Rating:
  Review Date: September 29, 2007
  Website: Panacea Website
  Label: Rawkus Records

Panacea “The Scenic Route” Album Review
This is a feel good album – period. That’s about the easiest way I can describe Panacea’s “The Scenic Route.” Such a feel good album, in fact, that I threw it in my headphones this morning and decided to take “the scenic route” to work. (more…)

Brooklyn-based indie-hop innovator Domer is back with a brand new kind of musical project – one that has never been attempted before in hip-hop. Domer’s My Favorite EP is an interactive album that allows producers and fans to create their own versions of his music.

Domer has recorded vocals for five songs with no beat underneath, just lyrics rapped to a metronome and posted online for producers all over the world to run with. Now he is inviting music producers to create the backdrops for these lyrics. (more…)

On Sept. 26, David Banner joined fellow MC Master P, music industry executives and scholars to discuss offensive language in hip-hop music before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Reading from a statement, the 33-year-old Mississippi rapper/producer tenaciously defended hip-hop from its detractors.

During his testimony, Banner said, “If you fix our communities, we’ll fix our lyrics.” (more…)

Greensboro, NC – Welcome to English 209: The History, Literary Connections and Social Relevance of Hip-Hop, an unconventional English course taught by Statesville native Bryon Turman at N.C. A&T.

Starting with the history of hip-hop culture all the way to its role in present-day society, Turman mines the caverns of hip-hop to change what he believes are the misinformed ideas of hip-hop as a culture, examining everything from its West African poetry roots to the music of Jay-Z. (more…)

Artist/ Activist Mos Def along with M1, Talib Kweli, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, Sankofa Community Empowerment, Change the Game, National Hip Hop Political Convention, Hip Hop Association, and student leaders from 50 campuses call for a National Student Walk-Out to rally and show support for the Jena 6, who are being denied their human rights by the Louisiana criminal justice system.

Mos Def is asking students worldwide to assist in the fight against racial injustice and show solidarity for these young people, who have been treated unequally by the law. The prosecution of these young men symbolizes a terrible miscarriage of justice, by punishing students who opposed segregation in their schools and disregarding the threatening acts of others who advocate it. (more…)

KRS ONE is planning the release of his third self-published book entitled “The Gospel of Hiphop”-a teacher’s manual and study-guide for students and apprentice of Hip Hop’s culture-sometime around January of 2008. Serious “Hiphoppas” can email their request for advance (autographed) copies of the “The Gospel of Hiphop” at gospelofhiphop @ AOL.com .

“The Gospel of Hiphop approaches Hip Hop spiritually as well as culturally. It outlines a spiritual code of conduct capable of assisting Hiphoppas toward increased health, love, awareness and wealth. We realized long ago that in order to truly preserve Hip Hop we were going to have to preserve the Hip Hop community with an understanding of Hip Hop beyond entertainment” says KRS. (more…)

  Rating:
  Review Date: September 26, 2007
  Website: Yung Mars Website
  Label: N/A

Yung Mars ”The Yung Mars Album” Album Review
Advancing careers within the music industry takes much multi-tasking and time; but no matter what level we rest at, time should be set aside to enjoy the pleasures of life. Recently I had a chance to sit back and watch my daughter ramble through her toys and despite all of the electronic items she picked up, she found peace playing with a toy where the only things captivating about it was its layers and colorful design. While enjoying her company I was listening to Yung Mars’ The Yung Mars Album, and like the toy, this album had many surprising layers to it. (more…)

A prison inmate who had implicated a former Los Angeles Police Department officer in the shooting death of rap star Biggie Smalls has renounced his story.

Waymond Anderson said in a recent deposition that he lied about LAPD involvement in the Smalls slaying as part of a “scam” concocted by two other convicts to squeeze a large monetary settlement out of the city. (more…)

The Temple of HipHop in conjunction with the Evolution of Music Showcase will present “Hip-Hop Meets Rock N’ Roll” on Thursday, September 27 at Elements in NYC.

The show will be hosted by KRS-One and Madison “Princess of Rock,” and will include musical guests Nappy Roots, Mic Handler, Chip-Fu, Tiye Pheonix, J.U.S. Evolution, St. Juste, A.D.M., NYOIL and PUI. (more…)

Two rappers, sitting side-by-side in a House hearing room, went in different directions Tuesday on the need for hip-hop artists to expunge their work of sexist and violent language. One apologized to women for past songs that demeaned them, while another was defiant.

Former gangsta rapper Master P, whose real name is Percy Miller, told a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing that he is now committed to producing clean lyrics. (more…)