Rembrandt
the artist
Black people can never advance with the weight of all 40 million of us on their shoulders.
It's not Mac's fault they only let one nikkas through at a time.
It cannot always be about what white people might see or misunderstand. They fought for certain things not to be apart of the show. For example; Fox wanted Wanda to be a mammy and Larry Wilmore (who was the writer) said no, she's a real person.
Black people got to be able to eat their watermelon and chicken outside SOMETIMES. As in; we've got to stop being afraid of the bullshyt they put on some of us, embarass us. I've got ghetto family and they happen to be intelligent and some of them are fools and I got bougy fam.
It's not about being a c00n and soft-shoeing. I hated how Fresh Prince went away from really pressing the messages of the first few season to a lot of buffonery mixed with a message in the later episodes. Hell, looking back WIllard Smith was a cornball tryna act hard because he happened to be born in the rough neighborhood<<< Carlton (as a man who stuck to be himself).
Enough of that.
But, Bernie was telling his story and didn't "clean it up" for white people. Every black show can't be every thing to everyone.
Which is why we need 'em on major networks and need 'em headed by black folks on the smaller platforms (ie YouTube webseries)
no black person or artist should ever do anything thinking the weight of all of us falls on their shoulders. they should create the best shyt they can because that's what lasts - way beyond initial viewings, way beyond ratings, etc. and you're right, but you also gotta be conscious of the balance we have placed upon of us because of our social standing. look at dave chappelle and look at aaron mcgruder. both brilliant black creatives that criticized white america and also focused on some negative parts of black america. they were both shoehorned out of their show to cater towards those that thought hearing "nikka/******" on tv was funny and couldn't decipher the social commentary they were placing in their shows.
i ain't gonna lie. fresh prince went hard for black people on tv. way past what you would expect to see even now. you wouldn't expect to see a show criticizing people for hating on black people for being smart or get into why a black person would carry books in pizza boxes. or see how growing up rich would lead a person to being attracted to a slummier way of life in the way fresh prince did. sure, it catered to white people at times, but it had tons of real black episodes that could resonate with tons of people regardless of wealth/age/ethnicity.
but i do agree with having more black owned media networks and there's no time better than right now than to try to do it. we just gotta truly support each other. in 2016 and after, you're gonna see tons of black people with very radical ideas that may not stick to what "we" find acceptable but we gotta support regardless and hope we can do some shyt. Chance the Rapper is a huge leader in this aspect. Let these rappers coming up stop signing record contracts. let these famous creatives like donald glover (atlanta is amazing) stop signing contracts that don't allow creative rights for the first season with all rights allowing the network to cancel if it doesn't work out.
we ruling media. let's take advantage.
there's been several boycotts of BET. let's stick to it. nikkas been tryna boycott black friday for two years. lets stick to it. support the rappers that support your ideas and ignore the ones that don't. the ones pushing ideas you don't fukk with wouldn't be famous
without us, tbqh. i'm in the booth 24/7. let black people ignore yachty. including rappers. see how long he lasts.
basically. don't underestimate your dollar or influence.
once again, watch atlanta and see a show that's black in every shape and form and also tackles race topics in great ways without feeling like they "need" to in order to be successful
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shyt is classic.
