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Wesley Snipes Could Have Run the Empire, but He’s Good With The Player
It’s no secret that Lee Daniels initially envisioned Wesley Snipes—over Terrence Howard—in the role of Lucious Lyon on Empire. While Snipes is not ruling the Lyon clan, he has joined TV’s diversity party with NBC’s The Player, a high-concept, action-packed drama set in Vegas where high rollers gamble on whether a player will stop a…
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Bomani Jones on Drake, Vick and Iverson, and Stuart Scott’s Impact on His Career
Bomani Jones is a familiar face to sports fans. At ESPN he pulls double duty, and double mediums, as one-third of the hip-hop-friendly Highly Questionable and then holds down the fort on his own radio show, The Right Time With Bomani Jones. Sports guru is not the typical career path for the son of two…
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Unsung on Rapper YoYo: 25 Years Later, You Still Can’t Play Her Out
Even those who question how a recognizable ’90s rapper like YoYo is “unsung” should appreciate this installment of TV One’s juggernaut show. “Twenty-five years and I’m still standing,” Yolanda Whitaker says of her journey. While it’s no secret that female rappers were—and still are—scarce, most of us can only imagine how hard being in the…
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Former Rapper Luther Campbell Wants Black People to ‘Stop Hating on Each Other’
Onetime Miami mayoral candidate Luther Campbell, who has written his memoir, The Book of Luke: My Fight for Truth, Justice and Liberty City, goes beyond his personal story (as a history-making rapper and artist) and addresses the ills of the African-American community and how unity and political engagement can alleviate them. He touches on everything from…
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From Raunchy Rap to a Political Awakening: The Book of Luke Tells the Tales
Not many people who hear the name “Luther Campbell” think of a politically engaged community and youth advocate. Instead, the Southern hip-hop pioneer, whose group 2 Live Crew introduced its audience to bikini-clad women and the sexually charged Caribbean and Latin rhythms of Campbell’s native Miami, is more infamously known for yelling, “Don’t stop, get…
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Actor Joe Morton Talks Papa Pope and a Psychic Encounter
Veteran actor Joe Morton was familiar to most of us before he ever hit Scandal. In addition to appearances on Broadway, he has appeared in several films, including the cult classic The Brother From Another Planet and Terminator 2: Judgment Day, and on TV as Henry Deacon in Eureka, among other roles. The Root caught…
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Straight Outta History: Director F. Gary Gray Speaks on the Brotherhood, Impact and Legacy of N.W.A
Straight Outta Compton, the story of Eric “Eazy-E” Wright, Andre “Dre” Young, O’Shea “Ice Cube” Jackson, Antoine “DJ Yella” Carraby and Lorenzo “MC Ren” Patterson, collectively known as N.W.A, is finally on the big screen. And unlike previous black music biopics, this one, because it digs deep and even creates a film that transports audiences…
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Unsung Hollywood Comes Clean About Car Wash
“Imagine a movie about a car wash,” begins the latest installment of TV One’s Unsung Hollywood. That initial idea was the brainchild of white music-P.R. guy Gary Stromberg. Now imagine a studio head taking Car Wash seriously without a Stromberg. Another white guy, Joel Schumacher, who wrote Sparkle and The Wiz long before directing St.…
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Atlanta Plastic Surgeon Helping Black Women Fill Out Those Apple Bottom Jeans
Wendy Williams may prefer bigger breasts over a bigger booty as her plastic surgery procedure of choice, but many black women just don’t feel her on that. Instead, some have been literally dying to get the derriere that Sir Mix-a-Lot boasts about in that “Baby Got Back” sample featured on Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda.” Enter Dr. Wright Jones.…
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5 Songs You Need to Hear by Rising Reggae Star Kabaka Pyramid
Bob Marley proved that music could move your body and your soul. But it’s been a while since a Jamaican artist truly captivated the masses with conscious music. Kabaka Pyramid is trying to change that. He got a little closer recently with an impressive Reggae Sumfest debut in his native Jamaica. The young lion from…
