Tag: Wu-Tang Clan

Only Built 4 Cuban Linx… The Purple Tape: The 25th Anniversary

Another hip hop milestone, another classic hip hop album. This album definitely is the soundtrack and the first of it’s kind. Mafioso style hip hop about the harsh realities of the street life in the ghetto. Stories of drugs, crime, sex, money, survival, and flashy cars and clothes. 2 out 9 members of the iconic and legendary Wu-Tang Clan, teamed up together to create the perfect movie about the life of an everyday street hustler. With it’s rawness, rough, truthful, and some knowledge throw into the mix, “Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…” painted a picture of street hustlers trying to make a way in everyday life. Telling stories of their experiences about what the street life is like. It allows all the negative but brutally honest energies of that lifestyle to push through into storytelling as a way to keep a listener intrigued but also teaches awareness about a dark world. With Wu-Tang already on the rise since their debut in November 1993, solo projects from the members only helped their popularity and success rise. 25 years ago, on August 1st, 1995, Raekwon The Chef & Ghostface Killah teamed up together to create “Only Built For Cuban Linx…” Also known as “The Purple Tape”, the album is a must have in a hip hop lover’s collection. It’s one of the most talked about albums of all time and the album also was the first of it’s kind, ushering in future albums like Jay-Z’s “Reasonable Doubt”, The Notorious B.I.G. “Life After Death”, and even another Wu-Tang Clan member’s own GZA’s “Liquid Swords.” During the mid to late 90’s, mafioso rap became very mainstream and popular. Leaving behind all of the colorful, happy raps, and dance tracks, this style of rap was more dark. It was the soundtrack of a generation that grew up during the crack era in the 1980’s and survived by hustling in the streets to make an everyday living. It resonated with so many people which is why this style of rap was so popular. 25 years later, “Cuban Linx…” is a masterpiece that’s timeless. It aged so well and gracefully. The same generation that survived the crack era days are now much older with families and can reflect back on how hard times were in life. With the scars on their bodies and the roughness in their attitudes, they can be able to express what this music means to them. It’s a remembrance of surviving. They pound each other up with love and say “Yo! What’s good kid?” It’s the language of the broken street kid whose a survivor now. Life is good now. They’ll say “Man, that was years ago! We don’t do that shit no more! We got kids and a family now.” 

Written by Jalen Hemphill

Bokeem Woodbine

Bokeem Woodbine (born April 13, 1973) is an American actor. He is mostly known for his role as Mike Milligan on the second season of Fargo. He will portray Herman Schultz/Shocker in Spider-Man: Homecoming. For his performance in Fargo, he won a Black Reel Award, and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Critics’ Choice Television Award.
Bokeem Woodbine was born in Harlem, New York, on April 13, 1973. Woodbine attended the prestigious Dalton School on Manhattan’s Upper East Side before transferring to the Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in the city.
With the encouragement of his actress mother, Woodbine entered show biz at age 19 as a stand-in and extra in Ernest Dickerson’s directorial debut, the hip-hop classic Juice (1992), starring Tupac Shakur and Omar Epps. In the following year, he made his TV acting debut in the CBS Schoolbreak Special entitled “Love Off Limits.” His appearance was noticed by casting director Jaki Brown-Karman who later recommended him to Forest Whitaker for the latter’s directorial effort, the HBO television movie Strapped (1993). Since then, he has worked with other major African American filmmakers such as Spike Lee, Mario Van Peebles and the Hughes Brothers in the films Crooklyn (1994), Panther (1995) and Dead Presidents (1995), respectively.
In 1996 he appeared in Tupac’s music video for “I Ain’t Mad at Cha” and formed a friendship with the rapper. They subsequently reunited in Vondie Curtis-Hall’s directorial debut, Gridlock’d, which was released four months after Tupac’s death.
Entering the new millennium, Woodbine was featured as a regular on the NBC midseason sitcom Battery Park and played Dr. Damon Bradley, who later turned out to be a serial rapist, in the short-lived CBS medical drama City of Angels, the latter of which earned him a nomination for the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series. Additionally, he appeared in the Wu-Tang Clan’s music videos for their songs “Protect Ya Neck”, “Gravel Pit”, and “Careful (Click, Click)”. Woodbine went to portray prolific saxophonist David “Fathead” Newman in the Taylor Hackford-directed and Jamie Foxx-starring Oscar-winning biopic Ray (2004), about legendary rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles.
Over the next few years, Woodbine made minor appearances in both film and television. On the small screen, he could be seen in an episode of Fox’s ongoing crime-drama Bones and ABC’s short-lived cop drama The Evidence, as well as two episodes of Spike TV’s Blade: The Series, based on Marvel Comics’ character and popular film series. The next year, Woodbine appeared with his Blade: The Series co-star, Sticky Fingaz in his musical drama film A Day in the Life, starring Omar Epps and Mekhi Phifer, and two films by Jesse V. Johnson: the low-budget sci-fi/action movie The Last Sentinel (alongside Don “The Dragon” Wilson and Katee Sackhoff), and the action film The Butcher, opposite Eric Roberts. He also landed a series regular, as Leon Cooley, an inmate on death row, in the TNT crime/drama series Saving Grace, starring Academy Award–winning actress Holly Hunter in her first TV series.
In 2009 onward, Woodbine appeared in the blaxploitation film Black Dynamite and followed it up the next year with the M. Night Shyamalan-produced supernatural thriller Devil. He has also appeared as an officer on the critically acclaimed series Southland (2011). He next appeared in the 2012 remake of Total Recall and then Riddick the next year.
In December 2015, he received a Critics’ Choice Television Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Movie/Miniseries for his role as Mike Milligan in Fargo.
In June 2016, Woodbine was cast in the Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios film Spider-Man: Homecoming as Shocker, one of four villains, alongside Michael Keaton, Logan Marshall-Green and Michael Chernus.
In 2017, Woodbine appeared in the Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios film Spider-Man: Homecoming, as Shocker, one of four villains, alongside Michael Keaton, Logan Marshall-Green and Michael Chernus.

Written by Dianne Washington

Wu-Tang Forever: The 20th Anniversary

As a hip hop fan and lover, sometimes I feel like it’s impossible to keep up with so many different albums that are out there, whether new or old. Today, June 3rd, 2017, I find out that it’s the 20th anniversary of Wu-Tang Clan’s second album “Wu-Tang Forever.” First thought that came to my head was “Yo! I never really sat down and heard this joint from start to finish. Immediately went to my YouTube app, typed in the name of the album in my search engine and finally gave it a listen. I saw the playlist has 27 songs in total, so I knew this album is a double disc joint. As I’m listening to it, I honestly wasn’t impressed right away. I guess I have to give it a few more listens because to me the production alone, I wasn’t a fan on. The second half of the album is amazing though. How crazy is that? It definitely balances the album out for me. For me, this album gave all 9 members an equal amount of time to have their own personal shine. A few guest appearances, lyrics about consciousness, influence of the teachings of the Five Percenters, and of course in true hip hop fashion, gotta give us stories about the harsh realities of the ghetto. What I love most about the album is that you can feel how closer and stronger the Wu is as a unit, as a group, as brothers, as a family. The title is definitely fitting for this album.

I Used to Love H.E.R.: An Ode to Hip Hop!

Dear Hip Hop,

I was 17 years old, it was the beginning of my senior year in high school. At that time I was young, naive, afraid, a coward, very insecure, I had no sense of direction or understanding, I was in the darkest place of my life and I was going through a lot of shit, fighting every single day to get to a new place, trying to figure out who I was. The only thing that got me through those tough times was music. I grew up on music, I breathed, walked, talked, ate, and slept music, that’s all I know more than anything else. I was a heavy music fan and lover, especially hip hop and R&B. During the beginning of my senior year, a very close friend of mine introduced me to a place I never knew existed. This place was a place filled with MC’s, not rappers, MC’s/poets, DJ’s, breakdancers, producers and graffiti artists, this was a place that had the perfect hip hop scene. Noticed how I said MC’s and not “rappers” is because they actually tore the place down with their incredible talent and had so much control and respect on the mic. At this time, I started getting to know everyone and everyone was cool and amazingly talented. I had been exposed to hip hop growing up but this was it for me, this sealed the deal for me. That’s when I finally understood what hip hop culture was all about. It was about unity, having fun, being peaceful, conscious, expressing your experiences and stories through art in order to reach a certain audience that reflected our environment and it definitely started to leave a huge influence on me and it showed in my attitude and my appearance. I can’t forget to mention that this place I was introduced to was an underground, low key spot here in the South Bronx on East 149th Street right around the corner from White Castle before they got rid of it. Ever since then, hip hop took a huge effect and toll on me. I started to dress differently, my mindset is different, my outlook on life is different and slowly but surely my life is beginning to change and get better, I was seeing the light. I went from the R&B Ne-Yo and Bruno Mars look in argyle sweater vests and Prada shoes to the Big Daddy Kane, Slick Rick, Run-D.M.C., Kid N’ Play, Wu-Tang Clan look with the high top fade, Doc Marten boots, overalls, gold rope chain, baggy jeans and hoodies and Timbaland boots. Everything about me was different, my look, my walk, talk, style, attitude and I was getting stopped in the middle of the street getting complimented and respected for it. Fast forward to now in 2016, I’m 22 years old, I know exactly who I am and where I’m going and I definitely can’t forget where I come from. Being from the South Bronx, I feel it is my responsibility to keep this culture alive but that sounds “old”, “not relevant”, “corny” and “stuck in the old days” to those who don’t care about this culture or understand it. Thank you DJ Kool Herc for creating the greatest soundtrack of my life. Thank you Run-D.M.C. for teaching me how to rock a fresh pair of Adidas, thank you Big Daddy Kane for teaching me how not to be a half stepper and to have a high top whose rule, thank you LL for teaching me how to appreciate our “around-the-way” girls and not to call them out their names for having long nails, extensions in their hair, and bamboo earrings with at least 2 pair, thank you A Tribe Called Quest for teaching me self righteousness and teaching me that I can definitely “kick it” too, thank you Kid N’ Play for teaching me what a real house party looks like, and thank you Mary J. Blige for giving us R&B singers a place in the hip hop community. We may not have a dope rhyme to spit but we are just as down too. Hip hop may not be the same and it’s always gonna evolve and Black music is Black music and it’s all good but everyday I try not to get too salty about her hanging out with the Trap niggas……. *Shrugs* Thank you hip hop for being the love of my life. Peace and One Love.