The moniker “renaissance man” is perhaps overused, but I really can’t think of another way to describe journalist/author/producer/director/man about many towns Nelson George. That’s a lot of slashes for one East New York raised dude, but the fact that he does each with perfection is enough to make a roomful of posers pissed on sight.
As New York as a George Gershwin song played by Bobby Short, as Harlem as a Chester Himes novel directed by Woody Allen, as Brooklyn as a Biggie Smalls track produced by Danger Mouse, as international as a black Bond, the brother is everywhere. Still, no matter how busy the man is, there has never been a time when he couldn’t spare a few moments to give yours dearly a little insight on whatever old R&B legend I might be writing about at the time.
Damn, even in the midst of promoting his 2007 HBO film Life Support (which he wrote and directed), the brother still found time to school me on the DeBarge family drama for my then upcoming Vibe feature “Broken Dreams,” which will be reprinted next year in the Best African-American Essays 2009 edited by Debra J. Dickerson and Gerald Early. From a man who has jiggy folks like Jamie Fox, Chris Rock and Queen Latifah on his speed dial, color this “colored” (lets thank Lindsay Lohan for bringing the word back) brother impressed.
Of course, being a fan of his ’80s writings in Billboard and the Village Voice (where George penned more than a few superb essays for his Native Son column) I’ve known Nelson George longer than he’s known me. Being the geeky nerd boy that I am, a brother still remembers our first meeting one warm summer day in 1988.
Standing in the train station at 145th Street and Broadway, there was funny drunk who was talking much junk out loud. Looking like the Ned the Wino from Good Times, dude was ranting about who knows what. Yet, while everybody else was moving away from him, I noticed Nelson George watching this “performance” as though it were a one-man show Off-Broadway. “There’s nothing as entertaining as an old school drunk,” Nelson said, when he noticed me.
Like the great Richard Pryor, whose ghetto observations was a major influence for many urban writers, Nelson clearly understood that raw material for future writings could be found wherever one might be.
Since then Nelson has written many non-fiction books (on topics ranging from Motown to basketball, hiphop to black films), novels short stories and magazine articles; in addition he also helped fund Spike’s first joint She’s Got to Have It (released two years before I met him), wrote and produced Strictly BusinessCB4 and and, currently, is the man behind VH1 Hip-Hop Honors and BET’s popular American Gangster. As if that wasn’t enough, he has also started shooting a series of short films, the first being A Barber’s Tale.
Next year, I’m looking forward to reading his upcoming autobiography City Kid: A Writer’s Memoir of Ghetto Life and Post-Soul Success. How he does so much I’ll never know, but in my next life, I want to be Nelson George. [Ed note: Me too!]
TO VIEW A BARBER’S TALE, GO TO: http://starworksny.com/blog/2008/11/07/barbers-tale
[Ed note, part 2: Check out Nelson's awesome new show, which he hosts, on VH1 Soul, "Soul Cities." So far, they've profiled Chicago, Philly, San Fran and New Orleans. Next up: Los Angeles! Check out more here.]
This originally appeared on Michael Gonzales’ blog.