Friday 2 April 2010

RiP Undercover Black Man aka David Mills.

David Mills, an Emmy Award-winning writer and producer for crime dramas like “The Wire” on HBO and “Homicide: Life on the Streets” on NBC died on Tuesday in New Orleans, a press representative for HBO said. The New Orleans Times-Picayune reported that Mr. Mills died from a brain aneurysm. HBO is about to broadcast the debut of a new series, “Treme,” on which Mr. Mills worked as a writer and producer.
After Mr. Mills made his television writing debut with “Homicide,” which his friend, David Simon, helped to create, he wrote for “NYPD Blue” and “ER.” He was also a co-writer and co-producer on “The Corner,” adapted from Mr. Simon’s book about drug abuse and poverty in Baltimore, which won three Emmys. Mr. Mills also created the NBC series “Kingpin,” about a Mexican drug cartel, which was shown in 2003.

HBO said Wednesday in a statement:
"HBO is deeply saddened by the sudden loss of our dear friend and colleague David Mills. He was a gracious and humble man, and will be sorely missed by those who knew and loved him, as well as those who were aware of his immense talent. David has left us too soon but his brilliant work will live on."

Mr. Mills also chronicled his passion for music at his blog, Undercover Black Man. Before writing for television, he worked as a journalist and gained national attention for a 1992 interview with the hip-hop performer Sister Souljah in The Washington Post, in which she said, “If black people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?” When the Rainbow Coalition later invited Sister Souljah to speak at its convention, the group was criticized by Gov. Bill Clinton, then a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination, who cited Mr. Mills’s interview.
                                                         story from Washington Post by Dave Itzkoff

                                                          fisttap Mahndisa for breaking the news.
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I knew UBM from DV.net and sometimes he was one of the most controversial, but def-o one of the smartest and wittiest cats I ever met at the spot. I'm not one for digital battles of wit so even though we disagreed on several things, our conversating never turned as bloody as with some of the fam, and for all the craaazy times with the fam, who knew one would pass onto the next life. JAH Rest His Soul. 
                            

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Heard he was abt 49. Man was young! That's the same thing that cut short Bro Iskander's life.

RIP & peace to his family & friends.

BTW the picture at the bottom looks better blown up.

ST

Anonymous said...

Ay when did you have that picture taken? With the fro, v.nice.
ST

KonWomyn said...

Wsuuup blud!

Yea UBM was pretty young! None of us is ever promised tomorrow. At least you can say he achieved alot with his life, like Bra Langa - that still hurts y'know.

Nah cuz, that ain't me in the pic, some model DV chose as my avatar.

uglyblackjohn said...

The thing about DeeVee's spot is that it has some of the smartest brotha's on the Internet as guests.
UBM once said that DeeVee "Run's a hot funckin' club" after a particularly heated debate.
Most of those who get into the ring at DeeVee are not the hudred-widget having bloggers who think that having trite conversations with unknown people counts as having friends.
That spot (and Mills' participation on it) is the height of intellectual disagreement.
I'm still in shock.

KonWomyn said...

UBJ
Yea, I remember when Mills made that remark. Like DV's Pops & Intellectual Insurgent say, 'arguing is the opposite of f-' so DV.net really is 'a hot f- club'.

UBM brought sumthin diff, watching CNu v UBM, MikeFish v UBM or DV v UBM or any of them against each other is like a clash of the giants. There's nothin' quite like it on the interwebs and despite how successful or how smart some of these people are in their personal lives, they still get down and battle it out with any contender.

DV.net's a neccessary rite of passage for any mind seeking a way outta Babylon.

Submariner said...

Just found a window over here to replace the door that was closed forever when Mills passed. Didn't know you had a blog and such an interesting one too!

Saw Wizard of the Crow listed as one of your favorites in your profile. It's on my reading list for this summer. Did you ever see Lumumba by Raoul Peck?

KonWomyn said...

Brotha Suuub!!!
Thanks for checkin' out my spot! And much thanks for the props. iDon't think I can quite match up to Mills' level of generosity, no free downloads here ; )

Yea you shld def read Wizard of the Crow - it was my book of '07, I met Ngugi when he came on his book tour. He's such a wise man, you could sit and listen to him go on n on. Like one o'those wise uncles you only interject with uh-huh.

If your list isn't too long I'd also recommend Harare North by Brian Chikwava and We Won't Budge by Manthia Diawarra - I could go on n on, African Lit is my forte.

Yea I watched Lumumba, it was a masterpiece on how an African visionary was a pawn in The Cold War. Same people who killed Lumumba, put Mobuto, same people who put in Mobuto let him get taken out by Laurent Kabila then killed him and now Kabila Jnr plays nice with Washington, till the Congo's as a 'humanitarian problem' 'an African problem' becomes a 'political problem' for the U.S.