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There are plenty of fools in the forefront of what most people would consider hip-hop. And this year, the media has made hip-hop the ultimate bad guy because of the actions of folks like Imus, Cam'ron, T.I. and Michael Vick. And for hip-hoppers like myself, who understand, realize, and harness the power and potential of hip-hop, we are outnumbered in trying to explain to the world that hip-hop isn't just what you see on television (and actually hardly ever is what you see on television). Just to be certain that we're on the same page, the hip-hop I'm talking about is complex (Sorry MC Stupid). The hip-hop I'm talking about is into justice (Sorry MC Soldyoursoul). The hip-hop I'm talking about is artistic (Sorry MC Noskills). I may not know the hottest rapper on the radio, but best believe MyHipHop is alive and kicking snares. Hip-hop culture has given me too much for me not to defend its honor. I've spent the last year and a half of my life documenting the power in hip-hop music because it was this aspect of the culture, this unique art form that spoke to me like nothing ever before. As I've matured, I've realized that we can all learn from the culture that grew from the concrete. SOURCE OF THIS STORY
Though it'll probably join the ranks of skateboarding and
breakdancing ciphers as one of the hipper, more notable innovations of
the late 20th century, slam poetry supposedly started out as a bar
game. And it's Great Grandpappy (or "Slam Pappy," rather), according to
Oakland Poetry Slam mistress Nazelah Jamison, was Marc Smith, a Chicago
construction worker and "bar napkin poet" who was really just some
guy. Around 1987, Smith came up with the whole idea of turning a poetry
mic into a competition with its own scoring system, mostly because it
was the only way to hold people's attention in a bar. Within a few
years, these small, "common man poetry"-oriented slams generated a
hugely popular scene that became both an artistic movement and a market
juggernaut. Suddenly, underground emcees and Def Poetry Jam artists had
supplanted the Robert Frosts and Walt Whitmans of the literary canon.
Poetry's hipster quotient rose immeasurably.While it's waning on a national scale, the spoken-word craze remains
alive and well in Oakland, home to YouthSpeaks artists Marc Bamuthi
Joseph, Ise Lyfe, and Chinaka Hodge, along with such rousing open mics
as the Broakland Poetry Slam, Hella at EastSide Arts Alliance, and
Mouth Off at the Air Lounge. This week, the folks from Hotwater
Cornbread, LLC — who launched Mouth Off in 2006 — present the Spoken Word Soul Fest at various Oakland venues, including Air Lounge, Club Anton, and Kimball's Carnival. Featuring the talents of Ise Lyfe, GeorgiaMe, Scorpio Blues, Amir Sulaiman, Hunters Point-raised soul artist Martin Luther, and the sublime emcees Bahamadia, Mystic, and Medusa
— who combine hip-hop swagger with lush balladeer vocals — this event
also includes panel discussions and workshops to recoup the social and
community-building dimensions of spoken word. At Saturday's panel (held
from 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at the Oakland Marriott Convention Center), a
bevy of poets, emcees, and radio personalities (including Hard Knock
host Davey D, emcees Medusa and Mystic, Ise Lyfe, and Queen Sheeba)
will discuss such issues as Hurricane Katrina, the Jena 6 case, and the
'08 elections. Titled Artists Respond to Chaos, it will serve
as a fulcrum for Spoken Word Soul and highlight the event's political
impetus. The Spoken Word Soul Fest runs Wednesday through Sunday,
November 4, and costs $10-$150. SpokenWordSoulFest.com SOURCE OF THIS STORY
By Dana Rubinstein - The Brooklyn Paper
Behemoth record label Universal Music Group must change the name of
rapper Nas’s new album, “Nigger,” or risk losing $84 million in state
investments, a Fort Greene assemblyman said this week.“[They are] profiting from a racial slur that has been
used to dehumanize people of color for centuries,” said Assemblyman
Hakeem Jeffries (D–Fort Greene), a former entertainment industry
big-wig. “It is time for Nas and other hip-hop artists to clean up
their act and stop flooding the airwaves with the N-word.”
Jeffries called on Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli to withdraw the $84
million that the state pension fund has invested in Universal and its
parent company, Vivendi. “It’s a staggering amount of money, which at
least justifies a review of the appropriateness of the content that is
flooding the public,” said Jeffries. Clinton Miller, of Brown Memorial
Baptist Church, and Jill Merritt, a founder of the Abolish the N-Word
Project, joined Jeffries in his condemnation of the word.
A recent report by state Sen. Antoine Thompson (D–Buffalo) revealed
that the New York State Pension Fund has $2.8 billion invested in 16
major entertainment companies, including Time Warner and Disney. That
number did not include the state’s investment in Vivendi.
Universal did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for
DiNapoli, who manages the pension fund, said that the comptroller “is
concerned about this issue and is intending to contact the company and
urge them not to release the album.”The fight to quell the use of the
controversial term has been gaining ground lately. In February, the
Council passed legislation urging people not to use the repugnant
racial slur.
Jeffries, who was an assistant general counsel at CBS and a lawyer at
Viacom before he was elected last year, is intent on hitting the
industry where it hurts. “The [Council made] an important symbolic
step, but I’m more interested in the substantive approach of reviewing
the multi-billion-dollar investment that the New York State pension
fund makes in the entertainment industry.”
Source: The Brooklyn Paper
From actress Sanaa Lathan to Georgia State Supreme Court
chief justice Leah Ward Sears, many African-American women attribute
much of their success to having a positive father figure.Daughters of Men
author Rachel Vassel has compiled dozens of stunning photographs and
compelling personal essays about African-American women and their
fathers. Whether it's a father who mentors his daughter's artistic eye
by taking her to cultural events or one who unwaveringly supports a
risky career move, the fathers in this book each had his own unique and
successful style of parenting. The first book to showcase the
importance of the black father's impact on the accomplishments of his
daughter, Daughters of Men provides an intimate look at black fatherhood and the many ways fathers have a lasting impact on their daughters' lives.
For more information or to purchase Daughters of Men: Portraits of African-American Women and Their Fathers please visit www.amazon.com or www.rachelvassel.com
At any given time, a significant percentage of men are engaging in
multiple sexual partnerships with women -- a situation that may
facilitate the spread of sexually transmitted infections, including
HIV. Researchers looked at The National Survey of Family Growth, a national database that interviewed 4,928 men in the United States. In the survey, men reported the first and last date they had sexual
intercourse with each of their sexual partners during the year before
the interview. Though the actual reported rate of such behavior in the study
is 6.6 percent, the authors of the study estimate from adjusted
measurements that up to 11 percent of men may have been involved with
multiple sexual partners at some point during the previous year. Concurrent sexual relationships may have huge implications when it comes to the spread of sexually transmitted disease. "Concurrent partnerships are an important sexual network
characteristic because of the way they connect people to each other,"
says lead study author Dr. Adaora Adimora, clinical associate professor
of epidemiology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
School of Public Health. "These kinds of relationships can spread HIV through a population faster than the same number of monogamous relationships."This quicker spread is, in many ways, a simple function of time."For example, three concurrent partnerships will spread HIV
faster than three monogamous relationships back-to-back, because if a
person only has sequential partners and he gets HIV, he won't give it
to another partner until he ends his relationship and strikes up a new
one," Adimora explains. "If the individual has concurrent partnerships,
he can immediately give the next partner HIV without waiting to end the
first relationship."Some public health experts hope the study will offer a new direction for efforts to stem the spread of HIV."I think that this study is highly significant," says Bruce
Dezube, associate professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess
Medical Center in Boston, Mass. "It's amazing to me how much progress
we have made with HIV drugs -- we have over 30 drugs available and 5
different mechanisms to treat patients -- but the one thing we haven't
figured out is human behavior." Not all infectious disease experts agree, however, that the results of the study are a surprise. SOURCE OF THIS STORY
The US dollar tumbled to a new euro low in Asian trade as concerns over the state of the US economy deepened. The euro traded as high as $1.4348, breaking its last record set on Friday when one euro bought $1.4319. The sell-off was triggered on Friday by a profit warning from building equipment giant Caterpillar, prompting concerns over the slowing US economy. But the dollar bounced back to trade at $1.4181 against the euro bloc's currency at the close of trade. The greenback also slipped to a six-week low againt the Japanese yen on Monday, touching 113.25 yen at one point, but gained against the British pound to trade at $2.0322 after initial falls. The dollar could weaken further if the US Federal Reserve cuts interest rates again at its meeting at the end of the month, making the US currency less attractive for income seekers. Meanwhile, the strong euro is a threat to exporters, such as Airbus owner EADS, and to the wider region's economy, which has just started to recover after years in the doldrums. Suffering continues - The latest falls come after a joint International Monetary Fund and World Bank meeting in Washington last Friday, which ended without any reference to the weakness of the US dollar or the strength of the 13-member Euro bloc's currency. Analysts say this apparent indifference suggests central bankers have no intention of interfering in this area of the currency market, a cue for investors to carry on selling dollars. They believe that the US Federal Reserve will have to cut interest rates further at this month's meeting from their current level of 4.75% to lift the economy, which is showing increasing signs of suffering from a slump in house prices and higher credit costs. SOURCE OF STORIES
October 25, 2007--Most people are familiar with social networking Websites like MySpace.com and Match.com. The sites, popular with a range of users—from teenagers looking to make new friends with similar interests to singles searching for soul mates—have become an accessible way to connect to others. Social networking sites also are proving to be a vehicle for employers seeking the right job candidate. Small and large companies alike are using online networking to do research, form relationships, and fill positions. One popular site is LinkedIn.com, a Mountain View, California-based firm that has signed up more than 350 companies to broadcast their job listings to more than 10 million registered users. The business owner looking for a full-time accountant to serve as CFO, for example, can visit a Website like LinkedIn, scroll through posted résumés, peruse an individual's postings, or even check out a competitor's site for potential candidates. Social networking sites are also a good place to do "subtle" background checks, says Brian Drum, president of executive search firm Drum Associates Inc. in New York. "Employers can go to these sites and see what people are saying about themselves," he says. (See "What You Look Like Online," Powerplay, January 2007.) In identifying prospective job candidates for his clients, Drum searches the "free and open information" available on a site like MySpace. He keeps an eye out for anything that might reveal the person's character, or perhaps hinder his or her ability to perform reliably. "Sometimes all we find is meaningless chitchat," says Drum, "but once in a while we'll turn up something useful, like an unflattering picture or a piece of information that really shows what the person is made of." SOURCE OF THIS STORY
October 26, 2007--The American Black Film Festival kicked off in Los Angeles with the opening night film This Christmas starring Loretta Devine, Delroy Lindo, Regina King, Mekhi Phifer, Idris Elba, and Chris Brown. Now in its 11th year, it's the festival's first stint in Hollywood after spending its first few years in Acapulco, Mexico, followed by a run in Miami. But with a move to Tinseltown, the festival's founder and chief organizer, Jeff Friday, is hopeful the five-day event will be more accessible and appetizing to Hollywood brass that have the muscle to make deals happen. Festivals are a great place to showcase rising talent and for young filmmakers to rub elbows with black Hollywood’s finest. Most of the films screened are low-budget works made by first-time filmmakers, usually for less than $1 million. Sydney Levine, president of West Hollywood, California-based Film Finders, a division of Withoutabox, specializing in tracking independent films around the world, says, "We track about 8,000 films a year globally. Of those, 5,000 a year get sold with 700 films getting U.S. theatrical distribution." Levine adds that of the films in the U.S. that make it to theaters, 500 are big studio films with only about 200 falling into the category of specialty or art house films. Small black movies would fit into the specialty category. But as more black stars go mainstream, the little, low-budget black movie—such as Hollywood Shuffle that years ago could still become a hit—will only find life at a festival, or if its lucky, DVD. Hence, looking at the above figures from Film Finders, it's easy to see the challenges small black films face in the marketplace; making the festivals that much more important to the evolution of black cinema and the development of diverse black audiences. SOURCE OF THIS STORY
DENVER (AP) -- Perched high above his raucous teammates, David Ortiz sprayed bottles of bubbly in every direction, dousing everyone in sight, including himself. Then it was time to deliver a message. "When you wear Red Sox on your shirt," he hollered from atop a clubhouse table, "you're good at something." There's a new monster, and this one's in Boston, too. Overwhelming in every way, the Red Sox swept to their second World Series title in four years Sunday night. Jon Lester, Mike Lowell & Co. left little room for drama with a 4-3 win over the Colorado Rockies in Game 4. Then again, no NL team could have blocked Boston this October. This was hardly a repeat from 2004, when the Red Sox ended their 86-year championship drought by beating St. Louis. Boston is a major league bully these days, playing in rarefied air before crowds who demand to win. "It doesn't get old," manager Terry Francona said. Gone are those pleading, pathetic days when the Red Sox were practically begging to win a title. They've got this down pat now. At this rate, New England fans might get spoiled. Francona's team has become a perfect counterpart to coach Bill Belichick's bruisers on the Patriots. After trailing Cleveland 3-1 in the AL championship series, the Red Sox won seven straight games and won their seventh World Series crown. The wild-card Rockies, who won a remarkable 21 of 22 games to get this far, were a mere afterthought by the end. Brad Hawpe homered in the seventh inning and Garrett Atkins hit a two-run shot in the eighth that came too late. SOURCE OF THIS STORY
“Forbidden Fruit psalms of a black master” Reviewed by - Stanley Bennett Clay Author Will Kane (an obvious nom de plume), making his literary debut with this collection of black gay male erotica, has placed himself in that small cadre of writers able to spin tales of raw sex, reality that reads like fiction, and poetically rendered kink, with admirable confidence and skill. And I do not use the term “literary” lightly, as Mr. Kane, whose day job is that of a Certified Insolvency and Restructuring Ad-
visor, raises the bar on descriptions of sexual encounters, settings, characters, and emotional responses, with a poetic skill reminiscent of Anne Rice and The Marquis de Sade, of which he is somewhere in the middle; more explicit than the former, less sadistic than the latter. And as explicit as the sex is, there are no gross-outs here. More than just a rudimentary teller of tales, Kane, in his nineteen-story collection (plus a fascinating mock interview epilogue) let’s us ride along on the multi-stop journey with one, handsome, (what else) black Certified Insolvency and Restructuring Advisor who manages to “nail” and get “nailed” by every hot black, Latino, and Asian male hottie on the planet, with the occasional white male freak thrown in for good measure. There’s not a lot of lovemaking in these 288 pages, but lots and lots of great sex for almost every taste. Kane does not hide the fact that his stories are fictitious takes on his real life experiences, disclaiming eloquently in his introduction:
“Thus I have taken the liberty of mixing things up; taking the plethora of sexy soirées, minor and major indiscretions, sleazy encounters, anonymous gropings [sic], and just out and out damn horny pig debaucheries that have been the story of my life these many years, stuck them in a metaphorical blender, and hit “Whip.” In “One Front Street” our lead, whose name also happens to be (what else) Will Kane, is led by six-foot-eight inches, two hundred thirty-five pounds-of-pure-muscle Blatino drag queeb to a club underneath the Brooklyn Bridge. The drag queen’s vise grip on his ‘private part’ encourages him to follow without question. Here he meets a gorgeous ‘well-gifted’ Dominican man. The description of their sexual encounter runs three pages, with nary a wasted word. “Midnight Showing” opens with our hero’s business trip to London and his hot tryst with an exceedingly handsome Sikh cabdriver in the backseat of his cab before Kane is dropped off at his hotel. And that’s only the beginning of Kane’s London britches falling down. During a Circuit party in San Juan, Puerto Rico, (“Max Redux”) a basketball game between a team of buff, mainland brothers, and a team of gorgeous local cholos, determines tops and bottoms, which includes a ‘playful’ gang bang. A naked run through America’s largest municipal park, which also happens to be one of Los Angeles’ most notorious cruising locations, pays off around the clock in “A.M-Griffith Park-P.M,” while “Men Out of Uniform” gleefully details an orgy Kane ends up in with a couple of Navy Seals, a pair of Gunnery Instructors, and a beautiful Mexican cleaning attended on the outskirts of San Diego, near Camp Pendleton. “Banker’s Hours” is a haunting meditation of time and place with an unexpected twist. There are so many encounters chronicled here that one can easily become dizzied. Though at times they tend to become repetitious, they never fail to “excite.” (Great bedtime stories.) But it is still about the exquisite writing, masterfully alternating between poetic narrative and the profanely stimulating. Both are exemplified in this passage from “Vale of Cashmere” “The drummers were down the hill, in their circle, pounding out tribal rhythms whose words had long ago been forgotten, back before there was even a memory of the homeland, but which nonetheless had the power to ignite that fragment of antiquity in our bones, whose resonance got the blood in our veins to boil with the familiar even still. The air was alive with the sounds of a lost diaspora. Gentle breezes carried the scent of frangipani, ginger, spice, and sweet girls gyrating to the steel pans, even though I was still some distance from the trailing lines of marchers celebrating their island heritages and shared experiences in the new world. Above me, with stern gazes, the Grand Army of the Republic, frozen for all time in triumphant procession, gave muted witness to the dizzying throngs milling about their feet, grilling plantains, roasting corn, frying acra, dusting salt on sweet-potato fries. Celebration and Triumph. Here was the crossroads of victory, and before me lay the field of battles yet to be fought. I was ready. I was ready to taste victory. I was ready for some hot ass.” Needless to say, this is not a book for the prudish, but considering the new openness with regards to homosexuality, straight women’s burgeoning fascination with gay male sex, and a new sexual maturity among African Americans (in spite of some antediluvian sectors of the black church); “Forbidden Fruit” is a highly satisfying page-turner and, quite frankly, a real turn-on. [Stanley Bennett Clay is the author of novel "Looker"]
Some events in the 2008 Summer Games may have to be postponed by a day or two if air pollution in Beijing is excessive, the International Olympic Committee said on Thursday. How will all this pollution affect the Olympic athletes? Scientists haven't done enough research to be sure, but it could make it impossible to break any world records. An athlete must breathe in a large amount of air during a competition—more than 20 times the amount inhaled by a normal person at rest. In Beijing, that means the athlete will be getting a super-sized dose of ozone and fine particulates, which can make respiration more difficult and reduce the amount of oxygen that gets to the muscles. (Other pollutants, like nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and sulfur dioxide also have negative health effects.) To make matters worse, some people are more sensitive to air quality than others, so there wouldn't even be a level playing field, just because the contenders are all breathing the same pollutants. And since hundredths of seconds in performance can separate a gold medalist from the bronze, every breath counts. SOURCE OF THIS STORY
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