Movies On Demand: Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have It

One thing that most folk may not know about me is that I LOVE Spike Lee! Spike was the 1st person who made me remotely wanna pick up a camera to shoot anything after seeing She's Gotta Have It. This is the dude who made me wanna go to a HBCU after seeing "School Daze" in '87 when I was in 7th grade. This was the dude who made me become even more pro black then I already was in '89 after seeing Do The Right Thing. I mean, I can go on and on about how much Spike influenced me but then somehow, someway like Organized...dude fell off. Now don't get it twisted, of course I LOVED Mo Better Blues, Jungle Fever, Malcolm X and He Got Game. But after those came those "other flicks" like Bamboozled (I know A LOT folk who loved flick but I thought it was wack. In fact on the low Showtime had a flick called "Dancing In September" that dropped around the same time and was 100 times doper then Bamboozled), She Hate Me, Miracle At St. Anna, Redhook Brooklyn, Oldboy, Da Sweet Blood of Jesus and Chi-raq. And I KNOW somebody's out there saying "well, 25th Hour and Inside Man were dope" and they were but the difference is Spike didn't write those, he just directed them. And in my opinion, there's a big difference between writing and directing and and just directing. And just for the record David Benioff's book the 25th Hour is 100,000 times doper then the movie...I'm just saying. So even though Spike has been putting up more bricks then his man John Starks in the 4th quarter back in '94, I won't hold you, I am interested in how he's gonna flip one of my fave movies into a series 30 years later.

I Can't Call It: Time Is Illmatic

I’ve been working with at risk teens in different hoods throughout DC and Maryland for the past 14 years. And once cats find out I produce, all of the ones who rap always step to me about getting beats, studio time or just advice on how to get started in the game. But before I let ‘em hear a beat or even let them spit for me, the first thing I ALWAYS ask them is “have you heard Nas’ Illmatic?” And if they haven’t I tell ‘em to go listen to it and THEN we can chop it up. Now, the thing that bugs me out is that I’ve never looked at “Illmatic” as my favorite hip hop album (it’s in my top 5 tho) and on top of that, Nas isn’t even my favorite MC (he’s in my top 3 tho) so why am I telling these kids to go listen to “Illmatic” and not “It Takes A Nation…” (which IS my favorite hip hop album) or Ultra’s “Critical Beatdown”, Eric B & Rakim’s Paid In Full or BIG’s (who IS my favorite MC) Ready To Die?” And to be honest with ya'll, I don’t know why I send them to “Illmatic.” Maybe subliminally I look at it as the blueprint on how to be a dope MC and if that’s the case, that puts “Illmatic” on another level then the rest of those other “classic” albums I just named. So at the end of the day, not only did Nas create the perfect hip hop album that help change the game and one of the greatest albums (not just hip hop) of all time but he literally made a hip hop study guide for not only up and coming MC’s but for ALL MC’s to understand that “this is how it should be done.”

Movies On Demand: Our Vinyl Weighs A Ton

I remember the first time I heard the name. My first thought was what the hell is a Peanut Butter Wolf? I mean, somebody’s name is really Peanut Butter Wolf? REALLY?!?!?! So, as you can tell so far, I’ve never been a fan of Mr. Wolf for the simple fact that I can’t rock with anyone who’s moniker is just that…Peanut Butter. And since, I’ve never been a fan of good ole Mr. Peanut Butter then there’s no way that I could be a fan of Stones Throw Records right? Well, that’s where this story starts to go a little left. Let’s go back to the first time I heard of Stones Throw Records. My young bul Sha who used to intern for me up at 88.9 was blowing me up about this Lootpack album. Our DJ’s used to always spin “When I’m On The Mic” and I rocked with it and I actually already had the Lootpack album but to be honest, I never gave it the time of day. And not only was Sha blowing me up about this Lootpack album but he was REALLY biggin’ up the group’s producer Madlib calling him the next “one.” Now, first things first, anyone who knows me, KNOWS you should NEVER start off a sentence telling me somebody in ANY arena (MC’s, producers, ball players, etc.) is the next “one.” Cause 9 times outta 10, I’ve already stopped listening to you. But since Sha wouldn’t let dead dogs lie, I finally checked out the album and it was cool…matter of fact it was pretty dope but there’s no way on earth that I saw Madlib as the next “one.” 

Movies On Demand: Star Trek Into Darkness

I never liked Star Trek. I always felt like it was the old folk’s version of Star Wars. The VERY old folk’s version. Whenever I did try to watch it growing up it always seemed like it had MUCH more dialogue then action so it could never compete with Buck Rogers or Battlestar Galataca. And don’t think Star Trek The Next Generation or Star Trek Deep Space Nine got my attention either cause at the end of the day, I didn’t think there wasn’t anything that these cats could do to convince me to get into Star Trek. Which is why when I saw the trailer for the Star Trek movie that dropped a couple of years back I was shocked that I actually wanted to see it! It was like after 40 years it seemed like these dudes FINALLY got the bright idea to add some action to this snooze fest. And ya’ll could only imagine the shock I was in after I checked out the movie the first day it dropped (along with a RACK of “Trekies” in the theater) and I LOVED it! Now don’t get it twisted I’m not saying it was a 5 mic classic or nuthin’ like that (hell, casting Tyler Perry alone made it lose a half of mic) but it was finally the Star Trek that I’d been wanting to see since day one.

Movies On Demand: Django Unchained...5 Mics?!?!?

Let me start off by saying that I've never written a movie review before BUT don’t get it twisted, just because I've never written one doesn't mean that I don't break down movies the exact same way I break down hip hop. See, I'm the dude who’s always watched DVD's with the director talking over the film and watching the "behind the scenes" hoopla because whether it’s a beat, rhyme, song, movie or whatever, I’ve always been interested in how things come together. All of that to say after seeing Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained" there was absolutely NO WAY I wasn't writing something up about this movie! Now first things first, let me explain how I got put onto Quentin Tarantino. When I went to Morgan State, me and some of my peoples went to see this movie (that I had NO interest in seeing but everyone else seemed hyped to see) called "Pulp Fiction"....and I HATED it! I hated that movie so f-cking bad it didn't make sense. I didn't get all of the story lines, why was it so damn long? Why was some dude banging Ving Rhames while Bruce Willis waited for his turn? Why did Sam Jackson have a jerri curl? It was just bad...I’m talking real bad, Michael Jackson. And to be honest, I don't think I ever put name to face with Tarrentino and Pulp Fiction so I didn't even know he did it. Hell, at that time I don't think I even knew what a Quentin Tarrentino was.