theblackbottom

R.I.P Don Cornelius! Donald Cortez “Don” Cornelius (September 27, 1936 – February 1, 2012) was an American television show host and producer who is best known as the creator of the nationally syndicated dance/music franchise Soul Train, which he hosted from 1971-1993. Don Cornelius was born in Chicago in 1938 and was one of [...]

Source: Detroit Free Press
This wasn’t supposed to be a milestone year in the Aretha Franklin annals.
But 2011, which began shrouded in health mystery before blossoming into a rousing resurgence for Franklin, turned out to be just that. And today the iconic Detroit singer is bright and upbeat as she reflects on a [...]

Once You Learn How To Read, You Will Be Forever Free!~Frederick Douglass

REVIEW Shaquille Rashaun O’Neal is a retired NBA center who played 19 seasons in the league. He played in the NBA from 1992, when the Orlando Magic made him the 1st overall pick in the NBA Draft, to 2011, when he retired as a [...]

Source: Wikipedia
Patrice Lumumba Malcolm Oneal (December 7, 1969 – November 28, 2011), usually credited as Patrice O’Neal, was an American stand-up comedian, radio personality, and actor. He was known for his cutting, often confrontational crowd work during which he often played couples against each other. Originally from Boston, he was a resident of Jersey City, [...]

DJ Drama is for the kids. Mr. Thanksgiving took a trip to Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School to speak to students on staying in school and the origins of Gangsta Grillz.

Young Jeezy Gives Out Turkeys and Food On Thanksgiving Eve

Cynthia Bailey, arguably the most glamorous of the “Real Housewives of Atlanta,” shivered in a sleeveless red shift, microphone in hand.
It was oddly cold, but the intrepid model carried on. She had a job to do: interviewing the talent that swaggered down the red carpet for the Soul Train Awards.
All along the police [...]

Dwight Arrington Myers (May 24, 1967 – November 8, 2011) better known as Heavy D, was a Jamaican-born American actor, rapper, record producer, singer and former leader of Heavy D & the Boyz, a hip hop group which included G-Whiz (Glen Parrish), “Trouble” T. Roy (Troy Dixon), and Eddie F (born Edward Ferrell). The group [...]

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer
Joe Frazier, the son of a South Carolina sharecropper who punched meat in a Philadelphia slaughterhouse before Rocky, won Olympic gold, and beat an undefeated Muhammad Ali to become one of the all-time heavyweight greats, died on Monday, his family said in a statement. He was 67.
Mr. Frazier, whose liver cancer was diagnosed [...]

Once You Learn How to Read, You Will Be Forever Free!~Frederick Douglass
Interview and Review Harry Belafonte Actor, singer, humanitarian. Born Harold George Belafonte, Jr. on March 1, 1927 in Harlem, New York. After spending much of his childhood in his mother’s native Jamaica, Belafonte returned to the U.S. and enlisted in the Navy. He [...]

Ben Brantley, The New York Times: Unfortunately, this big-picture drama (and Ms. Hall’s big picture is bigger than you imagine) is short on revelatory close-ups. And despite an engagingly low-key performance by Mr. Jackson, it never provides the organic details and insights that would make Martin Luther King live anew.
Mark Kennedy, [...]