Like sweet morning dew / I took one look at you/ And it was plain to see / You were my destiny / With you I’ll spend my time / I’ll dedicate my life, I’ll sacrifice for you / Dedicate my life for you – Mary J. Blige
The season finale of BET’s TALES, the highly popular anthology series that transforms hip hop classics into visual art, tackled Method Man and Mary J Blige‘s 1995 smash, “All I Need.” Interpolating Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell‘s hit from 27 years prior, “I’ll Be There for You/You’re All I Need to Get By,” the revised version, with Blige belting the choruses and backing vocals, won the duo a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group in 1996, as it was ranked #44 on VH1’s “100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop” list.
Newcomer Kyndall Ferguson plays Nina Nicole, a feisty prostitute and prisoner of her vicious pimp, Taggert (Jim Jones), desperate Nina Nicole steals some cash from Taggert and flees, only to have a fateful run-in- no pun intended- with an unsettled and troubled war veteran Kenny Carter, played by Demetrius Shipp, Jr. from All Eyez on Me fame.
Kyndall Ferguson as Nina Nicole in TALES
Despite stacking odds and dangerous circumstances on a quest for joyful freedom, the pair fall deeply in love over a short span of time, until the menacing Taggert tracks them down, where Nina was taken back into a hopeless captivity. Although their Romeo and Juliet encounter may not have a storybook ending, it is a true love that puts them both on the road to redemption as they await their fate.
Demetrius Shipp Jr. as Kenny in TALES
A bit longer than the previous “TALES” installations, the season finale, which premiered on November 21, needed the extra time for all it’s meaty glory. What I appreciated was notably attention to Kenny’s PTSD, and his relationship with a Vaughn (Sean Baker) a police officer who fights for Kenny post war; receiving deserving benefits and assistance. The ending concludes with a bang- literally, and is a must see for hip hop heads.
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