NP Burn Hollywood Burn

[kevin at limits.org]

On Thu, 5 Jul 2001, pynchon-l-digest wrote:
> From: "jbridel1" <jbridel1 at home.com>
> Subject: Re: Burn Hollywood Burn was Rap/hip-hop
> 
> If you (the collective you as well) don't see the "irony" (to be polite) of
> Ice-T on highly rated network TV portraying a murder police ( as they were
> called on the far superior Homicide: Life on the Street, with far superior
> black actors and characters) after Cop Killer, then I have further wasted my
> time.

God forbid that Ice-T should ever employ irony, or, for that matter, tell
knock-knock jokes.

> As for Ice-C... well... Friday was pretty funny, Next Friday was
> looking for a paycheck. Let's not confuse the film work of these two
> aritistes with the noble advancement of the black man in American media.  I
> know I'm picking on a couple of prominents (whose music I really did dig
> when I was a bit younger), but they asked for it...  Anyway, I digress...  I
> know not whereof I speak.

The Don Mega was also in _Boyz in the Hood_, an acclaimed work that
launched the career of John Singleton.  Cube also showed up in a later
Singleton flick, _Higher Learning_.  The Man They Call the Trojan Horse
is also one of the main characters in _Three Kings_, which I haven't seen,
but the mixed reviews I've read indicate that it has, at least, a
considerable impact on the viewer.  Finally, I should point out that
Cube's _Friday_ launched the career of Chris Tucker, so it may be of use,
when forming an opinion of Cube's influence on the media, to consider the
controversy over Tucker, which has been covered recently (since
December) by the NYT magazine and the New Republic.  At any rate, I'd say
that Ice Cube has managed to make a lot of cash while still being true to
the manifesto "Burn, Hollywood, Burn," which was, after, simply for more
black involvement in cinema's production, not necessarily great art.

-- 
Kevin Troy

"The more I think about history, ancient or modern, the more ironical all
human affairs seem."
--Tacitus