12 Beefs We Should Remember from 2010

It’s that time of year again where we look back, remember and reflect on what went down this past year- 2010.. For me, there was so much making it hard to put it all in one essay.  But I figured, lemme try and reflect a bit at atime..So here ya go.. Here’s ‘12 Oh Snap, You [...]

Jahi: Remembering Lady T (Teena Marie) Her Connection to Hip Hop

Growing up in Cleveland, I can remember being in that back room with all the children, late night, playing cards, watching TV, and getting into the regular mischief that kids whose parents couldn’t afford a babysitter would get into while the adults got their groove on the front room in the mist of zigzags, album covers, and strong [...]

Soul Patrol..Thoughts on Teena Marie’s Passing

Yesterday I started getting phone calls and text messages while I was watching the football game on TV. Then I decided to check my email and sure enough there were dozens of emails informing me of the passing of Teena Marie. The sheer volume of this indicated that it was probably true, however there were no details in any [...]

Busta Rhymes Touches Down in Senegal and is Profoundly Moved: Powerful

Watching Busta Rhymes reflect and react to his visit to Senegal and his visit to Gore island where they have the Door of No Return is powerful. I recall how full I was when I returned from Kenya, I felt profoundly changed. I had a different spirit which is with me three years later.  I’m [...]

Jared Ball: The Professional Left Versus The Left of Us

Those purported liberals and progressives that urge pragmatism and caution in the face of raging imperial warfare and Wall Street’s predations, must not feel their own lives are at stake. “If they did really believe that corporations were leading the planet to doom or that the fascists they are protecting us from are just outside [...]

Some Memorable Hip Hop Flavored Christmas Songs…

There’s been scores of Hip Hop Christmas songs ranging from Run DMC‘s Christmas in Hollis to Eazy E‘s Merry Mutha…. Christmas.. I put a few of them together to bring that Holiday cheer.. Enjoy.. Feel free to add your own… Davey D Beat Street Christmas Rap http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fh8hB1tAip8   Kurtis Blow Christmas Rap http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFtA7IHZgzw   Run [...]

Here are the Civil Rights Orgs that Sold Out the People to the Big Telecoms on Net Neutrality

Below is a list Anti-Network Neutrality filings by Civil Rights groups and organizations of color that sold out the community and backed the big telecom companies..We included their letters to the FCC that were requested on behalf of the big telecom companies.. AT&T, Verizon and Comcast.. These telecom companies spent almost a billion dollars in [...]

Mobile Carriers are Moving to Charge per page view as Net Neutrality Vote Awaits

For the past 5 years.. we’ve been relentless about getting information out to our community about Net Neutrality. We’ve written lots of articles and posted up lots of videos on the subject. We know it’s not a sexy subject and for many its hard to understand, yet it’s the most important thing effecting Free Speech. [...]

Oscar Grant Update: Bay Area is Stunned as a Lying BART Cop is Reinstated

Last week an officer who blatantly lied under oath was given her job back.. We’re talking about Marysol Domenici who was one of the first officers to on the scene at the Fruitvale BART station in Oakland, January 1 2009 when an unarmed Oscar Grant was shot in the back by convicted former BART cop Johannes [...]

A conversation w/ the Legendary Brand Nubian

Its a shame that so many of us forget and totally overlook the pioneering  and groundbreaking groups who came before us. Brand Nubian is one such group whose members go back to the mid 80s and have always used the mic to spit conscious raising rhymes as well as bring innovative flows. A couple of [...]

Our interview w/ KRS-One on Gospel of Hip Hop & President Obama

We caught up with KRS-One and talked to him about his new book The Gospel of Hip Hop.. we also talked to him about his thoughts on President Obama and the direction this country is headed.. Always colorful, always insightful, KRS gives us some food for thought http://vimeo.com/16648303 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWa4UpajKTc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rcAGtlVqwqE Return to Davey D’s Hip [...]

Whatever happened to Captain Sky? Remember these Break Beats?

Sitting here remembering some classic breaks decided to share them and take us all down memory lane..  I wonder if folks think about records the same way we did back in the early days.. We listen for every horn riff, every hand clap, every drum beat to see if it could be used as breakdown [...]