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Hip-hop Drama to Premier on UPN
S e n io r C itizens days a re Tuesday
Broadcasters are
billing ‘Platinum’
as the first network
television show
about rap lifestyle
(A P) - “Platinum,” A UPN series
billed as the first network hip-hop
drama, is poised to make its debut
on Monday April 14.
Hip-hop is already embraced by
movies, fashion and any number o f
other industries try counting the
commercials with a rap beat -ea g er
to reach young consum ers en­
tranced by the music orthe lifestyle.
But risk-averse networks typical ly
drag their heels at innovation. They
certainly try to avoid the sharp edges
o f cutting-edge culture, and hip-hop
has been dogged by its share o f
social controversy and violence.
In the brave new TV world o f
antiheros on cable’s "The Sopra­
n o s” and “T he S h e ild ” and
broadcast’s "Kingpin,” however,
that issue would seem to be a non­
starter.
There’s another reason for the
lag, suggested “Platinum” co-cre­
ator John Ridley: Any genuine hop-
hop series has to feature African
American characters, and networls
have shied away from black-ori­
ented dramas, which they see as a
tough sell to general audiences.
Even hip-hop’s ethnic diversity
- a current star is white rapper
Eminem and widespread appeal
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‘Platinum ’
will debut
on UPN
Monday,
April 14 at
9 p.m. >
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aren’t enough for major networks,
said R idley, a screenwriter And nov­
elist whose credits include the criti­
cally acclaimed film “Three Kings.”
“ Hip-hop is very multicultural
and we want to make the show
multicultural, but it's still ingrained
in black culture and there’s just not
a lot o f venues serving people o f
color," he said. “ It’s a struggle. A
lot o f networks are just ignoring a
segment o f the population.”
Nelson George, author o f the
book “ Hip Hop A m erica” and
“Night Work," agreed.
“ H ip-hop as a dramatic force on
TV falls under the banner o f black,
and black is a problematic issue for
network TV ,” he said.
That attitude means network
executives are ignoring how fluid
the issue o f ethnicity has become,
especially am ong the younger
Americans who are TV advertisers’
most coveted demographic.
"T here’s been such a trem en­
dous paradigm shift," said "Plati­
num star Lalanya Masters. “ We are
not in a society where the number
one golfer is African American and
th e n u m b e r o n e ra p p e r is
Caucausian."
It took three years for Ridley and
co-creator Sofia Coppola to get
"Platinum" on the air, during which
time a deal with HBO fell through
and the project was at Eox Broad­
casting "for a minute,” as Ridley
put it.
Fledgling UPN will try out six
episodes o f the drama about an
ambitious family’s music indus­
try empire.
Masters, Jason George, Sticky
Fingaz, Steven Pasquale and
D avetta S herw ood, N 'B u sh e
Wright and Vishiss star in the
series.
In the ripped-from-the-head-
lines style o f "Law & Order,”
“Platinum" intends to explore real
issues and conflicts in the music
industry through the series' fic­
tional characters, Ridley said.
GnnuGL L. JncKGon S tars ns n
‘
Tom Hardy (John Travolta), an
ex-A rm y R anger turned DEA
agent, is drawn into an ever-w id­
ening m ystery surrounding the
disappearance o f the feared and
often hated Sgt. N athan West
(Sam uel L. Jackson), as well as
several o f his elite Special Forces
trainees on w hat appears, at first,
to have been a routine training
exercise during a hurricane in the
ju ngles o f Panam a.
Only two survivors are found,
Dunbar(Brian Van Holt),andabadly
wounded Kendall (Giovanni Ribisi),
the son ofa high-profile Joint Chiefs
ofStaffofficial. Neither is willing to
c o o p e ra te w ith C ap t. J u lia
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easy when she learns that Hardy
once trained under West and hates
him almost as passionately as his
current recruits.
With time running out. Hardy
and Osborne call a temporary, if
uneasy, truce. Hardy cajoles a con­
fession out o f Dunbar, who claims
that Sgt. West and the missing
Rangers have been murdered and
their bodies blown away by the
hurricane. When they later inter­
view Kendall, he confirms that the
other Rangers and West are dead.
But, in almost every other way, his
story contradicts Dunbar’s.
What happened to West and
Samuel L. Jackson plays the feared and often-hated Sgt. Nathan his Ranger team? And what were
West who disappears with four Special Forces trainees during a
they really doing out there in the
hurricane in the jungles o f Panama. The film, also staring John
jungle? Aseaeh layer reveals more
Travolta, opens nationwide on Friday, March 28.
lies and greater deceptions. Hardy
and Osborne inch towards the
O sborne's (Connie Nielsen) inves­ gator. O sborne disapproves o f horrible truth about the fate o f the
tigation.
Hardy who is on leave from the missing Rangers. Six soldiers went
So base com mander Col. Bill DEA after having come under sus­ out. Two came back. What hap­
Styles calls in ex-Ranger Hardy, an picion o f accepting bribes from lo­ pened to the m ilitary’s most elite
old friend and a persuasive interro- cal drug traffickers. She is also un­ commandos?
Lou Rawls Sued for $12 Million
Woman claims she
gave up her
business to be the
soul singer’s
mistress
(A P) — A woman who says she
gave up her business to become
Lou Rawls' mistress sued thesoul
singer for $12 million, claiming he
backed out o fa verbal agreement to
support her financially even if they
split.
Rawls' managersaid the lawsuit
was frivolous, and that the singer
was acquainted with the woman
but never dated her.
In the lawsuit filed Thursday,
Margaret Schaffer said she met
Rawls in Washington state at a
Valentines Day concert in 1998.
After a courtship, when the 67-
year-old singer admitted he was
married, Schaffer said, she left her
job with a fruit-brokerage business
and moved into his Southern Cali­
fornia home.
They made an oral agreement in
November 1998 “to treat as joint
property income and earnings,”
according to the lawsuit Rawls also
agreed to pay her what she would
F A IR / w w A «
ç SIMPLY,
Tondalayera Designers Salon
African American
star reunites with
John Travolta for
the first time since
‘Pulp Fiction’
W A I .K -IN S
W lih C O N l K
A .I). W illiam s
T y ro n e F ra z ie r (new stvlist)
1
Friday Freeway Blues ■ 4 pm to 6 pm
Rhapsody in Blues ■ 6 pm to 10 pm
Blues Palace ■ 10 pm to 2 am
CANNON'S
RIB EXPRESS
(FORMERLYCHUCKHINTON’S)
Lenny Kravitz released “We
Want Peace" in response to
the war in Iraq. The song, only
available online, is a free
download.
Lou Rawls, who has won three Grammys and has recorded
such hits as “ You ’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine " and
“Love Is A Hurtin ' Thing, " is being sued by a woman who
claims the soul singer agreed to pay her what she would have
earned in her job and that he promised lifetime support even
“in the event their relationship should terminate. "
have earned in her job, Schaffer
said, adding he promised lifetime
support even "in the event their
relationship should terminate.”
Rawls' manager, David Brokaw,
said Thursday night the lawsuit
“has no merit." He said Rawls and
his wife have lived in his Los Ange­
les home for 20 years.
“ He never moved out o f that
home to live with Mrs. Schaffer,”
Brokaw said.
Schaffer said Rawls ended their
relationship Jan. 15 and told her
never to contact him again and
“forget him com pletely.”
The lawsuit seeks $2 million in
compensatory damages, $ 10 mil­
lion in punitive damages and half
the worth o f the real estate, stocks
and vehicles Schaffer says Rawls
bought while they were together.
Catering & Take-Out
O ur S pecialty :
R eal H ickory S moked B ar -B-Q
• Sandwiches • Salads
• Chicken • Pork Ribs
• Beef Ribs
Kravitz Releases
Anti-War Tune
(AP)
Lenny Kravitz is the
latest singer to release a song in
response to the war in Iraq.
“ We Want Peace,” available
only on the Rock the Vote Website,
also features Iraqi popsinger Kadim
Al Sahir, Palestinian m usician
Simon Shaheenand .lamey II added
o f Lebanon on percussion.
"I came to Rock the Vote because
o f its strong stance with young
people as defenders o f free expres­
sion," Kravitz, 38, said Tuesday.
“This song forme isabout more than
Iraq: It is about our role as people in
the world and that we all should
cherish freedom and peace."
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