Whats Buzzing in the Streets – Page 52

Yung Joc

Jasiel Amon Robinson (born September 20, 1980), better known by his stage name Yung Joc, is an American rapper. He is best known for his hit single “It’s Goin’ Down”.

Robinson’s father, Stanley Tucker, owned a hair-care products company and helped him get an opportunity to write a jingle for Revlon. Robinson followed in his father’s entrepreneurial footsteps and founded his own label to release his music.

Yung Joc met Atlanta producer Nitti Beatz and the two recorded the hit “It’s Goin Down” in the spring of 2005. After teaming with Russell “Block” Spencer, founder of the Block Enterprises label, Spencer signed Joc to Sean Combs’s Bad Boy South for a multimillion-dollar deal, and Bad Boy released Joc’s debut New Joc City that year.

Yung Joc was also featured on the songs “Show Stopper” by Danity Kane (from Diddy’s Making The Band 4) & Cassie’s album track Call U Out. Yung Joc was on 2006 “Forbes’ Richest Rappers List”, ranking at #20, having grossed approximately $10 million that year. “It’s Goin’ Down” reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Hot Rap Tracks chart. The next single, “I Know U See It”, reached #17 on the Hot 100 and #2 on the Hot Rap Tracks.

Joc’s next album, Hustlenomics, was released in 2007, with the singles “Coffee Shop” and “Bottle Poppin'”. Hustlenomics sold 69,000 copies in its first week of release, debuting at number three on the Billboard 200. As of April 2009, it has sold approximately 197,000 copies according to Nielsen Soundscan. In 2007 Yung Joc was featured on his new artist Hotstylz single “Lookin Boy”. During 2008 Yung Joc was featured in the hit singles on “Get Like Me, “So Fly” & “Beep”. Then in 2009 he was featured on Day26 single Imma Put It on Her. Yung Joc released a mixtape entitled Grind Flu for free on his label website Swagg Team Entertainment on August 11, 2009.

Yung Joc recently released his first single from the album Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood entitled “Yeah Boy”. They have also recently shot & released the music video for the single. Yung Joc has also stated in a December 26 interview that he would love to work with New York-based producer DJ Premier for a couple of tracks. The second single has been confirmed as “I Know What She Like” that features Yo Gotti.

On October 7, 2012, RCA Music Group announced it was disbanding J Records along with Arista Records and Jive Records. With the shutdown, Joc (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) were to release his future material (including Mr. Robinson’s Neighborhood) on the RCA Records brand.

On March 18, 2014 Joc released his first official single entitled “I Got Bitches” from his upcoming third album.[9][10] On September 11, 2014 Joc released his second single from his upcoming album entitled “Features” featuring former collaborator & singer T-Pain.

In 2010, Joc formed a new record label through Jive Records, called Swagg Team Entertainment, after a widely publicized lawsuit with Block Entertainment and Bad Boy South. Joc spoke about the lawsuit and his relationship with Diddy in a recent interview.

Swagg Team Entertainment saw their debut from Chicago rap group Hotstylz; with their first single “Lookin Boy”. It also saw the debut from Dallas rap group GS Boyz; their first single being “Stanky Legg.”

In December 2011, Joc’s recording studio for his label Swagg Team was robbed, and the criminals took about $70,000 worth of studio equipment along with a hard drive containing Joc’s unreleased music for his third studio album. It later was announced that one of the robbers identity was revealed by Joc. Joc knew one of the robbers named “Honcho” of Thomaston, Georgia.

As of 2015, Joc has eight children by four women: Amoni, Ja’Kori, Amir, Chase, twins Cadence and Camora, and twins Eden and Allon.

He’s engaged to Kendra Robinson, as of March 2019.

Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye, born Marvin Pentz Gay Jr.; April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an American singer, songwriter and record producer. Gaye helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo artist with a string of hits, including “Ain’t That Peculiar”, “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)” and “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”, and duet recordings with Mary Wells, Kim Weston, Diana Ross and Tammi Terrell, later earning the titles “Prince of Motown” and “Prince of Soul”.

During the 1970s, he recorded the concept albums What’s Going On and Let’s Get It On and became the first artist in Motown (followed by Stevie Wonder) to break away from the reins of their production company.

Gaye’s later recordings influenced several contemporary R&B subgenres, such as quiet storm and neo soul. Following a period in Europe as a tax exile in the early 1980s, Gaye released the 1982 Grammy Award-winning hit “Sexual Healing” and its parent album Midnight Love.

On April 1, 1984, Gaye’s father, Marvin Gay Sr., fatally shot him at their house in the West Adams district of Los Angeles. Since his death, many institutions have posthumously bestowed Gaye with awards and other honors—including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Marvin Gaye was born Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. on April 2, 1939, at Freedman’s Hospital in Washington, D.C., to church minister Marvin Gay Sr., and domestic worker Alberta Gay (née Cooper). His first home was in a public housing project, the Fairfax Apartments (now demolished) at 1617 1st Street SW in the Southwest Waterfront neighborhood. Although one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods, with many elegant Federal-style homes, Southwest was primarily a vast slum. Most buildings were small, in extensive disrepair, and lacked both electricity and running water. The alleys were full of one- and two-story shacks, and nearly every dwelling was overcrowded. Gaye and his friends nicknamed the area “Simple City”, owing to its being “half-city, half country”.

Gaye was the second eldest of the couple’s four children. He had two sisters, Jeanne and Zeola, and one brother, Frankie Gaye. He also had two half-brothers: Michael Cooper, his mother’s son from a previous relationship, and Antwaun Carey Gay, born as a result of his father’s extramarital affairs.

Gaye started singing in church when he was four years old; his father often accompanied him on piano. Gaye and his family were part of a Pentecostal church known as the House of God. The House of God took its teachings from Hebrew Pentecostalism, advocated strict conduct, and adhered to both the Old and New Testaments. Gaye developed a love of singing at an early age and was encouraged to pursue a professional music career after a performance at a school play at 11 singing Mario Lanza’s “Be My Love”. His home life consisted of “brutal whippings” by his father, who struck him for any shortcoming. The young Gaye described living in his father’s house as similar to “…living with a king, a very peculiar, changeable, cruel, and all powerful king.” He felt that had his mother not consoled him and encouraged his singing, he would have killed himself. His sister later explained that Gaye was beaten often, from age seven well into his teenage years.

Gaye attended Syphax Elementary School and then Randall Junior High School. Gaye began to take singing much more seriously in junior high, and he joined and became a singing star with the Randall Junior High Glee Club.

In 1953 or 1954 the Gays moved into the East Capitol Dwellings public housing project in D.C.’s Capitol View neighborhood Their townhouse apartment (Unit 12, 60th Street NE; now demolished) was Marvin’s home until 1962.

Gaye briefly attended Spingarn High School before transferring to Cardozo High School. At Cardozo, Gaye joined several doo-wop vocal groups, including the Dippers and the D.C. Tones. Gaye’s relationship with his father worsened during his teenage years, as his father would kick him out of the house often. In 1956, 17-year-old Gaye dropped out of high school and enlisted in the United States Air Force as a basic airman. Disappointed in having to perform menial tasks, he faked mental illness and was discharged shortly afterwards. Gaye’s sergeant stated that he refused to follow orders.

Following his return, Gaye and good friend Reese Palmer formed the vocal quartet The Marquees. The group performed in the D.C. area and soon began working with Bo Diddley, who assigned the group to Columbia subsidiary OKeh Records after failing to get the group signed to his own label, Chess. The group’s sole single, “Wyatt Earp” (co-written by Bo Diddley), failed to chart and the group was soon dropped from the label. Gaye began composing music during this period.

Moonglows co-founder Harvey Fuqua later hired The Marquees as employees. Under Fuqua’s direction, the group changed its name to Harvey and the New Moonglows, and relocated to Chicago. The group recorded several sides for Chess in 1959, including the song “Mama Loocie”, which was Gaye’s first lead vocal recording. The group found work as session singers for established acts such as Chuck Berry, singing on the hits “Back in the U.S.A.” and “Almost Grown.”

In 1960, the group disbanded. Gaye relocated to Detroit with Fuqua where he signed with Tri-Phi Records as a session musician, playing drums on several Tri-Phi releases. Gaye performed at Motown president Berry Gordy’s house during the holiday season in 1960. Impressed by the singer, Gordy sought Fuqua on his contract with Gaye. Fuqua agreed to sell part of his interest in his contract with Gaye. Shortly afterwards, Gaye signed with Motown subsidiary Tamla.

When Gaye signed with Tamla, he pursued a career as a performer of jazz music and standards, having no desire to become an R&B performer. Before the release of his first single, Gaye was teased about his surname, with some jokingly asking, “Is Marvin Gay?” Gaye changed his surname by adding an e, in the same way as did Sam Cooke. Author David Ritz wrote that Gaye did this to silence rumors of his sexuality, and to put more distance between Gaye and his father.

Gaye released his first single, “Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide”, in May 1961, with the album The Soulful Moods of Marvin Gaye, following a month later. Gaye’s initial recordings failed commercially and he spent most of 1961 performing session work as a drummer for artists such as The Miracles, The Marvelettes and blues artist Jimmy Reed for $5 (US $40 in 2016 dollars) a week. While Gaye took some advice on performing with his eyes open (having been accused of appearing as though he were sleeping), he refused to attend grooming school courses at the John Roberts Powers School for Social Grace in Detroit because of his unwillingness to comply with its orders, something he later regretted.

In 1962, Gaye found success as co-writer of the Marvelettes hit, “Beechwood 4-5789”. His first solo hit, “Stubborn Kind of Fellow”, was later released that September, reaching No. 8 on the R&B chart and No. 46 on the Billboard Hot 100. Gaye reached the top 40 with the dance song, “Hitch Hike”, peaking at No. 30 on the Hot 100. “Pride and Joy” became Gaye’s first top ten single after its release in 1963.

The three singles and songs from the 1962 sessions were included on Gaye’s second album, That Stubborn Kinda Fellow. Starting in October of the year, Gaye performed as part of the Motortown Revue, a series of concert tours headlined at the north and south eastern coasts of the United States as part of the chitlin’ circuit. A filmed performance of Gaye at the Apollo Theater took place in June 1963. Later that October, Tamla issued the live album, Marvin Gaye Recorded Live on Stage. “Can I Get a Witness” became one of Gaye’s early international hits.

In 1964, Gaye recorded a successful duet album with singer Mary Wells titled Together, which reached No. 42 on the pop album chart. The album’s two-sided single, including “Once Upon a Time” and ‘What’s the Matter With You Baby”, each reach the top 20. Gaye’s next solo hit, “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)”, which Holland-Dozier-Holland wrote for him, reached No. 6 on the Hot 100 and reached the top 50 in the UK. Gaye started getting television exposure around this time, on shows such as American Bandstand. Also in 1964, he appeared in the concert film, The T.A.M.I. Show. Gaye had two number-one R&B singles in 1965 with the Miracles–composed “I’ll Be Doggone” and “Ain’t That Peculiar”. Both songs became million-sellers. After this, Gaye returned to jazz-derived ballads for a tribute album to the recently-deceased Nat “King” Cole.

After scoring a hit duet, “It Takes Two” with Kim Weston, Gaye began working with Tammi Terrell on a series of duets, mostly composed by Ashford & Simpson, including “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, “Your Precious Love”, “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing” and “You’re All I Need to Get By”.

“I Heard It through the Grapevine” was recorded by Gaye in April 1967, several months before Gladys Knight and the Pips recorded it. The song features a Wurlitzer piano, percussion, and horns. Gaye’s recording of it paved the way for what later became “psychedelic soul”.

In October 1967, Terrell collapsed in Gaye’s arms during a performance in Farmville, Virginia. Terrell was subsequently rushed to Farmville’s Southside Community Hospital, where doctors discovered she had a malignant tumor in her brain. The diagnosis ended Terrell’s career as a live performer, though she continued to record music under careful supervision. Despite the presence of hit singles such as “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing” and “You’re All I Need to Get By”, Terrell’s illness caused problems with recording, and led to multiple operations to remove the tumor. Gaye was reportedly devastated by Terrell’s sickness and became disillusioned with the record business.

On October 6, 1968, Gaye sang the national anthem during Game 4 of the 1968 World Series, held at Tiger Stadium, in Detroit, Michigan, and played between the Detroit Tigers and the St. Louis Cardinals.

In late 1968, Gaye’s recording of I Heard It Through the Grapevine became Gaye’s first to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also reached the top of the charts in other countries, selling over four million copies. However, Gaye felt the success was something he “didn’t deserve” and that he “felt like a puppet – Berry’s puppet, Anna’s puppet….”Gaye followed it up with “Too Busy Thinking About My Baby” and “That’s the Way Love Is”, which reached the top ten on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1969. That year, his album M.P.G. became his first No. 1 R&B album. Gaye produced and co-wrote two hits for The Originals during this period, including “Baby I’m For Real” and “The Bells”.

Tammi Terrell died from brain cancer on March 16, 1970; Gaye attended her funeral and after a period of depression, Gaye sought out a position on a professional football team, the Detroit Lions, where he later befriended Mel Farr and Lem Barney. It was eventually decided that Gaye would not be allowed to try out owing to fears of possible injuries that could have affected his music career.

On June 1, 1970, Gaye returned to Hitsville U.S.A., where he recorded his new composition “What’s Going On”, inspired by an idea from Renaldo “Obie” Benson of the Four Tops after he witnessed an act of police brutality at an anti-war rally in Berkeley. Upon hearing the song, Berry Gordy refused its release due to his feelings of the song being “too political” for radio. Gaye responded by going on strike from recording until the label released the song. Released in 1971, it reached No. 1 on the R&B charts within a month, staying there for five weeks. It also reached the top spot on Cashbox’s pop chart for a week and reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 and the Record World chart, selling over two million copies.

After giving an ultimatum to record a full album to win creative control from Motown, Gaye spent ten days recording the What’s Going On album that March. Motown issued the album that May after Gaye remixed portions of the album in Hollywood. The album became Gaye’s first million-selling album launching two more top ten singles, “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)” and “Inner City Blues”. One of Motown’s first autonomous works, its theme and segue flow brought the concept album format to rhythm and blues. An AllMusic writer later cited it as “…the most important and passionate record to come out of soul music, delivered by one of its finest voices.” For the album, Gaye received two Grammy Award nominations and several NAACP Image Awards. The album also topped Rolling Stone’s year-end list as its album of the year. Billboard magazine named Gaye Trendsetter of the Year following the album’s success.

In 1971, Gaye signed a new deal with Motown worth $1 million (US $5,913,722 in 2016 dollars), making it the most lucrative deal by a black recording artist at the time. Gaye first responded to the new contract with the soundtrack and subsequent score, Trouble Man, released in late 1972.

“Let’s Get It On” was written by Gaye and producer Ed Townsend, originally as a gospel song, and later as a protest song before eventually turning into a funk-oriented love anthem. It became Gaye’s second number-one hit in 1973.
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In 1973, Gaye released the Let’s Get It On album. Its title track became Gaye’s second No. 1 single on the Hot 100. The album subsequently stayed on the charts for two years and sold over three million copies. The album was later hailed as “a record unparalleled in its sheer sensuality and carnal energy.” Other singles from the album included “Come Get to This”, which recalled Gaye’s early Motown soul sound of the previous decade, while the suggestive “You Sure Love to Ball” reached modest success but received tepid promotion due to the song’s sexually explicit content.

Marvin’s final duet project, Diana & Marvin, with Diana Ross, garnered international success despite contrasting artistic styles. Much of the material was crafted especially for the duo by Ashford and Simpson. Responding to demand from fans and Motown, Gaye started his first tour in four years at the Oakland–Alameda County Coliseum on January 4, 1974. The performance received critical acclaim and resulted in the release of the live album, Marvin Gaye Live! and its single, a live version of Distant Lover, an album track from Let’s Get It On.

The tour helped to increase Gaye’s reputation as a live performer. For a time, he was earning $10,000 a night (US $48,563 in 2016 dollars) for performances. Gaye toured throughout 1974 and 1975. A renewed contract with Motown allowed Gaye to build his own custom-made recording studio.

In October 1975, Gaye gave a performance at a UNESCO benefit concert at New York’s Radio City Music Hall to support UNESCO’s African literacy drive, resulting in him being commended at the United Nations by then-Ambassador to Ghana Shirley Temple Black and Kurt Waldheim. Gaye’s next studio album, I Want You, followed in 1976 with the title track becoming a No. 1 R&B hit. That summer, Gaye embarked on his first European tour in a decade, starting off in England. In early 1977, Gaye released the live album, Live at the London Palladium, which sold over two million copies thanks to the success of its studio song, “Got to Give It Up”, which became a No. 1 hit.

In December 1978, Gaye released Here, My Dear, inspired by the fallout of his first marriage to Anna Gordy. Recorded as an intent for Gaye to remit a portion of its royalties to her to receive alimony payments, it performed poorly on the charts. During that period, Gaye developed a serious dependence and addiction to cocaine and was dealing with several financial issues with the IRS. These issues led him to move to Maui, Hawaii, where he struggled to record a disco album. In 1980, Gaye went on a European tour. By the time the tour stopped, the singer relocated to London when he feared imprisonment for failure to pay back taxes, which had now reached upwards of $4.5 million (US $13,080,170 in 2016 dollars).

Gaye then reworked Love Man from its original disco concept to another personal album invoking religion and the possible end time from a chapter in the Book of Revelation. Titling the album In Our Lifetime?, Gaye worked on the album for much of 1980 in London studios such as Air and Odyssey Studios.

In the fall of that year, someone stole a master tape of a rough draft of the album from one of Gaye’s traveling musicians, Frank Blair, taking the master tape to Motown’s Hollywood headquarters. Motown remixed the album and released it on January 15, 1981. When Gaye learned of its release, he accused Motown of editing and remixing the album without his consent, allowing the release of an unfinished production (Far Cry), altering the album art of his request and removing the album title’s question mark, muting its irony. He also accused the label of rush-releasing the album, comparing his unfinished album to an unfinished Picasso painting. Gaye then vowed not to record any more music for Motown.

On February 14, 1981, under the advice of music promoter Freddy Cousaert, Gaye relocated to Cousaert’s apartment in Ostend, Belgium. While there, Gaye shied away from heavy drug use and began exercising and attending a local Ostend church, regaining personal confidence Following several months of recovery, Gaye sought a comeback onstage, starting the short-lived Heavy Love Affair tour in England and Ostend in June–July 1981. Gaye’s personal attorney Curtis Shaw would later describe Gaye’s Ostend period as “the best thing that ever happened to Marvin”. When word got around that Gaye was planning a musical comeback and an exit from Motown, CBS Urban president Larkin Arnold eventually was able to convince Gaye to sign with CBS. On March 23, 1982, Motown and CBS Records negotiated Gaye’s release from Motown. The details of the contract were not revealed due to a possible negative effect on the singer’s settlement to creditors from the IRS.

Assigned to CBS’ Columbia subsidiary, Gaye worked on his first post-Motown album titled Midnight Love. The first single, “Sexual Healing” which was written and recorded in Ostend in his apartment, was released on September 30, 1982, and became Gaye’s biggest career hit, spending a record ten weeks at No. 1 on the Hot Black Singles chart, becoming the biggest R&B hit of the 1980s according to Billboard stats. The success later translated to the Billboard Hot 100 chart in January 1983 where it peaked at No. 3, while the record reached international success, reaching the top spot in New Zealand and Canada and reaching the top ten on the United Kingdom’s OCC singles chart, later selling over two million copies in the U.S. alone, becoming Gaye’s most successful single to date. The video for the song was shot at Ostend’s Casino-Kursaal.

Sexual Healing won Gaye his first two Grammy Awards including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, in February 1983, and also won Gaye an American Music Award in the R&B-soul category. People magazine called it “America’s hottest musical turn-on since Olivia Newton-John demanded we get Physical.” Midnight Love was released to stores a day after the single’s release, and was equally successful, peaking at the top ten of the Billboard 200 and becoming Gaye’s eighth No. 1 album on the Top Black Albums chart, eventually selling over six million copies worldwide, three million alone in the U.S.

“ I don’t make records for pleasure. I did when I was a younger artist, but I don’t today. I record so that I can feed people what they need, what they feel. Hopefully, I record so that I can help someone overcome a bad time. ”
NME – December 1982

On February 13, 1983, Gaye sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the NBA All-Star Game at The Forum in Inglewood, California—accompanied by Gordon Banks, who played the studio tape from the stands. The following month, Gaye performed at the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever special. This and a May appearance on Soul Train (his third appearance on the show) became Gaye’s final television performances. Gaye embarked on his final concert tour, titled the Sexual Healing Tour, on April 18, 1983, in San Diego. The tour ended on August 14, 1983 at the Pacific Amphitheater in Costa Mesa, California but was plagued by cocaine-triggered paranoia and illness. Following the concert’s end, he retreated to his parents’ house in Los Angeles. In early 1984, Midnight Love was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Male R&B Vocal Performance category, his 12th and final nomination.

At around 12:38 p.m. (PST) on April 1, 1984, while Gaye was in his bedroom, his father Marvin Gay Sr. shot Gaye in the heart and then in his left shoulder, the latter shot taken at point-blank range. Minutes earlier, the two men had been involved in a physical altercation when Gaye intervened in a fight between his parents. The first shot proved to be fatal. Gaye was pronounced dead at 1:01 p.m. (PST) after his body arrived at California Hospital Medical Center.

After Gaye’s funeral, his body was cremated at Forest Lawn Memorial Park at the Hollywood Hills; his ashes were later scattered into the Pacific Ocean. Initially charged with first-degree murder, Gay Sr.’s charges dropped to voluntary manslaughter following a diagnosis of a brain tumor and Gaye’s autopsy revealing the singer had drugs in his system. Marvin Gay Sr. was later sentenced to a suspended six-year sentence and probation. He died at a nursing home in 1998.

Gaye was the father of three children, Marvin III, Nona, and Frankie, and the grandfather of three boys, Marvin IV, Nolan, and Dylan. At the time of his death, he was survived by his three children, parents, and five siblings.

M.C. Hammer

Stanley Kirk Burrell (born March 30, 1962), better known by his stage name M.C. Hammer, is an American hip hop recording artist, dancer, record producer, entrepreneur, and actor. He had his greatest commercial success and popularity from the late 1980s until the late 1990s. Remembered for his rapid rise to fame, Hammer is known for hit records (such as “U Can’t Touch This” and “2 Legit 2 Quit”), flashy dance movements, choreography and eponymous Hammer pants.

A multi-award winner, M.C. Hammer is considered a “forefather/pioneer” and innovator of pop rap (incorporating elements of freestyle music), and is the first hip hop artist to achieve diamond status for an album. Hammer was later considered a sellout due in part to overexposure as an entertainer (having live instrumentation/bands, choreographed dance routines and an impact on popular culture being regularly referenced on television and in music) and as a result of being too “commercial” when rap was “hardcore” at one point, then his image later becoming increasingly “gritty” to once again adapt to the ever-changing landscape of rap. Regardless, BET ranked Hammer as the #7 “Best Dancer Of All Time”. Vibe’s “The Best Rapper Ever Tournament” declared him the 17th favorite of all-time during the first round.

Burrell became a preacher during the late 1990s with a Christian ministry program on TBN called M.C. Hammer and Friends. Additionally, he starred in a Saturday morning cartoon called Hammerman in 1991 and was executive producer of his own reality show called Hammertime which aired on the A&E Network during the summer of 2009. Hammer was also a television show host and dance judge on Dance Fever in 2003, was co-creator of a dance website called DanceJam.com, and is a record label CEO while still performing concerts at music venues and assisting with other social media, ministry and outreach functions. Prior to becoming ordained, Hammer signed with Suge Knight’s Death Row Records by 1995.

Throughout his career, Hammer has managed his own recording business. As a result, he has created and produced his own acts including Oaktown’s 3.5.7, Special Generation, Analise, DRS, B Angie B, and Wee Wee. A part of additional record labels, he has associated/collaborated/recorded with VMF, Tupac Shakur, Teddy Riley, Felton Pilate, Tha Dogg Pound, The Whole 9, The Hines Brother (Andra Hines & Dunkin Hines), Deion Sanders, Big Daddy Kane, BeBe & CeCe Winans and Jon Gibson. In 1992, Doug E. Fresh was signed to M.C. Hammer’s Bust It Records label.

Stanley Kirk Burrell was born on March 30, 1962 in Oakland, California. His father was a professional poker player and gambling casino manager (at Oaks Card Club’s cardroom), as well as warehouse supervisor. He grew up poor with his mother (a secretary) and eight siblings in a small apartment in East Oakland. He recalled that six children were crammed into a three-bedroom housing project apartment. The Burrells would also frequent thoroughbred horse races, eventually becoming owners and winners of several graded stakes.

In the Oakland Coliseum parking lot the young Burrell would sell stray baseballs and dance accompanied by a beatboxer. Oakland A’s team owner Charles O. Finley saw the 11-year-old doing splits and hired him as a clubhouse assistant and batboy as a result of his energy and flair. Burrell served as a “batboy” with the team from 1973 to 1980. In 2010, Hammer discussed his lifelong involvement with sports athletes on ESPN’s First Take as well as explained that his brother Louis Burrell Jr. (who would later become Hammer’s business manager) was actually the batboy while his job was to take calls and do “play-by-plays” for the A’s absentee owner during every summer game. The colorful Finley, who lived in Chicago, used the child as his “eyes and ears.” Reggie Jackson, in describing Burrell’s role for Finley, took credit for his nickname:

A multi-award winner, M.C. Hammer is considered a “forefather/pioneer” and innovator of pop rap (incorporating elements of freestyle music), and is the first hip hop artist to achieve diamond status for an album. Hammer was later considered a sellout due in part to overexposure as an entertainer (having live instrumentation/bands, choreographed dance routines and an impact on popular culture being regularly referenced on television and in music)and as a result of being too “commercial” when rap was “hardcore” at one point, then his image later becoming increasingly “gritty” to once again adapt to the ever-changing landscape of rap ] Regardless, BET ranked Hammer as the #7 “Best Dancer Of All Time”. Vibe ‘s “The Best Rapper Ever Tournament” declared him the 17th favorite of all-time during the first round.

Throughout his career, Hammer has managed his own recording business. As a result, he has created and produced his own acts including Oaktown’s 3.5.7, Common Unity, Special Generation, Analise, One Cause One Effect, Teabag, Dom Kimberley, Geeman, DRS, Pleasure Ellis, B Angie B, Stooge Playaz, Ho Frat Hoo! and Wee Wee, among others. A part of additional record labels, he has associated/collaborated/recorded with VMF, Tupac Shakur, Teddy Riley, Felton Pilate, Tha Dogg Pound, The Whole 9, Deion Sanders, Big Daddy Kane, BeBe & CeCe Winans and Jon Gibson, as well as others. In 1992, Doug E. Fresh was signed to M.C. Hammer’s Bust It Records label. In late 2012, Hammer appeared with Psy at the 40th American Music Awards and during Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest performing a mashup of “Gangnam Style” and “2 Legit 2 Quit” together which was released on iTunes.

Stanley Kirk Burrell was born in Oakland, California on March 30, 1962, a son of a professional poker player and gambling casino manager (at Oaks Card Club’s cardroom), as well as warehouse supervisor. He grew up poor with his mother (a secretary) and eight siblings in a small apartment in East Oakland. The future rapper recalled that six children were crammed into a three-bedroom housing project apartment. The Burrells would also frequent thoroughbred horse races, eventually becoming owners and winners of several prestigious graded stakes.

Burrell served as a “batboy” with the team from 1973 to 1980. In 2010, Hammer discussed his lifelong involvement with sports athletes on ESPN’s First Take as well as explained that his brother Louis Burrell Jr. (who would later become Hammer’s business manager) was actually the batboy while his job was to take calls and do “play-by-plays” for the A’s absentee owner during every summer game. The colorful Finley, who lived in Chicago, used the child as his “eyes and ears.” Reggie Jackson, in describing Burrell’s role for Finley, took credit for his nickname:

Hell, our chief executive, the guy that ran our team, uh, that communicated [with] Charlie Finley, the top man there, was a 13-year old kid. I nicknamed him “Hammer,” because he looked like Hank Aaron [whose nickname was “The Hammer”].

Widely considered the first “mainstream” rapper, Hammer continues to entertain while sharing his legacy with other rappers (as cited on BET.com). Hammer became a fixture of the television airwaves and the big screen, with his music being used in many popular shows, movies and commercials still to this day. He also established a children’s foundation, which first started in Hammer’s own community, called Help The Children (HTC was named after and based on his song by the same name which included a music video with a storyline from his film Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em: The Movie).

Hammer has also influenced the music industry as well as pop culture catchphrases and slang. Hammer’s impression on the music industry appeared almost instantaneous, as Digital Underground’s rap “The Humpty Dance,” which was released when Hammer was still early in his career, included the lyrics “People say ya look like M.C. Hammer on crack, Humpty!”, boasting about Hammer’s showmanship versus Humpty Hump (Shock G)’s inability to match it in dance.

Some critics complained of a lack of originality in Hammer’s early productions. Entertainment Weekly described “U Can’t Touch This” as ‘shamelessly copying its propulsive riff from Rick James (“Super Freak”). Hammer admits, “When I look at Puffy with a choir, I say, ‘Sure that’s a take-off of what I do.”

During his early career (80s and early 90s), Hammer would tour, perform and record with his hype man 2 Bigg MC or Too Big (releasing a song in which he claimed “He’s the King of the Hype”). This duo introduced the “shiny suit” (and popularized Hammer pants) to mainstream America, as seen in videos such as “(Hammer Hammer) They Put Me In A Mix”, in which Hammer also claimed Too Big was the “King of Hype”, who was in an unspoken competition with Flavor Flav (hype man for Public Enemy) during the height of their careers.

Hammer appeared in major marketing campaigns for companies such as Pepsi, KFC, Toshiba and Taco Bell to the point that he was criticized as a “sellout”. Hammer also did commercials for British Knights during the height of his career. The shoe company signed him to a $138 million deal.

In 1994, British TV presenter Mark Lamarr interrupted Hammer repeatedly with Hammer’s catch phrase (“Stop! Hammer Time!”) in an interview filmed for The Word, which he took in good humour. He claimed Hammer was a “living legend”. It was also within this interview that Hammer explained the truth about his relationship with “gangsta rap” and that he was merely changing with the times, not holding onto his old image nor becoming a “hardcore gangsta”. By some accounts, this change contributed to his decline in popularity.

In 2006, M.C. Hammer’s music catalog (approximately 40,000 songs) was sold to the music company Evergreen/BMG for nearly $3 million. Evergreen explained that the collection was “some of the best-selling and most popular rap songs of all time.” Speaking for Evergreen Copyrights, David Schulhof stated the songs “will emerge as a perfect fit for licensing in movies, television shows, and corporate advertising.” According to VH1, “Hammer was on the money. Hit singles and videos like “U Can’t Touch This” and “Too Legit To Quit” created a template of lavish performance values that many rap artists still follow today.”

In March 2009, Ellen DeGeneres made plans for Hammer to be on her show (The Ellen DeGeneres Show) after he contacted her via Twitter.

Hammer continues to give media interviews, such as being a guest on Chelsea Lately (June 16, 2009), where he discussed his relationship with Vanilla Ice, his stint on The Surreal Life, his show Hammertime, his family, his mansion, about him being in shape, his positive financial status and other “colorful topics” (subliminal jokes) regarding his baggy pants.

In 2010, Rick Ross released “MC Hammer” from the Teflon Don album which samples Hammer’s “2 Legit 2 Quit”.

To celebrate Hammer’s 50th birthday, San Francisco game maker Zynga offered up some recent player’s Draw Something drawings from his fans. Other sources/services offered “props” on behalf of his special occasion and to show appreciation for his memorable persona/gimmicks used during the peak of his career.

In 2012, Slaughterhouse released a single called “Hammer Dance”, along with a video. “Hammer Dance” was the lead single from the Welcome to: Our House album.

During the 2013 Oakland Athletics season, the “2 Legit 2 Quit” music video played on the Diamond Vision in between innings, usually during the middle of the 8th inning. The video featured prominent players from the San Francisco Bay Area’s sports championships, such as former A’s players Jose Canseco and hall of fame inductee Rickey Henderson.

In 1984, Burrell began attending Bible studies, joined a street ministry, and formed a gospel rap group known as the Holy Ghost Boys featuring Jon Gibson. In 1986, Burrell, along with Tramaine Hawkins, performed with Gibson’s band doing several concerts at various venues such as the Beverly Theatre in Beverly Hills and recording several rap songs. They collaborated on Gibson’s 1988 album (Change of Heart) for the gospel rap, “This Wall”, prior to M.C. Hammer’s mainstream success. This was contemporary Christian Music’s first rap hit ever. Burrell also produced “Son of the King” at that time, releasing it on his debut album.

Raised Pentecostal, Hammer strayed from his faith during his success, before returning to ministry. His awareness of this can be found in a film he wrote and starred in called Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em: The Movie (1990), in which he also plays the charismatic preacher character named “Reverend Pressure”. Nonetheless, as a tribute to his faith, Hammer vowed/promised to dedicate at least one song on each album to God.

Hammer later reaffirmed his beliefs in October 1997, and began a television ministry called M.C. Hammer and Friends on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, as well as appearing on Praise the Lord programs where he went public about his devotion to ministry as an ordained minister Hammer officiated at the celebrity weddings of actor Corey Feldman and Susie Sprague on October 30, 2002 (as seen on VH1’s The Surreal Life), and also at Mötley Crüe’s Vince Neil and Lia Gerardini’s wedding in January 2005.

During an interview on TBN (between 1997 and 1998), Hammer claimed he adopted the “M.C.” back into his name which now stood for ‘Man of Christ’. Hammer continued to preach while still making music, running a social media business and television show, and devotes time to prison and youth ministries.

From 2009 to 2010, Hammer joined Jaeson Ma at a crusade in Asia. Minister and mentor to Ma for more than a decade, Hammer assisted and co-starred in his documentary film 1040, which explores the spread of Christianity throughout Asia.

At the 40th American Music Awards in November 2012, Hammer danced to a mashup of “Gangnam Style” and “2 Legit 2 Quit” along with South Korean pop star Psy, both wearing his signature Hammer pants. The collaboration was released on iTunes. The performance idea with Hammer came from Psy’s management. They both performed it together again on December 31, 2012 during Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve with Ryan Seacrest.

Hammer received the George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement (not to be mistaken for the Gershwin Prize), presented during the UCLA Spring Sing in Pauley Pavilion on May 17, 2013.

He is currently about to embark on a tour of the US.

Aretha Franklin

Aretha Louise Franklin (March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer and songwriter. Franklin began her career as a child singing gospel at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, where her father, C. L. Franklin, was minister. In 1960, at the age of 18, she embarked on a secular career, recording for Columbia Records but only achieving modest success.

Following her signing to Atlantic Records in 1967, Franklin achieved commercial acclaim and success with songs such as “Respect”, “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”, “Spanish Harlem” and “Think”. By the end of the 1960s decade she had gained the title “The Queen of Soul”. Franklin eventually recorded a total of 112 charted singles on Billboard, including 77 Hot 100 entries, 17 top ten pop singles, 100 R&B entries and twenty number-one R&B singles, becoming the most charted female artist in the chart’s history. Franklin also recorded acclaimed albums such as I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, Lady Soul, Young, Gifted and Black and Amazing Grace before experiencing problems with her record company by the mid-1970s. After her father was shot in 1979, Franklin left Atlantic and signed with Arista Records, finding success with her part in the film The Blues Brothers and with the albums Jump to It and Who’s Zoomin’ Who?. In 1998, Franklin won international acclaim for singing the opera aria “Nessun dorma”, at the Grammys of that year replacing Luciano Pavarotti. Later that same year, she scored her final Top 40 recording with “A Rose Is Still a Rose”. Franklin’s other popular and well known hits include “Rock Steady”, “Jump to It”, “Freeway of Love”, “Who’s Zoomin’ Who”, “Chain Of Fools”, “I Knew You Were Waiting (For Me)” (with George Michael), and a remake of The Rolling Stones song “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”.

Franklin has won a total of 18 Grammy Awards and is one of the best-selling musical artists of all time, having sold over 75 million records worldwide. Franklin has been honored throughout her career including a 1987 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in which she became the first female performer to be inducted. She was inducted to the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. In August 2012, Franklin was inducted into the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Franklin is listed in at least two all-time lists on Rolling Stone magazine, including the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time; and the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Franklin was born in Memphis and grew up in Detroit, where her father, the Rev. C. L. Franklin, was the pastor at the New Bethel Baptist Church. She began singing church music at an early age, and recorded her first album, The Gospel Sound of Aretha Franklin, for the Checker label at age 14. Her early influences, however, included secular singers like Dinah Washington, Sam Cooke, LaVern Baker, and Ruth Brown. Franklin signed with Columbia Records in 1960, yet her tenure at Columbia was open to doubt and found her dabbling in pop and jazz styles.

Columbia’s white ideals misunderstood her brilliance. With her switch to Atlantic Records in 1966, Aretha helped usher in an era of fresh, straightforward soul music. It began with her first single for the label; I Never Loved a Man (the Way I Loved You). Her next achievement was Respect, a fervent reworking of an Otis Redding song. Working with producer Jerry Wexler, engineer Tom Dowd, and arranger Arif Mardin, Franklin rewrote the book on soul music in the late Sixties with a string of smash crossover singles that included Chain of Fools, Think and A Natural Woman (You Make Me Feel).

The Seventies brought continued success to Franklin, who has to date, charted more million-sellers than any other woman in recording history did. “Lady Soul” (as she was dubbed) released Spirit in the Dark and Young, Gifted and Black. Her long tenure with Atlantic came to an end in 1980 and she signed with Arista. There, she recorded everything from gospel to dance music, including Freeway of Love and I Knew You Were Waiting (for Me). In 1987, she became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Franklin backed out of the spotlight in 1988, the year that her sister Carolyn, her brother, and her manager all died. What followed was a long line of accolades, a performance at President Bill Clinton’s 1993 inauguration, and countless minor projects such as a biography and television special. In 1998, Franklin recorded A Rose Is Still a Rose. Aretha Franklin, the “Queen of Soul,” remains one of the greatest vocalists of the age, a singer of great passion, and control whose finest recordings characterize the term soul music in all its deep, expressive glory. As Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun said, “I don’t think there’s anybody I have known who possesses an instrument like hers and who has such a thorough background in gospel, the blues and the essential black-music idiom.

She is blessed with an extraordinary combination of remarkable inner-city sophistication and of the deep blues feeling that comes from the Delta. The results, maybe she is the greatest singer of our time.” Franklin’s latest CD is called “So Damn Happy.”

Franklin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1979, had her voice declared a Michigan “natural resource” in 1985, and became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. NARAS awarded her a Grammy Legend Award in 1991, then the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994. Franklin was a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1994, recipient of the National Medal of Arts in 1999, and was bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005.

Franklin become the second woman inducted to the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. She was the 2008 MusiCares Person of the Year, performing at the Grammys days later. Following news of Franklin’s surgery and recovery in February 2011, the Grammys ceremony paid tribute to the singer with a medley of her classics performed by Christina Aguilera, Florence Welch, Jennifer Hudson, Martina McBride, and Yolanda Adams. That same year she was ranked among the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time top artists, and ranked first on the Rolling Stone list of Greatest Singers of All Time.

Inducted to the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2012, Franklin has been described as “the voice of the civil rights movement, the voice of black America” and a “symbol of black equality”. Franklin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1979, had her voice declared a Michigan “natural resource” in 1985, and became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. NARAS awarded her a Grammy Legend Award in 1991, then the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1994. Franklin was a Kennedy Center Honoree in 1994, recipient of the National Medal of Arts in 1999, and was bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005.

She retired in 2017 and passed on August 16, 2018.

Written by Dianne Washington

Stix Bones

If ya’ll don’t know this man.. You better to get to know him fast. Stix Bones. He is truly a legend in his own time. Percussionist, Music Director, Composer, Audio and Music Engineer are some of the hats he wears. Did I tell you he did the whole score of Street Line movie titled WAITING 4 MR. WRIGHT. Which is just 2,000 short of a million views on youtube! and thats just the legal counted watch time. The movie has viewed and sold out in the well acclaimed Mist theater in Harlem as well in stores that sold dvds. Did I mention the illegal downloads and the selling of the movie by bootleggers, which has spread not only through the US but too third world countries as well. Stix Bones knows how to make a movie come to life. The classy and up beat Jazz album by Stix Bones is sold widely on AMAZON, ITUNES, SPOTIFY and other music media outlets. Did you know that Stix Bones has worked with Doug E. Fresh, De La Soul, Mos Def, the Last Poets, Gil Scott-Heron, and Rahzel just to name a few. He also has written music for the movie thats out now in major theaters titled SAINT JUDY starring Michelle Monaghan, Common, Alfre Woodard, and Mykelti Williamson. The song titled RAISE UP (feat. WordsWorth) has become another master piece of Stix Bones work. The single RAISE UP(featuring WordsWorth) is available @ https://itunes.apple.com/…/raise-up-feat-wordswo…/1456170850 Vinson Johnson Stix BonesWe applaud you Stix Bones for your work and your contributions to the Hip Hop and jazz community.

Spike Lee

Spike Lee was born on this date in 1957. He is an African American filmmaker, writer, actor, and producer.

From Atlanta, Georgia, Sheldon Jackson Lee (his name at birth) is the son of jazz composer Bill Lee and was raised in Brooklyn, New York. Lee graduated from John Dewey high school and majored in communications at Morehouse College, where he directed his first Super-8 films. In 1978, he enrolled in New York University’s Graduate Film School. While attending these two schools, he met future collaborators, cinematographer Ernest Dickerson and co-producer Monty Ross.

Lee’s master’s thesis, the short subject Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads earned him the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science’s Student Award. His first feature film was She’s Gotta Have It (1986), a character study about the love life of a modern Black woman made on a $175,000 budget. Lee wrote, produced, directed, and edited the film and played a key-supporting role, setting up a career-long pattern of his style of involvement. His next film, centered on his experiences at Morehouse, was School Daze (1988).

The well-known Howard Beach incident, in which a Black man was chased and killed by rampaging white youths, was the inspiration for Lee’s third feature, Do the Right Thing (1989). Almost all of his next films dealt with issues of race and racism in the modern United States, sometimes with honest and justifiable fury Jungle Fever (1991) occasionally with magic and ironic humor Crooklyn (1994) and Get on the Bus (1996). With the notable exception of his film Malcolm X (1992), many of Lee’s later works received mixed reviews. Some observers complained about the excessive length of his films.

Others criticized his perpetuation of ethnic stereotypes, especially the Jewish characters in Mo’ Better Blues (1990) and the Italian-Americans in Summer of Sam (1999). Still others have condemned his treatment of his female characters. Lee mentioned what he saw as Hollywood’s anti-Black bias, noting that, while Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, and his documentary 4 Little Girls (1997) all received Academy Award nominations, he was continually denied an Oscar. His father contributed music to She’s Gotta Have It and Mo’ Better Blues, and others; his sister, Joie, played major roles in several productions; and his brother, David Charles Lee, was the still photographer.

His films are known for his uncompromising, provocative approach to controversial subject matter. His recent films have included directing The Kings of Comedy (2001) Jim Brown, All American, 25th Hour, and Ten Minutes Older: The Trumpet (2002) (segment “We Wuz Robbed”). Sucker Free City, (TV) She Hate Me (2004), “Miracle’s Boys,” (mini) TV Series (6 episodes) and “Sucker Free City” (2005) TV Series. currently; The Night Watchman (pre-production) and All the Invisible Children (2006) (filming).

Lee and his wife, attorney Tonya Lewis, had their first child, daughter Satchel, in December 1994. They also have a son, Jackson, born in 1997. Spike Lee is a fan of the American baseball team the New York Yankees, basketball team the New York Knicks, and the English football team Arsenal. One of the documentaries in ESPN’s 30 for 30 series, Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks, focuses partly on Lee’s interaction with Miller at Knicks games in Madison Square Garden.

In June 2003, Lee sought an injunction against Spike TV to prevent them from using his nickname. Lee claimed that because of his fame, viewers would think he was associated with the new channel.

He won an Oscar in 2019 for “Blackkklansmen.”

While Lee continues to maintain an office in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, he and his wife live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Written by Dianne Washington

Tammi Terrell

On March 16, 1970, Tammi Terrell died of complications from brain cancer. She was six weeks short of her 25th birthday. Her funeral was held at the Jane Methodist Church in Philadelphia.

At the funeral, Gaye delivered a final eulogy while “You’re All I Need to Get By” was playing. According to Terrell’s fiancé, Dr. Garrett, who knew Gaye, her mother angrily barred everyone at Motown but Gaye from her funeral.

Written by Dianne Washington

Merlin Santana

Merlin Santana (March 14, 1976 – November 9, 2002) was an American actor. He was best known for his roles as Rudy Huxtable’s admirer Stanley on The Cosby Show, Marcus Dixon on Getting By, Marcus Henry in Under One Roof and as high school student Romeo Santana on The WB sitcom The Steve Harvey Show.

Born in New York City, New York to parents from the Dominican Republic, Santana’s career in show business began with a push from his parents, who wanted to keep him off the tough streets of New York. He began his career at the age of three as an advertising model for a fast food chain. His first screen appearance was as an extra in the Woody Allen film, The Purple Rose of Cairo.

In 1991, Santana landed a recurring role on The Cosby Show as Stanley, the admirer of Rudy Huxtable and the rival of Rudy’s friend Kenny (Deon Richmond). He was then cast as Marcus Dixon in the short-lived sitcom, Getting By, starring Cindy Williams and Telma Hopkins. Deon Richmond was cast as his brother Darren, due to their interaction on The Cosby Show.

In November 1994, Santana appeared on Sister, Sister as Joey, in which he falls in love with Tia and Tamera (Tia and Tamera Mowry) at Rocket Burger.

In 1995, Santana was cast as Marcus Henry in the short-lived CBS family drama Under One Roof, co-starring with James Earl Jones, Joe Morton and Vanessa Bell Calloway. Between 1996 and 1999, he played the role of Ohagi on Moesha.

In 1996, he landed the role of Romeo Santana on The Steve Harvey Show. In 2001, he played the role of Jermaine in the movie Flossin. In 2002, he appeared in the VH1 TV movie, Play’d: A Hip Hop Story with Toni Braxton. That same year, Santana had a role in the Eddie Murphy comedy Showtime. His last television acting role was on the UPN series, Half & Half; his last film role was a 2003 comedy film, The Blues with Deon Richmond. Merlin has 3 unreleased albums.

On November 9, 2002, Santana was shot in the head and killed as he and his best friend, former child actor Brandon Quintin Adams were in a car leaving another man’s home in the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles. Damien Andre Gates fired the shot that entered through the trunk of the vehicle that Santana was in. The bullet penetrated the right-front passenger headrest and entered directly into Santana’s head, killing him instantly. Damien was later convicted of the first-degree murder of Santana and the attempted murder of Adams and was sentenced to three consecutive life sentences plus 70 years in prison. Brandon Douglas Bynes received a 23-year sentence after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon, even though none of the shots fired from his revolver ever entered the vehicle. An officer involved in the case testified that Monique King, reportedly Gates’s girlfriend and aged 15 at the time of Santana’s death, falsely claimed that Santana tried to rape her, which prompted Gates and Bynes to attack the car. King was found guilty of second-degree murder and attempted Murder.http://articles.latimes.com/2004/mar/17/local/me-king17

He acquitted King on two lesser charges.King received ten years in juvenile custody. Santana was 26 years old at the time of his death. He was buried on November 18, 2002, at Saint Raymond’s Cemetery in The Bronx, New York.

Leon

Leon Preston Robinson IV (born March 8, 1962) usually credited as simply Leon, is an American actor and singer, who began his professional career as a film actor in the early-1980s. Robinson is best known for his roles as David Ruffin in the TV Movie The Temptations (1998), J.T. Matthews in the 1991 Robert Townsend film, The Five Heartbeats, Derice Bannock in the 1993 film, Cool Runnings, and as Shep in the 1994 basketball drama film, Above the Rim.

Robinson appeared in a 1989 episode of the NBC series Midnight Caller, in which he played an athlete who falls victim to crack cocaine. He also co-starred in the 1989 ABC miniseries The Women of Brewster Place, as the boyfriend of a suburbanite (played by Robin Givens). He was cast as Saint Martin de Porres in Madonna’s controversial 1989 music video “Like a Prayer”.

Robinson’s early film roles included a football teammate of Tom Cruise in All the Right Moves (1983), as Shadow Nadeing, the Notre Dame-bound basketball playing co-worker of Matt Dillon, in The Flamingo Kid (1984). He costarred in the Michael Mann-produced Tri-Star Pictures film Band of The Hand, as well as the “Killer Bee” in the Dennis Hopper-directed gang film Colors, starring Sean Penn and Robert Duvall. After his exposure in the 1989 video for the song “Like a Prayer” by Madonna, he played a leading role in the 1993 Disney film Cool Runnings. That same year, he co-starred as John Lithgow’s henchman in Renny Harlin’s Cliffhanger and followed with a turn as a disillusioned ex-jock in New Line Cinema’s Above the Rim (1994). Robinson also appeared as Lela Rochon’s married lover in 1995’s Waiting to Exhale directed by Forest Whitaker and starring Whitney Houston and a starring role in the Merchant/Ivory produced movie, Side Streets with Rosario Dawson. He produced as well as starred in the 1997 romantic drama The Price of Kissing with TV star Pauley Perrette. He also starred in the movie Once Upon a Time When We Were Colored, directed by Tim Reid and winner of Best Picture at the NAACP Image Awards.

Robinson has received critical acclaim[by whom?] for his portrayal of three singers: David Ruffin in the 1998 NBC miniseries The Temptations, Little Richard in the self-titled 2000 NBC movie biography, and JT in the 20th Century Fox movie,The Five Heartbeats directed by Robert Townsend. He received an Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Little Richard. During this period, Robinson joined the ensemble cast of two TV series, playing the popular Jefferson Keane on HBO’s first series, Oz and as Lawrence Hill on Showtime’s Resurrection Blvd., a costarring role as “Stoney” best friend of Joaquin Phoenix in Miramax’ military drama Buffalo Soldiers, an uncredited role as “Joseph 13 X” in Michael Mann’s award winning biopic, Ali starring Will Smith, in addition to briefly hosting his own late-night talk show, The L-Bow Room, on BET.

In 2008, Robinson starred in the 20th Century Fox thriller Cover, directed by Bill Duke, and starred alongside Danny Masterson and Dominique Swain in the indie comedy The Brooklyn Heist, directed by Julian Mark Kheel. In 2009, AOL Black Voices voted Robinson one of the Sexiest Actors of All-time. Between 2013 and 2014, he appeared in four movies, the romantic comedy I Really Hate My Ex, written and directed by Troy Beyer, the southern drama Soul Ties, based on the book by Tee Austin, the indie rock/drama 37 and the romantic drama, And Then There Was You with Garcelle Beauvais.

In theater, Robinson has headlined three national tours, with sold out performances at Hollywood’s Kodak Theater, NYC’s Beacon Theater, Detroit’s Fox Theater, Washington, DC’s Warner Theater and more in Friends and Lovers (2005), based on Eric Jerome Dickey’s NY Times bestselling book. In 2009 and 2010 as a soldier returning from Iraq in 3 Ways to Get A Husband co-starring Billy Dee Williams and in 2012, the revival of Why Do Good Girls Like Bad Boys.

Robinson is the lead vocalist and songwriter of the band, Leon and the Peoples. In 2007, he received an International Reggae and World Music Award nomination for the band’s debut CD The Road Less Traveled, winner of Best International Artist at the Joe Higgs Reggae Awards and completed a 36 city US tour with reggae greats Beres Hammond and Marcia Griffiths titled the “For The Love Of It Tour”. He was a frequent guest on Beres Hammond’s 2008 and 2010 North American tours. He head-lined NYC’s Central Park 2010 and 2013 AIDS Walk Concerts. Other performances include: 2011 Aspen Jazz Fest., 2012 Catalpa NYC Music Festival, New Orleans Music Festival, Chicago’s Festival Of Life, Reggae on River, Jamaica’s Rebel Salute, and BET’s popular 106 & Park.

Leon and The Peoples’ single, Love Is A Beautiful Thing was featured on the BET/Centric TV show Culture List, which premiered on July 21, 2013.

Written by Dianne Washington

Wanda Sykes

Wanda Sykes (born March 7, 1964) is an American actress, comedian, and writer. She was first recognized for her work as a writer on The Chris Rock Show, for which she won a Primetime Emmy Award in 1999. In 2004, Entertainment Weekly named Sykes as one of the 25 funniest people in America. She is also known for her role as Barb Baran on CBS’ The New Adventures of Old Christine (2006–10) and for appearances on HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm (2001–11).

Aside from her television appearances, Sykes has also had a career in film, appearing in Monster-in-Law (2005), My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006), Evan Almighty (2007) and License to Wed (2007), as well as voicing characters in the animated films Over the Hedge (2006), Barnyard (2006), Brother Bear 2 (2006), Rio (2011), Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) and Ice Age: Collision Course (2016).

Sykes was born in Portsmouth, Virginia, and raised in the Washington, D.C., area. Her mother, Marion Louise (née Peoples), worked as a banker, and her father, Harry Ellsworth Sykes, was a US Army colonel employed at the Pentagon. Sykes attended Arundel High School in Gambrills, Maryland, and went on to graduate from Hampton University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha. After college, her first job was as a contracting specialist at the National Security Agency (NSA), where she worked for five years.

Sykes’ family history was researched for an episode of the 2012 PBS genealogy program Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates Jr. Her ancestry was traced back to a 1683 court case involving her paternal ninth great-grandmother Elizabeth Banks, a free white woman and indentured servant, who gave birth to a biracial child, Mary Banks, fathered by a slave, who inherited her mother’s free status. According to historian Ira Berlin, a specialist in the history of American slavery, the Sykes family history is “the only such case that I know of in which it is possible to trace a black family rooted in freedom from the late 17th century to the present.

Not completely satisfied with her role with the NSA, Sykes began her stand-up career at a Coors Light Super Talent Showcase in Washington, DC, where she performed for the first time in front of a live audience in 1987.

She continued to hone her talents at local venues while at the NSA until 1992, when she moved to New York City. One of her early tv appearances was Russell Simmons original Def Comedy Jam in the early 90s, where she shared the stage with Adele Givens, JB Smoove, DL Hughley, Bernie Mac, & Bill Bellamy. Working for the Hal Leonard publishing house, she edited a book entitled Polyrhythms – The Musician’s Guide, by Peter Magadini. Her first big break came when opening for Chris Rock at Caroline’s Comedy Club.

In 1997, she joined the writing team on The Chris Rock Show and also made many appearances on the show. The writing team was nominated for four Emmys, and in 1999, won for Outstanding Writing for a Variety, Music, or Comedy Special.

Since that time, she has appeared in such films as Pootie Tang and on TV shows such as Curb Your Enthusiasm. In 2003, she starred in her own short-lived Fox network sitcom, Wanda at Large. The same year, Sykes appeared in an hour-long Comedy Central special, Tongue Untied. That network also ranked her No. 70 on its list of the 100 greatest all-time stand ups. She served as a correspondent for HBO’s Inside the NFL, hosted Comedy Central’s popular show Premium Blend, and voiced a recurring character named Gladys on Comedy Central’s puppet show Crank Yankers. She also had a short-lived show on Comedy Central called Wanda Does It.

In addition to her film and television work, she is also an author. She wrote Yeah, I Said It, a book of humorous observations on various topics, published in September 2004.

In 2006, she landed a recurring role as Barb, opposite Julia Louis-Dreyfus, on the sitcom The New Adventures of Old Christine; she became a series regular during the series’ third season in 2008. She also guest starred in the Will & Grace episode “Buy, Buy Baby” in 2006. She provided voices for the 2006 films Over the Hedge, Barnyard, and Brother Bear 2. She had a part in My Super Ex-Girlfriend and after playing in Evan Almighty, had a bit part in License to Wed. Sykes’ first HBO Comedy Special, entitled Wanda Sykes: Sick & Tired, premiered on October 14, 2006; it was nominated for a 2007 Emmy Award. In 2008, she performed as part of Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors Tour for LGBT rights.

In October 2008, Wanda Sykes appeared in a television ad for the Think Before You Speak Campaign, an advertising campaign by GLSEN aimed at curbing homophobic slang in youth communities. In the 30-second spot, she uses humor to scold a teenager for saying “that’s so gay” when he really means “that is so bad”.

In March 2009, it was announced that Sykes would be the host of a new late-night talk show on Saturdays on Fox, The Wanda Sykes Show which was scheduled to premiere November 7, 2009. In April 2009, she was named in Out magazine’s “Annual Power 50 List”, landing at number 35.

In May 2009, Sykes was the featured entertainer for the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, becoming both the first African American woman and the first openly LGBT person to get the role. Cedric the Entertainer had been the first African American to become the featured entertainer in 2005. At this event, Sykes made controversial headlines as she responded to conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh’s comments regarding President Barack Obama. Limbaugh, in reference to Obama’s presidential agenda, had said “I hope he fails”. In response, Sykes quipped: “I hope his [Limbaugh’s] kidneys fail, how ’bout that? Needs a little waterboarding, that’s what he needs.”

Her second comedy special, Wanda Sykes: I’ma Be Me premiered on HBO in October 2009. November 2009 saw the premier of The Wanda Sykes Show, which starts with a monologue and continues with a panel discussion in a similar format to Bill Maher’s shows Real Time with Bill Maher and Politically Incorrect.

She appeared as Miss Hannigan in a professional theatre production of Annie at The Media Theatre in Media, PA, a suburb 25 minutes southwest of Philadelphia. Her first appearance in a musical, she played the role from November 23 – December 12, 2010, and again from January 12–23, 2011. She voices the Witch in the Bubble Guppies episode “Bubble Puppy’s Fin-tastic Fairlytale Adventure”.

In 2012, Sykes role the voice of Granny in Ice Age: Continental Drift, and In 2016, she was returned voice of Granny in Ice Age: Collision Course from the Blue Sky Studios’ “Ice Age movies”.

In May 2013, Sykes was a featured entertainer at Olivia Travel’s 40th anniversary Music & Comedy Festival in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

In 2013, Sykes appeared in eight episodes of Amazon’s Alpha House, a political comedy series written by Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau. Sykes plays Rosalyn DuPeche, a Democratic Senator from Illinois and the next door neighbor of four Republican senators living together in a house on Capitol Hill. Sykes also appeared in Season Two, which became available in October 2014. The series was canceled after the second season.

Sykes was married to record producer Dave Hall from 1991 to 1998. In November 2008, she publicly came out as a lesbian while at a same-sex marriage rally in Las Vegas regarding Proposition 8. A month earlier, Sykes had married her partner Alex Niedbalski, a French woman, whom she had met in 2006. The couple also became parents on April 27, 2009, when Alex gave birth to a pair of fraternal twins, daughter Olivia Lou and son Lucas Claude.

Sykes only came out to her conservative mother Marion and father Harry when she was 40, who both initially had difficulty accepting her homosexuality. They declined to attend her wedding with Alex, which led to a brief period of estrangement; they have since reconciled with Sykes and are now proud grandparents to the couple’s children.

During a September 19, 2011, appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Sykes announced that she had been diagnosed earlier in the year with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS). Although DCIS is a non-invasive “stage zero breast cancer”, Sykes had elected to have a bilateral mastectomy in order to lower her chances of getting breast cancer.

Sykes splits time living in both Los Angeles and Media, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia.

Sykes publicly expressed being devastated when California voters passed state Proposition 8. She said: “with the legislation that they passed, I can’t sit by and just watch. I just can’t do it.” She has continued to be active in same-sex marriage issues hosting events and emceeing fundraisers. She has also worked with PETA on promoting dog anti-chaining legislation in her home state.

She has been an outspoken supporter of Detroit’s Ruth Ellis Center after the organization’s staff sent Sykes a letter asking her to visit during her 2010 tour’s stop in Detroit.