“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.”
Legendary veteran rap producer/songwriter, MC Spice, funds new nonprofit organization aimed at promoting nonviolence through Hip-Hop’s four physical elements: Emceeing, Graffiti, Deejaying and Breakdancing. The model is the culture’s four spiritual principles: Peace, Unity, Love and Havin’ Fun.
Kyva Holman is the co-founder of the hip-hop group, the Subterraneanz. In the wake of the controversy surrounding rapper Kanye West on the Katrina flood, and the ever evolving role of hip-hop and rap in our society, he offers this editorial on the state of post-modern hip hop. - E. “Doc” Smith.
Afeni Shakur, mother of Tupac Shakur, speaks of the “Evolution of a Revolutionary” on Sunday night at the McKinley Alumni Center on the campus of Louisiana State University.
Three 6 Mafia made history on Sunday night (March 5), when they became the first hip-hop artists ever to perform during the Academy Awards ceremony.
Lawrence “KRS-One” Parker this past weekend, during the Know-The-Ledge Hip Hop conference at Stanford University, used a discussion about the difference between hip hop and rap to berate hip hop journalist Adisa Banjoko.
It was supposed to be the realization of Jean’s childhood dream. Decked out as Haiti’s revolutionary hero Jean-Jacques Dessalines, complete with a tri-cornered hat, swashbuckler’s boots, glittering sword and ruffled shirt, the former Fugees front man would ride a float in Haiti’s biggest festival, a real lion at his side, capping a heroic return to his ravaged birthplace from his adopted homes of Brooklyn and New Jersey.
