ENTERT AINMENT
IN BRIEF
h t'
on hold?
Beverly Hills 'Cop III was
to.have gone into production
in February, but producers are
now delaying the project, stat­
ing that the production
chedule for the movie is not
fe ible for a ummer rele e.
What's more, to rush the
film (in order to make the
preplanned August release)
could p h production costs
upward to $70 million, $15
million of which i attributed
to Eddie Murphy's alary.
into History the Black hip-he x­
perience. If we do not get involved
- and quickly - hip-hop music
criticism will suffer the same fate
as jazz.
Th multi-talented Quincy
Jones and his business partners a�
Time Warner Communication
have started a n w hip-hop culture
magazine 'all d Vibe. It is in­
tended to rival The Source, hich
bill itself as "The Magazine for
Hip-Hop Music, Culture and
Politics."
By TODD BURROUGHS
and leaders. The r urgence of
Malcolm X as a political and social
pop icon is due to the hip-hop
artist' of hi recorded state­
ments in their music. Th re are
-many positives to this music, if you
would only listen. If you don't
believe me, find th hip-hop group
Arrested Development in your
local music store!)
of urban Black Am rica, that
epitomiz s Black MAS­
CULINITY and promotes an
Afrocentric th ught perspective
INDEPENDE T from the filter of
whit !
(Many reading this column may
wonder why Bl ck America
should car . They would argue that
much of hip-hop i violent, vulgar
and sexist, to say the lea t. (All of
those arguments ar factual. But so
is thi : Hip-hop music, like it or
not, is a powerful communications
medium for those who feel dispos-
cssed and left out 0 the rest of
America. It ha energiz d and
politicalized a gcn ration of
African-American youth, expos­
!ng them to their culture, history
WASHINGTON, D.C. - Amiri
. Baraka, the internationally ac­
claimed writer-poet-activlst­
playwright, wrote the following
about jazz criticism in the chapter
''Jazz and the White Critic" in: his
1968 book "Black Music".
•
"Most jazz critics have been
white Americans, but most impor­
tant jazz musicians have not been."
Unfortunately, the same can
now be said of hip-hop music,
otherwise known by the white
media as "rap music".
There is a, continuing battle
among whites over who is more
qualified AMONG THEMSEL­
VES to market, interpret and put
For all
their uccess
UG ESTION TO elemen­
tary and high hoof teachers and'
community youth c nter leaders:
Study hip-hop mu ic for yourself.
Have your cla write about the
genre. Have them review albums.
Let them write about what ty
See HIP-HOP, B2
Boyz II Men only nabbed
on nomination - R&B
duo/group, - where they'll
compete against Mariah
Carey & Trey Lorenz, Luther
Vandros & Janet Jackson,
EnVogue and Arrested
Development, Wednesday,
, February 24th at the 35th An-
nual Grammy Awards. '
Overall, the awards were
spread pretty evenly, with the
exception of EnVogue, who
racked up four. Other
omi r fold
friends like Nancy Wilson,
Tina Turner and Pop Staples,
to Wynton Marsalis, Shabba
Ranks and even Magic
Johnson (for his "What you
can do to avoid AIDS" lp).
Going head to head for
female vocals (R&B) are
Whitney Houston, Vanessa
Williams, Oleta Adams,
Chaka Khan, and Shanice,'
Vying for male vocals are
Bobby Brown, Peabo Bryson, ,
Al Jarreau, Tevin Campbell
and Micheal Jackson.
If the nominations are any
, indication of where mu ic is
going in 1993, you can expect
a plethora of mu ic and stars.
WHAT . TH � PROBLEM
with that? Well, the ditor of Yibe,
Jonathan Van Meter, is-white -
and gay. The founders of the
Source ar� also white - and Har-
MC Serch - Hip-Hop Rap.
IIHere It Come II
vard graduates. Source Editor-in­
chief Jon Shecter said in a recent
Washington Post article on Vibe
that its new rival"h a nse of
OU1t$'KIe" of t
hip-hop ex� ence. Van Meter
responded Wit this: "I fe I that 'J
take more (expletive) for being gay
than he do for being a wan­
nabe ... .1 think I am clo er to the
aesthetic of rap than he is, because
I'm lower-class, big family, grew
up on the edg of a Black neigh­
borhood, went to a (lousy) high
school, you know ... .1 mean, I IceI,
In orne fundamental way, more
qualified as a, white man - if
we're going to talk about that -
than Jon Shecter i ."
And this, mind y u is about a
battle over definition control of a
music that wa born in th streets
( ,
The U timat� Mag?etic MC's - Hip-Hop Rap.
"81')Je Cheese"
Brother Hood Creed- Hip-Hop Rap.
On the
. home front
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar,
who recently began a broad­
ca ting career with ESPN
while co-producing two
television movie , has pur­
cha ed a fabulous new home
in Beverly Hill. The
Japane e-m dem tyle hou e
ha three bedroom , 20-foot
high ceiling extra tall door­
way, and huge window that
1 rarnc a view from downtown
A to the ocean,
Meanwhile, �Ie ha a
development deal with
Warner Brothers t produce a
fi1. I about the Negro Ba eball
League, and i co executive
producer of a TV movie tar­
ring Jame Earl Jone a
1950' civil right leader Ver­
non J hn and another TV
mo ic ba ed in the W rid
War' 11 c periencc 'of the' all­
Black 761 t Tank Battalion.
formed. at the closing of the
PANAFEST Festival along with
Hayes before ver in Inde­
pendence Square.
By RAHI ATU A. ZUNDI
SpecIal to MIchigan CItIzen
ACCRA, GHANA - Public
Enemy, the Rap Group that ha in
the last seven years traveled th
world with their controversial rap,
recently made their first trip to the
African continent.
In their first performance b f r
aHead of State - President Jerry
John Rawlings - Chuck 0, the
leader of Public Enemy, thanked
the gov rnment of Ghana, it
people, the organizers of_
, P ANAFEST (Pan African Hist ri­
cal Theatr Fe tival) for their
warm welcome. He also thanked
the Pre ident for being present at
their la t pertormanc .
Chuck 0 also thank d Brother
Akbar Muhammad, th Ghana
repre entative of the Nati n of
Islam who had b en pursuing the
group for the I ,t year to mak
trip t Afri a.
Arriving in Accra, the capital f
Ghana the arne day as Public
Enemy was the le cndary ing r
and actor, I a' Hay ..
When asked how the perfor­
mance in Africa was different then
th e in the U,., huck 0, the
leader of Public Enemy, re ponded
that the difference was that he was
performing before a .9 percent
Black audience.,
The night before leaving
Ghana, Public Enemy and Hayes
performed at the newly built Accra
International Center: Flavor Fav
closed the concert ith remarks to
the Ghanaina President aying,
"Mr. Presid nt, you pre ented u
with a gi t whi h wa. a bit 0 the
oil and and of Ghana from the
Cape Coa t where the lave dun­
geons were built: ow I would
like to pre sent you with the medal­
lion of Public nemy."
Pre idcnt 'EJect J hn J. Rawl­
ings stepped to the front of the
• stage where Flavor Fav put th PE
medallion around his neck which
n the revers side ay "Stay in
chool".
(I-r): Akuyoe Kubi, Numo Kabu Adjovu, holding the hand of Nene Katey Ocansey I
(Issac Hayes), Ashala Gadoga, linguist for Nene Katey Ocansey 1, Nene Abordonu
II, Divisional Chief 'of Kabiew Chu, Manye Asie Kabuki Ocansey I, Queenmother for
Nene Katey Ocansey I.
I H iI m cting,
Chuck D and Flavor Flav wer
ov rjoyed at m ing I. ac Hayes
for the first tim .
did a . how t r the tud 'n at th
University of Ghana at Lc on.
-Thcy traveled to Kuma 1, wher
they rf rmed at th Kumasi ul­
tural nt r. he d a privat audience
with the He d f tate, Pr ident
Haye and Public Enemy at Jerry J hn Rawling, and pcr- '
On lcavin Ghana, Public
... ncmy, tr, vel ing with a delegation I
f 23 people, tid, Brother Akbar
Muhammad, "God willing ... we
will r turn t Africa."
hiel
in the city Ada on hi third trip
to Ghana. In , packed eight day
program, Publit Enemy attended
the openin coll quiurn where
•
