Buck 65′s unique brand of hip-hop never really caught on with me. But this track Shutterbuggin’ is dope.

From “Digi Snacks” album, which I never picked up. But after hearing this track, might have to go cop it.

A steady stream of political energy will electrify the flow during tomorrow’s broadcast of the 2008 BET Hip-Hop Awards. And for one longtime hip-hop activist, the timing couldn’t have been better. “The awards were very political, with every single performer telling the audience to work,” said the Rev. Lennox Yearwood, president of the Hip-Hop Caucus, who’s been working closely with rapper T.I., a spokesman for the “Respect My Vote!” voter registration effort.

“T.I. wore a ‘Respect My Vote’ T-shirt . . . [he's] been very much engaged in the political process,” Yearwood told news sources. “T.I. can’t vote [due to his guilty plea last year to several gun charges], and he really wants to make up for that,” Yearwood continued. “He feels he owes a lot of fans in general, so his perspective is to do all he can to teach others about the system, and wants people to learn more about the political process.” (more…)

Big ups to dude who emailed this to me. Y’all know how I like that jazzy shit.

Hip-hop artist Common, a 2008 Grammy Award winner and five time NAACP Image Award winner, and Bakari Kitwana, co-founder of the first ever National Hip-Hop Political Convention, are the keynote speakers for Third Annual Clarion University Hip-Hop Symposium on Thursday, Oct. 23. The program features speakers from around the world and an International Film Festival based around the theme “Hip-Hop Symposium 2008: Global Impact!”

Common and Kitwana will highlight the day’s events with their presentation at 2 p.m. in Gemmell Student Complex. A panel program will close the activities at 7 p.m. also in the Gemmell Student Complex. Kitwana, in addition to being the co-founder of the first ever National Hip-Hop Political Convention is the author of “The Hip-Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African American Culture.” He is currently an artist-in-residence at the University of Chicago. (more…)

United Spinal Association is sponsoring 4 Wheel City, a hip-hop group that uses music as an outlet to inspire people with disabilities to pursue their dreams, during their upcoming “Welcome to Reality” music tour. The seven-city tour will takeoff in Orlando, Florida on October 22nd, ending in the birthplace of hip-hop, New York City, on November 12th and will also include speaking engagements by the group to discuss disability-related news and issues.

United Spinal’s disability travel program Able to Travel (www.abletotravel.org), also arranged all of 4 Wheel City’s travel accommodations and booked accessible rental cars and vans for the group to use during the tour. (more…)

Scores of children and young adults gathered in Haiti’s largest slum on Friday to celebrate the 36th birthday of Haitian-born rap star Wyclef Jean and vowed to embrace hip-hop to escape misery. In Cite Soleil, a sprawling seaside shantytown in the capital, several young artists took turns rapping in Haiti’s Creole language and said they wanted to follow in Jean’s footsteps.

“I want to become somebody. I want to make myself known and earn my living through hip-hop,” said Josue Morancy, a 12-year-old who called himself “Mr. Jo.” “Wyclef was also poor like us, but he made it. We can do it too. You never know.” Jean — who according to news sources was not in Haiti for the birthday celebration — born on October 17, 1972, in the Haitian town of Croix-des-Bouquets, moved to New York as a child. (more…)

Brand new video from The Grouch’s latest album “Show You The World.”