Music (all kinds), books (non-fiction, biographies and history, also philosophical/spiritual subject matter), movies, art, photography, fashion...
Hmmm, most of my heroes are gone now, but I would say Quincy Jones, Barak Obama, Herbie Hancock, Saul Williams, Bill Clinton, Kool Herc, Rick Rubin, Jazzy Jay, can't think of too many others right now...
Here we go, and not necessarily in order of importance; The Beatles, The Clash, Nirvana, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Bob Marley, Steel Pulse, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Eric Clapton, The White Stripes, Steel Pulse, Sly and the Family Stone, James Brown, Parliament/Funkadelic, The Meters, Steely Dan/Donald Fagen, Kool and the Gang, Aretha Franklin, Angela Bofill, Lizz Wright, Billie Holliday, Joni Mitchell, Sade, Phyllis Hyman, Rachelle Ferrell, Sarah Vaughan, Chaka Khan, Minnie Ripperton, Al Green, Earth Wind and Fire, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Charles Mingus, Bill Evans, Michael Franks, Michael Brecker, Herbie Hancock, Jaco Pastorius, Marcus Miller, Gil Scott Heron, The Last Poets, Christian McBride, Stanley Clarke, Wayne Shorter, Thelonious Monk, Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, Prince, Bill Withers, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye, Chicago, ATCQ, BDP, Big Daddy Kane, Public Enemy, MC Lyte, Kool G Rap, Biz Mark, Marley Marl, EPMD, Eric B and Rakim, Ultramagnetic MCs, De La Soul, Christopher Wallace, NaS, RUN DMC, LL Cool J, Pete Rock, The Roots, Common, Wu Tang Clan (group & solo), Redman, Jay Z, Ice Cube, Dr Dre, Snoop, NWA, Beatnuts, Gang Starr, Jeru the Damaja, Brand Nubian, dead prez, The Fugees, Lauryn Hill, Pharoahe Monch, Outkast, J Dilla, Little Brother, Mos Def, Talib Kweli (Black Star), Hi Tek, DMX, The Beastie Boys, Kanye West, Main Source, Digable Planets, Marshall Mathers, CNN, Melle Mel, Chill Rob G., Craig G., Bahamadia, The Pharcyde, DJ J Period, DJ Green Lantern, DJ Vlad, Roc Raida, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Igor Stravinsky, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, JS Bach, Gustav Mahler, Arnold Schoenberg, Aaron Copland, Bela Bartok, George Gershwin, D'Angelo, Dwele, Maxwell, Musiq, Donell Jones, Eric Benet, Meshell N'degeOcello, John Legend, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, India Arie, Floetry, Glen Lewis, Rashaan Patterson, N'Dea Davenport, Donnie, Incognito, Bilal, Brand New Heavies, Terrence Trent D'arby, Van Hunt, Motown/Stax isht, deep disco (esp. off the labels Salsoul, West End, Prelude), Walter Gibbons, Larry Levan, Tee Scott, Ron Hardy, Francois Kevorkian, Shep Pettibone, Ken Collier, Charles Hicks, Frankie Knuckles, the Hot Mix 5, Miguel Migs, ad infinitum...
Some of my faves are; Pulp Fiction, Citizen Kane, Apocalypse Now, The Godfather part I, The Godfather part II, Goodfellas, City of God, The Third Man, Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, Raging Bull, Donnie Brasco, The Bad Lieutenant, Uptown Saturday Night, Claudine, Friday, Friday After Next, Last Tango in Paris, Requiem For a Dream, Way of the Gun, Lenny, Straight Time, Blue Collar, A Soldier's Story, Which Way is Up?, Black Orpheus, Cape Fear, The Days of Wine and Roses, The Deer Hunter, Woody Allen flicks (Manhattan, Hannah and Her Sisters, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Annie Hall), Heat, Scarface, Taxi Driver, Short Cuts, Braveheart, A Bronx Tale, All the President's Men, Once Upon a Time in America, Once Upon a Time in the West, West Side Story, Hamlet (w/Olivier), For a Few Dollars More, Mother Jugs and Speed, Glory, The Color Purple, Carmen Jones, Crash, American History X, Bruce Lee flicks, Akira Kurosawa flicks, blah, blah, blah...
Law and Order, CSI , House, Without a Trace, The Sopranos, The Wire, Lucky Louie, The Closer, The Dog Whisperer, Homicide, Boomtown.
No new ones (although Saul's new joint The Dead Emcee Scrolls looks pretty good), but some of my faves are: The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Soul on Ice, The Fire Next Time, Siddhartha, Monster The Autobiography of an LA Gang Member, The Alchemist, The Urantia Book, Bhagavad Gita, ego trip's Big Book of Racism, A Practical Guide to Prosperous Living, Sex and Race Vol.I, Anything by Frank Miller, 100 Bullets, Watchmen, The Bible, & The Razor's Edge (absolute favorite).
Ah, yet another laundry list; Miles Dewey Davis III, John Coltrane, Charles Christopher Parker Jr., James Marshall Hendrix (Jimi), John Francis Pastoruis III (Jaco), Sylvester Stewart (Sly), Larry Levan, Public Enemy back in the 80s, Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz), Jesus Christ, Buddha, William Shakespeare, Edward Kennedy Ellington, Robert DeNiro, Bruce Lee, Ray Charles, Quincy Jones, Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, Nat Turner, Frederick Douglass, Toussaint L'ouverture, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, Stevie Wonder, Albert Einstein, Stokley Carmichael (Kwame Toure), The Black Panther Party, Jack Johnson, my Aunt Sharon Maurice Williams (1951-2001), my Mother and Grandmother, like dat...For Us, By Us...Funk Upon a Time...Much Fierceness...So righteous, and so moving...Seems like Yesterday...Hmmm...Time to Boss-Up, Brethren!!!TRUTH!!!Too f*ckin' funny!!!So Happy!!!R.I.P.Ponder This..... width="425" height="350" ..