Farewell Mr. Cochran

My best memory of Johnny Cochran will always be the OJ trial. Like many African-Americans I was glued to the TV set to see if OJ would go to jail. I was stunned by Johnny Cochran's arrogance, and charisma. I can remember actually being proud at one point. I know what my white readers are saying, "How can you be proud of a man who got a murderer off?" My answer is simple. I just was. Before the OJ trial Johnny Cochran had a host of celebrities as clients: Michael Jackson and Snoop Dogg to name a few.

What people don't know is that he also was counsel for, Reginald Denny, the white truck driver, that was beaten in 1992 in the LA riots.

Cochran also represented Abner Louima, who was sexually assaulted by New York City police. Two officers were found guilty of the assault and four others were convicted of lying to authorities about the incident. Louima won $8.75 million in a civil suit.

A lot gets lost in the shuffle when a celebrity dies. People always bring up the question of his legacy and and ask "What did he contribute?" Well for some he was a slick lawyer that got murderers and child molesters off. For me (and I don't think I'm alone in this) he was a great leagal mind, who was able to find justice for a few in a system in where it is few and far between. Some people will think of him as a hired gun, but I will remember him as a man who worked for nothing to help the poor. Say what you want about him but at the end of the day you have to repect the man for knowing the law.

Good bye sir, there will not be any like you for a long time.

What if Terry Schiavo was black?

There's been a lot of blogging and a lot of ranting over the Terry Schiavo case these past few months.

At this time I'm going to throw my two cents out there and rant my a** off. Why? Because I'm just sick and tired of hearing about this woman.

First off this woman is no longer a person she's become a political cause. It's so hypocritical that in the efforts to restore her dignity the conservatives have done just the oppostie. And it's a damn shame. Personally I think they should have pulled the tube a while ago and let the woman die in peace. But now there's national debate over what we should do in this kind of situation. But what if Terry Schiavo was black or native American? Would we give a damn? Would GW Bush actually care?

No. There wouldn't be one camera on her if she was black. This country has a long legacy of doing worse things to black women.

Lets take for example forced sterilization.

Of course there are those that say "But those laws are off the books." Yes those laws that were made in the early 1900's are off the books but their spirit remains.

That's how deep race is in this country. Instead of taking your life they take away your ability to create it.

Fringe Thursday 3-24-05: Oldboy and Layer Cake

I think I mentioned this movie in last December. It comes out tomorrow (Friday 3-25-05) in selected theaters in New York and Los Angles.

It's the story of a man who is captured and inprisoned for 15 years without reason. One day he is released with a wallet filled with cash and a mobile phone. While he eats in a Japanese restaurant, a strange man calls Dae-su and asks him to figure out why he was imprisoned. I'm not going to give anymore away after that.

Check out the trailer here.




Based upon the JJ Connelly's London crime novel, "LAYER CAKE" is about a successful cocaine dealer (layed by Daniel Craig) who has earned a respected place among England's Mafia elite and plans an early retirement from the business. Things get complicated when he's asked to do one last favor for the Big Boss.

Layer Cake is produced by the same people who brought us 1998's Lock Stock and Two Loaded Barrels and Snatch (2000). Matthew Vaughn is director on this one, frankly I think they should have tried to get Guy Ritchie. Vaughn is one to watch in the upcoming months, recently he has been recently tapped to direct the new X-Men movie.

Layer Cake is set for release May 13th, 2005. You can check out the trailer here.

Hip Hop Wednesday 3-23-05: Minor notes and random stuff

• Damn it seems like they're giving time out like it's gov't cheese. First Martha Stewart had to do some time now Lil Kim's bracing herself for a stay in the big house.

• I'm glad that 50 Cent is taking responsibility and stepping up and saying he's a role model. Personally I wouldn't want my children to fashion their lives after 50 Cent but at the same time I would like them to see that he serves for an example of someone who overcame the odds to get ahead.

• They shootin!. I thought guns were banned in England. Where the hell was security? I love this quote from him: "Hip Hop is not Vote or Die."

Fringe Thursday 3-17-05 Top Ten Romantic Comedies 1-5

5. Love and Sex (2000)

Famke Janssen plays Kate a journalist who looks back on her romantic past while trying to meet a deadline on an article concerning romance. Jon Favreau plays Adam a struggling artist who plays Kate's love interest. There's a weird chemistry between the two principals in this movie, that works. The only flaw is that it gets a little formulaic toward the end.


4. Hav Plenty (1997)

The title is a play on the two lead characters names, Havilland Savage (Chenoa Maxwell) and Lee Plenty (writer/director Chris Scott Cherot). She's rich, haughty, and cursed with a mercurial temperament. He's broke, humble to the point of self- deprecation, and affable. It all starts New Year's Eve when a dateless Havilland (after breaking up with her cheating boyfriend), invites Lee to make the drive from New York to Washington D.C. to act as her companion for the evening. Lee's one-night stay in D.C. lengthens into a several-days vacation, and, during the course of his time there, he is hit on by both the unattached Caroline (Havilland's best friend) and the newly-married Leigh (Havilland's sister). Regardless of how attracted he is to the women, Lee rebuffs their advances, because he's in love with Havilland but he really doesn't know it. This movie acts on the old formula of opposites attract. It's disappointing that Chris Cherot hasn't done anything worthy of note since.



3. Loving Jezebel (1999)

This movie is the story of my life (more or less). It's the story of a guy who always ends up falling for the wrong woman. Hill Harper plays the charmingly dorky Theodorous Melville. Theo has a problem, he keeps falling in love with the wrong women--most often, his friends' girlfriends. Barely surviving college, where he slept with the girlfriend of the football team's star running back, Theodorus eventually settles in New York City with his best friend, whose gorgeous Trinidadian girlfriend, Mona (Sandrine Holt), can't hide her attraction for him. Meanwhile, Theodorus is in the midst of a passionate affair with Frances (Nicole Ari Parker),whose mental stability is questionable. Working as a waiter in a coffee shop, Theodorus befriends the bumbling Samantha (Laurel Holloman), a sweet-natured woman who is married to Gabe (David Moscow), a walking time bomb.



2. Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)

John Cusack plays a contract killer who's going through the 30-something mid-life crisis. After botching up a hit in Florida his secretary (played by his sister Joan) gives him the message that his 10 year HS reunion is coming up. At first he doesn't want to go but then he gets an job (to make up for the botched hit) in his hometown. He makes the pilgramige back to Grosse Pointe and catches up with his former girlfriend (Minne Driver) whom he stood up at the prom. Somewhere in there he gains a new respect for human life.

1. Lost in Translation (2003)


Bill Murray is brilliant in this movie. The story of two ships passing in the night has been done many times in cinema but there's something about this movie that takes it to another level. You can see that these two people love each other and you know both are aware of the obvious unspoken obstacles in their way. But regardless of the obvious age difference they "get" each other. You can tell by a look he gives her or a glance she gives him.

Hip Hop Wednesday 3-16-05: Jada Kiss and Fat Joe respond

Ahh the beef between 50 Cent and The Game maybe be over but that doesn't mean the beef between Jada Kiss, Fat Joe and Nas isn't.


"Checkmate" uses the beat from a 50 Cent a dis record called Animal; aimed at Murder Inc. on 50's 2050: Before the Massacre mixtape. Here's an excerpt:

"Most likely your CD is ... / Bunch of love songs, 100 percent pure garbage ... / You should just sell clothes and sneakers/ 'Cause out of the whole camp, your flow's the weakest ... / It'll take a lifetime to see Kiss/ You had to get shot nine times to be rich/ Rat ass nigga, you's an animal,you's a muthaf*ckin' animal."




Meanwhile Fat Joe just cuts to the chase with a track called "F*ck 50"

"I see MJ in the hood more than Curtis, hate it or Love it the Game's on top/Now you jealous of him/When your sh*t gonna stop!? Oh yea you got 65 niggas on your team/And they're not from Southside Jamaica, Queens/They're the boys in blue/I'm just speaking the truth/Now we all see the bitch in you."

Nas has yet to respond. But I'm sure when he drops his response it will be hot.

On a side note Brian 'Head' Welch formally of the band Korn says he has a song for 50. For those of you who don't know Welch quit Korn because he wanted to band to rededicate his life to Christianity. Good luck with that Brian.

My new side gig

In the words of the HNIC Panama Jackson:

"We The Voices is a collective of individuals with nothing better to do than make your life better. Intended to shock and awe, as well as inform. The sole goal of this project is to provide edutainment. What is edutainment you ask? Good question. Edutainment is the knowledge you actually seek out. The knowledge that makes learning worth doing. It’s the kind of information that doesn’t turn books into kryptonite. Basically, it’s that ignorant shit you like, only with facts to back it up."

I'm proud to say that I am one of the many contributors to this site. I'd like to thank the HNIC (Panama) and the NMIC (Black Martha) for this opportunity.

So please feel free to check out my article in the movie section on the site.

Conspiracy Theories: COINTELPRO

Last week we covered the Tuskegee Experiment, this week we attempt to cover another conspiracy that was perpetrated against the black community.

COINTELPRO

COINTELPRO is an acronym for a series of FBI counterintelligence programs designed to neutralize political dissidents. Although covert operations have been employed throughout FBI history, the formal COINTELPRO's of 1956-1971 were broadly targeted against radical political organizations.

The program was initially targeted at the Communist Party, USA (CPUSA). After its initial success, it was expanded to include many other organizations. Some of the largest COINTELPROs targeted the Socialist Worker's Party, the "New Left" (including several anti-war groups such as the Students for a Democratic Society and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (aka SNCC)), Black Liberation groups such as the Black Panthers, Puerto Rican independence groups, and the American Indian Movement.

In early 1971, COINTELPRO was brought to light when a "Citizens Committee to Investigate the FBI" removed secret files from an FBI office in Media, PA and released them to the press. Agents began to resign from the Bureau and blow the whistle on covert operations. That same year, publication of the Pentagon Papers, the Pentagon's top-secret history of the Vietnam War, exposed years of systematic official lies about the war.

COINTELPRO's effect on the black civil rights movement was vast.

In addition to Marin Luther King the, Black Panthers were also a target.

For those of you who are interested in looking up some of the declassified info please go to www.cointel.org.

Fringe Thursday: 3-10-05 Top Ten Romantic comedies 10 to 6

I love romantic comedies. But I don't really like standard Hollywood romantic comedies. I like movies that are off the beaten track so to speak. The following list is my top ten romantic comedies. Not all of them have happy endings where the guy gets the girl some of them have actual real endings in where the guy for whatever reason losses the girl.

10. She's Gotta Have It (1986)
Spike Lee's first film about an independent woman and her three lovers. I don't think up until that point I had ever seen a movie in where the female lead had a problem with commitment. Nola Darling played by Tracy Camilla Johns is bright, sexy and just blunt. The dinner scene in where all three men she's sleeping with is probably one of the funniest things Spike Lee has ever put on film.

9. High Fidelity (2000)
You can't have a romantic comedy list without at least one John Cusack movie. High Fidelity is based on the novel by Nick Hornby. It's about a guy who's going through the "what's it all about" phase. If you're over 30 you know exactly what I mean. Cusack plays Rob Gordon a manager of a small record store in Chicago. As the movie opens his girlfriend Laura (played by Iben Hjejle) leaves him and moves in with the upstairs neighbor (played by Tim Robbins). Throughout the movie he recalls his past breakups and goes on a emotional journey in an effort to try to put the past breakups behind him. I highly recommend this flick.

8. Chasing Amy (1997)
This is probably one of the best scripts Kevin Smith (post Clerks) has ever written. Granted I'm not the biggest Ben Afleck fan out there, but this movie convinced me that he can actually deliver great dialogue when need be. The scene between Afleck and Joey Lauren Adams in the rain will always stand out as one of the best romantic exchanges in film.

7. Fall (1997)
Writer/director Eric Schaeffer plays a New York cab driver that falls in love with a super model. This is one of those few movies that whenever it comes on cable I have to watch. You have to suspend disbelief to really enjoy this movie. It doesn't end the way you think it does.

6. Love Jones (1997)
Writer/director Theodore Witcher gives us an urban setting in where we find a characters mostly young, African-American, and middle class now keep in mind romantic comedies like this were still rare. In addition to being a very good film the soundtrack is probably one of the most underrated soundtracks ever.

Next week on Fringe Thursday we'll finish the list.

Late day rant: Women and Hip Hop

Saturday night I saw a rerun of SNL with Dana Owens (aka Queen Latifah) as guest host. Let's just say it was a display of coonery that I've never seen before. It kinda puts this kind of thing in perspective when it comes to hip hop music and women's role in it.

Why are these women bitching? Where were they when Dana Owens (aka Queen Latifah) made Bringing Down the House and Taxi?

Saturday night made me realize that Ms. Owens isn't hip hop anymore. She used her music to get her foot in the door to become an entertainer. Somewhere along the line she stopped being the Queen of hip hop and became a singer/actress. Now I know you must be asking yourself what does this have to do with how women are portrayed in the world of hip hop. Well it's simple. Asha Jennings and the women of Spelman who are protesting hip hop music should understand that when a rapper (or MC) makes a video in a woman's image is that of a bitch and hoe it doesn't necessarily mean that all women are bitches and hoes.

Come on let's be real here. There are women out there who are hoes, and there's nothing wrong with that pimps gotta get their money ya know. And we all know there are some bitches in this world. In fact I think it is to a woman's advantage to be perceived as a bitch.

If you are a black woman and you listen to Nelly you should first off ask yourself why? Why am I listening to this guy? We all know why women listen to artists like Nelly. The music has a nice beat and I'm not afraid to say that his type ain't too hard on the eyes (if ya like that sort of thing).

So what does that tell you? His looks excuse his lyrics.

If you are nodding your head to what I'm saying continue reading but if you can't follow what I'm leading you to then you might as well close out of this browser and pick up a Nelly CD or some other form of ignorant entertainment.

Point 1:
If a man (or woman) is cute they can get away with a lot of stupid things.

Point 2:
The women who are being exploited in these videos auditioned to be in them and they work very hard with one goal in mind, and that goal is to be featured in a video. And trust me some of them haven't paid for a meal since they were 13.

Point 3:
Bitches and hoes do exist but they do not make up the majority of real women out there. But they do make up the majority of women that these rappers have been exposed to. So if you are a woman who doesn't consider herself a bitch or a hoe, don't take it so personally cause he ain't talking about you.

Conspiracy Theories: The Tuskegee Experiment

Some of you thought that Black History Month ended on Feb. 28. Well in the words of P.Diddy "I thought I told you, that we won't stop, I thought I told you, we won't stop."

Why do black people think there is someone out to get them? Well maybe cause someone is out to get them.

There are a lot of conspiracy theories within the black community. Some of them are true and some aren't. This entry is part of a series of entries on conspiracy theories.

The Tuskegee Experiment

The most egregious of all the conspiracies commited against the black community is the Tuskegee experiment. For forty years between 1932 and 1972, the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) conducted an experiment on 399 black men in the late stages of syphilis. These men, for the most part illiterate sharecroppers from one of the poorest counties in Alabama, were never told what disease they were suffering from or of its seriousness. Informed that they were being treated for “bad blood,” their doctors had no intention of curing them of syphilis at all. The data for the experiment was to be collected from autopsies of the men, and they were thus deliberately left to degenerate under the ravages of tertiary syphilis—which can include tumors, heart disease, paralysis, blindness, insanity, and death. “As I see it,” one of the doctors involved explained, “we have no further interest in these patients until they die.”

President Bill Clinton apologized in 1997. What amazes me is that most white people didn't even believe this actually happened. What's good about his apology (be it late) is that he acknowledged the crime and took responsibility.

Hip Hop Wednesday 3/2/05: Breaking News Game vs. 50 Cent

There are too many carnivorous in hip hop. Everyone loves BEEF way too much. Who didn't see this coming?

50 Cent booted The Game out of G-Unit Monday night.

And just as he's kicking Game out his clique some one gets shot outside of Hot 97. Coincidence? I think not. The authorities now say the victim is not affiliated with G-Unit but now the authorities have stated that the victim is a native of Compton, the hometown of The Game.

Hot 97 has identified the victim as Kevin Reed an associate of Game, police said. Reed, 20, of Compton was shot once in the upper leg-groin area and grazed twice – once in the leg and shoulder, police said. He was treated and released from St. Vincent's Medical Center yesterday.

I really hope this doesn't go the way of Bigge and Pac. Game just wants to make music and feed his family he didn't want any trouble. The beef that 50 has with Jada Kiss, Fat Joe and Nas is his own beef. Game isn't 50's boy (as Interscope would like you to believe)

This is all Jimmy Iovine's (the founder of Interscope records) fault.

Game was originally signed solely to Dr. Dre's Aftermath imprint, working on his album for a couple of years before Interscope Chairman Jimmy Iovine proposed bringing Game into the G-Unit fold. Iovine talked to Dre, who called in 50.

"They came up with the idea that I should roll with G-Unit because they already have a crazy buzz and they selling albums," Game told MTV last spring. "They got the East and they got the South; I'm from the West, obviously. I'm young and I'm hungry just like them. 50 is still in the streets, he's still hungry, still blowing up, and [Lloyd] Banks and [Young] Buck are doing their thing, so why not put the kid from Compton with these cats since they already out there? All they missing is the West Coast, and then you have a universal group."

"Game had actually been on Aftermath for two years before they gave me the opportunity to do the project with Dre," 50 told MTV in January. "I think creatively they were stuck a little, but then when I was brought in we were able to add new energy. They got excited about the project, brought him out, we recorded like nine records at the house in Farmington, [Connecticut]. He went back to Los Angeles with the records, Dre liked them, and I just got him re-motivated and he went in and finished up the album."

With Dre and the rest of Interscope fully behind Game's The Documentary, 50 said he felt neglected when it was time for his The Massacre LP to get it's proper attention.

So again I ask why should Game be loyal to 50? 50 started a beef with Far Joe and Jada Kiss months ago when he released a mixtape song called Piggy Bank what business is it of Game's to get involved with this? I really hope no one else gets hurt as a result of this. This whole thing reminds me of what Pat Reily once said.

"When elephants fight it is the grass that suffers."
Special thanks to MTV.com for providing some insight on this matter.