MiJac Returns With Thriller Remixed

Michael Jackson sure has touched a lot of people.

No, not like that. I’m talking music. I was kicking it with my brother this past weekend and he was reading that new Ebony exclusive story on the King of Pop. I haven’t read it yet, but he told me one thing I forgot about: 104 million. That’s how many copies MiJac’s iconic album Thriller has sold. 104 million. With all the courtroom drama and transformation chamber questions, you forget that this man holds the definite record, one that no artist will touch. Ever.

He went one-hundred times platinum and he’s still selling records. Nowadays, artists get all excited about going one time platinum and in hip hop, selling 104,000 is a feat in itself. Needless to say, you can’t really compare Michael Jackson to anyone that has been out before or after him. He is in a league all his own. He doesn’t have massive crossover appeal. He is the crossover. And Thriller is the definitive classic.

Which of course means one thing: Reeeemmmixxxxx! For the 25th anniversary of Thriller, MiJac is coming with a new edition of the album set to drop in February via Epic/Legacy Recordings. It will include unreleased material and remixes by Kanye West, Akon and will.i.am.

West remixes "Billie Jean," while will.i.am has revamped "The Girl Is Mine" and "P.Y.T." The album also features a new version of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" with both Akon and will.i.am.

Truth be told, I don’t know if I can really get behind this idea. I might have to hear some tracks before I cast my vote, but it doesn’t feel right. Quincy Jones is a legend and to take the album’s groundbreaking production and give it to today’s overexposed producers seems like a marketing scheme that will only water down the original project. Don’t get me wrong, I think Ye, will.i.am and Akon represent what “crossover” means in today’s market, but still. It’s like getting the Wachowski Brothers (The Matrix) to direct a remake of Francis Ford Coppola’s Godfather. (Maybe not that extreme, but you get the point.)

Here is the track list for "Thriller -- 25th Anniversary Edition" [via Billboard]:

"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"

"Baby Be Mine"

"The Girl Is Mine"

"Thriller"

"Beat It"

"Billie Jean"

"Human Nature"

"P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)"

"The Lady in My Life"

"Carousel"

"Someone in the Dark"

"Billie Jean" (demo)

"The Girl Is Mine 2008" with will.i.am

"P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing) 2008" with Michael Jackson and will.i.am

"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008" with Michael Jackson, Akon and will.i.am

"Billie Jean 2008" with Kanye West

"For All Time"

'Nigger' Talk From Nas

"What I stand for speaks for itself/they don't understand or wanna see me on top, too egotistical"
(Nas, One Mic)

Oh, you thought it was a game?

Nas has never been good at the whole people-pleasing thing and he never has been one to tiptoe around hot-button topics. Rapping, as he sees it, is his way to fight. And with his upcoming controversial LP, Nigger, it looks as if all gloves are off.

"I have a song called 'The Fear,' " he told MTV News. "The full title of the record is 'The Fear of the Black Man's D---.' That's some sh-- you can get comedy [from], or you can get some seriousness from it when you talk about the barbaric castrations that happened in our past — which is very serious, nothing to laugh at."

In this MTV interview, Nas sheds some light on his upcoming album, which has been pushed to February. He has the support of his label and industry peeps like Alicia Keys, Method Man and Russell Simmons, but of course he has his vocal opponents. He explains that the album is “not an attack on any race” and that the LP will be a balanced one that “takes negatives and makes them good.”

"It's about the attacks that have happened to blacks, whites, all ethnicities," he continued. " 'Mick' niggers, 'guinea' niggers, 'kike' niggers. I have a song called 'You a Nigger Too.' "

That man is not playing.

Promo: Snoop Dogg's Fatherhood

So Snoop D-O-double-G has another batch of straight ridiculousness coming this way. This time it's a reality show called Snoop Dogg's Father Hood on the E Network. Like I said about Irv Gotti's show, it doesn't look like it'll be anything more than worn-out cliches, dumb jokes and bad acting (despite the fact that it is a reality show). The show premieres Dec. 9 @ 10:30/9:30c.







I mean, it's not like I'm against reality tv or even yesterday's rappers putting their after-hip hop home life on display. Run's House is my show.

Kidz In The Hall - Trailer for New Album 'The In Crowd'

i never did cop their first album even though my girl gabby told me these dudes was ill. i'm slackin, i know. but here's the trailer for the new album, The In Crowd, their first on Duck Down with the lead single, Drivin Down The Block.

How To Handle A Leak (And The Winner Is...)

"On the internet, they like you should spit it/I'm like you should buy it nigga that's good business."

(Jay-Z - The Prelude, Kingdom Come)

Nowadays, it seems that every rapper’s most dangerous foe is not another rapper, or the critics or even the paparazzi. But the infamous adversary known as the leak.

The leak is a gangster. A vicious one. He can bump albums back, hurt record sales, spoil surprises and crush up-and-coming artists in one swift blow. Nobody is safe. In this internet age, a leak at the right time can turn a highly anticipated album into an anticlimactic afterthought before it even comes out.

Just ask Lupe Fiasco. His debut album Food & Liquor was the talk of the net last year. He had built a buzz solely on his Fahrenheit 1/15 mixtape series and had legendary emcees like Jay-Z hailing him as the future of hip hop. Then the album leaked. Twice. He threw one of those trademark tantrums and considered giving up: “Lotta time and money and bullshit went into creating that album. Over the years I’ve had my people die, get locked up, my company get shut down, weak ass niggas in my own crew turn against me and just when things are starting to look good… [and] later learn that everything I worked for just got leaked all over the internet kinda had me fucked up.”

The latest leak victim is the god’s son himself, Nas. In the past few months, he has been making rounds in the headlines with his controversial album, Nigger, slated for a December release. Over the weekend, his track What It Is leaked to the web. And this afternoon, according to MTV, Nas’ people said the song definitely would not be on the album and that the album has been pushed to February, Black History Month.

The leak ain’t no punk neither. You can’t murder him on a diss record or put a hit on him. He calls the shots and takes no prisoners. Rappers have been trying all sorts of strategies trying to find their footing in the battle against the web. Everybody and they mama has a myspace page. Many artists such as Little Brother’s Phonte and Rhymefest have applied the whole “if you can’t beat them, join them” adage and have started blogging. Kanye West just recently launched his own futuristic site, kanyeuniversecity.com, which includes a blog and a plethora of all things Ye. But others choose to go a different route on the Information Superhighway. Jay-Z pulled American Gangster from iTunes. (XXL’s Bol recently wrote a decent post about ownership here.) And Talib Kweli and others have released material via the internet for free.

But of all the tactics, I have to give the Best Way To Fix A Leak Award to Lil Wayne. (Write down this moment because it’ll be the first and last time I give props to dude). After his anticipated album Tha Carter III leaked to the Internet, Weezy fought back and decided that on Dec. 18, the original release date, he would release another album called Tha Carter III: The Leak and the real version would be pushed back to February 2008.

Everybody can’t do that. Wayne is a big enough rapper and the expectancy of his album is high enough that The Leak will sell and so will the real version. I still say Lil Wayne is the most overrated rapper of all time, but I have to give him his credit. As other artists like The Game have intentionally leaked certain songs to get people interested in buying the album like food samplers at Costco, Weezy flipped the leak completely and turned the attack into another business opportunity. Now that’s gangsta.

Kanye West Speaks On The Passing Of His Mother

[On stage during a concert in Belgium, Kanye talks about how his music now has new meaning]

Jadakiss Locks New Deal With The Roc

Does this deal really mean anything?

Don’t get me confused. I think Jadakiss was one of the grimiest gangsta rappers of his day, but it seems that day is long gone. In this era of repetitive ringtone rap, it’s hard to say that his raspy tough talk and straight-to-the-gut punchlines will have any relevance or resonance. (You won't see dude doing the Soulja Boy dance.)

The Lox rapper from Yonkers plans to put out his third solo album some time next year under this Roc-A-Fella/Ruff Ryders deal after his previous albums were worked through Interscope. Kiss has been hanging with The Roc family for a while but now it's official. Maybe that doesn’t even matter. Maybe the real news is the fact that the deal will put Kiss in the same circle as his former rap rival Beanie Sigel. The quarter-pound beef started some years ago with the two gritty rappers going back and forth and even chucking a truce set up by Russell Simmons. It all finally ended in 2002 when they performed together at a show before Beans went to jail. Maybe that doesn’t matter either. I mean, if Jay-Z and Nas can be best friends, so can they, right?

Jadakiss has seen more limelight than his other D-Block partners-in-rhyme Styles P and Sheek Louch. After they released Money, Power and Respect in the late 1990s, it was hard to keep that momentum as a group and individually. His solo debut album Kiss tha Game Goodbye dropped in 2001 and didn’t go much of anywhere (Even though that We Gonna Make It single definitely stayed on repeat). But it was only when he stepped out of his comfort zone to comment on current affairs that he caught a real glimpse of mainstream success. That moment came in 2004 when he released Why featuring Anthony Hamilton from his second album Kiss of Death. It was a simple track, a lyrical survey of rhetorical questions that catapulted him to his pop culture peak. Nas, Common and Styles P even hopped on the remix. The track was censored in some areas, but Kiss, for the first time in a long time, sounded inspired and proved his versatility. And the passion in his raspy voice only made each question that much more poignant.

"Why do niggas push pounds of powder? Why did Bush knock down the towers?"

That was three years ago and yet the questions still have meaning today. That’s hip hop. So whether he is past his prime or not, Kiss could use Jigga and The Roc’s loyal roster in his hardcore corner. Truth be told, he fits right in there with them. Like Beans and Freeway, Kiss himself is one of those rappers who is actually good at this whole rapping thing, but still he remains in this day and age largely underrated, underrepresented, a portrait of hip hop’s potential that never fully developed.

Lupe Fiasco's The Cool Tracklisting

"Lupe Fiasco's The Cool" Tracklisting [via Billboard]:

"Iesha Poem"
"Free Chilly"
"Go Go Gadget Flow"
"The Coolest"
"Superstar" featuring Mathew Santos
"Paris Tokyo"
"High Definition" featuring Snoop Dogg and Pooh Bear
"Little Weapon"
"Hip-Hop Saved My Life" featuring Nikki Jean
"Gold Watch"
"Street on Fire" featuring Mathew Santos
"Hello Goodbye"
"Gotta Eat"
"Dumb It Down" featuring Gemini and Graham Burris
"The Die" featuring Gemini
"Put You on Game"
"Fighters" featuring Mathew Santos
"Go Baby Go"

I think Lupe Fiasco has a Lauryn Hill complex.

For real. I think he struggles to be himself while trying to maintain an image of what he thinks people want him to be. It is an impossible balance (where is Lauryn, excuse me Ms. Hill, now anyway?) and hence you get such random episodes from him following any public criticism. But at the same time, as I have said before, I think Lupe is also one of the illest lyricists to hit the scene in the last few years. He can paint pictures and create mammoth metaphors that almost get lost in translation. Lyrics have never been his issue. The Village Voice’s Tom Breihan says here that “Lupe remains sadly attached to longtime cronies like Santos and Soundtrakk, who produced both tracks, when he really should be looking for collaborators who know how to get the best out of him. All the fluid verbal gymnastics in the world don't mean a thing if they don't come attached to songs that work.”

True. But in light of all of Food & Liquor’s flaws and my personal observations (as if what I see from afar means anything) of what looks like a dope rapper in search of identity, I have high hopes in The Cool, his sophomore album set to drop Dec. 18. Why? Because Lupe thinks in concepts. While other rappers stay concerned with putting out a club jam or some random singles that have no overarching theme, Lupe tends to see his songs as pieces of proverbial pie without needing the inspiration of a movie. This Billboard article states that this new album will include a number of “characters.”

Among the characters are Michael Young History, the Game (described as "a male
personification of a hustler's damaging influences") and the Streets ("a female
embodiment of an urban area's corrupt allure").

Let’s just hope that the real Lupe, whoever he is, doesn’t get lost among them.

50 Cent Gives His Two Cents On American Gangster

Allhiphop interviewed 50 Cent about Jay-Z's newest album, which by the way was No. 1 on the charts, tying Jigga with Elvis for the second most No. 1 albums after the Beatles. Watching Fitty speak on American Gangster is hilarious considering I Get Money was the only song off of Curtis that anyone cares about.

A Few Words On Talib Kweli's Eardrum

“I believe scratch that I know this ain’t my full potential/Only using 10 percent of my mental on instrumentals.”
(Talib Kweli)

It seems like Eardrum went in one ear and out the other.

This is one of year’s best hip hop albums and somehow it got lost in the shuffle between Common’s Finding Forever and Kanye West’s Graduation. It is unfortunate because Talib Kweli's Eardrum tops both of these albums lyrically and possibly (I said possibly) even in terms of production (The track Ye produced, In the Mood, surpasses everything he did on Graduation). But Eardrum fails to measure up to the other two albums in one crucial area: package. It is nearly twice as long (20 tracks including three bonus tracks) and while each track is exceptional by itself -- with the help of superproducers like Pete Rock, will.i.am, Hi-Tek and Madlib among others -- there is nothing that brings them together under one cohesive umbrella. It comes off sounding like the best mixtape you never heard.

It doesn’t matter. Even Kweli acknowledges on Everything Man (see below), the album’s opening track, that “you can’t please everybody.” And yet, contrary to most emcees out there, he’s still making real music that you can feel.

Video: Talib Kweli's Everything Man

Kanye West's Mother Dies

my chi-town homie boog just passed this to me from the wire. prayers and condolences go out to Kanye West and his family.

------------------------------
Rapper Kanye West's Mother Dies
By JACOB ADELMAN – 24 minutes ago

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Donda West, mother of Kanye West and former chairwoman of Chicago State University's English department, has died, a spokesman for the rapper said. Donda West died Saturday night in Los Angeles, said the spokesman, who asked for anonymity because not all family members had been notified. Her age was not immediately known.

"The family respectfully asks for privacy during this time of grief," the spokesman said.

A cause of death has not been released. Donda West was known for the strong bond she shared with her son, by whose side she was often seen at parties and award shows.
Kanye West often spoke of his close relationship with his mother, who raised him alone after her husband left when Kanye was 3.

She was the inspiration for the song, "Hey Mama," on Kanye West's 2005 album "Late Registration," in which he sings: "Hey Mama, I wanna scream so loud for you, cuz I'm so proud of you ... I appreciate what you allowed for me. I just want you to be proud of me."

Donda West frequently defended her son against critics who accused him of penning misogynistic lyrics and other purported transgressions.

"I support my baby," she said in a Chicago Sun-Times interview. "He is telling how he feels and he is speaking the truth as he sees it."

In May, she published the book "Raising Kanye: Life Lessons from the Mother of a Hip-Hop Star," in which she paid homage to her famous son.

Donda West served as chief executive of West Brands LLC, the parent company of her son's business enterprises, and as chairwoman of the Kanye West Foundation, an educational nonprofit that works to decrease dropout rates and improve literacy.

Kanye West told the Associated Press in August that he and his mother worked together to devise the foundation's first program, "Loop Dreams," which helps public school students get involved in music.

"Me and my mother were discussing ways to give back and came up with the concept," he said.

Donda West worked in higher education for 31 years, before leaving academia in 2004 to help manage her son's career, according to a biography on the Kanye West Foundation's Web site.

She began working at Chicago State University in 1980 and eventually chaired the school's English department, according to the site. She started her teaching career in the early 1970s as an instructor at Brown College in Atlanta.

Kanye West's writing partner Rhymefest lamented Donda West's death Sunday in an appearance on Chicago radio station WCGI.

"She was everyone's mom," Rhymefest said. "A spirit never dies, a spirit lasts forever."

Associated Press Music Writer Nekesa Mumbi Moody in New York and AP writer Sophia Tareen in Chicago contributed to this report.this report.

The Unreleased Video For Hustlers - Nas ft. The Game

[via nahright]

Frank Lucas: American Don't-Call-Me-A-Gangster

“Please don’t compare me to other rappers/compare me to trappers/I’m more Frank Lucas than Ludacris/And Luda’s my dude I ain’t trying to diss/Like Frank Lucas is cool but I ain’t trying to snitch.”
(Jay-Z, No Hook – American Gangster)

As American Gangster week comes to a close, I want to end with this allhiphop interview with the real Frank Lucas. It is a very casual yet in-depth interview where Lucas discusses his son’s rapping career, the legitimacy of Nicky Barnes’ Council and the movie based on his life, where Frank Lucas is played by Denzel Washington.

The interview fills in many of the gaps and questions about the man himself that the movie and the album both titled American Gangster left behind. Why didn’t he stop while he was "ahead"? What were some of those prejudices he faced and how did that affect him? Did he regret his life as a drug lord? What about Jay-Z?

It all comes out like in this segment where he recalls his cousin getting killed by the Ku Klux Klan:

Frank Lucas: When you are a kid and you see something like that, you can’t help but affect your life. You can’t help but think that the whole world is trying to tear you down and rip you off. When you are six years old and you see something like a Ku Klux Klan knock your cousin’s teeth out with handle
of a shotgun and turn around and put it in his mouth and pull the trigger… I mean, his face looked good, but you could put a cantaloupe in the back of his head [because the hole was so big]. That can’t help but affect you. I’m speaking to you now, but a little while ago I was feeling sick. Brains …brains…bone…blood…teeth…was all over the yard.

AllHipHop.com: Wow.

Frank Lucas: Did you read about why he got that?

AllHipHop.com: Yeah, for looking at a White woman – “reckless
eyeballing.”

Frank Lucas: Yeah, you got it. Reckless eyeballing. I don’t even
think that was in the movie, but that’s what it was. All that was for reckless
eyeballing and that’s a damn shame.

And this one, where he addresses the Jay-Z’s widely referenced bars from No Hook:

AllHipHop.com: He says, “I’m more Frank Lucas than Ludacris” and Ludacris is a rapper. Then he says, “Frank Lucas is cool, but I ain’t trying to snitch.” Now, I know that you on record have addressed that situation, but…

Frank Lucas: Tell that young man to watch his mouth. Please watch his mouth. Tell that young man to please watch his mouth. Mr. Jay-Z, tell him to please watch his mouth. You saw the movie?

AllHipHop.com: I sure did. [In the movie, Frank provides information that leads to the conviction of crooked cops and Italian drug dealers. Critics say he offered information on others, a charge he
denies.]

Frank Lucas: Then you know what I did. You know exactly what I did. It was all in there. And if that’s what you call a snitch, then so be it.

And then, Frank Lucas shares his reflections on what it all means and how he would take it all back:

AllHipHop.com: What do you think about this? In real life, you were considered a gangster, but…

Frank Lucas: I hope not.

AllHipHop.com: What? You don’t want to be considered a gangster?

Frank Lucas: No sir.

AllHipHop.com: Why not?

Frank Lucas: I went that route and it didn’t get me nothing. It got me a whole lot of clout and I hurt a lot of people. I don’t want to hurt people no more. I’m very remorseful for what I did. I don’t want to go through that road…I don’t want to do that again.

Jay-Z's American Gangster: Return of the King

“This is black superhero music right here, baby!”

Remember back in the day when you first saw Christopher Reeve in blue and red tights walking forward into a hail of gunfire, busting up some bank robbery or saving Air Force One from crashing? And then, as soon as the movie was over, you got a towel from the closet, tied it around your neck with a pin and declared with undeniable authority, “I’m Superman.”

That’s Jay-Z.

Except now he has moved on from his Superman phase (read: his comeback CD Kingdom Come) to return to his roots by way of a drug lord named Frank Lucas, who would say he too stands for truth, justice and the American Way.

Jay-Z caught an early screening of Ridley Scott’s American Gangster in the late summer and the movie ignited something inside of him. Denzel Washington’s stone-cold portrayal of the Harlem heroin kingpin inspired Boss Hova, rekindling moments and memories from his own life as a drug dealer from Brooklyn’s infamous Marcy Projects. He hooked up with Diddy’s revamped production team The Hitmen, who had a stash of old 70s soul beats and weeks later saw the birth of his highly anticipated, possibly record tying tenth studio album, American Gangster.

It is not a soundtrack per se but an album inspired by the movie with tracks influenced by specific scenes. The album is 15 tracks long, including two bonus tracks (Blue Magic and American Gangster). Nas spits a guest verse on Success (“Google Earth Nas/I got flats in other continents”) and Beanie Sigel drops by for a quick eight bars on the mixtape old, but still incredibly sick track Ignorant Sh*t (Just Blaze’s crazy loop of The Isley Brothers’ Between the Sheets which finally found the perfect home after ending up the Black Album’s cutting room floor).

The album has more highs than lows, but the lows make the highs feel less high. The first low point comes at track 4, Hello Brooklyn 2.0, where Bigg D samples the classic Beastie Boys scream. The contrived track throws the whole mood off (especially after the smooth Marvin Gaye-sampled American Dreamin) and it is obvious that Lil Wayne has no business here at all. The other problem track is The Party Life produced by The Hitmen. It sounds amazing musically with its Little Beaver disco sample, but Jay sounds too awkward right on top of the beat as he begins with “ordered some patreezy while talking to this breezy.” The album, like the movie that inspired it, also doesn’t delve too deeply into the raw emotion of life as a rising drug lord, which takes away from its impact. But these glares in the screen don’t ruin the movie and overall American Gangster puts “the ruler” back in his zone.

Part of what makes American Gangster such a fulfilling album is because Kingdom Come had Jigga so far removed from the element that got him to the place where he could even celebrate. He became rap’s kingpin by rapping mostly about his days as a hustler. When the conversation changed to his current affairs (running Def Jam and taking his superfamous girlfriend, Beyonce, on trips to tropical locales), everybody thought he fell off. Thus, Kingdom Come received mixed reviews and in retrospect, even Jay said it was “too sophisticated.”

In contrast, American Gangster gave Jay-Z three crucial things: It allowed him to get back to talking about the narcotic topics he is known for without sounding forced or fake. It gave him an overarching theme and feel to build from. And, with Frank Lucas’ 70s saga as a starting point, it gave him the opportunity to use blaxploitation, old-school soul for his entire production backdrop.

First the words. On this album, the lyricism is definitely ill, almost reaching Blueprint levels. Of course, he shouts out gangster flick icons like De Niro and Pacino, but he also drops gems like “Survive the droughts/I wish you well/How sick am I?/I wish you health/I wish you wheels/I wish you wealth/I wish you insight so you can see for yourself” on American Dreamin or on Roc Boys (And the Winner Is…), he spits “Pink rose, think O.J./I get away with murder when I sling ye/Heron got less steps than Britney/that means it ain’t stepped on, dig me?” It’s not like Jay doesn’t know how to string metaphors together but this is the same cat that has said he had to “dumb down” post-Reasonable Doubt to double his dollars so when he does drop dope lines, it’s a sudden smack in the face.

American Gangster is also a whole package. (Jay even had it taken off of iTunes so people would not buy songs individually.) Jigga is known for going into the booth with no pen or pad and pouring his stream of consciousness into the microphone. Who knows where those thoughts could end up on any given song? He countered his ramblings with what has become a heavily imitated formula. Neptunes beat? Check. Radio hit? Check. One for the ladies? Check. Except for the horrendous idea of putting Weezy as a guest croaker on Hello Brooklyn 2.0, nothing about American Gangster feels influenced by the current culture. None of the tracks on American Gangster would even fit on today’s radio. That’s a good thing. Jay isn’t here to impress or to conform or to convince anyone anything this time around. The movie gave him that foundation, a frame where he could paint at his own will but within the borders of being a period drug lord.

But more than anything, it is the music that makes this album complete. With the Hitmen and contributions from Just Blaze, Jermaine Dupri, DJ Toomp and No I.D., American Gangster is a lush environment of instrumentation and pure soul of the 1970s. It puts you there, the mellow deep grooves, tumbling congas and falsetto howls. Jay sounds completely comfortable as his voice sinks into the cushion of sounds. It works because it has always worked. It worked on Reasonable Doubt, the Blueprint and on Black Album tracks like Encore. It is also why the intro is Kingdom Come’s best track because the heavy throbs of bass and strings that Dr. Dre is known for don’t suit Jay’s high voice and hustler’s swagger like a good soul sample. It just feels right when Jigga goes retro.

VH1's Storytellers: Jay-Z

[American Dreamin]


[I Know}


[Fallin]

Video: Jay-Z Interview With Charlie Rose

[via nahright]

Video: The Real Frank Lucas Interview With Miss Jones

[via nahright]

Video: Jay-Z's Roc Boys

[via onsmash]

American Gangster: To Floss Or Not To Floss

(Nicky Barnes played by Cuba Gooding Jr. in American Gangster)

American Gangster is a movie bloated with dichotomy: black and white, good and bad, quick and dead. But perhaps the most important one is the difference between wealthy and rich.

This debate plays out throughout the movie in subtle ways but takes center stage in one scene where Frank Lucas’ brother, Huey, comes to the club in a gaudy designer suit. Frankie despises flamboyance. He hates the way his rival Nicky Barnes dresses with the big coats and big chains. He believes a person that is wealthy has no need to show off because it only attracts unwanted attention. He takes his brother to a back room and explains to him that flashiness is a sign of weakness.

It is the most profound statement in the movie mainly because Frank Lucas’ own downfall begins when he goes against his own belief. His wife buys him an extravagant fur coat that he decides to wear to a boxing match. With the coat and matching hat, Lucas is no longer inconspicuous and Robert Richie observes the Harlem drug lord for the first time. Suddenly the police investigation, which had been one big question mark before that night, starts to grow some legs.

But in the rap world -- where everyone claims to be gangsta -- the common philosophy is just the opposite. More is much more. Showing off is standard procedure and status is defined by depreciating possessions like cars with giant rims and humungous chains. Granted, there is the argument that the rules may change regarding the legitimacy of the money. Maybe. But in any case, Frank Lucas’ less is more philosophy will probably be one of the ideas that these rappers just choose to downplay. Right up there with snitching.

Frank Lucas: The New American Gangster Idol

"See, ya are what ya are in this world. That's either one of two things: Either you're somebody, or you ain't nobody."
(Frank Lucas, American Gangster)

Tony Montana, say hello to Frank Lucas. And say goodbye to the rap world that once was yours.

From this day forward, that world will belong to Lucas, the Harlem drug lord from the 1960s and 70s immortalized by Denzel Washington in American Gangster. But that world is a brave new one, where the star reveals no regrets, second thoughts or deep-rooted fears and actually stays alive; a world where the main man is not quite human.

Indeed, Lucas is a character, but so is Jay-Z, whose tenth studio album titled American Gangster drops today. And so is 50 Cent and every other rapper that claims to be so hard they hardly feel anything. They’re all characters playing a role, acting on a stage where only money matters and drugs do no damage and bullets bounce off of them like sunflower seeds.

And Lucas is a perfected reflection of these rappers, a man in an iron mask. Like them, he acts as if he is bad to the bone and absolutely, positively bulletproof. He personifies cool, which will inevitably place American Gangster on the top shelf of your favorite rapper’s movie library. It makes logical sense for three main reasons:

1) Frank Lucas is a black man unlike Tony Montana so of course that gives American Gangster something extra for rappers to relate to.
2) AG is brand new, whereas Scarface was released in 1983, nearly 25 years ago.
3) Lucas doesn’t die at the end but lives on to make more money.

It's ironic. The very thing that the movie is missing is what will make it a perennial rap classic. The idea of being unaffected, unmoved and untouchable has come to be gangsta rap’s standard ethos. But there’s only one issue with that: it’s unreal. Despite those ubiquitous bootlegs, American Gangster still smuggled in $46.3 million this weekend at the box office, making it the biggest opening for both Washington and Russell Crowe. But even the movie’s real-life characters have come out to say that most of American Gangster is a fabricated account, according to sohh.com.

"They claim it's based on a true story," New York-based Drug Enforcement Administration agent Joseph Sullivan told the New York Post. The officer was at a raid on Lucas' Teaneck, N.J., home after two members of the Mafia ratted the drug lord out. "His name is Frank Lucas and he was a drug dealer - that's where the truth in this movie ends."

The real Frank Lucas himself even admitted that “only 20 percent of the film is true.” But then you have these young’ns who don’t know the difference between what is real and what is embellished or exaggerated. They only see the capitalistic creed, the commanding swagger and the stacks and stacks of big bills. In Gangster, you don’t even see the dire consequences of life as a drug kingpin. There’s no prison scenes; no bloody, bullets-blazing shootout in the final sequence.

As the Village Voice’s Tom Breihan pointed out, American Gangster was already a rap movie with a cast that includes rappers Common and T.I. as part of Lucas’ family and RZA as a frazzled cop working with Richie Roberts played by Crowe (check out allhiphop’s American Gangster Movie Special). And Jay-Z's co-sign only made that official. Boss Hova, who supposedly had the movie on loop while working on his new album, was “inspired” by Lucas’ story. He said some of the scenes rekindled old feelings and memories from his own life as a drug dealer. But Jay is just the beginning.

Jim Jones already put out a Jay-Z diss, American Gangsta, and his new mixtape called Harlem’s American Gangsta -- hosted by Jigga’s former business partner Dame Dash -- also drops today. And believe you me, there will be plenty more where that came from as the name Frank Lucas continues to seep into mainstream consciousness and takes the throne as gangsta rap's new heavily referenced hardcore archetype. But of course, that doesn't mean Tony Montana will go down quietly.

American Gangster Movie Review: A Crime Masterpiece That Slightly Misses The Mark

Photo © Universal Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Denzel Washington could have played Frank Lucas with his eyes closed.

In American Gangster, which killed at the weekend box office, Washington portrays the 1970s Harlem heroin kingpin as a cold-blooded killer, a smooth, slick-talking seducer of power and paper. He refuses to answer to anyone, trusts only family and runs his smack operation like a shrewd businessman. He doesn’t see dying dope fiends or the other drug lords he put out of business or the boys in blue with the badges. He sees only green. And why not? This is America, isn’t it? The land of opportunity where anyone can pursue happiness and cut a piece of the pie, even if using a knife the size of New York?

But on the other end of that rhetorical question is Richie Roberts, played with worn earnestness by Russell Crowe. Roberts is the good cop, the one who would turn in say $1 million unmarked dollars if he found them randomly in the trunk of a car. Roberts plays the game by the book. Lucas plays his own game by a book he wrote himself. And there you have the basis of American Gangster, which scored the highest opening for an R-rated crime drama in history: Two Tinseltown titans on the opposite ends of the relative moral spectrum, slugging it out for two hours and 37 minutes.

The film tracks the rise and fall of Lucas, whose story was told in an article in New York magazine by Mark Jacobson, roughly adapted into a brilliant screenplay by Steve Zaillian (Schindler’s List) and directed in serious tones and stark shadows by Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Black Hawk Down). Early announcements hailed this film as the “The Black Godfather.” It has all the makings of a masterpiece and, by most standards (the performances, the feel and plot of the movie), it is.

But something is missing.

American Gangster tells two parallel narratives of Lucas and Roberts. It is necessary to see both sides of the story or else there would be no struggle, but that approach is also the movie’s main problem. You can’t get to know Lucas too well when he’s sharing so much screen time with his chief adversary. You know Lucas is the definition of capitalism, that he makes his own rules and will fly to southeast Asia to deal directly with a drug supplier at the source. You know he will light a man on fire and shoot a rival in broad daylight. But it is hard to figure out what he is feeling and in turn, it is harder to feel for him.

The best villain is the conflicted villain, the one who is ruthless and reckless but who struggles internally with something, anything (death in the family, unstable friendships, inferiority complex, suicidal thoughts). In the classic gangster flicks, directors reveal the inner workings of their bad guys in various ways. Martin Scorsese (Goodfellas, Casino) uses voice-over narration so we get into the heads of his characters. Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather trilogies) makes multiple three-hour long epics so we grow to understand his characters. Brian De Palma in Scarface just zeroes in on one character, Tony Montana, and tracks him from hardscrabble beginning to bloody end.

We don’t see any of that with Lucas. He more or less inherited his empire from crime boss Bumpy Johnson so we don’t really see him rise from nothing. And everything after that comes pretty easy: He has a cousin overseas who sets up the drug trade meeting, he sees a pretty woman (Carla Gugino) in the club and marries her, he undercuts the Mafia and even keeps his cool when he’s caught in the end. But what’s going on in his head? You never know. You don't see him with his family enough. You don’t see him interacting with his wife enough to care when she is almost killed in a drive-by shooting. As soon as the movie has any opportunity to examine how Lucas is handling the death of his boss or the paranoia of being a kingpin, Scott has to cut over to Richie, whose story is slightly more personal with his unpopularity in the police department and his bitter ex-wife trying to keep him from seeing his son.

Frank Lucas is actually too cold for his own bad.

There are some isolated moments, brief glimpses of Lucas' vulnerability, which Washington handles like a veteran. But not enough. The scene with the most potential comes when Lucas’ mother played immaculately by legendary actress Ruby Dee confronts him about the cons of retaliating against crooked cops. It is a powerful scene, but the camera can’t linger long enough to see its effect on Lucas. Richie Roberts has an ongoing investigation that Scott needs to get back to.

Don’t blame the actor. Denzel Washington can do that whole inner turmoil thing like the best of them as he did masterfully in movies like Crimson Tide and John Q. Even his vicious portrayal of Alonzo Harris in Training Day had more tortured soul substance that could stick to the ribs. But with limited time, shared camera space and an underdeveloped backstory, he can only work with what he is, which is a gangster too cold to crack and too rock-solid to see into.

'American Gangster Week'

Welcome to 'American Gangster Week' presented by dr. mike check. Every day this week, I will be posting and discussing any and everything related to American Gangster: reviews, video clips, articles, etc. If you've seen the movie and have any thoughts or find any good pieces on the internet, drop me a line. (Read Entertainment Weekly's Q&A with Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe here.) If you haven't seen it, you need to. This movie is already making history and taking no prisoners along the way.

Also, Jay-Z's album also called American Gangster and inspired by the crime movie drops tomorrow. Read Entertainment Weekly's preview here and Noz over at xxlmag.com put up a good post yesterday about Jigga's so-called concept album here.

Jay-Z on the Late Show with David Letterman

"The Roc Boys in the building tonight."

American Gangster: 'Nobody Owns Me Though'

The time has come.


the critics are digging this one. check here for a recent press conference Q&A with the two Hollywood heavyweights.

and next week is dr. mike check's official American Gangster Week so stay tuned for the movie review, Jay-Z's album analysis and more social commentary to come.

Little Brother Gets Back To Business

“They ask me if the Minstrel Show means I’m ashamed of them/Well I can’t say that I’m proud/ But on the same can’t say that I’m allowed/To judge, I’m just glad to see you/ Cuz truth be told, if my records never sold and I wasn’t raised as bold/ Ni**a, I would probably be you…” (Phonte, Dreams -- Little Brother’s Getback)

All this talk about Kanye’s Big Brother almost made me forget about Little Brother.

In the past few weeks, Jay-Z has been the big story. American Gangster has become the contagious phrase of the moment as both the movie and the album have leaked to the internet for all to see and hear. Me personally, I have resisted the urge to download either of them because anticipation is, after all, 77.25 percent of the experience.

But to hold me over, I have been hooked on Little Brother’s new album, Getback. First of all, it took me two Best Buys, a Target and a Walmart, before I finally found it at a local underground music shop. That’s what I get for trying to be cheap. At Best Buy, I asked the rep if they had that new Little Brother after poring over the shelf of New Releases. She goes to a computer to look it up.

“Actually, we’re all sold out,” she tells me.

“For real?” I ask. I thought it that was good thing actually. I hadn’t seen that much on the marketing side so for them to be sold out was definitely a dope thing. But she killed that energy with, “Well, we only had 10 copies.”

I walked out. By the time I made it to the underground spot, I was sick of seeing stacks and stacks of Soulja Boy and I still didn’t see it in the New Releases area. I asked an employee and he led me back to the area with albums that had been out for years. I got to the cashier and he asked me if I heard it yet. I said no and told him how I’ve been looking everywhere for it. He tells me the album is tight, even better than Minstrel Show. Better than Minstrel Show? I have to hear it. Right now.

If you’ve heard the Minstrel Show, you know that album is a critically acclaimed hip hop classic. It received a XL rating from XXL and 4.5 Mics from The Source (if that means anything anymore). Released in 2005, it was that album that put me on to LB and made me go back and cop 2003’s The Listening. Hailing from North Carolina, this hip hop group that consists of rappers Phonte and Rapper Big Pooh (and once upon a time producer 9th Wonder) is A Tribe Called Quest 2.0.

You should also know that these cats have a track record for making “albums.” Not just CDs with really good lyrics over really good beats, but albums, in the real sense, with a thematic thread and an actual concept that makes it a complete package. On The Listening, it was a radio show on WJLR and on Minstrel Show, it was a satirical television program on the UBN (U Black Niggas) network.

So coming into 11-track Getback, I wasn’t sure what expect. There is no cohesive concept like their first two full-length albums and resident producer 9th Wonder has left the building (although he did produce the infectious Breakin My Heart). Phonte is probably the most consistently ill lyricist in the game so it goes without saying that he’s coming correct [pause]. But perhaps the best thing about Getback is that Big Pooh is finally more than Phonte’s inferior opening act. Before this, Pooh was the more basic rapper, the one you would fast forward to get to Tay’s verse or skip over after Tay finished. But on Getback, Pooh holds his own, mature in his flow and able to stand alongside his partner-in-crime rather than in his shadow. He handles his business on the political intro Sirens and the old-school soul bounce track Two-Step Blues.

You might read reviews or hear people say Getback doesn’t compare to their earlier albums and Little Brother’s different without 9th Wonder and they’re wack for putting Lil Wayne on the album (btw, Weezy’s guest spot on Breakin My Heart only confirms that he is the most overrated rapper of all time. I will admit that his voice sounds cool on the hook but his verse is vomit: “So I play fair like roller coasters and clowns.” Ugh.)

But listen to the album. Seriously. Little Brother still has the soul-searching earnestness of two emcees too real to sell out (Can’t Win For Losing, When Everything is New). They still have the comedic flair and the ability to poke fun at social behavior a la Chris Rock like no other artists in the game (Good Clothes, After the Party). They still have really good lyrics over really good beats (ExtraHard). With the help of underground soul-sampling maestros like Nottz, Hi-Tek, Illmind, Denaun Porter and Khrysis, the rap duo still sounds secure and hungry and completely, utterly hip hop. I can’t say if this will be my vote for feel-good album of the year, but so far, it’s looking pretty good, right up there with Blu & Exile’s Below The Heavens. Sorry Kanye.