S. Samuel
Rap mogul Russell Simmons has reflected on how far African Americans have come in Hollywood, notably, as successful directors and producers of big films.
Simmons hopped onto his Twitter page Sunday (January 20) to reflect on the success Blacks have had in the movie industry.
“Just saw @Hughes2Society’s ” “broken city”. Amazing movie. Holy sh…. Congratulations on excellent movie”
“Everybody should see Mark Walberg russell crowes and jeffrey wrights “Broken City” @Hughes2Society Masterpiece”
“I remember when there wasn’t any black directors & no black producers @ all. The world is changing” (Russell Simmons’ Twitter)
He also stressed the importance of keeping the movement going and not slowing down.
“When I made nutty professor I didn’t even realize that no black producers who weren’t “the talent” got credit as producers”
“Mainstream hollywood is changing and a post racial dream will be realized in some of hollywood like it is in some of the music circles”
“We got to “keep on pushin” like Curtis Mayfield said. Who would have thought it would have taken so long?.But we still push”
“I’m a yogi not a politician I go where I wanna go see who I wanna see and say what I wanna say. I’m a free man !!!!!!!!”
“They wr the talent (they could demand prod spots) The job of riding arnd in go carts on set was reserved 4 white men anyhow that’s over” (Russell Simmons’ Twitter)
A few years ago, Training Day and Brooklyn’s Finest director Antoine Fuqua told SOHH his all-time favorite urban films.
“There’s a few of them out there man that I feel were good, especially the impact they had when they first came out. I think John Singleton‘s Boyz N The Hood was a good movie, a good solid movie, you know, that dealt with that. Menace II Society was really good, that had a good feel as far as the texture. New Jack [City], I liked New Jack, that was just a more colorful version, you know what I mean? It was a little more of a hyper-reality version [of urban films]. So yeah, man, all those movies I liked.” (SOHH Guest Star)
Fuqua also briefly gave his take on Mekhi Phifer‘s extensive résumé and acting skills.
“You know man, I saw very little of Paid In Full. I saw a very little of it, I haven’t seen the whole movie yet. Mekhi [Phifer] is a good actor man. He’s been doing it for a while. He ain’t no joke. Mekhi can really act. I never worked with him but you know, he’s a cat that I would work with, for sure. There’s a lot of talented brothers out there like the Wesley Snipes and those guys where unfortunately there’s just not enough material being generated or financed, some of them really show their real craft.” (SOHH Guest Star)
