URB publisher, Raymond Roker, decided out of sheer ambition and a dose of chutzpah, to do a post every day (well, almost) between now and the election and tie it to a letter of the alphabet. All the posts–in order, from A to Z–will be election and politics oriented.
G is for Green for All (Eco living for the rest of us) My Yosi (of Obama/Hope campaign fame) is a daily bike commuter from his home near Downtown to an office in Hollywood. My half sister Natalie lives in Eugene, Oregon, and is pretty green in a typical Pacific Northwest fashion. …
Award-hoarding hip-hopumentary This Is the Life will enjoy its debut screening in its hometown of Los Angeles.
For the hip-hop narcoleptics and toddlers South Central’s Goodlife Cafe was the hallowed ground that planted the seed of West Coast mecca Project Blowed. Ava DuVernay’s nostalgic look chronicles the run of the Goodlife and its role as a stylistic breeding ground, where the MC’s you performed with set standards not meant to be met, only to be shattered again and again.
You can catch this milestone tonight at 7p as part of the Don’t Knock the Rock film series at the Silent Movie Theatre in L.A, complete with pre and post screen sets of Goodlife music. Get your tickets here, its a good time to be in L.A.
HBO's Bastards of the Party documents the conditions and events that fueled the rise of South Central's black gang culture. The documentary is the work of “retired” gangster Cle “Bone” Sloan, from the notorious Athens Park Bloods, and Training Day director Antoine Fuqua. Bone is handsome and eloquent in his narration, almost disarming. But as a notorious veteran Blood, he still finds himself conflicted when recounting the death of a close homeboy and his desire (almost) to exact some hood justice.
The film traces the rise of black gangs as protection from mobs of racist white youths in post-war (World War II, that is) Los Angeles, as well as a negative result of the dismantling of the Black Panthers and other black empowerment organizations. It's essential viewing if only for the historical context …
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