Late in the afternoon of Jan. 16, a SWAT team from the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, backed up by officers from the Clayton County Sheriff’s Office and the local police department, along with a few drug-sniffing dogs, burst into a unmarked recording studio on a short, quiet street in an industrial neighborhood near the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.[…]

Later that night, a reporter for the local Fox TV station, Stacey Elgin, delivered a report on the raid from the darkened street in front of the studio. She announced that the owners of the studio, known professionally as DJ Drama and DJ Don Cannon, were arrested for making ‘’illegal CDs.'’

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Lateef the Truthspeaker may not be the best known rapper to rise out of the Bay Area, but he’s certainly one of the most prolific. The Grammy-nominated lyricist has appeared on albums the likes of DJ Shadow, Blackalicious and Fatboy Slim. He’s played with the groups Latyrx and Maroons. And he was one of the founding members of SoleSides, a collective of hip-hop enthusiasts that met up at UC Davis in the early ’90s and went on to launch the highly successful indie label Quannum Projects.

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“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.

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Plans are underway for Hip-Hop history to be made next month with Breakin’ for Cancer, a charity breakdancing event organized by Sole Power Productions that aims to land in the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest breakdance circle.[…]

In addition to the world record, Breakin’ for Cancer will be held in memory of Sole Power and Toronto Raptors Breakdance squad member B-Boy Troy’s (aka “Whiplash”) father Warren Arnold Feldman, who died earlier this month from liver cancer.

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A handsome but controversial young Tibetan lama has emerged on Taiwan’s music scene by releasing his first CD — a collection of rap and hip-hop songs which he claims can help promote Buddhism[…]

“We were surprised by the public response to this CD. It is selling extremely well. We have opened a blog for Singa Rinpoche and within a week, 100,000 people have browsed it,” Forward Music press officer Cheng Chao-jen told Deutsche Presse-agentur dpa.

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A consortium of Bay Area rappers, martial arts champs and others are convening today in San Jose, CA, for a free hip hop chess exhibition / grudge match. The event is the first in a series of nationwide tournaments meant to teach local youth the game of chess, and allow them to consort with rappers and martial artists in a relaxed environment.

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A St. Louis company that operates four TV stations and a hip-hop radio station said today that it was banning programming and music lyrics that it deems violent, sexist and racist.

The decision by black-owned Roberts Broadcasting Cos. LLC comes less than a week after Don Imus was fired by CBS Radio for calling members of the Rutgers women’s basketball team “nappy-headed hos.”

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