Don Cornelius | 1936 - 2012

"Soul Train" creator Don Cornelius died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, the Los Angeles County coroner's office said on Tuesday.

The coroner is officially ruling Cornelius' death a suicide but said additional toxicology test were pending.

 In 1970, Cornelius, a former Chicago disc jockey and radio reporter, launched Soul Train, an R&B-themed dance show on WCIU and moved it to syndication the next year with stations in several cities picking it up. The show later moved to Los Angeles and became an instant hit. The show ran in syndication for 25 years before it went off the air in 2006.

According to The Times' Hollywood Walk of Fame database, Cornelius’ “Soul Train” became the longest-running, first-run nationally syndicated show in television history, bringing African American music and style to the world .

Don Cornelius 1936-2012 | Soul Train

 Cornelius also went through personal drama due to bitter divorce proceedings in 2009. The consequence was that Cornelius suffered "significant health issues" and wanted to "finalize this divorce before I die." In 2008, Cornelius was arrested beating up his wife. He pled no contest to misdemeanor domestic violence and was placed on three years probation. His probation just terminated and the divorce was granted in 2010.

A relative of Cornelius found him at his Mulholland Drive home last week. He was rushed to Cedars Sinai Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, according to law enforcement sources.

Rest in Peace, Love, And Soul.

Sidenote: This tragedy has special meaning in the African-American community, which has long nourished a dangerous myth that black people don't commit suicide.


It is a point of mythical ethnic pride that our ancestors found ways to persevere despite centuries of slavery, struggle and hardship. Black people created the blues, it is often said, because we didn't have psychotherapists.

Besides, as an old joke goes, we black people don't kill ourselves because you can't kill yourself by jumping out of a basement window. We can only wish that were true. Although whites and Native Americans have the highest suicide rates, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the black suicide rate has been high enough in recent years to claim one African-American every 4.5 hours.

No group is immune. By gender, non-Hispanic white and Native American men have the highest suicide rates, of about 25 lives per 100,000. That's more than four times the rate of women in each racial group. It also is more than twice the rate of black and Hispanic men, whose suicide rate of about 11 per 100,000 is five times the rate of black and Hispanic women. Asian-American men have a rate of about 9 per 100,000, slightly more than twice the rate of Asian-American women.

Yet the black suicide myth persists. "As a mental-health advocate, over the years I've heard variations of the 'black people don't commit suicide' meme," wrote Bassey Ikpi on the black-oriented The Root website after Cornelius' death. "Yesterday the chorus was deafening. People went so far as to create elaborate conspiracy theories rather than accept what could be a simple truth — that Cornelius had taken his own life."

"Happiness is a private club that will not let me enter"

Generic suicide note.

It is not hard, although it is not pain-free either, for me to imagine that Don Cornelius could have written the same message. Suicides inflict a terrible cruelty on the survivors. Everyone asks "why" and there are no easy answers.

"People feel guilty if they failed to get help for their lost loved one," a counselor told me, and they feel guilty if they did get help and the loved one killed him or herself anyway. It is best to seek help. Whether you believe it or not, you have too much to lose.

Clarence Page is a member of the Tribune's editorial board and blogs at chicagotribune.com/pagespage. He became an advocate on suicide because of a personal tragedy, back in May 1984, when suicide ended the life and career of his ex-wife Leanita McClain, an award-winning Chicago Tribune columnist and ghetto-to-Gold-Coast success story

Follow Him on Twitter: @cptime

Via The Chicago Tribune








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Moziah Bridges-Young Mogul in the Making: Talks Inspiration, Fashion, & Men Advancing Their Swagger

Photography by Nubia Creative Images

Meet Mo (Moziah Bridges), a 10 year old mogual in the making. His grandmother, Helen Galloway, showed him how to make bow ties from scrap material using hand sewing and a machine. He began to make them for himself, but when they drew compliments and recognition, he sensed a market that is "Mo's Bows".

Moziah Bridges at Harlem's Fashion Row, A Fashion Art Exhibition: Memphis, TN

At this tender age Moziah is a business entrepreneur of “Mo’s Bows”, a bow tie company. He attends Rozelle Elementary Creative and Performing Arts School.

Moziah, when did you start making bow ties?

In June of 2011, so just a couple of months.

What inspired you to start making bow ties at such a young age?

I just really like to dress up and I wanted to make original ties so I could wear them.

Did you ever think that you were going to start making bow ties for other people? Or did you just only intend to make them initially for yourself?

I kind of knew I was eventually going to start making them for other people because they turned out really good.

What are some of the names you’ve come up with to brand your bow ties?

Um, let’s see here, I have Buster Brown, Cha-Cha-Cha-Cheetah, Picnic In The Park, Pumpkin Plaid, Fancy Nancy, Dinner With Mom, Teacher’s Pet and some other names I can’t think of right now.

Due to your recent popularity and getting worldwide press, how has it been doing everyday things like going to school or grocery shopping?

People are like—WOW, I can’t believe you are ten! and HEY, that’s the Mo’s Bows kid!

Do you have any advice you want to give men to help them advance their swagger?

Get your own business because, it’s just great! Be yourself and like I always say, “I want to look good and I want to feel good”, so the same for you, if you want to look good and feel good, do that! So get Mo’s Bows and pick the one(s) that fit your personality the best.

Lastly, do you have any advice to give other children who aspire to do other things just to encourage them?

Figure out what you like doing and figure out how you can make money doing it! Also, you want to make money while sleeping right? So figure out how you can do that and make your money work for you! “If it’s going to be, it’s up to me”, and that’s a quote by Fredrick Douglass.

There’s nothing like a kid who knows his fashion! Moziah has a great upbringing and is an inspiration to many who meet and read his story. He is wise beyond his years. This past December Moziah had his first trunk show where he was able to meet his existing clientele and gain potential customers. There he showcased his massive collection of original bow ties and took custom orders. To date he has also been interviewed by WREG Live at 9 Channel 3 News, Fox 13 News, ABC News, The Memphis Flyer, The Memphis Business Journal, The Commercial Appeal, and Atlanta’s Fox News segment which has already run in Atlanta and Detroit and is set to run in Memphis this February. Outside of press interviews Moziah has also been doing a lot of public and motivational speaking. Last year he was the keynote speaker for the graduating class of Economic Empowerment at the New Olivet Baptist Church in Memphis , TN and he has quite a few speaking engagements scheduled for this year including speaking to a youth minor league team of his peers.

Please support this young man! He is on the verge of greatness. You can visit his online shop: MosBowsMemphis and also view his Facebook Page  wall  for updates.

Read more of the interview to find out what Mo's plans are for the future, upcoming projects, and what fabrics he covets the most over at

The X-Stylez

MUSIK LOVES FASHION MONDAYS: MODEL

DiAndrea Ash

Fancy is a up and coming model currently residing in Fayetteville, NC. She is of the Jamaican decent and was born and raised in Saint Mary, Jamaican. She is very humble and open to learning to new things. 

She has already shot with mutiple photographers in different states, walked the run way of many fashion shows, and had a feat in the online magazine Flava Girl(July 2011).

 Her most recent accomplishment is being featured as the 'Jet Beauty of the Week' for the week of Jan. 9th. Be on the look out for this beautiful model, She is aspiring for great things. 

For Booking or Inquiries please email. fancythemodel@gmail.com

MUSIK LOVES FASHION MONDAYS : MODEL

Mercedes Antoinette

: Mercedes Antoinette has been a lover of the arts for as long as she could remember. Writing poetry, music and short stories have always been a form of relief for her, but her true love comes with modeling.

Mercedes started out as an eight year old walking the runway for various hairshows. With age and experience she perfected her craft and continued with runway and print.

She had been featured in several publications including Conversation Piece and Hardbody Magazine. She's also been casted in several short films and documentaries including "What Goes Around..." directed by Rod Pitts and "100 Lives" directed by Darius Wallace.

"What Goes Around Trailer"

Mercedes has recently taken her love for arts into jewelry design. You can find her jewelry line on Facebook at Exotic Xpressions.

For booking Mercedes, please contact her via email: Angelw1285@yahoo.com

 

You can also find her on Facebook: Mercedes Antoinette and Twitter: Iamtruth_85

 

A Message From Tyrese/Tyrese "Stay" Video Feat Taraji P. Henson‏

Ladies and Gents It's here!!!

Here’s my “OPEN INVITATION” to you. My

everything was put into this album coming November 1st. It was you

who inspired me to get back in the studio and do it again. As you’ve

seen from my movies -Tranformers DOTM- & -Fast Five-

that have both now grossed over $ 1.7 Billion worldwide. Also I can’t

tell you how much it means to me that you all went out to support my

now NY Times Best Selling Book “How To Get Out Of Your Own Way” to

many other great things over the last few years, the man above has

been expanding my territories into many different amazing things. But

rest assured, that my FIRST and ONLY LOVE is still MUSIC. I’ve read

your letters, tweets, Facebook, MySpace and emails. I’ve listened to

your voice mails and more importantly, I’ve run into you in person and

you’ve all wanted me to do it again… So come 11.1.11 my new album

“OPEN INVITATION” will be launched globally for you to listen and feel

my heart & soul that I put into the album...

On this album I wanted to give you an “Open Invitation” to the clubs

and the bedroom .. I don’t take anything for granted so in whatever

capacity you can help create some energy and anticipation around the

release of this album it will be beyond greatly appreciated.. In

the near future I will be personally sending you exclusive content and

updates on the many different great things going.

Here’s the world premiere of my video “Stay” featuring one of my best

friends 2 time academy award nominee Taraji P Henson.. We had so much

fun working on this.. It’s been 10 years since we both made our debut

on the big screen in the now cult classic Baby Boy and now we’re

getting our grown and sexy on in this “Stay” video..

Please feel free to send this video to all of your urban and

mainstream sites, colleagues , and online media outlets in your

database I did this album independent so everything counts..

Respectfully,

President and CEO of Voltron Recordz

Tyrese Gibson

[Video] An Opportunity For Buffoonery?: Toure Goes In On Tyler Perry’s Movies

Toure'

Among African Americans there seems to be no middle ground concerning Tyler Perry. Overwhelmingly, his work is either detested or revered. Forbes recently revealed him to be Hollywood’s highest earner last year, raking in 130 million bucks, sparking further debate within the Black community about the impact of TP’s films. Weighing in on Perry’s financial achievement on CNN’s Newsroom is writer/cultural critic Touré who considers the mogul to be one of the worst – “if not the worst” director in Ho-Town. He continues, “He’s willfully ignorant of the craft, and I can think of no aspect of the filmmaking craft that he excels at, certainly not acting or writing or cinematography or directing or set design.”

Touré’s critique extends far behind the film phenom’s cinematic expertise. He likened the overall message conveyed by Perry’s films to

[Video] Toure' Goes In On Tyler Perry Movies

“cinematic malt liquor for the masses,” or in other words, “If [Perry] was making chairs they would fall apart. If he were making food, it would make you throw up.”

Basically, what sickens the cultural critic about the whole Tyler Perry ‘brand’ is what he perceives as a celebration of “a certain victimhood and telling Black women that it’s okay to feel like a victim and to wallow in the pain of your life.” Objectively speaking, however, Touré admitted, “Black Southern women do not see themselves at all in Hollywood fare, so when he’s serving them movies where they appear to be in situations that are naturalistic and recognizable to them and definitely have that Christian message, I definitely understand why my grandmother, my mother and my aunts love this stuff.”

Which is why, despite what Touré, and other like-minded individuals (i.e. Spike Lee) declare, TP Studios keep crankin’ ‘em out. With 3 movies and a TV series already in the works, Tyler Perry’s 13th feature film, The Marriage Counselor, will begin production on October 25th. Malt liquor for the masses or food for thought, Tyler Perry’s moving full steam ahead – and all the way to the bank.

-via Necole Bitchie

 

>

(Greater Than)

...I'm Just Saying!

Kid Cudi Covers Complex: Talks Kanye’s Therapy, Quitting Weed & Finding Love

Kid Cudi

Complex Magazine Cover

"There’s no way to slow somebody when they’re speeding down a path of destruction."

Kid Cudi has done some major house cleaning when it comes to his life and career! After a video was released of him stumbling out of a club drunk last year, he disappeared briefly afterward to get himself and his business in order. He recently sat down with Complex magazine before his overseas tour to talk about his darkest days during his battle with detox and sobriety as well as his decision to manage himself. He also touched on the stress of creating music without the influence of marijuana, attempting to not fail at love with his ride-or-die chick, his future in acting and how kicking it with Kanye was therapy for him. Check out a few excerpts:

On Spending Time With Kanye in New York:

I was at another place, another dark place. Me and my girl had broken up. I wasn’t fully healed yet. And being around Kanye and music was my escape. He’s a sober guy, he has a drink every once in a while, but seeing how he throws himself into the studio when he’s stressing about something, I totally admire that. Being around that was therapy for me.

 On Getting Back With His Girl:

Yeah, we’re solid. I’m just trying to figure out love. I never was really good a it, but when you have someone who loves you so much and can take your good and your bad, and work with you and help you grow—that’s priceless. To have a ride-or-die woman, for somebody that’s in the position I’m in, that’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing.

 Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager

On Why He Disappeared After He Released His Last Album:

I wanted to clear my head, besides detox. I had to look at the root of the whole problem, and that was work and the business. I wasn’t trying to hear it from nobody. I’m not even going to attack the people in my life that didn’t step in and try to stop it, ’cause I was just so bullheaded. There’s no way to slow somebody when they’re speeding down a path of destruction.

I thought I was dealing with it in the proper way. I was in the moment. And when you’re that young, with that opportunity, all that money, and all that respect and power, sometimes you run with it. ’Cause I was like, “Man, you don’t know if this shit’s gon’ be here tomorrow.”

On Quitting Weed & Controlling His Liquor

Like, party a bit? It was easy for me to quit smoking weed because I stopped liking the way it made me feel. I didn’t like being one foot in, one foot out of reality. I could be blitzed out of my skull and somebody might be plotting to snuff me in the club. I can still sip my whiskey but I control my intake of liquor. I just don’t like the way it makes me feel [to be out-of-control drunk]. Especially in this business where you’ve got to watch the snakes in the grass. I could be blitzed out of my skull and somebody might be plotting to snuff me in the club. I really like being more alert.

I go out every once in a while. Not as much as I used to. Particularly in L.A., it’s tough because of the paparazzi. Even though it’s not going to happen, they’re waiting to see me f*cking stumble out of a club again.

Read more on Kid Cudi and his squashed beef with Wale, where he sees himself 2 years down the line and more on his personal transformation over at Complex.com.