For Colored Girls My 2 Cents

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide when the Rainbow is Enuf is a play written in 1975 a collection of 20 poems that are performed by seven different women? The play written by Ntozake Shange and was made into a movie in 2009.

The movie’s release has made for a lot of discussion on whether it should have been released as well as the choice for the director of the project. I was not surprised that the play is now a movie but I was a little surprised at who was tapped to direct the project. I have my issues with the director about his previous movies and their portrayal of blacks. The casting of the female characters of the movie was excellent with a wide range of talented black actors who care about bringing a script to life. There seems to be two topics of contention about the movie how black men are portrayed and why we do not have more positive black images on screen.

I feel black men do get a bad rap on screen and there have been some improvements but overall it seems our faults are magnified on screen with the world to see. Are we perfect? No but there is more to black men then the parts we play on the big screen. Positive images of blacks in movies is dictated by the box office numbers in my opinion if movies with positive images are in the top five for the opening weekend and stay there for a few weeks then there will be more of those movies made. Movies with dark and painful stories about black men and women will make more money they will be in the top five and receive the critical acclaim, which keeps those scripts in demand. We need balance in the roles black men play in movies on a more consistent basis.

The Roots "How I Got Over" Review

I was introduced to the Legendary Roots Crew in the 90’s and was hooked. The meeting of live instruments with Black Thought’s flow was it for me. This is hip hop in one if its purest forms. The live shows are an experience every music fan should have at least once in life. I must admit I wasn’t feeling the last three cd’s like I thought I would and I was thinking maybe it was due to my musical tastes venturing into other arenas. When I heard “How I Got Over” was due out I got excited like I did for the Phrenology cd back in ’02. so as I saw the track listing my excitement waned some with all the guest appearances. I was being selfish I just wanted Black Thought and band to give me dope music and raw lyrics that made me nod my head.


I take back my reservations about the guest appearances concerning the cd with Phonte (Foreign Exchange and Little Brother) bringing his patent flow to the track “The Day” which may be one of the sleeper tracks of the summer along with Patty Crash and Blu whose hook is in there . “Doing It Again” featuring John Legend was better than expected I have to say Mr. Legend came through on the vocals and Thought, come on you know he did his thing. I am not a big Dice Raw fan but he brought it on “Walk Alone” and “Radio Daze” along with Phonte. “Dear God 2.0” is a must listen to please put your IPod on and just let it take you on a ride. The title track “How I Got Over” is the crews classic sound and Black Thought‘s flow is out of this word he just rides the beat the whole track and the hook fills in perfectly. The surprise track for me was the bonus track “Hustla” with STS had that real hip hop feel and closed out the cd on the right vibe.

Overall The Legendary did their thing but it was too short with all the nonsense out there they could’ve had 12-15 tracks of real hip hop. The Dilla interlude should’ve been an entire song that was just a teaser. This is definitely one for the collection and will help you enjoy the summer that much more. Black Thought is the most underrated MC's of all time for real he needs to be recognized.