After a long campaign that has been credited by many pundits for effectively transcending the race issue, Senator Barack Obama has now directly confronted the delicate topic. Following a mainstream media firestorm about recently-publicized and reprehensible comments from Obama’s former church pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the senator delivered a highly anticipated and powerful speech on race relations in America Tuesday in Philadelphia.
Moreover, it was the most courageous and brutally honest discussion about race that I have ever heard from a politician in my lifetime – let alone one running for President. (more…)
Bisc1 “When Electric Night Falls” Album Review
This album is somewhat of a paradox. From a production standpoint, the beats are overwhelmingly dark and grimy, and feature gritty baselines and heavy electronic synths to demonstrate an eerily futuristic sound. From a lyrical standpoint, however, Bisc1 creates a much more positive vibe. While the album’s verses are compiled of several stories of struggle and hardship, the experiences are told mixed with optimistic interpretations and philosophical thought. This effect makes “When Electric Night Falls” an interesting combination of intelligent feel good lyrics over hauntingly eclectic beats. (more…)
The Hip-Hop Research and Education Fund, PowerPAC and the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network announced today the launch of an unprecedented, focused national campaign to mobilize the hip-hop generation of youth voters to ensure the largest youth voter turnout in American history on November 4, 2008.
The press conference to launch the national “Hip-Hop Team Vote: Turn Up The Vote” campaign will be held in the city of Philadelphia on March 19 at 11am EDT on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, Houston Hall (Bodek Lounge) at 3417 Spruce Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104. In addition, the press conference will announce a statewide youth voter registration effort between March 18 – March 24, the deadline to register voters for the April 22 Pennsylvania primary. (more…)
Gangster rap, or hardcore rap, is generally considered a subgenre of the larger category of rap music, which itself is a subcategory of hip-hop. Gangster rap is differentiable from other rap music in that it makes use of images of urban life associated with crime (Haugen, 2).
According to the Encyclopedia explanation of gangster rap, the top four images associated with the genre are violence, drugs, materialism and sexual promiscuity. (more…)
This Jean Grae interview was conducted in Australia a couple years back – I guess Jean was out there doing some shows. She talks about beatmaking, the 9th Wonder project, and being an emcee. I didn’t realize she was so funny, man! Check it out.
Del Tha Funky Homosapien “Eleventh Hour” Album Review
Whenever I think of Del Tha Funky Homosapien, I think of my trip to the University of Michigan. Back in ’97, my homie E and I took a road trip to Ann Arbor to holler at some young ladies that were students there. We got in late Friday night, kicked it at some keg party, and woke up the next morning to attend a football game. A couple hours and a half bottle of snuck-into-the-stadium Captain Morgan’s later, I found myself wandering aimlessly around campus – unsure where my friends were or how to find them. (more…)
After a long campaign that has been credited by many pundits for effectively transcending the race issue, Senator Barack Obama has now directly confronted the delicate topic. Following a mainstream media firestorm about recently-publicized and reprehensible comments from Obama’s former church pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the senator delivered a highly anticipated and powerful speech on race relations in America Tuesday in Philadelphia.
Rating: 
The Hip-Hop Research and Education Fund, PowerPAC and the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network announced today the launch of an unprecedented, focused national campaign to mobilize the hip-hop generation of youth voters to ensure the largest youth voter turnout in American history on November 4, 2008.
Rating: 
