Hollywood's lack of black leading ladies - EW.com

Hollywood's lack of black leading ladies - EW.com

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Does Disney's 'Princess and the Frog' Deserve the Controversy? - Inside Movies

Does Disney's 'Princess and the Frog' Deserve the Controversy? - Inside Movies

Jay-Z Albums & Commercial [VIDEO]

I saw this fantastic commercial and because this is 2009 I could easily pull it up on the Internet (YouTube). The commercial is below, but first you need to see the album covers it is based on and you can see what a fantastic job they did. Below the commerical are the people responsible and the link to my review of Jay-Z's latest album The Blueprint III ;-)

Reasonable Doubt (1996)

In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 (1997)

Vol. 2... Hard Knock Life (1998)

Vol. 3... Life and Times of S. Carter (1999)


The Dynasty: Roc La Familia (2000)

The Blueprint (2001)

The Blueprint²: The Gift & the Curse (2002)

The Black Album (2003)

Kingdom Come (2006)

American Gangster (2007)

THE COMMERCIAL

Credits (and my further explanation in [   ] -Cool Black)

The Rhapsody campaign was developed at Droga5, [advertising agency] New York, by creative chairman David Droga, executive creative director Duncan Marshall, creative director/copywriter Kevin Brady, art director Jesse Juriga and head of integrated production Sally-Ann Dale. [They developed the start of the idea to arranging everything for the shoot]

Filming was shot by director Anthony Mandler via Les Enfants Terrible (LET, [Production Company]) with director of photography Jonathan Sela and executive producer Ciarra Pardo.
[They produced the actual shooting of the commercial.]

Post Production was done at Ghost Town Media [post production studio] by editor Ryan Treese
Bartley, VFX artist Brandon Parvini and post producer Matthew Primm.
[They did the editing and the VFX=Visual Effects.]


Audio post was produced at Nylon Studios, New York.
[The final mix of the song over the commercial "Run This Town" from The Blueprint III]


-Related posts
Jay-Z: The Blueprint III REVIEW

Jay-Z - Cool Black's Favorite Videos

Cool Black's Entertainment Review 2010

CLICK the button to see all of our blog posts about Jay-Z

A-Team Remake News

Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson Set to Play B.A. Baracus in "The A-Team"

Sept. 9, 2009-Black Talent News

Former UFC world lightweight champion Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson (pictured left) is set to star in the TV-to-film adaptation "The A-Team." Jackson will step into the role made famous by the iconic Mr. T.

Jackson joins Liam Neeson and Bradley Cooper who have been cast as Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith and Lt. Tepleton "Faceman" Peck, respectively.

Joe Carnahan will direct and polish the Skip Wood's script along with writer Brian Bloom. Ridley and Tony Scott are producing the big-screen adaptation..

Shooting begins in the fall in Vancouver.

The film is expected to open in theatres on June 11, 2010.

Cool Black's Mad Commentary: While the remakes of all of my favorite shows as a kid (Duke's of Hazzard, Knight Rider) SUCKED, these filmmakers (director and producers) got skills and the newest castmember...Uhmm he got the look.

The First Official Photo From 'The A-Team'
October 23, 2009

Kayne Apologizes, VMA video clips & More Related

Kanye West didn’t even wait until the next morning to apologize for his bizarre behavior during Taylor Swift’s Best Female Video win at last night’s MTV Video Music Awards. And judging by the photos below, it seems Kanye had a bit of liquid encouragement prior to his controversial crash.

West’s apology post read as follows in full: “I’M SOOOOO SORRY TO TAYLOR SWIFT AND HER FANS AND HER MOM. I SPOKE TO HER MOTHER RIGHT AFTER AND SHE SAID THE SAME THING MY MOTHER WOULD’VE SAID. SHE IS VERY TALENTED! I LIKE THE LYRICS ABOUT BEING A CHEERLEADER AND SHE’S IN THE BLEACHERS! …………………… I’M IN THE WRONG FOR GOING ON STAGE AND TAKING AWAY FROM HER MOMENT!…………….. BEYONCE’S VIDEO WAS THE BEST OF THIS DECADE!!!! I’M SORRY TO MY FANS IF I LET YOU GUYS DOWN!!!! I’M SORRY TO MY FRIENDS AT MTV. I WILL APOLOGIZE TO TAYLOR 2MRW. WELCOME TO THE REAL WORLD!!!! EVERYBODY WANNA BOOOOO ME BUT I’M A FAN OF REAL POP CULTURE!!! NO DISRESPECT BUT WE WATCHIN’ THE SHOW AT THE CRIB RIGHT NOW CAUSE … WELL YOU KNOW!!!! I’M STILL HAPPY FOR TAYLOR!!!! BOOOYAAAWWWW!!!! YOU ARE VERY VERY TALENTED!!! I GAVE MY AWARDS TO OUTKAST WHEN THEY DESERVED IT OVER ME… THAT’S WHAT IT IS!!!!!!! I’M NOT CRAZY YALL, I’M JUST REAL. SORRY FOR THAT!!! I REALLY FEEL BAD FOR TAYLOR AND I’M SINCERELY SORRY!!! MUCH RESPECT!!!!!”

Cool Black's Mad Commentary: Kanye should be censored by congress.

NEW

Kanye apologizes on the Jay Leno Show the day after the VMAs (9-14-09)

There was some music last night as well. Below is the Michael Jackson open, the Taylor Swift performance about 5 minutes after the Kanye bumrush, the Jay-Z finale and the trailer for the Michael Jackson film.

Not really a fan of Taylor Swift, but I REALLY enjoyed her performance.

You can watch more videos of the VMAs at http://www.mtv.com/ontv/vma/2009/
And also-
Kanye West's Televised Meltdowns: A Video Compilation

Tyler Perry leads box office for 2nd time in 2009

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Prolific filmmaker Tyler Perry (pictured left) scored his second No. 1 movie of the year at the North American box office on Sunday, leading a weak field of newcomers in what is traditionally one of the industry's slowest weekends.

Perry's latest family comedy, "I Can Do Bad All By Myself," sold $24 million worth of tickets during the three days beginning Friday, distributor Lionsgate said.

The writer-producer-director-actor, whose low-budget films are popular among black women, did better in February with "Madea Goes to Jail," which opened to a personal best of $41 million. But exactly a year ago, Perry's "The Family That Preys" opened to $17 million. The two most recent films starred Perry's alter ego Madea, a pistol-packing granny.

Jay-Z: The Blueprint III REVIEW

I bought Press Play by Diddy because of the hot single (Come to Me with Nicole Scherzinger) and he knows what a hot beat sounds like. I liked and appreciated the album because of the hot beats and the varying different styles.

You don’t buy a Puffy, (you can call him Diddy) album for the lyrical skill. You thought this was a review for The Blueprint III? It is bear with me. The first time I listened to this album that’s who I thought of, Puffy. While the lyrical skill is quite evident I thought the production was all over the place. In other words varied. Variety is cool on a Puffy album because that’s what you are listening for. Something to entertain. While it is hip-hop it’s more “hip-pop” and that’s fine, again I liked the album.

When you buy a Jay-Z album you look for HIP HOP. While Jay has been “mainstream” for years I was expecting a harder edge. I guess the Jay-Z of Reasonable Doubt, Hard Knock Life, Blueprint [1] and The Black Album is gone (gotten old? I didn’t say that).

Now I got that off of my chest, this is still a good album and while only one third of the tracks are HOT (5 out of the 15 tracks) all of it is “listenable”. D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-Tune), released as the first single of the album in June, seems more like a statement than a hot song. The last two songs on the album don’t really work either. Jay-Z has an amusing track Hate (Featuring Kanye West) that at 2:31 can be considered an interlude though not listed as such.

Jay had superstar producers like No ID (D.O.A.), Swizz Beats (On To the Next One), Kanye West (Run This Town), The Neptunes (So Ambitious) but one of my favorite tracks was produced by someone I never heard of (Empire State of Mind) by a producer named Shux. The most prolifically HOT producer on this album wasn’t Kanye, but Timbaland. Timbaland produced the bangers Off That (Featuring Drake) and Venus VS. Mars. But enough of me talking about the production here is track list and what’s HOT.

Because the lyrical skill is still above reproach, for the first time in my reviews, I’m going to provide links to all of the tracks. (*All links go to an external site and I can’t guarantee the accuracy of the lyrics)

1. What We Talkin’ About (feat. Luke Steele (Of Empire Of The Sun))
2. Thank You
3. D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-Tune)
4. Run This Town (feat. Rihanna & Kanye West) HOT
5. Empire State Of Mind (feat. Alicia Keys) HOT
6. Real As It Gets (feat. Young Jeezy)
7. On To The Next One (feat. Swizz Beatz) HOT
8. Off That (feat. Drake) HOT
9. A Star Is Born (feat. J. Cole)
10. Venus Vs. Mars HOT
11. Already Home (feat. Kid Cudi)
12. Hate (feat. Kanye West)
13. Reminder
14. So Ambitious (feat. Pharrell)
15. Young Forever (feat. Mr Hudson)

Jay-Z-Kingdom Come REVIEW

Below is a review I initially published Dec. 22, 2006 4:41 PM

As the Jigga man so aptly put it in the title track from his album "I don't know what life may be in H-I-P-H-O-P without your boy H-O-V."

Yes Hov is back. (For the unititated "Hov" is short for "J-Hova" like Jehovah for he is a "god of rap".) Is this a HOT album? Yes. Are ALL the tracks HOT? No. So what's hot?

Come on
it wouldn't be a Cool Black Review
without me doin what I do
Lettin you know the hot tracks
what is whack
what is hot-not
if the album you should cop
now back to this current review
can a brother get through?

(That sounds better with a slammin' beat in the background. (o_O)

Jay-Z still has the best flow in rap. His flow is flawless. It took me a while to get used to some of the beats though. I would like for them to release this album in acapella like they did The Black Album so I can hear his "flawless flow" without all the instrumentation. The best beats on the album are from super producer Just Blaze. The tracks "Oh My God", "Kingdom Come" and the first single "Show Me What You Got" were produced by "Mr. Blaze" and they do just that…just blaze.

You can usually count on The Neptunes to hook Hov up with a hot beat…not this time the song they produce "Anything" (featuring Usher & Pharrell) just doesn't work. Dr. Dre comes through on "Lost One", but doesn't on "Minority Report". "Minority Report" is Jay-Z's attempt at a "conscious rap" that falls short. 'Report' is produced by Dr. Dre and has the new ubiquitous king of rap hooks Ne-Yo, but it still isn't all that good. The Kanye West produced track "Do U Wanna Ride" (featuring John Legend) is only ok. It's not bad, but it isn't HOT. "Hollywood" is a good radio friendly companion to the radio friendly "Show Me What You Got" is with girlfriend Beyonce. The album closer "Beach Chair" is a subdued laid back track and nice album closer.

1. The Prelude
2. Oh My God-HOT
3. Kingdom Come-HOT
4. Show Me What You Got-HOT

5. Lost One featuring Chrisette Michele-HOT
6. Do U Wanna Ride featuring John Legend -warm
7. 30 Something
8. I Made It-warm
9. Anything featuring Usher & Pharrell
10. Hollywood featuring Beyonce-HOT

11. Trouble
12. Dig A Hole featuring Sterling Simms
13. Minority Report featuring Ne-Yo
14. Beach Chair featuring Chris Martin

Five out of 14 tracks were HOT. Less than half the tracks being HOT sounds bad, but with 2 warm tracks and the above-mentioned "flawless flow" it's still a HOT album.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2009 Retrospect: Okay it wasn't a HOT album, but I still stand behind the tracks I thought were HOT back then.

Ne-Yo-Because of You REVIEW

Below is a repost of a review I previously published on Jun 29, 2007, 4:56 PM

Ne-Yo-Because of You

For a while there it seemed like Ne-Yo was poised to become the next Nate Dogg singing hooks for rap artists like Ghost Face Killah (Back Like That) and Remy Ma (Feels So Good). He could have been construed as the next Babyface writing hit songs for the likes of Mario (Let Me Love You), Rihanna (Unfaithful) and Beyonce (Irreplaceable), but he was also co-starring in movies (Stomp The Yard (Good movie)). I guess doing all that he was also working on this new album Was it worth it? Not really.

The duet Leaving Tonight with Jennifer Hudson is ok, but never really gets off the ground because of the mediocre melody and uneven vocal styles. Jennifer simply outsings Ne-Yo on her vocals. Jennifer is such a powerful singer that it may take someone like the late great Gerald LeVert to match her vocally not an "airy" vocalist like Ne-Yo. Sex With My Ex has all the drum machine and electric synths of a Prince song. This "homage" to Prince does not succeed like other homages to Prince a la Diddy's Last Night (featuring Keyshia Cole) and just falls flat.

The "warm" Say It has an ethereal almost operatic hook and like many of the songs I designated as "warm" could probably be HOT given enough radio play, but right now...no.

The best song on the album is Do You and is already getting air play. It's pretty much alone among a lot of mediocre songs. I think next time he should keep the good stuff at home and stop spreading it around town. As usual here are all the tracks that I think are HOT, warm, or not.

1. Because Of You-HOT
2. Crazy (feat. JAY-Z) warm
3. Can We Chill
4. Do You -HOT
5. Addicted
6. Leaving Tonight (feat. Jennifer Hudson)
7. Ain't Thinking About You
8. Sex With My Ex
9. Angel
10. Make It Work- warm
11. Say It-warm
12. Go On Girl-warm

I reviewed Ne-Yo's better first album, but never posted it. Below are the tracks that are HOT.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ne-Yo-In My Own Words

1. Stay-HOT
2. Let Me Get This Right-HOT
3. So Sick-HOT
4. When You're Mad-HOT
5. It Just Ain't Right
6. Mirror
7. Sign Me Up
8. I Ain't Gotta Tell You
9. Get Down Like That-HOT
10. Sexy Love-HOT
11. Let Go-HOT
12. Time
13. Get Down Like That Remix (Featuring Ghost Face Killah)