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Bayer Mack
Born
Bayer Leevince Mack

(1972-08-26)August 26, 1972
Murfreesboro, Tennessee, United States
EducationMiddle Tennessee State University
Occupations
  • Music executive
  • journalist
  • film producer
Years active1993–present
WorksThe Czar of Black Hollywood
In the Hour of Chaos
Profiles of African-American Success
No Lye: An American Beauty Story
Black Seeds: The History of Africans in America
Awards2015, 2020 Black Reel Awards

Bayer Leevince Mack (born August 26, 1972) is an American record executive and filmmaker. He is the publisher of the late-1990s, early-2000s urban entertainment website HOT 104.com, the founder of Block Starz Music and the director of The Czar of Black Hollywood.

Early life and education

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Mack attended Central Middle School (now Central Magnet School) and Oakland High School.[1] He is an alumnus of Middle Tennessee State University where he majored in journalism and wrote for the school's editorially independent, student-run newspaper, Sidelines.[2]

Career

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Mack relocated to Louisville, Kentucky in the mid-1990s and founded the dot-com company Infinity-Digital. His website HOT 104.com gained notoriety after a story it published about the shooting death of Tyisha Miller by police officers in Riverside, CA went viral.[3] In 1999, Mack signed an affiliate contract with the AKA.com Hip-Hop Network created by Loud Records founder Steve Rifkind.[4] In addition to Hip-Hop reviews, chart analysis, entertainment news, MP3 downloads and African-American swimsuit models, Mack routinely published editorials that touched on hot-button issues, like ineffective African-American leadership and sexual violence against women.[5][6] HOT 104.com also covered several police shootings.[7]

Block Starz Music

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Main article: Block Starz Music

Mack became the marketing manager of a German hip-hop website called YoRaps.com in 2008.[citation needed] Later that year, he and the site's owner, Kai Denninger, formed an online record label called Block Starz Music to promote free mixtapes by the independent and unsigned artists featured in YoRaps' “Next 2 Blow” section, like Rasheeda. The label's early association with Wiz Khalifa helped boost the company's profile and attracted other artists.

Documentary films

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Mack made his directorial debut in 2014 with the documentary film Oscar Micheaux: The Czar of Black Hollywood. He self-financed the project and released it independently through his production studio, Block Starz Music Television. In an April 2014 interview with The Washington Times, Mack said he was inspired to produce a film about Oscar Micheaux's life because it mirrored his own.[8][9] Mack is also executive producer of the web series, Profiles of African-American Success. In 2016, he wrote and directed the Martin Luther King Sr. documentary In the Hour of Chaos, which takes a critical view of liberalism's effect on the black civil rights movement. The film was named runner-up at the San Francisco Black Film Festival and was featured at San Francisco's de Young Museum as part of the Bay Area's "MLK Day of Revelations".[10][11] In 2019, Mack wrote and directed a documentary film on the rise and decline of the black-owned ethnic beauty industry, called No Lye: An American Beauty Story.[citation needed] Mack's film Black Seeds: The History of Africans in America won the "Best Feature Documentary" award and a $20,000 camera package from Panavision at the 2021 Denton Black Film Festival.[12][13][14][15]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Note(s)
2014 The Czar of Black Hollywood Writer/Director Documentary
2016 In the Hour of Chaos Documentary
2019 No Lye: An American Beauty Story Documentary
2021 Black Seeds: The History of Africans in America Documentary
2022 Black Seeds: Book II Documentary
TBA The Last Black Action Hero Documentary

References

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  1. ^ "Bayer Mack, Oakland High School, Murfreesboro, TN". AllHighSchools.com. 1991-04-08. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  2. ^ Mack, Bayer Levince (1991-03-11). "Club owner's remarks distasteful, uncalled for". Sidelines. p. 5. Retrieved 2018-06-14.
  3. ^ "www.hot104.com >>> Articles >>> The "New" HOT 104.com". Hot104.com. 2000-02-04. Archived from the original on 2000-08-17. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  4. ^ Wong, Celine (February 2000). "Site Bite: AKA.com, The Hip Hop Network". VIBE. New York: Miller Publishing Group LLC. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  5. ^ "www.hot104.com >>> Articles >>> The Problem With Black Leadership". Archived from the original on 2001-01-08. Retrieved 2018-11-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. ^ "HOT 104 >> Columns >> All About Eve". Archived from the original on 2002-10-20. Retrieved 2018-11-03.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. ^ "HOT 104.com Breaking News: Louisville Police Kill Again". Hot104.com. 2000-06-26. Archived from the original on 2000-08-17. Retrieved 2018-06-11.
  8. ^ Wetzstein, Cheryl (2014-04-30). "Black side of silver screen: Filmmaker Oscar Micheaux paved his own path to Hollywood". Washington Times. Retrieved 2014-08-25.
  9. ^ Wetzstein, Cheryl (2014-04-30). "Love of history spurred rap mogul Bayer L. Mack to make Micheaux documentary". Washington Times. Retrieved 2014-08-25.
  10. ^ ""In the Hour of Chaos: The Untold Story of Rev. Martin Luther King, Sr.", Film Screening". deyoung.famsf.org. Retrieved 2018-07-04.
  11. ^ "San Francisco Black Film Festival >> June 15–18, 2017 >> In The Hour Of Chaos". SFBFF.org. Archived from the original on 2020-08-06. Retrieved 2018-06-30.
  12. ^ "DBFF 2021 Winners". Denton Black Film Festival. 2021-02-01. Retrieved 2021-07-28.
  13. ^ "Sarasota Film Festival Presents "Visions of the Black Experience"". Sarasota Post. 2019-11-30. Archived from the original on 2019-12-06. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
  14. ^ "New College to Host 'Visions of the Black Experience' Film Series". Sarasota Magazine. 2019-12-03. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
  15. ^ "No Lye, This Is Probably The Best Film On The History Of Black Hair Care". Power 620 WHEN (Syracuse). 2019-12-04. Retrieved 2019-12-06.
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