Reality TV Live From New Orleans: The Inside Story August 29, 2005 will forever be remembered for the tragedy that all but destroyed one of the United States’ most spirited cities. Affectionately known as “The Gumbo,” New Orleans fell victim to perhaps this country’s most tragic “natural disaster” ever. Reality TV: Live From New Orleans – The Inside Story takes an honest and painful look at Hurricane Katrina’s survivors and sufferers. Candid interviews from acclaimed New Orleans natives Baby, Slim, Fiend, Skull Duggery and The Medicine Men, illustrate their genuine desires to help. However, directors Tenel and Kennieth dig even deeper. Reaching back as far as 1994, the duo takes the viewer from Bourbon Street to the hood, where arbitrary tales from the NO’s young and mighty tell tales of loss, murder and survival – one who defiantly blurts, “We ain’t goin’ nowhere like luggage, nigga!” On the flipside, the filmmakers delve into the history of The Carnival and Mardi Gras – pre-Katrina. With the Gumbo’s deep roots in mind, the DVD abruptly shifts into the storm that would change the city’s landscape forever. Familiar footage of people perched on rooftops waving in obvious distress and wading through the murky waters left by the category five hurricane still shocks the most rigid soul, and personal accounts burn even more. A walk through the camera man’s lens two weeks after the devastation brings him to say, “All my childhood memories ruined,” as he caps a tour through his ruined household. – N. Ali Early 100 // OZONE MAG
NICKY PEARL.COM presents: BOOTY STAR with Andre Nickatina Mo’ money and mo’ honey is the noted theme of Nicky Pearl Presents: Booty Star, featuring musical host and Bay Area legend Andre Nickatina. With girls going loco and skin flick DVDs as accessible as oxygen, Booty Star stands out by literally looking into the mind and grind of the average female who desires Booty Star status. Who is a Booty Star? Any female with a body who wants to show her assets and get paid generously for it. Trust, this is female pocketbook empowerment and girls who grind around the clock with cake and the icing, thru and thru. The first in a multiple set series of Booty Star DVDs features Danielle – a professional dancer/rap junkie in love with the camera, and Andre Nickatina. Danielle, like her successors in the Booty Star collection, is someone you might know. She is not a porn star or video vixen with global notoriety – yet. She’s the honey from around the block or Anytown, USA, and in steps King Andre Nickatina to corrupt her even further. Nickatina’s raps lace the soundtrack and score with his unique brand of money motivated and mind elevated Hip Hop with heaters. The title track “3 So What, AM So What” and “Pineapple Juice” set it off. An ideal collection for the connoisseur of fly females, Booty Star remedies the fact that not everyone is or can be a mack. Even further, it simultaneously entertains the legitimate playboys and macks with dope females and a true emcee to navigate the ride. - Jose S. Gutierrez Jr. aka Luvva J
Tha Underground Kings Magazine Shop Class/Simply Deelishis After heating the club up with a stage show befitting Bon Jovi more than a rap group, Da Shop Boyz take to the road, offering the camera crew glimpses of their post performance antics. Cover subjects of Tha Underground Kings Magazine: Volume 3, the Atlanta natives individually and collectively offer themselves open for exclusive interviews. In between Q&A’s and/or performances, this action packed DVD provides the viewer a localized visual of Tennesee’s featured hotspots, namely Memphis and Nashville. To boot, 2006 SEA Most Slept on Artist, Crisis’ commercial prefaces a candid look at veteran Tennessee rapper Kool Daddy Fresh in an engaging and at times hilarious exchange. Later, Project Pat, of Three Six Mafia fame, makes himself available live and direct from VIP, where impromptu interviews and autographs (flesh mostly) follow. The segment climaxes as the rapper and crew ultimately inspire a young dancer to remove her top for the sexually charged crowd. Other exclusives include a revealing sit down with Pistol AKA P. Gates and a one on one with producer Zatoven (“So Icy”). As for the other cover subject, Deelishis, her brief appearance precedes an untimely and uninspired strip tease courtesy of an unsightly “groupie gone wild.” Fortunately, Rob Ski relieves the viewer by hitting the road, in due time uncovering some choice splendor and random sound bites that work to validate the “Kings” lofty claim as the “Southern Voice of the Streets.” – N. Ali Early