blackwisdom
04-25-2006, 11:04 PM
The Revolution Will Be Televised: Starz InBlack Presents 'Dead Prez: It's Bigger Than Hip-Hop'
Hip Hop Duo's First Televised Concert Premieres at 10 p.m. Friday, June 9, 2006
ENGLEWOOD, Colo., April 24 /PRNewswire/ -- In this day and age where the
music industry actively promotes artists who happily celebrate narcotics, gun
violence and misogyny as lyrical content to fuel billion dollar sales, there
is one Hip Hop group willing to go in another direction for the community of
people they represent. And now dead prez (M-1 and stic.man ) will get its
first televised concert special as Starz InBlack takes a bold step in
spreading the group's fiery cultural perspective to the masses.
The revolution will be televised at 10 p.m., et/pt on Friday, June 9,
2006, with the airing of "Dead Prez: It's Bigger Than Hip-Hop," a Starz
InBlack Original production. At last, their voice will be heard by millions.'
"Dead Prez: It's Bigger Than Hip-Hop" is more than just a concert
documentary; it brings attention to the inadequacies of the public education
system, minority entrepreneurship, and social revolution. Taped in San
Francisco, Calif., "Dead Prez: It's Bigger Than Hip-Hop" is a one-hour
analysis on the state of Black America. The documentary is infused with
dialog and interviews not only from dead prez but also from Kamel Bell, owner
of Ankh Marketing and son of incarcerated Black Panther Herman Bell, Fred
Hampton, Jr., son of Black Panther Chairman Fred Hampton, Bay-area rapper Ise
Lyfe, Hip Hop activist/radio personality Davey D and performances of some of
dead prez' most potent songs from their highly charged catalog like "Know Your
Enemy," "They Schools," "Hell Yeah," and "Bigger Than Hip Hop."
"Our aim is to provide a programming experience that viewers will not get
anywhere else," said David Charmatz, senior vice president, channel
management, talking about the programming philosophy at Starz InBlack. "We
like to push the limits and go where other networks fear to tread. We
recognized in dead prez a message that deserves to be heard. Not everyone
will agree with them, but that's OK. We aim to enlighten and entertain, and
'Dead Prez: It's Bigger than Hip Hop' does both."
"We've never had the opportunity to express ourselves on this level of
magnitude," states M-1. "Starz InBlack taking a chance on us lets us know
that the work we are doing is not in vain. That our message is penetrating,
it's getting through."
Just as bold as other hip hop groups such as NWA and Public Enemy, dead
prez continues to forge a voice for community building music. "We are
community people and we are about the betterment of the community," states
M-1.
As a part of their mission to the culture of Hip Hop and society as a
whole, dead prez challenges images and programming that glorify young Black
men killing one another, or young Black women portrayed as ho's. They feel
the media engages in age-old mind control and manipulation, be it visual or
audible.
"When it comes to people of color, the corporations that own these outlets
understand the manipulation and they don't want to sell us no revolution,
because that would be selling us freedom," says stic.man. "We are still in
a state of apartheid, even in America."
"It's necessary and imperative for our community to have a group like dead
prez in a position to comment and say what they want to say," activist Kamel
Bell says in "Dead Prez: It's Bigger Than Hip-Hop." "To tell the truth about
what's happening in our community and the world. If we are in a place where
Hip Hop culture can't support that, then we are in a dire place."
Starz InBlack is having a successful run with its weekly programming of
the "B Side," an edgy late-night program that mixes comedy, music, animation,
and shorts and "1st Amendment Stand-Up" a comedy show where 27 rising stars
take center stage to provoke, captivate and tell it like it is in their
hilarious, urban, and explosive styles.
Starz InBlack is the source for the biggest, coolest movies and urban
entertainment. Starz InBlack has produced several original film projects,
most recently, "UNSTOPPABLE: A Conversation with Melvin Van Peebles, Gordon
Parks and Ossie Davis," "The Last of the Mississippi Jukes," and the Peabody
Award-winning and NAACP Image Award-nominated "A Huey P. Newton Story"
starring Roger Guenveur Smith and directed by Spike Lee. Other productions
include the critically acclaimed "Funny Valentines" (in association with
Studio USA Pictures and STARZ! Pictures), starring Alfre Woodard, Loretta
Devine and CCH Pounder, plus original documentaries "Scandalize My Name:
Stories from the Blacklist," hosted by actor Morgan Freeman and the highly
regarded "Classified X" by the godfather of contemporary African American
cinema, Melvin Van Peebles.
Starz Entertainment Group LLC (SEG) is a premium movie service provider
operating in the United States. SEG offers 16 movie channels including the
flagship Starz(R) and Encore(R) brands with approximately 14 million and
26 million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment Group airs more than
1,000 movies per month across its pay TV channels and offers advanced services
including Starz HDTV, Starz On Demand and Vongo(SM). Starz Entertainment
Group is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation,
www.starz.com (http://www.starz.com).
Hip Hop Duo's First Televised Concert Premieres at 10 p.m. Friday, June 9, 2006
ENGLEWOOD, Colo., April 24 /PRNewswire/ -- In this day and age where the
music industry actively promotes artists who happily celebrate narcotics, gun
violence and misogyny as lyrical content to fuel billion dollar sales, there
is one Hip Hop group willing to go in another direction for the community of
people they represent. And now dead prez (M-1 and stic.man ) will get its
first televised concert special as Starz InBlack takes a bold step in
spreading the group's fiery cultural perspective to the masses.
The revolution will be televised at 10 p.m., et/pt on Friday, June 9,
2006, with the airing of "Dead Prez: It's Bigger Than Hip-Hop," a Starz
InBlack Original production. At last, their voice will be heard by millions.'
"Dead Prez: It's Bigger Than Hip-Hop" is more than just a concert
documentary; it brings attention to the inadequacies of the public education
system, minority entrepreneurship, and social revolution. Taped in San
Francisco, Calif., "Dead Prez: It's Bigger Than Hip-Hop" is a one-hour
analysis on the state of Black America. The documentary is infused with
dialog and interviews not only from dead prez but also from Kamel Bell, owner
of Ankh Marketing and son of incarcerated Black Panther Herman Bell, Fred
Hampton, Jr., son of Black Panther Chairman Fred Hampton, Bay-area rapper Ise
Lyfe, Hip Hop activist/radio personality Davey D and performances of some of
dead prez' most potent songs from their highly charged catalog like "Know Your
Enemy," "They Schools," "Hell Yeah," and "Bigger Than Hip Hop."
"Our aim is to provide a programming experience that viewers will not get
anywhere else," said David Charmatz, senior vice president, channel
management, talking about the programming philosophy at Starz InBlack. "We
like to push the limits and go where other networks fear to tread. We
recognized in dead prez a message that deserves to be heard. Not everyone
will agree with them, but that's OK. We aim to enlighten and entertain, and
'Dead Prez: It's Bigger than Hip Hop' does both."
"We've never had the opportunity to express ourselves on this level of
magnitude," states M-1. "Starz InBlack taking a chance on us lets us know
that the work we are doing is not in vain. That our message is penetrating,
it's getting through."
Just as bold as other hip hop groups such as NWA and Public Enemy, dead
prez continues to forge a voice for community building music. "We are
community people and we are about the betterment of the community," states
M-1.
As a part of their mission to the culture of Hip Hop and society as a
whole, dead prez challenges images and programming that glorify young Black
men killing one another, or young Black women portrayed as ho's. They feel
the media engages in age-old mind control and manipulation, be it visual or
audible.
"When it comes to people of color, the corporations that own these outlets
understand the manipulation and they don't want to sell us no revolution,
because that would be selling us freedom," says stic.man. "We are still in
a state of apartheid, even in America."
"It's necessary and imperative for our community to have a group like dead
prez in a position to comment and say what they want to say," activist Kamel
Bell says in "Dead Prez: It's Bigger Than Hip-Hop." "To tell the truth about
what's happening in our community and the world. If we are in a place where
Hip Hop culture can't support that, then we are in a dire place."
Starz InBlack is having a successful run with its weekly programming of
the "B Side," an edgy late-night program that mixes comedy, music, animation,
and shorts and "1st Amendment Stand-Up" a comedy show where 27 rising stars
take center stage to provoke, captivate and tell it like it is in their
hilarious, urban, and explosive styles.
Starz InBlack is the source for the biggest, coolest movies and urban
entertainment. Starz InBlack has produced several original film projects,
most recently, "UNSTOPPABLE: A Conversation with Melvin Van Peebles, Gordon
Parks and Ossie Davis," "The Last of the Mississippi Jukes," and the Peabody
Award-winning and NAACP Image Award-nominated "A Huey P. Newton Story"
starring Roger Guenveur Smith and directed by Spike Lee. Other productions
include the critically acclaimed "Funny Valentines" (in association with
Studio USA Pictures and STARZ! Pictures), starring Alfre Woodard, Loretta
Devine and CCH Pounder, plus original documentaries "Scandalize My Name:
Stories from the Blacklist," hosted by actor Morgan Freeman and the highly
regarded "Classified X" by the godfather of contemporary African American
cinema, Melvin Van Peebles.
Starz Entertainment Group LLC (SEG) is a premium movie service provider
operating in the United States. SEG offers 16 movie channels including the
flagship Starz(R) and Encore(R) brands with approximately 14 million and
26 million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment Group airs more than
1,000 movies per month across its pay TV channels and offers advanced services
including Starz HDTV, Starz On Demand and Vongo(SM). Starz Entertainment
Group is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation,
www.starz.com (http://www.starz.com).