PARADISE LOST'S HAZY SHADE OF SLUMBER: EXAMINING BLACK MUSIC AND DRUG CULTURE BY SHELDON TAYLOR
“What did Marvin say? The boy that made slaves out of men?” A pivotal scene in Harlem crime thriller New Jack City (1991) finds reformed crack addict Benny “Pookie” Robinson in surveillance mode alongside a cadre of cops bent on taking down drug-dealing villain Nino Brown. Pookie's acid dismissal is sharp as a knife's jagged edge. Sharp as his clear-eyed focus regained after a rehab stint. Still, his words hold no weight: to the cops, they're nothing but an addict's racial rock toss at a glass (crack) house. Pookie's words meant so much more. M inted in demonic duality, they were two sides of a chaotic coin: clear as day. D ark as night: The boy that made slaves out of men…… Cribbed by screenwriter Barry Michael Cooper from a track off Marvin Gaye's 1971 magnum opus "What's Going On," the song's title--- "Flyin' High (On The Friendly Skies)" plays on a United Airlines commercial tagline. "What's Going On" lives...