The power of music and the power of politics met Tuesday, with a hip-hop mogul and one of the most prominent leaders in Congress joining their considerable forces to spotlight issues facing youth in America.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attended a youth conference co-sponsored by entrepreneur and entertainer Russell Simmons in Washington. The one-day event, called Keeping the Promise to Our Children, brought legislators together with entertainment A-listers, including Oscar-nominee Terrence Howard, who used their celebrity to advocate a variety of causes: foster care, health care and education among them. (more…)

The Maqusi Towers in Gaza City look a bit like US housing projects. The neighborhood consists of several tall apartment buildings grouped together in the northern part of town. It is also ground zero for Gaza’s growing Hip-Hop community. On a recent evening in one small but well-decorated apartment, a dozen rappers and their friends and families relaxed, danced, smoked flavored tobacco, and rapped the lyrics to some of their songs. (more…)

The United Nations has launched a trust fund to build a permanent memorial for victims of slavery, and appointed entrepreneur and hip-hop pioneer Russell Simmons as a Goodwill Ambassador to promote the project.

A 2007 General Assembly resolution designated 25 March as an annual day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and called for a permanent memorial to be erected at UN Headquarters to acknowledge the tragedy and consider the legacy of slavery. (more…)

At least a couple of times a week, U.S. Army Capt. Alfonso Johnson opens his laptop at his base in Afghanistan and plays a rap video _ a clip with his young son singing of his fears his father will die in combat.  “I’m 11 years old, already grown up, ’cause my dad’s been gone so much,” Xavier chants into a microphone, his head bobbing to a hip hop beat. Then the boy gets more blunt: “I’m feeling real sad now, I can’t lie, ’cause there’s a chance that my dad might die.”

Rather than depressing him, Johnson says the song, called “Keep ‘em Safe,” makes him feel closer to his son. That is partly because of the memory of working with Xavier to make the song and video in the U.S. But the lyrics also have a harsh honesty that lets 37-year-old Johnson feel the torrent of emotions his son, now 13, is experiencing back in Fort Drum, N.Y. (more…)

Written by Gary Lapon, Northampton, MA – A few weeks ago, I saw DAM perform at Hampshire College, where they expressed solidarity with Hampshire Students for Justice in Palestine for pushing their college to divest from the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank.

The show was amazing, as DAM brought an energy and achieved a synthesis between MC and audience that gave weight to their statement: “Hip Hop is not dead. It is alive in Palestine.” (more…)

Benazir Bhutto’s teenaged daughter has released a rap song, breaking her silence about the assassination of her legendary mother. “Why did you have to go? Why did you have to leave?” Bakhtawar Zardari raps in English. “Aseefa’s only 14 and I ain’t even ready, I barely hit 18.”

An accompanying video shows clips from Ms. Bhutto’s political life and scenes from her funeral, and ends with pictures from the family album. The song, I Would Take the Pain Away, has been airing on Pakistani state television and posted to YouTube. Ms. Bhutto’s three children, Bilawal, Bakhtawar and Aseefa, have spoken very little about the assassination of their mother, who was killed in December of 2007 as she campaigned for a third term as prime minister. (more…)

Dakar, Senegal – In a country where journalists are banned from saying or writing what they want, hip-hop artists have stepped up to speak for those who can’t. Moussa Lo, a.k.a. Waterflow, is one of Senegal’s most famous hip-hop artists. He said he became a hip-hop singer not for success or his own glory, but to be “the voice of the voiceless.” “Hip-hop in Africa needs to grow,” Waterflow told ABC News, “because we are the journalists for the people.”

While Senegal’s daily news papers praise the government’s action – new roads being built for a recent summit, urban renovations — Waterflow denounces the corruption and the poverty that plague his country. “Most people,” he said, “the masses, don’t have everything they [need] to live a normal life. They don’t have running water, often they don’t have electricity.” (more…)

During an ABC News-sponsored debate last spring in Philadelphia, Senator Hillary Clinton and even the debate’s moderators made numerous charges against Senator Barack Obama. Analysts roundly panned the debate as a “gotcha” fest and devoid of substance.

In a campaign appearance the next day talking about the debate, Obama reached over to his shoulders and made a motion to brush off any “dirt” that may have collected there as a result of the debates, a gesture borrowed from hip-hop artist Jay-Z. The potential President of the United States being willing and knowledgeable enough to reference a major hip-hop artist is significant, and helps explain why so many young people gravitate towards his him. Hip hop is the most dominant music in the world for youth and its influence on pop culture today is unmatched. (more…)

Dallas, TX – Change is necessary for forward movement and growth, and next month that movement means survival as Dallas Mayor Pro-Tem Dwaine Caraway, Radio One’s Rickey Smiley, KBFB 97.9 The Beat, the City of Dallas and The MLK, Jr. Family Clinic launch an initiative to educate the community on the epidemic of HIV/AIDS.

According to news sources, the first Hip Hop for HIV concert will be held from 2 to 6 p.m. Sept. 14 on the steps of Dallas City Hall, 1500 Marilla St. The goal of the event is to increase awareness, alleviate the fear associated with HIV/AIDS, and encourage everyone to know your status and help eradicate the spread of the disease. (more…)

Ludacris’ new song, “Politics as Usual,” may have cost him one of his biggest fans, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama. And for good reason: It points up the dilemma facing the nation’s potential first black president, who wants the support of the influential hip-hop community but needs to steer clear of the controversy so commonly associated with its music.

Ludacris’ “Politics as Usual” alludes to an imminent victory for Obama by handing out major put-downs to his rivals. It dismisses Hillary Rodham Clinton as a vice presidential candidate — “that (expletive) is irrelevant”_ and says presumed Republican nominee John McCain doesn’t belong in “any chair unless he’s paralyzed.” (more…)