Today In Hip Hop History: Cult Classic Film ‘New Jack City’ Premiered in Theaters 31 Years Ago

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On this day, 31 years ago, the cult-classic crime thriller New Jack City arrived in theaters across America. The story of the rise and fall of Nino Brown and the Cash Money Brothers has continued inspired Hip Hop culture for a quarter-century and continues to permeate the culture that made it a success.

New Jack City came about at a pivotal time. In 1991, Hip Hop was still a fledging music genre and culture, looking to legitimize itself in the eyes of mainstream America officially. In addition, the blaxploitation film genre had been defunct for over a decade, leaving a gaping hole in “Black Hollywood.” New Jack City was a harbinger of the resurgence of Black actors, writers, and filmmakers in Hollywood, as well as the crystallization of Hip Hop’s synergistic capabilities.

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The film also catapulted actors like Wesley Snipes, who played the lead role as the morally barren kingpin Nino Brown and Chris Rock stick-up-kid-turned-crackhead-informant “Pookie,” into stardom. The film’s director Mario Van Peebles also made his directorial debut with the film, which he also starred in. Ice T, who also played a major role in New Jack City as NYPD detective “Scotty Appleton,” spoke with Rock on his “Final Level” podcast about some of the behind-the-scenes of the cult classic.

Chris Rock: At the time, you and I were the most popular people in the cast, really, just ’cause we’d done s**t.

Ice-T: We’d done things.

Chris Rock: Nobody knew Mario [Van Peebles]. Nobody knew Wesley [Snipes].

Ice-T: Wesley had done Major League.

Chris Rock: No one knew “G-Money,” you know, Allen Payne.

Ice-T: That was what got me confident enough to act.

Chris Rock: And you were actually making money. [Laughs] I was broke.

Ice-T: … You know, it was an interesting experience. New Jack City was a new-jack movie. The director was a new-jack.

Chris Rock: The producers were new-jacks, new-jack actors, new-jack soundtrack. Remember we kept runnin’ out of money? There was a couple of times, while we were filming, we were like, “This s**t is getting shut down.” Like, the chase on the bikes was [suppose to be] a car-chase. But it turned into a bike-chase; we had no money! [Laughs] Somebody had to think fast.

The film was shot on an $8 million budget and premiered at the 1991 Sundance Film Festival on January 17, 1991. The film would later release nationally on March 8, 1991, raking in $7,039,622 in opening weekend sales — and later became the highest-grossing indie film of 1991 with $47,624,253 domestically.

The film also had a longstanding effect on the music industry. Perhaps the most notable example is brother Bryan “Birdman” and Ronald “Slim” Williams‘ Cash Money Records label, a blatant reworking of Nino Brown’s “Cash Money Brothers” gang in the film. In addition, Lil Wayne‘s solo album series Tha Carter is not only his last name but an homage to “The Carter,” Nino’s crack house fortress in the film, as well as name drops Nino in his 2010 single “I’m Single.”

For decades, Nino Brown has become a regularly referenced movie character in rap lyrics. A simple search of “Nino Brown” on RapGenius shows over 4000 references to the surface by artists from all over the world. It’s safe to say Nino and New Jack City will continue to inspire generations to come, and if you disagree…

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Today In Hip Hop History: Biggie Gets Booed At Soul Train Music Awards In L.A. 25 Years Ago

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On this date in 1997, The Notorious B.I.G. was booed on stage before presenting the award for Best R&B Soul Single Female at the 1997 Soul Train Music Awards.

The audience in Los Angeles wasn’t too friendly towards Biggie, especially since his then rival Tupac Shakur was just shot and killed in Las Vegas six months earlier. Big gave a cynical “What’s up Cali?” as the boos and jeers grew louder and more intense.

Biggie was killed a little more than a day later in a drive-by shooting after leaving the Vibe Magazine Soul Train Awards after party. Biggie’s sudden murder proved that Tupac’s murder the year prior was more than a random shooting and that the East Coast vs. West Coast beef was more than just a rap beef between two former friends.

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Happy 48th Birthday Beanie Sigel!

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Born on this date in 1974 in the City of Brotherly Love, Dwight Grant aka Beanie Sigel aka Beans morphed into a icon in the Philly Hip Hop scene as the leader of the now defunct Roc-A-Fella Records’ State Property. Even with all of his legal troubles and the untimely split of the Roc, Beanie is still regarded as one of the best emcees of his era and one of the very few who lives what he speaks in the booth.

With six solo albums, three State Property collabos and four silver screen blockbuster appearances, it’s difficult to argue that Beans has not had a successful career. Anyone who was able to hold Hova’s attention for more than one album has some obvious skills to match his street bravado.

Happy born day to Beans and many more in the future!

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Today In Hip Hop History: Fabolous Released His Sophomore LP ‘Street Dreams’ 19 Years Ago

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On this date in 2003, Brooklyn mixtape rapper turned star Fabolous survived the sophomore jinx, dropping his second album Street Dreams, which was released on DJ Clue’s Desert Storm/Elektra imprint.

With production from the likes of Kanye West, Timbaland, Just Blaze, Trackmasters, and Clue, this 20 track album was bound for platinum status. The LP debuted at number three on Billboard and officially sold a million copies and was certified platinum by the RIAA six months after its release.

Singles such as “Into You”, which featured Tamia (and an alternate version, featuring Ashanti), “Can’t Let You Go” featuring Lil Mo, “Trade It All” (Part 2) with Jagged Edge, and the “Keepin’ It Gangsta” remix all served to make this album one of Fab’s best commercial releases of his career.

Salute to Fab, Clue and the entire Desert Storm crew for this timeless piece of Hip Hop history!

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Happy Birthday to Brand Nubian Founder Grand Puba!

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On this day in Hip-Hop history, Brand Nubian founder Maxwell Dixon a.k.a. Grand Puba, was born today in 1966.

Grand Puba made his musical debut with the group Masters of Ceremony. The group’s first album Dynamite was released in 1988 and had an excellent critical reception. However, due to the lack of sales, the group disbanded shortly after the album’s release. This was when Puba emerged as the lead emcee of Brand Nubian.

Shortly after the 1990 release of the group’s debut, genre-less album One for All (which spanned reggae to Hip Hop to new jack swing), Grand Puba again parted ways from his group and embarked on a solo career. He recorded and released two albums, Reel to Reel, in 1992 and 2000 in 1995. Reel to Reel had much commercial success peaking at #28 on the Billboard 200 and toting the #1 hit single “360 Degrees (What Goes Around).” 2000 was also a success reaching the #48 spot on the Billboard 200 and its single “I Like It (I Wanna Be Where You Are)” hitting #91 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

In 1997, Grand Puba returned to Brand Nubian, and the group released Foundation in 1998. This album marked the reunion of the four original members. It was the first time they appeared together since their debut. This was their most successful album as a group peaking at #59 on the Billboard 200 chart, and the single “Don’t Let It Go To Your Head” reached #53 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was their highest climbing track.

In 2001 Grand Puba released Understand This, and in 2009, he released his fourth solo album Retroactive featuring production from Q-Tip, Large Professor, and Kid Capri. Over the years, Grand Puba has worked with Beanie Sigel, Missy Elliot, Mary J. Blige, and more. He was even sampled on the hook on the 2Pac record “Old School.”

We here at The Source would like to wish Grand Puba a happy born day. May you see many more years of success and prosperity!

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Today In Hip Hop History: Boogie Down Productions’ Debut LP ‘Criminal Minded’ Turns 35 Years Old!

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On this date in 1987, “Blastmaster” KRS-One, DJ Scott La Rock, “The Human 808” D-Nice and the rest of the Boogie Down Productions crew released their highly anticipated debut album Criminal Minded on B-Boy Records.

With the “South Bronx” vs. “The Bridge” aka BDP vs. The Juice Crew beef on wax was at its height, the Criminal Minded album proved to be one of the most important instructional projects for up and coming emcees on how to take out the top dog and start your own reign. As KRS mentioned in the QDIII Beef documentary, if MC Shan wouldn’t have responded to “The Bridge Is Over”, one of the premiere singles from the album, there probably would not have been the rise and success of KRS and BDP.

With Boogie Down Productions aligned with DJ Red Alert on the FM dial at 98.7 KISS and The Juice Crew siding with the one and only Mister Magic and Marley Marl on 107.5 WBLS, it also began the early radio wars, which is actually the origin of the HOT 97 and Power 105 battle on the dial.

Tracks that will forever be etched in Hip Hop history include intellectually adept “Poetry”, the street sagas in “My 9mm Goes Bang” and “P Is Still Free”, the late Scott La Rock-inspired “Super Hoe” and the extensive lyrical lesson in the album’s title track. Ironically, Scott Sterling, better known as DJ Scott La Rock, was killed less than six months after the album’s successful release.

Following Scott’s death, KRS began dropping socially conscious singles and albums, prompting Hip Hop’s “Stop The Violence” movement and the iconic, star-studded “Self Destruction” single.

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Happy Birthday To Wu Tang Clan’s Method Man!

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On this date in 1971, the Shaolin Island emcee who was virtually named after the term “John Blaze”, was born in Long Island, New York.

Admired for his unique voice and witty lyrics, Method Man is known for his one of a kind sound. The Long Island-born/Staten Island bred rapper raised the bar for the ideal Shaolin emcee alongside Wu brothers Raekwon and Ghostface Killah. Trailblazing the 90s, Johnny Blaze has pioneered an impressive portion of verses that are considered as one of the greatest in hip-hop history. His unpredictably bouncy flow hit wax in 1993 on Wu-Tang’s debut Enter the Wu-Tang: 36 Chambers, which featured what would later become his anthem, “M.E.T.H.O.D. M.A.N.” His signature stance continued into creating essential tunes as featured in his 1994 solo debut, Tical, along with guest features on the solo debuts of fellow Wu members and the only featured emcee on Biggie’s Ready To Die LP.

The wavering style and persona of Method Man have allowed him to flourish in many different pursuits in both music and entertainment. His iconic r&b collaboration with Mary J. Blige  “I’ll Be There for You/You’re All I Need to Get By” is sanctioned as a cult classic and also snagged the class-act rapper a Grammy in 1996. Dubbing another innovative vibe, his musical duality with Redman became one of the most distinct and successful in the light of hip-hop duos, which triggered Method Man’s acting career. Bound to craft commendable works, starting from his role as Father Sha in Belly (1998), to How High, and now Power II: Book Of Ghost, the man with the iron lung has maintained a stellar track record of creating classics that are timeless. His deeds as an emcee, actor, showman, and overall creative make him one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time. A certified legend.

Happy born day to Meth!

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Today in Hip-Hop History: J Dilla Dropped His ‘Welcome 2 Detroit’ Album 21 Years Ago

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On this date in 2001, Slum Village producer Jay Dee changed his name to J Dilla and released his debut solo album entitled Welcome 2 Detroit. The 16 track BBE distributed LP featured otherwise unknown artists from Dilla’s hometown such as Elzhi and Phat Kat among others.

Although it is a solo album, on several cuts, such as the first single “Pause”, Dilla takes a backseat and lets others command the mic. Dilla also sings the lead vocals on his cover of Donald Byrd’s “Think Twice”, which also has Motown crooner Dwele playing the keyboard and singing background vocals.

Salute to the late beat making icon J Dilla and the rest of his BBE family for bringing Hip Hop such an unforgettable classic!

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Today in Hip-Hop History: Boogie Down Productions Dropped Their ‘Sex And Violence’ Album 29 Years Ago

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On this date in 1993, KRS-One and the rest of the Boogie Down Productions crew dropped the Sex And Violence album, which was the fifth and last album put out by the pioneering Bronx-based Hip Hop collective.

The album produced less than lackluster sales, partially, according to KRS, because of his incident where he threw PM Dawn rapper Prince B off the stage during one of their performances. Kris also used this album to address his beef with X-Clan because of KRS’ proclamation of humanism rather than embracing X-Clan’s aggressive form of Afrocentricity.

This album touched on many of the social issues of the time, including the rape trial of Mike Tyson on “Say Gal,” “Build And Destroy,” where he addressed his humanist views and “13 And Good,” where Kris talks about the commonality of statutory rape.

Salute to “The Teacher” and the rest of BDP including Prince Paul, Heather B and Kenny Parker for making this album an underground classic!

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Today in Hip Hop History: The Roots Released Their Fourth LP ‘Things Fall Apart’ 23 Years Ago

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On this day in Hip Hop history, The Roots released their fourth studio album Things Fall Apart. This project is considered by many publications at the Roots “breakthrough” album, gaining them coverage in major publications and expanding their fan base. It also came at a time when the whole Soulquarian collective (D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, Common, The Roots, Talib Kweli, Most Def, and J Dilla) began to come out the gate with hit album after hit album (some titles including Mama’s Gun, Like Water for Chocolates, and Voodoo).

This album was the group’s first project to sell 500,000 copies. The album was eternally stamped at the 2000 Grammy Awards when the album’s hit single You Got Me featuring Erykah Badu and Eve (then known as Eve of Destruction) won Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. The album was also nominated for Best Rap Album but was outvoted by Eminem’s The Slim Shady EP, which coincidentally was released the same day.

The album takes its title from the Chinua Achebe novel by the same name. Much like the novel, this album focuses on themes that may seem dismal to some but every day to others. An apparent theme of the album is the uphill battle that people of color, specifically Black Americans, deal with in their day-to-day life. This project synthesized a tone exemplified in Harlem Renaissance era poetry with the street styling specific to Philly rap.

The composition of this album is more than noteworthy. The combination of jazz, swing, soul, and Hip Hop was able to bring the lyrics to life and give each song a full body. The Roots instrumentation on this project is groundbreaking.

The consciousness of this album starts with the cover. The group felt that not one but five covers were best at describing the message they were trying to convey. Each of them represents the result of “things falling apart” throughout the world

1.”Woman Running” by Unknown was shot in Bedford-Stuyvesant projects in Brooklyn and captures two teenagers evading police brutality during a riot in the 1960s.

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2.”Ace in Hand” by Bettman was shot on April 15, 1931 and captures an assassinated mob boss in Coney Island, Brooklyn, New York.

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3.”The Church Bombing” by Unknown depicts a church that was set ablaze as a for of hate protest against those that worship there.

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4.”Baby in the Rubble” by H.S. Wong was shot on August 28th, 1937 shows a child screaming among rumble caused by Japanese warfare.

5.”Crying Child” by Peter Turnley was shot on August 1st, 1992 and shows a Somalian child crying due to their current living situation.

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After this album, The Roots went on to celebrate ridiculous success. They released 10 more albums and won two more Grammy’s. Their commercial success has continuous risen over the years. In 2009 The Roots became the official band of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and when we became the host of The Tonight Show in February 2014 he took them along and made them the house band on that broadcast where they could now be seen every night.

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