from the red carpet.

 SNOOP, OUR WISHES, AND THE WISHES OF GEORGE LUCAS...

In the video above George Lucas says that he really wanted to provide a way for our teenagers to know that they are a part of powerful page of American Life, to provide something that can inspire them, this writer believes he has done that. While we look forward to the day that we see good news lyricists such as Lecrae, Tedashii, or Jahaziel in big screen community building films, there was definitely a positive hip hop connection for this film and we hope to see more of that, we hope to see the day when all of hip hop uses it's power and influence to bring good news and uplifting to the world.  Here is a bit about the connection that exists for this effort.

The mainstream hip hop artist Snoop Dogg set up a special star studded screening of Red Tails to support the movie.  When interviewed about this effort he told Westfest TV that “It is good to be able to give back and give to the youth who don’t know anything about the Tuskeegee men and don’t know anything about the story of the fighters, so to give them the history” he later added “I want to be a part of that.”  The truth is that we can all be a part of that, Galatians 6:9 tells us "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."

Key take away: You do not have to be famous to do the good thing of helping our youth get positive messages - you can treat them to a positive movie, bring them to work with you for a day, share the path of what steps they can take to reach their goals, buy them a cool Christian Rap CD (we highly recommend Lecrae's Rehab album), or simply listen to what they think is important in the world, the first step is to get involved with those we can help or influence and we all have someone. 

METHOD MAN ON HIS ROLE IN RED TAILS

When asked about his Red Tails role as the crew man named "Sticks" rap artist Method Man told hiphollywood.com that “These boys were bad, because they had to deal with a lot of adversities to even be able to escort those bombers – for one they thought black people were cowards, but they took lemons and made lemonade out of it” He spoke about them being highly trained and went on to say. “Back in those days they thought black people were incompetent and cowards and every bad stereotype you can think of but they were strong dudes who stayed focused and proved them wrong” He talked about how his role as a crew man was just as important as fighter pilots because they basically made sure the plane stayed in tact and worked well enough for the guys to come back.”  The Tuskeegee airmen were doubted by many on a national stage - most of us could not withstand that kind of scrutiny and doubt by powerful people but instead of running their mouths they quieted naysayers through pursuing excellence, you never have anything to lose in doing that.  You don't have to fist fight or "bang" with your haters, just focus on "better" being a "better" you, learning "better" skills, living "better" values, being God's good, then "better", and finally best version of you.

Key take away:  The quote from the movie is true for us and that quote is "Nothing is difficult" yes there are challenges but challenges can be...in fact, must be overcome.  Time and time again it has been proven that this is true but progress can be made, without struggle there is no progress and the only place success comes before work is in the dictionary - you may have heard these things quoted, they are embraced because of their truth which is what we promote.  The truth is that the men in Red Tails represent courage and ambition, they faced greater odds than we do and embraced what it meant to succeed - because I can, even if you don't want me to.  It is so important for people to take that message from this movie and know that it is possible and true for their own lives - please do take that message go be your best self and reach your highest success because you can.  Find out how great you can be, knock down barriers because you can, blow away expectations because you can, prove to yourself that anyone who ever dared to doubt you was sadly mistaken.

REAL BROTHERHOOD - Do you have it?

It should also be noted that to bring this film to us, the men in the film including Method Man went through intense physical training "hard work", they worked out everyday, ran 4-5 miles, had great camaraderie, went through boot camp together, they embraced each other and had a real brotherhood - in the pursuit of greatness there is hard work, little time for laziness, and low tolerance for ego, arrogance, and bad attitudes - if you want to be "hot" check the bad stuff at the door and get your grind on in fixing your weaknesses, looking past doubt, and winning.  Some may think the movie is campy, or not the Star Wars "they" expected, our take is on that is "so what?" this movie has a powerful message which won a hard felt battle (thank you George Lucas) to be made and that undoubtedly brings it's message home.  If someone takes issue with that well, then go do "better".