July 13, 2017 

Aries March 21 - April 19 

As Mars continues its journey through your home zone, you may be quite eager to get ahead with DIY projects and get things shipshape in general. And with last week’s difficulties out of the way, you might be ready to tackle any chores that are overdue. In addition, Mercury in your leisure sector makes a lovey tie to Jupiter, which might encourage you to take time out to relax and invite friends or loved ones along for the ride.

Taurus April 20 - May 20 

Making new connections can be very beneficial and even help you get further ahead with a project or receive some useful advice. This trend will last until July 20, and it could see you making new friends online and off. Meanwhile, you might be eager to get organized at home, and this could lead you to remove clutter and sell or give away items you no longer need. Finding a good deal or a gadget that makes life easier could also prove very satisfying.

Gemini May 21 - June 20 

Although you may be in the process of taking stock of financial matters, recent efforts to set matters right could help you feel more optimistic and secure. But the presence of Mars here could see you adopting a can-do approach to earning extra money and perhaps starting a small business that helps take care of everyday expenses and gives you funds for vacations and other treats. An upbeat aspect later in the week could coincide with a delightful invitation, too.

Cancer June 21 - July 22 

Vitality is strong with the golden Sun and ruddy Mars moving through your sign. You may feel more courageous and inclined to stand up for what you believe in. But you’ll also be eager to reach out and connect with old and new friends. Mercury in your financial sector could see you doing some organizing and getting up to speed with bills and other money matters. But if you spot a bargain for the home, you might not be able to resist it.

Leo July 23 - August 22 

You may have felt like taking a back seat lately, especially with your ruler Sun in a more secluded sector of your chart. But you may still feel very compassionate toward others and willing to lend your support. You would probably feel put out if they didn’t ask. If there have been issues between you and another, don’t take them personally. This person may have their own problems to contend with. Finally, you might be called on to help someone who needs some guidance.

Virgo August 23 - September 22 

The present picture reveals that you may have a long to-do list, but if it involves fulfilling other people’s needs and neglecting your own, then something needs to change. While the ongoing focus in your social zone could incline you to help, the cosmos is also encouraging you to forge ahead and do what you have to do. You can’t please everyone. On another note, an intuitive nudge could give you insight into how to make positive headway regarding a key goal.

Libra September 23 - October 22 

With Mercury in your social sector aspecting Jupiter in your sign, the time may be ripe for moving in new circles and exploring activities you’ve never tried before. While you may sometimes find yourself at odds with other people’s ideas, this can be a positive learning curve that encourages you to reconsider your plans and perhaps take on even bigger challenges. A focus on goals and ambitions can boost your resolve to do the best you can.

Scorpio October 23 - November 21 

Any new information you’ve uncovered can give you inspiration for the future and could see you envisioning all sorts of possibilities. This might be an excellent time to expand your horizons, either by studying or networking and making friends with those on your wavelength. Your instincts can also play a part in any key decisions and shouldn’t be ignored, especially as a positive tie between Mercury and Jupiter hints at a golden opportunity if you remain alert and ready.

Sagittarius November 22 - December 21 

As Mercury angles toward Jupiter in your social sector, you might want to try on a new experience for size, especially if you can involve your friends, too. However, another influence suggests that if you think about this issue too much, you may end up in a state of analysis paralysis and get nowhere. Asking a friend for advice or researching the pros and cons might help you decide more easily. When it comes down to it, what have you got to lose?

Capricorn December 22 - January 19 

There’s a focus on relationships, especially with the affable Sun and Mars lighting up your relationship zone and enticing you to explore the potential in a new friendship or budding romance. What interests you about another might be a story they tell or an experience they’ve had that captures your imagination and leaves you wanting more. But business affairs also look lively, as another positive connection encourages a meeting that could lead to a new project or contract.

Aquarius January 20 - February 18 

To overcome any reservations concerning a bold idea, you may benefit from chatting with someone who has been through a similar situation. The influence of Venus in your creative zone might help you see things from a more positive perspective, perhaps putting things in a new light and bringing you hope. Later in the week, a tie to Jupiter can bring on a mood of optimism that entices you to go ahead anyway, even if the outcome is uncertain.

Pisces February 19 - March 20 

Although pleasure plans may be firmly on the agenda, other factors indicate that you may be eager to make changes to your lifestyle. With Mercury moving through your sector of habits and routines, you might want to reorganize certain aspects of your day so you can accomplish your health goals and be more productive, too. From July 20, you may find it a lot easier to stay true to your new regimen. Be patient with yourself until then.

July 13, 2017 

By Dwight Brown 

NNPA Newswire Film Critic 

The job of a good documentary is to probe, uncover and get answers to tough questions. The job of a promotional reel is to exalt its subject. This non-fiction film lays squarely in-between. On some levels it’s revealing. On others, it has as much depth as an 8” x 10” glossy.

Bad Boy Records, which started in 1993 and is still run by Sean Combs aka ‘Puffy,’ aka ‘P. Diddy,’ had a sterling roster of hip-hop and rap artists in its heyday. On the eve of a 20th Anniversary reunion performance at Brooklyn’s Barclays Arena, those who are still alive, and that is a consideration, gather at a gigantic studio in the farmlands of Pennsylvania for days of rehearsals. A camera catches the choreographing, artistic stage directing and the old rivalries that still fester.

Supervising artists is a bit like herding puppies, but Combs and Laurieann Gibson, the creative director of the tour, seem to have things in hand. Faith Evans, Lil’ Kim, Mase, Mary J Blige and others whose careers blossomed under Combs are feeling a rejuvenation that is contagious. As the artists, now approaching middle age, scramble to get their mojo back, and Combs bellows, “We’re going to win,” director/cinematographer Daniel Kaufman records their moves.

Can’t call Kaufman’s lens prying because little in what you see feels candid. He most often shoots in black and white, which gives the dark cavernous rehearsal studio scenes, with the misty spotlights and gray backdrops, an ominous and engrossing look. The place evokes a superheroes lair, like Captain America, Spiderman, Black Widow and Black Panther are plotting to save the world.

The common denominator for Bad Boy Records, the reunion concert and all the artists, is Combs. It is fitting in many ways that this documentary charts his life from a 12-year-old paperboy to a mogul who Forbes magazine dubs as the wealthiest hip-hop artist in the world, with $700M+ and counting.

Easy to see why his fans, and those who would like to follow his path to success, would want to know how he ascended to his throne. In many ways, the audiences gets a primer on Combs rise to fame and fortune, from his own words: “I don’t want the Chrysler that looks like the Phantom (Rolls Royce), I want the Phantom.” A friend also attest to his ambition: “He was the kind of kid who hung out with you, but was always thinking ahead.”

As viewers watch Combs manage his artists, they will decide if he is a taskmaster, a bully, prima donna, shepherd or a motivator. Any of these words can describe the character on-screen, and which label fits him best may be more about the viewer’s predisposition or interpretation than Combs himself. 

The highlights of Comb’s rise are on view. However the low points of his career, personal life and biggest controversies, are not on the spectrum. The one exception is the death of his buddy Biggie Smalls. Anyone looking for the truth about the riff between Tupac and Smalls will not get that question answered (the film, “All Eyez on Me,” tries to depict Pac’s side of the story). Regardless, Biggie’s death weighs heavily on Combs, and all the artists he represents. It is Biggie’s spirit that sustains them as they prep for a show that could be a monster or a bust. The Notorious B.I.G. is in their hearts.

One of the most authentic moments in the film is when Faith Evans and Lil Kim, who both loved Biggie Smalls, let go of their strife and talk like sisters. Also of note is an intimate phone call to Biggie’s mom by Combs when he asks her to pray for him and the show.

These touching moments almost counteract some very superficial scenes: Combs blows his nose with tissue paper that looks like dollar bills. He gets a hypodermic needle injection in his butt from a doctor and the audience is forced to see his right cheek.  The camera plays peek-a-boo with him as he showers nude in a bathroom that really didn’t need a camera crew. Those moments are when you feel like you are being force-fed the Kool-Aid intravenously. But you have to keep in mind that that same blinding narcissistic ego is the same spirit that drove the paperboy to become a millionaire.

The film, with fresh interviews from Andre Harrell, Blige, Jimmy Iovine and Jay-Z, and archival footage featuring Fab Five Freddy, Heavy D, President Barack Obama, Russell Simmons and Nina Simone, is rich with opportunities. You’re hoping it will build to the concert that the artists have been prepping for. It does, but glimpses of the onstage extravaganza are fleeting and come during the final credits. One of the film’s biggest transgressions, besides not cornering Combs and grilling him like a district attorney, is not giving the audience enough time with the actual performances to balance out all the waiting. Since Combs is listed as the film’s producer, this is not an accident. This is by design.

Some of the target audience, the children of the ‘90s, will wish that “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop: A Bad Boy Story” had been a concert film featuring the legendary hip-hop artists who revolutionized the music industry. Some may be okay with 80 minutes of back-slapping, self-indulgent, self-promotional footage. 

One man’s promotional reel can be another’s documentary.

Visit NNPA News Wire Film Critic Dwight Brown at DwightBrownInk.com and BlackPressUSA.com.

Dwight Brown is a film critic and travel writer. As a film critic, he regularly attends international film festivals including Cannes, Sundance, Toronto and the American Black Film Festival. Read more movie reviews by Dwight Brown here and at DwightBrownInk.com.

July 06, 2017 

By Lapacazo Sandoval 

Contributing Writer

Securing a pivotal role in a film that’s is destined to get the Hollywood community buzzing and garner strong audience attention is one of the moments—for a young African-American actress—that will always have a very special marker.  For an ingénue, Rayven Ferrell who plays Sekyiwa Shakur, the baby sister of rap icon Tupac Shakur, in “All Eyez On Me,” landing this dream job was like placing a proverbial cherry on the proverbial cupcake.

Directed by Benny Boom and starring new comer Demetrius Shipp Jr., as Shakur, the film—which opens nation wide on June 16, the late rapper’s 46th birthday—is already no stranger to controversy with lengthy legal battles on “who and who does not” have the right to tell the slain rapper/actor/activist story.

Here is what Rayven Ferrell had to share about playing Tupac’s baby sister, Sekyiwa Shakur in “All Eyez On Me.”

L.A. Watts Times (LAWT): How did you get the part?

Rayven Ferrell (RF): I was casted for the role of Sekiywa Shakur just as I was for any other project. I remember when I auditioned for the role and originally, and feeling weird because I didn't get taped. In my mind, I'm just like "how are they going to remember me?" ...so that alone kind of threw me off from thinking that I would get the role. Fast forward a month later, I had a dream that I actually booked it. Once I woke up, I texted my agent asking if the role had already been cast yet and he said no. A few weeks later, I got called back and by that time I already felt that I had it. So much that once I got in the room the execs were laughing just because I was smiling so hard because I was so happy to feel like that it was mine already.

LAWT: What was it like working with Benny Boom?

RF: Working with Benny Boom was a huge blessing. He had a very clear vision and it showed. He directed us so well that the scenes that we shot moved super swiftly and in a timely manner because he knew what he wanted. Not only that, I was a huge fan of Benny Boom before this film so I was excited from the start.

LAWT: Tell me about your character?

RF: Sekiywa Shakur is Tupac's baby sister. To the average person and outside world she was very much to herself. She wasn't the type to be in the mix of groups because of her own way of thinking. But to her family she was very outspoken and actually funny. Her and Tupac had a very close knit relationship because through a lot of times in their early lives, they were all they had. She was super dependent on Pac and I think she is one of the people who [pulled] … out that leadership in Pac at a very early age. He was forced to take care of her and provide for her so it caused him to grow up quickly. In the end, I do believe that they taught each other a lot.

LAWT: What’s the most surprising thing about working on the film?

RF: The most surprising thing for me about this film is how much I learned about Tupac as a person. I got to realize why he did so many things and make so many certain decisions. Before this film, I was a fan of Tupac because of his art ... his music, his acting career, and his poetry. After shooting this film, I became a fan of Tupac because of who he was as a person. The way he moved, and his thought process was not average. He knew of his purpose, and he wasn’t going to let anything prevent him from fulfilling that purpose. He was willing to be viewed negatively, judged, and even willing to die for it. That in itself is truly inspiring.

LAWT: What’s next?

RF: Right now I am continuing to prepare myself for whatever opportunities God brings my way. My goal as an actress is to get as diverse with my craft as possible as well as to get into television more ... so that’s what I’m working on right now.