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33-486: It was founded by Mel Cheren and Ed Kushins in 1976 and the label went on to define the sound of New York City in the heyday of disco. That sound eventually filtered to dance floors and clubs across the country and around the world. West End released disco hits like Taana Gardner 's "Heartbeat"(1979), Karen Young's "Hot Shot," Loose Joints' "Is It All Over My Face," Barbara Mason's "Another Man," and The NYC Peech Boys' "Don't Make Me Wait”. These titles, along with many others in

66-553: A Diva compilation. Gardner has also lent her skills to several acts, including Kool & the Gang , Peabo Bryson , Edwin Starr , and Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes . New Jack City New Jack City is a 1991 American crime action film directed by Mario Van Peebles (in his feature film directorial debut) and written by Thomas Lee Wright and Barry Michael Cooper , based on

99-600: A costly mistake. After Pookie's funeral, Appleton and Peretti, no longer needed by Stone, go undercover as drug dealers. After bribing Frankie, Appleton infiltrates the CMB, partly due to Gee Money's increasing ambition and drug use. Though Nino distrusts them, he agrees to do business. After relating an anecdote about his own violent initiation into a gang in 1974, Nino warns that he will kill both Appleton and Gee Money if any problems occur. Appleton gains Nino's trust when he reveals information about Gee Money's side deal and saves him from

132-533: A gun-toting "Old Man" who had earlier appealed to police for help against Nino. While Nino, Appleton, and the CMB attend a wedding, Peretti sneaks into Nino's mansion to collect evidence. Don Armeteo, Frankie's boss, sends mobsters to kill Nino, and a massive shootout erupts. When Nino uses a child as a shield, Appleton attempts to shoot Nino in the back; Keisha is killed. Later, Nino throws Selina out when she condemns his nature, before killing Don Armeteo and his crew single-handedly. Stone, Appleton and Peretti arrange

165-714: A series of albums titled Tha Carter after The Carter Complex, and Lil Wayne and Tyga have referred to themselves as Young Nino. In 2019, Deadline announced that Warner Bros are rebooting the film with Malcolm Mays writing. In September 2022, film producer Je'Caryous Johnson announced the launching of the stage production adaptation of New Jack City: Live on Stage after his successful adaptation of another film, Set It Off: Live on Stage . The stage play stars Allen Payne , who reprises his role as "Gee Money", Treach as Nino Brown, Flex Alexander as "Pookie", Big Daddy Kane as Stone and Gary Dourdan as Scotty. The stage production's first preview ran October 29–30, 2022 at

198-521: A sting operation to nab Nino. Kareem, aware of Appleton and Pookie's connection, exposes the former, and a shootout ensues. Peretti saves Appleton by killing the Duh Duh Duh Man, and Nino escapes. That night, Nino confronts and regretfully kills Gee Money. After the gang's collapse, Nino holes up in an apartment and continues his criminal empire solo. Appleton, Peretti, and the police assault the complex, where Appleton brutally beats Nino, revealing that it

231-563: A story by Wright. The film stars Wesley Snipes , Ice-T , Allen Payne , Chris Rock , Judd Nelson , Bill Cobbs , Bill Nunn , and Van Peebles. Its plot follows Nino Brown, a drug lord in New York City during the crack epidemic , and Scotty Appleton, an NYPD detective who vows to end Nino's rise to power by going undercover to work for Nino's gang. New Jack City premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 17, 1991, and

264-406: A story editor at The Walt Disney Company and Columbia Pictures before moving to creative executive at Paramount Pictures . According to Carl Hart , who corresponded with Wright following Hart's criticism of New Jack City , the screenplay was originally written as The Godfather: Part III , and featured a protagonist who sold heroin rather than cocaine. Wright wrote a treatment for Paramount on

297-660: Is a 2006 feature-length documentary based on Mel Cheren's autobiography, My Life and the Paradise Garage: Keep On Dancin directed by Gene Graham and produced by Determined Pictures. Taana Gardner Taana Gardner (born September 3, 1960) is an American disco and post-disco singer who found her success through West End Records since 1979. She is also a former member of the Aural Exciters. Born in Newark, New Jersey (where she currently resides), Taana

330-530: Is found in such films as "The Cookout" (Lions Gate Films, 2004), "Honey" (Universal Pictures, 2003), "Loving Jezebel" (Shooting Gallery, 1999), "Reversal of Fortune" (Warner Bros, 1990) and much more. West End's music has also been featured on such television programs as "The Ellen DeGeneres Show", "Queer Eye for the Straight Girl", and "Showtime at the Apollo". The label released such hits as The Godfather of Disco

363-662: Is the granddaughter of a professional opera singer. Her musical career began at the age of eleven when she became active in theater and joined the Harlem Children's Theater Group . Her theater debut was at Lincoln Center as the high priestess in the "Land of the Egyptian," a musical which she also co-wrote. Taana went on to perform with the Dance Theater of Harlem and the National Black Theater . Vocalist Taana Gardner

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396-596: The Apollo . Despite having an accomplished background at an early age, it was something of a fluke that she became involved with the disco scene. Producer and songwriter Kenton Nix had a song, "Work That Body," that needed vocals. An early instrumental version of the track had been auditioned and approved by the Paradise Garage DJ Larry Levan , and Levan immediately introduced Nix to West End (and part Paradise Garage) owner Mel Cheren . Cheren set Nix up, but

429-616: The Gas South Theater in Atlanta , Georgia and then opened a nationwide tour from November 2022 and extended until the summer of 2023. The play returned back by popular demand in January 2024 running in Houston , Texas with a final announced date set for Memphis, Tennessee June 2024. Omar Gooding was cast as Stone, while the latter three actors reprises their role from the tour. The stage play

462-565: The 20th anniversary of the 1967 riots in Detroit , and in its wake, the rise of crack cocaine gangs in the late 1980s, such as Young Boys Inc. , and the Chambers Brothers . The original story received notice from Quincy Jones , who sought a meeting with Cooper. He was then tasked with re-writes on a screenplay that had been done about the life of Nicky Barnes. Filming occurred in New York City between April 16 and June 6, 1990. New Jack City

495-517: The Carter apartment complex into a crack house . Gee Money and Keisha kill rival Fat Smitty, and the CMB forces out the tenants and landlord. Meanwhile, Scotty Appleton, an undercover police detective working with the NYPD , attempts to make a deal with stick-up kid Pookie, who absconds with the money. Appleton chases and shoots Pookie in the leg, but released on bail. As the years pass, Nino's gang successfully run

528-641: The United States on August 23, 2005, and Region 2 in the United Kingdom on January 23, 2006. Special Edition DVD features: The film was released on Blu-ray in the United States by Warner Home Video on August 14, 2012. Cooper suggested Teddy Riley name his new genre new jack swing , after the movie. The New Orleans –based hip hop record label Cash Money Records is named after the Cash Money Brothers gang. Cash Money Records rapper Lil Wayne has

561-598: The West End Records catalog, went on to become some of the most sampled songs in music history. Label released Bombers and DJ Nori also. In 1992, a UK music production and remix team called West End produced numerous UK #1 Club Chart hits influenced by the style of the West End Records label and associated Garage sound . Samples of West End Records' titles appear in productions of million selling artists: Treacherous Three, De La Soul, Jennifer Lopez, Notorious B.I.G, Ja Rule, Ini Kamoze, DMX and many others. West End's music

594-500: The YES label. She released a song produced by Guy Vaughn and Shedrick Guy of FlyGuy Production, co-produced by her around the same time for Next Plateau ("You Can't Keep Coming In and Out of My Life"), and a cover of LaBelle 's "What Can I Do for You?" appeared on Elegal in 1992. In 1998, she teamed up again with Nix and West End for "I'm Comin'." Four years later, West End issued the Anthology of

627-409: The chest, causing Nino to fall over a balcony to his death. Appleton and Peretti leave satisfied as onlookers look down at Nino's dead body. In the closing moments, an epilogue states that the crack epidemic is still ongoing and decisive action must be taken to stop real-life Nino Brown analogs. The film is based upon an original story and screenplay written by Thomas Lee Wright , who had worked as

660-504: The film has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". American Film Institute Lists The film was released on DVD in Region 1 in the United States on August 25, 1998, and Region 2 in the United Kingdom on July 26, 1999, distributed by Warner Home Video . The film was re-released on DVD as a Two-Disc Special Edition in Region 1 in

693-401: The highest-grossing independent film of 1991, grossing a total of $ 47,624,253 domestically. The film holds an 81% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 36 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7 out of 10. The site's consensus states: "Stylishly directed by Mario Van Peebles, New Jack City offsets its melodramatic streak with electrifying action and a cavalcade of effective performances." On Metacritic

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726-666: The idea, which they liked enough to have him try to do a first draft. Wright based his script to interviews he had with people from Little Italy in New York along with the story of Nicky Barnes , the black kingpin that had modeled his criminal organization in Harlem after the Mafia. Wright later wrote, directed and produced Eight Tray Gangster: The Making of a Crip, a documentary of gang life in South Central Los Angeles. The screenplay

759-582: The lifestyle and money of the drug dealers looks like fun, at least until they're killed. This movie pulls off that tricky achievement. Nino, who looks at the dead body of Scarface and laughs, does not get the last laugh. Time Out London described the film as "a superior example of what used to be called blaxploitation ." The film initially premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 17, 1991, before being released nationally on March 8, 1991. The film, produced with an estimated $ 8,000,000 budget, grossed $ 7,039,622 during its opening weekend. It became

792-551: The massive "Heartbeat" (the basis of " Lyrics 2 the Rhythm ," the song from the " New Jack City " soundtrack by The Essence , Ini Kamoze 's ubiquitous 1995 summer hit " Here Comes the Hotstepper ," and De La Soul 's 1989 hit " B.U.D.D.Y. Remix ") and "No Frills" both followed in 1981. Gardner took a step back from the limelight for several years to devote time to her children. 1985 saw the release of another Nix production, "Over You," for

825-489: The poor, Appleton spots Pookie, now a crack addict, and soon gets him into rehab. Later, Pookie offers to help bring down Nino. Against his better judgment and the disapproval of Stone and Peretti, Appleton recruits Pookie as an informant. When Pookie relapses, Gee Money realizes that he is wired and orders the Carter destroyed. The cops find Pookie's booby-trapped corpse; Peretti defuses the explosives seconds before it explodes. Nino angrily warns Gee Money against repeating such

858-554: The record they were working on. (This record actually turned out to be Spooks in Space by the Aural Exciters, released on Ze.) "Work That Body," remixed by Levan, was an instant hit at the Paradise Garage, sparking a succession of West End classics helmed by Nix, sung by Gardner, and tweaked for maximum dance floor effect by Levan. "We Can Work It Out," "When You Touch Me," "Just Be a Friend," and "Paradise Express" came later in 1979, and

891-469: The singer who was slated to record the vocals fell ill on the day they were supposed to be laid down. Nix's brother, who worked for Gardner's father, called up the Gardner household that day— Thanksgiving Day, 1978—and invited Taana down. Taana accepted, recorded her vocals, and also gained another gig that same day when members of Dr. Buzzard's Original Savannah Band overheard her voice and asked her to sing on

924-506: The streets of Harlem with absolute power. When Stone, the leader of the CMB police operation, comes under pressure from NYPD Commissioner Fred R. Price, Appleton, currently on suspension for shooting Pookie, volunteers to infiltrate Nino's gang and is partnered with loose-cannon Nick Peretti. Elsewhere, mobster and tax collector Frankie Needles attempts to get protection money from Nino, who refuses to pay. While Appleton and Peretti observe Nino and his gang handing out Thanksgiving turkeys to

957-543: Was co-written by Barry Michael Cooper , a former investigative reporter with the Village Voice who would later write the screenplays for the 1994 dramatic films Above the Rim and Sugar Hill , the latter of which also starred Snipes. Cooper's rewrite was adapted from his December 1987 Village Voice cover story entitled "Kids Killing Kids: New Jack City Eats Its Young," about the drug war in Detroit. The account referred to

990-480: Was favorably received by film critics for its cast, storyline, and soundtrack. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three and a half stars out of four, writing: Truffaut once said it was impossible to make an anti-war movie, because the war sequences would inevitably be exciting and get the audience involved on one side or the other. It is almost as difficult to make an anti-drug movie, since

1023-471: Was his mother whom Nino killed in his gang initiation. Peretti dissuades Appleton from killing Nino, who is taken into custody. At his trial, Nino pleads guilty to a lesser charge, claims to have been forced to help the gang due to threats, and identifies Kareem as the leader. He is sentenced to only a year in jail. As Nino speaks with reporters outside the courtroom, the Old Man confronts and fatally shoots him in

West End Records - Misplaced Pages Continue

1056-466: Was one of the leading lights of West End Records, a New York City label that released influential disco during the late 1970s and early ‘80s. At a young age, Gardner knew that she wanted to act and sing. Her grandmother, a former opera singer, began giving her vocal lessons at the age of five. Before she hit her teens, she was already a playwright; her work was featured at the Lincoln Center and also at

1089-518: Was released in the United States by Warner Bros. Pictures on March 8, 1991. In the New York City neighborhood of Harlem , Nino Brown and his gang, the Cash Money Brothers (CMB), become the dominant drug ring once crack cocaine is introduced to the streets. His gang consists of Gerald "Gee Money" Wells, his best friend since childhood; enforcer and personal bodyguard Duh Duh Duh Man; gun moll Keisha; Nino's girlfriend, Selina Thomas; and her tech-savvy cousin, ex-bank teller Kareem Akbar. Nino converts

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