We wanted to just capture that love for hip hop.
To give the people something for the summer that we could let folks know we still here, we doing well and we still growing.
The hunger is there, the creativity is there, the flows are there, and the message is there.
This is one of my favorite albums in the Turn off the Radio Series.” ~Stic
dead prez is celebrating the 10 year anniversary of their debut record Let’s Get Free by releasing a free mixtape via their website deadprez.com (more…)
Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center in Kansas City Missouri has launched a campaign to get local uninsured or underinsured African-American young adults who don’t see a doctor regularly to see a doctor. Their “Urban Health Relief Plan” is aimed at getting young Black people in for check ups, follow ups and establishing a place to go to for routine health care.
Teens and 20-somethings aren’t known for caring about their health though many of us have health issues. Even if you’re young and in good health you don’t have to be Drake (pictured above) to take a hilarious yet nasty fall. The campaign utilizes Twitter, Facebook and text messaging to get the young, broke and fabulous involved and enrolled. Because they were able to get a grant from the state of Missouri not only will this program pay for transportation for those living in a 8 mile radius and there are no co-payments. (more…)
Still, as a lifelong representative of hip-hop, I really am bothered whenever the drum gets treated like melody’s stepchild.
My major beef is that when this anti-drum bigotry rears its ugly head…it usually stems from an assumption that melody is the prime determinant of musicality, the core element of music to which rhythm is always secondary.
And it’s largely due to this perception of rhythm as subordinate to melody that hip-hop has so often faced an uphill battle to earn respect as a legitimate musical form.
I’m sure you can all recite the hater’s anthem by heart: “How is that music? It’s all just drum beats and talking, they don’t even sing!”
And this bias infects heads inside the culture too, as reflected by (more…)
One of Hip Hop’s latest golden boys, no not Drake, Raekwon the Chef released a mixtape this month. Ok, so many he would be more like a golden man, but this guy has managed to beat back the ravages of “old age” and the ageism in rap that goes with it.
One of my favorite tracks off his Coke Up In Da Dollar Bill mixtape is “The Set Up” which features our leading man in the midst of a sexual encounter first interrupted by DJ Scream? then later on by 3 dudes with guns. Hey, it’s on a mixtape called Coke Up In Da Dollar Bill Mixtape from a track called “The Set Up”, what did you expect?
Anyway, Rae smoothed it out on that one. Take notes, it’s all about the consonants and don’t forget the vowels! So I got to thinking why do cats like Fabolous get so much burn when it’s time to “do something for the ladies” when we have a perfectly good Raekwon here? And he cooks!
I was asked once by my man my mellow Carlito Roc of the tckonbroadway.com what was the best pick up line I ever heard and my first thought was “Yo, what fabric is that?/ It’s only wool and rayon”. RIP Teddy Pendergrass who is sampled for this Ghostface joint. (more…)
Hey, I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know New York rapper Donny Goines’ entire catalog, but I think I heard part of a Peter Rosenburg interview with him while I was sort of awake and I have heard “She Likes” featuring Che Grand & Izza Kizza in its entirety. I also have my own blog which makes me an expert! I’ll tell you what else I do know, this song is hot in the conventional, summertime windows open in your ride singing “she likes/ she drinks coffee/ she likes/ she drinks tea/ she likes” at a red light type of way. This song does not make me think we’re approaching a new Golden Era of Hip Hop or anything nor does it make me feel the sense of “last days” that maybe a Soulja Boy can give. It does make me think this song if given a chance could open the door to more interest in Donny Goines.
While Drake bakes cakes in the sunshine of corporate adoration, buzz and airplay, Donny Goines “has been relentless in the pursuit of his dreams” whatever that means. Is it me or is everybody saying that they’re doing that these days? (more…)
