The American President: Donald Trump & The Societal Exposé, Part 1

Observing the meteoric rise of businessman Donald Trump during his campaign for the Republican nomination for President of the United States, several pundits, political analysts and social media experts have run to the same defense: "There's no way that Trump can win the general election.  The American voter is much smarter than that and this would be an insult to their intelligence."  However, let's keep it 100: is the rise of Trump and the real possibility that he could be the 45th President an insult to the American voter and the democratic political process that we darn near deify, or is it an indictment of America?  At so many patriotic events, we are encouraged to sing Katharine Lee Bates and Samuel A. Ward's "America the Beautiful" as a sign of our solidarity with what is often billed as "the greatest" or "the most powerful" nation in the world.  Given the historically divisive social climate in our country, how "beautiful" is or has America ever been and to what "greatness" is Trump truly returning us?  He represents everything that many Americans--regardless of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, generational gap, religion, etc.--believe and exhibit, whether they realize it or not.  In a four-part series over the next several weeks, I intend to highlight many of the harsh and sobering realities about America and manifest just how "American" Donald Trump is...

Why "Nina" Could Be One of the Biggest Critical and Commercial Failures of All Time

 

Not everyone can be as dope as Denzel Washington was in Spike Lee's Malcolm X (1992); in fact, many people to this day still feel like Washington was cheated out of an Academy Award for his stirringly convincing portrayal.  (Surprise, surprise.)  Angela Bassett rose to new heights with her Oscar-nominated performance as Tina Turner in What's Love Got to Do with It (1993)--not to mention that Laurence Fishburne was so Ike Turner that you had to remind yourself not to hate him in anything else!  Delivering an Oscar-winning performance in Ray (2004), Chris Rock recently drove home this point: "Jamie Foxx was so good in Ray that they went to the hospital and unplugged the real Ray Charles.  It's like, 'We don't need two of these!'"  In these instances, it is evident that casting the right people to play real-life legends can be done.  However, not all biopics are created equal.  Bringing the late, great Notorious B.I.G. to the big screen was met with mixed results in Notorious (2009)  as it seemed to place film co-producer Sean "Puffy" Combs in more of a favorable light while pissing off Lil' Kim and many of her faithful fans for how she was portrayed.  Also see one of the biggest casting failures of all time as Flex Alexander was selected to play Michael Jackson in Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story (2005)--a film produced for VH1 that did not even feature any of Jackson's songs, but merely mentioned them in passing.

Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five: R&B Bands, #1 Maze featuring Frankie Beverly

As I've gotten older, four things must happen to complete any given summer: 1) I must take a trip to Hains Point and watch the sunset; 2) I must have a burnt hotdog at somebody's cookout; 3) I must hear "Summertime" by DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince towards the beginning of the summer; and 4) I must take a daytime cruise in my car with the windows down and listen to Maze & Frankie Beverly.  That's how intrinsic this legendary group's music is to my life and they have sooooooo many good songs.  "Happy Feelin's" gives you exactly that.  "Southern Girl" was part of the reason that I swore up and down that I'd end up with a thick chick from below the Mason-Dixon line with the most irresistible accent ever.  "Joy and Pain" is just real and dope.  "Can't Get Over You" just takes me back to a good time in childhood.  "Silky Soul" made me miss Marvin Gaye just like The Commodores' "Night Shift" did.  Even lesser-discussed hits like "Love's on the Run" are memorable because they were just catchy and unmistakably Maze.  Of course, "Before I Let Go"...well, you're just not Black if this song doesn't make you get up and dance.  Like seriously...Henry Louis Gates needs to bring you on Finding Your Roots to question everything you ever knew about yourself.

Scribbler's 11th Hour Post of the Week: Why Chris Rock Was the Right Host for the Oscars

I don't know how this debate ever got started among Black people, but it's one of the many moments where we just have to compare two people who are often nothing like each other stylistically speaking.  For years, the question was who's the funnier comedian between Chris Tucker and Chris Rock?  Maybe it's because they're both Black and named Chris, but whatever.  Most people I know said Chris Tucker was funnier, and I understood it because between Friday, Money Talks and Rush Hour, he frankly made better and funnier movies.  On cue, a lot of those same people said that Chris Rock wasn't funny at all...because no two Black folk being compared to each other can both be good.  (See the Jay-Z vs. Nas, Beyonce vs. Rihanna or old school hip-hop vs. new school hip-hop debates as the evidence behind my shade.)  However, although Tucker was funny as a stand-up comedian, I've always preferred Chris Rock in that capacity because I felt like he injected more social commentary without sacrificing the funny.  I thought the whole "you put the money in a book" bit from Bring the Pain (1996) was one of the funniest things that I've ever heard because, like most poignant comedy, there's a lot of truth behind that joke that says so much more about the issues in our community than the punch line can convey.  So amidst the most scared section of White America not having the best five-year period regarding race relations let alone the best Black History Month, it was only fitting that Chris Rock hosted the 88th Academy Awards.

Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five: R&B Bands, #3 The Isley Brothers

My love for The Isley Brothers ironically began in 1985 two years after the 3 + 3 lineup formed in 1973 were split into two groups: The Isley Brothers in which only O'Kelly, Ron and Rudolph Isley remained; and Isley-Jasper-Isley, consisting of Ernie Isley, Chris Jasper and Marvin Isley.  The latter trio's most popular album, Caravan of Love (1985), stood out in my memory for three reasons: 1) out of all the records in my dad's extensive collection at the time, the Sahara-inspired cover was the most indelible; 2) their biggest hit, "Caravan of Love," was in constant rotation on the radio and their follow-up single, "Insatiable Woman," captured my attention even more; and 3) as the opening act for Luther Vandross in a 1986 concert at the Capital Centre, they were the first act that I recall seeing live.  (Mind you, Luther never showed, but we won't go there.)  The most memorable part of that concert was the tribute to O'Kelly, who had passed away from a heart attack not long before the show.  From there, I just kept discovering more and more songs to love from all six of the Teaneck, New Jersey  implants by way of Cincinnati because their sound was truly their sound.  It's rock...it's funk...it's soul...it's just a little bit of everything that I love from my favorite bands.  Now here's an honest moment: it took me at least a decade to warm up more to their uptempo stuff because I felt like their strength as a band were their ballads--and I still strongly feel that way.  So let's dig into the five songs that resonate with me the most from my third favorite R&B band of all time...