Chicago’s drill scene — and the city’s ongoing issues with violence — are one of the talking points in an episode this week of the FX six-part docuseries “Hip Hop Uncovered.”
The Friday night series, which premiered earlier this month, provides context behind hip-hop’s major storylines through the eyes of the genre’s lesser-known movers and shakers — Eugene “Big U” Henley, Haitian Jack, and Debra “Deb” Antney, among others — with the overarching theme of how street life continues to have an influence on hip-hop.
Malcolm Spellman, who produced the Chicago-shot Fox series “Empire” for three seasons, is a member of the series’ executive production team who is also interviewed on the show.
Drill is a subgenre of Chicago hip-hop known for dark and violent lyrics. The music has been tied to threats and even murders that played out on social media.
MUSKEGON, MI – For LaKisha Harris, no one makes food like people in Muskegon.
The growing soul food scene in Muskegon, home to the turkey knuckle, is a key part of that culinary landscape.
In the past five years, Muskegon’s soul food scene has grown with the launch of five restaurants or caterers starting to serve the traditionally southern cuisine that has deep roots in the Black community.
Harris opened Soul Filled Eatery last year, and she joins Corine’s Cakes & Catering, Lott & Big Weezy’s, The Hideout and Kuntry Cookin’. She believes the burgeoning soul food scene is a sign that persistent segregation in Muskegon is changing through food.
“We’re evolving as a community,” said Harris. “And proof of that evolution is the startup of all these soul food restaurants.”
Home of the turkey knuckle
Soul food generally has the same staples: Fried catfish, ribs, cornbread, collard greens and black-eyed peas. In Muskegon, the turkey knuckle also is a featured staple.
“I always tell people you can only find turkeys with knuckles in Muskegon,” Harris said.
The turkey knuckle is the tender meat around the turkey’s knee joint. It’s typically broiled or broasted and topped with sauce or gravy.
The turkey knuckle is emblematic of soul food; it’s a repurposed item that would normally be overlooked.
“Because of slavery, we were taught to make the best out of scraps,” Harris said. “Soul food is taking those basic items that you would think have no use and no purpose and bringing life to those.”
Soul food can trace its origins back to generations of enslaved Africans in the southern United States. The cuisine made its way to Muskegon during the Great Migration when millions of Black Americans settled in northern cities during the first half of the 20th century.
“They brought all those Southern roots to Muskegon,” Harris said.
Owned by Pearl Jefferson Dean, it became This Is It, 2723 Peck St. in 1989, and is now one of the longest running soul food restaurants in Muskegon Heights. The restaurant paused operations when COVID-19 hit, but Dean’s daughter Bobbie Cheeks plans to open it again in coming months.
This Is It, 2723 Peck St., is one of the longest running soul food restaurants in Muskegon Heights. Pearl Jefferson Dean opened in 1989 after she'd been running Pearl's Chicken Palace since the late 1960s. (Photo by Rose White | MLive)
Phyllis Loudermill, a local entrepreneur who owns Lott & Big Weezy’s, Lott on the Lakeshore and a hotel, said Muskegon soul food restaurants like This Is It were prevalent in neighborhoods.
“If you look at most soul food restaurants, they survived based on their community involvement,” she said.
The new slate of restaurants operating are now largely run by chefs who are classically trained, according to Harris, and each venue has its own take on dishes. Soul Filled Eatery takes inspiration from cultures around the world, whereas Lott & Big Weezy’s specializes in rib tips and seafood boils.
While each restaurant has different macaroni and cheese recipes, there’s one consistent trait: “Soul food is comfort food,” Loudermill said.
A ‘new generation’ of soul food restaurants
Growing up in North Muskegon, Harris said she always felt like there was a “great divide.” According to the most recent national census data from 2010, segregation remains in Muskegon neighborhoods.
Loudermill says there is a “gap in participation” based on where restaurants are located.
“In order for us to have an integrated customer base, we need to have integrated communities,” she said.
Most of the soul food restaurants are based in Muskegon Heights, which is predominantly Black, but Loudermill says a “new generation” of entrepreneurs are working to blend the community.
Corine’s Cakes & Catering is based at The Lakes Mall, and Kuntry Cookin’ is planning to launch a food truck this summer. Soul Filled Eatery currently offers takeout at 3232 Glade St., and Harris wants to bring the soul food experience to other lakeshore towns like Whitehall, Montague and Grand Haven.
Soul Filled Eatery is also partnering with local businesses to bridge the gap between communities, including collaborations with Hamburger Mikey and Hey Sugar Cotton Candy.
“It’s food for the soul, and everyone has a soul,” Harris said.
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WandaVision episode 8, “Previously On,” delves into all the backstory that fans of the series have been waiting for. Not only do viewers learn how Wanda wound up in Westview and brought Vision back into the picture after the events of Endgame, we also get a glimpse of her childhood in Sokovia and further back to a time when Agatha Harkness first harnessed her true powers.
No spoilers (we’ll get to that), but the one thing anyone should know before watching “Previously On” is that the eighth episode drops a crucial post-credits scene after the first round of credits. If you haven’t seen the episode yet, that’s all you need to know for now.
The moment has big implications for next week’s finale — and, in a sneaky way, makes good on a tease that Vision actor Paul Bettany’s been dangling in front of viewers for weeks.
[Ed. note: This piece contains spoilers for WandaVision episode 8.]
Image: Marvel Studios
“Previously On” is a true info-dump / tee-up to what should be a classic Marvel finale action setpiece. First, we see Agatha back in colonial days in what looks like a stake burning during the Salem witch trials, but is actually just a bunch of witches zapping her to death for dabbling in dark magic! The plan backfires, and Agatha becomes the power-hungry Agatha we know from Westview.
With Wanda captured in her dungeon basement, Agatha spends most of the episode whisking the superhuman through her own memories to understand how she was able to conjure such a magnificent combination of mind control and transmutation. Her assertion: Wanda isn’t just a gifted telekinetic experimented on by HYDRA back during the events of Age of Ultron — her belief is that she’s an actual witch. In a sequence set during her childhood, which depicts the incident that set her on a course of anti-American terrorism, Wanda evidently uses real magic to stave off a Stark Industries missile that lands in her home in Sokovia. As Agatha puts it at the end of the episode, “You’re the Scarlet Witch.”
Though known by the moniker in the comics, no one in the MCU has actually referred to Wanda by that hero name. Now it’s the crux of the plot. But before Wanda can deal with that, we get a post-credit scene that brings Vision back into the picture.
As we learn in “Previously On,” the Vision we see in Westview is not “Real Vision” — he’s a completely new being conjured by Wanda’s unfathomable power. Real Vision is dead, and broken into bits in a SWORD lab. Wanda doesn’t steal his body as some assumed, meaning at some point there were two Visions in reality (despite one being made possible by the Mind Stone, a peak of known power in the universe).
In the last few episodes, Monica, Jimmy, and Darcy discovered a secret SWORD project, Cataract, overseen by director Tyler Hayward. The plan was to not actually track and decommission Vision, but in theory, revive the old version they had. Now it seems, by using remnants of Wanda’s own powers lifted from the spy drone, Hayward has done it.
Image: Marvel Studios
In the post-credit moment, we see an all-white version of Vision come to life. Now there really are two Visions: One trapped in Westview (as seen talking to camera in episode 7) and one working for the people who want to eliminate Wanda.
“There is one character that has not been revealed,” Bettany told Esquire back in February. “And it is very exciting. It is an actor I’ve longed to work with all of my life. We have some amazing scenes together and I think the chemistry between us is extraordinary and fireworks on set.”
Many speculated on who that cameo might be — Benedict Cumberbatch stepping in as Doctor Strange? John Krasinski as a new Reed Richard from Fantastic Four? But now the answer seems clearer: the character might be ... Paul Bettany himself, playing White Vision. In a world with two Visions, one can only assume that the they will have a chance to meet in a most spectacular fashion. This is called “cheeky British humor.”
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