'Left of Black': Episode #29 featuring Kimberly Ellis and Randal Jelks

Left of Black #29
w/ Kimberly Ellis and Randal Jelks
March 21, 2011

Left of Black host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal is joined by Pittsburgh based scholar, activist, and artist Kimberly Ellis aka Dr. Goddess in a conversation about Pittsburgh’s Hill District and the release of the new DVD Dr. Goddess Goes to Jail. Later Neal talks with Randal Jelks, Professor of African-American Studies at the University of Kansas, about the recent ESPN 30 for 30 documentary The Fab 5.

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→Named one of the “Most Influential Black Women on Twitter” by “For Harriet” Digital Magazine, Kimberly Ellis aka Dr. Goddess is a writer, an entertainer, an entrepreneur, a scholar, and activist. Dr. Goddess is also an award-winning poet, playwright and performing artist, who is presently on tour with, Dr. Goddess!: A One Woman Show and screenings of its sequel, the ensemble production of Dr. Goddess Goes to Jail: A Spoken Word, Musical Comedy (Unfortunately) Based on a True Story, now on DVD. Follow her on Twitter @DrGoddess.

→Randal Jelks is an Associate Professor of American Studies at the University of Kansas with a joint appointment in African and African American Studies. He is the author of African Americans in the Furniture City: the Civil Rights Struggle in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is currently finishing a book on Martin Luther King Jr.’s mentor titled Benjamin Elijah Mays, A Religious Rebel in the Jim Crow South: An Intellectual Biography to be published by the University of North Carolina Press.

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Left of Black is a weekly Webcast hosted by Mark Anthony Neal and produced in collaboration with the John Hope Franklin Center at Duke University.

Iron Mike Tyson & Tupac, Friendship and Tragedy

Reggie Bythewood's One Night In Vegas isn’t your typical Tuesday night ESPN viewing

All Eyez on Vegas: Iron Mike Tyson & Tupac, Friendship and Tragedy
by Stephane Dunn | TheLoop21.com

Take one controversial former heavyweight superstar (really the last to captivate American popular culture) and one of the most legendary rap artists turned actors and put them together in Sin City and it’s almost impossible not to have compelling drama.

In the latest installment of ESPN’s thirty year celebratory series30 for 30, director Reggie Rock Bythewood (Notorious, Biker Boyz) returns to September 7, 1996. One Night in Vegas highlights a chapter that continues to enthrall audiences, the Mike Tyson fight night in Vegas when Tupac Shakur was fatally shot. It’s not, however, an expose treading over the same familiar ground but a deeper portrait of two the most iconic black men in the late twentieth century and the unique relationship between them. Bythewood drops on this and the doc’s cross cultural significance.

Take one controversial former heavyweight superstar (really the last to captivate American popular culture) and one of the most legendary rap artists turned actors and put them together in Sin City and it’s almost impossible not to have compelling drama.

In the latest installment of ESPN’s thirty year celebratory series30 for 30, director Reggie Rock Bythewood (Notorious, Biker Boyz) returns to September 7, 1996. One Night in Vegas highlights a chapter that continues to enthrall audiences, the Mike Tyson fight night in Vegas when Tupac Shakur was fatally shot. It’s not, however, an expose treading over the same familiar ground but a deeper portrait of two the most iconic black men in the late twentieth century and the unique relationship between them. Bythewood drops on this and the doc’s cross cultural significance.

Stephane Dunn: How did you get involved with ESPN’s 30 for 30 series and how did this particular topic (this infamous Tyson and Tupac night) come about?

Reggie Bythewood: Well, ESPN wanted to do a documentary about this night in Vegas; they hooked up with the producer Damon Bingham and then they reached out to me; I had done Notorious and previously done a documentary on Laila Ali. I was [at] first reluctant because there’ve been so many documentaries done on Mike and so many on Tupac some bad and some pretty good. But then as I started to investigate . . . one of the things that blew me away was this kind of big brother, little brother relationship between Mike and Tupac. The film became less about this fight . . . and more about a night they thought they were going to go out and celebrate and ended in tragedy.

SD: So the documentary takes the approach of highlighting this relationship which really hasn’t been the subject of a lot work about this night? What was most distinctive about Mike’s version on the night and the impact on him?
RB: It was cool to find a fresh approach to the story. Mike talked about how he first met Pac when he was going to this club on Sunset Blvd . . . . He sees this skinny little guy standing outside who the bouncers won’t let in. He’s not dressed appropriately. Just before he goes in Mike turns to the bouncers and says let this guy in. Hours later Pac gets on the mike and starts rocking the place.

SD: So this was before Tupac was a big deal? He wasn’t Pac yet.
RB: Pac was coming up but not Pac the icon. These were the Digital Underground days. They were cool but he wasn’t walking down the street stopping traffic. Also, normally when you think of that Vegas night now you don’t think of it as a significant day in terms of boxing history but as a significant day in terms of hip hop history.

Read the Full Interview @ theLoop21.com