Happy Birthday Honorable, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. embraced his life mission early and contributed himself to the world as a great leader and humanitarian. He was born January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, G.A. where he was raised. In his short 39 year lifetime he courageously revolutionized prejudice and discrimination by bringing people together for the sake of national and global peace. Dr. King became the youngest person to ever receive the Nobel Peace Prize at the age of 35. Keep the Honorable Doctor Kings dream alive by looking into the faces of other human beings and seeing yourself. Give yourself a smile and think of how fortunate we are for the freedoms we are living and have lived. The hearts of true warriors and kings belong to those who recognize their brothers. Happy Birthday Dr. King!       

A Breath of Fresh

Pieces of Progress

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The Shaolin Chef

Raekwon, of the Wu-Tang Clan is back in momentum and will be releasing his new album 'Shaolin Vs. Wu Tang'. The Chef sums it up by saying,"So this album just shows the street side of me, challenging the great side of Wu-Tang", while Shaolin represents the borough of Staten Island, where he grew up in Park Hill projects, Wu-Tang is philosophically driven by producer and the crew sensei  RZA.

In Stores March 8th, 2011 

"Chocolate Droppa's" Real Rap Raw

Nothing about this tattoo say's 'Gucci'!

Hip-Hop'. Avantgarde. Music.- Kanye & Jay-Z Go H.A.M.

'Seasoned Vegan' Serves Up Satisfaction

The vegetarian population in the United States has been increasing rapidly since the millenium. In 2008 'Vegetarian Times' reported that there were 7.3 million vegetarians living in the United States. Our daily lives steer us  to explore the delightful and diverse worlds of food. If you are someone who is health conscious, interested in convenient quality cuisine, satisfying all taste quenching expectations or just want to try something new, you may want to indulge at ' Seasoned Vegan' in Harlem, N.Y. Located at 283 West 118th street between St. Nicholas and 8th avenues, the animal free, gluten free, non-dairy food has been consistently earning five star customer reviews since it opened last year inside 'Lee Lee's Bakery'. Owner of Seasoned Vegan and chef Brenda Beener, a Harlem native, has been accustomed to pleasing family and friends with her flavorful vegan food for over 25 years. There are a variety of impeccable aromas alive under the peppermint striped awning. Each day Wednesday through Saturday the restaurant offers a culturally infused menu, including International Thursdays, when you can order a vegan dish like Arroz con "pollo" and Soul Food Saturdays, when dishes like BBQ "ribs" and maccaroni & "cheese" are prepared. All of the finger-licking foods are made from  blends of  vegetables, soy, yam, roots, mushroom and other earth yielded goodies. They have no perservatives and are cooked in canola and olive oils. As for dessert... Don't forget your brown paperbag of  Lee Lee's famous rugelach for the ride home!

Bun B's Spiritual Syllabus

When I first heard that Underground Kingz, Bun B would be teaching Spirituality and Hip Hop Culture at Rice University I could not find a correlation. However, after some thought it became apparent to me how  simultaneously associated culture and religions are. Spirituality stems from our inner realms shaping who we become, creating a culture regardless of what faith we practice. Cool, now that I am ready for class, who is my professor? MC Bun B of Port Arthur, Texas has always appeared to be this smooth soulful hip hop cat. And who dare not remember the late great Pimp C in the same thought. Laid back with a wise storytelling flow Bun B has been telling stories since the 80's and the world has been listening. He started the group 'Four Black Ministers' in the 80's and went on tour in 1987 joining other hip hop artists interested in educating Blacks and Hispanics about the causes and effects of negative financial choices. Still some would say that the contents of his lyrics are not condusive to religion, degrading and vulgar. Giving Professor B the benefit of hope and understanding, I believe that his class will have a revolutionary effect on linking the world of hip hop culture with education, which is precisely where we need to be. As far as spirituality, lets pray, in our many languages, that polished ethics will be a result of educated hip hop. The effects will spill into the lyrical content accordingly. As for Bun B's students, blessings to bright futures and good luck. 

T-rex Eats Dna

It is a good thing that this battle is only set for one round. Things get heated when T-rex's funny punchlines and disses pop DNA's longjohn buttons. Where is DNA? He goes unseen while T-rex's rapping. Is he trowing up again? "Word to Thomas the Train", you're making Corona look really lame. But it's just wrong to poke fun at someones handicap mother especially when your spastic hypeman/ Rainman is "retarded" on purpose. What happens at the end of this clip is to be continued...

Witty Fiddy's Twitter Stock Scheme

Kudos to hip hop artist and entrepeneur Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson after he raises the bars on a penny stock venture via Twitter. Revenues shoot up, after the shareholder witted his tweedets into buying inexpensive shares of stock symbol HNHI, TV Goods Holding corporation. He's gone from "Robbing the Industry" to flipping business ethics on social websites, overnight. Owners, H&H Imports, who primarily markets through infomercials, had been suffering a deficit of $3.3 million dollars and was in need of a quick fix, or else... 50 Tweets. "Ok, ok, ok my friends just told me stop tweeting about HNHI so we can get all the money. Check it out it's the real deal", is the third of 10 tweets. According to Business Insider '50' generated "the most valuable tweets of all time" raising shares from $.10 to $.39, a 290% increase. His suggestive money sweet tweet has raised some eyebrows. However, the small talk hasn't been clearly perceived as legal or illegal. What is clear, is that the stock symbol HNHI should be replaced with the letters, HNIC. H&H Imports capitalized $60 million, earning Mr. "50 Cent" Jackson a fat 10 million dollars in one day.
                                                     

Microphone Medics

It's about time! We must first express gratitude to Eminem, Jay-z and 50 Cent for their effective referrences to the snowballing glitches currently accepted in the hip hop music industry. As we know to many, it's all about the money aka, "the hustle". However, as for us, true musicians, artists and fans, our questions lay in the future of the music and how hip hop will ultimately be affected? Hip hop remains to be one of the newest genres of music. In order to perserve it, "artists" must first respect and maintain the dynamics of the lyrical arts. There is so much emphasis on beats, hooks and chorus', that it doesn't even matter what is being said. Sad!

Sounds of St. Albans Unspoken Streets

There is homage to be paid to the town of St. Albans Queens, New York where Black American musicians, legends and icons such as James Brown, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, John Coltrane, Run D.M.C., L.L. Cool J., A Tribe Called Quest among others were born, raised, and or died. Addisleigh Park, known as the "mecca for jazz musicians" welcomed its first Choctaw and African American mixed resident in 1923, Clarence Williams. Addisleigh Park, a quaint and affluent enclave within St. Albans remains home to a community of hard-working, educated and talented Black Americans today. Outside of Addisleigh Park, up Linden Boulevard and Farmers Boulevard is where industrious St.
Albans and Hollis families flourished on more modest means. Some of our greatest originators and innovators of hip hop come from these streets. Besides musicians and hip hop artisits, influential civil rights leader, W.E.B. Du Bois and Baseball pioneer, Jackie Robinson also lived within the Queens community. Know your hood story.

Dopest Lyricists of the Decade

Lyricists are storytellers sure to deliver an effective statement, using relative word context in a rhythmic flow over instrumental beats to make music. To be a top ten lyricist does not necessarily mean that you will always fit the status quo and mainstream. It’s the courage that lies in the hearts of all truly good artists. The Greatest Hip Hop Lyricists of the Decade, presented  in alphabetical order, are Common, Eminem, Fabolous, Jadakiss, Jay-z,  Kanye West,  Ludacris, Mos Def, Nas and last but not least Styles P.  Each of the ten being true artists in their own right, none deserves a rating second to the next. It takes more than a catchy hook and a great beat to make a top ten hip hop artists aka lyricists. Musically speaking, first, it should also take close to a decade of experience to even qualify for such a rank. Consistency matters on all levels, qualitative and quantitative. Rich in culture, conscious and charismatic, great hip hop artists stay true to their individual musical approach. Some are soulful, some, more into boulevard banging. Their talents are grounded in creative lyrical abilities and how ingeniously their relative stories are delivered. Most are metaphoric masters, using effective subliminal sarcasm and wit. I like to call these reigning champions swag street storytellers.

Electronica Shocks!

Soulful street storyteller from Magnolia projects, New Orleans, L.A. Jay Electronica was born Je'Ri' Allah in 1976. The insightful lyricist signed to CEO Jay-Z's, Roc Nation label November, 2010 leaving Bad Boy's Puffy pockerfaced. While there's nothing superficial about Jay Electronica and his new partenership take a moment to hear their 'Shiny Suit Theory'.