Emmy Award winning Producer P. Frank Williams preps for the airing of his hit BET Show American Gangster.
Los Angeles, CA – October 30, 2008 – After co-producing and writing the recent BET Hip- Hop Awards, acclaimed producer P. Frank Williams celebrates the airing of his latest American Gangster episode that explores the life of gang member turned author Sanyika "Monster Kody" Shakur. The show airs on Oct. 30th on BET at 10 p.m.
"Back when I was a reporter at the LA Times in the mid 90's I was mesmerized and shocked after reading Sanyika Shakur, nee Monster Kody's autobiography about his life as a gang member in South Central Los Angeles," says Williams. "So after I started producing BET's hit show American Gangster, he was at the top of my list of subjects. And as a California native, I thought it even more important for me to tell this complicated story of how gangs in South Central could produce this beautifully tragic man, especially because gang violence had become worse in LA the last few years."
Williams says he had conflicted feelings after producing the show. "Even as he spoke to youth about avoiding the streets and made a huge transformation from gangster to Black freedom fighter, Monster remains in jail until this day and couldn't avoid drugs and the lure of kicking it with his gang and staying involved in street life. But I remain hopeful that one day soon he will get out and fly right."
This is the second episode of American Gangster produced by Williams, a former Los Angeles Times reporter and former Executive Editor of The Source Magazine. He also produced the highly rated episode on Oakland's Felix Mitchell in season two and will produce another episode of American Gangster later this year about freedom fighter turned bank robber Mutulu Shakur, who is also Tupac Shakur's step father. Williams also recently executive produced a music Mixtape based on the series. The album features Lil' Wayne, Scarface, Akon, Rampage, Mopreme Shakur, Beanie Siegel and many more.
Never one to be boxed in, Williams also won a 2008 NAACP Image Award for co-producing the BET show Celebration Of Gospel. Over the past 10 years, he has worked in newspapers, magazines, TV and even wrote and co-produced the big budget video game 25 To Life.
He previously worked as a development consultant and producer for VH1's prestigious Launch Pad where he pitched, created and put legs on shows in development. His TV writing/producing credits include the 2008 BET Honors on BET, 2008 BET Awards on BET, 2008 NAACP Image Awards on FOX, 2005 Hip Hop Honors on VH1, 2004 VIBE Awards on UPN and numerous other shows. He also served on NBC's Emmy winning writing team for the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. Williams was a writer for Pat O' Brien's late night show.
At The Source magazine Williams interviewed the likes of Tupac Shakur, Ice Cube and Lauryn Hill. He conducted an infamous jailhouse interview with controversial record executive Suge Knight.
The laidback Gemini is also the founder of Prophet From It Entertainment, a production company based in downtown Los Angeles and Toronto. The four-year-old company produces TV, music and film projects for shows like the Grammy's, BET Awards, NAACP Image Awards on FOX and also video games.
Showing posts with label Mutulu Shakur. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mutulu Shakur. Show all posts
Saturday, November 8, 2008
P. Frank Williams preps for the airing of his hit BET Show American Gangster.
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Labels: American Gangster, Hip Hop Honors, Mutulu Shakur, Sanyika Shakur, Tupac Shakur
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