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On May 13, as Netflix broke ground to redevelop 292 acres in Central New Jersey for a massive $848 million new film and TV production facility with 12 soundstages, Fort Monmouth County commissioner director Thomas Arnone made an offer to co-ceo Ted Sarandos, who was on hand. “We will make this easy for you,” Arnone said.

That may well be the state’s promise to Hollywood producers. Even as California Gov. Gavin Newsom managed to get his legislature to double its cap on incentives from $330 million to $750 million annually, he conceded on July 2 at a press conference that the state had taken its eye off the ball for years. “We put our feet up, we took things for granted,” Newsom said.

The Garden State has been a big beneficiary of infrastructure projects, which once may have defaulted to Burbank, heading far outside of Hollywood’s 30-mile zone. “New Jersey offers the best of both...

Masked federal agents handcuffed and detained yet another Democratic lawmaker on Tuesday, this time in New York City.

Brad Lander, a mayoral candidate and New York City’s current comptroller, was arrested by federal agents, many of them masked, while accompanying another individual out of an immigration hearing at a courtroom in Lower Manhattan. Lander was released hours later.

In video of the arrest that has gone viral, Lander has his arms linked with the man and demands proof that the arresting agents are following the law. “I would like to see the judicial warrant,...

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has sued acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Alina Habba, alleging that his arrest during a May visit to an Ice detention center in his city was politically motivated.

Baraka was arrested on May 9 outside of the Delaney Hall Ice facility in Newark, New Jersey. At the time, Baraka was accompanying a congressional delegation conducting authorized oversight at the facility, but they mayor was denied entry. After Baraka exited the detention center and joined a gaggle of protesters on public property, Ice...

Joy Reid has revealed a new career move after her firing from MSNBC. The Joy Reid Show, a video podcast, will be launched on Monday, June 9, and film from Washington D.C. The podcast will roll out new episodes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday on YouTube and major podcast distributors. However, the plan is to extend to five episodes per week later this year. The Monday and Wednesday episodes will have Reid doing analysis, commentary, and interviews with guests. The first guests include Newark Mayor and 2025 gubernatorial candidate Ras Baraka, comedian and writer Amber Ruffin, and former South African Ambassador to the U.S. Ebrahim Rasool. The Friday episodes will be called “Freestyle Fridays,” where her fans, along with her Substack subscribers, get to send in questions that she will answer. “The Joy Reid Show marks an exciting new chapter in my career. Podcasting has evolved into one of the...

The Trump administration charged Rep. Lamonica McIver (D-n.J.) on Monday following a chaotic confrontation at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in New Jersey earlier this month.

The acting U.S. attorney for New Jersey, Alina Habba, announced on social platform X that she was charging McIver with assaulting, impeding, and interfering with law enforcement. “No one is above the law — politicians or otherwise,” Habba said in a statement. “It is the job of this office to uphold Justice, regardless of who you are. Now we will let the justice system work.

Kid Rock seems to have no problem with Ice conducting raids at his Nashville bar, Kid Rock’s Big Ass Honky Tonk Rock N’ Roll Steakhouse. Over the weekend, according to a story in the Nashville Scene, managers at the location sent home undocumented employees working in their kitchen during an evening rush to avoid raids. Rock is involved with the restaurant — according to a new tweet from Rock himself, largely in name only — while owner Steve Smith leads operations. Rock and Smith overlap in their support of Donald Trump and his immigration policies,...

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem testified before the House of Representatives on Wednesday. The leader of the Trump administration’s deportation push had a lot to answer for.

In a hearing before the House Homeland Security Committee, Democrats grilled Noem about the arrest of Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka; the deportation of citizen children along with their immigrant parents; and the Trump administration’s continued noncompliance with court orders mandating due process for migrants.

In one contentious moment, Noem defended the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man...

The Trump administration is investigating and considering arresting Democratic members of Congress involved in a scrum at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in New Jersey on Friday, according to a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security.

Democratic New Jersey Reps. Lamonica McIver, Bonnie Watson Coleman, and Rob Menendez were there to inspect the Ice facility, as is their legal right. The facility, Delaney Hall, had recently been reopened by a private prison company, Geo Group. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested there on a trespassing charge; he has since been released,...

Gravitas Ventures has acquired U.S. and Canadian distribution rights to William Hart’s Flint, Mich. lead poisoning documentary “Lead and Copper.” The film will be available on digital platforms Nov. 19.

The official logline reads: “A state and city lie to Flint, Michigan’s population about the safety of their water, leading thousands of people to be lead poisoned. The film sets up the dominos that fell, leading to one of America’s worst public health disasters. Through interviews of members of Congress, local officials, environmental and engineering scientists, former Epa employees and the families affected by lead poisoning, ‘Lead and Copper’ explores how Flint is not alone.”

“I am enraged how a governor stripped an American city of its democracy, then lied to the citizens, while poisoning their children,” Hart said. “We made this documentary as a demand for justice.”

Government officials featured in the documentary include Rep. Brenda Lawrence (D-mi), Rep.

Jeezy, Common, Chika, and more discuss the entwined histories of rap and politics in the new trailer for Hip-Hop and the White House, an upcoming documentary premiering April 22 on Hulu.

Directed by Jesse Washington, the film will examine the fascinating, frequently contentious relationship between hip-hop and the presidency. The trailer hits several major beats of this story, starting with the rise of crack cocaine and over-policing during the Reagan era and the responses of artists like N.W.A. and Tupac. “Reagan’s the father of crack cocaine as far as we’re concern,...

Rap and hip-hop music have a long legacy of challenging oppressive powers. In upcoming Hulu documentary “Hip-Hop and The White House,” injustices against music creators of color are re-examined within the historical lens of political movements.

The film is written and directed by Sundance alum Jesse Washington, who has documented hip-hop since the 1980s and has been a senior writer at Andscape since it launched in 2014 as The Undefeated. His film credits include “Bearing Witness: A Portrait Of Darnella Frazier” for ESPN+ and “March On Washington: Keepers Of The Dream” for Nat Geo.

Atlanta rapper Jay “Jeezy” Jenkins narrates and executive produces the documentary alongside Washington. Jeezy’s song “My President” came out ahead of President Barack Obama’s historical 2008 election. Additional onscreen interview subjects include Common, Yg, U.S. Representative Maxine Waters, Krs-One, Roxanne Shante, Bun B, Bakari Kitwana, Farai Chideya, Newark Mayor Ras J. Baraka, Curren$y, Dave “Davey D” Cook,...

"You don't have to be a political hip hop artist to make a political statement." Hulu has revealed the official trailer for a new documentary film titled Hip-Hop and the White House, made by writer / filmmaker Jesse Washington (from Andscape) as his feature directorial debut. This is set for streaming next week on Hulu. Hip-hop's rise from marginalized urban culture to powerful mainstream force is explored alongside its intersections with presidential politics and policies from the 1970s to present day. "We feel this is the perfect time to discuss how hip-hop has influenced presidential politics, and to ask what we can expect from the culture in this upcoming election season," Washington states. Based on material generated & reported by Andscape's team of award-winning journalists, this doc will be the first in a series produced by this team. It's narrated by Atlanta's Jeezy and includes interviews with Common, Yg, U.S. Rep.

Exclusive: Andscape, the Black multimedia platform from Disney and ESPN, on Monday revealed &360, a new documentary anthology intended to explore the influence of Black culture on American society, expanding perspectives, telling previously untold stories, and revealing truths about some of the biggest sports and cultural moments of our time.

Based on material generated and reported by Andscape’s team of award-winning journalists, the series’ first title to launch will be the documentary Hip-Hop and the White House, premiering April 22. All docs in the collection will be available to stream exclusively on Hulu.

“We are energized by the incredible storytellers working today, and we are thrilled to use our platform to spotlight the work of Black creators,” said Jason Aidoo, VP and head of Andscape.

Narrated by Jeezy, the Atlanta rap giant who predicted the future when he released “My President” several months before the election of Barack Obama, Hip-Hop...

The first trailer has been unveiled for Cannes, Emmy and Peabody-winning director Marc Levin’s documentary “It’s Basic,” which will have its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival.

The film examines several pilot programs launched in the U.S. that test the effects of giving everyday people an extra $500 to $1,000 monthly, with no strings attached. It aims to present an unbiased account of the benefits, criticisms, and outcomes of providing unconditional money to people in need, and examines whether Basic Income pilot programs eradicate child poverty and level the racial playing field through community-centric solutions.

The documentary features commentary by Michael Tubbs, the founder of Mayors for Guaranteed Income. At 26, Tubbs became mayor of Stockton, California. Under his stewardship, the city saw a 40% drop in homicides in 2018 and 2019, led the state in the decline of officer-involved shootings in 2019, was named the second most financially healthy city in California and...

The MTV Video Music Awards have announced when and where they will take place in 2023. The network revealed that the show will remain at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, for the second year in a row and for the third time in five years, and that it will air live on September 12.

Paramount President of Music, Music Talent, Programming and Events Bruce Gillmer said in a statement, “We’re thrilled to be returning to the Prudential Center in Newark for this year’s VMAs! Celebrating one of our biggest nights in music with the Garden State’s incredible fans has been our goal since last year’s highly successful event.”

SEEBillboard Hot 100: Every #1 song of 2023

Prudential Center President Jake Reynolds added, “We are incredibly proud to have the Prudential Center once again serve as the home for the 40th Annual MTV Video Music Awards. All eyes of...

MTV announced today that the 2023 Video Music Awards will air live on MTV on September 12 from New Jersey’s Prudential Center. The event will be seen around the world in more than 150 countries reaching a reported 319 million households.

“We’re thrilled to be returning to the Prudential Center in Newark for this year’s VMAs!” said Bruce Gillmer, President of Music, Music Talent, Programming & Events, Paramount and Chief Content Officer, Music, Paramount+. “Celebrating one of our biggest nights in music with the Garden State’s incredible fans has been our goal since last year’s highly successful event.”

Newarks’ mayor Ras J. Baraka also issued a statement.

“Awarding Newark as host city for the 2023 “VMAs” echoes not only our selection by MTV in 2022 and 2019, but also reverberates our city’s historic vibe as a hotbed of musical genius. Starting with America’s first known composer in 1759, through the jazz explosion in the 1920s,...

“30 years,” Busta Rhymes growled to thunderous applause near the end of his set at last night’s New York State of Mind Tour at Newark’s Prudential Center. “Leaders of the New School’s first album came out in 1991. I’ve been brothers with Nas and Wu-Tang for 30 years. Camaraderie for 30 years, brotherhood for 30 years, same code of ethics for 30 years … reppin’ this hip-hop shit for real, for 30 years.”

The hip-hop legends performed for a mixed-age crowd that spanned from young millennials to boomers who likely remember buying Leaders...

Lionsgate will be the key tenant with naming rights to a major new studio project in Newark, New Jersey being built being by Robert Halmi and Fehmi Zeko’s Great Point Studios.

The 125 million+ project on 12 acres follows a collaboration by the partners on recently opened Lionsgate Studios in Yonkers as demand for production space continues to explode. It will be first purpose-built studio in the state specifically constructed for TV and film production and is expected to start operations in late 2004.

“This is a great opportunity to scale our East Coast studio footprint [and] support our robust film and television production,” said Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer. The studio had 14 new TV shows picked up to series last year and 16 series renewed, and made 21 feature films last year, underscoring its need for more space — an issue across the industry.

This studio will rise in Newark’s South Ward at the former...

Backed by executive producers Ms. Lauryn Hill and Oren Moverman, a compelling new documentary takes a look inside Newark’s legendary Baraka family. Why Is We Americans?, which is co-directed by international award-winning director Udi Aloni (Junction 48) and Ayana Morris, will premiere theatrically at IFC Center on January 14 followed by a stop at LA’s Pan African Film Festival next month along with more an expansion, and we’re pleased to exclusively debut the trailer.

The film explores Newark’s struggle against oppression through the personal triumphs and tragedies of the Baraka family––from Amiri’s civil rights leadership and ultimate artistic marginalization, to the horrific murder of his sister, Kimako, through the homicide of daughter Shani (one of the first openly gay Black activists) to the historic election of Ras Baraka as mayor of Newark, NJ. And through it all, it is the matriarch, Amina Baraka, who emerges as...