You’ve heard and seen the stories; children  who never live up to the legacy of their celebrity parents.  Actor Phil Morris is NOT that guy.  The star of TV One’s “Love That Girl” is second generation royalty in Black Hollywood; his father, the late Greg Morris played tech genius Barney Collier on the iconic TV series “Mission: Impossible” which ran from 1966-1973.   Having a father who was only one of a handful of African-American actors in a leading role on television soon fired up Morris’ own creative ambitions.

Morris has successfully carved his own niche in the game with roles in the 80′s “Mission: Impossible” TV remake and as fast-talking Johnnie Cochran wanna -be  Jackie Chiles on the hit TV comedy “Seinfeld.” He also gets to indulge his inner fan boy with an impressive resume of voiceover work including “Static Shock,” “Justice League” and “The Green Lantern” animated series.

The Urban Daily caught up with Morris to discuss the third season of “Love That Girl,” why his character Delroy Jones will never go near a computer and what his father really thought of the film version of Mission: Impossible, now helmed by Tom Cruise.

TUD: You’re in your third season of “Love That Girl” on TV One. Who have been some of the most memorable guest stars this season?

Phil Morris: Definitely Obba Babbatunde who plays my brother in the episode “Happy Birthday Bro”—amazing actor.  My sister Iona Morris, played  Nefertiti’s (Kendyl  Joi) mother so that was a great experience getting to watch her at work.  Valarie Petitford (“Half & Half”)  who is a Broadway superstar—we were so lucky to get her.  Tami Roman was great too. She’s actually a very good actress. Very comfortable and natural—it was easy to work with her.  We also had Candace Parker who plays for the L.A. Sparks.  She is the tallest woman I’ve ever seen and exceedingly beautiful.

How are you and your character, Delroy the same in your parenting styles? How are you different?

We’re the same in that our love for our children is paramount.  We also have an incredible amount of respect for our children.  Although Delroy’s relationship with Latrell (Alphonso McAuley)  leaves a lot to be desired (laughs), I think that’s more on Latrell than on Delroy.

We’re different in that  Delroy is a hardliner.  Delroy has a line he’s drawn in the sand since 1976.  I’m more liberal and spiritual.  I honor the universe as truth.  Delroy, on the other hand,  has a specific idea of how his children should be and what they should be doing with their lives.  Delroy is a very old school cat; he still uses a typewriter and white-out.  Delroy doesn’t use a computer because he thinks the internet is the devil.

Your father, the late Greg Morris, was part of the original cast of “Mission: Impossible” as Barney Collier.   What memories do you have of the show?

“Mission: Impossible”  started in 1966.  I was of the age that I knew what was going on. It was super exciting when he got the job.  He told us he had been cast on this great show.  We asked him “Who will you be playing?” and he said “This character named Barney.”  We started laughing hysterically.  My father certainly didn’t look like a Barney; it was more of a cartoon name like Barney Rubble of “The Flintstones.”  We didn’t get how big the show was until the night it premiered on TV.  We had the cast over at our duplex and it was an amazing, magical time.  I visited the set any time I could–it was like Disneyland.  My sister and I would steal the golf carts and race around the lot.   I learned a lot about TV production and what it took to be part of a successful show.

Your dad was only a handful of black actors at the time, featured in a leading role on network television.  Did he ever discuss the challenges of being an actor of color?

It was only my dad and Bill Cosby (“I Spy”) on television.  You had Sidney Poitier and Harry Belafonte doing feature films.  My parents explained to us the importance of my dad being on a show and playing a character that had such integrity.  We were very proud of his accomplishments.  We were fully aware of the import of our father’s role on that show.

You and your sister Iona (Morris) are both actors.  What was your father’s reaction when you both told him you were going into the business?

My father was a tough guy.  He knew how  difficult it was, so he didn’t want us to struggle like he did.  He was very real about the adversity we’d have to face.  He was also real about the creative challenges as well.  There’s no guarantee that just because your parents are successful in the arts that you will be successful too.  So he encouraged us at every turn to take classes, to do theatre, to find out if this is something that was right for us.

In 1988, you were cast in  the TV remake of “Mission: Impossible.”  What was that experience like?

Surreal.  I was orginally I was cast as Barney Collier. There was a writers’ strike and Paramount decided to bring back “Mission: Impossible” which was a show ahead of its time.  But because of the strike they had to leave the script intact and not change anything. So the casting call went out for a young black actor to play Barney Collier.  All of my actor friends got the call, but not me.  My dad and I didn’t think they would call me, it would be  too coincidental.  It was just ironic that I was an actor, and the right age to play the role.  I was actually one of the last actors to audition, but they were very pleased with my work.  When the writers’ strike ended they decided to make my character Barney Collier’s son, Grant Collier.

Your father actually guest-starred in a couple of episodes.   How was it working with your dad?

To be honest, my father was not in the best of health.  He was a big drinker.  I was finding it very difficult that they would hire him and I was concerned about the shape that he would show up in.  It was a wonderful experience but I was really nervous.  It was very bittersweet, but in retrospect it was an amazing experience.

The story is when your father went to see the first Mission Impossible film in theaters, he walked out in the midst of the movie and said it was “total rubbish.” So true? So false?

It’s absolutely true.  My father was a very strong-minded, opionated person. He didn’t feel that it was a team, it was more like “The Tom Cruise Show.”  I don’t even think he even made it halfway through the movie.  As soon as he realized they made Phelps  the villain he was like “WHAT?!” and walked out of the movie.  My dad really had problems with the creative vision of the “MI” movies.  In the original “Mission Impossible” there were only 5 people in the world who could do what they did—there weren’t IMF franchises around the world like in the movies.  They’re not the FBI or the CIA.  Tom Cruise has gone against that and that’s what upset my father.

One of your most iconic roles is playing lawyer Jackie Chiles on “Seinfeld.”  How did you get the role?

It was a straight audition.  They wanted someone who could do an impression of Johnnie Cochran, because the public had been seeing him on TV from the O.J. Simpson trial.  The Seinfeld writers came up with really smart, topical storylines for the character.  I went to meet Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David on a hot summer day, dressed in a suit and they loved my audition.  Jackie Chiles was something I didn’t need much preparation for; it was like sliding into a second skin.

Did you ever hear from the real Johnnie Cochran when the episodes aired?

Yes, actually Johnnie and I went to the same barbershop for years–Terrell’s in Los Angeles. So after getting the Jackie Chiles role, I bumped into Johnnie there—he was getting a shave.  He looked at me for a few seconds and just started laughing.  He gave me a big hug and told me I was very funny and that he was proud of me…and then I got a letter from his law office telling me to cease and desist!

You also have a strong working relationship in the D.C. Comics universe.  You’ve done voiceovers for “Justice League” as well as guest-starring on “Smallville” as The Martian Manhunter.  Are you an actual  comic book and sci-fi fan?

Yes, I actually have 20,000 comic books.  I got my first comic book in 1966—“Tales of Suspense” with Captain America and Iron Man.  I still have it today.  I am fandom personified so working with D.C. Comics is like a dream come true.  I’ll be reprising my role as Vandal Savage in the new Justice League “Doom” animated movie and I also play … in the Green Lantern animated series.  I’ve pretty much been all over the DC universe. I’ve also done some Marvel stuff.  I go to comic book conventions quite frequently as a featured guest. I get to meet a lot of my favorite artists like Neal Adams.

Sadly one of the head writers of  DC Animated, Dwayne McDuffie passed away this past February.  What are your memories of him?

I got to work with Dwayne on “Static Shock”  and  when I played a villain, Imperiex on “Legion of Superheroes.”  Dwayne was a gentle giant, super intelligent, and very compassionate.  Unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to know him as well as I’d like to, but he was an immense creative force and we will miss him dearly.

Name: Jamal Munnerlyn

From: Long Beach, CA

Occupation: TV Journalist/Host

Affiliations: TV One

Television is in Jamal Munnerlyn’s blood. At a very young age the TV journalist and host of “TV One Access” was exposed to the ins and outs of production. His mother was a television producer and his father was an engineer whose career relocated their family to the Caribbean when Jamal was just six-years-old. Living first on the East coast, then in the Caribbean, and eventually on the West coast (Jamal says he was raised primarily in Long Beach), he worked his way up the ranks learning from the people who cared about him the most. “There’s no better teacher than your parents,” he says proudly.

Is This The Most Stylish Black Woman In America?

Adding a multi-cultural aspect to his African-American perspective, JM gets to travel the world doing what he loves. Now, he is the executive producer of his own Roscoe Stanley Productions, and with his wife as his partner, and a company named after his dog, Munnerlyn intends on the family in the business and vice versa.

How did you get your start in television?
I started off as an intern. I was interning as a PA when I was 12 in the Virgin Islands. I knew I was going to be in television. My mother was a producer in the Caribbean so I got a chance to see the business first hand at an early age. And I got to see what good professionals were at an early age. I wanted to be an executive producer of several shows, and to do that, you have to get your hands dirty and do everything.

Get more of the G-List Here!

Because you’re on television, it’s almost assumed that you have to be very style conscious. How would you describe your own personal style?
I’m not a fashion guy so I would definitely define it as style. I’m about classics, things that are timeless. A lot of fads and trends aren’t for me. I’m a straight style guy. I’ve never been the guy wearing skinny jeans. I can always were a Ralph Lauren shirt, Clarks, a pair of white on whites, with my LRG jeans. I like to stay with those iconic brands.

Do you ever disagree with what your stylist tells you to wear?
I generally try to have a conversation with the stylist. Often times, they try to pick whatever they want. I really try to have some say in what is going on.

Have you ever been in a situation where you had to wear something that you were unsure of and then saw it on camera and knew it wasn’t the right choice?
I could tell you one time, I was wearing a fuchsia shirt while interviewing on the red carpet. It was at a Fox premiere party. And Portia De Rossi came up with a dress with the exact same color, and I was like, ‘this is not for me.’ Sometimes, you trust the stylist. But that was the moment, I was, like, “I do know. I do know.”

What about grooming?
I keep a classic business cut. I keep facial hair growing, but I’ll shave it off. I can’t do a moustache. I can’t do the goatee. I don’t do the theory of a man needing facial hair. Some dudes don’t need to be walking around with half a beard, so I think it goes to your best reservation. I been told I have a pretty good looking face at times.

Do you have any specific products that you swear by?
There is this Nivea eye roller gel. I work hard I need that. It’s the most revitalizing thing for my face. I use the Gillette Mock 3 razors. And as corny as it is, I’m old school so I’m an Old Spice guy. I do the old school Old Spice aftershave. It’s my thing. I’m not ashamed of it. I’m a big fan of the Old Spice deodorant too. I literally used this stuff for 15 years. Old Spice is making a comeback.

How often do you get to a barbershop?
I try to get to my barber every two weeks. My barber is a Nigerian dude named Akeem out of a small barbershop. He’s the guy that knows my hair. I can have a great convo about philosophy and/or politics, and still get out of there within twenty minutes. I just went to see him before I went to Lagos, Nigeria, and we talked about me visiting his country.

What were you doing in Nigeria?
I went there for African International Film Festival. It brought a lot of filmmakers in, and the competition was shorts/documentaries. There was one, Education of Auma Obama, Obama’s Kenyan sister. It tells the story of his Kenyan side of the family. You realize after watching it that his father was a leader in his own right. They are a family of leaders. Herself, his father. It was quite a great documentary.

The G-List is TheUrbanDaily.com’s annual celebration of 40 influential men from various walks of life who define what it means to be a trendsetter with style in their field.

The G-List Is Sponsored By

1) Hill Harper

Each episode is hosted by accomplished film, television and stage actor, and bestselling author, Hill Harper (An alumnus of Harvard Law School, best known for his portrayal of Dr. Sheldon Hawkes on the CBS drama television series “CSI: NY”). Harper introduces each segment of the show, highlighting the resurgence of spoken word.

2) You Can Relate

Whether you’re just a casual fan of spoken word or a hardcore Slam junkie, you will undoubtedly relate to the messages of these poets.  The topics run the gamut from a woman sharing her struggles with the world’s perception of her beauty to a rapper who can’t figure out how to remain relevant and real at the same time.  The performances here put the “tell” and “vision” back in television.

3) Rappers with No Beats

Some of your favorite artists like David Banner, Bone Crusher, and Pharoahe Monch show a side of them not often seen as they rock the stage without a beat, using just their voices and powerful words to move the audience.

4) Smooth R&B

Reminiscent of Russell Simmons Def Poetry Jam and BET J’s Lyric Cafe, each episode includes a music performance from some of the industry’s best and brightest R&B talents.  Grammy nominated and award winning R&B artists like Tyrese, Marsha Ambrosius, Ledisi, Kem, Estelle, Angie Stone, and Melanie Fiona all grace the stage.

5) Much Needed Change of Pace

One can only watch but so many ‘reality’ TV, cooking, and how bad can you dance on national TV shows.  “Verses & Flow” offers viewers a chance to experience art and culture in a way that’s both as fresh as it is cool. And with one click of your remote you can experience the ambiance and vibe of the poetry scene from the comfort of your own living room.

“Verses & Flow” airs on Thursdays at 11:00pm on TVONE

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Wait did you see that? With the artists giving amazing performances, you may have been too star struck to check out these moments that took place this summer during the Essence Music Festival in New Orleans.

Here some moments you might not have noticed during last night’s broadcast on “TV One Night Only: Live From Essence.” See Trey Songz rapping like Nicki Minaj, El DeBarge singing a Drake song, Fantasia jumps out of her shoes, Mary J. Blige takes ‘em to church, and much more in the photos below. Tune in this Friday (September 9th) at 8 pm (ET) to TV One for the rebroadcast to see these moments for yourself!

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Supermodel, television personality, and all around fabulous female Tocarra checked in with Dyana Williams and Derrick Sampson to talk about her sexy new reality show, The Ultimate Merger. The curvy diva has already eliminated four of the fourteen men who started out so the competition is heating up.

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“Things on the dates are getting hotter and steamier,” Toccara confesses. We’re not sure how much steamier it can get since Toccara performed a strip tease on the first episode! Nevertheless,  we hope things don’t get too out of hand. “It was really exciting at first but as it progressed some things were out of my control. But overall it was good.”

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE FULL AUDIO! Check out “The Ultimate Merger” Thursday nights on TV One!

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Black music is the foundation and the basis of many styles of music, from rock ‘n roll and pop to jazz and hip hop. By devoting a month to the global influences of Black music, Radio One is working to bridge the gaps in generations and bring out the passion our audience has for expressing themselves and their love for music.

Among the many custom and exclusive offerings being showcased this month we will be offering:

• It’s All Black Music Meter – TheUrbanDaily editorial staff will compel their our audience to vote on a variety of lists including The Top 10 Michael Jackson songs, The Top 10 Chris Brown songs and the most influential music producers of all time.

• The IN-dustry – A weekly editorial segment featuring key persons in the music industry, i.e. producers, A&Rs, product managers, sound engineers, etc.

• One Hit Wonder Wednesdays – Every Wednesday, Radio One will profile a beloved one hit wonder from the Black music community. Members will have the opportunity to chime in by leaving their comments

• Rewarding Moments in Black Music – This is a timeline that showcases some of the most rewarding and impactful moments in Black music.

In addition to these standard features for the month, there is also a roll out of daily content, which includes:

• Black Music Fact of the Day – Daily www.ItsAllBlackMusic.com will feature a known or little known musical fact

• Why We Love Black Musical Films – Our popular “5 Reasons To See” column will feature 5 classic musical movies like The Wiz and School Daze.

• Then and Now – A gallery franchise, it highlights artists over the years and their changing physical appearance, from hairstyles to plastic surgery.

Click here, to read the full article.

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What do you think? Do you agree with Ms. Hughe’s assessment of Black portrayals in Hollywood? Let us know in the comments!

*TheUrbanDaily.com is owned by Radio One, Inc.

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“I have a program now over with over 200 kids everyday,” he says swelling with pride.”Since 2002 we’ve sent 800 kids to college.”

But taking care of kids is in his blood. During a taping for TV One’s upcoming “Unsung” episode on Big Daddy Kane TheUrbandaily.com talked about his days as hip-hop’s first “scout master,” his conversion to the Nation of Gods and Earths and playing football for the 49ers.

1. Football Player

I played [football] for the San Francisco 49ers in the 1980-81 season. I got hurt and I was a rookie. I got hurt and that’s the best thing that happen because they can’t cut you if you’re hurt/injured. So I was on the taxi squad, then they brought me in that year and we won the Super Bowl. I played special teams, stuff like that. I played few series at linebacker.

2. Minister

I was raised by my grandmother who was a Pentecostal minister;I became a minister at 14, they called me a junior minister, in fact it was me and Al Sharpton. We both came from under the same church, Washington Temple in Brooklyn. Except they didn’t allow women in the pulpit in those days ; in other words you couldn’t be a woman and be a reverend or pastor. So my grandmother and other women broke away from the Pentecostal church and started what they called Pentecostal Church of God and Christ, which is where they have women pastors. Al Sharpton was with the men and I was with the women, which is where I like to be anyway.

3. Producer

I wrote and produced one record in my lifetime, actually I co-produced “Make The Music” because I put the shakers in, there was no break [or] no hook. See, I taught my producers how to produce. I had to teach them about music. So all those producers that you hear of, I kind of taught a lot of them how to structure a song. They can get nice beats, Marley was a master of sampling and rearranging stuff, but they didn’t know how to make a bridge to a record so I taught them that, those shakers was my way of showing what a bridge is.

4. Peace God

Oh when I was 16 I became a 5 Percenter. A 5 Percenter is the belief is that we’re God. We don’t eat pork, we call our women Earth, your mothers a old earth and we used to go to Parliaments, a place we meet to kind of exchange ideas and drop science. I don’t drop science no more, I call it raising conscience “con-science” because dropping means you missed it, I ain’t missing nothing no more. Now my grandmother reverend Icely Williams, I knew I had to have my argument tight [when I told her]. So I would go up to her and say “You heard of the 5 percenters? She’d say “Yeah.” And I said, “Well I joined, and my name is not Tyrone anymore it’s Shalek; which is Shalom-Healer-Allah-Leader-Equality-King,”and she just looked at me. And then I said “oh yeah I’m God.” I told my Pentecostal Minster Grandmother I was God. She turned kind of slow looked at me and said I’ve been taking you to church pretty much all your life right and you actually spoke and preached at times and you come to me and tell me that your God today, I said yes. She said “It’s about time you figured that out!” Here I was like what? Your not suppose to say that. She said to me “Of course you’re God. The Bible says you’re God and you’re made in His image so when I look at you I’m looking at God. But now that you told me that, from today to forever you got to do Godly things. That’s how deep my grandmother was.

5. Hip-Hop Scout Master

So what people don’t know is I was the unofficial Scout Master for hip-hop. Many times we used to go on the road on wacked out charter buses. Me, Roxanne Shante, MC Shan, Salt n Pepper, LL Cool J and I’m like the coach. We on dark roads and the bus broke down and I got all these kids I got to look out for because that’s what they were, they were kids. I don’t care what artist it was, when they got on the road and they saw me they got happy because they knew everything was going to be all right. They might not get paid they might get stranded, but they knew when they saw Tyrone and the Juice Crew [everything was ok]. Salt-N-Pepa and Will Smith they got taken advantage of all the time because Herby Azor was their manager and he was a quiet soft-spoken guy. So if you would go out of town they would go “I ain’t paying Salt n Pepper, we ain’t paying Jazzy Jeff Fresh Prince.” But if they saw us they knew, because I always had a headliner and I always said: “If everybody don’t get paid ain’t nobody playing.”

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Founding member Prince Markie Dee spoke with TheUrbandaily about the legacy of the Fat Boys, reinventing himself as a record producer and the death of his brother and group member Buffy.

“Biggie was the Coogi wearing, Rolex wearing, futuristic Fat Boy of the 90s.” - Prince Markie Dee

TheUrbanDaily: I watched an advance episode of your “Unsung” documentary. How did you feel when TVONE approached you about doing this show?

M: You watched the rough cut? The final is going to be a little different.

TUD: How so?

M: You’ll have to see it yourself to take it in, but to put it this way, there’s a little bit more drama in the final cut.

TUD: I did notice that there was some drama bubbling towards the end of the episode.

M: It’s kind of like this: they put together their version of it and I looked at it and I said “No this is not what happened, this is what really happened and it has to be told the right way.” Of course, TV One and Frank [Williams], the producer, put it together and said “alright tell me how it is Mark, I need to relay this story correctly.” We added a couple things to it that I forgot because we’re talking about things that happened 20 years ago. And I was talking to Kool Rock and he is mentioning things that made me remember other things, this could have been a 5-part episode if you really boil down to it.

TUD: I saw Krush Groove in the theater in ’85. How did it feel to go from being a rap star to a movie star in such a short amount of time?

M: At that point, rap had only been around for 7-10 years. Everybody was looking at it like it was a fad. That [film] was concrete proof that rap was going to be around for a really long time. We’re making movies now. We’re going on tours and selling out 30,000-seat arenas. This isn’t something we’re doing on the corner anymore, this can change people’s lives. That movie was the turning point that made us all realize, from us to Run, to LL Cool J, “You know what? This is bigger than just us.” This is Hip Hop. Krush Groove was the turning point. It was such an amazing thing to do, being around so many talented individuals. From RUN-DMC to Kurtis Blow, to LL Cool J to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. There are just so many people in that movie. We were all so happy to be involved in Hip Hop at that time. It was something new, something refreshing, and we loved it. It was amazing.

TUD: One of the people in the show said there would be no Notorious B.I.G. if there were no Fat Boys. How do you feel about that?

M:I concur. The Fat Boys made it cool to be your self, not to be fat, but to be yourself. A lot of people think it’s easy to lose weight, it’s not. People that are not obese they look at people who are and say “Just lose weight.” So just be who you are, you could still look fly, you could still get the girls. And Biggie was just an extension of that. He was the Coogi wearing, Rolex wearing, futuristic Fat Boy of the 90s.

TUD: Looking at the various “Big” rappers throughout the years, Heavy D, Chubb Rock, Fat Joe, Big Pun, how did it feel seeing them emulating you guys and what you have done in a lot of ways?

M: To put it this way, when Floyd Mayweather was fighting Ricky Hatton, I had the pleasure of flying on Rick Ross’ G4. I do radio in Miami so I asked him for an interview for my blog. So we’re 30,000 miles in the air, there’s champagne and girls everywhere. I asked this guy what made you want to do Hip Hop? The first thing out of his mouth was a Spider Man song I had written from our first album and he recited it line for line. And I’m sitting there for twenty minutes as he talked about how the Fat Boys influenced him, and he could be obese or fat and it did not matter. And it was because of us that he was able to do that. For him to say that to me, it makes me appreciate what we did because for a long time I was like “damn we’re not getting nominated for no Vh1 Hip Hop Honors.” Every time they mention RUN-DMC, they never mention us. Anytime they mention any other rap group or Old School, they never mention us. The only time they mention us is when they are talking about comedy or clowns. The reality of it is that we started out as rappers. We started to get into comedy because there was an escape for it. But we were rappers. And for this guy to recite one of my first rhymes I ever wrote about spider man, it made me go “damn, this is ill” and we really influenced him for him to memorize a rhyme from 23 years ago.

TUD: In the episode Kool Rock that said that the original “Jail House Rap” was more “gangster.” Was your verse also different?

M: At the time everybody was making those reality records cause Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five put out The Message. So everybody started making records about the negative that we were enduring in or own ghettos. So the big reality in Brooklyn was that if you are going to do a crime you were going to jail and jail was the worst experience in your life. And we wrote In Jail before we even had a record; that was one of the rhymes we had done. So we were in the studio with Kurtis Blow and our manager came up and said ,“you guys need to make this more funny, you need to stop being so serious about it.” I was like that could be a good idea so we changed it around and it came out being real funny. We were talking about going to jail for busting in the pizzeria cause I was hungry. It was a cool thing. Kool Rock was right, the original “In Jail” was more serious about doing a crime and going to jail for it. If you listen to the extended version there’s a more serious verse, that was one of the original verses.

TUD: Do you think doing songs like “Wipeout” and “Twist” glossed over what you had did prior in some people’s minds? To the point where people forgot?

M Sure. I explained it in detail in the Unsung documentary. These were things that we didn’t want to do. “Wipeout” was something we wanted to. It was different, it was fresh. Blending with other Rock groups and pop bands, doing some of their records, Run-DMC with Aerosmith, The Fat Boys with the Beach boys. After that, I felt like we needed to get back to what we did originally but our manager thought otherwise: If this worked once, it’ll work again. I know deep down inside, our core audience was like “what are you guys doing?” It was getting to the point where it was just ridiculous. Our managers were like you do this or else you’re black balled in this industry. We had no knowledge back then. No one was around to show us how the industry went. We had to learn it on our own. Our parents didn’t know. Our parents were from the same neighborhood we were from so if the manager said “If we say the word , your records will never play on the radio again” we believe them.

TUD: You guys exposed one of the conflicts in the music industry, the manager/label owner.

M: That was the craziest thing ever. And after a while in the business it came to light. “You can’t be over this, you’re not looking out for my best interest. All you’re looking out for is your own interests.” It was really crazy man.

TUD: Your partner Buffy the Human Beat Box died in 1995. What do you remember about that day?

M: I was home. I just finished talking to him about a few hours prior. At the time, I was doing my thing as a producer. He was about 5’4, 750 pounds. And I was like “Buff, all you need to do is lose a hundred pounds, and you’ll be a candidate for this gastric bypass surgery. You do that, and you can live a normal life again, we could make another album. We could get back in the lime light. I got more connections now. I could do records for us. I got my own label. Come on, let’s do it.” Before the conversation, he was so down and out, after, he was looking forward to starting to lose that weight and getting back in the studio again and get things popping. A couple of hours later my mom called me and said “Ella just called me (Buff’s mother), Buff fell and he is not breathing.” I jumped in the car with my friend Corey Rooney and when we got back there he had passed out already. It was hard for me cause when I got there his brother was over him, kneeling. He was gone already, the cops were there and we were waiting for the coroner to come, just looking at each other not saying anything. The coroner came and they were trying to carry him. There were only two guys and he couldn’t fit in a body bag and then we had to help. I had to physically lift my friend and put him in the back of a steel van with no comforters or nothing, just throw him in the back of a van and watch them pull off into the morning sun. It was crazy, it messed me up really bad because Buff was the one when I was going to through bad things. He would come to my door and be like “Mark you hold this stack, don’t worry about it, things are going to be better.” “ Yo Mark, you got nothing to eat, I’m on the way to your house right now. I got two buckets of KFC and I’m bringing you some money.” “Yo Mark, if you need anything come check me out.” Buff was the guy that was there for me always. He had the biggest heart in the world, he was a sweet guy and I miss him to death. That’s my brother.

TUD: Kool Rock Ski has lost a significant amount of weight but there is a misconception that he got fit after Buff died. Can you clear that up for us?

M.Kool Rock lost weight before Buff’s passing. Kool Rock started losing weight when he saw himself in Disorderlies. I remember the day, we went to the premiere and he said “I look disgusting.” We were on tour in Europe and I would go to his room and he would be eating salads and doing sit-ups every night. So he started before Buff passed. I guess people saw him and assumed it was because of that.

TUD: Did his death effect your health decisions at all?

M:As of recently, four years ago, I was 450 pounds. Then I started dieting and now I’m at 279. But I was never the big guy in the group. Even when Buff passed, I wasn’t that big. I was under 300 pounds. It did not affect me that way. It’s just that it made me realize we have to get healthier. Cause Buff died on accident. His heart did not just give out on him, he fell. Buff was so big that he couldn’t lie down. His weight would close his windpipe and he couldn’t breathe. He had to sleep sitting up. His heart went into overdrive and he suffered a massive heart attack because he fell. If he wouldn’t have fallen, he would be alive right now.

TUD: A lot of folks still don’t know how successful you’ve become as a record producer. How did you make that transition from rapping to production.

“Typical Reasons” (Swing My Way)

M: This is what happened. I got kicked out of the group and when I got kicked out I was asked to come back. I was in the group for a week or two and an attorney friend of mine said “Yo Mark, the only reason they asked you to be back in the group is because Warner Bros. was ready to do a second movie,” cause we signed a three picture deal. So they went to my old manager and said we are not going to do this movie unless we have all three original members, not just two guys, do what you have to do or we are not going to do this movie. And that’s when they came to me and said “we’re going to give you a second chance on a trial basis to come back into the group.” So when I found that out, I was like “you know what ,Fuck him!” I would rather roll the dice on me and doing the beats and winning that way and just trying to build my own shit up and trying to do my own records, my own movies, and my own thing. Cause I know that I can do it so I left the group. And when I left the group they didn’t do the movie, they put out another album. By chance, I ran into Father MC in the mall, I was like “yo I do beats” and he wanted me to rhyme on a record with him and I was like “that’s cool but I do beats too.” So he went to my crib that night and I played him “Treat ‘Em Like They Wanna Be Treated” and we ended up doing that record and a bunch of other records for him. And then went on to working with Mary, working with Mariah, J.Lo, so on and so on.

Father MC “Treat ‘Em Like” produced by Prince Markie Dee

TUD: So when did you pick up the drum machine? Did you learn it from Kurtis Blow?

M:Anything I’ve ever produced, I credit that to Kurtis Blow. The first day we were in the studio I watched him do beats. I watched him direct the musicians, what bass lines to put down, direct the pianist, what chords to play. And I learned watching him. I learned asking him questions. “What does this do on the board?” “What does that do?” “What did you do that for?” I think that was what made it easier for me to switch over into “producer mode.” So I was like “I got some money let me go buy this equipment.” I met my partner Corey Rooney. “Let’s do our thing to together, let’s make these beats and try and shop them.” I think when I hit that part it was easier to make that transition because I knew everything by watching Kurtis. I remember picking up the drum machine and banging on it for our last album that we did together. And that was the first record I ever produced , it was called “Lounging” on the last Fat Boys album. After that, we just kept doing beats and shopping them around. It was through the relationships with the Fat Boys that I was able to sit down with Andre Harell to knock on his door and he opened the door for me. If I didn’t run into Father in the mall it might’ve led to a different route.

Watch the Fat Boys “Unsung” tonight @ 10PM on TV One and check out these legends at Originalfatboys.com.

Reasons Why B2K Needs An Episode Of TV One’s “Unsung”

VIDEO: Q-Tip Speaks On Minnie Riperton & Hip-Hop

Teddy Pendergrass was the latest icon to be celebrated on  TVOne’s Unsung series.

You can watch the  full episode below until September 20, 2010 or catch the re-airing on your local TV One station.

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If you’re a fan of Janet Jackson, Mary J, Trey Songz, Keri Hilson and Alicia Keys, and want a front row seat to this tw0-hour concert special. Well TVOne is the only place you’ll get an exclusive pass to the concert of all concerts, TV One Night Only: Live from the Essence Music
Festival!

Filmed at the Essence Musical Festival in New Orleans, this two-hour concert special features some of the hottest stars ever, from old to new school—your musical appetite will be satisfied from beginning to end.

Just in case that isn’t enough—the show is packed with other hit-makers like LL Cool J, Earth, Wind & Fire, Keri Hilson, Charlie Wilson, Jill Scott, Monica, Gladys Knight, and much more!

Don’t miss TV One Night Only: Live from the Essence Music Festival, only on
TV One.Sunday, August 29 at 9pm (ET)

VIDEO: T.I. & Mary J
Rip The Stage At The Essence Music Festival
Pregnant Alicia Keys Takes A Spill At The
Essence Music Festival

Spotted @Necolebitchie.com

“I just want you guys to know and understand that is ABSOLUTELY NOT the blueprint to success or fame! We as women are worth so much more!”

This is coming from the same Angel Lola Luv that appeared as the lead girl in Trey Songz “Wonder Woman” video like this:

Well aint that the “pot calling the kettle black.” Look at what else she had to say via Twitter:

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Super Head claims that after her book came out that she changed the world–I don’t know about changing the world, but she change the state of “hoedom.”

Kat Stacks tweeted “Why is Karrine Steffans trending? smh you old b*tch” and the world had the nerve to say “pay homage” to Superhead, wtf?! What’s wrong with that statement.

Is it me, or does Superhead talk like she has a permanent penis in her mouth?

Click here, for video.

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“K-Ci & JoJo Come Clean” will air on TV One this fall. He also talked about the prospects of new music from K-Ci & JoJo as well as Jodeci.
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Omarosa has a new reality show coming out and she’s looking for love. The show premieres tonight on TV One.

Omarosa is know for her stint on The Apprentice, and her ultimate b*chey attitude. She recently had plastic surgery and still isn’t too appeasing to the eye, I don’t know why anyone would even audition for the show.

Omarosa Says New Realty Show Isn’t Run-Of-The-Mill ‘Love’ Fare

Brian McKnight Joins Cast Of NBC’s ‘Celebrity Apprentice’

Airing tonight, July 2nd at 8pm and 11pm

TV One presents the most talked-about concert to date, the Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration, The Solo Years. This all-star salute to the “King of Pop” celebrates his 30 years as a solo performer and features some of the hottest stars in the game. Only Michael Jackson can put Marc Anthony, Destiny’s Child, Missy Elliott, Gloria Estefan, Nelly Furtado, Whitney Houston, James Ingram, Al Jarreau, Gladys Knight, Liza Minnelli, Monica, Aaron Carter, ‘N Sync, 98 Degrees, Gloria Gaynor, Usher, Billy Gilman, Shaggy, Luther Vandross, Dionne Warwick, Mya, Lil’ Romeo, Jill Scott, Elizabeth Taylor, Samuel L. Jackson and Chris Tucker on one stage.

Taped at New York’s Madison Square Garden, this special represents Jackson’s first live US performance in nearly 11 years and the first reunion with his brothers in 20 years. If you missed one moment of Michael’s life, this is where you need to be to catch up. Michael and his brothers perform some of their biggest hits including ABC, The Love You Save, I’ll Be There, I Want You Back and Dancing Machine. True to his super power, Michael clears the stage and sets the building on fire with his performances of Billie Jean, The Way You Make Me Feel, Black or White, Never Can Say Goodbye, Beat It, Rock My World, Ben, Man in the Mirror and much-much more!

Have a seat, tap your feet or just get up and dance along to the music! You don’t want to miss the greatest and most watched concert ever! Watch Michael and his friends celebrate the greatest entertainer of all times-watch Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration, The Solo Years only on TV One.

TV One and K2 Pictures have announced the production of “Life After,” a series that will share with viewers the behind-the-scenes story of how celebrities have dealt with major turning points in their lives.

Among those featured in the series will be hip-hop/R&B trio Bell Biv Devoe, telling the story of their life together after making the break from New Edition; Al Reynolds, describing in detail how he re-ignited his career as a business professional after his highly publicized marriage and divorce from Star Jones; actress Jaimee Foxworth, whose life took a rocky path after she left the show “Family Matters” and succumbed to the pressures that consume so many child-stars; actor and martial artist Taimak, star of the film, “The Last Dragon,” offering insight into the special challenges of becoming a cult hero at a young age; and Daryl “Chill” Mitchell, co-star of “The John Larroquette Show” and “Veronica’s Closet,” who has had to overcome great personal challenges since he was paralyzed in a motorcycle accident in 2001.

To read more about this story, please click here! Share your thoughts in the comments section!

Last night many stars came out for TV One’s Roast and Toast for John Witherspoon! Check out the photos from the event below!

Click here for yesterday’s Celebrity Sightings!

Click here to see Beyonce’s sexy Italian Vogue spread!

Beginning Thanksgiving night and airing on four consecutive nights starting Sunday, Nov. 30, TV One will premiere the series of one-hour biography specials that celebrate the lives and careers of four of those accomplished artists or groups who deserved – but didn’t make – the transition to superstardom.

The first episode explores the rise and fall of DeBarge, the family supergroup of the ‘80s that was poised to take the music industry baton from the Jackson 5. Sure, who worked with El DeBarge on the Quincy Jones track “Secret Garden” considered this particular story as close to home.

“I think the most important thing was the validity of the story. I think they nailed it on the head in terms of sticking to the truth,” Sure said. “The only thing that I would have a problem with is if the story was inaccurate. They were pretty much accurate and sticking to the story and talking to the family and getting it straight from the horses mouth.”

Sure explained that he was able to see some of the footage gathered by the show’s producers. He said that it was something that was really close to home in regard to being passionate about music and dealing with the industry – “as a big monster.” That connection and that fact that he’d only be a part of the project if it was an honest portrayal, and he guaranteed that there were no “inside sources” involved in the Unsung episodes.

“This is actually the family and friends and the artists themselves speaking on behalf of what their story is so that you have an accurate description of what transpired,” he said. “This particular series is the exception to the rule. ‘Unsung’ can now be that catapulting step that will depict the truth and let you walk through that journey with them about how it all went down. The most surprising thing that I learned was that when Motown signed the whole DeBarge family, it was almost a business transaction to transgress out of the Jacksons into the DeBarges.”

Sure agreed that Motown saw DeBarge as being potentially bigger than the Jacksons in part because of their look.

“The record labels were looking for that crossover potential to bring the urban to the mainstream by the light-skinned thing. When you think about it, it was ridiculous. At the same time, marketers would do anything to market their artist and they were trying to be ahead of the game,” he reported.

Following behind older brothers, Bobby and Tommy who led the R&B group Switch, the group, made up of younger siblings El, Bunny, Mark, Randy, and James, became one of the most popular groups on the label’s roster. Unfortunately for the talented fivesome, they also followed in their older brothers’ footsteps and got mixed up in drugs – with the exception of El, who took the lead in the group, and drugs played a major part in the group’s eventual downfall. On the other hand, as recent news reports have informed, El also succumbed to drugs as well and is currently serving time behind bars

The series also takes a look at the story of legendary soul man Donny Hathaway, powerhouse Phyllis Hyman, and gospel stars The Clark Sisters.

“It’s more of an interesting play for me because it was learning the facts about things that you’ve heard in the past, but also learning about these iconic lives that either were gone much too soon or are still going through things,” Sure said. “To me there’s a fine line between genius and crazy and sometimes you don’t know which way it will steer you.”

“I was thrilled. It was an honor for me to try to interpolate the producer’s vision, specifically with the Donny Hathaway piece; it’s just absolutely brilliant,” Sure said. “So just understanding the story and just going through, as the vocalist, you somewhat get lost in the story and you become part of the story. That’s what I tried to do in terms of doing the voice over. To just become the narrator of those feelings that are being portrayed on the screen. Hopefully I did my job.”

Unsung debuts Thursday, Thanksgiving night on TV One at 7 pm ET. Meanwhile, Al B. Sure is working a number of jobs including his #1 urban AC radio show in Los Angeles and his HD Radio show “Slow Jams.” The ‘80s R&B star – who secured his own hits like “Nite & Day” and as a writer and producer, introduced the group Jodeci and singers Tevin Campbell, Faith Evans, Dave Hollister, Case, and Usher to the music scene – Sure is also involved in a few ventures with a large holding company that is developing a major resort in Mexico at the tip of the Sea of Cortez, a new album called “Honey, I’m Home” and is working on his autobiography From Mt. Vernon to the Moon and Back.