“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.”
Cee-Lo’s back in town after a grueling tour spanning (on and off) this summer as part of Gnarls Barkley, his collaborative project with producer and one-time Atlantan Brian “Danger Mouse” Burton. The duo’s debut album, St. Elsewhere, has sold millions of copies around the world, and its cathartic hit single, “Crazy,” threatens to become one of the most popular songs of the year.
Until about three years ago, Lee Woo-sung, leader of the top-notch B-boy team Expression Crew, had to deal with angry parents who flocked to the crew’s training room to inquire the whereabouts of their children, who ran away from home.[…]South Korean B-boys, who often sweep titles at world B-boy competitions called ‘’battles,’’ are basking in the limelight more than ever. The government touts them as the ‘’next item for ‘hallyu,’ or Korean wave.’’
Chicago rapper Rhymefest will act as an international spokesman for Hip-Hop culture when he meets with Conservative Party leader David Cameron in the United Kingdom this week. Rhymefest will meet with Cameron at the House of Commons on Thursday (Oct. 19) to help change the politician’s view of Hip-Hop music, according to UK daily The Sun.
The body-rocking beat of hip hop reverberated beneath the vaulted ceilings of Princeton University’s largest lecture hall yesterday, marking the beginning of the politically-charged 2006 Hip Hop Symposium. Moderated by political activist Jeffrey Johnson, the symposium featured a six-person panel composed of two academics, two activists, a rapper, and a politician.
The Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” was the first hip-hop single to break into the national Top 40 pop charts, although anyone listening to it now for the first time probably would have a hard time picking up on what made the 1979 recording such a rap milestone. “Rapper’s Delight” offers little of the adventure, aggression or spectacular beats of the most compelling rap. It seems little more than a novelty with its goofy party-time talk, such as “bang bang the boogie to the boogie.” Yet the record, filled with more words than a pocket dictionary, is looked back upon with reverence by such tastemakers as Ice Cube, one of the architects of gangsta rap.
“From Mambo to Hip-Hop” dances through the history of a borough that nurtured two musical movements: the mambo that evolved into salsa, and the hip-hop that arose from the most desperate days of the South Bronx. Produced by Elena Martinez and Steve Zeitlin, who are principals in the New York folklore group City Lore, and directed by Henry Chalfant, a longtime chronicler of the South Bronx who collaborated on the early-1980’s documentary “Style Wars,” “From Mambo” rushes by, driven by rhythms that change through the decades.
