“Other People’s Property” is a very good book that is at its best when its author acts like a DJ. But don’t get it twisted: [Jason] Tanz sees hip-hop as text more than as sonic phenomenon or, for that matter, stone groove. “Other People’s Property” is made up of nine journalistic pieces, each a mix of reportage and personal reflection about race and the industry of hip-hop. It’s freaky, equally in love with Western philosophers such as Jean Baudrillard and the classic albums from hip-hop’s golden era. In a very hip-hop effort to get his shine on, the author mashes up his prose, cutting in and out of reportage and confessional styles.
This cutting edge documentary not only unmasks the faces of seven individuals addicted to graffiti, but it exposes their thoughts, feelings, faults and fears — an avenue unrivaled by any graff film to date[…]”Graffiti is like the United Nations. There is a representative from all corners of the earth. Black, white and the many shades in between, man or woman.”
Despite his tragic and untimely death nine years ago, the legacy of the late rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur continues to live on through his inspirational music, spoken word projects and movies. Thanks to his close friend Gobi (also director of his last three music videos), a book entitled “Thru My Eyes: Thoughts on Tupac Amaru Shakur in Pictures and Words” will hit stores next week.
Jeff Johnson doesn’t just talk. He connects. Johnson, a minister and host of BET’s “The Cousin Jeff Chronicles,” spoke at an Urban League affiliate conference about the gap between the generation raised during the civil rights era and what he called the “hip-hop generation.”
Since the Coup’s last album, ‘’Party Music,” was released weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, America has launched two ongoing wars, in Afghanistan and Iraq; the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal made headlines; and Hurricane Katrina left more than a few government officials all wet. Which is another way of saying Boots Riley, leader of the ferociously political hip-hop duo, has a lot on his mind these days.
Former Hot Boy group member Tab “Turk” Virgil has been sentenced to 10 years in prison, after being convicted of three weapons charges stemming from a Jan. 2004 shootout with Memphis, Tennessee SWAT Team members.
Sony’s PSP is hitting the road for a cross country promo tour which will start Oct. 28 in Sacramento, CA and finish in New York City in December. Co-headlining the tour, which is also a concert called the PlayStation Presents Breed Love Odyssey Tour, are hip-hop artists Mos Def and Talib Kweli.
Tuesday night marked the grand opening of Jay-Z’s second 40/40 spot, this one in Atlantic City. The club is located in front of Caesars Resorts, on the corner of Missouri and Atlantic Avenues. During a tour of the $3.5 million, 15,000 sq. ft. sports bar Jay admitted it was even more imposing than he expected.
The Source Magazine has filed a $100 million dollar lawsuit against Black Entertainment Television (BET) and two high-ranking executives with the company, alleging that the network refused to air The Source Awards as stipulated in a signed agreement.
