Diddy is the third hip-hop artist to win an Academy Award , following in the footsteps of Eminem and Three 6 Mafia. The music mogul won the Best Documentary Academy Award for his role as executive producer on the film “Undefeated,” which follows the trials and tribulations of an all-black high school football team. This guy is really doing his thing! He also recently announced his new network Revolt! RELATED: Diddy Announces REVOLT Music and News TV Network [VIDEO] Celebs Hit The 2012 Golden Globes Red Carpet & After Parties [PHOTOS]
Russell Simmons is best known for being the co-founder of Def Jam Records, and was a force behind the hip-hop revolution and launching the careers of such acts as the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, LL Cool J and Run-DMC. The entrepreneur and philanthropist was born in 1957 in New York City. Simmons left college to pursue his passion in promoting upcoming hip hop artists and in 1984, he and partner Rick Rubin founded Def Jam Records. Def Jam signed the forerunners of the hip hop movement including the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, LL Cool J and Run-DMC. Simmons saw this as the beginning of building a hip hop empire. Rush Communications firm was comprised of Baby Phat clothing company, television shows, a magazine, advertising company and a management company. His production company produced films including The Nutty Professor and Krush Groove. Simmons helped to found the Hip Hop Summit Action Network, the Rush Philanthropic Organization and the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding. He actively supports PETA and was named Goodwill Ambassador to fight war, poverty and HIV/AIDS. Simmons also authored a book, Do You! 12 Laws To Access The Power In You To Achieve Happiness And Success. Simmons married model Kimora Lee Simmons in 1998 for ten years. Daughters Ming and Aoki resulted from that union.
Magic Johnson is in many ways the starting point guard for Black America. To really register this, you have to look outside of Los Angeles Lakers history and really go into his own personal story of life and experiences. This 6’9″ kid out of Lansing, Michigan has dropped some serious dimes on and off the court, and we have indeed benefited. 1. Surviving With HIV – In 1991 HIV/AIDS was the ultimate death certificate. No one had no idea when Magic would go but the world and even he himself thought it would be soon. Magic was forced to retire from the game he loved after severe scare from some NBA players due to lack of knowledge. He would indeed flip this negative to a positive using his status to make people aware of HIV when he shot the video “Time Out” with popular night host and actor Arsenio Hall. His contributions and information has helped thousands and possibly millions protect themselves from HIV or has helped people learn how to live with it. It has been officially 20 years since that 1991 press conference yet Magic is still pushing awareness and protection and wants people to know ”He’s Lucky and just because he has lived this long it doesn’t mean anyone else will” 2. Magic Johnson Theaters – In the year 1994 Magic took a shot at the movie industry. Although at the time his vision of putting plush and high quality multiplexes in urban communities seemed crazy and a sure-fire fail, Magic showed that when he is involved in “Showtime” it’s a huge success! His theaters opened on Crenshaw in Los Angeles California and in Harlem New York. It 10-15 screen theaters with SDDS Stereo and Stadium seating not only became a great entertainment place but it also created more jobs and created economic growth in the cities they were placed in. Some theaters still remain. A merger with Loews Cineplex and now a full ownership by AMC has freed Magic’s hands to work on other projects. 3. Starbucks – Although not founded by him or even created by him…Magic Johnson is a major piece in the success of Starbucks! How? Well he built 114 of them across the US! This then lead to the National exposure through word of mouth, commercial advertising and consistent growth of the business. He went in 50/50 with Howard Schultz and is solely responsible for Starbucks being in minority communities 4. Avant – A common unknown fact is Magic Johnson Music. Magic was on a roll through the 90’s despite his HIV announcement. With all of his business success rolling he took a shot at being CEO of his own record label! Who was his first artist to release and have success??? Ohio native Avant! Check out his cameo in Avant’s first video! Avant would later release “My Thoughts” which would have hit single “Separated” on the album and further make him a mainstay in the R&B world an being compared vocally to R. Kelly. 5. Minority Owner – Before Bob Johnson, Nelly, Usher and Jay-Z it was Magic Johnson who first put in his Minority ownership bid to be apart of the team that he helped take to NBA Titles! The year was 1994 and the estimated percent was 10 which is a MAJOR DEAL for not only African Americans in the NBA but Also Athletes. There had been black Player Coaches [Bill Russell] and GM [Elgin Baylor] but no minority ownership at that time. Magic found yet another way to show there is plenty of life after basketball. Magic has now sold his share of The Lakers and is looking into buying both The LA Dodgers and His hometown team, The Detroit Pistons! The underlying blessing that Magic Johnson has been to Black America is truly immeasurable. From poor Midwest kid, to HIV stricken pro athlete to Multimillionaire and businessman with family Magic proves that no obstacle is too big if you truly want to be as great as your dreams! – written by @itsthecaptain
Arguably the GOAT in the NBA, professional basketball player and entrepreneur, Michael Jordan was born February 17, 1963, in Brooklyn. Growing up in Wilmington, North Carolina, Jordan developed a competitive edge at an early age. His father James confirms this, “What he does have is a competition problem. He was born with that…The person he tries to outdo most of the time is himself.” Jordan made an impact early on scoring the final basket needed to defeat Georgetown University in the NCAA Division I championships in 1982. Jordan left college after his junior year to join the NBA. Drafted by the Chicago Bulls, he helped the team make it to the playoffs. For his efforts there, he received the NBA Rookie of the Year Award. With five regular-season MVPs and three All-Star MVPs, Jordan became the most decorated player in the NBA dominating the league from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s. Being one of the most marketed athletes in history, it was an easy transition for Jordan to become a leading entrepreneur. Major spokesman for such brands as Nike, Coca-Cola, Chevrolet, Gatorade, McDonald’s, Ball Park Franks, Rayovac, Wheaties, Hanes, and MCI, Jordan was ranked by Forbes Magazine as the 20th most powerful celebrity in the world in June 2010. Jordan still maintains primary owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. Contributing sources: biography.com Top 10 All Time Michael Jordan Dunks Michael Jordan’s Legacy – Career Highlights
Reality star and businesswoman Kim Kardashian and ex Reggie Bush can’t seem to get each other out of their systems. The pair were spotted in Beverly Hills this past weekend having lunch. Witnesses reported them smiling and enjoying each other’s company like they were back together. Bush and Kardashian still signed autographs and took pictures with fans who approached them during their meal. It’s still unclear if they are officially back together. If Reggie got back with Kim, his mom isn’t going to be too pleased. We reported late last year, Mama Bush didn’t want her football star son making the same mistakes twice. The main mistake, in her eyes, is dating Kim Kardashian. Reggie, do what you feel is right, but proceed with caution. Source RELATED POSTS: Does Reggie Bush’s Mom Hate Kim Kardashian? Amber Rose On What REALLY Happened With Reggie Bush [VIDEO] 5 Reasons Why Reggie Bush Should Marry Kim Kardashian [ORIGINAL]
Black history, our history, American history is a complicated matter riddled with facts that make us proud and others that make us cringe. It is a story of a nation built by men and women who sacrificed their lives to force America to live up to its promise. These men and women were also full of contradictions. Frederick Douglass was one of those contradictions. He is remembered as a writer, abolitionist and orator. He was a human rights activist before the label existed. Yet, he also vehemently opposed the Great Migration of blacks from the South to the North to escape the crippling shackles of Jim Crow. Read Douglass’ bio . Douglass was born in February in the early 1800s in Tuckahoe, MD. In his autobiography, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave,” he wrote that he did not know his exact birthdate. Most references to Douglass focus on Douglass’ post-slavery life as an influential abolitionist and a human rights activist. Before he became the great statesman, and the first African American to be nominated for vice-president, Douglass was an educator. He secretly taught himself to read and write and then he taught fellow slaves. He was traded to several different slave owners in Maryland, including a brutal farmer known as a “slave breaker.” Douglass finally escaped to New York. It is ironic that Douglass — who so believed in equality and who himself escaped North — lamented the black exodus from the South in the late 1800s during the early years of Jim Crow. He urged blacks to tough it out. Below are a few quotes from Douglass, compiled by the Gilder Lehrman Center of the Study of Slavery, Resistance & Abolition , regarding the black exodus North. The Negro, long deemed to be too indolent and stupid to discover and adopt any rational measure to secure and defend his rights as a man…. He has, discovered and adopted a measure which may assist very materially in, the solution of some of the vital problems involved in his sudden elevation: from slavery to freedom, and from chattelhood to manhood, and citizenship . . . he has adopted a simple, lawful and peaceable measure. It is emigration—the quiet withdrawal of his valuable bones and muscles from a condition of things which he considers no longer tolerable. This exodus has revealed to southern men the humiliating fact that the prosperity and civilization of the South are at the mercy of the despised and hated Negro . . . . We have the story of the emigrants themselves, and if any can reveal the true cause of this Exodus they can . . . They tell us with great unanimity that they are very badly treated at the South . . . [As a strategy, however] it is a surrender, a premature, disheartening surrender, since it would make freedom and free institutions depend upon migration rather than protection; by flight, rather than right . . . It leaves the whole question of equal rights on the soil of the South open and still to be settled . . . it is a confession of the utter unpracticability of equal rights and equal protection in any State, where those rights may be struck down by violence . . .
As accomplished as NBA legend Bill Russell was on the court, he was also a giant off the court. Why else would President Obama see fit to present Russell with a Presidential Medal of Freedom Award in 2010? On the hardwood, Bill Russell was the cornerstone of the Boston Celtics’ dynasty of the 1960s, winning an unprecedented 11 championships in his 13 seasons. A skilled shotblocker, Russell revolutionized NBA defensive concepts. A five-time NBA Most Valuable Player and a 12-time All-Star, Russell averaged 22.5 rebounds per game and led the league in rebounding four times. He had 51 boards in one game, 49 in two others and a dozen consecutive seasons of 1,000 or more rebounds. William Felton Russell was born on February 12, 1934, in Monroe, Louisiana. His family later moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where Russell would go on to attend the University of San Francisco, where he blossomed. Russell would lead the University of San Francisco to 56 consecutive victories and NCAA Championships in 1955 and 1956. Russell was named the NCAA Tournament Most Outstanding Player in 1955. Boston Celtics Coach and General Manager Red Auerbach drafted Russell to the Celtics in 1956, but Russell didn’t join the Celtics until December because he was a member of the 1956 U.S. Olympic basketball team, which won a gold medal at the Melbourne Games in November. After another NBA Championship in 1965-66, Red Auerbach retired, and Russell took over as player-coach the following season, becoming the first African-American coach in the league. He led the Celtics to a 60-21 regular-season record, but Boston finally had their streak of championships snapped when they lost to a powerful Philadelphia 76ers team in the Eastern Division Finals. Having witnessed racism and all its ugliness firsthand as a child growing up in segregated Louisiana, Russell took public stands against discrimination throughout his career. Before the 1961–62 NBA season, Russell refused to play in an exhibition game in Lexington, Kentucky when he and his black teammates were refused service at a local restaurant. Russell also joined other prominent black athletes like Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in publicly supporting Muhammad Ali’s decision to refuse to be drafted. Until the ascent of Michael Jordan in the 1980s and ’90s, Russell was considered by many as the greatest player in the history of the NBA.
Rosa Parks was an African-American civil rights activist, whom the U.S. Congress called “the first lady of civil rights”, and “the mother of the freedom movement.” Born February 4, 1913 in Tuskegee, Alabama, Parks grew up when racism and discrimination was a norm in African American cultures. She made a name for herself in civil rights circles when she refused to obey a white bus driver and move to the back of the bus, so someone white could take her seat in the front of the bus. Parks’ act of defiance became a major player in the civil rights movement and caught the attention of leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. Click HERE to read Rosa Parks Bio Below we take a look at the life of Rosa Parks through a timeline of the major events in her life… 1913 – This Rosa Parks timeline starts on February 4, 1913 when Rosa Louise McCauley was born in Tuskegee, Alabama. Her parents were James McCauley, a carpenter and Schoolteacher Leona McCauley 1928 – She attends Booker T. Washington High School for ninth grade, but drops out when her grand mother becomes seriously ill and subsequently dies 1932 – December 18: Marries Raymond Parks, a barber, at 19. 1945 – WW2 ends and Rosa Parks receives her certificate for voting after three attempts 1946 – June 3: The U.S. Supreme Court banned segregation in interstate bus travel Aug 10 : Race riots occur in Athens, Alabama 1949 – Rosa and her husband Raymond work with Montgomery branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP’s) programs. Rosa Parks acts as secretary and later a youth leader 1955 – August: Rosa Parks meets Martin Luther King November 25: The Interstate Commerce Commission bans segregation in buses and all waiting rooms involved in interstate travel December 1: Rosa Parks is arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for refusing to give her seat on the bus to a white passenger. She is arrested, fingerprinted, jailed by police and fined $14. December 5 : She stands trial and is found guilty of breaking the segregation laws. December 5 : Martin Luther King becomes the president of the Montgomery Improvement Association which was organized due to protest against the incident involving Rosa Parks and the Montgomery bus boycott begins which will last 381 days. 1956 – January: Rosa Parks loses her job as a seamstress at Montgomery Fair December 21: The Montgomery buses are desegregated and black passengers could legally take any seat on the city’s buses 1979 – Rosa Parks receives NAACP’s Spingarn Medal 1987 – Rosa founds the Rosa and Raymond Parks Institute for Self Development with long time friend Elaine Eason Steele which offers guidance to young blacks 1992 – Rosa publishes her first book, “Rosa Parks My Story” 1998 – April 21: The Rosa Parks Museum and Library is opened at her arrest site in Montgomery, Alabama September 2 : The Rosa L. Parks Learning Center is opened. Rosa is also inducted into the International Women’s Forum Hall of Fame 2003 – October 29: Rosa Parks is honored with the International Institute Heritage Hall of Fame Award. She is then diagnosed with progressive dementia. 2005 – October 24: Rosa Parks dies on in her Detroit home “I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free… so other people would be also free.” – Rosa Parks
When you hear the name Bob Marley you may think of his long hair dreads or ganja, but Bob Marley played a major role in the evolution of music than you may know of. Bob Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was one of the most popular reggae singers of his time and is known, even now after his death, as the most popular Jamaican musician of all time, introducing Reggae to the world. He is best known as the lead singer, songwriter and guitarist for many of his popular Reggae hits, which include “I Shot the Sheriff”, “Redemption Song”, “One Love”, “No Woman, No Cry”, with his band The Wailers. His album ‘Legend’ is reggae’s best-selling album worldwide, going ten times Platinum and selling 25 million copies Internationally. His music was heavily inspired by his Jamaican culture and Rastafarian beliefs. His music spoke to his generation on issues of socioeconomic and cultural hardship while spreading a message of unity, love and rebellion. Bob Marley songs introduced the world to Reggae. The following 5 Best Bob Marley Songs and inspiring lyrics. 5. ’Get Up, Stand Up’ 4. ’Could You Be Loved’ 3. ’Jamming’ 2. ’No Woman, No Cry’ 1. ’One Love/People Get Ready’ – Best Of Bob Marley Lyrics 5. Man’s Greatness “The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.” This is inspiring quote that should be taken to heart. Man’s greatness should be measured by his integrity and how he affects those around him. 4. I Know “When the race gets hard to run, it means you just can’t take the pace.” This line appeared in the song “I Know”, a song off of the Confrontation album, which was released two years after Marley’s death. 3. Who is Worth Suffering For? “The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for.” This is one of Bob Marley’s most famous quotes. And it’s not hard to see why. There are some people in life that are, in fact, worth suffering for. 2. Judge Not “Who are you to judge the life I live? I know I’m not perfect -and I don’t live to be- but before you start pointing fingers… make sure you hands are clean!” This line is from the song “Judge Not”, the first single that Bob Marley ever recorded. It was later included on the 1992 compilation CD set Songs of Freedom. 1. Trenchtown Rock “One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain.” This line appears in the song “Trenchtown Rock”, which was included on the 1973 album African Herbsman.
