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VH1 Orders Hip-Hop Film "The Breaks" to TV Series

By goodblacknews on February 16, 2016

"The Breaks" on VH1

article by eurweb via blackamericaweb.com

VH1 has given a huge break to hip-hop drama “The Breaks.”  After airing as a TV movie and possible back door pilot, the cable network has ordered it as a series, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The film follows the journey of Nikki, David and DeeVee, three friends united by their love of hip-hop, as they work to blow up in the music industry. The film begins in summer 1990 in New York, where the industry’s artists and hustlers intersect in the dance clubs and the street corners of the still crime-ridden city. But they all soon discover lives can be broken as fast as legends can be born.
“The Breaks” is based on Dan Charnas’ best-selling book “The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop,” considered one of the most comprehensive accounts of the history and business of hip-hop, notes THR. The book spans 40 years of stories and was culled from more than 300 interviews with execs, entrepreneurs, hustlers and handlers.
“The Breaks” aired in January and currently ranks as the No. 2 cable original movie of the year among adults 18-49, 18-34 and women in both demos. The January premiere and immediate encore collected a combined 2.6 million total viewers, propelling VH1 to a 42 percent gain among adults under 50 in January.
Wood Harris (The Wire), Mack (Tristan) Wilds (90210), Afton Williamson (Banshee), David Call (Gossip Girl), Antoine Harris (Ballers) and Method Man starred in the TV movie. Most are expected to return for the series.
DJ Premier composed the score and served as executive music producer.

BHM: Meet Charles Bolden Jr., Former Astronaut and NASA's 1st Black Administrator

By goodblacknews on February 16, 2016
NASA Administrator and former astronaut Charles Bolden Jr. (photo via blackamericaweb.com)
article by Tonya Pendleton via blackamericaweb.com
Charles Bolden Jr., NASA’s first Black administrator, was nominated for the post in 2009 by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the Senate that same year. Bolden nearly saw his career take another course in the early ’60’s, but he used his connections and a bit of humility to aid his quest to enter the U.S. Naval Academy.
Born August 19, 1946 in Columbia, South Carolina, Bolden was a football player at C.A. Johnson High School. Bolden was determined to enter the Academy. When he found out that a vice president can nominate anyone to the Academy while the president can only nominate the children of military personnel, he wrote a letter to then V.P. Lyndon B. Johnson to request his nomination.
Bolden saw his dreams dashed in November of 1963 when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated. With Johnson elevated to president, Bolden moved to request that his state representatives nominate him for the Academy. But the elected officials in South Carolina, including notoriously racist Sen. Strom Thurmond, didn’t endorse Bolden due to his race.
Bolden then contacted Johnson and reminded the sitting president of their earlier correspondence. Eventually, Bolden was nominated by Rep. William Dawson of Chicago and he entered the Academy in 1964. After earning his degree in Electrical Science in 1968, he became an aviator with the U.S. Marine Corps and flew over 100 missions.
The Omega Psi Phi fraternity member earned his master’s degree in systems management from the University of Southern California in 1977. Two years later, Bolden completed courses at the United States Naval Test Pilot School and was selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate in 1980. In 1981, Bolden’s astronaut appointment was official and he flew four space missions between 1986 and 1994.
To read more, go to: http://blackamericaweb.com/2016/02/17/little-known-black-history-fact-charles-bolden-jr/
 

Prince Pays Tribute to Late Girlfriend Vanity in 1st Show on Solo Tour in Australia

By goodblacknews on February 16, 2016
Prince on 2016 “Piano and a Microphone” Tour (photo via news.com.au)

article by Cameron Adams via news.com.au

REMEMBER when musicians became superstars because of their talent?

Prince may be the last of his kind.
Australia is the surprise first global leg of his Piano and a Microphone solo tour, a tour which didn’t exist a month ago but will be talked about for years.
Armed just with a piano and that immense talent, Prince put on the kind of concert you just don’t expect to see from a superstar. It was spontaneous and intimate. It was like a private piano party, just with 2,000 people watching. It was pure Prince.
His first Melbourne show at the State Theatre was particularly emotionally charged — Prince admitting he’d just found out about the death of Denise Matthews, aka Vanity, his ex-girlfriend from the early ‘80s and protégé when she fronted the band Vanity 6.
“Someone dear to us has passed away, I’m gonna dedicate this song to her,” Prince said before playing a touching version of “Little Red Corvette” with a touch of “Dirty Mind” — songs from the era when they were together.

First sign of new Prince merchandise
First sign of new Prince merchandise (Source: Supplied)

Prince reworked his classic “The Ladder” to replace the name ‘Electra’ with ‘Vanity’ — so the lyrics ran “This Prince, he had a subject named Vanity who loved him with a passion, uncontested.”

After an encore Prince returned to the stage noting “I am new to this playing alone. I thank you all for being so patient. I’m trying to stay focused, it’s a little heavy for me tonight. Just keep jamming … She knows about this one.” That introduced a truly incredible version of  “The Beautiful Ones,” another song from the Vanity era (she was the original choice for lead in the “Purple Rain” movie), the song ending with Prince changing “my knees” for “Denise … Denise”.
Unusually chatty and candid, he continued going off script. “Can I tell you a story about Vanity? Or should I tell you a story about Denise? Her and I used to love each other deeply.  She loved me for the artist I was, I loved her for the artist she was trying to be.  She and I would fight. She was very headstrong ’cause she knew she was the finest woman in the world. She never missed an opportunity to tell you that.”
Prince then opened up about a fight where he threatened to throw Vanity in the pool.  She said “You can’t throw me in the pool, you’re too little.”  He then asked his six foot bodyguard Chick to do the dirty work for him.  “I probably shouldn’t be telling this story,“ he said, “but she’d want us to celebrate her life and not mourn her.”
To read more, go to: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/prince-pays-tribute-to-late-girlfriend-vanity-in-first-show-on-australian-solo-tour/news-story/d80310448ef160275398c7f36d2f221d

 

Issa Rae's ColorCreative & Project Greenlight Digital Studios Offer "The New Normal Writing Contest" to Budding Filmmakers

By goodblacknews on February 15, 2016
ColorCreative
Issa Rae on the set of “So Jaded” – ColorCreative (photo via Shadow and Act)

article by Tambay A. Obenson via ShadowAndAct

Last year, after the revival of HBO’s “Project Greenlight,” Adaptive Studios announced Project Greenlight Digital Studios, an extension of the brand and concept into the digital space, to make Project Greenlight a 24/7 affair, allowing viewers and community members to participate in greenlighting projects, and creators to interact with industry pros. The new operation will provide premium content that will be curated for an online audience, along with a slate of contests and promotions.

One of the offerings is a digital series anthology contest, co-hosted with Issa Rae’s ColorCreative TV, with the aim of finding emerging and diverse writers. The winner will develop and produce a digital series anthology based on a theme to be selected in advance.
Called “The New Normal” Writing Contest, submissions are now officially open until March 1.
From the announcement: “We’re looking for underrepresented voices in media. If you feel like you have a point of view that’s rare in the entertainment world, then here’s your chance to speak up! Three winning writers will be partnered with a seasoned showrunner, director and line producer to create a digital anthology series. Each of the three winning writers will receive a $5,000 prize; one of the winning writer’s pitches will be selected for development.”
Watch Issa Rae break down the details in the just-released video below:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktFJXFQBLLU&w=560&h=315]

The New Yorker’s Tribute to the Schomburg Center for Research In Black Culture Is Everything

By goodblacknews on February 15, 2016

Newyorker
article via clutchmagonline.com
The New Yorker recently unveiled its latest illustrated cover, and it’s gorgeous.
Featuring Kadir Nelson’s stunning “Harlem On My Mind” painting, the Feb. 16 issue pays homage to the Schomburg Center for Research In Black Culture.
Nelson said he wanted his painting to be “a stylistic montage” that honors “the great Harlem Renaissance painters: Aaron Douglas, William H. Johnson, Norman Lewis, Jacob Lawrence, Elizabeth Catlett, Archibald Motley, and Palmer Hayden.”
Also included in the beautiful illustration are Black cultural giants Zora Neale Hurston, Malcolm X, James Baldwin, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington, and the Nicholas Brothers.

R.I.P. Singer, Actress and former Prince Protégé Denise Matthews aka Vanity

By goodblacknews on February 15, 2016
Vanity, best known as Prince's former protégé and member of Vanity 6, died at 57 after battling an inflammation of her small intestines. Vanity, whose real name was Denise Katrina Matthews, passed away in hospital in Fremont, California according to sources close to her family. During the 90s, the star suffered a cocaine overdose that left her kidneys so damaged she required regular dialysis.
Vanity (PAUL NATKIN/WIREIMAGE); Rolling Stone cover with Prince (RICHARD AVEDON)

article by Ethan Sacks via nydailynews.com

Denise Katrina Matthews, popularly known as Vanity, a protege of Prince who achieved stardom in the 1980s as the lead singer of the all-girl group Vanity 6, died Monday in a California hospital, the gossip site TMZ reported.  She was 57.

The Canadian-born pop singer and actress had been battling inflammation of her small intestines, the latest in a string of health problems.  Matthews had asked fans to help her pay for her treatments through a GoFundMe page as she fought a condition called sclerosing encapsulating peritonitis. In 1994, a crack cocaine overdose left her kidneys so damaged that she required regular dialysis.

“Boy, it is not fun suffering in this body of weak flesh… but Jesus is straightening out all my crooked places in my heart as I go through this time of pain,” the born-again Christian wrote on the GoFundMe page.
It’s an all-too-soon ending for an artist who showed so much promise with Vanity 6’s 1980s hits, “Nasty Girl,” “Drive Me Wild” and “He’s So Dull” produced by Prince.
Vanity 6 toured with the megastar before Vanity broke out on her own solo career, which yielded the hits “Pretty Mess,” “Mechanical Emotion” and “Under the Influence.”


The former model also acted in a steady string of movies, including “The Last Dragon” (1985), “52 Pick-up” (1986) and “Action Jackson” (1988).
After her 1994 overdose, Matthews left Hollywood and rededicated her life to her local church.
Sources told TMZ that she attended services as recently as Saturday night, when she told her fellow congregants that she was ready to go home.

Ten Museums in the U.S. Focused on African American History

By goodblacknews on February 14, 2016


article by JoAnna Niles via huffingtonpost.com
Black History Month is a celebration of African American history in the U.S.  Though most of it was done involuntarily, our blood, sweat, tears and lives literally built this country. Of course there is more to Blacks in America than slavery and Jim Crow; we’re inventors, writers, award winners, record breakers, politicians, medical professionals, entrepreneurs, artists, activists, musicians and so much more. I love learning about the history and culture through my travels, but there is nothing like learning something new about my own.
If you’re generally interested in history, want to know more about blacks in America or want to share more about black history with a child in your life, here are ten museums within the United States focused on African American History:

African American Museum in Philadelphia

The African American Museum in Philadelphia is the first institution built by a major United States city to showcase the life and work of African Americans. In addition to sharing stories on how African Americans contributed to America’s founding, it includes a hands-on exhibit for children to explore the daily lives of children in Philadelphia during the slavery and reconstruction era. Visit AAMPmuseum.org for more information.

National Civil Rights Museum

Located at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, TN, the National Civil Rights Museum is built around the site of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination. Permanent exhibits include topics on slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, the rise of Jim Crow events during the Civil Rights movement that lead to change within America. Learn more at CivilRightsMuseum.org.

Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

Located in Kansas City, MO, The Negro Leagues Baseball Museum showcases story of the founding of the Negro Leagues Baseball during the times of segregation and features more than Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Satchel Paige and Hank Aaron. Take a tour to see artifacts, photos and statues of Negro League players dating from the late 1800s to the 1960s. Learn more at NLBM.com.
Negro Leagues Baseball Museum

The National Voting Rights Museum and Institute

The National Voting Rights Museum is located in Selma, AL, a pivotal site in Voting Rights Movement. Located at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, the museum includes exhibits that remind visitors, old and young the struggle people went through to obtain voting rights almost 100 years after the 15th Amendment, granting African American men the right to vote. For current visiting hours and costs, visit NVRMI.com.

New Orleans African American Museum

I really wish I knew about this when I visited New Orleans, but I guess it’s an excuse to go back. The New Orleans African American Museum of Art, Culture and History focuses on the cultural history of blacks within New Orleans, particularly in Tremé community. The museum is currently under construction, but you can visit NOAAM.org or their Facebook Page for updates on re-opening.

National Underground Railroad Freedom Center

The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center is located in Cincinnati, OH and focuses on accomplishments of the men, women and children involved in the assistance of freeing thousands of slaves. It also includes awareness of modern-day slavery and human trafficking within American. For more information about special and permanent exhibits, visit Freedomcenter.org

National Great Blacks In Wax Museum

Located in Baltimore, MD, the National Great Blacks in Wax Museum was the first wax museum of African American history in the United States. It displays exhibits we all know and learn of in school, but also includes little known facts, encouraging visitors to gain an interest in African American history. Learn more at Greatblacksinwax.org
National Great Blacks In Wax Museum

Northwest African American Museum

The Northwest African American Museum’s mission is to “…spread knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of the histories, arts and cultures of people of African descent for the enrichment of all.” Located in Seattle Washington, the museum features programs and exhibits of African Americans within the Northwest through the arts and writing. Learn more at NAAMNW.org

Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History

Located in midtown Detroit, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History is the world’s largest institution dedicated to the African American experience. The museum was founded a guide to educate visitors the achievements of African Americans throughout the years and overall celebration of black culture. For more information, visit TheWright.org
To read more, go to: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joanna-niles/10-museums-in-the-us-focused_b_9203258.html?utm_hp_ref=black-voices&ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000051
 

The Ellen DeGeneres Show Donates Tons of Resources to Detroit Public School in Need

By goodblacknews on February 14, 2016
screen_shot_20160212_at_2.55.23_pm
The students and faculty members at the Spain Elementary-Middle School in Detroit (THE ELLEN DEGENERES SHOW AND SPAIN ELEMENTARY-MIDDLE SCHOOL)

article by Diana Ozemebhoya Eromosele via theroot.com

There’s a public school in Detroit that is falling apart, literally, and Ellen DeGeneres just threw a bunch of money and attention at the problem, the Detroit Free Press reports.

According to a clip from the show, the Spain Elementary-Middle School is chock-full of students from working-class families that are “poor or homeless,” DeGeneres explained.
The technology at the school doesn’t work or is nonexistent, “their entire roof is falling apart [and] their gym is completely shut down,” forcing students to take their physical education class in the hallways.
At times, students wear coats in the classroom because the heat doesn’t work. DeGeneres donated and pooled together tons of resources for the school, which she says is her show’s “most generous giveaway.”
Those giveaways include a $100 gift card from Lowe’s for each teacher and staff member at the school, $50,000 in technology from Lowe’s, $200,000 worth of materials and labor to go toward a new roof, and a $250,000 donation from Lowe’s. Plus, the show started a GoFundMe page for the school with a $5 million goal (the GoFundMe team has already pledged $15,000 toward that goal).
DeGeneres surprised the school’s students during a live telecast of her show, in which she video-conferenced into their assembly. Check out the surprise by clicking here.
To read more: http://www.theroot.com/blogs/the_grapevine/2016/02/watch_the_ellen_show_donates_tons_of_resources_to_detroit_public_school.html

Books by Black Authors to Look Forward to in 2016

By goodblacknews on February 14, 2016

2016_books
Black Deutschland, by Darryl Pinckney; Fuchsia, by Mahtem Shiferraw; Hunger, by Roxane Gay (MACMILLAN; NEBRASKA PRESS; HARPERCOLLINS)

article by Hope Wabuke via theroot.com
It is no secret that “African-American women are the largest group of readers in the country,” states Dawn Davis, head of Simon & Schuster’s 37 Ink imprint. It is also no secret that the publishing world is very, very white, with books by black authors published at an abysmal low, never rising above 10 percent of the industry’s output. Indeed, a recent survey by Lee & Low publishers found that “just under 80 percent of publishing staff and review journal staff are white,” with “Black/African Americans [at] 3.5 percent.”
But even with such conditions, key figures such as Chris Jackson, Dawn Davis and others have shepherded books by black authors through their fellow gatekeepers and to the public. Other organizations, like Cave Canem, the Kimbilio Center for African American Fiction and the African Poetry Book Fund, support black literature by offering writing retreats, workshops and small-press publishing opportunities. Here are some of the wonderful titles by black authors that readers of all tastes can look forward to in 2016.
In fiction, Darryl Pinckney offers Black Deutschland, the story of a gay African-American man who escapes his troubles in Chicago to seek refuge in 1980s Germany. The Castle Cross the Magnet Carter, from playwright and TV writer Kia Corthron, is an ambitious, brilliantly executed tale of race and family across generations. There is also the latest installment of Rachel Howzell Hall’s Los Angeles-based Elouise Norton mystery thriller series, Trail of Echoes, which comes out in May.
Literary legend Terry McMillan publishes a new book in June titled I Almost Forgot About You, the story of Dr. Georgia Young, who one day decides that there’s more to life than what she has been doing—and decides to go find it. There is also The Underground Railroad, a novel from acclaimed author Colson Whitehead, which will be published in September. And in April, Diane McKinney-Whetstone is giving us Lazaretto, her fictional account of race, lies and murder that rock the close-knit community of the island-based Lazaretto quarantine hospital. In May, from Afro-Caribbean British writer Yvette Edwards, comes the riveting novel The Mother, which explores how one mother copes with the murder of her son—and the courtroom drama of the trial that follows.
Six strong fiction debuts from black American women are a high point of 2016. In June, Los Angeles-based writer Natashia Deon gives us Grace, a tale of the love between a mother and daughter set against American slavery and emancipation. Desiree Cooper’s Know the Mother, out in March, explores race and motherhood in a series of interconnected vignettes. Jamaican-American writer Nicole Y. Dennis-Benn crafts a tale of unforgettable Jamaican women fighting for selfhood and independence in Here Comes the Sun, due out in July.
Cole Lavalais pens a tale of love, redemption and self-discovery on the campus of a historically black college in Summer of the Cicadas due in the spring. In We Love You, Charlie Freeman, out next month, Kaitlyn Greenidge has created an absurdist social commentary on race in the form of an African-American family paid to adopt a chimpanzee as a member of their family and be observed by a scientific research institute during the process. And Fabienne Josaphat’s novel, Dancing in the Baron’s Shadow, is the riveting tale of a man trying to save his brother from unjust imprisonment during the brutal regime of Haitian dictator François Duvalier in 1965.
Nonfiction is equally strong. Memoirs from literary powerhouses Roxane Gay and Kiese Laymon, both meditating on blackness and the body, arrive in June. In Hunger: A Memoir of (My) Body, Gay discusses her relationship with food, body image and self-care, a memoir couched in her usual honesty, vulnerability and depth of observation that have endeared her to so many readers. Laymon’s memoir, titled Stank: A Fat Black Memoir, is replete with his trademark wit and astute analysis. Out now is All Jokes Aside, a memoir by Raymond Lambert and Chris Bournea, which explores the rise of the African-American comedy scene centered at Lambert’s club.
To read more, go to: http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2016/02/books_by_black_authors_to_look_forward_to_in_2016.html

Kendrick Lamar, the Pride of Compton, CA, Receives Key to the City

By goodblacknews on February 13, 2016
(image via eurweb.com)
(image via blackamericaweb.com)

article by Brittny Mejia via latimes.com

The city of Compton honored rapper Kendrick Lamar today by presenting him the key to the city.  The ceremony honoring the Grammy Award winner who grew up in the city took place at 10 a.m. at the Martin Luther King Monument at Civic Center Plaza.
“Kendrick Lamar is a phenomenal artist whose work has served as a catalyst to raise a new level of consciousness for this generation,” said Compton Mayor Aja Brown in a statement. “His message challenges the status quo and motivates listeners to rethink our society’s institutions.”
Last year, Lamar wrote a love letter to Compton through his music video “King Kunta,” featuring the rapper and his friends dancing through his hometown. The key to the city is Compton’s reply to that letter.
Lamar attended Centennial High School as a teenager, where he was a straight-A student, according to city officials. Last year, he served as the 63rd grand marshal of the Compton Christmas Parade.   The “Kunta” video was filled with scenes from the city, including the Compton Swap Meet, also known as the Compton Fashion Center.
“Kendrick Lamar is one of Compton’s greatest ambassadors,” said City Councilwoman Janna Zurita. “We in Compton are proud of him because he is a symbol of what our city really is — a place where dreams can come true.”
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRK7PVJFbS8&w=560&h=315]