Keepingitreal

2nd Year Anniversary Issue Swagga Digital Magazine Winter 2011

2nd Year Anniversary Issue Swagga Digital Magazine Winter 2011

Swagga Digital Magazine 2nd Year Anniversary Issue Winter Dec/Jan 2012

By Ronald Fulcher in Swagga Digital Magazine

108 pages, published 2 DEC 2011

Winter Issue Dec/Jan 2012 2nd Year Anniversary Our latest issue featuring art by Eve Harlowe, Special Music Insert illuminating local artists Planet B. Fashion editorial of West Coast Leather, designs by Emporium Armani, Kairon John Rise of the Phoenix, a Bi-Monthly publication illuminating people of color, from different backgrounds in four (4) areas, including fashion, lifestyle, culture and music. We feel there is a need for our publication f…

Fall Issue Swagga Digital Magazine 2011

Anniversary Issue of Swagga Digital Magazine

The Afro-Latino Connection: Bridging The Gap

Monday Aug 30, 2010 – By Zettler Clay “African American” has a peculiar application. If we were to take the literal meaning of the term, it would not only include the 41-42 million people of African descent born in the U.S., but the 100-150 million people born in Central and South America. Not to mention the Canadians of African descent.

But we don’t say it with literal intentions. We say it referring specifically to people of African (sometimes mixed with European) descent born in the U.S. It speaks more to a phenotype than genotype, and modern publications aimed toward African Americans (as the term is commonly used) have picked up this racial football and run with it.

One look at a magazine shelf presents part of the picture. Two listens to a conversation with a Guyanese or Dominican gives another parcel. Three issues of Essence or Ebony present a fuller picture: Businesses rarely cater to both African Americans and African-Latinos. The partnership between the two cultures is sparse.

This is odd, considering the similarities of both groups. There’s no need to rehash it all here; one would have to be a part of four generations of Rip Van Winkles to not be aware of the shared origins. However, both groups share more than similar roots these days. Latinos and African Americans accounted for more than half of home foreclosures in California between 2006-2009. Both groups have been hit the hardest by the recession. Even before the recession, Blacks and Latinos felt similar pains in the workplace. Between 1999 and 2005, the work force in Silicon Valley’s largest 10 companies (which includes Hewlet-Packard, Intel and eBay) grew 16 percent. During this span, Hispanic workers declined by 11 percent while Black workers fell by 16 percent.

Perhaps this current shared plight stems more from professional experience than overt discrimination. Minority groups in America are the last to develop a footing in Corporate America, therefore their standing is more tenuous. Combine that with the economic meltdown and there is potential for a full-fledged catastrophe.

Or opportunity.

In a scriptwriter’s world, these minority groups would join forces and become a conglomerate in a similar manner to European immigrants before them. They would devise a plan and take control of the 30 percent market share potential to create a pool of wealth untapped in the current system.

But that scriptwriter, if he or she is good, would acknowledge the inherent conflicts and nuances in both cultures that would make partnership difficult. Take the story of Evelio Grillo, the Black Cuban who was acculturated into the Tampa, Florida African American community in the 1930s. Grillo realized that U.S. Blacks didn’t care much for the preservation of speaking Spanish or Catholicism—two staples of Latin culture.

The English-Spanish divide isn’t insignificant. Many Afro-Latinos acknowledge the same African ancestry as their North American counterparts, but qualify their culture by citing manners of communication (Spanish) and aesthetic tastes (hair type, skin type, facial features). Considering the fact that Latin America and the United States have not had the friendliest relationship over the years, it’s easy to see why “African Americans” and Black Latino Americans don’t readily embrace each other.

But for Grillo, those differences didn’t override the social ills (Jim Crow, xenophobia, lack of representation in the corporate and political world) that both groups faced. He actively represented both groups and had a “hybrid identity that can’t be torn apart.”

If there was a better time to shed our American exceptionalism (monopolizing the term “African American”), now is that time. But before unity ensues, both groups need to fortify a sense of pride in their African heritage.

Summer Issue Swagga Digital Magazine

From Cape Town with Love: A Tennyson Hardwick Novel

From Cape Town with Love: A Tennyson Hardwick Novel

by Steven Barnes (Author), Tananarive Due (Author), Blair Underwood (Author)

Review "Heart-stopping and crazy sexy, FROM CAPE TOWN WITH LOVE will keep your pulse pounding through the long night.  Tennyson Hardwick is a hero for the 21st Century.  Easy Rawlins, say hello to James Bond!"

--Paul Levine, author of ILLEGAL

 

Product Description

THE AWARD-WINNING AUTHORS OF CASANEGRA AND IN THE NIGHT OF THE HEAT TEAM UP FOR A THIRD TIME TO PRESENT FROM CAPE TOWN WITH LOVE, A TENNYSON HARDWICK NOVEL.Actor-turned-detective Tennyson Hardwick has solved two high-profile deaths in Hollywood, but nothing has prepared him for a race to save a child’s life. Tennyson’s past in the sex game cost him his new girlfriend, and he brings her to Cape Town, South Africa—a scenic film destination and playground for the rich—to try to win her back. There Tennyson is hired as a bodyguard by superstar Sofia Maitlin when she visits an orphanage to adopt an African child.Months later, Maitlin offers Tennyson one of Hollywood’s hottest tickets—a job as a bodyguard at adopted daughter Nandi’s A-list celebrity birthday party. But the party is over before it begins. When Nandi’s birthday goes dreadfully wrong, it’s up to a guilt-ridden Tennyson to save a child’s life and reunite a Hollywood family.But how? He can’t go to the police, the FBI has threatened to arrest him, and Big Brother is monitoring his telephone calls. To find Nandi, Tennyson will have to rely on tips from his father—a retired LAPD captain—and a mysterious woman from his past, Marsha, who has already proven she can’t be trusted. His strongest lead is a deadly knife fighter known only as Spider.

When his search for the missing child crosses Marsha’s covert investigation into a criminal gang with ties to South Africa, Tennyson knows that finding Nandi might cost him his freedom—or his life.

Conversations Book Club

Cyrus Webb, President of Shadow Play Entertainment, is quoted in a new article by The Entreprenette Gazzette discussing the pros and cons of having celebrities endorse your product or services. See here:
http://theentreprenettegazette.com/2010/03/10/do-celebrity-endorsements-hurt-or-help-your-business/

Recently Shadow play Entertainment discovered that it's online edition of its radio program, Conversations LIVE!, was chosen as one of Blogtalkradio.com's top 200 shows of 2009! Thanks to all of our loyal listeners,some tens of thousands across the world, for your support. We are committed to bringing you the very best of the arts, entertainment and current events on the radio, and with your help we will continue to do so.

Resident Chef Bruce Tretter, host of "Quick & Easy Cooking Tips" on Conversations LIVE! Radio, has a new recipe featured by The Beauty Bean's popular website. Take a look at this delicious dish here: http://thebeautybean.com/site/nourish/healthy-recipe-fresh-fruit-salad-with-a-twist/

Shadow Play Entertainment is pleased to welcome two new authors to its growing public relations family: Rita B. Davis (OVERWHELMED) and Andre Johnson (YEARNING FOR CONTROL). Find out more information about each client at www.shadowplayent.com.

(Sat. March 20, 2010)Shadow Play Entertainment is pleased to be hosting bestselling author Electa Rome Parks in events in Jackson and Pearl, Mississippi. See http://tinyurl.com/yb3g76h for details.

(Fri. March 26th & Sat. March 27, 2010) Shadow Play Entertainment is pleased to be hosting author/media personality Herndon Davis in events in Jackson and Pearl, Mississippi. See http://tinyurl.com/yl5juxn for details.

(Sat. April 3, 2010) Shadow Play Entertainment welcomes author Rita B. Davis to discuss her book OVERWHELMED with Conversations Book Club at Appetizers Restaurant (3000 Hwy 80 E * Pearl, MS) from 6-8p.m.

(April 15-17, 2010) Shadow Play Entertainment will be hosting national recording artist/author Jacki-O and authors Mr. Mean Mug and Jermnine Demouchtte in events centered around its Hip Hop and Books Literacy Campaign in Mississippi. Find details here: http://tinyurl.com/yf8y226

Marcel Emerson Author: My Eyes are Green

 Marcel Emerson makes a stunning literary debut with a gripping tale of passion, pain and the promise of love. Jennifer Peele and Dontae Erickson have just entered the prestigious world of Georgetown University's elite law school. A chance meeting brings them together and they realize they have a lot more in common than their mysterious green eyes. Personal tragedies have made them kindred spirits, both seeking to fill the empty space left by deaths of their mothers. Jennifer, once a rising songstress, re-ignites her passion for singing but ends up facing the flames of an abusive relationship with one of her band members. She struggles to maintain her dignity, her grades and her failing relationship, in spite of its fatal flaws. Dontae falls under the spell of a charming law student, Darrel, but their budding relationship soon withers under the weight of a personal tragedy-the death of Darrel's father. Darrel makes a quick exit and seems to vanish off the face of the earth, only to resurface later, with a pregnant wife in tow. Will Dontae accept Darrel's offer of continuing their relationship, in spite of the fact that he belongs to someone else, or will Dontae move on and look for love in the arms of another? My Eyes Are Green will pull readers into the life and times of the characters, making them feel as if they are a part of the story and that the characters are of flesh and blood. The story races to a powerful climax and decisions are made that will transform each character, forever.

Bio about Executed Texas Inmate Uses Terror, Sadness to Teach Important Lessons

In September 1992 a violent inmate named James Demouchette was executed in Texas for the shooting death of an assistant manager and another man at a Houston pizza restaurant on Oct. 17, 1976. Now in 2009, his youngest brother, Jermnine Demouchette, has released a book that not only chronicles his brother's life but offers hope for young people that might be prone to follow in his violent footsteps. James Demouchette vs. the State of Texas is a revealing look into the mind of a violent man whose reputation in and out of prison earned him the moniker of being "Texas' meanest death row inmate.""There is no question that James was an evil man," says Jermnine. "The account I give in the book attempts to take the reader into the mind of this sociopath, recounting key events in his violent history. There is also a comprehensive section of documents that shed light on his existence in prison."In addition to the 1976 murders, James Demouchette was convicted of fatally stabbing a fellow death row inmate in 1983 and was sentenced to 15 years. According to reports, he was disciplined for beating and raping other inmates, stabbing at least two other offenders, twice set fire to his cell and stabbed two guards searching his cell.To help get the message of the book out to the public, Jermnine Demouchette enlisted the services of publicist Cyrus A. Webb. "I am pleased to help share the message that Jermnine has outlined in his bio about his brother," says Webb,34. "The story is so personal, but I know that there are many people across the country that will be able to relate to some part of it and pick up on the lessons it conveys." (Webb also serves as the Lead Publicist for authors Norma LaVonne Smith "Hope, Change & Obama", Mark Eller "Traitor", T. C. Alexander "Consequences of Adultery", Grandmaster Eric O'Neal "The Legend of Lionman", Sherry Hill "The Marquise Hill Story" as well as t.v. personalities Derrick Hargrove & Nikki Shallwani from MTV's 50 CENT: The Money & The Power, and author/recording artist/actor Tray Chaney from HBO's The Wire. Webb was also the lead publicist for Corey "C-Murder" Miller's book tour DEATH AROUND THE CORNER.) Webb is quick to mention, however, that the book is in no way glorifying the life and actions of James Demouchette. Jermnine explains this way: "The book will show young kids this is not the way you want your life to be, using drugs and hurting people. You will end up in jail are on death row like my brother for the rest of your life. I hope that they will learn from my family's experience, take control of their lives and be productive young men and women." Jermnine Demouchette is also speaking from personal experience. After having his own run-ins with the law he looked at his life and saw that he wanted something better for himself and those around him. He believes that by sharing his story others will be inspired to take a second look at themselves as well. The book can be purchased on Amazon.com or ordered at your local bookstore. Demouchette will join Webb in an event called ART, BOOKS & BEATS at the Comfort Suites Near The Galleria (6221 Richmond Ave. * Houston, TX 77057) on Sat. September 12, 2009 beginning at 2p.m. Admission is free.)

Tameka Foster: Did She Plagiarize or Is She getting played

EXCERPT FROM CLUTCH ONLINE.COM ~ The controversy over whether recording artist Usher’s estranged wife Tameka Foster plagiarized when she wrote an opinion piece for the Huffington Post is symbolic of the squabbles that plague African-Americans in general.

Foster wrote a blog post called “She’s Pretty for a Dark-Skinned Girl” for Hufpo last week that garnered much attention and praise. Not only did the piece show her to be a down-to-earth and strong-minded black woman, but underscored the hurt she has felt as wife to a multi-generational superstar.

But, according to one woman, it exposed Foster to be something else: A thief.

Days after the work was posted, author Aisha Curry who wrote a book called “Pretty for a Black Girl” claimed that Foster’s piece had stolen whole passages from her work. CONTINUE READING...

Listen as Friends, Fans & Fellow Authors Pay Tribute To E. Lynn Harris

On SUNDAY, JULY 26, 2009 @ Conversations LIVE! Radio hosted a special presentation: C. A. Webb Presents "A Tribute To Author E. Lynn Harris". ( Listen to the podcast by visiting http://tobtr.com/s/621800.) Conversations LIVE! Radio took a look at his life as an author and activist with those whom he affected along the way. Among the guests for the hour were bestselling authors Tony Lindsay (CHASIN' IT), DaPharoah69 (seen above with Harris/ THE KING OF EROTICA), Latrese Carter (LIAR, LIAR), N'Tyse (MY SECRETS, YOUR LIES) and James Earl Hardy (B-BOY BLUES). Webb also shares statements by Sherrie Shepherd (co-host of The View), Bestselling authors Marita Golden (IT'S ALL LOVE) and Cheryl Robinson (SWEET GEORGIA BROWN) as well as Patricia D. Woods of Books2Mention Magazine. (see below)

MARITA GOLDEN, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF IT'S ALL LOVE: "I will always remember E. Lynn's generous spirit. He gave of his time, his talent and his treasure in support of emerging writers consistently throughout his life and career, He was a board member of the Hurston/Wright Foundation and was a spirited champion of the work and mission of the foundation in creating opportunities for Black writers. He gave generously to the foundation and created opportunities for others to do the same through parties he hosted. I will miss his sense of humor, his entertaining stories and the inspiring way he lived his life."

SHERRIE SHEPHERD, CO-HOST OF THE VIEW: "I am sad that he (E. Lynn Harris) passed. I wish he and his family peace."

CHERYL ROBINSON, BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF SWEET GEORGIA BROWN: "I cried when I heard the news and as I am writing my thoughts I am still crying because he was and will continue to be my inspiration. When times got tough in this business, he was one of the authors I looked toward, someone I admired for all that he achieved and all that he gave back. I am deeply saddened by his passing. He will be greatly missed. A man who gave so much to so many, even to those he had never met personally. He made an indelible mark in the literary world by being the first to write about black gay men living an "invisible life". And he did so in a way that not only entertained but also enlightened women to a lifestyle that we knew very little of. E. Lynn Harris opened our eyes and gave us a look inside. He will continue to live on in my heart and my mind and legions of new fans will continue to experience him through the vast body of work that he has left behind. E. Lynn Harris was a truly kind and caring person who made a mark in this world. My prayers are with his family during this difficult time."

PATRICIA D. WOODS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF BOOKS2MENTION MAGAZINE: "My deepest condolences goes out to E. Lynn Harris' family, friends and fans. We have lost a dynamic storyteller who possessed an uncanny ability to craft novels that literally pulled readers into the intriguing world of characters that were interesting and witty, told with humor and candor, seasoned with just the right amount of unexpected twists and turns. Delivered with that sensational style that is without a doubt E. Lynn Harris' exclusive signature.
"The first novel that I read by E. Lynn was Just As I Am. I was so profoundly touched by this body of work that I read the book four times.
"Since then, I have read and made it my business to stay abreast with all of his work. We will indeed all miss him and with out a doubt take comfort from the amazing stories that he crafted, for he has indelibly made a mark in the literary world and in the lives of all who had the opportunity to read, gain knowledge and inspiration through his masterful ability to open our eyes and truly try to see life from a different perspective.
"Thank You E. Lynn Harris for the incredible journey. Rest In Peace."

Conversations LIVE! Radio thanks all of those who joined the discussion via chat and listened online. The impact of E. Lynn Harris will continue to be felt and enjoyed through those he touched with his gift, and the dialogues he encouraged will have a lasting effect on us all.

Missed other discussions on Conversations LIVE! Radio? Visit http://www.conversationsliveradio.com.

R.I.P. Author E. Lynn Harris

Renown author E. Lynn Harris passed away on Friday, July 24, at the age of 54, according to the Arkansas Times.The author’s personal assistant confirmed that his health had declined but would not provide any details as to what caused his death. Clutch would like to send our condolences and prayers to Mr. Harris family and friends.

E. Lynn Harris, the best-selling Arkansas author known for contemporary stories about African-Americans, died today during a West Coast book tour. His personal assistant confirmed an unspecified health event this morning, but said she was awaiting word from the scene before providing specifics.

Arkansas Sports 360 provided the first formal report that Harris had died. The item did not cite a source, but Harris was close to the UA Athletic Department and had worked as coach and sponsor of the cheerleaders. Black Voices later confirmed the report, citing a spokesman for his publisher.

Word of the health event began making the rounds on Twitter earlier in the morning.

Born in Michigan, Harris grew up in Little Rock. He attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where he was the school’s first black cheerleader. He continued to be a diehard Razorback fan. He has taught adjunct courses in the English department, most recently last fall.

His latest book, “Basketball Jones,” is about the gay lover of an NBA star. Says the publicity blurb: “In Basketball Jones, E. Lynn Harris explores the consequences of loving someone who is forced to conform to the rules society demands its public heroes follow. Filled with nonstop twists and turns, it will keep readers riveted from the first page to the last.” According to his website biography, Harris, 54, divides his time between Fayetteville and Atlanta.

We Are The Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball

The 2009 Coretta Scott King Author Award
Artist Kadir Nelson received the 2009 Coretta Scott King Author Award for We Are the Ship: The Story of Negro League Baseball, the first book he both wrote and illustrated. (Jump at the Sun/Hyperion Books for Children, an imprint of Disney Book Group, 2008. ISBN: 9780786808328)

Parties Scheduled Nationwide to Encourage Reading

Parties have been scheduled in Little Rock, Memphis, Miami, Atlanta, Raleigh, Houston, Dallas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Flint, Chicago, Indianapolis, Louisville, Washington D. C., New York City and Seattle. Each is free and open to the public, however, those who attend are asked to bring a new or gently used book as a donation that will go to either the Read Across America Project, CityKids Foundation, the Common Ground Foundation, Everybody wins, Adele's Literary Library, Reading Tree or a library in need within that particular city. These events are sponsored in part by For The People Productions, Hype Magazine, Industry Standard Magazine, Poetic Monthly and Crunk Magazine. Special guests include Derrick Hargrove and Nikki Shallwani from MTV's 50 CENT: The Money & The Power, New York Times Bestselling author Scott Sigler, author Mark Eller and author Richard Emmell. To find out more about the reading parties, when and where they will be held and the work that The Write Stuff is doing in general, visit http://www.thewritstufftv.com. For more information about the project and how you can get involved, contact Herschel Dixon at 1.502.994.7852 or Cyrus A. Webb at [email protected].

Urban Tale with Sci-Fi Theme Has Strong Safe-Sex Message, But Maintains Page-Turner Luster

Detroit, MI (BlackNews.com) - Many inner-city residents have found a way to duck the cocaine noose of the drug dealer only to be digested by the AIDS epidemic or some other sexually transmitted menace which could have been easily prevented with the use of a latex condom. So, Detroit author, E. Scrill made the warning to use protection prevalent in nearly every chapter of his debut novel, Drug Lords. Scrill uses provocative cover art with plans to lure readers from every genre' to get his message to "strap up!" "Drug Lords is far from your usual stories of guns and dope," says Scrill, who spent a year with rewrites and research with an actual biochemist to make one of the character's struggle to find a cure for the ZGP virus realistic. In the book, the Zestora virus has mutated. The new form, Zestora Gram-Positive (ZGP), is spread by the exchange of bodily fluids. It attacks the central nervous system and allows no one to live more than six months after becoming infected. A cross between New Jack City and Outbreak, the story is centered in Detroit where Mack--the protagonist--learns that most of the street bosses he planned to evict from their thrones had already been sentenced to death by their own promiscuous activities. Frequent funerals and lousy situations involving degenerate thugs with wretched underpinnings deepen Mack's dread for the funky retirement packages the streets issue. As Mack realizes he was brainwashed into the street life like legions of inner-city residents, a young woman steals his heart and shows how he can save the world as he exits the drug game a very rich man. Lester Ricks, a representative of Alliance Book Group says, "Drug Lords was fire! Scrill is trying to take the pen game to a whole new level!" New York based Alliance is one of the companies who have selected the urban publication for distribution. After doing time in a Michigan prison for guns and 20 pounds of green stuff, author E. Scrill received a 2006 parole. He scraped together enough for a 100-book print run, then began selling his debut novel, Drug Lords, in the cash-strapped streets of Detroit. He traded his inked magic for money, and in 2007 founded Street Ink Publications. Drug Lords has finally reached bookstores and is also available on line at www.streetinkbooks.com. His sophomore novel, Children of the Night, will be available winter '09! Street Ink Publications is now reviewing works by other up and coming authors.

A Collection of Letters by Lamar Ariel

Reviewed by Stanley Bennett Clay  -- “I recently met this boy who has officially made me forget that I am bitter, sarcastic, judgmental, and eccentric as hell,” the author accurately self-observes near the end of this funny, poignant, articulate, witty and brutally honest collection of 27 letters based on incidences in his perfectly normal dizzying black gay life, but exaggerated and fictionalized for maximum entertainment value.Both of Mr. Ariel’s barrels are fully loaded with Addison DeWittisms lethal as paper cuts or an arsenal of Dorothy Parker slams, often at his own expense, resulting in a delightfully caustic read; hysterical and humanized by self-deprecation and keen observations of not only the world around him but his deepest thoughts and the bright and dark sides of his heart and soul.He opens his slight but potent collection (113 pages) with a letter to his best friend revealing deftly the all-too-familiar nuances of such an alliance, especially in the black gay world.A lovely letter of gratitude and love to his mother follows, filled with sentiments all mother-loved sons have felt but have rarely been able to articulate on paper as well as this writer does. It is sheer poetry, as poetic as the letter to his father, divorced from his wife, but clearly not divorced from his son. I laughed out loud at Ariel’s poison-pen-damn-you-to-hell-and yo-mamma-for-birthing-you-too tirade when he saw his ex with another man (come on, we’ve all written one, if only in our minds) and the about-face apology missive that follows (been there, done that).Among the many delectable morsels served up by our middle class, well-educated, proudly gay, New York loving-hating narrator is a surreal close-encounter with a fake Prada-wearing she-devil on the crowded A train in the bowels of the city on a hot day when he ain’t feelin’ it and ends up explaining to the men in blue why he went off and got physical with Shaniqua. One of the most touching letters is another A train observation; a homeless black man, invisible to most, becomes fully present when a young white ‘prippy’ engages him in a discussion of James Baldwin’s “Another Country.”And while Ariel’s letter to New York City, a funny-bitter thanks-for-the-memories-but-me-and-my-man-are-about-to-do-the-white-picket-fence-thing-in-North-Carolina, is a bridge-burning denunciation of urban squalor, excess, and stress, and homage to the joys of country living, his letter to Mr. Funeral Director is a piss-elegant drag queen’s list of every filigree indulgence to be served up in honor of his demise.Oh yes, our narrator is one bourgie, label-loving, class-conscious, color-struck bro, but that’s half the fun. There is much to be admired about this author who is willing to let his mind dance so nakedly on the stage of life. The thoughts he has committed to paper (in prose beautifully and artfully composed) feel authentic, paining us with truth at times, causing us to laugh with recognition quite often, and showing us a way to examine what’s really on our minds, as scary as that sometimes might be. And although Mr. Ariel’s non-linear approach renders the ending a bit anti-climatic, even somewhat arbitrary, his collection of autobiographical fiction is as winning and as neat as a very dry martini! A penny for his thoughts? Hardly. Mr. Ariel’s thoughts are worth their weight in gold.

The Write Stuff, MTV reality star Derrick Hargrove in this week's Crunk Newsletter

Monday, March 2, 2009 --- This week's Crunk Magazine Newsletter features Industry News on the historic literary reality show The Write Stuff as well a feature on Derrick Hargrove from the MTV reality show 50 CENT: Crunk Magazine is a proud sponsor of The Write Stuff reality show and will feature the winner in its online and print editions later this year. To read this week's edition of Crunk Newsletter, visit this link: http://magazinecrunk.powweb.com//march/crunk_weekly_march.html

Mark Curry: Bad Boy B.I.

Beef with Bad Boy Entertainment is nothing new in Hip-Hop. From Loon to the L.O.X., to Suge and Shyne Po, various cats have been disgruntled with Diddy’s movements at one point or another over the years.

Mark Curry, however, is a different case. The rapper/producer has written a new book, Dancing With the Devil (NewMark Books), outlining the good, bad and ugly of his eight years on Bad Boy’s roster before leaving in 2005.  Here he shares with AllHipHop.com his thoughts on “superstar A&R’s,” Diddy’s Making the Band franchise and why the pen is much mightier than the sword. AllHipHop.com: Is the Dancing With the Devil a tell-all or a cautionary tale? Mark Curry: It’s not a tell-all; it’s more like a handbook. It’s just the truth. It’s a story about two men and their differences; just that struggle. AllHipHop.com: When you say that struggle do you mean a clash of personalities, a difference of ethics or both?

Mark Curry: Both. It comes down to right and wrong. There’s a fine line between heaven and hell and that’s why the book is entitled Dancing with the Devil. It’s not a pretty picture but it takes a strong person to survive. The book is inspirational to youth as well. I lost a lot of things chasing a dream. If I could go back and put the dream aside, I’d spend more time with my mother, my family, just real life instead of on the road. CONTINUE READING...

Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy and Everyday Life

Power and influence in the United States are concentrated in three major sectors—government, corporations, and Wall St.  African-Americans have been successful at using one of them—government—in our struggle for full participation in this society. But if Robert Reich is right, the power sector we’ve been leaning on is the wrong one for the 21st century. Reich is a professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley, and served as Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration.  In his new book, “Supercapitalism:  The Transformation of Business, Democracy and Everyday Life” (New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 2007), he argues that the forces of capitalism—corporations and Wall St.—are overwhelming the forces of democracy—government, labor unions, and grassroots political organizations—to the detriment of the common good.  It’s a compelling argument.  And it does not augur well for African-Americans. Reich defines Supercapitalism as a dramatic shift in the U. S. and world economies to a ruthlessly competitive market system, in which consumers and investors have been big winners. “Meanwhile,” he argues, “the democratic aspects of capitalism have declined.  The institutions that undertook formal and informal negotiations to spread the wealth, stabilize jobs and communities, and establish equitable rules of the game—giant oligopolies, large labor unions, regulatory agencies, and legislatures responsive to local communities—have been eclipsed.  Corporations now have little choice but to relentlessly pursue profits…Democratic capitalism has been replaced by Supercapitalism.” Reich traces the dawn of the era of Supercapitalism to the1970s, when deregulation, the advent of global supply chains, and the migration of powerful new technologies such as semiconductors, fiber optics, and the Internet from the laboratories of the Pentagon to the world of business sent the U. S. and world economies soaring.  Following the deregulation of the U. S. financial industry in the mid-70s, Reich argues, Wall St. became extremely effective at aggregating the power of investors to force corporate executives to maximize the market value of their companies.  If they failed to do that, he says, capital moved quickly and efficiently to more profitable companies, with dire consequences for the laggards.  The power of consumers was aggregated in much the same way. As investors, we like high returns in our pension plans, mutual funds and 401ks.  And as consumers, we’ve come to expect great products at bargain prices, with high-quality customer service available at the touch of a telephone or computer keypad. But the consequences of Supercapitalism are not so benign for us as citizens, according to Reich.  Wal-Mart can’t offer the bargains we find on its shelves without keeping its employees’ wages low and cutting their benefits to the bone.  Energy companies can’t heat our homes and power our cars at today’s price levels without polluting the environment and producing global warming.  Corporations can’t maximize profits without compensation practices that create a level of income inequality we’ve never seen before in the history of this country. Reich sees the problem as an imbalance in the widely differing efficacies of capitalism and democracy in performing their separate and often conflicting jobs.  Capitalism’s job, he says, is straightforward—to grow the economic pie.  And, he argues, corporations and Wall St. are performing that job superbly.  Democracy’s job is much more complicated:  determining how the slices of the pie should be divided up, and setting the rules under which capitalism operates.  The institutions of democracy, he argues, are failing in their performance of those tasks. So what of African-Americans?  Does Supercapitalism affect us any differently than it affects other Americans? SOURCE:EBONYJET.COM