The first time I ever heard an Onyx song I didn’t even know it was them. Back in 1991, my boy Vanguard (who’d later produce tracks for O.C. and KRS One) gave me a mixtape with no tracklist. The only song I couldn’t identify was a track I assumed was called “Ah, And We Do It Like This” because it was repeated in the song’s chorus. Back in those days this was a common occurrence so I thought nothing of it. The next Fall, my younger brother tells me that his boy (Jam Master Jay’s nephew) let him hear this dope ass song called “Throw Ya Gunz” by a group named Onyx on his walkman. He’s raving about it and I just dismiss it as hype.

A few weeks later, my brother comes home with a tape that looked like a promo sampler and I heard “Throw Ya Gunz” for the first time (it’s also one of the greatest clean versions in Hip-Hop history). My brother wasn’t exaggerating after all! The ChySkillz produced banger had a kinetic energy I hadn’t heard since the DJ Muggs produced “Jump Around” hit blared through my headphones. I played it over & over again wondering when it was finally going to drop. Three weeks later the song hit college radio & the video aired on BET’s Rap City. Chaos ensued.

“Throw Ya Gunz” spread like wildfire on the airwaves, starting on college Rap shows then to mixshows and regular rotation on the major radio stations. The video went from being played just on “Rap City” to playing on almost all of the BET video shows except for “Video Soul”. As the song got more popular, a backlash occurred coinciding with when it finally was released commercially in late November 1992. Due to pressure from parents groups and others still reeling from the recent Warner Bros./Cop Killer Controversy & the L.A. Riots that happened the previous Spring, BET opted to blur out the guns in “Throw Ya Gunz”.

By the holiday season, they had pretty much stopped showing the video at all. Around this time, MTV decided to interview Onyx as part of a segment about the violence in Rap music. Shortly after audiences saw and heard the passion Sticky Fingaz & Fredro Starr had, “Throw Ya Gunz” hit #1 on the Billboard Rap singles chart and rose as high as #81 on Billboard’s Hot 100. Keep in mind that BET was no longer playing the video & MTV’s video policy prevented them from ever even airing it.

Sales of Onyx’s single “Throw Ya Gunz” was steady for four months up until their debut album dropped on March 30, 1993. What many forgot was an underground black & white video for the B-side of  “Throw Ya Gunz” called “Da Nex Niguz” was on a promo VHS circulated by The Source magazine. This served as an unofficial single & video even though it never aired on either BET or MTV. Onyx didn’t have a new single & video until “Slam” was released in May 1993. If you thought “Throw Ya Gunz” was popular? “Slam” blew it out of the water.

“Slam” aired on both MTV and BET, it was extremely radio friendly and it dropped right around the time of the 1993 NBA Playoffs. The NBA began playing it in arenas and even added it to their new promotional campaign. Next thing you knew, Onyx had their second #1 Rap single that reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and earned them a Platinum plaque from the RIAA. Onyx essentially went 6 months with one official single and no video airplay for 4 months but the single still climbed the charts. Try that today and see if you go Platinum & get magazine covers and a Marvel comic book!

It was around this time that I remembered that on “Throw Ya Gunz” they went “Ah, Ah, Ah! And we do it like this!” and I went searching for music under Onyx with that title. I found out that Onyx was signed to Profile back in 1990 with Run DMC and Jam Master Jay took the young Queens emcees under his wing. Now they were on JMJ Records under the Def Jam umbrella with a Gold album approaching Platinum.

Onyx’s transformation and grimy sound orchestrated by ChySkillz, Jam Master Jay, Jeff Harris & Kool Tee completely changed the landscape of Rap in a short time. Hardcore Rap had crossed over and the rest of the Rap world followed suit.

How influential were Onyx? Shortly after the bald headed, screw faced, hollering emcees brought slamdancing and mosh pits to Hip-Hop shows Run DMC had reappeared after years of hiatus with bald heads in similar dress to Onyx rhyming in a more aggressive manner. Da Youngstas shaved their heads bald and adopted a similar look and vocal delivery to Onyx as well (this all happened in March 1993, look it up).

LL Cool J shaved his head bald and adopted a sound similar to “Throw Ya Gunz” on his debut single “This Is How I’m Comin’” from his new LP “14 Shots To The Dome”. LL Cool J’s “How I’m Comin’” became a #1 Rap single on the Billboard charts. Next, Run DMC’s “Down With The King” became a #1 Rap single. Da Youngstas “Crewz Pop” was a huge single as well but it’s lasting legacy is showing just how large Onyx’ influence became in just 6 short months time. Soon cats were shaving their heads bald, hollering on their demos and Black folks were moshing at shows.

In addition to known acts adopting many aspects of Onyx’s style due to their now Platinum success, copycat groups began releasing albums. One of these groups was Epic Records’ bald headed grimy shout rap duo who spelled their song titles just like Onyx did, Hoodratz. Their album “Sneeke Muthafuckaz” dropped in August 1993 and yielded two singles (“Bootlegga” & “Murdered Ova Nuttin’”). It was obvious that their debut single was spun off of a 27 second skit on “Bacdafucup” so fans paid them little attention. Onyx’ sound & aesthetic was also prevalent on Run DMC’s Gold comeback album “Down With The King”, Boss’ “Born Gangstaz”, Da Youngstas “Da Aftermath” and LL Cool J’s “14 Shots To The Dome” amongst many other projects released that year.

Onyx also rarely gets the credit for resurrecting the Rap/Rock hybrid sound that Run DMC pioneered on their collaborations with Biohazard (most notably the “Slam” remix and the title song for the soundtrack of the film “Judgement Night”). Onyx dropped a third hit single in “Shiftee”, it broke the Billboard Hot 100 (peaked at #92) and became the #2 Rap single on the Billboard charts.

Onyx also dominated Def Jam’s pay per view event Phat Jam even though it was loaded with big name acts. Their set length lead to Redman’s set getting cut for time ultimately leading to the infamous fight when stage technicians cut the sound during his performance. The techs had to change the stage for Run DMC’s show closing set and Redman had to perform after Onyx who had whipped the crowd into a frenzy beforehand.

When The Source listed the Top 100 Rap albums of all time years later it included “Bacdafucup” in it’s list. “Bacdafucup”’s impact has gone mostly forgotten in recent years and truth be told it might be considered the second best of Onyx’ first three albums (“Bacdafucup”, “All We Got Iz Us” & “Shut ‘Em Down”). The fact remains that the afficial nastee niguz with the baldheads who hollered when they rhymed, jumped around on stage while pushing each other around and stage dove into mosh pits at Rap shows helped to change the entire landscape of the Rap game.

Everybody wanted to sound grimey after them. They made it okay to be bald and not to water down your sound in order to move units. They lead and others followed. Jam Master Jay did the same thing he did with Run DMC that made them successful with Onyx and then he did it again with Run DMC for their comeback album.

Onyx had the all intangibles to become stars, they made timeless music and they gave a great live show. If you could do all of that and stand out during a Golden Era of Hip-Hop then your place in Hip-Hop history can never be denied. 20 years later, “Bacdafucup” still stands the test of time while most modern Rap released on major labels sounds more disposable than adult diapers.

One.

Hi, my name is Steve “Dart” Adams & I’m a film addict, I suspect that I first became addicted to movies sometime around 1981. See, back then cable as we know it didn’t exist. Instead of being consolidated under one single provider, everyone was free agents in the Pay TV game as different companies in each region provided these services. In Boston, circa 1980 there was a company called Star TV or Starcase. They transmitted a signal from the top of Prudential Tower and you could subscribe to this service, receive a transmitter box and watch uncut Hollywood movies from the comfort of your own home.

As a young child I saw movies like “Escape From New York”, “The Man Who Saw Tomorrow”, “Superman”, “The Blues Brothers”, “The Shining”, “Jaws” amongst other films that all warped my fragile little mind. I was intrigued by how movies could make you feel different things and even affect your mood from early on, but just as I’d gotten hooked on movies something began to fuck with my supply. Rampant piracy due to people in the Boston area that found various ways to descramble the signal without even needing a transmitter forced the Pay TV provider (then called Preview) to suspend business back in early 1983.

By March 1983, I was going through movie withdrawals. I needed a fix bad but my section of the South End/Lower Roxbury still wasn’t wired for cable (although many of our neighbors were). I soon found a new connect, my dad. My brothers and I would spend weekends with our father in Dorchester and he had cable. Well, not only did he have cable but he had a huge top loading VCR and several computers. My dad was a computer programmer, a music lover and a film buff. It’s from him that I learned the difference between a serious film and some mediocre movie.

I saw “Star Wars” for the first time at my dad’s house. I saw “Scarface” for the first time when I was 9 on VHS with my brothers and my dad. We watched “Billy Jack”, “A Man Called Horse”, “Westworld”, “Planet Of The Apes” (watching it with him I finally REALLY understood what “Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes” was about), “Space Is The Place” and more (including several Blaxploitation/grindhouse films from the 70’s). I was the only 4th grader I knew that had seen “The Godfather” and “The Deer Hunter” or had any interest in seeing “Once Upon A Time In America”. My friends were far more interested in seeing “Ghostbusters” (which incidentally, I was taken to see instead of “Once Upon A Time In America”). Another great thing happened in 1984, we finally got a VCR.

At the time, videostore chains began to sprout up around the city but none as prominent as local movie rental chain Videosmith. I further developed my taste in film and videos through choosing rentals and taking into account the actors, director, producers, film poster and the preview trailers I saw at the beginning of other flicks we rented. Between going to the movies with my big brother & sister, stays over my dad’s on the weekends and renting the occasional movie my film palate had become so sophisticated at a young age that I ending up hating movies that most kids my age loved like “The Goonies”. I preferred films like “Blade Runner”, “Dune” and I thought “The Empire Strikes Back” was the best part of the original “Star Wars” trilogy. I wasn’t a regular ten year old.

Right before I turned eleven, my big sister came back home from Wellesley University and one of her school books contained the history of Black cinema from the 1900’s through 1984. I read that book from cover to cover and as I was turning 11 I learned about Spike Lee’s debut film “She Gotta Have It”. This ultimately became my introduction to the world of independent film as Spike Lee, Jim Jarmusch and others made film that made me more aware of movies made outside of the traditional Hollywood system. I immediately noticed how independent films seemed to be more character based, not relying on special effects, stunts or gimmicks to keep the viewer engaged.

Spike Lee, Robert Townsend and Keenan Ivory Wayans all led a new resurgence of independent Black film as in 1987 Robert Townsend entered the fray with his film “Hollywood Shuffle” followed by Keenan Ivory Wayans’ debut “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka”in 1988 which ultimately led to the so-called Black Film Explosion Of 1991 that I wrote about previously on Bastard Swordsman (Hollywood Shuffle © Robert Townsend). Another key occurrence happened that further spurned my film addiction in early 1991, I finally got cable at home.

The 90’s ushered in several other key influences to what can now be termed as a fully blown film addiction. Sure, I had access to several different movie channels 24/7 through the A & B trunks of my Cablevision subscription (back then the only thing digital about cable were those numbers that appeared on the cable box) but it was MTV that was pushing the envelope this time. Between 1991-94, MTV ran an animation themed show powered by independent directors called “Liquid Television” which was highly influential and ended up sparking many young mind and beginning several careers.

In December 1992, MTV furthered opened a Pandora’s Box by finally listing the names of video directors. By 1994, the field of excellent, young, innovative video directors was brimming over with talented individuals like Spike Jonze, Hype Williams, Malik Sayeed, Lionel C. Martin, Michael Lucero, Michel Gondry, Diane Martel, Sophie Muller, Tamra Davis, Mark Romanek, Jake Scott, Joseph Kahn, Chris Applebaum, Jonathan Glazer, Brett Ratner, Chris Cunningham, Anton Corbin, Stephane Sednaoui, Wayne Isham, Marcus Raboy and the list goes on. So many of the music videos from this era were responsible for sending cats to film school it was ridiculous.

What further pushed my film addiction was the Golden Age Of Video Directing just happened to coincide with the independent film boom that began in the 90’s. Influential films were released all throughout the 90’s like Richard Linklater’s “Slacker”, Quentin Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs” & “Pulp Fiction”, Alison Anders’ “Gas, Food, Lodging” & “Mi Vida Loca”, Abel Ferrara’s “Bad Lieutenant”, Robert Rodriguez’ “El Mariachi”, Kevin Smith’s “Clerks”, “Mallrats” & “Chasing Amy”, Boaz Yakin’s “Fresh”, Larry Clark & Harmony Korine’s “Kids”, Harmony Korine’s “Gummo”, Bryan Singer & Christopher McQuarrie’s “The Usual Suspects”, Jim Jarmusch’s “Dead Man”, The Coen Brothers’ “Fargo”, Todd Solondz’ “Welcome To The Dollhouse” and Wes Anderson & Owen Wilson’s “Bottle Rocket” to name a few.

I had began working with a production company called MCET (it was located in Cambridge near MIT) my senior year in high school (1994-95) that created educational live television and also taped other segments to air during their live programming. It was here where I began acting, finally got my hands on my first camera and began writing treatments, scripts & screenplays. After high school, instead of attempting to enter film school or find a college that offered anything in that direction I opted to go to Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD. When I got back to Boston in the Summer of 1996, I came right back to MCET. Shortly after I turned 21, I decided to stop working with them to focus on lecturing & taking classes at Harvard Extension School.

In the Summer of 1998, I’d left school and I got a job working overnight at a Super Star Market. After only two months I left there and applied for a job at Tower Records. I originally applied for a position on the music floor but I was given an audition working on the video floor which I passed with flying colors. I was then thrown into the pit with a bunch of film experts that specialized in every possible facet and genre of film you could imagine. I learned more about movies interacting with these people on a daily basis over the next 9 months than I did over the past 3 years on my own.

Working on the Tower Records video floor allowed me the privilege of three free film rentals (but for one night only) at a time and 35% off of CD’s, VHS’ and DVD’s. I could also special order movies that weren’t currently in stock which came in quite handy at times. During this stretch, I remember myself and about 6 other employees with our mouths agape as we watched the trailer for Vincent Gallo’s “Buffalo 66” during the previews for another movie we were watching in the store. I remember helping people find movies from their childhoods that they only could recall details of key scenes or bits of dialogue from. I convinced my store that it was time to rent DVD’s like the Blockbuster Video down the street did.

After my time at Tower Records was up I spent a short stint at a Hip-Hop clothing store called Hip Zepi USA (RIP) before landing a job at a movie theater, the infamous Loews Theater Cheri. I learned so much about the film industry and it’s relationship with movie theaters while I was there. I discovered how theaters choose what to carry, how they phase out films that under perform and replace them with other movies plus I got to see a few projectionists work up close. The time I worked at movie theaters was also interesting because the industry was dealing with censorship issues post the Columbine High shooting so several film releases had been delayed.

I saw the public’s initial reaction to “Fight Club” and it wasn’t anything like the praise heaped upon it today. People walked out of the theater during it (I loved it), to put that in perspective the only movie we got as many complaints about was “Random Hearts” starring Harrison Ford and Kristin Scott Thomas. Mind you, we screened crap like “The 13th Warrior” while I was there. I was also present when DreamWorks screened “American Beauty” in my theater for the Boston premiere. I met Kevin Spacey & Thora Birch (didn’t recognize her) and I heard DreamWorks execs bitch about everything from the theater being tiny to how filthy, offensive and “indie” “American Beauty” seemed (they’d never seen it). I, of course, loved it.

Several people on staff at the movie theater either wrote or directed so we’d talk film all the time. Once we got the reel for the new Micheal Mann film “The Insider” early and we decided to stay behind after the theater closed and watch it. It was more than 2 and half hours long and while it was a good film and well written it had little to no action. We all unanimously agreed that it was going to flop hard. And it did. For the record, “Fight Club” flopped but is considered a classic, “American Beauty” was a huge hit and also considered a classic while no one remembers “The Insider” was even made. I also remember seeing Martin Scorsese’s adaptation of the Joe Connelly book “Bringing Out The Dead” flop. That one hurt.

I eventually left the theater (where I was promoted to being in charge of the box office & being the closing usher/security) to work at Newbury Comics during their holiday season. They hired me with the promise that I’d become regular staff after the holiday season was over. I discovered that I wasn’t when I saw the goodbye cake before the end of my shift on January 2nd, 2000. Nice. I was pissed off but I swallowed it and instead applied for a job literally 50 feet away at CD Spins, a used CD & DVD store where my movie expertise would come in handy (The movie theater, Tower Records, Newbury Comics & CD Spins were all less than 5 minutes from each other walking). They hired me and my film addiction was about to get even deeper.

I started out my CD Spins training at the old Cambridge location in Harvard Square on Church Street. Shortly after being there, the talk turned to film and my manager Jay asked me if I’d ever seen the Guy Ritchie film “Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels” yet. I shook my head no and Jay exclaimed “Dude, you gotta see that shit!”. He then trusted us to mind the store while he went to Tower Records in Harvard Square to buy the DVD. He brought it back and we watched it right there in the store. Needless to say, I’ve been a Guy Ritchie film fan ever since. I also worked at CD Spins’ South Boston warehouse amongst thousands of CD’s, CD based videogames and DVD’s that needed evaluation and pricing. I was pretty good at my job and I only got better being immersed in music and film.

Beginning in early 2000, video & DVD rental stores began to gradually lose more and more revenue due to rampant internet piracy, P2P sites, overseas film bootleggers and a mail DVD rental subscription service called Netflix. I worked at CD Spins at the warehouse and several different locations before settling at a location on Winter Street in Downtown Crossing (which was across the street from the same Hip Zepi I worked at the previous Summer) until that Fall. By then, the box stores and video stores were on a downward spiral and the dotcom bubble had burst back in March. Shortly after George W. Bush became president the shit had hit the fan. Jobs were suddenly scarce and stores were shutting down.

To feed my film addiction, I copped cheap VCD’s from Asia as I couldn’t afford to buy just one $19.99 DVD that I waited months for when I could get 4 $5 VCD’s for Asian films that wouldn’t find American distribution for another year. I copped “Battle Royale” on VCD in early 2001 after reading Quentin Tarantino rave about it in a film magazine. I was the only cat I knew with it for about 6 months before other people began catching on and copping films online from Asia either on VCD or regionless DVD’s. During this time, video stores were losing more and more revenue and they were putting a hurt on our pockets so my brother and I determined that a Netflix subscription was more cost effective.

In late 2001, we began renting films from Netflix and arranging our queue expertly so we received new releases on the Tuesday they came out. With a 5 at a time rental plan and us watching & returning DVD’s quickly we ran through a disgusting amount of movies a month. Many of these films ended up landing in my Cult Films Of The Internet Era lists during my runs on Poisonous Paragraphs and Bastard Swordsman. I would’ve done another one but Tumblr won’t allow me to resize uploaded pictures so I can’t. Once I began blogging in 2006, I had quite a sizeable list of films to share with folks.

I was putting people onto “The Ring (Ringu)” back in 1999 when I was still working at Tower Records. I was putting cats onto Korean films like “Shiri” before anyone stateside (who wasn’t Korean) knew about it. I was one of the first dudes to own a copy of “Ong Bak” back in early 2003 & I played it for people in my crib for about a year. I sold more than 50 copies of it and spread it all throughout Boston (It wasn’t available on DVD in America until Summer 2005). British crime dramas like “Essex Boys”, “Gangster No. 1” & “Layer Cake” had me for an advocate. French action films like “Brotherhood Of The Wolf”, “The Nest” & “District B13” were all on my radar early as well. It’s almost like Pokemon, but with movies instead.

I’d already been blogging for more than a year by the time I first discovered Redbox in Fall 2007. I even wrote about it on Poisonous Paragraphs that October when I declared it was the wave of the future. Now in addition to streaming Netflix in my crib I rent from Redbox and I’m part of the streaming service which is in beta. Hypebeats line up for sneakers, film junkies line up at Redboxes.

I came up with the idea to do this piece a couple of weeks ago when I saw that the film “Searching For Sugar Man” was in a Redbox about 2 miles away in a train station so I hopped a few trains before midnight just to rent it and watch it that night. I decided that it would be a good idea to get to the bottom of why I was at a Shaw’s Redbox at 3 AM getting “Zero Dark Thirty”. I guess it could be worse, I could be out purchasing drugs instead. *Scratches self repeatedly*

One.

We all know about New Edition being five cats from Orchard Park Projects in Boston’s Roxbury neighborhood. We all know about their career being kicked off 30 years ago with a hit single called “Candy Girl” but there’s so much more than that to the story. These five teenagers announced to the music industry and the world that there was (still) talent in Boston. Not only were they from Boston but so were the men that produced the album and sold more than a million copies of it.

New Edition were the first Boston cats to bring a Platinum plaque back to the projects (in theory, in reality the RIAA never delivered them as it had to be reported to them by Streetwise Records or their publicity department first). They also kicked off a rush of record labels scouting, evaluating and signing the talent that performed at local Boston talent shows for years to follow (i.e. 9.9, Picture Perfect, The Superiors, etc.). In addition, record labels began looking for young singing groups nationwide due to New edition’s breakout success. Let’s start at the beginning…

The story of New Edition can’t be told without mentioning the Boston connection that resulted in them recording an album in the first place. Back in the early 80′s, Boston area producers/musician Arthur Baker often collaborated with other local producer/musicians Michael Jonzun, Maurice Starr & Gordon Worthy. They’d even previously recorded material as a group called Glory on NYC’s Posse Records. Individually, Arthur Baker was in a group called Planet Patrol with John Robie who had a hit called “Play At Your Own Risk” on NYC label Tommy Boy Records back in 1982 while Jonzun Crew also had a hit on their hands with a a song called “Pak Man (Look Out For The OVC)” released on their label Boston International Records.

Arthur Baker would bring his Boston homies to the attention of Tommy Silverman of Tommy Boy who first heard the record as they were all a part of the same DJ record pool. The song would later become redone & re-released on Tommy Boy as “Pack Jam” to avoid being sued by Bally/Midway (Michael Jonzun maintains he didn’t know about the video game Pac Man, at all). “Pack Jam” became another big hit for Tommy Boy and soon Arthur Baker & his boys Michael Jonzun & Maurice Starr had already making hits for years for NYC labels using their trademarked “Boston Funk” sound that people outside of Massachusetts all referred to as “Electro”. They were always looking for acts to put on & write material for. Arthur Baker was already in demand in New York and beyond at this time, Maurice Starr decided to mine for gold right there in Roxbury.

New Edition were already pretty well known up & comers on Boston’s talent show circuit after adding Ralph Tresvant, Ronnie DeVoe and getting direction and choreography from Brooke Payne. They entered Maurice Starr’s Hollywood Talent Nights contest and won round after round before making it to the finals at The Strand Theater, ultimately coming in 2nd place. Starr liked what he saw and wanted to record with them so they were signed to Arthur Baker’s label Streetwise Records for $500 and a Betamax (not even a VCR).

They went into the Roxbury studio on Linwood where Jonzun Crew operated Boston International Studios (built with money Michael & Maurice earned from producing both credited & uncredited hits for The Sugar Hill Gang, The Furious 5 & The Sequence for Sugar Hill Records) back in Fall 1982 and began recording the album “Candy Girl”. In late February 1983, “Candy Girl” hit the airwaves and took off instantly. Before you knew it, “Candy Girl” was everywhere. How popular was “Candy Girl”? It knocked George Clinton’s “Atomic Dog” off the top of the Billboard R&B charts and it had been there for close to a month at the time!

“Candy Girl” hit #1 on the R&B Chart, #1 in the UK (it was the first #1 hit in UK history that featured Rap) and it rose all the way up to #46 on the Billboard Chart. The video was mainly shot in Boston’s South End/Lower Roxbury area as it begins at the steps of the long demolished Dover Street elevated station and takes you to the John Hancock Building, Commonwealth Avenue Mall and the old Lunchonette that used to be near Dover Street Station. The record was in constant rotation on the airwaves. The album “Candy Girl” was released on March 15th, 1983 while the lead single was still hot and climbing up the charts. Just as “Candy Girl” had ascended to #1, Maurice Starr & Arthur Baker released the second single from the album “Is This The End”. Album sales continued to pick up.

“Is This The End” had the feel of an old The Corporation produced Motown Jackson 5ive ballad from a decade earlier. Proving that they were no one hit wonders, the Roxbury Five’s second single rose all the way to #8 on the Billboard R&B Charts and peaked at #85 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. Suddenly, Don Cornelius came calling and they debuted on “Soul Train”. The school year was about to end and New Edition would begin to tour the country (and other countries) to promote and sell their hit album “Candy Girl”. The B-Side “She Gives Me A Bang” has since gone forgotten even though it was one of the 5 songs from the album that got burn on the radio. Once the Summer hit, New Edition began to tour and ride the success of their two hit singles. Their energetic live performances and tight choreography made them stand out and garnered them even more popularity. Towards the end of the summer they dropped a two sided single which would also make noise, “Popcorn Love”/“Jealous Girl”.

“Popcorn Love” reached #25 on the Billboard R&B Chart and just missed breaking into the Billboard Hot 100 (it peaked at #101) but these three songs helped to push the “Candy Girl” album. In addition, “Jealous Girl” became an extremely popular ballad. So much so that it often got played on air instead of “Popcorn Love” and New Edition decided to perform it on “Soul Train”. It had a Temptations meets the Jackson 5ive kind of feel to it. Teenagers were forming singing groups all across the nation and performing New Edition songs at talent shows, going as far as to even use Brooke Payne’s choreography in their performances after seeing them on TV. Before you knew it, the pride of Orchard Park Projects even had girl groups in New York singing love songs about them. New Edition had opened the eyes of the music industry and inspired young people in Boston and beyond to pursue their own dreams.

After all of the television appearances both stateside and abroad plus close to a year of touring, New Edition landed back in Boston with nothing to show for 3 hit singles and a Platinum selling album but 5 royalty checks for $1.87 each. New Edition’s parents lawyered up and sued Streetwise Records, ultimately freeing them from their previous contractual obligation to Streetwise Records. A bidding war for their services/contract began and was won by MCA Records, New Edition signed with a new management company who installed Jump & Shoot Productions as their new production team (which would create a new set of label issues & management woes for the next 3 plus years).

In July 1984, New Edition would prove that they were here to stay releasing their self titled debut on MCA Records. This time, they went double Platinum and the RIAA was notified so they received their plaques. Arthur Baker would go on to produce a ton of hits for acts as diverse as his own group Planet Patrol, Freeez, New Order, Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force. Maurice Starr & Michael Jonzun had some more success with Jonzun Crew and writing/producing for other acts (both Planet Patrol & Jonzun Crew released albums in late 1983 on Tommy Boy) but Maurice Starr really struck gold when he groomed a group called Nynuk from Dorchester who later became New Kids On The Block.

In conclusion, New Edition’s legacy is undervalued even by many of their fans. They are both the direct and indirect reason for the signing of youth groups throughout the mid to late 80′s,  the R&B/New Jack Swing/Hip Hop hybrid sound of the early 90′s and even the boy band explosion of the late 90′s. Who can ever forget the evolution from “Candy Girl” to “New Edition” to “Heart Break”? Bobby Brown changing R&B forever by becoming a crossover superstar making edgy music with his albums “Don’t Be Cruel” & “Bobby”? Where would R&B be today without Bell Biv Devoe opening the door for groups like Jodeci to make raunchy Hip Hop influenced R&B that could also crossover to the Pop charts with their 1990 LP “Poison”?

Would Sean “Puffy” Combs have had the same willingness to launch Bad Boy without seeing Mike Bivins succeed at MCA with his Biv 10 imprint when he introduced Another Bad Creation & Boyz II Men to the world? Would future R&B groups be as willing to do side projects/solo albums if not for the Platinum success of all six members of New Edition? Without New Edition there’s no New Kids On The Block, meaning no Boyzone, Take That, Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, 98º, B2K, LFO, etc. (and no TRL). If not for New Edition, the entire music industry and Black/R&B/Pop music as a whole would be different. 30 years later, they’ve survived bad records deals, shady management and defections (or voting outs) to still be standing and influencing the present generation of groups today. Now it’s time for their damb biopic, y’all know where to find me for that.

One.

In the March 1992 issue of The Source, Matty C who ran the Unsigned Hype column picked a demo tape of straight up gutter street rap from some Brooklyn cat named Biggie Smalls over some looped up beats as his DJ 50 Grand did cuts. It didn’t even contain any fully structured songs but that raw demo tape was still easily head and shoulders above anything else that was submitted to him at the time. Bear in mind that in March 1992 the Second Golden Era of Hip-Hop was just underway.

Story goes that anyone else that heard this very same demo tape was instantly floored by the emcees’ presence, flow, voice, rhymes and delivery. Hip-Hop was just coming out of an era where Pop Rap was overly dominant and gimmicks and image were important. Biggie didn’t dance. Biggie wasn’t handsome (Heartthrob? Never). Biggie was just immensely talented, so much so that he was undeniable from the first listen. Over the next 5 years this underground rapper from Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn would have the most dominant run of any emcee in Hip-Hop history during one of it’s most competitive eras.

From his first guest appearance on Heavy D’s posse track “A Buncha N*ggas” to his first single “Party & Bullshit” off the “Who’s The Man” soundtrack and his guest appearances to follow, BIG’s verses managed to even set him apart from the rest of the growing number of supremely talented emcees of the era which included everyone from Treach to Nas to Jay-Z to Big L to Raekwon to Ghostface Killah to Snoop (Doggy) Dogg.

In each of Hip-Hop’s golden eras there’s always a new influx of sonic and lyrical innovators that ultimately create an ultra competitive environment that leads to great music being churned out regularly. Biggie Smalls began as one of those innovators back at the outset of this new era in 1992 and by the time it was all over and the smoke had cleared, he was crowned the undisputed King Of New York.

Big listened to Dr. Dre’s “The Chronic” & Wu Tang Clan’s “Enter The 36 Chambers” and knew where he had to go thematically and sonically with his debut album. He was going to speak to that man or woman who was struggling with day to day life in the inner city and he was going to strike a chord with them and make music that reflected his experiences simultaneously. Biggie went into the lab with all of these things in mind as he crafted his bars for “Ready To Die” (which was originally going to drop on MCA until Sean Combs was fired).

Sean “Puffy” Combs landed a situation with Arista Records for his burgeoning label Bad Boy Records. Notorious B.I.G.’s album was highly anticipated after the radio airplay & charts success of the lead single “Juicy” and the buzz his mixtape bars created (although he hated doing them) and the streets were on fire because of the incredible DJ Premier produced B side “Unbelieveable”.

Notorious B.I.G.’s debut album “Ready To Die” dropped in September 1994 about 5 months after Nas dropped his damn near perfect classic debut “Illmatic” on Columbia Records. Keep in mind that Nas was essentially touted as the lyrical reincarnation of Rakim by The Source at the time. They did a cover story about the making of Nas’ album and it even received the coveted 5 mic rating in The Source. “Ready To Die” got 4.5 mics in The Source in comparison but then the streets had their say in the matter.

The Notorious B.I.G. singles “Juicy”, “Big Poppa” and “One More Chance” far surpassed Nas’ “It Ain’t Hard To Tell”, “The World Is Yours” and “One Love” in street buzz, radio airplay and sales numbers. When “Ready To Die” hit store shelves, it instantly captured the imagination and attention of not only hardcore Hip-Hop heads but it also managed to crossover and eventually win the hearts and minds of casual Rap fans as well. Biggie’s grimy street tales even resonated with those who resided in the suburbs. In the end, “Ready To Die” became for the East Coast and New York what Dr. Dre’s “The Chronic” was for the West Coast and Los Angeles.

Biggie’s sheer lyrical brilliance and street credibility coupled with his overwhelming commercial success (thanks to Sean “Puffy” Combs in his role as executive producer, general counsel & overseer) aided in his once thought improbable ascent to the throne. Christopher Wallace, not Francis M.H. White, had now assumed the mantle of King Of New York all off of one album. All while Nas and the Wu Tang Clan were all hotter than volcanic lava fresh out of the microwave oven after 15 minutes on HIGH.

Big was so ahead of the game that if you pay attention he and Puff shout out “Junior Mafia” on “Juicy”. At the time he began mentioning them on record they’d be in the studio unaware he was referring to them. BIG told them “You’re Junior Mafia. You’re going to be my crew”. The ambitious entrepreneur would soon branch out with Un Rivera, secure a deal for their joint label Undeas then make & release Junior M.A.F.I.A’s “Conspiracy” album.

Undisputed classic Rap albums like Mobb Deep’s “The Infamous” and Raekwon The Chef’s “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…” were blaring out of Acuras from Pasadena to Medina at the time but none of that stopped The Notorious B.I.G. from completely sweeping the 1995 Source Awards. “Ready To Die” was still moving units. “Conspiracy” was moving units. Biggie was on top of the mountain when his competition was the stiffest it’s been since Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, Kool G. Rap, KRS One, Ice Cube etc. were all at their peaks circa 1989 and the inevitable backlash had just begun.

Biggie started out as the quintessential hardcore grimy raw backpack emcee. His songs and verses circulated around on mixtapes (even though Dream Hampton told me on Twitter that BIG didn’t “get” mixtapes and felt they were stealing from him) between 1992 and 1994 up until his album dropped which helped to spread his legend. After he began to experience success and overshadow his talented contemporaries and peers a mini backlash had already begun (i.e. “Shark N*ggas” on Raekwon The Chef’s “OB4CL”).

Once “Ready To Die” exploded and BIG began to appear on every third radio hit as Bad Boy Records began to dominate the entire urban music landscape with it’s influence, the backlash suddenly kicked into overdrive. What followed soon afterwards were shots and things that could be perceived or misconstrued as shots that came from artists like De La Soul, Jeru The Damaja, O.G.C. and The Roots in either their rap bars, songs or their music videos.

At the particular time, most of these acts were perceived to be at the opposite end of the Hip-Hop spectrum in 1996 as the fallout from the signing of The Telecommunications Act was just beginning to take effect. Biggie suddenly went from one of “us” in the army jacket, jeans & timbs to the dude in the Versace shades that rapped on those damned Total and 112 songs which got played on the radio 30 times a day. He indirectly became the guy responsible/or unfairly blamed for all that “Jiggy shit” you couldn’t escape in late 90’s urban music since everyone copied everything Bad Boy did at the time.

The whole playa/Big Willie/Don image that Sean “Puffy” Combs had created for The Notorious B.I.G. had caught on a little too well. Soon, even R&B artists were emulating it. Before long all of urban music fell under Big’s influence and if you were an underground cat or a backpacker you peeped game and your first instinct would be to address it. That being the case, we STILL all acknowledged that Biggie was the nicest cat in the game. Even in a Coogi sweater, Versace shades and gators as opposed to smoking a blunt in an army jacket, black jeans & some Timberlands.

We tend to forget exactly how tumultuous and ultra competitive the Rap game was circa 1996. The underground was still part of the fabric of mainstream Rap music but the industry was slowly pulling apart at it’s seams. The dispute that began between Suge Knight and his vendetta against Bad Boy Records turned into a supposed East Coast/West Coast feud as evidenced by 2Pac’s disses to Biggie, The Dogg Pound’s 1995 song & video for “New York, New York” and the Capone N Noreaga response “LA, LA” featuring Mobb Deep & Tragedy Khadafi in early 1996.

As someone who read a dog eared New York Times with the Death Row Records roster on the cover back in January 1996 as a 20 year old freshman at Morgan State University in Baltimore I can attest to this. Fist fights would break out in my dorm when one person played Biggie and the next room over immediately blasted 2Pac and vice versa. In addition to that, the underground emcee was slowly losing his place in the increasingly jiggy mainstream Rap world and that created a different kind of friction in the Rap world. In September 1996, 2Pac was gunned down at the age of 25 in Las Vegas and Hip-Hop suffered the first of several wounds that it would never fully recover from.

Biggie’s debut single from his upcoming album “Life After Death” (which was originally supposed to be released in October 1996 but it would’ve interfered with the release of Lil’ Kim’s “Hard Core” which he executive produced and released on Undeas in November 1996) was officially released on December 13, 1996, exactly 3 months after 2Pac’s passing. “Hypnotize” was already a hit on the radio before it was even available commercially. There wasn’t a place you could go without hearing it blaring out of speakers. At the same time the push for “Life After Death” began in January 1997 the Shiny Suit/Jiggy Era was in full swing. Puff Daddy & Mase’s “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down” & Notorious B.I.G.’s “Hypnotize” were #1 & #2 on the Billboard charts before “Hypnotize” finally took the top spot.

When we finally lost Biggie on March 9, 1997 he was about to take the entire world over. His album “Life After Death” was about to drop on March 25th. Puff Daddy & The Family’s ‘Hell Up In Harlem” album was waiting in the wings with an #1 single and several guest spots from Biggie on potential hit singles. He was the central figure in the Bad Boy empire and he had laid out a plan to bring forth a supergroup called The Commission featuring himself, Jay-Z, Lil’ Cease and Charli Baltimore (Wu Gambinos & The Firm, I’m looking at you). He was looking into breaking into television and film plus he had a clothing company on the way called Brooklyn Mint.

The passing of Christopher Wallace is one that hits me hard personally for several reasons. First of all, due to what’s happened with the music industry since Biggie’s passing we will never again have an underground raw street rapper emerge minus the hype based on his pure talent alone get signed to a major label, make his way through the ultra competitive underground then into the even more competitive mainstream Rap world during a golden era of emceeing.

Not only that, but he dominated that era loaded to the gills with greats and legends through his talent, creativity and lyricism alone. There wasn’t any hype with Big, it was all earned. No asterisks will go next to his name in the Hip-Hop history books. The same way you go and ask great producers who the best was and they constantly answer with “Dilla” it’s the exact same way with Biggie. If you try that “He only had two albums” argument with me as to why he shouldn’t be considered in the discussion for the greatest emcee ever that just proves that you didn’t fully experience the years of 1992-1997 in Hip-Hop to me.

In conclusion, all I can say is RIP Christopher “Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace. The Rap game never fully recovered from your loss and things were only compounded with the deaths of 2Pac, Big L & Big Pun. Now Rap is no longer about the things that made it great when you and many other mic titans clashed between more than 15 and 20 years ago. From ashy to classy. From hustler to legitimate businessman. He would’ve been on the top of MTV’s Hottest MC In The Game list multiple years in a row back when it would’ve really counted.

One.

This past week has been chock full of Twitter and Facebook debates about MTV’s latest Hottest MC’s In The Game list. Every passing day they reveal more of the list and we get the (often unhappy) reaction of the artist picked, the (often unhappy) reaction of the fans and then we have everyone’s take on both the list and the reactions of the individual artist’s place on said list. Not only that but now we get to hear/read people’s take on other people’s take on someone’s reaction to the aforementioned list. Iyanla, fix my plate…

MTV’s Hottest MC’s In The Game list is merely a manmade device. A synthesized event fabricated to serve several specific purposes. Let’s first delve into why this era needs this kind of thing in the first place? Let’s face it, Rap is at it’s lowest creative and lyrical point ever on the mainstream level. There hasn’t been a legitimate Golden Era since the Underground/Mainstream divide occurred back in 1997 so the overwhelming majority of rappers that get any push or mainstream attention are, for lack of a better term, “strugglerappers”.

The people that initially formed the idea to have this list beginning with Sway Calloway are from an era where Rap music went from being part of an underground subculture to outselling Country music and selling out large arenas. They’ve each lived through both Hip-Hop Golden Eras. They all know that the Rap they’re forced to cover nowadays is underwhelming thus it’s harder than ever to get fans genuinely excited about the music. Especially the now cynical and jaded Hip-Hop head that grew to loathe the Rap played on the radio & in clubs plus has almost washed their hands of mainstream Rap altogether.

How do you not only get casual Rap fans, serious Rap fans, underground Hip-Hop heads, backpackers & haters to all join a discussion about Rap when it’s THIS down? Simple. Let’s make a list where we debate who the “hottest” or most “relevant” rappers are at this time where skill, talent or creativity no longer determines who gets the most love or props. This will incite reactions from EVERYONE. We already know we’ll get the clubgoers & radio listeners but we’ll also get butthurt reactions from rappers that feel slighted. We’ll get reactions from fans & stans alike, and even rants from those so-called backpackers that claim to not care. It’s a bonanza!

I’m from a time when all we had to do to get a bunch of Rap fans to get excited about Rap was to hear someone make some great Rap music. THAT’S IT. Since there are no more Rakim’s, Kool G Rap’s & Big Daddy Kane’s all over the radio that’s simply not a viable option. That approach is out of the window. 85% of the BEST Rap albums every year (at least) are released independently and rarely get any attention from mainstream Rap outlets, blogs, publications or radio so basing anything around skill or talent is ultimately a waste of time (and ad dollars). That being the reality? We’re currently left with trying to squeeze blood out of cinderblocks.

Every passing day this week is another holiday for MTV. A gang of pissed off Rap fans on one side. A gang of Hip-Hop heads up in arms about Future being on any list or receiving any kind of praise whatsoever on the other. The heated debates rage all throughout Facebook and Twitter which lead to numerous page views all over the Rap blogosphere & a gang of viewers on RapFix Live. The ASAP Rocky rant. The Kanye West rant. The Danny Brown diss track. MTV is fucking winning right now. If you ask them they’ll say that they’ve created dialogue, compelling content and given the fans something to get excited about. I say “But mainstream Rap still sucks a Louis Vuitton bag full of rabbit dicks so…” *Kanye shrug*

And this is what we’re left with. The culture alone isn’t enough to generate the level of excitement MTV needs. Let’s be real, if Sway, Rob Markman & Renaud Jean-Baptiste Jr. were at a roundtable discussing how great Ka’s “Grief Pedigree” album is no one would watch. Quality music simply isn’t the draw anymore so you need to adapt and figure out a new way to get people to pay attention. Whether the reaction is positive or negative at least you’re reacting (and watching/reading). Sad but true.

I don’t care to argue the list because to be honest? I CAN’T. I just watched this one segment where Rob Markman ran down all of Drake’s hit songs that he was featured on recently. I never even heard any of that shit before. I’ve been busy playing CZARFACE, Demigodz, Oh No, K-Def, Uptown XO & waiting on the new Alchemist produced Durag Dynasty album. I honestly couldn’t give you any of Meek Mill or Big Sean’s bars. I remember hearing some godawful song at an event recently & asking some girl who it was and she said “Future”. Fuck I look like arguing a list featuring a gang of rappers I don’t give a damn about? I’m not even qualified to adequately hate on it!

These lists happen every year and every single year cats react the same way. Every rapper rant just leads to more page views. Every backpacker rant about “Why don’t they showcase emcees that don’t suck?” just shows that you don’t overstand what’s going on here. The point is to bring in viewers and create the most buzz in order to keep those numbers up. If MTV thought that people wanted to see lists that appealed to so-called Hip-Hop heads they’d exist by now. Or did you all forget that Sway Calloway is a bigger Hip-Hop head than 99% of the underground Hip-Hop loving fans complaining are? These are the cats all over the radio, the cats getting the most burn in the clubs and the ones selling music in 2013. Deal with it.

In conclusion, it’s a waste of time to react to MTV’s “Hottest MC’s In The Game List” because all they’re doing is talking about the rappers that ARE the hottest cats in this strugglerap heavy era. All it does is feed the monster. You want the other side of Hip-Hop to be covered by mainstream media outlets? Demand it. Make it plain to them that you’ll support it with the same exact fervor & passion you use to bitch about their “Hottest MC’s In The Game” list.

You can either do that or just completely ignore the list altogether thus forcing them to find a new way to synthesize an event that results in equal or greater site traffic, viewership numbers or Facebook & Twitter buzz. We all know that won’t happen, though. These cats at MTV had a job to do and they succeeded at it. My job is to ensure that the culture survives this unfortunate era. Miss me with arguing about a gang of cats that make my ears bleed. I’d rather focus on the best Hip-Hop/Rap music out instead. What about you?

One.

On the afternoon of February 28th, 2010 I made my first post on my new Tumblr which I had named Bastard Swordsman. I had a three year run at Poisonous Paragraphs (2007-2010) and as of January 1st, 2010 I was writing on the collaborative blog Bloggerhouse with Eric of When They Reminisce and Travis of Wake Your Daughter Up. You might be thinking to yourselves, why did you start another site when you already had one? I shall explain in detail…

I’d shut down my old site (or just stopped posting on it as I was sick of Blogger) after exactly 3 years and 734 posts over 1,096 days and decided that I wasn’t going to be the digital version of John Henry anymore. I was going to shoulder the load with two other guys that wrote and posted almost as frequently as I did. I figured this way I wouldn’t burn myself out (as I’d done constantly in years past), all I’d need to do was post all of my regular Poisonous Paragraphs features on Bloggerhouse instead. That didn’t go as planned, either.

Shortly after I’d moved over to Bloggerhouse (which was converted from When They Reminisce) a website restructuring was done. Gone was the black background and the white page. Gone was the original font (which I loved). Gone was the wide writing field. It was now a grey background with white words over it and looked even worse when you put words in bold. I thought it was ghastly but I ran with it since 3 out of 4 of us loved it (including the tech guy, Owen). I’m an aesthetics guy so if things don’t look a certain way I envision in my head it drives me insane.

I’d also noticed that when I tried to compose something, due to the site being heavily rewritten what I composed looked totally different when I posted it. As wack as Blogger was, if I pressed return after a line there was an obvious line break there. If I added an image, it looked the way I wanted. Everything I posted needed someone to go in afterwards & alter it after I complained but it only made it look worse. That was just one issue I had…

I was the guy who did the long, drawn out thinkpieces on Bloggerhouse. I’d write a deep 2500 word treatise on some Hip-Hop related subject and post it on Bloggerhouse at 3 PM EST but by 6 PM, it’d be on page two. By 8 PM? It was on page three, buried by single posts of videos, MP3’s or a link to a new mixtape. That drove me insane. There was a reason I never did posts like that on Poisonous Paragraphs, I refused to feed into the short attention span/instant gratification/on demand landscape.

After two months of that I knew that if I wanted to keep my sanity I needed to start another site I could write on. One with no coding. No headaches. No bullshit. Something that was so simple even Gucci Mane could use it. I decided to give Tumblr a shot. It was easier to use than Kat Stacks if you had a YMCMB chain on. I knew exactly what I would call my new site, the backup name I had for Poisonous Paragraphs in the event that it was taken, Bastard Swordsman. On February 28th, 2010 I made a test post. About 4 hours later, my brand new site would serve a completely different purpose for me.

Rumors started swirling around Twitter that Keith “Guru” Elam was in a coma. He was in a hospital in need of surgery and he wasn’t doing well. I dismissed it as a rumor. There was NO way that Kieth Elam could be in the hospital on the verge of death and NO ONE in Boston knew. If anything happened to anyone last named Elam, it was news. That would certainly be the case with one of it’s favorite sons…RIGHT?

About 90 minutes later, after making some phone calls and a gang of exchanged texts with different people it turned out that these weren’t rumors after all. Guru WAS in the hospital fighting for his life. The man responsible for finally succeeding and giving every emcee in Boston the hope that they could do the same could leave us & the reality was that not that many people knew about Gang Starr’s early history outside of Boston that weren’t in the Boston Hip-Hop community for more than 25 years.

I then began running down Gang Starr’s career on Twitter, all of it’s incarnations from Big Shug, Suave D & The Guru Keithy E on down to DJ Premier, Guru & the modern day Gang Starr Foundation. I didn’t stop there. I began to run down Boston’s Hip-Hop history and it’s run of talent signed by major labels all throughout the 90’s for an entire week straight. In the middle of it, I wrote a memorial piece about my friend Eddie “Smacks” Jackson who died of a heart attack while rhyming onstage. Bastard Swordsman had taken on a completely different energy from the beginning.

My site had essentially become a dedication to the hard work, determination and life’s work of one man who took a leap of faith at a time when we seemingly had NO hope in Boston and look at what he ultimately accomplished? He kept the door ajar and eventually a legion of Adidas rocking, three throwing, truth telling cats kicked the door off it’s hinges. Bastard Swordsman is essentially dedicated to Keith “Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal” Elam. Or did you think all of the Gang Starr themed post titles over the past 3 years were a coincidence?

That being the case? It’s time for a new direction. It’s time for a new energy. I’m in effect cutting off my dreadlocks and starting anew this Summer with a new site. I’d like for it to be it to be on Tumblr but if there’s an even more user friendly blogging site than this around then I’ll be using it next. This is the 80th post on Bastard Swordsman, the 100th will be the last. I’ll tell you the name of the new site this summer but I’ve left clues in the previous 79 posts. One in particular. Can anyone figure it out? Doubt it.

One.

One year ago today, George Lucas executive produced a film about the Tuskegee Airmen and their service in the European theater during World War 2 called “Red Tails”. It was released through Lucasfilm & 20th Century Fox with the cast being anchored by big name actors Cuba Gooding Jr. & Terrence Howard. Many film experts and enthusiasts hoped that audiences would go see the film in droves strictly because George Lucas was involved or because it was a World War 2 film (which are always a good draw). If this film was a hit, it could potentially lead to a resurgence of studio films with Black leads. See, what had happened was…

After “Red Tails” underperformed at the box office, many were quick to cite race as the reason people didn’t go to see it en masse regardless of how much publicity or media attention it received (Lucas made sure it was promoted) or the reason why those that saw it generally didn’t give it rave reviews. Let’s start at the beginning, shall we? Initially, “Red Tails” had a budget of about $25 million dollars. It was based on a story by John Ridley and featured additional writing from Aaron McGruder (“The Boondocks”). At some point, Lucas attempted to attract investors but none wanted to touch a film with an all Black cast and little chance to achieve monetary success so George Lucas put up almost $35 million dollars of his own money to ensure the film was finished, got a promotional budget and wide distribution.

“Red Tails” had it’s special effects handled in-house by Industrial Light & Magic so they were superbly done but there were several other issues with the film and it’s cast. Much has been made of the fact that the cast was all Black but let’s go deeper than just the surface. The cast is anchored by A list actors (the very bottom of the A list but A list nonetheless) Cuba Gooding Jr. and Terrence Howard but who else in this cast was a legitimate draw? Andre Royo? Method Man? Ne-yo? Tristan Wilds? Nate Parker? Marcus T. Paulk? Michael B. Jordan? Elijah Kelley? David Oyelowo? No disrespect to any of these men but collectively that cast listing reads like a basic cable TV film rather than a major studio Hollywood film.

As for the film’s promotion and commercials were concerned? The special effects looked great but the first run trailers that aired on TV during sporting events and prime time programming only had two names you knew in the cast (none of which were flying the planes), used quick cuts, Dubstep and told you that it was rated PG-13. In these initial 30 second spots that was enough time to be skeptical about the film’s quality regardless of it having George Lucas’ name attached (even amongst the short attention span having younger generation). A PG-13 World War 2 film? Even World War 2 video games come with a Mature Audiences Only tag on them. Even the second long form trailer failed to significantly increase fan anticipation.

Once critics go a hold of it, they general were underwhelmed. It was supposed to be an epic and inspirational story of overlooked and unheralded American heroes that put their lives on the line to ensure that all Americans enjoyed the freedoms they didn’t even have the opportunity to experience. It instead was a underwhelming PG-13 war film with mediocre acting, forgettable dialogue, fuzzy historical accuracy in regards to key events and serious issues in regards to sub plots and pacing. Oh, but the special effects were top notch (but the dialogue during fights scenes and flight sequences was damn near godawful). All that being said, it could’ve skated past purely on George Lucas’ cosign and his media blitz/promotional campaign, right? See, what had happened was…

George Lucas hoped to get “Red Tails” out to a good opening weekend, this meant it had to top $20 million dollars and from there it would have a shot at a long theatrical run. It ended up raking in just under $20 million ($19. 1 million to be exact to open at #2 in the box office) but it suffered a 45% dip the second week after the first wave of fans were underwhelmed with it and it’s buzz dropped so significantly by it’s 3rd week in theaters it had stopped making any significant money and by it’s 6th week it went from over 2500 screens to less than 500. The film itself cost less than $30 million to make and it’s promotional budget was more than $30 million. In the end, “Red Tails” failed to crack $50 million at the box office even though it was in theaters for a total of 140 days.

After “Red Tails” failed at the box office, many wanted to fall back on the excuse that audiences couldn’t or didn’t “relate” to “Black Tails” because of the Black main characters or they couldn’t wrap their minds around the concept of a Black hero. Others wanted to coax audiences to not stay away from “Red Tails” because it’s a “Black film”. Question, when did we EVER need to tell White people to not stay away from anything “Black”? Let’s focus on the real issue, “Red Tails” was a flawed film. I saw it with my brother that’s ex-Air Force and a World War 2 fanatic. I once minored in History and took several World War 2 classes at Harvard. I ‘m also a writer and I know a good film when I see one. I winced SEVERAL times during my first viewing of “Red Tails” and I winced more when people made excuses for it’s overall mediocrity.

Let’s take “Glory” for example. It was released in December 1989 and while it has Matthew Broderick on the film poster the film was carried by Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman portrayals who at the time weren’t the beloved mainstream culture icons they both are today (far from it). Audiences didn’t make “Glory” a huge hit at the box office but it brought home 3 Oscars and make a killing in rentals and sales (it also generated more than it’s $18 million dollar budget at the box office though it started in limited release). Everything about “Glory” lived up to it’s perceived epic status and Denzel Washington won the Golden Globe and the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. You can’t settle for less than excellence when tackling serious subject matter or it will fail miserably.

Let’s discuss the current state of Black film now, shall we? We presently have an extremely limited choice of quality Black film at the major studio level. If it isn’t a Tyler Perry production then it’s either a Tyler Perry film clone or a film that falls within the same parameters. That’s ultimately my main issue, major studios narrowcast the Black experience thus we not only don’t get adaptations of Octavia Butler books seen as viable properties but we’re not even allowed to make the Black equivalent of films like “Brick”, “Juno”, “Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist”, “The Perks Of Being A Wallflower”, “Rachel Getting Married”, “Moonrise Kingdom”, etc. Unless, of course, we make them independent of Hollywood…

Think about this for a moment, when George Lucas was looking at a way to gauge how well his film was doing or would do he looked at the success of 2011 hit “The Help”. There is so much wrong with that. For one, “The Help” had an infinitely better ensemble cast and much better writing. “The Help” spread at first through an organic word of mouth campaign before the media attention began to snowball. What started out a film with a $25 million dollar budget that generated that much in it’s opening weekend and ultimately made over $200 million at the box office. “The Help” ultimately won multiple awards and even though it was seen as controversial by many in the Black community it was a quality film that resonated with people. In the end, George Lucas managed to accomplish NONE of this with “Red Tails”.

If I look back on the notable recent Black films of this era that stood out to me personally as not being formulaic Hollywood “Black” fare, some of the following films come to mind: “Premium” (2006), “Blackout” (2007), “I’m Through With White Girls” (2007), “A Good Day To Be Black & Sexy” (2008), “Medicine For Melancholy” (2008), “Black Dynamite” (2009), “Pariah” (2011), “I Will Follow” (2011), “Middle Of Nowhere” (2012), “Beasts Of The Southern Wild” (2012) and the recent released “LUV” starring Common, Michael K. Williams, Dennis Haysbert, Charles S. Dutton, etc. It’s no surprise that all of these films were independent. By that same token, let’s go back and look at some Hollywood films that featured a majority Black cast from this same time period…

That includes the following films: “Stomp The Yard” (2007), “This Christmas” (2007), “Miracle At St. Anna” (2008), “Notorious” (2009), “Next Day Air” (2009), “Lottery Ticket” (2010), “Taken” (2010), “Just Wright” (2010), “Jumping The Broom” (2011) , “Red Tails” (2012), “Think Like A Man” (2012) and “Sparkle” (2012). Not many of these releases are must own DVD’s and I left out 13 Tyler Perry directed films that fit this criteria made between 2007 and 2012 for obvious reasons. If it wasn’t for the influence of Tyler Perry it would be safe to argue that “This Christmas” and “Jumping The Broom” wouldn’t even be on this list. Although the T.D. Jakes produced “Jumping The Broom” made 6x it’s budget at the box office it was available on DVD only four months after premiering in theaters. That’s just odd…

As far as films with Black leads are concerned, Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, Will Smith and Jamie Foxx remain viable lead actors to open films around and Morgan Freeman, Don Cheadle, Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock remain in the mix but who is the next Black actor on the horizon who can join this list? Most importantly, where’s his or her vehicle to do so? Who’s making the next “Glory”? Where’s the film role that will launch Idris Elba, Anthony Mackie, Derek Luke, Chiwetel Eijiofor, Michael Ealy or Laz Alonzo into the same position that they are in. Where’s their “Ray”? I think I already know the answer to the very question I’m asking here.

Let’s go back to 1971. This was a very pivotal year for the film industry as two independent films changed the film industry forever and they were released a little more than a week from each other, these two films were Melvin Van Peebles’ “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song” and Tom Laughlin’s “Billy Jack”. Both films had a counter culture appeal and spoke directly to the changing times in addition to most films being made independently in order to better keep their integrity and better resonate with audiences that clamored for what Hollywood couldn’t (and refused to) make for them. Guess what happened next?

Melvin Van Peebles’ “Sweetback” made over 100x it’s initial $150,000 budget at the box office and Laughlin (who previously made the 1967 grindhouse/exploitation classic “The Born Losers”) put $850,000 into “Billy Jack” and it made an eye opening $32 million dollars at the box office and both 1971 film went on the become two of the most influential films of all times and started a snowball effect which resulted in the Blaxploitation/Grindhouse film explosion. Between both films and soundtracks monetary successes, they ended up getting re-released in following years and finding even larger audiences. Eventually, Hollywood was forced to throw their hats into the ring. The people had spoken.

In July 1971, after the success of “Sweetback” and “Billy Jack”, Gordon Parks (“The Learning Tree”) released a genre defining film called “Shaft” which became Richard Roundtree’s star turn. Between the film and it’s iconic soundtrack (sense a pattern here yet?) the film mad more than 25x it’s initial $500,000 budget at the box office and saved Metro Goldwyn Mayer from going into bankruptcy. By the same token, the “Shaft OST” became the best selling release in the history of Stax Records (which clearly more than just Black people bought). From the success of these films, the nature of Hollywood changed almost overnight as by 1972 there were a gang of films appealing to these audiences. This also happened again approximately 20 years later thanks to Spike Lee, Keenan Ivory Wayans and Robert Townsend.

In conclusion, it’s been a year since “Red Tails” and it’s failure has left Black film in Hollywood in essentially the same place it was before. The good news? It didn’t fail because of racism. It failed because it was mediocre. The bad news again? Hollywood doesn’t care about fairness, reciprocity or racial equity. The good news again? We already knew that. Here’s more good news, we now have the technology and means to make our own films outside of the Hollywood system so we have no excuse to not get out there and actively change things again.

Think about it. A Black woman essentially wrote “The Matrix”. A Black man came up with the entire idea of “Underworld”. Three different Black men directed “From Hell”, “King Arthur” and “Rise Of The Guardians”. That being the case why are we putting limitations on our own creativity or our voices? Be fearless. “Black Dynamite” and “Kick-Ass” both went into the Sundance Film Festival with no distribution and they both left there with deals and sequels to both are forthcoming in the future. No more complaints. No more excuses. It’s time to finally take action…or yell “Action!”.

One.

2012 was a pretty good year as far as Hip-Hop releases were concerned. There were a great amount of excellent slept on albums that were completely overshadowed by mainstream projects this year that deserve some shine. I went back through the hundreds of albums I’ve heard over the past calendar year and meticulously picked my top 100 albums from this previous calendar year.

The following 100 selections are all purely my personal opinion, please keep in mind that I heard hundreds of albums this year via major labels, indie labels, self distributed LP’s, crowd source funded LP’s via IndieGoGo or Kickstarter and this list only represents a fourth of the Hip-Hop that’s currently in my iPhone 3GS (it’s 32 GB and it was free. It’s a defacto iPod Touch) from these past 365 days of 2012. If your album isn’t on this list that doesn’t mean I didn’t hear it and enjoy it. Besides, let’s be honest. NO ONE can make this list besides me. Don’t trip. Or do. It’s a free country. For now, at least….

1982 (Termanology x Statik Selektah) – 2012

7even Thirty – Heaven’s Computer

9^th Wonder x Buckshot – The Solution

Aesop Rock - Skelethon

Ab-Soul – Control System

Action Bronson x The Alchemist – Rare Chandeliers

Action Bronson x Party Supplies – Blue Chips

Actual Proof - Black Boy Radio

The Alchemist – Russian Roulette

Alias x Fakts One - Second Chances

Apollo Brown x Guilty Simpson – Dice Game

AWAR – The Laws Of Nature

Bambu – One Rifle Per Family

Beneficence - Concrete Soul

Big K.R.I.T. - Live From The Underground

Billy Woods - History Will Absolve Me

Blacastan - The Master Builder Part II

The Black Opera - Entermission

The Black Opera – Overture

The Black Opera – Libretto: Of King Legend

Blu x Exile – Give Me My Flowers While I Can Smell Them

Brother Ali x Jake One – Mourning In America & Dreaming In Color

Bumpy Knuckles x Statik Selektah - Ambition

Casual x J.Rawls – Respect Game Or Expect Flames

Chino XL – Ricanstruction: The Black Rosary

Clear Soul Forces – Detroit Revolution(s)

Copywrite - God Save The King

Craig G - Ramblings Of An Angry Old Man

Curren$y - The Stoned immaculate

Curren$y x Harry Fraud - Cigarette Boats

Danny! - Payback

DJ Premier x Bumpy Knuckles - Kolexxxion

Domo Genesis x The Alchemist – No Idols

El P- Cancer 4 Cure

Evitan (Dres & Jarobi) - Speed Of Life

Freeway - Diamond In The Ruff

Game – Jesus Piece

Gangrene – Vodka & Ayahuasca

Gensu Dean – Lo-Fi Fingahz

Georgia Anne Muldrow x Madlib - Seeds

Homeboy Sandman – First Of A Living Breed

Honors English – State Of The Art

House Shoes – Let It Go

JJ DOOM – Key To The Kuffs

Joey Bada$$ - 1999

Journalist 103 – Reporting Live

JR & PH7 - The Good Life

KA – Grief Pedigree

Kendrick Lamar – good kid, m.A.A.d city

Kev Brown – Random Joints

Killer Mike x El-P – R.A.P. Music

Koncept - Awaken

La Coka Nostra – Masters Of The Dark Arts

Large Professor – Professor @ Large

Lil’ Fame x Termanology - Fizzyology

Lupe Fiasco - Food & Liquor II: The Great American Rap Album Part 1

Macklemore x Ryan Lewis - The Heist

Main Attraktionz - Bossalinis & Fooliyones

Masta Ace x DOOM – MA_DOOM: Son Of Yvonne

Masta Killa - Selling My Soul

Melanin 9 - Magna Carta

Mello Music Group - Self Sacrifice

Meyhem Lauren - Mandatory Brunch Meetings

MHz – MHz Legacy

Moka Only x Ayatollah - Bridges

MURS x 9^th Wonder – The Final Adventure

MURS x Fashawn – This Generation

Nas – Life Is Good

N.B.S. - The Dispensary

Nottz - In My Mind EP

OC x Apollo Brown – Trophies

Oddisee – People Hear What They See

Oh No – Ohnomite

Planet Asia – Black Belt Theatre

Pace Won x Mr. Green - The Only Number That Matters Is Won

Purpose x Confidence - The Purpose Of Confidence

Quakers - Quakers

Quartermaine – Quarter Life Crisis

Rapsody – The Idea Of Beautiful

REKS x Statik Selektah – Straight No Chaser

REKS x Numonics – REBELutionary

Rick Ross - God Forgives, I Don’t

Roc Marciano – Reloaded

Rustee Juxx x The Arcitype - Victorious Impervious Champions

Sean Born – Behind The Scale

Sean Price – Mic Tyson

Sene – Brooklyknight

Schoolboy Q – Habits & Contradictions

Soul Khan - Wellstone EP

Skyzoo – A Dream Deferred

Strong Arm Steady x Statik Selektah - Stereotype

Stu Bangas x Vanderslice – Diggaz With Attitude

Substantial – Home Is Where The Art Is

Theory Hazit x Dert – THR3E

T.I. – Trouble Man: Heavy Is The Head

Torae – Off The Record EP

Typical Cats - 3 

Vinnie Paz - God Of The Serengeti

Wu-Block (Wu Tang x The L.O.X/D-Block) - Wu-Block

One.

I’m a film nerd. You might know me mostly as a music historian & a Hip-Hop writer but I’m a writer period. I fell in love with the medium of film at pretty much the same time I fell in love with the written word and Hip-Hop culture, at the age of 3. Between 1978 and now I’ve immersed myself in film watching multiple genres of films spanning numerous countries. When I began to realize what I liked in regards to film, I discovered that my favorite genres were Kung Fu films, Samurai films, Westerns (especially Spaghetti Westerns) and so-called Blaxploitation films where the hero looked like me for a change.

I discovered at an early age that many of my favorite Martial Arts/Kung Fu and Samurai films were made by directors who were big fans of Westerns thus the influence was obvious. I also discovered that, in turn, many of the directors of Westerns were big fans of and heavily influenced by later Kung Fu films and Samurai films which showed in later Western films (ever seen the series’ “Kung Fu” before?). Growing up a film fan I discovered two amazing Akira Kurosawa jawns that changed the way I viewed film forever, the 1957 “Macbeth” translation “Throne Of Blood” and the 1961 Western influenced Samurai revenge tale “Yojimbo”.

By the time I was 12, I knew I wanted to be a writer/director. It had already been established in my young mind that I would be a filmmaker one day, but my father explained to me that great directors and filmmakers had vision and a voice. If I didn’t possess these things then I’d lack the drive and determination necessary to tell stories that resonated with people. I noticed that some films instantly resonated with people and they identified with the hero right away. Everyone wanted to be like the lead character and emulate their cool, bravery or invest emotionally in their quest/journey. While Bruce Lee was Chinese, everyone drew inspiration from him. Such is the true power of the medium of film.

Influence is an amazing human phenomenon. The books, film and music I experienced during my formative years have largely helped to make me who I am today. One of the most influential films ever made is Sergio Corbucci’s 1966 epic Spaghetti Western “Django”. The lead character Django as played by Franco Nero was such an influential figure that between 30 and 100 unofficial sequels to “Django” have been made in the past 45+ years. I’ve seen elements of “Django” in films from America to France to Italy to China to Japan. Even notable anime characters like Kenshiro from “Fist Of The North Star” and Brandon Heat from “Gungrave” are modeled after him.

Sergio Leone’s “A Fistful Of Dollars” was made in 1964 but it wasn’t screened in the United States until January 1967 (a full year after Corbucci’s “Django” had premiered stateside), subsequently the rest of Leone’s “The Man With No Name” trilogy were each released throughout the same year and became extremely popular. These films (1966’s “Django” included) also influenced the way films of every genre were made. Ennio Morricone’s music, Clint Eastwood’s stoic deadpan cool and Leone’s pacing stuck in the minds of those who saw it, especially those that grew up to make film one day.

In 1971, Melvin Van Peebles singlehandedly pioneered the independent film movement by releasing the highly influential “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song”. It was the first time that many Black audiences experienced seeing a hero stand up to the establishment and come out on top, both the filmmaker himself in real life and the main character Sweetback onscreen. The film’s content and it’s incredible soundtrack both resonated with audiences and it became the highest grossing independently released film of the era, generating more than 100x it’s initial $150,000 budget at the box office. What happened next was an explosion of independent grindhouse films and films that were made for and marketed towards Black audiences (whom studios didn’t even recognize existed until after “Sweetback” became a huge success).

An influx of films starring Black leads that contained themes of Black empowerment during the time of the Civil Rights Movement were made. Some of the most notable include the Western influenced films “The Legend Of Nigger Charley” (1972), “The Soul Of Nigger Charley” (1973), “Boss Nigger” (1975), “Mandingo” (1975) & “Drum” (1976). I saw all of these movies at a relatively young age and they all stuck with me. When I watched Westerns, the cowboys often killed Natives. In these films, the slaves/former slaves would beat the shit out of their oppressor & team up with Native Americans to fight off White men. They also used and emulated elements of Western influenced Asian films as well as popular Spaghetti Westerns that came before it.

I was born in 1975 with siblings 6 and 8 years older than myself so I was aged up in a sense. These films heavily influenced the way I approached the heroic portrayal of my lead characters and they spoke to me at a time when I didn’t see many heroic images of people that looked like me on a silver screen so they hold a sense of pride for me personally. For those that grew up watching these type of exploitation/grindhouse films during their formative years, it shaped their filmmaking forever. Quentin Tarantino was born in 1963 and these films dropped between the ages of 9 and 13, when you first begin to find your personal voice, direction and you begin to develop taste and assert your individuality.

I saw “Django Unchained” for what it was, a film made by Quentin Tarantino that was the lump sum of his accumulated influences spanning his favorites film genres during his formative years that he can now formulate into a cohesive film project. There was nothing I either heard or saw onscreen in “Django Unchained” that strayed very far from the Martial Arts/Kung Fu, Samurai, Western/Spaghetti Western, Grindhouse/Exploitation or Blaxploitation films I’d seen between the ages of 3 and 37. That’s exactly why this film worked so well. It was essentially yet another Tarantino homage to his collected influences in music and cinema.

Pardon me, but hasn’t BET been playing “Roots” for a week straight now? Did we forget about “The Learning Tree”? Did “Man And Boy” never happen? Did “Sounder” never exist? Spike Lee claimed that “Django Unchained” was exploitative and he’d never make a movie like it. I find that odd because I’ve written quite a few screenplays over the past 20 years set during between the pre-Civil War Era and Reconstruction for the same exact reasons Tarantino decided to make “Django Unchained”. Why wouldn’t a Black director make a film set during this period? Especially one featuring a freed Black man asserting himself in a world where he’s seen as 3/5ths of a human being? Why the hell not?

The word “nigger” is uttered 109 times during “Django Unchained”. Care to go back and count the amount of times it was used in the “Nigger Charley”/”Mandingo” franchises and weigh the different contexts they were used in as well? Context is everything in the usage of words and phrases and the sheer amount of usage. As I watched “Django Unchained” I took careful stock of the overall context of the words usage, the malice behind it and it’s justification in context of the genre films that it was inspired by.

Take this fact into account if you will, N.W.A. used the word/colloquialism/derivative “nigga” a total of 42 times on “Straight Outta Compton” back in 1988. In 1990, they dropped an EP called “100 Miles And Runnin’ EP”. In these 4 songs (and one skit) they used “nigga” a staggering amount of 105 times (“Straight Outta Compton” had 13 tracks in total). However, on N.W.A’s 1991 LP “EFIL4ZAGGIN” the word “nigga” was heard/uttered a grand total of 249 times over 18 songs. Now let’s take the context of the times into consideration, shall we?

When N.W.A’s career started out with “N.W.A. & The Posse” in 1987, they had a mostly Black audience. Once “Straight Outta Compton” exploded and they began getting more & more exposure they accumulated a larger White audience and sold more and more records. As they acquired a larger crossover (read: White) audience they consciously decided to push the envelope and say “nigga” even more frequently. The more they used the word, the more records they sold (fans even bought their back catalog) and the more popular they became. Quite the moral conundrum…

By 1991, when N.W.A. reached critical mass following Ice Cube’s departure the buying audience that accounted for their consistent multiplatinum sales was 80% White by the estimation of Ruthless/Priority Records. That being the case? The good ship Hypocrisy has set sail long, long ago. Or did everyone completely forget the past 45-50 years of Pop culture? Let’s finally focus on the content and quality of the film in question for a change and why it was made.

Takashi Miike’s 2007 western/martial arts/action film “Sukiyaki Western Django” was an homage to films spanning multiple genres that influenced him during his formative years (Miike was born in 1960), this includes all of the films I’ve previously mentioned that influenced Tarantino as well. In addition, Tarantino (who is also a fan of Miike and sees him as a kindred spirit writer/director) also appeared in this ambitious film that wears it’s many obvious influences on it’s sleeve from the implementation of literature like “Tale Of The Hieke” to the film “Django”. Word to Mercedes Zaro. It’s no doubt that being involved in Miike’s “Sukiyaki Western Django” influenced Tarantino to do the same 5 years later.

I personally didn’t understand people’s initial wariness and trepidation in regards to seeing “Django Unchained” given my film background. Quentin Tarantino has exhibited a consistent ability to pore through his influences from Elmore Leonard to classic Rock/Soul/R&B to anime to Spaghetti Westerns to Asian cinema to grindhouse features to ultimately arrive at masterpieces with all the best elements of these varying film genres contained therein. What previous film did he make that made you think he was gonna fuck this one up? “Reservoir Dogs”? “Pulp Fiction”? “Jackie Brown”? “Kill Bill”? “Death Proof”? “Inglourious Basterds”?  I’ll wait…

As I watched “Django Unchained” I shared in the feeling of seeing a bunch of hard work, culling together of basic ideas and themes, the agony of hoping certain elements gelled together and planning and writing in hopes you picked the right cast to make it all work for the audience and resonate with them happen in real time. Every time, I write dialogue or help someone else write a scene I relive that feeling time and again. I personally find it inspiring whenever a fellow film nerd/writer/director who shares my same influences executes their vision perfectly. It gives me hope for the future that I can find an audience for my stories.

Let’s address the core reason that some folks (Black directors included) had issues with “Django Unchained”, because it’s a film they wouldn’t dare make or couldn’t make themselves. Mario Van Peebles made “Posse” back in 1993 and paid homage to the long overlooked historical proliferation of Black cowboys in America and the legendary actor Woody Strode. It wasn’t until 1997 that John Singleton addressed the historic Rosewood massacre of 1923 on film.

The same year, a TV movie starring Danny Glover called “Buffalo Soldiers” about US Cavalry Troop H/10th Calvary Regiment that were active during the Civil War through Reconstruction and fought chiefly in the Indian Wars and Spanish-American War aired on cable (but not theaters). Why haven’t Black writer/directors explored this time period since? Who’s at fault for this? Is it writer/directors/producers becoming discouraged that films like Danny Glover’s Toussaint L’Overture biopic can’t find significant funding or the fact that the biggest Black names in Hollywood won’t band together and make it happen but Tyler Perry can masquerade as both Alex Cross AND Madea with relative impunity?

Do we fault the executives at film studios that claim no one will support or frequent these films? I prefer to fault the writer/directors that don’t take advantage of the current times and do what Melvin Van Peebles did more than 40 years ago during an analog age in a digital one where it would be even easier to write, shoot, promote an independent feature film & produce a soundtrack album simultaneously. Did y’all already forget how “Black Dynamite” was made back in 2009? You don’t try to get signed in the music industry anymore. You build your name and brand until they approach you and partner with you. How is the modern film game in a digital age any different? Now’s the time to force their hands.

“Django Unchained” found a way to blend action, humor, excellent pacing and engrossing dialogue in a Spaghetti Western/Blaxploitation inspired action film to create an experience that worked on multiple levels. It worked as a revenge film. It worked as an homage to classic films/influences. It worked as a straight up popcorn film. It worked as a film for cinephiles and film nerds. It worked as a movie that will generate a shitload of sales, rentals and streams once it hits Blockbuster, Netflix & Redbox. There was so much quotable and memorable dialogue from this film that I found much of it analogous to the present day film and music industries.

Quentin Tarantino’s inner circle consists of several writer/directors and film nerds/cinephiles such as Robert Rodriguez, Eli Roth, Takashi Miike, Rob Zombie and RZA. They often meet and discuss films, often deconstructing all of the elements of landmark film from varying genres. They delve into every aspect of these films, the film posters, trailers, music/score, editing, pacing, special effects, dialogue, etc. You can criticize Tarantino all you want but you can’t deny that he respects the filmmaking process. He is a tireless worker, a diligent student of his craft and he constantly is able to match his same high level of quality because he pays equal attention to all of the crucial aspects of his productions.

In closing, Quentin Tarantino & Robert Rodriguez teamed up to make the double features “Death Proof” & “Planet Terror” as homages to the grindhouse films they grew up watching. His friends RZA & Eli Roth then worked on “The Man With The Iron Fists” for years as an homage to the Kung Fu/Wushu films from the Shaw Brothers and Golden Harvest they both grew up with that helped to shape the entire oeuvre of the Wu Tang Clan. If you’ve been paying attention, Quentin Tarantino’s career has always followed this same pattern of making films that were homages to his greatest influences.

Tarantino was involved in the creation of Takashi Miike’s 2007 “Sukiyaki Western Django” and after he and Eli Roth finally climbed the mountain he considered his World War 2 epic “Inglorious Basterds” (heavily influenced by the 1978 Italian World War 2 themed exploitation film “The Inglorious Bastards”) he searched for another project to bring to the silver screen. This was it. A revenge story inspired by the Blaxploitation films he loved (he wasn’t alone in that) and the highly influential film “Django” starring Jamie Foxx in the lead role at a time when Black films with Black leads in heroic roles are scarce.

Spike Lee got mad about “Django Unchained” for being made but his own World War 2 film (“Miracle At St. Anna”) was mediocre after he called out Clint Eastwood for not featuring Black G.I.’s in his superior World War 2 films “Flags Of Our Fathers” and “Letters From Iwo Jima”. In addition, Spike Lee’s last film “Red Hook Summer” was a great disappointment despite his rant about how horrible Hollywood films that depict Black life are. At least we have Ava DuVernay. The problem isn’t with “Django Unchained”. The problem is who’s willing to step up and do what needs to be done rather than cry about things after the fact? What exactly are you all afraid of, anyways? It’s time to pack up our shit and finally leave Candie Land…

One.

I actually decided to do this list before I wrote the other pieces that came before it on “Bastard Swordsman”. Then the whole “Rap Radar vs. Hot 97/major leagues vs. minor leagues” debacle happened and the Newtown, CT tragedy occurred making posting this list drop on my priorities list. Now that I’ve done a few end of year lists I figured it was a good time to post this one up.

I’ve been seeing the success of certain shows based on book and comic book properties over the past few years and the type of shows that flourish on networks like SyFy, A&E, HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, USA, TBS, TNT, Starz, AMC, etc. then I came up with a list of comic book series’ that I think could be adapted to series’ on cable networks based on what’s been successful in recent years.

If any of these properties end up being picked up after I wrote this jawn I reserve the right to sue for a finder’s fee. Or you can just PayPal me and I’ll keep quiet. I kid. Kinda. Here’s the damb list:

100 Bullets (1999-2009)

“100 Bullets” was a long running, award winning series from Vertigo that lasted 100 issues written by Brian Azzarello. The plot involved intertwining tales with a lot of moving parts around each story arc where the mysterious Agent Graves offers a wronged person in dire straits a gun and 100 rounds plus the opportunity to get revenge.

Not only that but Graves guarantees the person will not be punished for taking revenge and the authorities will look the other way. All you need to do is read any of the trade paperbacks to wonder why it hasn’t been seriously considered for adaptation yet.

DMZ (2005-2012)

Brian Wood’s (“Channel Zero”) epic 72 issue run of Vertigo’s series “DMZ” is about an embedded reporter trapped inside New York City after a civil war broke out in America. The United States Of America is at war with what call themselves The Free States. The Free States are based in Montana but have the majority of their forces in New Jersey. They battle the US armies chiefly in the now abandoned island of Manhattan which has now become a demilitarized zone (DMZ).

The series follows the exploits of embedded reporter Matty Roth as he feverishly attempts to covers the war and his interactions with the 400,000 people that remain on Manhattan Island. If “Walking Dead” can hit big for A&E and TNT can find an audience for “Falling Skies” then the post apocalyptic feel of a civil war ravaged Manhattan with a topical theme could surely fit on a cable network as well.

Scalped (2007-2012)

Back in 2007, Jason Aaron brought Vertigo a tale loosely based around Leonard Peltier’s controversial case called “Scalped”. The central plot involves the residents of the fictional Prairie Rose Indian Reservation in South Dakota, one of the most impoverished places in the entire United States. This reservation is inhabited by members of the Oglala Lakota nation and it involves the fallout from an incident where two FBI agents were shot and killed back in 1975.

The main character of “Scalped” is Dashiell Bad Horse, son of Gina Bad Horse who was one of the people involved in the 1975 incident. The reservation is now run by the infamous Lincoln Red Crow and crime, drugs and corruption is running wild. Think “Breaking Bad” meets “Dexter” meets “The Killing” set on an Indian reservation as Bad Horse tries to solve the mystery of what really happened back in 1975 as he attempts to take down Red Crow and an obsessed Native American hating FBI agent tries to tear the entire reservation apart. A&E or AMC can replace their canceled series’ “The Killing” and “Breakout Kings” with this.

Northlanders (2008-2012)

Once again we see the name Brian Wood and the imprint Vertigo. Is there a damb glitch in The Matrix? In any event, with all the excitement generated by the adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s “A Song Of Fire And Ice” novels into the show “Game Of Thrones” on HBO it makes sense to look into “Northlanders”. A translation of the 50 issue run involves historical events that occurred during the Viking Age spanning from the 8th Century to the 11th Century A.D. featuring different protagonists.

If you combine the Dark Ages feel of Showtime’s “The Borgias” with the gore and intrigue of period pieces like “Spartacus” on Starz and the Middle Ages appeal of HBO’s “Game Of Thrones” it’s easy to imagine how audiences would potentially respond to “Northlanders”. It could potentially fit on HBO, Showtime or Starz.

Morning Glories (2010- )

Image’s first entry is the popular (and confusing) “Morning Glories”. The story involves six gifted students that enter their first year at the highly prestigious Morning Glory Academy. No one is exactly sure what’s going on at the academy but there is a bunch of betrayal, secrets, death and the supernatural at play. Nick Spencer’s “Morning Glories” reads like a mix between “Twin Peaks”, “Supernatural”, “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”, “Angel” and “Degrassi: The Next Generation” if people killed each other regularly. Either SyFy, AMC or A&E should seriously consider adapting this property.

The Activity (2012- )

Nathan Edmonson’s Image title “The Activity” is about five person team working for the ISA (Intelligence Support Activity) branch of the US Army Special Operations Unit all over the world. In a climate where people play videogames like “Call Of Duty”, “Battlefield”, “SOCOM” and watch shows like “Homeland”, “NCIS”, “Burn Notice” and “Covert Affairs” regularly it wouldn’t be a tough sell. If you pay attention to how well Cinemax has done with the first two seasons of “Strike Back” and their new series “Hunted”, an adapted version of “The Activity” would fit there perfectly. It just seems obvious to me…

Thief Of Thieves (2012-)

Wanna talk about an easy slam dunk of a sale? Let’s discuss Image’s new 2012 series written by Robert Kirkman of “The Walking Dead” fame’s ongoing series “Thief Of Thieves”. It has elements of the George Clooney/Brad Pitt franchise “Oceans Twelve/Thirteen” combined with TNT’s recently canceled “Leverage” and USA Network’s popular series’ “White Collar” and “Burn Notice”.

The story is based around a master thief named Redmond who wants to quit at the top of his game but his friends, associates, rivals, family and law enforcement simply won’t allow it to happen. News is that AMC has the rights to the property and it’s currently in development as I type this.

The Massive (2012- )

Dark Horse Comics was smart to pick up the new series from Brian Wood (“Channel Zero”, “DMZ”, “The Couriers” & “Northlanders”) about a former paramilitary mercenary turned pacifist environmentalist who leads a team of volunteers that try to help the world in any way possible in a world where extreme weather and a rash of environmental disasters have submerged much of the major cities globally and plunged the United States into the Dark Ages.

Callum Isreal is the leader of the conservationist/environmentalist group Ninth Wave who has two ships, The Kapital and The Massive navigating the seas looking for fresh water, food and fuel so they can help the remaining people of post apocalyptic Earth after The Crash.

Callum loses his main ship The Massive and spends more than a year searching for it in a world where being a pacifist that sticks his neck out for others is becoming more and more questionable as pirates abound, society has broken down and morality is a thing of the past. I’d like to see HBO or Showtime take a crack at this one because it’s gonna cost serious money to make/produce.

Also in contention: Image’s “Saga”, Valiant’s “Harbinger”, Image’s “Clone” and Image’s “Comeback”.

One.