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Name: MelodyCool

Comment: This is their second pimp movie that I know of and you'd think they could come up with something more uplifting than this trash. I'm not sure how they self-identify since they are biracial but know they have no problem depicting Blacks in the worst light possible. I'm glad Oakland is taking a stand!

Name: FiveMore

Comment: Uhmmm.....the Hughes brothers are getting on my last nerves with this overrated/overexposed pimp mess!Can we open our minds and grow a little 09 because everyone knows about the trials and tribulations of pimps in America!Pimps are the scum of the freakin' earth!smdh

Name: khufu

Comment: 1) they make them because theydraw large box office 2) these are the types of stories that find the financing...primarily from yt's...Black folks dont invest in films...when they start doing it, MAYBE we will see the kinds of movies where pimps will be getting there azzez kicked out the neighborhoood instead of deified and glorified.....

Name: NYCsoul

Comment: Wasn't this already done with blaxploitation movies such as 'The Mack' and 'Superfly'??? The Hughes brothers remind me alot of the Wayans family. Creating movies for the sheer buffoonery of it. Khufu, cosigning your post.

Name: McNasty

Comment: Too late! Oakland's been on the negative news map for quite a while! Although in light of the recent violence and their propensity towards tearing up their own I think the brothers should watch their backs cause those folks had no problem settin' fires!

Name: Luke_Cage

Comment: "The City of Oakland feels the show may take advantage of the negative reputation already associated with the Bay Area and create an environment that will lead to the further exploitation of women. That image would stand in exact opposition of Mayor Ron Dellums' plan to create a "model city." Right, right... so um, how is that unjustifiable shooting of a young black male over the weekend working out for your city now Mr. Mayor?

Name: DOne

Comment: I agree with everyone else. I rank pimps right up there with rapist and child molestors. I've never understood the desire to glorify them

Name: AquaBoogie

Comment: I don't have a problem with 'glorifying' pimps in movies (hell, white folks glorify gangsters and vigilantes all the time) but this lifestyle has been overdone in the movies. Couldn't the brothers do a movie on more positive portrayals like Matthew Henson, George Washington Carver or Paul Robeson?

Name: Mas90

Comment: I don't have a problem with the pimp movies cause it never was or will be me. Oakland has a bad reputation because of it's city councila nd citizens. If you don't take care of your people, they won't take care of you. Oakland needs to invest in jobs and not run-downed public housing.

Name: MzTee

Comment: What the Hughes brothers are saying is true...Oakland is a town that has a history of pimping -- plain and simple. I grew up in the Bay Area and in the 70s, the MacArthur stroll was filled with pimps and hoes. And, if The Hughes brothers' plan is to make a series as compelling as The Wire that used drugs as a catalyst but also showed the entire spectrum of life within an inner city -- I'll reserve judgement on the show's concept until I see it. Because no one can tell me that The Wire glorified selling drugs. The show was too complex and showed the consequences of engaging in that lifestyle and was one of the few shows that showed black folks as three dimensional beings versus caricatures. I think folks are rushing to prejudgement based on the fact that pimps are a part of the storyline.

Name: Dean32

Comment: Oakland is no angel city. As long as they show the true side which includes white man, there involvement in the pimp industrial and a none glorified message to these little hard head black kids that you are better than that, why not!

Name: Oaktown420

Comment: Luke - right on for the note on the shooting which led to a huge riot last night. After witnessing that I just don't know Mayor Dellums thinks he can do for his city cuz it was so bad there's probably no chance of his wishes to come true of him getting an offer of position from Obama. PU-LEEEEEEEZE!!!

Name: Calidee

Comment: I could be wrong, but I don't think the Hughes brothers have the skills to create a film that's in the same league as "The Wire" Oakland like every major city, has its warts. But it should not be totally defined by its negativity.

Name: FineBrown

Comment: I don't believe that is the reason. Ridley Scott did an outstanding job directing and producing "American Gangster", which told the story of Frank Lucas selling drugs in Harlem. The tourists still flock to NYC and no one really mentions the fact that 75% of the police force were on Frank's payroll in the 70's. Oakland is a beautiful place, so there should be light shed on history. This is an important time in history, whereas there are gifted producers who can develop stories that need to be told. Drugs, "pimpin" they have a dark side, but it was also the side left over when people of color decided they didn't want to live off minimum wage while the rich got richer. Dangerous and illegal, often it may have been a better way of life, for some, than being on welfare. If there is equal opportunity with a level playing field, a lot of illicit activity would not exist. The rich have beat each other out of riches; and the poor get get tired of minimum wage jobs, which says intelligent people, refuse to live in poverty, by "any means necessary". The question "Oakland" should consider, what was done to prevent a "negative" lifestyle, rather than try to shut down a production company willing to provide a historical account of that period. This week, " a courageous" reporter from the NY Post is discussing Kennedy/Oswald/Ruby/Dr. King contracts that went out over 40 years ago. We are being "spoon fed" history by the powers that be because "knowledge is power".

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