Cool News
Mos Def = Chuck Berry
Merrick here...
Like the headline says.
The project is called CADILLAC.
the film 1950s Chicago and follows the turbulent but exciting lives of Leonard Chess, who founded Chess Records, and the label's artists, including Waters, Little Walter and Howlin' Wolf.
...says THIS ARTICLE in Hollywood Reporter.
Adrien Brody will play Chess, Jeffrey Wright will play Muddy Waters, Beyonce Knowles (unrelated to Harry) will play Etta James, and Gabrielle Union will play Muddy Water's girlfriend.
I'm still trying to shake memories of Def's nasally challenged character in 16 BLOCKS, in which he was fine but that voice...that voice...
This is a pretty interesting group of people about a fascinating time; could be a cool project.
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I can dig that.
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Probably be a good film. But aren't music biopics dead?
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Yo, Leobloom did you happen to notice...stlye and genra aside, beyonce got some pipes. Etta James would be proud. Leobloom getta clue with your lack of musical wit! Oh since you are an expert, why don't you tell me what actress can sing like Etta...Jenifer Hudson and who else....
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To which I would kindly direct you to 'Something the lord made'. Mos is a great MC and is building up a nice acting resume as well.
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odo19 = idiot
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Mar 31, 2008 10:35:13 AM CDT
Rappers aren't actors? I think its more of a singers....
by iamjack'suserid
...singers aren't actors, which is good amount true. No one is being evil and going after rappers specifically. Put away your angst for now.
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Chucks cousin..the one who hurt his hand in the 'Enchantment Under The Sea' high school gig
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So don't be a racist prick until you explained the original ocean's eleven. There are so many other examples of bad acting from musicians that one could not discern the suckyness of acting from one genre to another. There are also plenty of good actors that are musicians. Streisand and Kristofferson in:http://tinyurl.com/2slvnb
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"Brody and Knowles? Sounds like the rape of the Chicago blues..." and then you all ...especialy Brody...but there doesn't seem to be any reason to cast the academy award winning actor who has recent experience in multiple movies dealing with that time period. Or that he looks the part. Or that he's the right age. Or that the intellectual set will go see him in anything. Yea they should got that dude from lost instead. no not the hobbit one...
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Mos Def as Chuck Berry? Can this movie FAIL any harder?
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http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.wordpress.com/2008/02/17/69-mos-def/
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GARBAGEMAN33!!! We missed you! Remember when those dicks were joking about Minghella's death and you told them the "karma train" was coming? That was awesome!
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Hoping Mos can pull it off..
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you want denzel or something? This is my final post. The casting is exciting and all of the actors/musical performers will be more familiar with this type of music than any of you or any regular working actor. The music will be fucking great. Sorry no Cloverfield soundtrack fans allowed. I don't know if anyof youss guyzzes have an ounce of soul power in ya.!*$%&$*
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If so, I apologize for defending a good actor and a dead director. Not sure what I was thinking.
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Or did the subject line get cut off again? That's what I'm guessing.
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Will we have seen a musical TRAIN WRECK Like this. Dig up a Zombie George Burns to sing "Fixing A Hole"!
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Mos Def is one of the very, very, very few Rappers/Actors worth a shit, if not the only one. It is so rare that he plays someone a rapper would play. He is a phenomenal artist. He amazes me every time I see him in something. His choices are varied and he seems to pick challenging roles almost every time. Sure his voice was odd in 16 blocks, but that's because he was acting- let's see LL Cool J do that or (insert quasi-talented hip hop actor here) for that matter.
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It is painful that that talentless pretty face is portraying one of the most soulful singers in history.
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You know...Marvin. Marvin Berry.
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thanks a lot, Nolan Bautista
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Mar 31, 2008 11:13:25 AM CDT
etta james? the fat lass? is as tall as bouncy's right ass cheek
by ironic_name
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His voice did not irritate me in the least. I found it very endearing, even if it did sound a little bit like Anton, Damen Wayan's bum character from In Living Color.
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There were a lot of great and notable bluesmen (and women) who came from Chess Records. This should be a great film for fans of the blues.
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I heard he's also up for Colin Powell in that retarded Oliver Stone "W" flick. And they've gotta be kidding w/ Beyonce as Etta James. I hope she's already started w/ a new voice coach, not that it would get her anywhere near Etta's ballpark. Mos Def as Chuck Berry sounds pretty damn good though.
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Great band.
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...ok, fella? Dante Smith. Not 'Mos Def'. You're far too old for jolly little 'gangsta-in-da-hood' nicknames, so grow the fuck up, yeah?
Oh, and by the way - you ruined the 'Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy' movie, too. Not quite as bad as that buffoon Sam Rockwell, but fucking close. -
I usually agree with the whole "singers should sing and actors should act" argument. The grass is always greener on the other side, right. But Mos is an exception. He has an incredible range and is always entertaining to watch.
Oh, and the greatest actor on earth couldn't have saved "Hitchhiker". That thing was a piece of shit from day one. Unadaptable. -
Bring back Gary Busey to do Buddy Holly!
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So that's superawesome. But I think I forgot Mos Def was a rapper. I only know him as an actor. I am against the whole rappers as actors thing. But I think there is some kind of a difference here. There are a ton of rappers who I think are just hired to bring their fans to the theater. I don't think anyone hires those people because they have some great acting talent. If they went out and auditioned and were clearly the best choice for those roles then I wouldn't have a problem with that. But when you have rappers showing up in cameo roles to play hoods, what a stretch, and they are billed alongside legendary actors, that's a problem. To me it cheapens the whole project because it proves that it's solely about money and not about making anything resembling art. In this case I think he's been acting for long enough and does have some talent and if he loses some weight will even look like Berry. So this project sounds pretty good.
Actually looking at that list of actors the one that makes me wonder a little is Brody. In HOLLYWOODLAND I thought he was too modern in his mannerisms and that it took some of the believability away from that film. I hope he acts this time. -
Why not make a movie about grass growing or paint drying?
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Marvin, Marvin Berry!
Mos Def is the best rapper/actor out there with the exception of Will Smith, if he's still considered that. I loved how he played that character in 16 blocks. If it was anyone ele, they would of just played a thug,cussed a lot, and use a lot of slang. I thought he was pretty good. -
I haven't really liked him in anything I've seen him in ( never saw that HBO flick with Alan Rickman ), but I can see him in this part.
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Ice Cube, LL Cool J, Queen Latifah, Mos Def... But it doesn't change the fact that - sometimes - their popularity makes them cast instead of genuine actors struggling to make a living and being overlooked in favor of rich dudes. Busta Rhymes in Shaft 2000 is the perfect example.
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I definitely like him, but the Ford Prefect thing was all wrong.
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I hope the movie will be worth it; in any case this is shaping up nicely.
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You obviously know nothing about hip-hop. Black on both sides? Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star? Wait let me guess, hip-hop is nothing but a bunch of guys jumping around yelling.
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in 16 Blocks. Yes, that voice was, er, different, but he handled the role extremely well and created a likeable character with a good core. I also thought his turn as Ford Perfect in HGTTG was one of the brighter spots in that film. So I for one would like to see more of Mos Def onscreen and look forward to what he'll bring to this.
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I actually think this cast sounds really great. I wasnt sure about Mos Def when he broke out on the scene but he's won me over as an actor. But yeah that damn voice in 16 Blocks was awful! I admit by the end though I got used to it...sort of hahah. I think he'll be a cool Berry.
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The cast list is intriguing, but their is too little information on the production and direction of the film for anyone to feel "let down" by the casting choices....costume, hair, script and editing will all play a big part in how good this film (and its actors) are... If the story is strong and the studio is NOT trying to attract the "mTv" crowd it could be entertaining...we don't even know how much screen time Mos Def and Beyonce will have...
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And I don't say that because 98% of the other "acting" rappers are bad.
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With The Game in Street Kings....
It makes me wonder how much acting skills you really need to be on TV and movies. I once met someone who used to work for Aaron Spelling and she was like "nah, you dont really need any skills. look good." -
That's good news. The guy actually acts when asked to do so. Good artist to support.
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Mos Def was a little known indie rapper when he landed a part on the Bill Cosby Mysteries (1994). His IMDB profile shows him getting acting gigs back in 1988.
Mos Def didn't get mainstream love as an MC until his guest appearance on De La Soul's "Stakes Is High" in 1996. And, despite critical acclaim, Mos has certainly never been as commercially popular as fellow rappers like Ice Cube, DMX, Ja Rule, etc., who parlayed their success as rappers into custom-made acting roles. -
and spend the duration of interviews and promo work for the project smiling so forcefully she looks like she has lock-jaw? That was more enjoyable then "Dreamgirls" itself.
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I have to read and re-read his posts but I still can't make heads or tails of what he is saying. Cloverfield soundtrack? Soul power? What in the hell...?
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I've been called a racist by a well known "outlaw" contributor to this site because I found his acting to be very mediocre and nothing more. But that's how I feel. I don't like his acting or his name, nor the man himself especially after his pathetic tirade about the Jena 6 debacle. That's how I feel. I think he is overrated when there are plenty of better actors out there that don't have his exposure.
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Search your heart, you know it to be false.
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How could anyone think Beyonce could be Etta James? In her myriad of terrible on screen performances, not one ever remotely believable, she has always just played a version of herself. They really couldnt find anyone better?
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I used to like him until I saw what a conspiracy theory loving, 9/11 truther, Moon landing denying, inarticulate ignoramus he truly is on his embarrassing appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher. He's a retard. Check him out: http://tinyurl.com/2vqumg
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By hiring performers (as opposed to actors) to play other performers. But I'm not sure why they'd use Beyonce rather than, say, Jennifer Holliday. She's already acted Beyonce off the screen once.
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Bo Diddley better be a character in this movie. He's as important to early rock-n-roll as Chuck Berry, even if he hasn't gotten nearly the same acknowledgement. In fact, his first single was released BEFORE Chuck Berry's. Keep us posted, AICN!!!
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How can you be anti-truth? Steel doesn't just melt and explode tower-high simultaneously. Never happened before, never will again. 9/11= inside job all the way. Go Mos Def. Bush knocked down the towers.
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But Mos' music has slipped a little after Black Star and Black on Both Sides...
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Um, . . . Spinal Tap count? All others are unwatchable, e.g., Hard Day's Night, the Jerry Lee Lewis biopic with Winona, that Tom Hanks boy band flick, Buddy Holly story, Ray, Walk the Line, . . . all painful. I can't imagine the subject or director that could get me interested in a movie about musicians. Even westerns have greater potential than this genre.
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Mar 31, 2008 2:21:44 PM CDT
Will he also... do those things... with a chubby woman?
by stalin vs predator
You know, the way the real Chuck Berry did in his "famous" home video...? (And for those who don't know it, no, it's not about sex with an obese groupie. At least not about sex understood in the normal way. Or, for that matter, any of the typically diagnosed abnormal ways, either.)
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http://tinyurl.com/ywvy3r
Gosh, this is uncool news. -
As I read I was thinking "great cast" until I read Beyonce's name. The woman is just a bad actress.
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"The Italian Job" (2003) Director F. Gary Gray reflects on his ensemble cast: "Mos Def is... most def." That's it. Now that's all I can ever think about when I hear about Mos Def. Thanks a lot, asshole!
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Uh, Will Smith? Dude gets left out of every single debate of whether or not rappers should be allowed to act.
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Jamie Foxx though not a rapper, does have a presence in rap music.
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Think he's a perfect fit for Berry.And what cool characters to make a film about, Berry and Muddy Waters...and what about Bo Diddley?!!Just hope this ends up nothing remotely like that overrated mess that was Dreamgirls. That pitiful James Brown persona was one of the worst written characters ever.No fault of Eddie Murphy's.
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Rififi is probably the gold standard of heist movies, and one of his stars (Richard Widmark in Night and the City) just recently passed away.
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...that I've seen the name "Mos Def" in front of a movie and been intrigued. I'll say this, though - if he doesn't already play guitar, he'd better learn. I don't want to see any faking or tricky editing like you see in other music biopics. Although, the worst faking I've ever seen was Seth Green on "Buffy The Vampire Slayer". They didn't even try to hide that shit. And he wasn't even doing any crazy "Johnny B. Goode" BTTF antics - he just stood there with a goofy look on his face and didn't play the damn guitar.
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However, Mos Def is getting better by the film. He was great in '16 Blocks'. His nasally voiced-swagger is what made him likeable in that role; sort of like Flava Flav - annoying yet funny.
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Just a hunch. Only thing that may get in the way: Mos Def seems like a nice guy and Chuck Berry is an all-time asshole.
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I mean, he is BRILLANT, but too often he just relies on playing "Big Will" (Okay, I like him when he does that too. Like I said: I'm not sure.)
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It's not a complete list and I didn't really think about it, so probably tomorrow I will deny that I ever made it:
1) Mos Def
2) Will Smith
3) LL Cool J (He isn't really great, but he doesn't seem to appear in movies, just to sell more records and always did the best with the supporting roles he played so far)
Special award for being a bad actor, but having charisma, screen presence and not being ashamed of doing stupid kids movies: Ice Cube
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I'm just not sure he qualifies as "rapper", unles Parappa and K-Fed qualify as well.
I am sure of one thing though: Will Smith should fire his agent and give great performances in something better than subpar blockbusters, for a change. Just cash in with Bad Boys III: Bad Around Da World and Men In Black III, then laugh all the way to the bank, give up scientology, stop being a diva and READ the damn scripts he's sent. I'm sure there are a few worthwhile.
It's not like I wanna teach the man married to Jada Pinkett how to live his life, but he would get the respect he truly deserves if he chose more ballsy projects and tried to work with talented people for a change. -
She's not an actress!!! Btw, '(unrelated to Harry)' made me literally cry laughing.
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That's my question.
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TUPAC HATED HIM AND SO DO I
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(Love the name) That Tom Hanks boyband movie!? Don't tell me you dont like That thing you do....dont you dare
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as Willie Dixon (says IMDB)
I'm losing more interest in this movie -
IMHO
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Goes to Andre Benjamin in Revolver. Now, I love Aquemini as much as the next middle class white guy. But Andre 3000 made Jason Statham look like Laurence Olivier. Not that it wasn't a piece of shit movie to begin with. I rented it to kill time on my train ride home and it actually made the trip seem longer.
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Check out David Essex in "That'll Be the Day" and "Stardust(The sequel.)" if you like Brit pop flicks. Good, solid stories and music. They're hard to find, but well worth it.
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Mos Def is NOT a rapper turned actor. He was an actor first. From Michael Jackson's "Ghosts" to the "Cosby Mysteries".
Check his IMDB page. He has been acting for professionally for exactly 20 years. The dude is uber talented. -
I'm serious. His mumbling in Hitchiker's Guide made me confused. Whether if should be fucking annoyed at his incoherent mumbling, or understanding because he is actually deaf and has a slur to his speaking.
He was great in The Woodsman though. -
Hulk will be cast as Chubby Checker. Come on baby, let's do the twist, then HULK SMASH!
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If you've seen this film you know that Mos Def could play anything. Damn, that was a good movie.
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Jeffrey Wright will be a great Muddy Waters, and he even looks a little like him. Beyonce, on the other hand, seems like a gimmick to bring in- well what exactly IS her fan base? Someone likes her, but fuck if I know who. Maybe 40 year old white women?
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Hello Chuck! It's your cousin! Your cousin MARVIN BERRY!!! You know that new actor you've been lookin for to play you in the movie. Well read this thread!
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Or maybe 5 others at the most before they get bored. Confirmed by every single "Marvin Berry" post in here. Except the first one.
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Now THAT would be some interesting casting!
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Gibson should play Little Richard!
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Anybody see The Howlin Wolf Story? Great documentary. Beyonce as Etta James sucks. Is she gonna put on a fat suit?
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Jackie Chan as Marty McFly. Okay not I'm excited.
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Dick Butkis would be closer to Etta James. My god, Etta James was a truck of a woman, whose voice could stop a train. She was a belter and raw like a chainsaw. Beyonce is a waifish booty-pop diva. Etta James would get drunk, throw up in your mouth, beat you up, and have her way with you.
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show once. And he was saying that Muslims aren't murderers and that nutty theory that We were the ones who blew up the Towers in NYC. he's fucking a nutjob! You have to see it to belive it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvO5kD4yr1Y
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I don't think so. Not even freakin' close.
As a musician, anyway. ;p -
touché!
And sure Beyoncé can sing, but it's actually a 'thin' or rather, shrill voice, no base tone.
She should do the Diana Ross story. -
And Jeffrey Wright is effin brilliant. Beyonce, however, I just can't stomach. She's not as atrocious as some make her out to be- she's a perfectly adequate pop-R&B singer, and of course she's hot- but that doesn't mean she has the depth, soul, range, acting chops, or even all-around badassness required to embody the supreme majesty of Etta James. So she competently strutted around in an array of wigs and sequined dresses in Dreamgirls- how does that qualify her to be the new go-to gal for every black female musical icon?
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Apr 01, 2008 5:56:23 AM CDT
Mos Def Is Cool Guy, But His Rant On Bill Maher Was Embarrasing
by laserpants
I agree that Dubya is an evil idiot too, the worst president this country has ever had, and one of the worst leaders in human history, but 9/11 was NOT an inside job. It was a job carried out by old allies, sure (Reagan and Bush Sr. loved throwing money at Bin Laden; they trained him, armed him, and turned him loose. Ironically, although totally unrelated, Saddam Hussein was also an big ally of the US under Reagan and Bush Sr. -- they gave him money, training, and the VX gas he used on his own people no less), but the reason it went through was because of the Dubya administrations massive incompetence. Anyways, Mos Def's rant on that sounded like the kind of nonsense that 15 year old stoners spew. Ok, sure, growing up in the projects gives you street cred, but it sure as shit doesn't give you any clearer insight into geopolitics.
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Will Smith believes the government sprays viruses and diseases on the subways to give them to people. I think that was part of his attraction to "I am Legend". He's a crazy conspiracy theorist too, but I'm not sure if he believes the whole 9/11 thing. But I think that one speaker on the Maher show was right, that when you grow up as a black man in America and feel like the police/government/institution and constantly against you, you start to believe that they're capable of anything. So in that sense, I don't really blame him.
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What happened to the project that had Def and Wright playing in one of the "devil in a blue dress" novels?
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She can't act her way out of a paper bag. Yuck. I mean, check this out: http://tinyurl.com/3cuaj8
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Definitely pick up "Black on Both Sides". It's Mos Def's first CD and by far his best. Then check out "Black Star," is collab with Talib Kweli. Mos' other two CD's, "The New Danger" and "True Magic," are just okay to me. Some good stuff, some average stuff.
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Every "celebrity" from Sean Penn to Willie Nelson have spouted off about how the President blew up the towers and it's past stupid. As incompitent as W is ,he's not a mass muderer of American citizens. I get the hate but blaming him for everything that has ever went wrong is getting kind of out there.Mos Def is talented but he was just going off on a stoner rant like the rest of them,saying some shit they heard someone else say. I read the other day where someone asked 50 Cent about Kanye West saying Bush hates black people and he said" I don't like the President but I always heard God controlled the weather ,so I doubt the man pointed the storm towards New Orleans". He's got street cred out the ass and he's still not that fucking paranoid. Lets just think straight and vote with common sense this year.
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I don't believe all the conspiracy theories, but I don't think people who believe in them should be automatically dismissed or disparaged the way they routinely are. Dismiss the ideas fine, but frankly there are legitimate questions that people seem afraid of. Some of the 9-11 theories are beyond hokey, no doubt. Like the whole "not a plane that hit the Pentagon thing." If I were to accept that a bunch of crazy old white men would pull this off (and incidentally, I DO NOT dismiss it on that basis alone like most of you do... if brown men can do it so can white men), I still have to believe that their diabolical master plans would make some sense to them. So I can't buy a bunch of men sitting around in a secret bunker, hatching a plot to send a missile into the Pentagon, over an extremely busy freeway, then tell everyone it's a plane and expect them to believe it. But there is one thing that's troubled me about the whole 9-11 thing and it's the thing that gets talked about the least. How did none of the planes get scrambled? It was standard procedure in event of a hijacking before, because of the very possibility that the planes could be used as weapons. But even if you buy the idiotic utterly false notion that no one imagined something like this could happen before, the planes weren't being scrambled EVEN AFTER it was confirmed they were being used as weapons. Pass it off as incompetence if you must, but from the most logical perspective, it suggests that no effort was made to stop any of it from happening. The procedures to prevent it from happening were already in place. There can be no denying it. We shouldn't be willing to accept the most comforting answer we can come up with.
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Yeah, why would evil neo-cons, spies, and various memebers of the military-oil-industrial complex want to have a new pearl harbor? Just so they could become fabulously wealthy and powerful, and to stoke the fires of industry, with profitable chaos, and eternal, unending, and very expensive warfare? I think not!
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ban him
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