Searching against 'Prince' on the IMDB, I see that he received a credit on Spike Lee's 'Malcolm X'. I had read previosuly that Spike Lee ran short of finance towards the end of the making of the film, and wrote to various people seeking support. He commented that people, including Prince, responded with cheques by return.

I presume all of the following, who received the credit, 'Thank Allah', provided financial support:

Tracey Chapman
Peggy Cooper-Cafritz
Bill Cosby
Janet Jackson
Magic Johnson
Michael Jordan
Prince
Oprah Winfrey

http://us.imdb.com/Credits?0104797

langebleu said:

Don't 4get Aretha Franklin who thanked "Jesus" instead

Took balls for Spike to demand black people fund it. They did in kind. Notice that Tom who used to run BET never funded shit. Was an important film, so I understand Spike's audacity. Great film. Great that Spike told the truth about the Nation of Islam. He didn't water down the truth.

The studio told Spike that NO MORE money was going to the film.He was ORDERED by the studio to leave Egypt and come back home for post production.

Spike made a list of big time Black entertainers and they reponded ten-fold.

I believe Prince gave him $500,000 to finish the movie.

See people want to hear the bad shit about Prince but when positive stuff comes out no one cares.

2freaky4church1 said:

That bastard is one of G.W. Bush's best friends.
He should burn in Hell for all of that MK-Ultra that has come out of BET in the last 5-6 years,not to mention that GW called him up to fire Tavis Smiley when Tavis was highlighting the voter-fraud down in Florida in 2000.

RE: MK-Ultra.

THat sounds interesting, do you have any more info?
[This message was edited Thu Jul 17 11:44:50 PDT 2003 by Romance1600]

Romance1600 said:

It was the code name for a group of CIA experiments in mind control.

Can I be the first to say that Spike Lee is a shitty film maker? People, he sucks.

squirrelgrease said:

Thanks for sharing that with us.

Romance1600 said:

Yes .

MK-Ultra was the code name for a project in mind control operations run by the CIA from 1950's-1975.Everything from drug usage to programed assassins were tried out.

LSD was used as a truth serum on folks who used prostitutes.

Oswald & Surhan Surhan were possible MK-Ultra subjects.

Most of the juicy tidbits on the project were destroyed when the Church Commission stumbled upon its existance in 1975.

I have a theory that many of the terrible events in the last 5-10 years were possible MK-Ultra experements.Certanly drug use in America and the rise of rap music are MK-Ultra.Thus my mention of BET.If White people demeaned Black people the way BET has ,there would be riots in the streets.

Believe it or not.

whodknee said:

No prob.

I have read that Spike was indeed in trouble in Egypt, becuase filming went seriously over-budget.

However a loan company had to invest a hell of a lot of money (name escapes me now). They visited Spike in Egypt and watched his every move from then on.
Maybe they got their revenue back from sales??

There was no mention that other people put money in. Though I have heard this somewhere b4 also.

Can anyone shed any light on this?

squirrelgrease said:

I think Spike is a great filmmaker.But his movies aren't for everyone.His movies usually have strong messages that not everyone can handle.And he's not known for being subtle either

'Summer Of Sam' is an underrated classic,one of the best films from the last ten years.I would have nominated it for a few Oscars.

DavidEye said:

Spike touches the same nerves as Prince does .

Jack said it best..."you can't handle the truth."

undisputed69 said:

The only record I can currently find of this is a post an alt.music.prince which suggests that Spike Lee recounted the generosity shown by people to whom he wrote when the film ran into trouble. He was supposed to have recounted this tale in a documentary. I'm uncertain, but I believe it could be on the 1995 DVD, 'American Cinema: One Hundred Years Of Filmmaking'.

undisputed69 said:

[Spike] Lee ended the evening with a story about his money problems during the making of "Malcolm X." Filming had stopped and Warner Bros. wanted the film to be cut down to three hours. Lee called every African American he knew who had money. Bill Cosby. Oprah Winfrey. Magic Johnson. Michael Jordan. Janet Jackson. Tracy Chapman.

"These checks were not tax write-offs, but the checks came in and 'Malcolm X' was made," Lee noted.

http://www.vanderbilt.edu.../vr14.html

Upon the movie's completion, he began work on his long-awaited dream project, 1992's Malcolm X. Shot at various points across the globe (including Mecca), the three-hour biopic of the slain civil rights leader reached theaters in its intended form only after celebrities including Bill Cosby, Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, and Prince helped defray financing costs in the wake of Warner Bros. mandate that Lee trim the film's running time by half an hour.

http://www.blockbuster.co...75,00.html

muleFunk said:

That's pretty cool, I hadn't heard that story. I notice that Londell McMillan also gets a mention on the Malcolm X credits...


Fucking great movie, BTW.

DavidEye said:

Oh. I must not be a deep enough thinker. Spike is OVERRATED, period.

DavidEye said:

AMEN, davideye. spike often goes where u don't expect him to go. i think all of his movies are entertaining , thoughtful and gutsy. i even loved girl 6, how he tied the story of the phone-sex operator up with the little girl.
go, spike!

FunkMistress said:

I'm sure thats a false info,,,he can't shoot in Mecca unless he's MUSLIM! he probably took footages and stuff like that(he even may did something with Denzel's videos).

This is THE ONLY MOVIE eva done in American hitory that gives the RIGHT idea about Islam & Arabs

Much love 2 Spike Lee 4 doing that

muleFunk said:

I care.

Harlepolis said:

Spike had to hire an all muslim crew to go into Mecca and finish filming while Denzel,Spike,and the non muslim crew stayed in Egypt.That is why the film went over budget.

I have to agree with you. Spike did a good job telling the story about the religions.

To Herb4 Peace !
[This message was edited Fri Jul 18 19:21:26 PDT 2003 by muleFunk]

muleFunk said:

25th Hour is a gr8 flick!

muleFunk said:

Precisely. This kind of thing never gets noticed - even by some so called fams. All they want to do is bitch about small insignificant shiot like what NPGMC doesnt give them for their measley $25 or why Prince didnt play do an aftershow in their little cow shit town while on tour.

Proof that Prince, unlike so many that get more audualtion than he, backs what he speaks.