Super big ups for the homie BeatRoot for sending this over. I ain’t gonna lie though, when I saw that dude had just sent me a mixtape from some French hip-hop artists, I chuckled a little. But once I actually listened to the album, I realized that these cats got skillz. Fantastic Planet is a French hip-hop group who apparently teamed up with some U.S. emcees and turntablists to create this mixtape. Click below to download Fantastic Planet’s “Fantastic JJ Project” mixtape for FREE:

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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…)

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…)

This is an interesting interview/performance from Cuban hip-hop group Anonimo Consejo, which was filmed for a Worldfocus news story “Social, economic change is in the air in post-Fidel Cuba.”

This is a video called “Word Wars,” part of a news report about hip-hop in Gaza, West Bank and Jerusalem put together by John Pendygraft of the St. Petersburg Times.

My bad, the scavengers at CBS News are going to make you watch an ad first.

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…)

Panama is a musical crossroads, a silk road of beats, tempos and rhythms reflecting the country’s unique geography that has brought political calamity as well as a rich diversity. But it’s a country few in the United States know much news about. One place to start might be the Oakland-Panamanian hip-hop duo of Ricardo Guillam Bethancourt and Abdull Dominguez — aka Los Rakas.

Their first CD “Panabay Twist” is a lesson in the events that have shaped the Latin American country that celebrated its 105th year of independence yesterday. One of the most significant was the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama City to oust military dictator Manuel Noriega — an event recalled in Los Rakas’ song “Invasion of Panama 1989.” (more…)

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…)