Eric Went to Film School?

Eric went to film school!

Did you watch our One Battle After Another episode? Where the fucked-up state of the world is made even more complicated by the lust of Sean Penn’s Colonel Lockjaw for Teyana Taylor, and where Leo is forced to re-engage with society with his daughter’s life on the line, getting help from Benicio Del Toro and Regina Hall? Well, my brother Eric gave an impassioned speech on the importance of this film not just to this very moment in the world but also to himself, on the way to a perfect 10 Richie Thumbs. And if Eric went to film school, Kiss went to Fed Up University.

What’s crazy to me — and what do I know, I’m just a guy with a newsletter — but Jada ended up giving the movie 8 Richies, and there’s not much of a difference between an 8 and a 9 or even a 10. (When the three of us saw it together in October, Kiss rated it higher than Eric and myself.)

Just taking a step back, sometimes I have to sit back and think: god damn, this show is so good. It’s truly an honor to sit on the couch and just take it in, every episode. Like, everyone’s watching the same thing, seeing different things within it and airing out one another’s blind spots (or educating, if you want a kinder way of putting that). And every once in a while you get to learn if Jadakiss is Italian or whatever. So good.

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Last night, J. Cole gave a taste of his long-awaited retirement album, putting out a preview in the form of an EP fashioned as a DJ Clue mixtape, called Birthday Blizzard ‘26. We were in the studio a couple of weeks ago while Kiss and Sheek listened to Cole’s “Money Power & Respect” flip, to clear the record — and it’s cool to see top-tier rappers impressed by another’s work. For them to be like, “fuck, that’s a hard line, he really did his thing,” in real time — without cameras around, without the artifice of being on like, a radio show and being asked about it afterwards. Just two guys actually listening to and enjoying music. Cool stuff. Anyway, check out the song here. CLUE-MINATTI!!!!!

Also, shouts to our friend Ev Boogie aka UpNorthTrips for unearthing the original DJ Clue reference tape, Birthday Blizzard ‘96:

Want to download the original Clue mixtapes, uploaded in CD quality and separated into individual tracks? Here’s Blizzard ‘96 as well as Desert Storm ‘98. (Links expire 2/4, so get them now!)

For the best book about mixtapes, check Ev Boogie and Stan Ipcus’ work here. Truly a gift for your coffee table or personal library!

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On Monday, I published the first of our 2J3BD Speaks To: feature, where we will be talking to friends, artists, actors and others about their movie-watching habits. The first interview, if you missed it, was with the H-Town legend Bun B! He talks about his love of 1984’s Beat Street and how it allowed a young kid from Texas a glimpse of the hip-hop scene bubbling out of the South Bronx. Bun also has never seen ET, could talk about Talladega Nights forever, strangely loves Raisinets (?!) and had a very controversial take on popcorn.

Moving forward, this feature will be for paid subscribers only. I was going to straight-up reveal some of the people who we’ll be talking to, but maybe it’s more fun to do this:

T - - - M - - - - - -

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(HINT: The first one is with friend of the showcast Tony Moxberg, that’ll be coming on Monday. Upgrade your subscriptions now!)

Monday is Sheek’s pick: This is The End, the 2013 meta-comedy where Seth Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Jonah Hill, Craig Robinson, Aziz Ansari, Kevin Hart, McLuvin, Rihanna and Danny McBride are at that creep James Franco’s house party when the rapture occurs — some of our favorite celebrities die, RIP!!!! It’s very fun! It’s on Netflix for your enjoyment. Sorry there’s no free options, but if you DM your number, I’ll call you and read you the script for an hour and forty minutes while you close your eyes and imagine.

Jada’s after that. Will we get ATL, like his son Jaewon is begging him to do? We’ll see!

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Thanks for reading. Let us know who else you’d want us to talk to, in the comments! And as always, you can find us on YouTube, Spotify, Apple, Instagram, TikTok and right here, for our weekly newsletter. Also, here’s our merch shop!

Feel free to suggest movies for us to review here! People hit us every day for us to review movies, and the only way for them not to be lost is in the Google form, linked right there.

Just got a few write-ins from Yonkers, New Zealand and Ghana. Truly a wild thing to see! We global, baby! (Also, we’ve gotten six from Pontiac, Michigan — are they all different people? One guy wrote in three times, but if it’s all the same guy, then why not keep writing from the same email? Why create these different identities? I’m inclined to think there’s a small but vocal 2J3BD fanbase 25 miles northwest of Detroit — the metropolis from which we have four submissions, all from the same guy, shouts to John.)

Anyway, some recent thoughts people sent in: Jackie Chan movies (yes), National Treasure (hopefully not), Casino (“to see if Jadakiss is really Italian,” hahaha.) Also Marty Supreme, which I passed on instead of our No Country for Old Men episode, but now might do closer to the Oscars. In any case, keep sending them in!