As I watched TV with my son, this new programme from Cartoon Network hit my eyes. Executive produced by and starring Andre Benjamin...
Andre...? 3000...? You mean Andre 3000 from Outkast? Like, that man in "Hey Ya!"?
Yes, sir. The very one.
The man is shrewed.
As I have said to some of my friends before, I think there is a huge void in the middle of mainstream American black culture left behind by Cosby Show.
During the years under Bill Clinton, the "Blackest President Ever", allegedly, the Black culture seemed to have gone to extremes to find the cutting edge. There followed the height of gangsta culture with all its excesses, bottles of 'gnac and "bootylicious" girls, leaving the middle ground to a little white trash like Eminem.
Now, rather belatedly, the brothas and sistas seem to have realised that they have neglected a huge section of their own audience.
I think the hit of the film "Dream Girls" heralds the American black culture's return to the center.
Tyler Perry may be jockeying for the pole position in this race. He consciously targets, even limits, his audience to the mainstream black American.
Will Smith and Jamie Foxx may be regarded "not black enough", but are big contenders.
Obviously, I am totally a wrong kind of guy to be exploiting this, but, as John Ridley says, there is the ascent of modern Black America that should open up huge opportunities at home for the Americans.
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