Hustle & Flow co-stars Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard will be reuniting to headline Empire, the Fox TV pilot helmed by Lee Daniels and Danny Strong. The drama takes place in the midst of a family-run hip-hop empire. Howard will be playing Lucious Lyon, who runs a record label. Henson will be playing Lucious’ ex-wife, Cookie Lyon, an ex-con who has just been released after serving 17 years in prison for dealing drugs to fund Lucious’ then-struggling record label. After being released for good behavior, naturally, Cookie is looking to reclaim what’s hers.
As if all of that isn’t enough, it turns out that Cookie was the driving force behind Lucious’ rise to super stardom and now she’s looking to do the same with the couple’s homosexual son, Jamal, who will be played by Jussie Smollet. This puts Cookie at odds with Lucious, who has rejected and shunned his son since childhood because of his sexuality. Jamal is actually the couple’s middle son of three and is described as “a sensitive soul and musical prodigy who could easily rise to superstardom if he desires.”
See more at: http://madamenoire.com/405376/taraji-p-henson-terrence-howard-star-fox-hip-hop-pilot-empire/#sthash.xol28g52.dpuf
Good Black News
Singer Akon has launched an ambitious endeavor that aims to improve the lives of over one million people in Africa. His new initiative, “Akon Lighting Africa”, hopes to bring electricity to one million households by the end of 2014 to help promote energy sustainability and sufficiency throughout the continent. “The lack of electricity is currently a major problem in Africa,” reads the website for the campaign. “A significant number of households in rural areas and even urban cities do not have access to electricity. This is a real obstacle to Africa’s Sustainable Development.”
Akon, who is Senegalese-American, has partnered with local charities and corporations to aid in the efforts of the campaign by addressing Africa’s energy issue and installing solar equipment in households. The “Right Now” singer will travel and meet with leaders in nine countries in nine days to discuss the project including Senegal, Mali, Guinea Conakry, Gambia, Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo and the Ivory Coast.
Learn more about Akon Lighting Africa here.
article by Lilly Workneh via thegrio.com
WASHINGTON (AP) — NBC’s Parks and Recreation is getting a stunning new cast member for a night: First Lady Michelle Obama. According to the Associated Press, the first lady’s office says Mrs. Obama will appear on the show’s April 24th season finale. The show’s Twitter account said it’s “time to get real about Pawnee’s obesity,” which is a reference to Pawnee, Indiana, the fictional town where Parks and Recreation takes place, and the first lady’s campaign against child obesity. Obama recently appeared in a comedy sketch on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon with Fallon and Will Ferrell also designed to promote “Let’s Move.”
Parks and Recreation star Amy Poehler helped the campaign earlier this week when she appeared at a “Let’s Move” event in Miami, where Mrs. Obama joked that she and Poehler are best friends. Mrs. Obama won’t be the first White House figure to appear on the show. Vice President Joe Biden made a cameo on the show in 2012.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
Parks and Recreation star Amy Poehler helped the campaign earlier this week when she appeared at a “Let’s Move” event in Miami, where Mrs. Obama joked that she and Poehler are best friends. Mrs. Obama won’t be the first White House figure to appear on the show. Vice President Joe Biden made a cameo on the show in 2012.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson
At an event that felt like a black church service at times, President Barack Obama spoke in deeply personal terms yesterday about growing up without a father and urged the entire country to get behind his newly-launched “My Brother’s Keeper” program to help young black and Latino men. “I didn’t have a dad in the house and I was angry about it, even though I didn’t necessarily realize it at the time,” the president said of his childhood, with 20 black and Latino boys standing behind him in the White House’s East Room.
He added,”I made bad choices. I got high without always thinking about the harm that it could do. I didn’t always take school as seriously as I should have. I made excuses. Sometimes I sold myself short.” But Obama said he was able to be successful because he had a mother, grandparents and teachers who would “push me to work hard and study hard and make the most of myself.”
As the president delivered a speech that alternated between talking about public policy and simply giving advice to both the minority boys behind him and those he hoped would watch the speech on television, a predominantly black audience of several hundred that included luminaries like Magic Johnson and Colin Powell several times shouted “amen” and “yes sir.”
“Yes, we need to train our workers, invest in our schools, make college more affordable — and government has a role to play. And, yes, we need to encourage fathers to stick around, and remove the barriers to marriage, and talk openly about things like responsibility and faith and community. In the words of Dr. King, it is not either-or; it is both-and,” Obama said.
The event was the formal launch of “My Brother’s Keeper,” which aims to pool resources of the federal government and also raise money and create new initiatives through businesses and foundations to target black and Latino males. Studies show men of color are less likely to graduate from high school, attend college or get jobs than white men or their female peers.
Learning nonprofit edX is partnering with Facebook to help bridge the digital divide and bring online education to the unconnected world. The new pilot initiative, named SocialEDU, was revealed Monday at the Barcelona-based Mobile World Congress, and will provide students in Rwanda with free access to “a collaborative online education experience,” according to a statement fresh from the Facebook newsroom. The program is being released under the umbrella of Internet.org, a global partnership focused on bringing Internet to the two-thirds of the world’s population living without it.
The social media giant will be working with the Harvard-and MIT-founded platform to build a mobile app that is integrated with Facebook. Through SocialEDU, students will receive free data plans for accessing edX’s massive open online courses, which stem from 32 of the world’s leading universities, including Dartmouth, U.C. Berkeley, TU Delft, Australian National University and the University of Hong Kong. The platform will allow students to ask questions, interact with teachers, participate in group discussions and engage with their peers. What’s more, the Rwandan government will work with edX to adapt the course materials, thereby creating more locally-relevant content, as well as expand its free Wi-Fi in campuses throughout the East African country.
As part of SocialEDU, Facebook is also partnering with telecommunications company Airtel and Nokia. The former is providing a year’s worth of free educational data to registrants, while the latter is offering discounted smartphones to all those participating in the program. If the pilot is deemed successful, SocialEDU will expand beyond Rwanda.
The old school bus painted with big green and purple leaves pushed through the icy rain to ease alongside Southern Boulevard in the South Bronx. The door swung open with a squeak, revealing a cornucopia of organic eggs, potatoes, onions, garlic, cabbage, apples and turnips piled on the seats.
Tanya Fields, the founder of this rolling veggie mart, hopped out and beckoned to an old man on the sidewalk. “Go on, see what we’ve got,” she said. “I promise I won’t bite you. Even if you don’t want to buy anything, you can take some apples for free.” The man hesitated, then folded his umbrella and climbed aboard.
If Manhattan and Brooklyn have treat trucks dispensing gourmet bites on street corners, the South Bronx also has a food mobile of its own: one that delivers fruits and vegetables straight from the farm to the tables of the poor and struggling. The effort, called the South Bronx Mobile Market, was started last month with $65,000 in donations and grants raised by Ms. Fields, the executive director of the BLK Projek, a nonprofit group that sees food as a way to empower minority women and youth and stimulate local development.
The mobile market, which is modeled after similar efforts in Chicago, Detroit and New Orleans, strives to help people eat and live better in an impoverished borough that has been racked by some of the highest rates of obesity, diabetes and other health problems in the city. A common gripe among residents of the South Bronx — home to a sprawling wholesale produce market in Hunts Point — is that grabbing a burger and fries is far easier and cheaper than finding ripe tomatoes or crisp greens in local stores.
“You have to go outside the community to get good, fresh vegetables,” said Shirley Littleton, 48, a program specialist for the disabled who shops in Washington Heights and Chinatown at least once a month for fresh produce. “You will not find it in the ghetto.”
Ms. Fields, 33, who is expecting her fifth child, does the work for her neighbors by buying fruits and vegetables from Corbin Hill Farm, a network of rural farms, and reselling the produce from what she calls a “supermarket on wheels.” She tries to hit the street each Tuesday and Wednesday. The bus, which is borrowed from another farm, runs on used vegetable oil. Ms. Fields plans to install solar panels on the roof — with a $12,000 donation from Green Mountain Energy — to power a refrigerator and freezer that can be used to store meats, organic milk and cheeses. She said she would like to join other community groups to offer cooking demonstrations and health screenings.
“I am saving my own life,” said Ms. Fields, who moved to the South Bronx more than a decade ago from Harlem. “These are my folks. I know what they go through. This resonates with me and I want to do something to help them, and to help me.”
CBS Entertainment and CBS Television Studios have signed talent holding deals with three performers featured in the network’s annual Diversity Comedy Showcase event held in January. Drew Tarver has been cast in CBS’ “How I Met Your Mother” spinoff “How I Met Your Dad.” Tarver has appeared on “Animal Practice,” “Newreaders” and has created and starred in several “Funny or Die” videos.
Nico Santos and Haneefah Wood have also landed holding deals.
CBS’ annual talent showcase aims to open doors for actors and writers from a range of backgrounds, not only at CBS but with casting directors and executives in the business. This year’s event, held Jan. 22-23 at the El Portal Theater in North Hollywood, featured 22 actors and writers selected from more than 2,500 audiences. Santos has appeared as a recurring panelist on “Chelsea Lately’s” round table and as a co-star on “Ground Floor.” He is also known in the stand-up comedy circuit having performed at the Improv, Laugh Factory and Comedy Store in Hollywood.
Wood comes from a theater background and has had roles in the Broadway productions of “Rent,” “Avenue Q,” and “Brooklyn.”
article by Nikara Johns via Variety.com
Nico Santos and Haneefah Wood have also landed holding deals.
CBS’ annual talent showcase aims to open doors for actors and writers from a range of backgrounds, not only at CBS but with casting directors and executives in the business. This year’s event, held Jan. 22-23 at the El Portal Theater in North Hollywood, featured 22 actors and writers selected from more than 2,500 audiences. Santos has appeared as a recurring panelist on “Chelsea Lately’s” round table and as a co-star on “Ground Floor.” He is also known in the stand-up comedy circuit having performed at the Improv, Laugh Factory and Comedy Store in Hollywood.
Wood comes from a theater background and has had roles in the Broadway productions of “Rent,” “Avenue Q,” and “Brooklyn.”
article by Nikara Johns via Variety.com
Two of the bigger albums of 2014, will be released next Tuesday, March 4th, but eager fans can listen to Pharrell and Rick Ross’ new projects now for free. iTunes launched the G I R L radio station last night which will be streaming The Neptunes frontman’s 10-track second solo album. Featuring appearances from Justin Timberlake, Miley Cyrus and Alicia Keys, Pharrell’s looks to carry his 2013 success into the new year.
Rick Ross’ Mastermind is the Boss’ sixth album of his career, but he’s never been in a position to prove so much to so many. His public image took a huge hit after rapping about slipping Molly into a woman’s drink. Despite offering a delayed apology, the flap cost him a lucrative Reebok shoe endorsement. Ross is due for a comeback and with a track list featuring, Diddy, Meek Mill, Jay Z, and Houston legend Scarface, he will be carrying the MMG flag in 2014.
Will you be purchasing Mastermind or G I R L? Click on the links below and let us know what you think in the comments.
Pharrell – G I R L stream
Rick Ross – Mastermind stream
article by Kyle Harvey via thegrio.com
Jason Collins made history Sunday when he became the NBA’s first openly gay player. On Tuesday, his jersey was the league’s top seller online. Collins’ No. 98 jersey for the Brooklyn Nets outsold NBA powerhouses like LeBron James and Kevin Durant. Monday, a league official told the New York Times the demand for merchandise that bore Collins’ name was “unprecedented.” Tuesday’s sales proved it.
Collins plays in his second game Wednesday night after signing a 10-day contract with the Nets. The team beat the Lakers 108-102 in his debut. Collins tallied 10 minutes and, more importantly, 5 personal fouls in the victory. In addition to solid interior defense, giving “hard fouls” has become Collins trademark since entering the league in 2001. He’s not an All-Star and the Nets don’t need him to be. Ten minutes and five fouls could come again Wednesday night against the Blazers.
The Nets are in the midst of a 6-game road trip.
article via thegrio.com
One of Massachusetts’ most important historical figures, former slave Elizabeth Freeman, is being honored at the State House in Boston today. Freeman, formerly known as Mum Bett, was one of the first black slaves in Massachusetts to file a “freedom suit” and win in court under the 1780 state constitution.
“In the Berkshires, Mum Bett is pretty well-known,” said state Rep. William “Smitty” Pignatelli. “Beyond our county, that’s not the case. I think Black History Month gives us a great opportunity for people outside the Berkshires to hear this amazing story.”
Massachusetts Chief Justice Roderick Ireland will give the keynote speech. In addition, actress Tammy Denease will present a 15-minute reenactment of the story of Mum Bett.
Denease is a Connecticut-based actress who specializes in reenacting the stories of prominent black women from history. In addition to Mum Bett, her characters include Elizabeth Keckly, another former slave who won her freedom, and Bessie Coleman, the world’s first African-American aviatrix.
Bett was born a slave and was owned by the Col. John Ashley family of Sheffield. Ashley was, by all accounts, even-tempered. His wife, Hannah, however, was not. Hannah Ashley at one point struck Bett with a red-hot coal shovel, scarring her face. This moved Bett to travel to nearby Stockbridge, where she sought the assistance of Stockbridge attorney Theodore Sedgwick. Through Sedgwick, Mum Bett and another slave, Brom, won their freedom in 1781, a legal victory that essentially led to the end of the slave trade in Massachusetts in 1789.