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…)

Boston, MA - An era. A dynasty. A news legendary hip-hop shop. Call it what you want. It’s over. After 20 years of owning Funky Fresh Records in Dudley Square, Rusti Pendleton - better known as Mr. Funky Fresh - will close the doors on his neighborhood landmark on Oct. 1. “I’ve been here seven days a week for 20 years,” Pendleton said from behind the counter. “I sold (hip-hop pioneers) Eric B. & Rakim out of this store. That’s how long I’ve been here.”

Pendleton got into the retail business in 1983 when he took a job at Funky Fresh’s predecessor, Spin City. At the time he was known as Rusti the Toejammer, a moniker he earned for his ability to spin records with his feet. “There comes a time when life kicks in and you have to go to work, especially since I had a daughter at the time,” Pendleton said. “I used to come to Spin City and buy records and the dude offered me a job. I’ve been here ever since.” (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…)

Montclair, N.J. - Rahfeal Gordon, youth entrepreneur and motivational speaker, tells his audience, “If nobody ever says that you’re brilliant, say it to yourself every day. Look yourself in the mirror: if you have survived something, I don’t care how small, how big, you’ve survived it,” he said.

Rahfeal Gordon’s motivational speech is simple: He tells the story of his own life in three chapters. Each begins with a hip-hop lyric that he knows will be meaningful to a young audience, like these incoming freshmen at Montclair State University. Gordon says he uses positive hip-hop lyrics to encourage youths, especially those who grew in poverty and abuse, as he did. His talk is called “Hip Hop Saved My Life.” (more…)

Oakland, CA — Marcus Evans of East Oakland registered to vote Wednesday. But not at City Hall or through the mail. The 18-year-old stepped onto an AC Transit bus, transformed into a mobile voter-registration vehicle, and signed his name, pledging to vote for the first time.

AC Transit and Alameda County teamed up to create the bus — awash in black and strewn in red and blue stripes — to do just that, mobilize young people. The sides read “Your Voice, Your Power, Your Choice, Your Vote.” According to news sources, Wednesday’s voting event was the first time city officials actively recruited youths to turn out this election season. (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…)

Toronto, Ontario, Canada - The Dope Poet Society’s front man, Professor D, strides on stage with a rapper’s typically confident air. Snatching the mic with one hand, he thrusts the other straight up, V-shaped fingers projecting peace to the thousands gathered at Metro Hall Square for the Global Day of Protest.

The crowd’s intensity is swelling to a feverish pitch, already pumped by a spirited march down Yonge Street. Amid a cacophony of beating drums, honking air horns, singing and chanting, a megaphone pierces above the collective clamour: “One, two, three, four, we don’t want your racist war. Five, six, seven, eight, we will not cooperate.” The throng of anti-war demonstrators joins in with the hypnotic chant, collectively fuelling the already adrenaline-drenched air. (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…)

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…)