Consequence’s Origins is a recurring series that gives artists a place to break down everything that went into their latest release. Today, Sinkane dissects his new song, “How Sweet Is Your Love.”
Sinkane (aka multi-instrumentalist Ahmed Gallab) has announced his fifth studio album, We Belong, out on April 5th via City Slang Records. In addition, the pop and funk artist has announced a US tour and released the new single, “How Sweet Is Your Love,” along with its accompanying music video
In a compelling preview of what is sure to follow on We Belong, the song is dancy and fun. It’s in part inspired by the American punk scenes of the ’70s and ’80s, as well as the soul music of Gallab’s native Sudan.
“‘How Sweet Is Your Love’ is about remaining in the present and feeling all of your feelings as fully as possible,” Gallab tells Consequence about the tune.
Sinkane (aka multi-instrumentalist Ahmed Gallab) has announced his fifth studio album, We Belong, out on April 5th via City Slang Records. In addition, the pop and funk artist has announced a US tour and released the new single, “How Sweet Is Your Love,” along with its accompanying music video
In a compelling preview of what is sure to follow on We Belong, the song is dancy and fun. It’s in part inspired by the American punk scenes of the ’70s and ’80s, as well as the soul music of Gallab’s native Sudan.
“‘How Sweet Is Your Love’ is about remaining in the present and feeling all of your feelings as fully as possible,” Gallab tells Consequence about the tune.
- 1/23/2024
- by Venus Rittenberg
- Consequence - Music
The title of “Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project” teases galactic possibilities and plays with the notion of the unfinished work. Not the film’s labor — directors Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson have crafted an eloquent and engaging portrait — but that of its spiky, brilliant subject. One of the luminaries of the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s into the 1970s, the now 79-year-old Giovanni continues to address the pain and joys, the anger and resilience of the descendants of the Middle Passage, who know much about uncertain and dangerous journeys.
Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tn, in 1943, before moving with her parents and sister to Cincinnati, Oh. During the summers as a child, she returned to Tennessee to visit her maternal grandparents. She later attended Fisk University in Nashville and currently lives in Christiansburg, Va, not far from Virginia Tech, where until recently, she was a Distinguished Professor of Writing and English.
Giovanni was born in Knoxville, Tn, in 1943, before moving with her parents and sister to Cincinnati, Oh. During the summers as a child, she returned to Tennessee to visit her maternal grandparents. She later attended Fisk University in Nashville and currently lives in Christiansburg, Va, not far from Virginia Tech, where until recently, she was a Distinguished Professor of Writing and English.
- 1/20/2023
- by Lisa Kennedy
- Variety Film + TV
Just past the halfway point in the documentary Mr. Soul!, poet Felipe Luciano calls Ellis Haizlip “the most effective, insidious revolutionary that I have ever met.” It isn’t meant as a specific accolade, but it is a badge of honor for a man who honored the true meaning of sedition. Subversion in the arts is a skill which can be expressed as simply as putting a mustache on the Mona Lisa. Seditious political expression is rarely so subtle. The creator and host of the all-too-short lived public television variety program Soul! achieved a dream mix of diverse thought, some which went under the radar, some designed to be unnoticed, all of which was riveting, and everything absolutely accessible.
Soul! captured everyday insurrection. Melvin Van Peebles’ 1971 independent feature Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song proclaimed to be unapologetically Black, Haizlip saw no reason to bring apology into the equation. Nothing he was doing,...
Soul! captured everyday insurrection. Melvin Van Peebles’ 1971 independent feature Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song proclaimed to be unapologetically Black, Haizlip saw no reason to bring apology into the equation. Nothing he was doing,...
- 7/31/2021
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Are you ready for the weekend? Specifically, are you ready for a Long Weekend? Of course, we’re referring to the rom-com from Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions’ Stage 6 Films.
Long Weekend will make its debut in theaters today and marks the feature directorial debut of Steve Basilone, who also wrote the script.
The rom-com stars Finn Wittrock as Bart who has a serendipitous meeting with Vienna played by Zoë Chao. She’s a little bit of a mystery, but the two end up having a connection and they spend a whirlwind weekend together (hence the title of the movie). As the two fall fast and hard for each other, they dont realize that both carry secrets that could be their undoing… or the chance for a fresh start.
The film also features Casey Wilson, Jim Rash and Damon Wayans, Jr. Long Weekend is produced by Deanna Barillari, Laura Lewis, Theodora Dunlap,...
Long Weekend will make its debut in theaters today and marks the feature directorial debut of Steve Basilone, who also wrote the script.
The rom-com stars Finn Wittrock as Bart who has a serendipitous meeting with Vienna played by Zoë Chao. She’s a little bit of a mystery, but the two end up having a connection and they spend a whirlwind weekend together (hence the title of the movie). As the two fall fast and hard for each other, they dont realize that both carry secrets that could be their undoing… or the chance for a fresh start.
The film also features Casey Wilson, Jim Rash and Damon Wayans, Jr. Long Weekend is produced by Deanna Barillari, Laura Lewis, Theodora Dunlap,...
- 3/12/2021
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
The Inheritance Review: History, Art, Ideology, and Love Converge in Thrillingly Alive Debut Feature
History, art, ideology, and love make up the four pillars of Ephraim Asili’s The Inheritance, a thrillingly alive debut feature that resides both inside the square rooms of a West Philadelphia house and outside the boundaries of genre. As its title suggests, to assume the past experiences, lessons, and artistic creations of others can be liberating. But there’s also great personal responsibility to pass on that knowledge in some productive way.
With every jarring cut, temporal jump, and splash of vibrant color, Asili seems to be asking one central question: what do we do with the brimming feelings accumulated from learning about tragic events, listening to social justice leaders, experiencing the poems of living legends, and hearing live music? It’s a central conundrum facing young people immediately after experiencing a genuine moment of epiphany.
That sense of untapped energy fuels the scripted drama about a group of...
With every jarring cut, temporal jump, and splash of vibrant color, Asili seems to be asking one central question: what do we do with the brimming feelings accumulated from learning about tragic events, listening to social justice leaders, experiencing the poems of living legends, and hearing live music? It’s a central conundrum facing young people immediately after experiencing a genuine moment of epiphany.
That sense of untapped energy fuels the scripted drama about a group of...
- 3/11/2021
- by Glenn Heath Jr.
- The Film Stage
The team of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross leads all nominees for the second annual Society of Composers and Lyricists Awards, the organization of scorers and songwriters active in visual media.
The composing duo (who won an Oscar 10 years ago for “The Social Network” and an Emmy last year for “Watchmen”) received three nominations. They were cited for outstanding original score for a studio film for both their 2020 films, Netflix’s “Mank” and Disney-Pixar’s “Soul.” They share the “Soul” nod with composer Jon Batiste, who contributed the jazz threaded throughout the film.
Reznor and Ross received a third nomination, for outstanding original song for visual media, for their song “(If Only You Could) Save Me,” written for “Mank.”
Scl’s list is notable for the dominance of women composers in the category of outstanding original score for an independent film — three of the five nominees: Lolita Ritmanis for the...
The composing duo (who won an Oscar 10 years ago for “The Social Network” and an Emmy last year for “Watchmen”) received three nominations. They were cited for outstanding original score for a studio film for both their 2020 films, Netflix’s “Mank” and Disney-Pixar’s “Soul.” They share the “Soul” nod with composer Jon Batiste, who contributed the jazz threaded throughout the film.
Reznor and Ross received a third nomination, for outstanding original song for visual media, for their song “(If Only You Could) Save Me,” written for “Mank.”
Scl’s list is notable for the dominance of women composers in the category of outstanding original score for an independent film — three of the five nominees: Lolita Ritmanis for the...
- 2/1/2021
- by Jon Burlingame
- Variety Film + TV
New York-based outfit Grasshopper Film has acquired North American rights to Ephraim Asili’s debut feature, “The Inheritance,” following its premiere at Toronto and screening at the New York Film Festival.
Grasshopper Film is planning to have “The Inheritance” open on March 12 in New York at Film at Lincoln Center, as well as in other cities.
The ensemble film takes place almost entirely in a West Philadelphia house, where a community of young people come together to form a collective of Black artists and activists. Shot in 16 mm, the movie interweaves a scripted drama with a documentary recollection of the Philadelphia liberation group Move, which was the victim of a notorious police bombing in 1985.
A Pennsylvania-born filmmaker, Asili has been exploring different facets of the African diaspora for nearly a decade and “The Inheritance” is based on his own experiences in a Black liberationist group.
The film references legacies of the Black Arts Movement,...
Grasshopper Film is planning to have “The Inheritance” open on March 12 in New York at Film at Lincoln Center, as well as in other cities.
The ensemble film takes place almost entirely in a West Philadelphia house, where a community of young people come together to form a collective of Black artists and activists. Shot in 16 mm, the movie interweaves a scripted drama with a documentary recollection of the Philadelphia liberation group Move, which was the victim of a notorious police bombing in 1985.
A Pennsylvania-born filmmaker, Asili has been exploring different facets of the African diaspora for nearly a decade and “The Inheritance” is based on his own experiences in a Black liberationist group.
The film references legacies of the Black Arts Movement,...
- 12/16/2020
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Artist Ephraim Asili describes his feature debut “The Inheritance” as a “speculative re-enactment” of his tenure in a West Philadelphia Black Marxist collective, which is putting it modestly. that’s challenging to behold as a whole, but illuminating in its parts, and often educational without ever feeling too dense.
Shot in buzzing 16mm and balanced off with archival news footage, voiceovers, and interviews, “The Inheritance” establishes a documentary framework, only to break it down entirely. At the center of the movie’s nonfiction leanings is Move, a Black activist group founded in 1972 that was, in 1985, the victim of a police bombing after the organization was deemed a terrorist organization by Philadelphia mayor Wilson Goode and police commissioner Gregore J. Sambor. The parallels to the year 2020 are obvious, but Asili never beats that over your head. And he doesn’t have to. The police brutality witnessed this year and in past...
Shot in buzzing 16mm and balanced off with archival news footage, voiceovers, and interviews, “The Inheritance” establishes a documentary framework, only to break it down entirely. At the center of the movie’s nonfiction leanings is Move, a Black activist group founded in 1972 that was, in 1985, the victim of a police bombing after the organization was deemed a terrorist organization by Philadelphia mayor Wilson Goode and police commissioner Gregore J. Sambor. The parallels to the year 2020 are obvious, but Asili never beats that over your head. And he doesn’t have to. The police brutality witnessed this year and in past...
- 9/15/2020
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
llis Haizlip was never one to miss a beat, and Mr. Soul! is right on time. Innovative, political, and openly gay before Stonewall, Haizlip was America’s first Black nighttime talk show host. Before Oprah and Arsenio, his show aired live on public television from 1968 to ‘73, during the Civil Rights and Black Power movements. Black Lives Matter is now louder than ever, speaking volumes on racism in a meaningful manner. But in the days before cell phone journalism, Haizlip’s weekly television show promised “the revolution would be televised.” That revolution was Soul!. Directed, written and produced by Melissa Haizlip, Mr. Soul! had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival and is slated to open in over 50 theaters in the virtual cinema space on Aug. 28.
Soul! was a weekly television show celebrating Black American culture, art, life, love, and community. The series “was the first national show to provide...
Soul! was a weekly television show celebrating Black American culture, art, life, love, and community. The series “was the first national show to provide...
- 8/17/2020
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
Sundance premiere Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am begins its theatrical run in several New York and L.A. theaters today via Magnolia Pictures. Filmmaker/photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders directed the doc about the Nobel laureate, whom he had known for years. Young actor Jacob Tremblay has a Seth Rogen-produced comedy, Good Boys, set for August, but first he will be on the big (and small) screen this weekend with Burn Your Maps, starring opposite Vera Farmiga, bowing in a day and date release. Jessie Buckley, meanwhile, goes country in Neon’s Wild Rose, which debuted out of last year’s Toronto. The title plays New York and L.A. ahead of an expanded roll out to other major markets next weekend.
Other limited releases set for their launches today include Sundance Selects doc, The Quiet One following the three-decaf career of The Rolling Stones’ Bill Wyman as well as Metrograph Pictures’ second release,...
Other limited releases set for their launches today include Sundance Selects doc, The Quiet One following the three-decaf career of The Rolling Stones’ Bill Wyman as well as Metrograph Pictures’ second release,...
- 6/21/2019
- by Brian Brooks
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: You may know her as Toni Morrison, but in this exclusive clip from the Sundance documentary Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am, the prolific novelist, professor, and Nobel prize-winning writer unpacks the history and meaning of her birth name: Chloe Wofford.
Directed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders,, Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am serves up an intimate meditation on the life and works of the titular storyteller. From her childhood in the steel town of Lorain, Ohio to ‘70s-era book tours with Mohammed Ali, from the front lines with Angela Davis to her own riverfront writing room, Morrison leads an assembly of her peers, critics and colleagues on an exploration of race, America, history and the human condition as seen through the prism of her own literature.
Morrison was inspired to write because no one...
Directed by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders,, Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am serves up an intimate meditation on the life and works of the titular storyteller. From her childhood in the steel town of Lorain, Ohio to ‘70s-era book tours with Mohammed Ali, from the front lines with Angela Davis to her own riverfront writing room, Morrison leads an assembly of her peers, critics and colleagues on an exploration of race, America, history and the human condition as seen through the prism of her own literature.
Morrison was inspired to write because no one...
- 1/24/2019
- by Dino-Ray Ramos
- Deadline Film + TV
The Stella Adler Studio of Acting and The Harold Clurman Lecture Series host Ta-Nehisi Coates, Toni Morrison and Sonia Sanchez in conversation at the Ambassador Theatre today, June 15, 2016, at 7Pm.
- 6/15/2016
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, one of the top documentary film festival in the world, has announced its “Invited Program” and “New Docs” lineup of new feature and short films. The full schedule will be released on March 19. Of note, with regards to this blog's interests, from directors Barbara Attie and Janet Goldwater, the appropriately-titled "BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez," a project whose Kickstarter campaign was featured on this blog 2 years ago, which focuses on the life of the 80-year-old poet (born Wilsonia Benita Driver) - her emergence as a seminal figure in the 1960s Black Arts Movement, to civil rights...
- 3/11/2015
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
On September 9th renowned poet and activist Sonia Sanchez turned 79 years old. The day also marked the launch of the Kickstarter campaign for BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez, the upcoming documentary focused on telling her life story. The feature film, which takes its title from Sanchez' second book of poetry, is intended for broadcast and will look at "Sanchez as a writer and at the groundbreaking artistic and political movements she embraced and influenced. At the heart of the film are her powerful words that often segue into song or chants, and at times are accompanied by music and even dance. Her work is read by Sanchez herself, and others including Ruby Dee, Nikki Giovanni, Ursula...
- 10/4/2013
- by Jai Tiggett
- ShadowAndAct
As the stage version of The Color Purple arrives in Britain, writer Candace Allen recalls the upset and uproar the novel caused among African Americans
The first page took your breath away: a mortified 14-year-old girl has started writing letters to God because she can tell no one else that, although "he never had a kine word to say to me", "he" [her putative daddy] has raped her and warned that she "better … git used to it". Page two, letter two: her mama dead and she "big" with her second baby. He "kilt" the first. "Kill this one, too if he can." Letter three: the letter-writer has a little sister she will protect "with God help". Letter four: sister Nettie has a friend named Mr ___. Letter seven: Mr ___ wants to marry Nettie but he carries a picture of a beautiful, worldly woman named Shug Avery in his wallet. The letter-writer is mesmerised by Shug Avery.
The first page took your breath away: a mortified 14-year-old girl has started writing letters to God because she can tell no one else that, although "he never had a kine word to say to me", "he" [her putative daddy] has raped her and warned that she "better … git used to it". Page two, letter two: her mama dead and she "big" with her second baby. He "kilt" the first. "Kill this one, too if he can." Letter three: the letter-writer has a little sister she will protect "with God help". Letter four: sister Nettie has a friend named Mr ___. Letter seven: Mr ___ wants to marry Nettie but he carries a picture of a beautiful, worldly woman named Shug Avery in his wallet. The letter-writer is mesmerised by Shug Avery.
- 7/16/2013
- The Guardian - Film News
On Monday, Jan. 14, PBS' "Independent Lens" presents "Soul Food Junkies," a documentary from filmmaker, writer, activist and lecturer Byron Hurt ("Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes").
Hurt grew up eating "soul food" from the African-American Southern tradition: grits and cheese-covered scrambled eggs, buttered biscuits with gravy, bacon, collard greens with ham hocks, fried pork chops, macaroni and cheese, fried chicken, fried fish, barbecued chicken and ribs, and candied yams.
While all these dishes are delicious and come from recipes passed down for generations in families, they also can contain large amounts of fat, sugar and salt.
Hurt grew up concerned about the health of his overweight father, who eventually succumbed to pancreatic cancer at the age of 63. One of the risk factors for developing this kind of cancer is a high-fat diet centered on meat.
Worried this same fate was befalling others in the African-American community, Hurt set out to...
Hurt grew up eating "soul food" from the African-American Southern tradition: grits and cheese-covered scrambled eggs, buttered biscuits with gravy, bacon, collard greens with ham hocks, fried pork chops, macaroni and cheese, fried chicken, fried fish, barbecued chicken and ribs, and candied yams.
While all these dishes are delicious and come from recipes passed down for generations in families, they also can contain large amounts of fat, sugar and salt.
Hurt grew up concerned about the health of his overweight father, who eventually succumbed to pancreatic cancer at the age of 63. One of the risk factors for developing this kind of cancer is a high-fat diet centered on meat.
Worried this same fate was befalling others in the African-American community, Hurt set out to...
- 1/14/2013
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Zap2It - From Inside the Box
Sit down, Lemon Andersen ‘got a story to tell. He grew up in Brooklyn by the ten crack commandments. After both parents succumbing to Aids through their addictions, he took the improbable journey from Rikers to reading his first poem at El Puente Community Center to Broadway earning himself a Tony Award. Or as Lemon simply puts it, he took those lemons and made “the best goddamn lemonade!” He is now the subject of a documentary called ‘Lemon’ by Laura Brownson & Beth Levison which chronicles the journey of his one man play ‘County of Kings; the Beautiful Struggle’ which recently closed the HBO New York International Latino Film Festival and will air on PBS on October 19th as part of Voces, a four part Latino documentary series in celebration of Hispanic Heritage month.
LatinoBuzz: When you think of riding the train, standing room only on a winter day, hoodie and goose down North Face on in Brooklyn—what song pops into your head?
Lemon:“It’s all about the mood I’m in and the scene I’m writing. ‘Cause work controls my life, writing controls my life, performing controls my life. So I don’t listen to any music that’s not an influence on what I’m working on that day. Music is a big influence in my work and sometimes drives the energy of where I want to go. It depends on what character I’m working on because all of my characters are musically driven as far as their language and their style. So it really depends on the day and what character I’m working on. One day I may be listening to Wu-Tang and another day I’m listening to A$AP Rocky, matter of fact I was listening to him on the train yesterday. Right now listening to A$AP Rocky cause I’m writing about some pretty motherfuckers from Harlem”.
LatinoBuzz: Author from any time in history, from any place whose swag should have had them born in the County of Kings in 1975?
Lemon:“I would definitely have to say William Shakespeare, he should have been born in Brooklyn in 1975 because I would have loved to see Shakespeare’s poetic portrayal of that generation and that world. He’s a big inspiration on my writing about that world and on my style. Shakespeare all day man, that’s the Og. I mean, I would pick Sophocles or any one of those guys, but Shakespeare is my kind of writer cause its all poetry. Basically for me Shakespeare is the greatest storyteller ever in the world, ever, period, hands down there is no one better than him and I challenge any motherfucker to question it. Even if they say he wasn’t the one who wrote it, I’m talking about the work not the man; I don’t know that fool, I know his work”.
LatinoBuzz: If St. Cecilia, patron saint of poets, was from Flatbush Ave. What would she be wearing and how would you holler at her?
Lemon:“I live by the code kill them with kindness, blood everywhere, for me it’s always about being the nicest kind of guy. What she would be wearing is something that is independent to her personality. On some hip-hop tip but no brand names totally indie hip designers. Something that really reflects her personality. That’s how I would start the conversation, I would notice something that she’s wearing and comment on it, something like I know the brand or “I’ve seen that in Paris,” and that will strike a chord with her and we’ll talk”.
LatinoBuzz: Three time felon, Tony award winner, one man show and now subject of a documentary film—any regrets to your journey?
Lemon:“I don’t know, I think that if I had any regrets that would cancel out the great people that I have in my life. All the tough stuff that I’ve gone through that I don’t wish on no one else has brought a beautiful community to me. The only thing I regret is the pain that I had to endure because pain sucks, the feeling of pain sucks, I don’t give a fuck when people say “more pain, more gain” no one wants to feel pain”.
LatinoBuzz: What do you tell your children about your parents?
Lemon:“You know, I talk to my kids about my mother’s energy and how she would have loved them. I talk about how kind and polite my father was. So that they have some kind of remembrance that even though my parents died from their addictions and so that they know they were genuine in how they were. That’s what I try to do. I try not to give too many details, though they are not old enough to ask me for details yet”.
LatinoBuzz: What would you rather? Drink wine with Pablo Neruda. Play ‘Cee-lo’ with Langston Hughes, Slap Box with Charles Bukowski or Slow Dance with Sonia Sanchez?
Lemon:“Would be slap boxing with Charles Bukowski cause he tried to protect Langston Hughes cause he owes me on the dice game and Sonia Sanchez is sitting there laughing her ass off with Pablo Neruda sipping wine. I would slap box with Bukowski and I’ll know that he’ll try to go for his. Bukowski stands out for more than anyone, although I love Langston Hughes and I love Sonia, and Pablo Neruda is the most beautiful loving poet of them all. I’m too rambunctious and so Charles Bukowski fits the bill. I would turn those guys down any day to even just have coconut water with Bukowski. So that’s my dude, he rolls big with me, in my work, so yeah I’d slap box with him all day, right on the corner”.
LatinoBuzz: What ritual sends you to your creative realm?
Lemon:“Lately its been getting up in the morning and allowing my kind of madness to grow. By that I mean that I have to allow myself to wake up before I start writing. I wake up I talk to one of my closest friends. I talk to my management team and I get their energy boiling. I get the blood boiling. I get angry, I get hungry, and I go at it, and I don’t stop ‘til I go to bed at night. So I have to get the blood boiling is just not coffee. It has to be that I’m in conversation with people in the morning before the work start because people drive me. Through out the day I listen to music I go to local cafes I hang out with the Mexicans behind the bar let them know that I love and that I’m holding them down, real talk, and that’s my every day”.
LatinoBuzz: If you and Biggie played Hooky—what’s the day like?
Lemon: “Wow, if me and Biggie played hooky I think we’d be sitting at home, that’s the only time I would go back to smoking weed, because I know I’ll be smoking with Biggie. I don’t smoke weed but for Biggie and Bob Marley. I would smoke with him and we would be watching Midnight Express and Brubaker and I would be telling him, “you see these movies that’s why I’m writing ‘Toast’, that’s why I write scripts and not raps.”
LatinoBuzz: Line of poetry or a lyric you wish you wrote?
Lemon:“I never sleep cause sleep is the cousin of death.”—Nas, “NY State of Mind”
LatinoBuzz: What will people say about Lemon when it’s all said and done?
Lemon:“That he believed in a generation not based on race but on class and style, and they had a great story tell and he told it”.
For info on The documentary and screening times visit: http://www.lemonthemovie.com or show Lemon some love at: http://twitter.com/lemonandersen
Written by Juan Caceres and Vanessa Erazo, LatinoBuzz is a weekly feature on SydneysBuzz that highlights emerging and established Latino indie talent and upcoming trends in Latino film with the specific objective of presenting a broad range of Latino voices. Follow @LatinoBuzz on twitter.
LatinoBuzz: When you think of riding the train, standing room only on a winter day, hoodie and goose down North Face on in Brooklyn—what song pops into your head?
Lemon:“It’s all about the mood I’m in and the scene I’m writing. ‘Cause work controls my life, writing controls my life, performing controls my life. So I don’t listen to any music that’s not an influence on what I’m working on that day. Music is a big influence in my work and sometimes drives the energy of where I want to go. It depends on what character I’m working on because all of my characters are musically driven as far as their language and their style. So it really depends on the day and what character I’m working on. One day I may be listening to Wu-Tang and another day I’m listening to A$AP Rocky, matter of fact I was listening to him on the train yesterday. Right now listening to A$AP Rocky cause I’m writing about some pretty motherfuckers from Harlem”.
LatinoBuzz: Author from any time in history, from any place whose swag should have had them born in the County of Kings in 1975?
Lemon:“I would definitely have to say William Shakespeare, he should have been born in Brooklyn in 1975 because I would have loved to see Shakespeare’s poetic portrayal of that generation and that world. He’s a big inspiration on my writing about that world and on my style. Shakespeare all day man, that’s the Og. I mean, I would pick Sophocles or any one of those guys, but Shakespeare is my kind of writer cause its all poetry. Basically for me Shakespeare is the greatest storyteller ever in the world, ever, period, hands down there is no one better than him and I challenge any motherfucker to question it. Even if they say he wasn’t the one who wrote it, I’m talking about the work not the man; I don’t know that fool, I know his work”.
LatinoBuzz: If St. Cecilia, patron saint of poets, was from Flatbush Ave. What would she be wearing and how would you holler at her?
Lemon:“I live by the code kill them with kindness, blood everywhere, for me it’s always about being the nicest kind of guy. What she would be wearing is something that is independent to her personality. On some hip-hop tip but no brand names totally indie hip designers. Something that really reflects her personality. That’s how I would start the conversation, I would notice something that she’s wearing and comment on it, something like I know the brand or “I’ve seen that in Paris,” and that will strike a chord with her and we’ll talk”.
LatinoBuzz: Three time felon, Tony award winner, one man show and now subject of a documentary film—any regrets to your journey?
Lemon:“I don’t know, I think that if I had any regrets that would cancel out the great people that I have in my life. All the tough stuff that I’ve gone through that I don’t wish on no one else has brought a beautiful community to me. The only thing I regret is the pain that I had to endure because pain sucks, the feeling of pain sucks, I don’t give a fuck when people say “more pain, more gain” no one wants to feel pain”.
LatinoBuzz: What do you tell your children about your parents?
Lemon:“You know, I talk to my kids about my mother’s energy and how she would have loved them. I talk about how kind and polite my father was. So that they have some kind of remembrance that even though my parents died from their addictions and so that they know they were genuine in how they were. That’s what I try to do. I try not to give too many details, though they are not old enough to ask me for details yet”.
LatinoBuzz: What would you rather? Drink wine with Pablo Neruda. Play ‘Cee-lo’ with Langston Hughes, Slap Box with Charles Bukowski or Slow Dance with Sonia Sanchez?
Lemon:“Would be slap boxing with Charles Bukowski cause he tried to protect Langston Hughes cause he owes me on the dice game and Sonia Sanchez is sitting there laughing her ass off with Pablo Neruda sipping wine. I would slap box with Bukowski and I’ll know that he’ll try to go for his. Bukowski stands out for more than anyone, although I love Langston Hughes and I love Sonia, and Pablo Neruda is the most beautiful loving poet of them all. I’m too rambunctious and so Charles Bukowski fits the bill. I would turn those guys down any day to even just have coconut water with Bukowski. So that’s my dude, he rolls big with me, in my work, so yeah I’d slap box with him all day, right on the corner”.
LatinoBuzz: What ritual sends you to your creative realm?
Lemon:“Lately its been getting up in the morning and allowing my kind of madness to grow. By that I mean that I have to allow myself to wake up before I start writing. I wake up I talk to one of my closest friends. I talk to my management team and I get their energy boiling. I get the blood boiling. I get angry, I get hungry, and I go at it, and I don’t stop ‘til I go to bed at night. So I have to get the blood boiling is just not coffee. It has to be that I’m in conversation with people in the morning before the work start because people drive me. Through out the day I listen to music I go to local cafes I hang out with the Mexicans behind the bar let them know that I love and that I’m holding them down, real talk, and that’s my every day”.
LatinoBuzz: If you and Biggie played Hooky—what’s the day like?
Lemon: “Wow, if me and Biggie played hooky I think we’d be sitting at home, that’s the only time I would go back to smoking weed, because I know I’ll be smoking with Biggie. I don’t smoke weed but for Biggie and Bob Marley. I would smoke with him and we would be watching Midnight Express and Brubaker and I would be telling him, “you see these movies that’s why I’m writing ‘Toast’, that’s why I write scripts and not raps.”
LatinoBuzz: Line of poetry or a lyric you wish you wrote?
Lemon:“I never sleep cause sleep is the cousin of death.”—Nas, “NY State of Mind”
LatinoBuzz: What will people say about Lemon when it’s all said and done?
Lemon:“That he believed in a generation not based on race but on class and style, and they had a great story tell and he told it”.
For info on The documentary and screening times visit: http://www.lemonthemovie.com or show Lemon some love at: http://twitter.com/lemonandersen
Written by Juan Caceres and Vanessa Erazo, LatinoBuzz is a weekly feature on SydneysBuzz that highlights emerging and established Latino indie talent and upcoming trends in Latino film with the specific objective of presenting a broad range of Latino voices. Follow @LatinoBuzz on twitter.
- 10/3/2012
- by Juan Caceres
- Sydney's Buzz
Lots of good-looking documentaries on the horizon on some of our most cherished personalities, from Shola Lynch's upcoming Angela Davis project, to this one from directors Barbara Attie and Janet Goldwater. Appropriately-titled BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez, the project, which is currently in production, focuses on the life of the 77-year-old poet (born Wilsonia Benita Driver)- her emergence as a seminal figure in the 1960s Black Arts Movement, to civil rights activism, women’s liberation as a poet, playwright, teacher, activist and early champion of the spoken word. In BaddDDD Sonia Sanchez, a life unfolds in a documentary rich with readings and jazz-accompanied performances of...
- 7/11/2012
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
Fred Viebahn Rita Dove
Rita Dove is a Pulitzer Prize winner and former Poet Laureate, and she’s also a competitive ballroom dancer. A professor at the University of Virginia, Dove now has another credit to her name: editor of the new Penguin Anthology of 20th Century American Poetry.
The anthology, a sienna clothbound release, looks like something that would be kept in a walnut bookshelf in the library of some British manor house. But this is a distinctly American book,...
Rita Dove is a Pulitzer Prize winner and former Poet Laureate, and she’s also a competitive ballroom dancer. A professor at the University of Virginia, Dove now has another credit to her name: editor of the new Penguin Anthology of 20th Century American Poetry.
The anthology, a sienna clothbound release, looks like something that would be kept in a walnut bookshelf in the library of some British manor house. But this is a distinctly American book,...
- 10/26/2011
- by Barbara Chai
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
Interview conducted by Tom Stockman October 19th, 2011
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 brings together, for 90 fascinating minutes, a treasure trove of 16mm material shot by Swedish journalists who came to the Us drawn by stories of urban unrest and revolution. Gaining access to many of the leaders of the Black Power Movement – Stokely Carmichael, Bobby Seale, Angela Davis and Eldridge Cleaver among them, the filmmakers captured them in intimate moments and remarkably unguarded interviews. Thirty years later, this collection of unedited film was found languishing in the basement of a Swedish Television station. Director Goran Olsson discovered this footage and assembled a documentary chronicling the evolution of one of our nation’s most indelible turning points, the Black Power movement. Featuring music by Questlove and Om’Mas Keith, and commentary from prominent African- American artists and activists who were influenced by the struggle — including Erykah Badu, Harry Belafonte, Talib Kweli,...
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 brings together, for 90 fascinating minutes, a treasure trove of 16mm material shot by Swedish journalists who came to the Us drawn by stories of urban unrest and revolution. Gaining access to many of the leaders of the Black Power Movement – Stokely Carmichael, Bobby Seale, Angela Davis and Eldridge Cleaver among them, the filmmakers captured them in intimate moments and remarkably unguarded interviews. Thirty years later, this collection of unedited film was found languishing in the basement of a Swedish Television station. Director Goran Olsson discovered this footage and assembled a documentary chronicling the evolution of one of our nation’s most indelible turning points, the Black Power movement. Featuring music by Questlove and Om’Mas Keith, and commentary from prominent African- American artists and activists who were influenced by the struggle — including Erykah Badu, Harry Belafonte, Talib Kweli,...
- 10/25/2011
- by Tom Stockman
- WeAreMovieGeeks.com
With The Help in theaters dissecting 1950′s race relations in the south, another film will take a more extensive look at the issues that follow that period, in documentary form. Goran Hugo Olsson‘s The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 debuted at Sundance this year to strong reviews and now we have our first trailer. The doc features Erykah Badu, Harry Belafonte, Kathleen Cleaver, Angela Davis, John Forté, Robin Kelley, Talib Kweli, Abiodun Oyewole, Melvin Van Peebles, Sonia Sanchez, Bobby Seale, and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. See it below via Apple.
Synopsis:
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 mobilizes a treasure trove of 16mm material shot by Swedish filmmakers, after languishing in a basement of a TV station for 30 years, into an irresistible mosaic of images, music, and narration chronicling the evolution one of our nation’s most indelible turning points, the Black Power movement. Featuring candid interviews with the movement’s most explosive revolutionary minds,...
Synopsis:
The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 mobilizes a treasure trove of 16mm material shot by Swedish filmmakers, after languishing in a basement of a TV station for 30 years, into an irresistible mosaic of images, music, and narration chronicling the evolution one of our nation’s most indelible turning points, the Black Power movement. Featuring candid interviews with the movement’s most explosive revolutionary minds,...
- 8/12/2011
- by jpraup@gmail.com (thefilmstage.com)
- The Film Stage
I first saw this at the Sundance Film Festival in January, and posted my review of it soon afterward. It’s screening in New York later this month as a New Directors/New Films Festival selection (its east coast premiere). Press screenings for the Nd/Nf started this week, and I saw the film for a second time earlier this afternoon. I’ve been reviewing all the films screened at the festival, as promised; but instead of typing up a new review of this one, I’m posting my initial Sundance thoughts. So here ya go…
I think we could argue that the legacy of the Black Power Movement really hasn’t been properly placed in context. Historically vilified by some, or fetishized by others, its effect and influence on other political movements still isn’t widely acknowledged and celebrated, unlike the earlier Civil Rights Movement.
Swedish director Goran Hugo Olsson’s empowering Sundance 2011 entry,...
I think we could argue that the legacy of the Black Power Movement really hasn’t been properly placed in context. Historically vilified by some, or fetishized by others, its effect and influence on other political movements still isn’t widely acknowledged and celebrated, unlike the earlier Civil Rights Movement.
Swedish director Goran Hugo Olsson’s empowering Sundance 2011 entry,...
- 3/11/2011
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
I think we could argue that the legacy of the Black Power Movement really hasn’t been properly placed in context. Historically vilified by some, or fetishized by others, its effect and influence on other political movements still isn’t widely acknowledged and celebrated, unlike the earlier Civil Rights Movement.
Swedish director Goran Hugo Olsson’s empowering Sundance 2011 entry, The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975, produced by Danny Glover, attempts to contextualizes the movement, at home and abroad, highlight its successes and failures, and note its importance today; it wants to raise awareness and reignite penetrating discussion on the movement, by introducing it to a new global generation, in a format that may be more accessible to them – the concept we call the “mixtape,” hence the title.
The story goes… the late 60s/early 70s saw Swedish interest in the Us Civil Rights Movement peak; and with a demonstrated combination of commitment and naivete,...
Swedish director Goran Hugo Olsson’s empowering Sundance 2011 entry, The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975, produced by Danny Glover, attempts to contextualizes the movement, at home and abroad, highlight its successes and failures, and note its importance today; it wants to raise awareness and reignite penetrating discussion on the movement, by introducing it to a new global generation, in a format that may be more accessible to them – the concept we call the “mixtape,” hence the title.
The story goes… the late 60s/early 70s saw Swedish interest in the Us Civil Rights Movement peak; and with a demonstrated combination of commitment and naivete,...
- 1/29/2011
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
[Premiere Screening: Friday, Jan. 21, 9:00 pm -- Holiday Village Cinema IV]
To me the biggest surprise in making The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 was meeting one of my subjects: Angela Davis. I had admired her for so many years from seeing her on TV and her biography. The footage that we assembled in the film is something that no one outside of Swedish television had seen before. While watching those segments from years ago, I was moved by her interviews and the way she spoke so directly and with knowledge and a subtlety that was so powerful. Then, when I actually met her, I was blown away completely. I felt kind of chastened presuming she was solely this ultraserious scholar, only to find out she was a humorous, witty and very warm person. It was great.
Further, this same feeling of surprise resonated with all the other persons I had interviewed for the film. As a documentary filmmaker, you aren’t...
To me the biggest surprise in making The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 was meeting one of my subjects: Angela Davis. I had admired her for so many years from seeing her on TV and her biography. The footage that we assembled in the film is something that no one outside of Swedish television had seen before. While watching those segments from years ago, I was moved by her interviews and the way she spoke so directly and with knowledge and a subtlety that was so powerful. Then, when I actually met her, I was blown away completely. I felt kind of chastened presuming she was solely this ultraserious scholar, only to find out she was a humorous, witty and very warm person. It was great.
Further, this same feeling of surprise resonated with all the other persons I had interviewed for the film. As a documentary filmmaker, you aren’t...
- 1/19/2011
- by Filmmaker Staff
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
And we’re off…! As I said in my post announcing the Sundance 2011 lineup, I’ll be going over the complete list, highlighting titles that we already haven’t given coverage to, taking into consideration this blog’s specific interests.
The first is a documentary titled The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975, directed by Swedish filmmaker Göran Hugo Olsson, and co-produced by Danny Glover and his Louverture Films.
Its synopsis: From 1967 to 1975, Swedish journalists chronicled the Black Power movement in America. Combining that 16mm footage, undiscovered until now, with contemporary audio interviews, this film illuminates the people and culture that fueled change and brings the movement to life anew.
Included in the mix are appearances and commentary by: Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture), Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Eldridge Cleaver, Bobby Seale, Huey P. Newton, Emile de Antonio, Angela Davis, Harry Belafonte, Kathleen Cleaver, Robin Kelley, Abiodun Oyewole, Sonia Sanchez, Bobby Seale...
The first is a documentary titled The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975, directed by Swedish filmmaker Göran Hugo Olsson, and co-produced by Danny Glover and his Louverture Films.
Its synopsis: From 1967 to 1975, Swedish journalists chronicled the Black Power movement in America. Combining that 16mm footage, undiscovered until now, with contemporary audio interviews, this film illuminates the people and culture that fueled change and brings the movement to life anew.
Included in the mix are appearances and commentary by: Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture), Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Eldridge Cleaver, Bobby Seale, Huey P. Newton, Emile de Antonio, Angela Davis, Harry Belafonte, Kathleen Cleaver, Robin Kelley, Abiodun Oyewole, Sonia Sanchez, Bobby Seale...
- 12/2/2010
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
Jill Scott, Shontelle also perform, as Missy Elliott receives Lifetime Achievement Award during special airing Sunday.
By Daniela Capistrano
Keri Hilson at the 2010 "Black Girls Rock!" awards
Photo: Johnny Nunez/WireImage
New York — As she took the stage at the start of Bet's "Black Girls Rock!" event, host Nia Long announced, "The golden rule for this evening is to believe in yourself fearlessly." Her smile seemed to invite the audience to give it a try.
Anchored by stellar performances from Jill Scott, Keri Hilson, Ciara and other heavy hitters, the program's 11 honorees — including Lifetime Achievement Award winner Missy Elliot — carried a message of empowerment. "Black Girls Rock!" is a tribute devoted to honoring African-American "Icons, Moguls and Sheroes" and will be televised for the first time on Bet Sunday (November 7) at 8 p.m. Et.
An audience full of icons could make anyone feel intimidated, but Shontelle, who performed her hit single "Impossible,...
By Daniela Capistrano
Keri Hilson at the 2010 "Black Girls Rock!" awards
Photo: Johnny Nunez/WireImage
New York — As she took the stage at the start of Bet's "Black Girls Rock!" event, host Nia Long announced, "The golden rule for this evening is to believe in yourself fearlessly." Her smile seemed to invite the audience to give it a try.
Anchored by stellar performances from Jill Scott, Keri Hilson, Ciara and other heavy hitters, the program's 11 honorees — including Lifetime Achievement Award winner Missy Elliot — carried a message of empowerment. "Black Girls Rock!" is a tribute devoted to honoring African-American "Icons, Moguls and Sheroes" and will be televised for the first time on Bet Sunday (November 7) at 8 p.m. Et.
An audience full of icons could make anyone feel intimidated, but Shontelle, who performed her hit single "Impossible,...
- 11/7/2010
- MTV Music News
Jill Scott, Shontelle also perform, as Missy Elliott receives Lifetime Achievement Award during special airing Sunday.
By Daniela Capistrano
Keri Hilson at the 2010 "Black Girls Rock!" awards
Photo: Johnny Nunez/WireImage
New York — As she took the stage at the start of Bet's "Black Girls Rock!" event, host Nia Long announced, "The golden rule for this evening is to believe in yourself fearlessly." Her smile seemed to invite the audience to give it a try.
Anchored by stellar performances from Jill Scott, Keri Hilson, Ciara and other heavy hitters, the program's 11 honorees — including Lifetime Achievement Award winner Missy Elliot — carried a message of empowerment. "Black Girls Rock!" is a tribute devoted to honoring African-American "Icons, Moguls and Sheroes" and will be televised for the first time on Bet Sunday (November 7) at 8 p.m. Et.
An audience full of icons could make anyone feel intimidated, but Shontelle, who performed her hit single "Impossible,...
By Daniela Capistrano
Keri Hilson at the 2010 "Black Girls Rock!" awards
Photo: Johnny Nunez/WireImage
New York — As she took the stage at the start of Bet's "Black Girls Rock!" event, host Nia Long announced, "The golden rule for this evening is to believe in yourself fearlessly." Her smile seemed to invite the audience to give it a try.
Anchored by stellar performances from Jill Scott, Keri Hilson, Ciara and other heavy hitters, the program's 11 honorees — including Lifetime Achievement Award winner Missy Elliot — carried a message of empowerment. "Black Girls Rock!" is a tribute devoted to honoring African-American "Icons, Moguls and Sheroes" and will be televised for the first time on Bet Sunday (November 7) at 8 p.m. Et.
An audience full of icons could make anyone feel intimidated, but Shontelle, who performed her hit single "Impossible,...
- 11/7/2010
- MTV Music News
Displaying the bold spirit of celebrated poet and Black Arts Movement playwright Sonia Sanchez, The Riverside Theatre and BeBop Theatre Collective are presenting performances of two one-act plays from early in Sanchez' career that have not been performed since the late ?60s, running from Thursday, August 6 to Monday, August 17, at The Riverside Theatre, 91 Claremont Ave. (bet. 120th & 122nd St.), Morningside Heights.
- 7/15/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
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