The Wiz (film) certain we didn't use anything from it. They made a brilliant movie, and even though our concept is different – they're Kansas, we're New York; they're white, we're black, and the score and the books are totally different – we wanted to make sure that we never overlapped in any area." Michael Jackson, a former Motown star and close friend of Diana Ross was cast as the Scarecrow. By the start of development on "The Wiz" in 1977, he and his brothers The Jacksons, had left Motown for Epic Records, though Jackson had yet to make a solo album since
Gary G-Wiz "Apocalypse 91... The Enemy Strikes Black" was born. "Apocalypse 91: The Enemy Strikes Black", as of 2007, is Public Enemy's greatest selling album to date, selling close to 2 million copies and spawning the hits "Can't Truss It" and "Shut Em Down." G-Wiz went on to produce the artists: Petey Mix Janet Jackson, Aerosmith, U2, Busta Rhymes, Rakim, Run–D.M.C., Method Man, Redman, Ludacris, Twista, KRS-One, Bell Biv Devoe, Peter Gabriel, Lisa Stansfield, Aaron Hall, Big Daddy Kane, Anthrax and Sinéad O'Connor. In 1992, G-Wiz was introduced to the world of film when he composed the score for the Paramount Pictures