The New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services has issued a report that lists 58% of all female homicide victims are at the hands of domestic violence. With the rate of abuse increasing in the United States, victim and female hip hop rap artist Queen Pen is taking a stand for battered women and asking the NYC community and leaders for support and change at a press conference Friday, January 16th.

The press conference will be lead by Hip Hop artist Queen Pen, NY Senator Eric Adams, and hip hop rap MC Persia (Vh1′s White Rapper Show), at the Denim Lounge (1223 Bedford Ave) in Brooklyn at 4pm. (more…)

Tumwater, WA – Derrick Brown, a sophomore at South Sound High School, said the hip-hop music he created and performed used to be about “gangs and drugs and stuff.” But Brown, who took part last week in a music workshop to create a performing group and CD focused on making good choices, said his own current experiences in substance-abuse recovery already has become of part of the music he creates.

He said that the True North Music Mentors program was a natural fit for him. “I’ve been changing my style and what I write about,” Brown said. “I feel like this program can spread that message.” Several dozen students from high schools in Olympia, North Thurston and Tumwater districts collaborated on hip-hop tracks in a music academy last week. (more…)

MTV’s Choose or Lose campaign, which strives to engage, inform and empower young voters on the political issues that matter to them most, has teamed up with CNN for a cross-network television event. The special will include a concert designed to mobilize support for our country’s newest generation of young veterans, along with news programming on both MTV and CNN that will highlight young veterans’ stories of triumph and the issues facing them after they’ve returned from battle.

“A Night for Vets: An MTV Concert for the BRAVE” — set to be hosted by MTV News correspondent Sway — will be taped in New York on October 23 and air on MTV on October 24. The show’s goal is to raise awareness about veterans’ causes, including employment, health care, homelessness and education. (more…)

Washington, D.C. – Although for many youths in the Benning Road area, hip-hop is the soundtrack of their lives, the Urban Arts Academy aims to transcend the familiar beats and rhymes and use hip-hop as a catalyst to change lives. “Hip-hop is your life,” Goldie Deane, the academy’s director, tells students. “It’s not the only thing in your life, but it’s a resource for many things in your life.”

Hip-hop as a musical genre is generally defined as vocalization over mixed music and beats. But hip-hop also describes a culture that branches out to include rapping, DJ skills, art, fashion and break dancing. It’s a collaborative culture that evolves as new generations add their interpretations to the lifestyle and the music, which is said to have had its roots in the Bronx. (more…)

San Diego, CA – Stop the Traffick Jam, a Hip Hop concert to protest sex trafficking, will be presented from 7 p.m. to midnight Sept. 27 in the Price Center East Ballroom at the University of California, San Diego. Admission is $10 in advance and $12 at the door. The goal of the benefit concert is to raise awareness about the dangers of sex trafficking, pimping and prostitution through the use of hip hop. Co-sponsors of the concert are the UC San Diego Women’s Center and GABNet San Diego.

According to news sources, proceeds will benefit the Purple Rose Campaign against the sex trafficking of Filipina women and children, an international project of GABRIELA Network ( GABNet ), a U.S.-Philippines women’s solidarity organization. (more…)

Hip hop has entered the housing crisis. In a news press conference held today in New York, members of the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network (HSAN), including hip-hop pioneer and network cofounder Russell Simmons, announced a joint initiative called “Get Your House Right!” to provide solutions to the mortgage and foreclosure crisis for young Americans. Russell announced the initiative with HSAN Cofounder, President and CEO Dr. Benjamin Chavis and Valeisha Butterfield, HSAN executive director.

“Get Your House Right!” is a homeownership tour that kicks off in New York City and is supported by corporate sponsor Genworth Financial. It works with professionals from the financial, mortgage and homeownership arena to educate Blacks and Latinos on the long-term benefits of homeownership in America. (more…)

East Lansing, MI – Who says science doesn’t turn people on? Kate McAlpine is a rising star on YouTube for her rap performance – about high-energy particle physics. Her performance has drawn a half-million views so far on YouTube.

The 23-year-old Michigan State University graduate and science writer raps about news of the Large Hadron Collider, the groundbreaking particle accelerator that has been built in a 27.35km circular tunnel at the CERN laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland. McAlpine raps that when the collider goes into operation on Sept. 10, “the things that it discovers will rock you in the head.” (more…)

Killeen, TX – On his next mission, he won’t be using his strength to leap over buildings in one single bound and he can’t fly, so forget about traversing the globe in mere seconds. But Daniel Helvetius, an amiable third-grade teacher at Saegert Elementary School, is transforming into his alter ego – DJ Vicious – to impact his community and change the world, one block party at a time.

DJ Vicious is spinning his ones and twos to bring people together, tear down stereotypes with clean lyrics and to have a good time in the process. According to news sources, Helvetius is hosting a Back-to-School block party Aug. 23 at Harker Heights’ Carl Levin Park from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. (more…)

Salisbury, NC – Hundreds of children have bags full of school supplies courtesy of a local hip hop group. Untouched Entertainment put a notice in the local Post news offering free school supplies Thursday at sites in East Spencer and Salisbury. “People are having hard times,” said Kenney Coney, one of the five members of Untouched. “We wanted to help out.”

The turnout was nearly overwhelming. More than 300 children turned out at the Kujimani After School Program at 207 S. Long St. “We ran out of everything,” Coney said. No problem. The band members, including Coney, Domonek Wilder, Steve Frost, Terrence Gooden and Lamont Tucker, made a quick trip to Wal-Mart and reloaded. (more…)

In a news press conference yesterday, elected officials called on banks to stop financing the purchase of New York City apartment buildings at inflated prices, citing the sale of 1520 Sedgwick Avenue, in the Bronx, which had been rejected by city regulators, as an example of a irresponsible transaction.

Earlier this year, the city’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development had rejected the sale of 1520 Sedgwick, which is widely considered to be the birth place of hip-hop music, earlier this year to an investment group involving Mark Karasick, saying that the financing for the estimated $9 million purchase price is not viable under the current rent restrictions. (more…)