Almost immediately after its founding in 1955, the Village Voice became the most raucous, irreverent and important alternative newspaper in America. At one point the Voice was the most read weekly in the country, serving as Andy Warhol put it “the entire liberal thinking world.” In her excellent new book The Freaks Came Out to Write: The Definitive History of the Village Voice, the Radical Paper That Changed American Culture, Voice veteran Tricia Romano has compiled an oral history of the seminal alt-weekly. Romano’s book is a vital and wildly...
- 3/2/2024
- by Tricia Romano
- Rollingstone.com
New Jack Swing pioneer Teddy Riley — who produced iconic hits including Doug E. Fresh’s “The Show” and Bobby Brown’s “My Prerogative” — has announced his new memoir, Remember the Times, published by Simon & Schuster’s 13A / Gallery Books imprint.
Riley tapped music biographer Jake Brown to collaborate on the tome, which will chronicle his five decades of hits and trace the past 40 years of his influential impact on hip-hop and R&b for generations. Beyond helming earlier classics, including Kool Moe Dee’s “Wild Wild West” and Keith Sweat...
Riley tapped music biographer Jake Brown to collaborate on the tome, which will chronicle his five decades of hits and trace the past 40 years of his influential impact on hip-hop and R&b for generations. Beyond helming earlier classics, including Kool Moe Dee’s “Wild Wild West” and Keith Sweat...
- 1/30/2024
- by Althea Legaspi
- Rollingstone.com
Exclusive: Rtg Features, the sister studio to basketball media company Slam, is partnering with arts organization Heartland Film to launch the first annual Slam Film Festival dedicated to basketball-themed movies.
The festival, which will take place February 16-18, 2024, at Living Room Theaters in Indianapolis, will be a mix of world premiere titles, recent festival circuit movies and iconic films. The event will be the first-ever film festival exclusively focused on basketball, and is launched in celebration of Slam’s 30th anniversary in 2024. Scroll down for the lineup.
There will be 30th anniversary screenings of Steve James’ classic doc Hoop Dreams, William Friedkin’s Nick Nolte and Shaquille O’Neal film Blue Chips and Jeff Pollack’s Above The Rim. Newer films set to screen will include Palm Springs 2024 title Amongst The Trees, exec-produced by NBA star Paul George, and recent doc biopic Stephen Curry: Underrated (2023).
In addition to screenings and post-screening Q&As,...
The festival, which will take place February 16-18, 2024, at Living Room Theaters in Indianapolis, will be a mix of world premiere titles, recent festival circuit movies and iconic films. The event will be the first-ever film festival exclusively focused on basketball, and is launched in celebration of Slam’s 30th anniversary in 2024. Scroll down for the lineup.
There will be 30th anniversary screenings of Steve James’ classic doc Hoop Dreams, William Friedkin’s Nick Nolte and Shaquille O’Neal film Blue Chips and Jeff Pollack’s Above The Rim. Newer films set to screen will include Palm Springs 2024 title Amongst The Trees, exec-produced by NBA star Paul George, and recent doc biopic Stephen Curry: Underrated (2023).
In addition to screenings and post-screening Q&As,...
- 1/24/2024
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
As part of the 2023 Tribeca Festival, director Mario Van Peebles opened up about his directorial debut, 1991’s “New Jack City,” alongside Fab 5 Freddy, Vanessa Williams and Michael Michele with an at-capacity crowd at the Sva Theater for an illuminating 35 minutes full of joy, surprises and honesty.
It can’t be understated how jovial Van Peebles—the son of prolific Black filmmaker Mario Van Peebles—was from the moment he stepped on stage to quickly introduce the film, which chronicles the rise of a ruthless drug lord in the dilapidated slums of late-1980s New York City. By the time the opening credits began to roll he was encouraging a major clap-along in the audience to the groove-worthy opening track. His energy, which stayed high until his final goodbyes at the end of the night, was infectious.
The filmmaker, who directed “New Jack City” from a script penned by Thomas Lee Wright and Barry Michael Cooper,...
It can’t be understated how jovial Van Peebles—the son of prolific Black filmmaker Mario Van Peebles—was from the moment he stepped on stage to quickly introduce the film, which chronicles the rise of a ruthless drug lord in the dilapidated slums of late-1980s New York City. By the time the opening credits began to roll he was encouraging a major clap-along in the audience to the groove-worthy opening track. His energy, which stayed high until his final goodbyes at the end of the night, was infectious.
The filmmaker, who directed “New Jack City” from a script penned by Thomas Lee Wright and Barry Michael Cooper,...
- 6/19/2023
- by Lex Briscuso
- The Wrap
Tupac Shakur's socially conscious poetry and fiery, political lyrics are forever cemented in music history, but the legendary rapper also had a burgeoning career in acting. Upon the time of his tragic murder in September 1996, Tupac was becoming all the more prolific as a performer, his filmography growing even after his death. What's more, there was a chance that, eventually, audiences would have seen the rapper/actor pop up in big-budget movies like the "Star Wars" prequels, in which George Lucas may have cast him as Mace Windu.
Tupac was always involved in the world of the stage ever since his childhood days at the Baltimore School for the Arts, where he acted in Shakespeare productions that would influence his depictions of gang conflicts. The artist's breakout lead role was in the 1992 crime drama "Juice," in which future Mace Windu actor Samuel L. Jackson also appeared in. Besides this,...
Tupac was always involved in the world of the stage ever since his childhood days at the Baltimore School for the Arts, where he acted in Shakespeare productions that would influence his depictions of gang conflicts. The artist's breakout lead role was in the 1992 crime drama "Juice," in which future Mace Windu actor Samuel L. Jackson also appeared in. Besides this,...
- 3/13/2023
- by Andrew Housman
- Slash Film
In fall 2021, "New Jack City" screenwriter Barry Michael Cooper announced in a tweet that he was working on a prequel to the 1991 neo-gangster flick. The tweet came two years after Deadline reported that Warner Bros. had tapped filmmaker and "Power Book III: Raising Kanan" actor Malcolm M. Mays to pen a reboot to the film. No matter who writes the eventual script for the "New Jack City" follow-up, it appears the project will be made without the services of the original's leading star, Wesley Snipes.
Set in 1986 Harlem, "New Jack City" follows undercover detective Scotty Appleton (Ice-t) as he plots...
The post Why Wesley Snipes Walked Away From The New Jack City Sequel appeared first on /Film.
Set in 1986 Harlem, "New Jack City" follows undercover detective Scotty Appleton (Ice-t) as he plots...
The post Why Wesley Snipes Walked Away From The New Jack City Sequel appeared first on /Film.
- 6/12/2022
- by J. Gabriel Ware
- Slash Film
Those of a certain generation of people who thrive when they hear songs like Boyz II Men’s “Motownphilly” or Tony! Toni! Toné!’s “Feels Good” or Bobby Brown’s “My Prerogative”. There’s an incomparable sense of nostalgia when any song by Guy, Jade, Troop or the iconic Bell Biv DeVoe hits the airwaves. That era of music known as New Jack Swing is the subject of the new six-part podcast series “Jacked: The Rise of New Jack Swing” hosted and produced by Taraji P. Henson. Barry Michael Cooper will serve as a consulting producer. Wondery and Universal Music Group (Umg) will partner to produce the series which will premiere on November 17 on wherever you listen to podcasts.
Jacked will be written by Rico Gagliano and Andy Hermann and focus on the rise and fall of the New Jack Swing genre. The series will focus on the complex relationships...
Jacked will be written by Rico Gagliano and Andy Hermann and focus on the rise and fall of the New Jack Swing genre. The series will focus on the complex relationships...
- 10/15/2020
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
As the music world today is reeling from the news of Andre Harrell’s death at the age of 59, his colleagues and friends are celebrating the career of the Uptown Records founder. Harrell’s milestone career and personal story also are the subject of Uptown, a three-part original scripted miniseries, which was greenlighted by BET Networks in early December 2019.
Harrell was executive producing the project, which had been in pre-production when the coronavirus pandemic suspended all filming in Hollywood. The production held a series of open casting calls in December and January for performers to play 90s versions of Heavy D & The Boyz, Mary J. Blige, Jodeci, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Kim Porter and Aaron Hall, among others.
No cast and production start date have been set for the miniseries, which originally was supposed to premiere in 2020. Because of the uncertainty over when Hollywood production will be able to safely resume,...
Harrell was executive producing the project, which had been in pre-production when the coronavirus pandemic suspended all filming in Hollywood. The production held a series of open casting calls in December and January for performers to play 90s versions of Heavy D & The Boyz, Mary J. Blige, Jodeci, Sean “Diddy” Combs, Kim Porter and Aaron Hall, among others.
No cast and production start date have been set for the miniseries, which originally was supposed to premiere in 2020. Because of the uncertainty over when Hollywood production will be able to safely resume,...
- 5/10/2020
- by Nellie Andreeva
- Deadline Film + TV
A miniseries about the rise of the late Andre Harrell’s Uptown Records is still in the works and moving ahead at Bet following the veteran music executive’s death. But with production throughout the television business shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, no premiere date or timetable for the start of shooting has been set.
“We are mourning the loss of a cultural icon, Andre Harrell, a chief architect of the modern hip-hop and R&b sound,” Bet president Scott Mills said in a statement. “Andre was tremendously excited about sharing the origin story of Uptown Records, and its pivotal role in the urban music landscape. With his tragic passing, Bet is committed to ensuring that the Uptown limited series event tells both the Uptown story and Andre’s story — that of the incredible music innovator, man and friend to so many.”
In December, Bet ordered “Uptown,” a...
“We are mourning the loss of a cultural icon, Andre Harrell, a chief architect of the modern hip-hop and R&b sound,” Bet president Scott Mills said in a statement. “Andre was tremendously excited about sharing the origin story of Uptown Records, and its pivotal role in the urban music landscape. With his tragic passing, Bet is committed to ensuring that the Uptown limited series event tells both the Uptown story and Andre’s story — that of the incredible music innovator, man and friend to so many.”
In December, Bet ordered “Uptown,” a...
- 5/9/2020
- by Daniel Holloway
- Variety Film + TV
Bet is exploring the story behind Andre Harrell’s iconic hip-hop record label, Uptown Records.
The network has ordered a three-part miniseries titled “Uptown,” with Harrell on board to executive produce. The series is scheduled to hit the airwaves in 2020.
Launched in 1986, following a joint venture deal with McA, Uptown Records played a key role in launching the careers of some of the most influential voices in hip-hop and R&b, including Heavy D & The Boyz, Russell Simmons, Lyor Cohen, Mary J. Blige, Jodeci, Father Mc, Al B. Sure, Christopher Williams, Teddy Riley, Notorious B.I.G., Sean “Diddy” Combs, and others.
Each episode of “Uptown” will take viewers from the label’s inception to current day, featuring the music and hit-makers that helped mold the label.
“We are proud to bring the story of Uptown Records to life and celebrate the indelible imprint the label has made on the industry,...
The network has ordered a three-part miniseries titled “Uptown,” with Harrell on board to executive produce. The series is scheduled to hit the airwaves in 2020.
Launched in 1986, following a joint venture deal with McA, Uptown Records played a key role in launching the careers of some of the most influential voices in hip-hop and R&b, including Heavy D & The Boyz, Russell Simmons, Lyor Cohen, Mary J. Blige, Jodeci, Father Mc, Al B. Sure, Christopher Williams, Teddy Riley, Notorious B.I.G., Sean “Diddy” Combs, and others.
Each episode of “Uptown” will take viewers from the label’s inception to current day, featuring the music and hit-makers that helped mold the label.
“We are proud to bring the story of Uptown Records to life and celebrate the indelible imprint the label has made on the industry,...
- 12/4/2019
- by Will Thorne
- Variety Film + TV
Bet Networks has given a green light to Uptown, a three-part original scripted miniseries that will chronicle the story of Andre Harrell’s iconic New York City record label, Uptown Records, from Harrell and Jesse Collins Entertainment. Uptown is scheduled to premiere on Bet in 2020.
Launched in 1986, following a joint venture deal with McA, Harrell’s Uptown Records played a vital role in the careers of some of the most influential voices in hip hop, soul and R&b, including Heavy D & The Boyz, Russell Simmons, Lyor Cohen, Mary J. Blige, Jodeci, Father Mc, Al B. Sure, Christopher Williams, Teddy Riley, Notorious B.I.G., Sean “Diddy” Combs, and many more. Each episode will take viewers from the label’s inception to current day, featuring the music and powerhouse hit-makers that helped mold what would come to be...
Launched in 1986, following a joint venture deal with McA, Harrell’s Uptown Records played a vital role in the careers of some of the most influential voices in hip hop, soul and R&b, including Heavy D & The Boyz, Russell Simmons, Lyor Cohen, Mary J. Blige, Jodeci, Father Mc, Al B. Sure, Christopher Williams, Teddy Riley, Notorious B.I.G., Sean “Diddy” Combs, and many more. Each episode will take viewers from the label’s inception to current day, featuring the music and powerhouse hit-makers that helped mold what would come to be...
- 12/4/2019
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Bet has ordered a three-part scripted series about the famed record label Uptown Records, the network announced Wednesday.
Launched in 1986, Andre Harrell’s Uptown Records played a vital role in the careers of some of the most influential voices in hip hop, soul and R&b, including Heavy D & The Boyz, Russell Simmons, Lyor Cohen, Mary J. Blige, Jodeci, Father Mc, Al B. Sure, Christopher Williams, Teddy Riley, Notorious B.I.G., Sean “Diddy” Combs and more.
“Uptown,” which will be executive produced by Harrell and Jesse Collins, will span the label’s inception to current day, featuring the music and hit-makers that defined its success and the sound of the era.
Also Read: 'First Wives Club' Star Ryan Michelle Bathe on Getting 'Hot as Fish Grease' for Bet+ Series (Video)
Charles Murray, Carlito Rodriguez and Barry Michael Cooper each serve as writer on one of the three parts of the miniseries,...
Launched in 1986, Andre Harrell’s Uptown Records played a vital role in the careers of some of the most influential voices in hip hop, soul and R&b, including Heavy D & The Boyz, Russell Simmons, Lyor Cohen, Mary J. Blige, Jodeci, Father Mc, Al B. Sure, Christopher Williams, Teddy Riley, Notorious B.I.G., Sean “Diddy” Combs and more.
“Uptown,” which will be executive produced by Harrell and Jesse Collins, will span the label’s inception to current day, featuring the music and hit-makers that defined its success and the sound of the era.
Also Read: 'First Wives Club' Star Ryan Michelle Bathe on Getting 'Hot as Fish Grease' for Bet+ Series (Video)
Charles Murray, Carlito Rodriguez and Barry Michael Cooper each serve as writer on one of the three parts of the miniseries,...
- 12/4/2019
- by Reid Nakamura
- The Wrap
New Jack City is a crime movie that first premiered in the U.S on March 8th, 1991. Thomas Lee Wright and Barry Michael Cooper wrote the screenplay of the American Neo-noir gangster movie. The film’s directors were Mario Van Peebles, and its stars were Wesley Snipes, Ice T, Chris Rock, Judd Nelson, Allen Payne and Mario Van Peebles. According to Deadline, Warner Bros Inc. has confirmed the remaking of the classic film. However, it is not clear on how it will be made to fit the current modern context. Original New Jack City Plot Wesley Snipes plays a rising drug
A New Jack City Reboot is Being Developed...
A New Jack City Reboot is Being Developed...
- 9/27/2019
- by Aiden Mason
- TVovermind.com
Spike Lee’s “She’s Gotta Have It” is ending after two seasons at Netflix. Lee is expected to shop the series to other platforms, according to a person familiar with the situation.
“Spike Lee is one of the greatest filmmakers of all time and we’re thrilled he brought the series She’s Gotta Have It to Netflix. While this is our last season, we’re very proud that it will be on our service for years to come, and excited to be working with Spike on his upcoming Netflix film Da 5 Bloods,” said Ted Sarandos, chief content officer at Netflix.
The series is a television adaptation of Lee’s 1986 indie film of the same name. Lee created and produced the series, which was his first foray into series television.
“She’s Gotta Have It” starred DeWanda Wise as Nola Darling, a woman in her late 20s living in Brooklyn juggling her job,...
“Spike Lee is one of the greatest filmmakers of all time and we’re thrilled he brought the series She’s Gotta Have It to Netflix. While this is our last season, we’re very proud that it will be on our service for years to come, and excited to be working with Spike on his upcoming Netflix film Da 5 Bloods,” said Ted Sarandos, chief content officer at Netflix.
The series is a television adaptation of Lee’s 1986 indie film of the same name. Lee created and produced the series, which was his first foray into series television.
“She’s Gotta Have It” starred DeWanda Wise as Nola Darling, a woman in her late 20s living in Brooklyn juggling her job,...
- 7/18/2019
- by Margeaux Sippell
- The Wrap
Editor’s note: Last week, John Boyega and others expressed outrage over an exchange from the fifth episode of Season 2 in Spike Lee’s Netflix series, “She’s Gotta Have It.” The scene finds Nola Darling (DeWanda Wise) and her black British lover Olu (Michael Luwoye) debating the impact of black British actors in Hollywood. The conversation eventually expands to the British involvement in the transatlantic slave trade and other major historical issues. Many viewers have taken particular issue with Nola describing black British actors as “cheap” and essentially ignorant of their own history, suffering from “Stockholm Syndrome.” Boyega saw a viral clip of the scene circulating online and simply labelled it “Trash.”
Boyega’s tweet was picked up by numerous media outlets. In response, the episode’s writer, Barry Michael Cooper, wrote a letter to Boyega, which he has provided to IndieWire below.
A Letter To John Boyega: The...
Boyega’s tweet was picked up by numerous media outlets. In response, the episode’s writer, Barry Michael Cooper, wrote a letter to Boyega, which he has provided to IndieWire below.
A Letter To John Boyega: The...
- 6/4/2019
- by Barry Michael Cooper
- Indiewire
This film was originally reviewed on Sept. 2. It opens wide today.
Sugar Hill was the high point neighborhood of Harlem, the place of dreams and success. In this earnest drama, it is the low point of decline and despair, as two young men struggle to survive its drug streets. Starring Wesley Snipes, ''Sugar Hill'' will likely bring in some sweet initial business for 20th Century Fox, but the film's ponderous and preachy exposition will sour word-of-mouth.
Shrouded in muted golden hues and coarsed by a smudgy trumpet's cry, ''Sugar Hill'' is a melancholy tale of urban desperation. In dramatic terms, it's a Cain-and-Abel story as two Harlem brothers, the cool and thoughtful Roemello (Snipes) and the brash and impetuous Raynathan (Michael Wright) deal with the hard life's hand that drugs have left them. Their mother (Leslie Uggams) overdosed before their eyes, while their jazz musician-dealer father (Clarence Williams III) withers in a heroin haze.
Although once a promising student, Roemello has taken the fork too often traveled on his Harlem streets -- he and his brother have become drug lords. They live the good life, frequenting clubs, sporting the threads and turning on the women.
Despite his kingly status on the streets, Roemello despairs. He wants to get out of the cesspool of drug dealing and even feels a responsibility to the neighborhood, the once-great promise of Harlem. He's the good son, taking his skeletal father chicken soup and sagely smoothing out disputes between the neighborhood gangsters and the crime lords from New Jersey.
He laments that ''everyone wants to be a gangster nowadays.''
Roemello's personal turmoil is, in essence, screenwriter Barry Michael Cooper's thematic focus -- how promising young black men can be easily sucked into the gangster lowlife.
While Cooper's screenplay is eminently insightful, it is unfortunately weighted down with clunky expository scenes, sometimes redundant sociologizing, and a decidedly schmaltzy romantic subplot between Roemello and a soft-spoken, upright actress (Theresa Randle) that, in the film's own jargon, is ''extra.''
Overall, Cooper's screenplay attempts to have it all ways and overdoses on its own ambition: Hard and piercing questions are deadened with soft and swoony answers, including an ending so out-there it seems to have been penned not by someone who knows and loves Harlem, but rather by the North Carolina Tourism Division.
In addition, the fact that Roemello is overridingly presented only from his saintly side smear the film's painful power with, well, too much sugar.
Director Leon Ichaso's plodding pace has further sapped the film's power, although he has nicely fused the superb technical contributions -- cinematographer Bojan Bazelli's muted golden hues and composer Terence Blanchard's tormented tones -- into an eloquent force of dignity.
As the epicurean Roemello, Snipes smartly conveys the torment of a man torn between his lifestyle and his morals. Wright is terrific as his hairtrigger brother, while Williams wins our hearts with his portrayal of their junkie father. Theresa Randle is touchingly vulnerable as Roemello's beacon of goodness.
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
Sugar Hill was the high point neighborhood of Harlem, the place of dreams and success. In this earnest drama, it is the low point of decline and despair, as two young men struggle to survive its drug streets. Starring Wesley Snipes, ''Sugar Hill'' will likely bring in some sweet initial business for 20th Century Fox, but the film's ponderous and preachy exposition will sour word-of-mouth.
Shrouded in muted golden hues and coarsed by a smudgy trumpet's cry, ''Sugar Hill'' is a melancholy tale of urban desperation. In dramatic terms, it's a Cain-and-Abel story as two Harlem brothers, the cool and thoughtful Roemello (Snipes) and the brash and impetuous Raynathan (Michael Wright) deal with the hard life's hand that drugs have left them. Their mother (Leslie Uggams) overdosed before their eyes, while their jazz musician-dealer father (Clarence Williams III) withers in a heroin haze.
Although once a promising student, Roemello has taken the fork too often traveled on his Harlem streets -- he and his brother have become drug lords. They live the good life, frequenting clubs, sporting the threads and turning on the women.
Despite his kingly status on the streets, Roemello despairs. He wants to get out of the cesspool of drug dealing and even feels a responsibility to the neighborhood, the once-great promise of Harlem. He's the good son, taking his skeletal father chicken soup and sagely smoothing out disputes between the neighborhood gangsters and the crime lords from New Jersey.
He laments that ''everyone wants to be a gangster nowadays.''
Roemello's personal turmoil is, in essence, screenwriter Barry Michael Cooper's thematic focus -- how promising young black men can be easily sucked into the gangster lowlife.
While Cooper's screenplay is eminently insightful, it is unfortunately weighted down with clunky expository scenes, sometimes redundant sociologizing, and a decidedly schmaltzy romantic subplot between Roemello and a soft-spoken, upright actress (Theresa Randle) that, in the film's own jargon, is ''extra.''
Overall, Cooper's screenplay attempts to have it all ways and overdoses on its own ambition: Hard and piercing questions are deadened with soft and swoony answers, including an ending so out-there it seems to have been penned not by someone who knows and loves Harlem, but rather by the North Carolina Tourism Division.
In addition, the fact that Roemello is overridingly presented only from his saintly side smear the film's painful power with, well, too much sugar.
Director Leon Ichaso's plodding pace has further sapped the film's power, although he has nicely fused the superb technical contributions -- cinematographer Bojan Bazelli's muted golden hues and composer Terence Blanchard's tormented tones -- into an eloquent force of dignity.
As the epicurean Roemello, Snipes smartly conveys the torment of a man torn between his lifestyle and his morals. Wright is terrific as his hairtrigger brother, while Williams wins our hearts with his portrayal of their junkie father. Theresa Randle is touchingly vulnerable as Roemello's beacon of goodness.
(c) The Hollywood Reporter...
- 2/24/1994
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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