During the Harlem heroin plague of the seventies, few dealers were bigger than Frank Lucas and Leroy “Nicky” Barnes. Both made millions selling dope, lived the wide-brimmed-hat high life, enabled the addiction of whole neighborhoods, and, eventually, got caught. Both were locked up and later cooperated with authorities—some might call it snitching. Now, with Lucas confined to a wheelchair and Barnes in some Witness Protection Program locale, each is the subject of a current film. Barnes reports on his life and times in the flava-full documentary Mr. Untouchable. Lucas hit the ultimate Hollywood jackpot, getting Denzel Washington, no less, to play him in American Gangster(reviewed this week in “The Culture Pages”). And so, three decades after their heyday, these former street titans are still generating commerce. This makes sense, as both insist they were businessmen, first and foremost. The trick for an ambitious black man in the seventies dope game was to minimize the sway of the Italian distributors who had controlled the Harlem scene for decades. Using sheer volume as an edge, Barnes cut increasingly favorable deals with his Mafia partners. He had the biggest clientele—hundreds of thousands of repeat (and repeat) buyers. It was a captive market, and he was their low-cost retailer. Lucas, more of a boutique operator, managed to bypass the Italians altogether by establishing the grisly but exceedingly lucrative “cadaver connection”—a direct line from Asia’s “Golden Triangle” poppy growers straight to 116th Street, smuggling heroin inside the coffins of American soldiers killed in the Vietnam War. When the possibility emerged that these two old-school street rivals might be willing to engage in what could only be called a historic conversation—they haven’t spoken in 30 years—it was easy to envision yelling, phone slamming, and maybe even a death threat or two.
My two cents: I was made privy to copy of American Gangster this past Saturday. Although I am a fan, Denzel’s pageantry of signature facial expressions and standardized cavalier bravado have been mundane since Ricochet yet for AG they’re chock full (no-homo). Though casting was “best in years” for a Hollywood A-movie the action was shiftless and the idleness molded boredom save for the shooting scenes which best explicated the destruction of a bullet. Get in gear to ready yourself for Dame Dash's (producer) Mr. Untouchable.
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The group name Alphabet Soup is explained as follows:
The communicative rudiments of language starts with the alphabet. The alphabet is a set of letters and/or other characters written or otherwise (oral-tradition, etc.) arranged in a customary order to convey knowledge or inform. The "Soup" was our music. Together the compliment of both words (alphabet) and music rendered the EP: Sunny Day In Harlem.
Holden Caulfield is a fictional character created by J. D. Salinger. Holden is the teenage protagonist of Salinger's 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye ; Holden also appears in some of Salinger's other literary works.
Physically, Holden is gangly and tall. He is also described as having several gray hairs on the right side of his head. These two qualities contribute to Caulfield's appearing to be older than his age, yet his mannerisms and behavior contradict that impression. One of Caulfield's most striking and quintessential qualities is his powerful revulsion for "phony" human qualities. Qualities such as narcissism, hypocrisy, and superficiality embody Holden's concept of phoniness; and, unfortunately, Holden is adept at realizing these qualities in other people. This serves to bolster Holden's cynicism and consequently contributes to his mistrust of other people. Interestingly, despite Holden's strong disdain for phony qualities, he exhibits some of the qualities that he abhors, thereby making him a somewhat tragic character.
Caulfield is the second of four children, with two brothers, D.B. and Allie, and one sister, Phoebe. (There is also a second sister, Viola, who is briefly mentioned in the short story "I'm Crazy," but is never referred to again.) Allie is deceased at the time of The Catcher in the Rye. Their parents are left unnamed in Salinger's works.
Born into a life of wealth and privilege, Caulfield looks down upon the elite world he occupies. He questions the values of his class and society and sometimes appears to oppose conventions merely for the sake of opposition. He is widely considered to be the template for the "angry young man" archetype.
Accordingly, my man "2-Liter" considers my acerbic critiques a "hate" of everything and my "can't fuck with me B!!!" dancing rants didn't/ don't exactly raise the bar thusly "2-Liter" has thereupon labeled me the consummate Holden Caulfield of the east-coast.
GED
To MC/Emcee is to move the crowd through master of ceremony microphone control.
GED is a MC/Emcee. GED is an abbreviation for Gorilla Ed. GED has previously performed under following names: "Nubian", “Low Key”, “Ed Lowe”, “Lowe” and currently Gorilla Ed/GED
GED is, most recently, featured on the first two mixtapes of the Shine Mixtape/ XM 66 Raw series: Volume 1, hosted by Jim Jones and Nore and Volume 2, hosted by Nas and Swizz Beats.
