Why ‘Empire’ is Causing Me to Have a Midlife Crisis: Season 2 Starts Tonight at 9 pm!!!

Editor’s Note: Since my favorite television show is back tonight I thought I would repost this blog entry from earlier this year! Enjoy 🙂

Hello World,  empire

I don’t know if this is a delayed reaction to turning 40 years old almost two years ago as this September, but I am just now starting to feel like I’ve hit middle age…And I’m not sure what to do about that…

It started when I binge watched the first four episodes of “Empire” at a friend’s house…I had heard about the show which is a modern and hip hop version of the Shakespeare tragedy “King Lear.” But instead of King Lear struggling to divide his estate between his three daughters, Lucious Lyon, a music mogul, is struggling to hand over his empire to one of his three sons: Andre, Jamal and Hakeem. Complicating the struggle is the return of Lucious’ ex-wife Cookie, who went to jail for 17 years for dealing drugs. However, the drug money was used to start Lucious’ career in the rap industry and fund the construction of his music label Empire Entertainment and Cookie holds that detail over her ex-husband’s head once she is released from prison…

So although I had heard about the show, I wasn’t anxious to add the hip-hop soap opera to my already full TV watching schedule (RHOA, The Walking Dead, Y&R, Being Mary Jane, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, etc. ). But at a friend’s house where I was along with other friends, I decided to watch at least one episode with them…I promise you I did not move from my spot on my friend’s chair for several hours, long after the rest of my friends fell asleep. I almost had to be told to leave…I.was.hooked…But I was also troubled…Cookie, who is portrayed Taraji P. Henson, has three sons…The oldest one, Andre, is a college graduate and her youngest son, Hakeem, is 17 years old! How can Yvette (also portrayed by from Taraji P. Henson) from  “Baby Boy” be old enough to have three sons?! I mentioned that my friends while we were watching “Empire,” and one of my friends replied, “We old, girl.” And remember when Terrance Howard, who portrays Lucious Lyon, was the tenderoni Brendan King that Max on “Living Single” was ashamed she was dating? When he did get old enough to sire three boys?

That was my first inkling that maaaybe I’m not as young as I feel on the inside or look (don’t act! fingers snapped)…

Then three new radio stations, referred to as classic hip hop stations, debuted in metro Atlanta…While I’m loving the music, I don’t know about you but any music genre that is preceded by the word “classic” is really just another way of saying old folk’s music…And when you think about it, hip hop, which was once this new pulsating street phenomenon, has been around for at least 20 years at this point…20 years ago, “Empire” couldn’t have plausible because there were no hip hop moguls 20 years ago…But now, we have Diddy, Jay Z, Dr. Dre and Suge Knight (God bless him…smh…) and others who have amassed a fortune in hip hop and built their own empires…

The fact that I’m old enough to have amassed a fortune (but haven’t) was my second indication time is moving for real for for real….

A few weeks ago, I saw Will Smith on Jimmy Kimmel promoting his latest movie “Focus.” During the interview, Will Smith said his youngest son, 16-year-old Jaden, is now driving…I remember when it was announced that Jada was pregnant with him…And then Will was asked to rap…He was still good, but it was like watching your uncle try to “bust a move.” That lean and hungry look that most young rappers have at their prime had been replaced by the ease and comfort that wealth and a few good meals will bring. Don’t get me wrong…Will Smith looks fit, but he also looks older…And if the Fresh Prince has gotten older, where does that leave me? (Yes, ’80 babies, Will Smith was a rapper before he was a actor…)

And this is the moment when the drip drop of a leaky faucet finally gave way to the flood of realization that I’ve hit middle age…

And now that I’m thinking out it, there have been other clues, but I’ve ignored them until now…

In no particular order…

  • Lauryn Hill daughter’s Selah is 16 years old…We’re not event talking about Zion, her oldest child…
  • Lil Kim had a baby…Yes, Lil Kim had a baby…I still can’t believe she is someone’s mother
  • Erick Sermon had a heart attack…Rappers are old enough to have heart attacks now…
  • Eminem’s daughter Hailie is 19 years old!!!
  • Yo Yo married a mayor!!!
  • Diddy’s son Justin is in college…
  • Snoop Dog’s son, who is a football star, is heading to college

Maybe if I have had children by now, all of this wouldn’t have taken me by surprise…but now I know why nephew shakes his head and averts his eyes when I try to dance in the front seat of my car when I hear my jam, I’m old…old lady

Any thoughts?

Why ‘Empire’ is Causing Me to Have a Midlife Crisis…

Hello World,  empire

I don’t know if this is a delayed reaction to turning 40 years old almost two years ago as this September, but I am just now starting to feel like I’ve hit middle age…And I’m not sure what to do about that…

It started when I binge watched the first four episodes of “Empire” at a friend’s house…I had heard about the show which is a modern and hip hop version of the Shakespeare tragedy “King Lear.” But instead of King Lear struggling to divide his estate between his three daughters, Lucious Lyon, a music mogul, is struggling to hand over his empire to one of his three sons: Andre, Jamal and Hakeem. Complicating the struggle is the return of Lucious’ ex-wife Cookie, who went to jail for 17 years for dealing drugs. However, the drug money was used to start Lucious’ career in the rap industry and fund the construction of his music label Empire Entertainment and Cookie holds that detail over her ex-husband’s head once she is released from prison…

So although I had heard about the show, I wasn’t anxious to add the hip-hop soap opera to my already full TV watching schedule (RHOA, The Walking Dead, Y&R, Being Mary Jane, Scandal, How to Get Away with Murder, etc. ). But at a friend’s house where I was along with other friends, I decided to watch at least one episode with them…I promise you I did not move from my spot on my friend’s chair for several hours, long after the rest of my friends fell asleep. I almost had to be told to leave…I.was.hooked…But I was also troubled…Cookie, who is portrayed Taraji P. Henson, has three sons…The oldest one, Andre, is a college graduate and her youngest son, Hakeem, is 17 years old! How can Yvette (also portrayed by from Taraji P. Henson) from  “Baby Boy” be old enough to have three sons?! I mentioned that my friends while we were watching “Empire,” and one of my friends replied, “We old, girl.” And remember when Terrance Howard, who portrays Lucious Lyon, was the tenderoni Brendan King that Max on “Living Single” was ashamed she was dating? When he did get old enough to sire three boys?

That was my first inkling that maaaybe I’m not as young as I feel on the inside or look (don’t act! fingers snapped)…

Then three new radio stations, referred to as classic hip hop stations, debuted in metro Atlanta…While I’m loving the music, I don’t know about you but any music genre that is preceded by the word “classic” is really just another way of saying old folk’s music…And when you think about it, hip hop, which was once this new pulsating street phenomenon, has been around for at least 20 years at this point…20 years ago, “Empire” couldn’t have plausible because there were no hip hop moguls 20 years ago…But now, we have Diddy, Jay Z, Dr. Dre and Suge Knight (God bless him…smh…) and others who have amassed a fortune in hip hop and built their own empires…

The fact that I’m old enough to have amassed a fortune (but haven’t) was my second indication time is moving for real for for real….

A few weeks ago, I saw Will Smith on Jimmy Kimmel promoting his latest movie “Focus.” During the interview, Will Smith said his youngest son, 16-year-old Jaden, is now driving…I remember when it was announced that Jada was pregnant with him…And then Will was asked to rap…He was still good, but it was like watching your uncle try to “bust a move.” That lean and hungry look that most young rappers have at their prime had been replaced by the ease and comfort that wealth and a few good meals will bring. Don’t get me wrong…Will Smith looks fit, but he also looks older…And if the Fresh Prince has gotten older, where does that leave me? (Yes, ’80 babies, Will Smith was a rapper before he was a actor…)

And this is the moment when the drip drop of a leaky faucet finally gave way to the flood of realization that I’ve hit middle age…

And now that I’m thinking out it, there have been other clues, but I’ve ignored them until now…

In no particular order…

  • Lauryn Hill daughter’s Selah is 16 years old…We’re not event talking about Zion, her oldest child…
  • Lil Kim had a baby…Yes, Lil Kim had a baby…I still can’t believe she is someone’s mother
  • Erick Sermon had a heart attack…Rappers are old enough to have heart attacks now…
  • Eminem’s daughter Hailie is 19 years old!!!
  • Yo Yo married a mayor!!!
  • Diddy’s son Justin is in college…
  • Snoop Dog’s son, who is a football star, is heading to college

Maybe if I have had children by now, all of this wouldn’t have taken me by surprise…but now I know why nephew shakes his head and averts his eyes when I try to dance in the front seat of my car when I hear my jam, I’m old…old lady

Any thoughts?

 

Three The White Way – Why Three of the Black Male Actors in ‘The Best Man Holiday’ Married White Women…

Hello World, 

The ’90s were the golden age of black cinema…Let me hit you with just a few — “House Party” (1990) “Boyz in the Hood” (1991), “New Jack City” (1991), “Juice” (1992), “Menace to Society” (1993),”Jason’s Lyric” (1993) “Friday” (1995), “Above the Rim” (1995), “Waiting to Exhale” (1995), “Love Jones” (1997) and “The Best Man” in 1999…Although during the ’90s, I was a poor high school and college student and later a brand new journalist, a considerable portion of my non-existent budget was spent seeing these pop culture classics…

I think that’s why so many of us who came of age in this golden age of black cinema bombarded the box office last weekend, making “The Best Man Holiday,” the sequel to “The Best Man” rank second during its opening weekend, earning just over $30 million to the surprise of Hollywood…When we met Harper, Jordan, Lance, Julian, Quentin, Robin, Mia, Shelby and Candy in 1999, many of us where right where they were…We were recent college graduates and newly minted professionals…Many of us were getting married or watching our boys and girls from college days become other people’s husbands and wives…I identified the most with Jordan…I was more excited about nurturing a career than nurturing relationships and was often shocked when I watched my male buddies that I once had in abundance get married…

So when I started hearing the rumblings about a sequel to “The Best Man” a couple of years ago, I knew I would be among the first seeing just what happened to these beloved characters over the years…And my high expectations were exceeded! Dare I say “The Best Man Holiday” was better than the original! And like, that never happens! Can you name any other sequel that was better than the original?! I can’t. At least right now. Let me know if I’m wrong. These characters became even more rich with time, wisdom, hilarity and — tragedy. As in real life, when you are young, you live in a bubble in which life makes sense and your parents are always there to nurse your boo boos. After you’ve been an adult for a while, you realize that life, while beautiful, is less than sensible and some hurts never truly heal…I won’t spoil the movie because I still want others to see it…But I now consider it a classic…A definite must-see…

However, in spite of this movie’s brilliance, there have been unfortunate efforts to diminish this movie’s shine…And I just don’t get it…but I will write about it…We’ve all heard about USA Today and it’s “race-themed” commentary on the movie’s success..Also, the next day after I saw the movie last Saturday, I saw a Facebook post by one of my friends in which he noted that three of the four lead actors in the movie have been or are married to white women…As if to say, that the black on black love that we saw in the movie was just movie magic, hardly a depiction of real life…Okay, so you know what I’m talking about – Taye Diggs, who plays Harper, is married to Idina Menzel, who is white. Harold Perrineau who plays Julian, is married to Brittany Perrineau, who is white. Terrance Howard, who plays Quentin, has been married to white women…So what, I say?!! I didn’t watch a movie about Taye Diggs, Harold Perrineau and Terrance Howard! I’m watched a movie about Harper, Julian and Quentin….And yes, in real life, some black men marry white women, but I will not fall for the okey doke and not speak well of the movie because some of its actors didn’t marry women that look like me…And furthermore, there is nothing wrong with interracial relationships…So they married outside of the black race, but they didn’t marry outside of the human race!!!

And now let me address the Taye Diggs issue…Over the years, I have read that Taye Diggs has an issue with black women…I don’t know if this is true or not as I’ve never spoken to the man, but I am aware of the rumor…And yesterday, I read an article someone posted on Facebook about how Taye Diggs was happy to get back to his white wife after being with all of those black women on the set of “The Best Man Holiday.” And now, I’ve seen Facebook posts in which people declared they will no longer support Taye Diggs nor the movie. Maybe it’s because I’m a journalist that I know that first you have to consider the source…I have seen no mention of this statement from any reputable news outlet. Secondly, seeing a movie is not a sweeping endorsement of the every single life choice or belief of every actor in a movie. Thirdly, while I am no conspiracy theorist, I do believe there are forces at work that try to tear down legitimate successes…just who released this supposed story about Taye Diggs and why? Just something to ponder…

If you want to see a great movie with multidimensional characters that manage to touch every emotion on the spectrum, see “The Best Man Holiday.” And for those who want to get into Black Power arguments, have several seats (at the movies) at “12 Years a Slave,” which is the proper forum for this kind of conversation…

In sum, support.black.cinema.

Any thoughts?

P.S. Just a snippet of the fine black men in the movie…