‘96-’97 when it was out and can still get the party going today.  DJ Red Alert was the first DJ to play it on his show in NYC in November of ‘96.  Before we knew it, we were on a plane to Atlanta in January the following year performing at a party in honor of Nas’ second album going double platinum, and I just remember seeing the whole club raising the roof as the song was performed and singing “It’s party time...Whoa It’s Party Time”.  It was at this point I knew Tracey had something special.  This was twenty years ago, and it seems like only yesterday.  

So I want to send a special shout out to my friend, and my brother Tracey Lee as we celebrate the 20 year anniversary of his debut album, “Many Facez”, an album that took us all over the country and allowed us to see things we could only dream of.  You made a helluva debut album, and I can’t wait to reminisce about this over the course of the next twenty years!

If you want to purchase “Many Facez” or any other album in Tracey’s discography head over to http://traceyleemusic.com/

"The Get Down" Part 2 Review

Much to my delight this past Friday April 7th, Netflix released Part 2 of "The Get Down".  I was anxious to see the further adventures of The Get Down Brothers (Books, Shaolin Fantastic, Ra-Ra, Boo-Boo, and Dizze) and Mylene Cruz and the Soul Madonnas.

Some criticism of Part 1 was that its scope was so ambitious that at times it seemed the story meanders a bit, particularly in its presentation of the early days of hip-hop.  I stress that this is a drama, and not a documentary.  "The Get Down"  never aimed to be a historical, fact by fact telling of important milestones in the development of hip-hop.  This is a fictional ,coming of age story about a group of kids who grew up in the Bronx during the tumultuous 1970's, and it would be impossible to tell this story without including the early days of b-boys and b-girls (as well as the decline of disco.)

This is not to excuse some of the historical anachronisms that exist (such as some members of the crew who were rapping in double time, which was not a prevalent style of rhyming at this point in time for example) but its fun to see how these characters come into contact with this culture either through the rapping, playing music or through other means (some which were not so noble) These moments are what makes "The Get Down" so special, because if this culture means anything to you, you probably remember that moment when you discovered, it or when you fell in love with it; and for a lot of us the discovery and love were one in the same!

Compared to Part 1, Part 2 is a bit more streamlined.  The characters are established, the origin bits are out of the way, and they can pretty much get down to business in each episode.  For those who disliked Part 1, or found it a chore to make it through all the episodes, I would definitely say give Part 2 a fair chance.  Each of the episodes treat the expression of hip-hop as something that already exists, albeit in its earliest form, and does not have to stop and explain various elements at every opportunity.  Even when it does, such as when Books is explaining how a DJ finds the 'get down' part of the record and brings it back and forth between two turntables to a co-worker, it moves at a brisk pace and does not take up half of the episode.

If you enjoyed Part 1, these five episodes that make up Part 2 really bring the whole series together.  Being familiar with the characters, you will empathize with their various journeys and struggles even if some seem predictable, the cast is so likable you may find that you talk to yourself when certain characters meet obstacles, or express their frustrations about how life is treating them at a particular time.  Strip everything away, and a few of us, i'm sure have been in one of these characters shoes at one point or another.

A pleasant surprise in the storytelling mechanism for Part 2 is at various points throughout the episodes the story is told via a comic book strip where the characters and setting are animated and the actors provide voice-overs for their respective avatars.  I wonder how this series would have been received had it been completely animated.  We may never know, but for the parts where this did appear, I appreciated it tremendously.

Finally, as Part 1 had appearances by actors playing Grandmaster Flash, and Kool Herc,

*** spoiler alert***

Part 2 introduces the final member of the hip-hop trinity in Afrika Bambaattaa & the Zulu Nation.  No the show does not delve into the controversies surrounding him, he and his crew play a key role in the climax that is  similar to the opening few minutes of "The Warriors" .  It will be interesting to see how purists respond to this part of the story.

My review of Part 1 of the Get Down can be found here

Peace, Love & Unity

update: This new track from Nas that is featured at the start of Episode 3 "Angel Dust" just popped up on youtube today.  So dope!

A Look Back on "A Different World" 29 Years Later

When “A Different World” (ADW) debuted on NBC in September 1987, the show that it started out as, was much different than the show it became by the time it wrapped in 1993.  The first season was about Denise Huxtable from “The Cosby Show” who was now attending Hillman College, a fictional HBCU, yet the show was missing something.

Starting in season two, director Debbie Allen was brought in to be the chief creative force of the show, (herself a graduate of an HBCU via Howard University) and had an immediate impact and became the catalyst who helped to transform this show from being a “safe” Cosby Show 2.0 type show, into a more authentic representation of what college life was in general and specifically at an HBCU.  This series along with Spike Lee’s 1988 film “Do The Right Thing” was among the many reasons why HBCU’s saw increased enrollment at the time.  From a mix of both veteran and unknown African-American actors, poignant topics  to the show’s opening montage and theme song, by season two, ADW more accurately represented the look and feel of an HBCU.  

Throughout its six season run, ADW showcased aspects of life at an HBCU such as, student activism, black fraternities and sororities, and Homecoming festivities which had rarely if ever been broadcast on television.  Current events of the time were also tackled such as the first Gulf War and boycotting companies that invested in the South African Apartheid government.  Part of what made this so unique was that these stories were told through the lens of African-American men and women in a college setting, and it stayed away from the usual tropes and stereotypes that too often accompanied African-American appearances in the media, both in fiction as well as on the nightly news, at the height of the crack-cocaine epidemic.  Positive role models were featured throughout the show and substantive issues were addressed.  The HBCU vs PWI topic was featured in a season three episode entitled, “Here’s to Old Friends”.   The show’s lead character, Whitley Gilbert, recounted a story her grandfather (who was a Hillman graduate) told her, that she could attend school anywhere, but that “no school will love you, and teach you to love yourself, and know yourself like Hillman”.  I’m sure most students and alumni of any HBCU will agree with that statement as they all have that in common.  The strong sense of identity one gets from attending an HBCU is not replicated anywhere else.  

Many of my classmates at Howard University attended off the strength of this series.  During freshman year, one of the few times I recall signing into the Quad (the freshman girl’s dormitory), was to join a group of friends so that we could watch this show in the same space.  Like many shows today, that have a tribe of folks who watch in real time via social media, ADW brought us together as we felt like we were watching our lives on television.

Another episode that stands out to me was “Dr War is Hell” (Season 2, Ep. 1) which revolved around math major Dwayne Wayne attempting to get out of taking a calculus class with Professor Colonel Taylor (aka Dr. War) who was known as one of the toughest professors on campus.  Professor Taylor was eventually able to convince Dwayne to take his calculus class by impressing upon him that he could see from his transcripts that he was a great student, and wanted to challenge his mind in order for Dwayne to reach his full potential.  

The image of an older African-American male, taking an interest in the future of a younger African-American male was something that was rarely seen on television.  At the same time Professor Taylor made it clear that he was going to challenge Dwayne, but did so with a compassion that is a hallmark of the HBCU professor/student experience.  Moments like this were common on ADW, and no doubt picked up on by many aspiring college bound African-American high school students as well as their parents.

I always looked at ADW as being timeless, since it was set on a college campus.  The cast could be refreshed every few years, while storylines remain contemporary with the times.  Debbie Allen has expressed interesting in reviving the series.  Unsurprisingly, the current racial climate of the country is being credited with the recent surge of enrollment at HBCU’s.  Perhaps this could be the premise for the series revival.  I would certainly welcome its return.

Below is a clip from the first episode "Reconcilable Differences" which aired September 24, 1987, along with a clip from the "Here's to Old Friends" episode.

When I first heard "Rebel Without a Pause"..

Cassette tape recordings of many college, underground, and mainstream hip-hop radio shows

Nowadays it is easy to take for granted that there was a time when hip-hop was not as big on the radio as it is today.  As hip-hop music started to grow, the experience of how to listen to it proved to be an enriching one.  What was lacking at the time in streaming music services, satellite radio, or smartphones to store music, built a certain fortitude when having to record music from hip-hop radio shows on terrestrial radio stations onto cassette tapes.  When music filled up on one side of the cassette, it was common practice to break the tab off of the top of the tape in order to prevent that side of the tape from being recorded over.  This sounds primitive now but it was effective.  If I decided to record over what was previously recorded, all I had to do was place tape over the space or fill it with a tiny piece of tissue.  It was easy at the start of a show to hit PLAY+RECORD and fill up Side A of the cassette, but if you fell asleep, and did not flip the tape over to record Side B for the middle to end of the show? That was never good -- chances were that you would miss the part of the show when all the new, hot records would get played.  Thankfully, when auto-reverse tape decks came out, that helped alleviate this scenario.  To think back on how innovative that auto-reverse tape deck was is hilarious!  The good old days indeed.

A cassette with both tabs broken to prevent erasure on either side. 

In NYC as far as mainstream radio, hip-hop was relegated to mix shows on Friday and Saturday from 9pm to midnight on 98.7 KISS FM and 107.5 WBLS.  Other than this timeslot it was rare to hear hip-hop on these particular stations at any other time of the day, unless the song was REALLY popular like  “Roxanne Roxanne” by UTFO.  Contrasted with today where the same few songs are in rotation seemingly every hour each day.  Fortunately, there were options Monday thru Thursday in the form of underground and college mix show stations and often times these stations would debut songs well before they got recognized by the mainstream stations.  

  One such station was 90.3 FM WBAU at, Adelphi University in Long Island.  On Monday night into Tuesday morning, from 10pm to 1am.  I used to listen to the “Operating Room” hip-hop radio show hosted by Dr. Dre - who would go on to host Yo! MTV Raps - and was from the hip-hop group Original Concept, along with T-Money, Wildman Steve, and a host of others.  Even though Monday’s were school nights I used to listen religiously each week.  Digital radio tuners were around back then, but I had my radio boom box that had a manual tuner.  What does that mean you ask?  Well, unlike the mainstream stations which I could easily turn the dial to line the pointer up properly with the number of the station, most of these stations required PRECISE tuning of the dial.  It was possible that the dial needed to be turned so that it rested perfectly between two numbers for radio stations because the station you needed did not have a number represented on the dial.  So you had to guesstimate.  And if the station was on the lower end of the frequency, it may have required you to contort your body a certain way, like lifting your foot or leg up, in order to conduct the radio waves properly into the tuner.  Crazy as this sounds these are all true stories.  But these were the things we did because of the love of the music.

Boombox complete with manual tuner and tape deck. Batteries not included. 

 

    I remember one show in 1987 like it was yesterday.  Dr. Dre was talking, and said that he had an exclusive new record from Public Enemy that he was going to play called “Rebel Without A Pause”.  Public Enemy frontman Chuck D, had a show on this same radio station called Spectrum City Sound, along with other members of the PE production team The Bomb Squad Hank & Keith Shocklee.  I never listened to their radio show, but knew all about Public Enemy as they had just recently released their debut solo album “Yo! Bum Rush The Show”.  I LOVED Public Enemy when they first came out.  In my opinion Chuck D had the most powerful, distinctive voice and was a great emcee.  So hearing Dr. Dre say he had a new record from Public Enemy, was a big deal especially since their first album was still pretty new up to this point.  The problem for me was it was close to the midnight hour and I could feel myself starting to fade.  Luckily, I managed to turn the tape over in time, and press RECORD so if anything I knew the next day I would have the song on tape.     

My eyes were almost shut when Dr. Dre put that record on.  I remember hearing slight static on the record at first, before hearing the following:

“Brothers and sisters….Brothers and Sisters I DON’T KNOW WHAT THIS WORLD IS COMING TO”

And then the beat dropped...followed by the scratching...then that high pitched WHISTLING sound along with Chuck D’s voice:

YES

THE RHYTHM
THE REBEL
WITHOUT A PAUSE
I’M LOWERING MY LEVEL

I ROSE UP out of my bed and was now fully awake and at attention! I had NEVER heard anything like that in my life, and quite honestly have never heard anything like that since.  It was a religious experience.  If that song debuted at a cemetery the dead would have also risen.  Between the beat, that high pitched whistle that kept repeating, and Chuck’s voice, which on this record now sounded more powerful than Black Bolt of the Inhumans, it was like the greatest hip-hop record ever made.  Instant classic, not up for debate!  The greatest five minutes on wax.  And Dr. Dre knew he had one, because after the song ended, I am not even sure he let two minutes go by, without putting that record back on and letting it rock again.  And I had it on tape!  All I could think about was playing that tape over and over again, just so I could hear that sound again.  That repeating whistling sound.  Incredible.   When my father first heard the record he called it something akin to “interrogation music”.  I could imagine some military in the world playing “Rebel Without A Pause” endlessly until some POW broke! (I cannot find this tape to save my life today!) 

    I am not even sure how the next day went.  I imagine I took that tape to school, and asked my friends if they heard the song and played it for those who had not heard it.  I cannot even say for sure if I did that, but I will always remember what I did the night before.  The night WBAU debuted Public Enemy’s “Rebel Without A Pause” before ANY other station had it, and months before PE dropped their classic “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back” album which had “Rebel Without A Pause” on it.  I was living in a moment in hip-hop history, but did not even know it yet.  This was the song that solidified Public Enemy as legends in my mind.        

College mix shows and underground stations were where it was at if you were into hip-hop back then which is why I really do not trip off of what mainstream radio does nowadays when it comes to oversaturating the airwaves with the same few hip-hop songs.  For me mainstream radio stations were never tastemakers for hip-hop music.  Let’s go back to when Mr. Magic of 107.5 WBLS and their Rap Attack show played a demo version of one of Public Enemy’s earliest songs “Public Enemy #1” and how Mr. Magic dissed them after the song talking to co-host Marley Marl, “Marley the beat is dope but the rapping is kinda weak” along with the infamous line “no more music by the suckers” which PE ultimately sampled on another one of their songs “Cold Lampin’ Wit Flavor” from Public Enemy’s very own Flavor Flav.  Magic even took a shot at Dr. Dre and the WBAU crew here (“Dr. Duck and the boys from Long Island..Woody Woodpecker and the guys from down the dial”)

check it out: 

The following Monday, Dr. Dre played this bit from Mr. Magic on their show, and you can hear their reaction to the diss at around the 4:46 second mark. Hysterical. 

Do you remember the first time you heard “Rebel Without A Pause”, or “Public Enemy No.1”?  What about the first time you heard any of your favorite hip-hop records?  Sound off in the comments below.   

Peace, Love & Unity