Curtis Mayfield was paralyzed from the neck down in 1990 after a lighting scaffold hit his neck and broke it. He was just about to perform and the wind knocked it out. This happened in Brooklyn.
Rick James and Michael Jackson had a big brother little brother relationship from the late 70’s through the early 80’s.
After Off The Wall, Rick told Michael that he needed to switch his sound up and create his own lane if he wanted to win a Grammy. (Continues in next tweet)
They took a trip to LA together during the making of Thriller and Rick offered Mike a hit of his weed, Mike told him he can’t smoke because it’ll mess his voice up. Mike told him he needed to step out and he would be right back. Mike left and jumped on a flight, never returning.
Rick loved Mike, Mike loved Rick. Rick wanted to marry into the family. Believe he wanted Janet, Joe said hell no.
Otis Redding re-recorded The Dock of the Bay three days before his death. James Brown told him to cancel his flight because of the weather. Otis’ body was found the day after the plane crash.
The day of MLK’s murder, Isaac Hayes was supposed to be at the Lorraine Motel to pick up his band mate. He and his wife shared a car and his wife happened to use it that afternoon. Isaac told his bandmate to meet him at the studio instead.
Richard Pryor lit himself on fire back in 1980. Original belief was that he was freebasing, but in actuality he poured rum all over his body before lighting himself on fire in an attempt to take his own life. Richard laid in a hyperbaric chamber to heal fast.
Allegedly Richard is the reason why Pam Grier couldn’t have kids. Story that came out was he was placing Cocaine inside of her, but her doctor revealed to her that maybe he did so much cocaine it was in his semen. Some think medically that’s impossible.
Marvin tried to take his own life in Maui by ingesting an ounce of Cocaine in under an hour. After he came back to his senses, he got his friends to kidnap his son from Janis and bring him to Hawaii. Marvin waited one week to tell Janis he had him.
George Clinton was working as a barber and two white kids came to the shop trying to sell their counterfeit money. George gave them $1800 for $1.2 Million worth. George used that money to fund the Parliament’s studio time. A cop searching them said to get rid of the money fast.
The real story of James Brown and Joe Tex was that Joe was cracking jokes at James’ cape he would use and mocked James during a gig he had earlier that day. Word got back to James and that’s when he rolled up with the shotguns and shot the place up.
Allegedly after Michael Jackson performed with James on stage, he suggested Prince come up too; knowing he was extremely high. Michael and James before Prince came up.
After Prince’s performance, he found Mike in the parking lot and tried to run him over.
When Elvis passed away, James Brown was so distraught he arranged his own private viewing of him and mourned over his casket.
Bobby Womack married Sam Cooke’s wife Barbara three months after his passing. Sam’s family was pissed so they beat Bobby up until he was near death. Bobby would then have an affair with his step-daughter, Barbara found out and shot him; the bullet grazed his scalp.
Al Green was with a woman named Mary Woodson, she left her previous family to be with him. After him cheating she threw hot grits on him while he was in the bathroom. Afterwards she shot herself dead. While in recovery, Al became more religious.
Freeway Rick had the opportunity to either fund Anita Baker’s career or Dr. Dre’s at the time in the 80’s. Through the advice of a friend who told him Hip-Hop was just a fad, he decided to fund Anita Baker. He regrets this decision.
Billie Holiday passed away with only $0.70 in her bank account and $750. Her liver and heart conditions from the drinking/drug abuse contributed to her death.
Sammy Davis Jr wanted Kim Novak, but Columbia studios boss Harry Cohn wasn’t having it. He got his mafia connections involved and they phoned Sammy’s father. Telling him that they would break his other eye and break both of his legs. Sammy had 48 hours to find a black wife.
Michael Jackson’s half-sister Joh’Vonnie was born the day after he turned 16. He was so pissed about it he didn’t give her any real acknowledgment and pretended she didn’t exist.
Craig Mack did Flava In Ya Ear as a favor for Puff. Puff put him on the back burner and mentions on Yo! MTV Raps about his supposed album release. Look at Craig and Big’s face.
LL got his chain snatched by the original 50 Cent from Brooklyn.
Cornell is who Leon’s character in Snowfall is based off of, Freeway Rick’s right hand.
Was supposed to play football but couldn’t get right in the classroom, so used his $1,800 refund check to get into the game.
Leon’s change of heart and growth symbolizes Cornell’s change. Cornell had told a group of 11-13 year olds he knew from the neighborhood to go home after catching them with a prostitute. They got in a stolen car and crashed, the car flipped upside down and none of them survived.
“We cold from a God-fearing household. The Bible in our living room was always open on the same verse. We just was poor as shit, which caused all this other drama.”
Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory was born on June 21, 1968, and Terry “Southwest T” was born on January 10, 1970 in Southwest Detroit.
Growing up poor in Detroit with little to no options other than to get an education, they decided that they would make their way by getting money. By the early 70’s Detroit became disenfranchised and many families were living paycheck to paycheck.
“You know how they say that everybody has a purpose in life? Well at one time I felt selling Cocaine was my purpose.”
Ricky Donnell Ross, was born on January 26, 1960 in Tyler, Texas.
At the age of 5, Ricky and his family moved to South Central Los Angeles in hopes of a brighter future; as many African Americans did during the 50’s and 60’s.
Pictured below is a beautiful picture of a Black family settling in South Central.
Larry Davis was born and raised in the South Bronx while that part of the Bronx was tallying at least 200 plus murders a year. The Bronx was neglected.
Reagan in the South Bronx, made matters worse.
Larry was loved in the neighborhood as he came up Dj’ing parties and being one of the first with a sound system in his area.