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I
ENTERTAINMENT
IN BRIEF
Davi leave
hocking will
Late jazz trumpeter Mile
Davi , who died last month,
left more than $1 million to be
split among family m mb rs.
The eight-page will, however,
eems to ay more about tho e
with whom he had differen­
ces.
While leaving 20% <1f the
e tate to his daughter Cheryl,
40% to on Erin; 10% to his
nephew; and 15% each to
brother Vernon and ister
Dorothy; Miles' will left noth­
ing to two of his sons, Gregory
& Miles III; a brother Joseph,
or any of his three former
wives, including actress Cice­
lyTyson.
Bill Lee-jailed
for heroin
Spike Lee's jazz m reran
dad, Bill Lee, was recently ar­
rested in Brooklyn, N.Y., on
charges of possessing a mall
amount of heroin. The elder
Lee is now out on bail, pend­
ing a trial. If convicted, he
could serve six months.
Speaking of jail time, <Jid
you know that former
Washington D.C. mayor
Marion Barry is now being
charged $25,000 to cover the
cost of his own incarceration?
Tina's Movie
-A Bust
For a moment it looked like
Tina Turner's life story was
one step closer to reality. A
recent news release from
Capi tol Records said Ani ta
Baker would play the lead in
the ·film version of Ms.
Turner'S autobiography, "I,
Tina". But it turns out that
wasn't true
At one point Whitney
Houston considered the role,
but ending up saying no.
Details are sketchy, but the
Disney project doesn't have a
script, cast, or director yet.
We guess you'll just have to
console yourself with a collec­
tion of Tina's greatest hits,
which comes out this month.
Black P ther
film set fo '92
New Jack City producers
George Jackson and Doug
McHenry are planning to fi�m
the story of the Black Panthers
from 1965-70, when the party
went through its most radical
changes. Tho e changes in­
cluded the establishment of a
. 10-point 'progam for self­
determination, and free 1 unch
and health care programs.
At their peak, the Black
Panthers had 7,000 members,
The film will be done in con­
junction with original Pan­
ther Bobby Seale, David
Hilltardand Eldridge Cleaver,
and the Huey Newton estate ..
- compiled by K. Barka
contributors: Lisa Collin Behind
the Scene &. RadioScope The Column
By AR OND WHITE
Reprint from Th Sun City
"I Don't Wanna Be Called Yo
Nigger," a cut from Public Enemy'
new lbum, Apocalyse '91: The Em­
pire Strikes Black (0 f Jam/Colum­
bia), i more proof that this group
et the highest standard for
American pop music, pecially. in
hiphop where thi ye r ' mo t
prominent theme ha been the
etymological discourse of the words
bitch and nigger. Rap, the art form
that epitomize African Americans'
non- top, inspired use of language,
performs th e linguistic operations
out of the artists' need to analyze the
political structures of their lives.
Since language contains the
evidence of ideological will, it is also
the key to certifying on ' identity.
Public Enemy's track scrutinizes
both the contemptuous and brotherly
uses of the N word; it' almost the
last word in a discussion begun last
summer by N.W.A. and Ice T. PE's
. title refer to the emotional am­
bivalence of the term without re olv­
ing its ethical complication .. That's
PE's particular way of dramatizing
the intricacie of Black experience.
"Yo Nigger" IS one of PE's inim­
itably rousing working-class chants
like "Don't Believe the Hype" and
"911 Is a Joke." Flavor Flav per­
forms it solo, pumping the lively,
partylike dance groove. The sound
of revelry is a musical expression of
"community." Flav satirizes this
shared identity when he does seven
rep of the word nigger (a coherent
link to The Last Poets and Patti
Smith's avant-pop "Rock 'n' Roll
Nigger'1, then adds, "Everybody
, aying it/Everybody playing it/Load
it on the scale/ Cuz everybody
weighing it."
The conflict of personal and so­
cial identity comes clear in Flav's
lines "My bo told me, 'Yo, nigger.
You're fired!' Cuz my body told me,
-'Yo, nigger. outre tired .... ' PE's ex­
pression of this complication is at
once 'shocking and exhilarating.
Negative racial conditioning is
revealed in a chicken-or-the-egg co­
nundrum uttered with instinctive
resistance.
THAT'S WHAT IS missing
from N.W.A.'s EJil4zaggin (Ruth­
less/Priority). The Compton-based
gangster rappers embrace the nega­
tive, non-brotherly connotations of
2
By KASCENE BARKS
Ent«t.lnment Editor
The group 2 Live Crew has made
major headlines once again. Their
new album "As Nasty As They
Wanna Be Part 1/" is selection no.
183 on the Video Jukebox Network.
Their new video, "Pop That
Coochie" seen in Detroit, MI on Bar­
den Cablevisioh is No.1.
Barden Cablevision ha since
-
nigger. Their ual mode of fake
nihilism (co-created with former
group member Ice Cube) u ed
defiance and undeniabili ty j ust to get
overcomm rcially; they till have no
revolutionary impul e. In pop, in
lavery, If-e teem i a buyer'
market and .W. ell be t to
white and BI ck teens in search of
negation fantasy rather than an un­
derstanding of the way life goe .
Fans who put EJil4zaggin at the
top of the charts thi ummer recog­
nized that the title was not to be read
, as a mirror reflection of themselve
but to be read bac ward, revers d
octal progre : p ychological ta is.
When N.W.A. ing, "I just want to
ce lehra te," 0 n the track "Nig­
gaz4Li/e," it's significant that their
influence i not a punk radical like
Patti Smith or the brave Last Poets
but Motown's fake, white "soul"
, band RareEarth. N.W.A. pander to
. the insensitive, ignorant thrill that
white and Black teens get from ac­
ti g decadent and profane. The
beats that white critics claim to love
in N. W .A. are not musical but mental
(and they're literally slower than
PE's). N.W.A.' only real blows are
struck during Black infighting. The
references to Ice Cube ("that bitch
Oshea" )on "Alwayz lnto Somethin'"
and "Message to Benedict Arnold"
show their pathology; their only
en mies, their only imperatives are
personal, not social.
N.W.A.'s vi ion i so narrow,
they can't fulfill their own album
concept. EfiL4zaggin is bifurcated
into Nigger and .Bitch sides but the
latter is pointle ; Eazy E., Dr. Ore,
MC Ran and Yella are only at self­
inflicted (superficial) wounds. But
the album's Nigger half is superior to
AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted. It' a
hiphop dissertation on elf-degrada­
tion by a group that certainly knows
how to focus their spite (even the
petty "Benedict Arnold" cut is a bet­
ter example of spleen than Flav '
comes up with on PE's shockingly
trite "A Letter to the New York
Post'1·
UTTERING THE TABOO
word so often (I lost count), N.W.A.
break past restraint and social inhibi­
tion. they achieve a cold under­
standing of the word's obscenity
(compacted with energy and con­
tempt, the epithet allows a speaker to
make perhaps the most direct affront
in the Engli h language) even though
IceT.
their use of it i ultimately non­
therapeutic.
***
Ice-T surpas es N.W.A.'s entire
project on just two tracks of his as­
tounding new album, O.G. Original
Gangster (Sire), titled "Straight Up
Nigga" and "Bitches." A hard-core
rapper with the most exquisite corn­
moa touch, Ice- T understands how
these terms are used in vulgate; he
points out their gender-based mean-
'ings and then defies them. In
"Straight Up Nigga" he goes further,
showing how the N word works as an
in-group pas word, a rebellious ap­
p�llationand thena moral j udgement
confined to no group. "Everybody'
a nigga to a nigga," he say, trounc­
ing N.W.A. and circum cribing
America.
The line "I'm not a watermelon-,
c hic ke n-e at i ng nigga down
south/But a nigga that'll slap the
taste out your mouth" bu t
stereotype and raci t tradition with
beautiful swiftne . Like PE, Ice- T
know the danger in the word; that'
why he ends his ong with a mini­
gunshot drama warning against the
word's out-of-hand (white) usc.
"We don't play that s---," he ays.
N.W.A. may sample a Richard
Pryor line, but only Ice- T matches
Pryor's linguislic allusivene s. Un-
pulled the video. You will no longer
be able to dial the 900 number and
select "Pop That Coochie" on
Jukebox. The video was the most­
requested video by over 13 million
cable viewers for seven consecutive
weeks.
Barden Cable generally receives
25% of .each selection. Why pull a
video that's, raking in the profits?
The video is . n demand. The miami­
based Jukebox Network is marketed
nationally. Detroit viewers and
viewers state-wide are dialing the
900 telephone number to select the
video. They are billed $2.50 by the
local telephone company for each
selection.
THE VIDEO IS too hot for
many. "Pop That Coochie" features
women in bikinis and lingerie under
a hypnotic pell dancing for the 2
UveCrew.
John Rob on, Director of
Programing and Production for
Jukebox said " there were no com­
plaints received hv Barden
Cablevision to his knowledge nd
the video was pulled at the request of
Don Barden pre ident of Barden
Cablevision .
Rap music/uti are getting a
bum rap, e peclally the 2 Live Crew.
Freedom of Speech i a right to
all. There should not be a double
standard 'when it comes to rap
groups. The potlight is once again
on 2 Live Crew and other rappers
that use dult lyrics, but have we
forgotten about R&B entertainers, .
heavy metal nd rock groups?
Entertainers for years have aid
and did what they wanted and no one
has questioned their motive . Barry
White, 'for example, recorded "Let
Me T� Your PDIIIiu Off', made a
•
derstanding how some homies use
the word for affection, Ice- T also
show its positive obverse use ina
eries of staggering, brash litanies
like this: "A contimplasin', thinkin',
best-champagne-drinkin', 10-inch­
givin' extra-large-livin', Mercedes­
being-driven, striv'; survivin '
aLl-the-way-live-and-lcickin' -hi-fivi '
n', strokin', rappin', horny, gun­
shootin', long-hair-wearin' nigga. "
The le son here is how to take
control of victimizing language and
reverse its power: the es ence of rap.
ENTERTAINMENT
n
very suggestive video and this video
wasn't pulled by Barden Cable.
. WHITE'S VIDEO appeared on
Jukebox about the same time the
controversy surrounded the 2 Live
Crew's previous album, "As Nasty
As They Wanna Be".
Everyone knows what to expect
from the 2 Live Crew. Their music
, contains adult lyric, and their
recordings have warning tickers on
them. The "Pop ThatCoochk"video
should be no urpri e to nyone.
What's the big f really about?
Many say the video is distasteful
aoo targets city Black youths, giving
them warped dangerous me ages
regarding women and ex. Harry
Allen, publicist for Public Enemy,
quoted in a previous article, after PE
was banned by Highland Park school
officials from making speeches 'in
the school gym at a char+ty basket­
ball game in 1990. "The controversy
over 2 Live Crew' music has its
roots in a white supremacist attitude
and fear of Black men talking about
sexuality. Anytime n African
American male makes exual in-
inuations or exual notions, he be­
com the focus of attention - and
either becomes elevated or ca -
tigated. Now little white girls are
listening to the 2 Live Crew and they
like it."
LINDA HYMAN, a Detroit
mother of two girls, ays that the
video doesn't bother her personally
. and is not offensive or demeaning to
women. "It's just a video. If you
teach your children the difference
between right and wrong, a video
hould not affect them and the ,way
they think."
There are many who upport the
2 Live Crew and are against censor­
ship. There are only a few people
complaining about the video and, un­
fortunately, they make it bad for the
rest of us.
. According to recent reports, Bar­
den Cablevision reviewed the video
before it aired. Apparently, they
didn't find the video offen ive,
dangerous to the youth, or demean­
ing to women. Why yank the video
now?
Is Barden Cablevi ion a ell-out
to ay the least? This i a que lion I
would like answered.
All musicians have a constitu­
tional right to freedom of peech.
Musici ns are not responsible for
censorsing their creations or decid­
ing who should hear them. That'
the re ponsibility of individual and
parents-not the media, and not the
courts. '
We want the video back!!!