'Letter' Makes Connections Between Politics, Hip-hop

By Brett Sporich
Publication: The Hollywood Reporter
Date: Thursday, February 3 2005

A documentary exploring the political links between the inner-city hip-hop movement and national politics. "Letter to the President," produced by Quincy Jones III and directed by Thomas Gibson, is slated for release March 29 on DVD. Narrated by Snoop Dogg, "Letter to the President" explores political issues that have affected the hip-hop generation and the inner-city communities where hip-hop music originated, Jones said.

"We wanted to let mainstream Americans know what hip-hop is really all about while giving a voice to the hip-hop generation," Jones said.

The documentary offers an alternative perspective on how Reagan-era policies led to the devastation of inner-city youth and how the hip-hop movement emerged as a protest.

"Letter" examines how the U.S. government might have played a part in the proliferation of drugs in urban communities, resulting in biased legislation like the Rockefeller Drug Laws, which differentiate between powder and crack cocaine in determining length of sentencing.

The stinging documentary includes the last filmed interview with the late Gary Webb, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter who wrote a controversial series of stories linking the CIA to crack cocaine trafficking. Webb's 1996 series in the San Jose Mercury News alleged that Nicaraguan drug traffickers had sold tons of crack cocaine in Los Angeles and funneled millions of dollars in profits to the CIA-supported Nicaraguan Contras during the 1980s.

"Letter" also features interviews with media moguls and artists including Russell Simmons, Quincy Jones, Luther Campbell, KRS-One, Chuck D, Common, Juvenile, Chingy, Saigon, and David Banner along with Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Tavis Smiley and publisher Larry Flynt.

Letter to the President

By RONNIE SCHEIB
Publication: Variety.Com
Date: Mon., Sep. 6, 2004

D3 production. Produced by Trinh Banh, Quincy Jones III, Thomas Gibson. Executive producer, Jones. Directed by Thomas Gibson. Written by Gibson, Sharmilia Ariathurai.

With: Snoop Dogg, KRS-1, Common, Ghostface Killah, Dennis Kucinich, Larry Flynt, Dame Dash, Dick Gregory, Raekwon.

Part history lesson, part hip-hop contribution to the current indie docu drive to oust Bush, "Letter to the President" ambitiously strives to show how national politics effect and are effected by rap. Docu traces hip-hop's ascendancy to bad times under Reagan and the sellout of hip-hop to good times under Clinton. An impressive array of rap artists weigh in on the importance of voting and the direct connection between White House occupancy and quality of life in the 'hood. Occasionally uninspired choices of archival materials tend more toward illustration than revelation, but timeliness and Quincy Jones imprimatur should prove irresistible to cable.

Tyro documentarian Thomas Gibson has constructed a condensed political primer for a disenfranchised generation. He offers hip-hop legends like Notorious B.I.G., KRS-One and Raekwon as teachers, tosses in journalists and civic leaders for ballast and Snoop Dogg as dot-connecting narrator. Audibly, pic works well, mixing in dissenting voices and avoiding preachiness. Visually, however, pic proves uneven, strong on establishing links between crack and the Contras, but weak in its unvarying footage of Reagan accompanying its multi-sourced voiceover critique. "W.", by contrast, provides a cornucopia of ironic photo ops.

www.variety.com

From SA To LA With Channel O-Access

Author: Taryn-Lee Biggar

Channel O, Africa’s premier music channel launches yet another star studded, glitzy and glamorous show called O-Access. The show is hosted by Nonhle who will take you closer to the biggest names in hip hop and R&B in the USA.

Shot on location in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami and Jamaica, Nonhle brings to the viewers a first hand account of the life of the rich and famous in the music industry. She spent a month in the USA interviewing the like of 50Cent, John Legend, the G-Unit crew, Bow Bow, Beenie Man and the famous Marley brothers among others.

Nonhle’s first day in Los Angeles reads like a fairy tale. She is shocked by the fast pace, lights and lots of cameras on Californian streets. She is also star struck when she visits a restaurant called Mr Chow frequented by the likes of Lindsay Lohan and Mekhi Phifer among others. She quickly adjusts to the hustle and bustle and acquaints herself with all that is Beverly Hills; she goes shopping with Chante Moore!