On July 2nd, 1991, John Singleton's classic film debut Boyz n The Hood made its theatrical release. Singleton wrote and directed the film, and earned Academy Award Nominations for Best Original Screenplay and Best Director. The film jump-started the careers of Ice Cube, Nia Long, Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett, Morris Chestnut, Regina King, Cuba Gooding Jr., and more. BNTH was based on real events in Singleton’s life, and was originally titled The Summer Of ’84. The film was one of the first of its kind, that strayed away from the theme of the good guy winning at the end. Instead we saw the opposite-the good guy got killed at the end, which in reality is usually how it goes in life (at least for people of color in America. Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Huey P. Newton, Fred Hampton, Bunchy Carter, Medgar Evers, The Kennedys, and more fought for the right causes regardless of race. But in the end, they were all assassinated.
Doors in Hollywood were opened for a lot of young Black writers/directors, following the success of BNTH (The Hughes Brothers, F. Gary Gray, Antoine Fuqua, Hype Williams, etc). Spike Lee set the blueprint for the tragic ending, through his film Do The Right Thing, two years prior in 1989. I assume Spike got his inspiration for his ending from the 1975 Blaxploitation movie Cooley High. BNTH, Do The Right Thing, and Cooley High share a similar plot-and leave that same hollow feeling at the end of the film. Gripping ending aside, each of these films changed the game and paved the way for so many others to come. Those of a certain age can clearly remember a time when our stories we only told by those that did not look or think like us...
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On July 2nd, 1970, iconic female emcee, radio personality, and former member of The Native Tongues-Monie Love (Simone Johnson) was born in Battersea, London, UK. Special Note:
Most people know Monie onlu from her association with Queen Latifah on the classic hip hop single Ladies First. Since she was ‘put on’ by Latifah, a lot of listeners assumed Monie was Latifah’s understudy. However, that is not the case. That would be like saying De La Soul were The Jungle Brothers protégés, or A Tribe Called Quest/Black Sheep were De La Soul’s protégés or Mos Def/Common/J Dilla were A Tribe Called Quest’s protégés, etc. The Native Tongues were an intellectually astute Pro-Black Collective of MCs, DJs, and producers that shared similar world views-with all of them being capable of holding their own.
Most people know Monie onlu from her association with Queen Latifah on the classic hip hop single Ladies First. Since she was ‘put on’ by Latifah, a lot of listeners assumed Monie was Latifah’s understudy. However, that is not the case. That would be like saying De La Soul were The Jungle Brothers protégés, or A Tribe Called Quest/Black Sheep were De La Soul’s protégés or Mos Def/Common/J Dilla were A Tribe Called Quest’s protégés, etc. The Native Tongues were an intellectually astute Pro-Black Collective of MCs, DJs, and producers that shared similar world views-with all of them being capable of holding their own.
Monie was her own artist. She got her start in The UK, during the mid 1980's, in The Jus Bad Crew (DJ Pogo, MC Mell’O and Sparki). They signed to Tuff Gong, and released Free Style b/w Proud in 1988. Shortly thereafter, she signed to Cooltempo Records-and made her cameo on Queen Latifah’s Ladies First in 1989. She also dropped verses on tracks with The Jungle Brothers, and most notably De La Soul’s Buddy remix, before releasing her solo debut Down To Earth in 1990. Monie’s fast rap style allowed her to work with House musicians like Ultra Nate and Inner City too. Monie became the first female MC from The UK to sign to a major label. She also was the only hip hop artist Prince produced a track for (Born To B.R.E.E.D in 1993). Monie currently resides in Indianapolis, Indiana; and hosts a couple radio shows. She’s 49 today.
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On July 2nd, 1930, jazz musician, pianist, composer, bandleader, and multi-label recording artist-Ahmad Jamal (Frederick Russell Jones) was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Jamal is one of the most influential pianists of our time. His approach to composing centered around modal/cool jazz-with spacing between notes-the antithesis of bebop. As an unintended result, hip hop and urban music producers sample his work heavily. He was one of the major reasons Miles Davis transitioned from Bebop to Cool Jazz. Davis cites Jamal as one of the major composers he listened to when composing in the late 1950's. Ahmad started playing piano when he was three, and was taking formal lessons from Mary Dawson (National Negro Opera Company Founder) by age seven.
Ahmad Jamal was a fan of jazz artists like Erroll Garner, Billy Strayhorn, Mary Lou Willams, and Earl Hines. By the time he was 14 he was playing professionally, and caught the attention of Art Tatum. Interesting Fact:
Jamal states that he used to practice with his door open in hopes that someone would walk by and discover him. He started playing with George Hudson in the late 1940's, before moving to Chicago in 1950 to perform with local bands. During that same year he toured Detroit, which had a large Muslim community. He converted to Islam shortly after, and changed his name to Ahmad Jamal. He co-founded The Three Strings, and made his recording debut with them in 1951 for Okeh Records. They eventually changed their name to The Ahmad Jamal Trio. He released several LPs during the 50's and 60's, then branched out into fusion jazz in the 1970's. This was the most sampled decade of music from his discography. Ahmad Jamal is 89 today.
Jamal states that he used to practice with his door open in hopes that someone would walk by and discover him. He started playing with George Hudson in the late 1940's, before moving to Chicago in 1950 to perform with local bands. During that same year he toured Detroit, which had a large Muslim community. He converted to Islam shortly after, and changed his name to Ahmad Jamal. He co-founded The Three Strings, and made his recording debut with them in 1951 for Okeh Records. They eventually changed their name to The Ahmad Jamal Trio. He released several LPs during the 50's and 60's, then branched out into fusion jazz in the 1970's. This was the most sampled decade of music from his discography. Ahmad Jamal is 89 today.
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HONORABLE MENTION: On July 2nd, 1908, seminal photographer, documentarian, and freelance photographer for The Pittsburgh Courier-Charles ‘Teenie’ Harris was born in Pittsburgh, PA.
Interesting Fact:
Harris had a full-time job he worked everyday; so he initially he just took photography as a side job. He wasn’t able to spend as much time taking photos as contemporaries like James Van Der Zee and Gordon Parks. However, his work documented Black Culture in Pittsburgh. He also photographed all of the famous athletes, musicians, actors, entertainers, and business leaders that came to the city-including Negro League Baseball Players, Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King Jr, Sam Cooke, Cab Calloway, and Charlie Parker. Charles ‘Teenie’ Harris was 89 when he passed.
Interesting Fact:
Harris had a full-time job he worked everyday; so he initially he just took photography as a side job. He wasn’t able to spend as much time taking photos as contemporaries like James Van Der Zee and Gordon Parks. However, his work documented Black Culture in Pittsburgh. He also photographed all of the famous athletes, musicians, actors, entertainers, and business leaders that came to the city-including Negro League Baseball Players, Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King Jr, Sam Cooke, Cab Calloway, and Charlie Parker. Charles ‘Teenie’ Harris was 89 when he passed.
On July 2nd, 1939, singer, guitarist, dancer, choreographer, Motown Records artist, and the original lead singer of The Temptations-Paul Williams was born in Ensley, AL. TOV covered the artist’s death in the August 17th post. Please refer to it for more information. Paul was a childhood friend of Eddie Kendricks. They sang with The Cavaliers, which became The Primes in the late 1950's. Later they joined their rival group The Distants in 1961, which became The Temptations). Paul stayed with the group until 1971. He was present on all of their recordings during the 60's, and sang co-lead on 1968’s Cloud Nine. Paul Williams was just 34 when he died.
On July 2nd, 1986, Prince released his second movie Under The Cherry Moon. Prince played the role of Christopher Tracy, and Jerome Benton is cast as Tricky. Critics called the movie trash, and so did a lot of so-called Prince fans. The problem with this view is that most were expecting Purple Rain II, and by that standard, I would agree because Under the Cherry Moon is nothing like Purple Rain. It has little to do with music at all...It’s a dope movie though. It has plenty of comedy, a great soundtrack, some romance, and a halfway decent plot-centered around a bad boy, and a rich girl with a powerful father that wants her to stay away from Prince.
On July 2nd, 1988, 'The King of Pop' Michael Jackson made history. His fifth single off the 1988 Bad LP, Dirty Diana, hit #1 on The US Billboard Chart. Michael became the first artist to have an album with five #1 singles (Dirty Diana, Bad, Man In The Mirror, I Just Can’t Stop Loving You, and The Way You Make Me Feel). Dirty Diana, They Way You Make Me Feel, and Bad received MTV Video Music Award Nominations. Most fans consider the Thriller LP to be his best work. In regard to charting singles however, Bad was able to achieve what Thriller did not. Mike stepped his game up on Bad, and showed that Thriller wasn’t a one-time wonder.
For more information on any musician or event reviewed in posts, or for additional information on The Wandering Eyes Blog overall, use the search bar and search the artist or event using keywords. It’s like a Google search for the site. A wide variety of information, covering several topics exists on this site going back to 2013 when it was created. PEACE