Whether a mother, father, preacher, or teacher, if you have been tuning into the television show, Empire, then you have your personal opinion whether good or bad, right or wrong. One thing is for certain this show has many people in the African American community and elsewhere buzzing about it, so much in fact that some simply talk too much.
Share enough on Facebook, forums, and other places around the web and you never know who is watching. How many braggart young drug dealers will be tempted to want to display their fine lifestyle on the Internet or boast about it offline? Many have already showed piles of cash on Facebook accounts over the years. You know some of these fools can't resist identifying with characters in movies and television shows. Just imagine some young guys and girls emulating these actors and actresses for attention sake. I recall back when Juice came out, a movie with Tupac Shakur back in the day. I can't tell you how many young brothas thought they were the main characters in that movie. A few even wanted friends to call them by those character's names! Then there were many more who could recite lines out of that movie as well as others sometimes better than the actors!
You have to wonder why a network that is typically known for being conservative took a chance on a show with a drug dealer turned music producer. Of course money is involved but there is more to it, I guarantee it. Those of us who have spent years hearing stories about men and women in the entertainment industry who used drug money to finance their careers know that there's some truth in this story-telling. Blacks who have worked hard, played fair, did honest work, and more don't like what they have described this show as "coonery." They would have preferred to see a show where blacks are broadcasted around the world quite positively, but that's asking too much and besides most "programmed" blacks love escaping their lives and observing other people's woes for a change, listening to good music, and admiring pretty, shiny looking things--and don't say you don't! A show like Empire packages it all quite well for the ordinary citizen and for those in the entertainment industry who like looking at a depiction of themselves on television.
It is quite sad though, that the rags to riches story is built on drug money. It is even more disheartening to see that once again we see African Americans looking just as crooked, if not, worse as their white counterparts. Remember nighttime 80s dramas like: Dallas, Knots Landing and Falcon Crest? Drugs, power and sex, has been topics of interest in many mafia style movies that have been glorified over the years by young, successful African American males. They too can recite lines out of the Godfather like they are auditioning for a future part in a movie!
The message has been made clear in many gangsta style shows/movies, do what you can to get what you want even if it means murdering someone who gets in the way. The problem with that sort of thinking is unless you have people on your bankroll and you are well-connected, that message doesn't apply to you. And even if one is doing quite well, there will always be a hater or a snitch who's jealous, hungry, or thirsty looking to watch you fall. Sounds like what happens behind the scenes in the modern day entertainment industry based on various media outlets reporting, doesn't it? Who is this show for really? Have you bothered to ask that question? Who needed to be awakened/warned/humbled?
Now all we have to do is play a guessing game of what might come of some of these rappers and their families who built their fortunes on drug money in reality. Eventually, you do reap what you sow.
Nicholl McGuire
Share enough on Facebook, forums, and other places around the web and you never know who is watching. How many braggart young drug dealers will be tempted to want to display their fine lifestyle on the Internet or boast about it offline? Many have already showed piles of cash on Facebook accounts over the years. You know some of these fools can't resist identifying with characters in movies and television shows. Just imagine some young guys and girls emulating these actors and actresses for attention sake. I recall back when Juice came out, a movie with Tupac Shakur back in the day. I can't tell you how many young brothas thought they were the main characters in that movie. A few even wanted friends to call them by those character's names! Then there were many more who could recite lines out of that movie as well as others sometimes better than the actors!
You have to wonder why a network that is typically known for being conservative took a chance on a show with a drug dealer turned music producer. Of course money is involved but there is more to it, I guarantee it. Those of us who have spent years hearing stories about men and women in the entertainment industry who used drug money to finance their careers know that there's some truth in this story-telling. Blacks who have worked hard, played fair, did honest work, and more don't like what they have described this show as "coonery." They would have preferred to see a show where blacks are broadcasted around the world quite positively, but that's asking too much and besides most "programmed" blacks love escaping their lives and observing other people's woes for a change, listening to good music, and admiring pretty, shiny looking things--and don't say you don't! A show like Empire packages it all quite well for the ordinary citizen and for those in the entertainment industry who like looking at a depiction of themselves on television.
It is quite sad though, that the rags to riches story is built on drug money. It is even more disheartening to see that once again we see African Americans looking just as crooked, if not, worse as their white counterparts. Remember nighttime 80s dramas like: Dallas, Knots Landing and Falcon Crest? Drugs, power and sex, has been topics of interest in many mafia style movies that have been glorified over the years by young, successful African American males. They too can recite lines out of the Godfather like they are auditioning for a future part in a movie!
The message has been made clear in many gangsta style shows/movies, do what you can to get what you want even if it means murdering someone who gets in the way. The problem with that sort of thinking is unless you have people on your bankroll and you are well-connected, that message doesn't apply to you. And even if one is doing quite well, there will always be a hater or a snitch who's jealous, hungry, or thirsty looking to watch you fall. Sounds like what happens behind the scenes in the modern day entertainment industry based on various media outlets reporting, doesn't it? Who is this show for really? Have you bothered to ask that question? Who needed to be awakened/warned/humbled?
Now all we have to do is play a guessing game of what might come of some of these rappers and their families who built their fortunes on drug money in reality. Eventually, you do reap what you sow.
Nicholl McGuire
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