hiphopmusic.com:

A bunch of good folks (and myself) will be reading exceprts from "Letters From Young Activists: Today's Rebels Speak Out" tonight at the CUNY graduate Center on 34th & 5th Avenue, Room C198. Come through and say hi if you can.. if not be sure to check the book.

50 Cent is now officially the Wilt Chamberlain of beef. How long until he reaches 20,000?

50 Cent: 'Robbie Williams Is A Sucker'

Hardman rapper 50 Cent has branded Robbie Williams a "sucker" after the British singer complained about his behaviour when they stayed at the same German hotel in October.

50 Cent, real name Curtis Jackson, and former boy band member Williams both checked into the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Berlin, but trouble reportedly brewed when Robbie Williams' fans mistook 50 Cent's car for the former Take That singers' and greeted the rapper chanting, "Robbie, Robbie."

The situation escalated when Williams later complained to hotel management, demanding they curb the hip-hop wildman's late night antics.

But 50 Cent has another explanation for their falling out - Williams felt humiliated because the hip-hop star refused to meet him. "He's a sucker. He said I was keeping him awake. "I know he wanted to meet me but I didn't have time. Maybe that's why he was upset."

"Underground Railroad" listeners know that our DJ Tomkat is among the most erudite and deep-crated DJs in the world.. some may be aware he was DJ Spinna's mentor in the art of digging. But rarely has anyone been able to see him put those skills in action.. tonight that changes, as Tom starts a new weekly party called "Rarefied". Along with his partner DJ Steve-O (nephew of Jabo Starks!), Tomkat is backed up tonight by guest DJ Jeannie Hopper:

RAREFIED
Rare Grooves Redefined
Sutra Lounge, 16 1st avenue (between 1st and 2nd streets.) in the East Village
Wednesday, December 7, 2005 and weekly thereafter
Time 8pm-1am
NO COVER

between this and the Skullsnaps show on Friday, it's gonna be a good week for the funk..

On Tuesday I helped some good people put together a special on international hip-hop, that airs on WBAI tomorrow night at 11PM. They also made a podcast out of it, on the bottom left of their page:

NOMADIC SOUNDS ON THE RADIO

Nomadic Sounds is a series of music specials bringing you the best of the world's undiscovered and underground sounds from around the Globe.

At Nomadic Sounds, we will be celebrating the latest in music of the 'Global Diaspora'- from African Hip-Hop to South Asian Bhangra and everything in between. Nomadic Sounds is dedicated to presenting you with talent from all over the world with both live performances and discussions with the artists.

For the first of this series we invited musician, hip-hop activist and US Hip-Hop Ambassador - Toni Blackman to co-host the show featuring MCs Chosan of Sierra Leone, LF & DJ Laylo from Brazil and Korean -American emcee El Gambina into the studio for some live performances and conversation.

Just wanted to take a moment to acknowledge that.

Also, out of the 5 records up for record of the year, 4 of them are produced by Jermaine Dupri, Danger Mouse, The Neptunes and Kanye West respectively.

WTF? Somebody get Superintendent Chalmers down here..

Youth suspended for speaking Spanish

Most of the time, 16-year-old Zach Rubio converses in clear, unaccented American teen-speak, a form of English in which the three most common words are "like," "whatever" and "totally." But Zach is also fluent in his dad's native language, Spanish -- and that's what got him suspended from school.

"It was, like, totally not in the classroom," the high school junior said, recalling the infraction. "We were in the, like, hall or whatever, on restroom break. This kid I know, he's like, 'Me prestas un dolar?' ['Will you lend me a dollar?'] Well, he asked in Spanish; it just seemed natural to answer that way. So I'm like, 'No problema.' "

But that conversation turned out to be a big problem for the staff at the Endeavor Alternative School, a small public high school in an ethnically mixed blue-collar neighborhood. A teacher who overheard the two boys sent Zach to the office, where Principal Jennifer Watts ordered him to call his father and leave the school.
Watts, whom students describe as a disciplinarian, said she can't discuss the case. But in a written "discipline referral" explaining her decision to suspend Zach for 1 1/2 days, she noted: "This is not the first time we have [asked] Zach and others to not speak Spanish at school."

Since then, the suspension of Zach Rubio has become the talk of the town in both English and Spanish newspapers and radio shows. The school district has officially rescinded his punishment and said that speaking a foreign language is not grounds for suspension. Meanwhile, the Rubio family has retained a lawyer, who says a civil rights lawsuit may be in the offing.

Recently Gawker has been posting about this kid who shows up at downtown parties wearing blackface and a Jesus costume. Some other bloggers have concluded that the kid is a preening jackass.

But I decided to get his side of the story before making any assumptions, and spoke to Blackface Jesus through his myspace page. Our dialogue is pasted below:

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Jay
Date: Dec 9, 2005 10:26 AM

I'd like to hear your side of the story before I jump to any conclusions.. can you explain the purpose of this blackface jesus thing?

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Black Face Jesus
Date: Dec 9, 2005 12:48 PM

im representing that jesus was a black man and that people should start to be more aware of the truths in the world..we need to wake up and start treating this life we have been given more preciously

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Jay
Date: Dec 9, 2005 1:49 PM

Forgive me, but this answer seems a little disingenuous.

I suspect a more honest answer might be: "I am an attention-starved coward who looks for easy ways to provoke people, but lacks the courage or integrity to take responsibility for what I provoke."

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Black Face Jesus
Date: Dec 9, 2005 1:55 PM

this is the anger im trying to find...hate and anger consume you...you cant stand the fact the i portray jesus as a man of dark skin..ive gone to harlem with this face paint on and spoken to people...find jesus and find peace..

----------------- Original Message -----------------
From: Jay
Date: Dec 9, 2005 2:08 PM

In other words, I had you pegged. Okay, thanks for clearing that up.

Enjoy the rest of your 15 minutes!

"Cuz we're all family.
That's it, jack.
And fuck all that other shit."

There's never been an artist I loved like Richard. So much of how I think, how I strive to represent myself to whatever extent I have a public voice... so much of who I am comes from Richard.

Richard's every word as a performer was informed by honesty and compassion. A commitment to the principle that every human being deserves to be treated with kindness and respect, and to calling you out if you did not live by this principle. And a commitment to telling the truth. A fearless honesty about the world that was surpassed only by his fearless honesty about himself.

Honesty and compassion. Maybe the two hardest things to maintain in life, but they are the ones that count the most.

That's what Richard taught us. That when we can look honestly at ourselves and at each other, and react with compassion to whatever we see, we can always laugh together. Even, or maybe especially, in the hardest of the hard times.

Peace be with you, Richard. You were my hero.

Tributes worth reading:

This makes me feel ill.. that we as human beings ever presume we should have the power to do this, I'll never understand..

Gov. Schwarzenegger Denies Clemency for Crips Co-Founder

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger announced today that he would not grant clemency to Stanley Tookie Williams, whose bid to avoid being put to death shortly after midnight tonight has gained wide attention.

Governor Schwarzenegger's decision not to halt Mr. Williams' execution by injection at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday is his third rejection of a petition for a stay of execution or clemency since he took office in 2003. Clemency has not been granted to a death row inmate in California since 1967...

EDIT: Bomani Jones reminds us there are still many battles remaining to fight on this front.

Come chill with me and Deepa, Amy, Bernard and the rest of the gang.. ain't no party like a progressive journalist party! Why are you laughing, I'm serious.. no for real, you should come down if you can. The Daily News said so:

WBAI Holiday Party, Wednesday Night at 7:30

WBAI (99.5 FM) throws its "Theater Holiday Party" tomorrow night, 7:30-9:30, at 227 Fourth Ave. in Brooklyn.

Island soul singer David Pilgrim will perform, and the duo Madame Funnypants will present "The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Romantic Comedy."

Amy Goodman of "Democracy Now" and program director Bernard White are hosts of the evening. Also in attendance will be Deepa Fernandes and the Wake-Up Call crew, Jeannie Hopper of "Liquid Sound Lounge," Jay Smooth of "Underground Railroad," among others. Admission is $20. Call (212) 400-7458.

Last Saturday Eternia came down to the Railroad and shared some war stories about representing hip-hop on the Warped tour, broke down Canada's tradition of government funding for local musicians. And of course she traded verses with Emskee, and some other guy recycling his old rhymes from 3 years ago.. I'll post the audio below, trying out my new account on Odeo.com:

I have a little piece here in this week's Seattle Weekly talking about some of my favorite cover songs (peace to Supah Editor Matos). I'm kicking myself now for not thinking of Bizmark's "Benny and the Jets."

What other tracks would you guys pick if you were putting a CD together? And your picks for worst cover?

Every blog in town will be linking this one up, so I might as well join in.. very well done, I can't front. The Aaron Burr line gets an A+.

Turntable deity Rob Swift stopped by the radio show this week on the way to a gig, and talked about his new album "Wargames", and his stance on the hotly contested Serato issue:

Since some folks have read Chris Rock's Top 25 Hip-Hop Albums list in Rolling Stone and wondered if he really wrote it himself, here's a convo I had with Prince Paul last year about Chris' status as a "head":

You've worked with both Dave Chappelle and Chris Rock, which one would you say is a bigger hip-hop head out of the two?

Prince Paul: Man, it's hard to say cuz both of them are crazy! But I think Chris is a fanatic. And Chris also DJ-ed, like, on the block when he was a kid. He has a little DJ set at his house, and he has pictures of him when he was DJ-ing, I guess he was like 15, 16.

So he's definitely a head, and he'll call me up and hold conversations for like an hour and a half, on what's new: "Ehhh, such-and-such record is okay, but track number whatever he had whatever, and I talked to Rick Rubin last week and told him he should have Jay-Z do blah blah blah.." He'll call me up with an idea, like "Paul I've got an idea for you, you know what your next album cover should be?" So he's definitely into it.

I don't have that type of relationship with Dave Chappelle. Like, I met him through Chris, but I haven't sat down with him and chit-chatted with him for any length of time, so it would be kinda unfair [to compare].

Damn you, Dark Crusaders!

ChappelleTheory.com

...December 26, 2004: The day after Christmas, Chappelle and his family were home, trying to enjoy the holidays. Dave has taken to sleeping with a gun under his pillow and won't let his wife or children leave the house without him. Privately, his wife had consulted with her Doctor about institutionalizing Dave.

On that day, Chappelle received a package that made him decide to halt the show's production for good.

The package — which arrived via UPS — contained a picture of Chappelle's sleeping children, taken the night before in Chappelle's house. A person who appeared to be of Al Sharpton's build was standing next to their beds...

Dave should buy the movie rights to this, and get Cosby, Farrakhan and Sharpton to portray themselves..

I didn't have a need to be out of the house today, and slept until noon (hate me now!). Any New Yorkers got strike stories to share?

Some links:

I'm gonna try and post new MP3s everyday (until Odeo tells me to stop). Here's a set from early this year, with some of my interview with Jeff Chang mixed in at the end:

Rushay from Africasgateway.com sent along this clip from Bay FM radio in South Africa, an emcee named Dirkie De Vos rockng the mic in Afrikaans:

Gotta thank the illustrious Miss Info for passing this on. It's a couple of voicemail messages Benzino left at Ozone magazine for Julia Beverly. Benzino may not be much of a rapper, but when it comes to misogynistic voicemail hissy fits? He's got it down. Because I'm a nice guy I bleeped out his phone number, but the rest is uncut:

I don't usually read gossip blogs (altho gofugyourself is pretty funny), but I know there are some newer ones helping to address that scene's melanin impairment, and I need to catch up.. I've seen crunk and disorderly and concreteloop, what are the other good ones?

When I see a writer on a site like Slate, covering a topic like "hip-hop and jazz," I usually brace myself for a painful ride. But this take from David Adler was a happy surprise, showing no signs of wackness whatsoever:

Two Turntables and a Saxophone
How jazz plays off hip-hop.

When I e-mailed a knowledgeable friend that I'd be writing on jazz and hip-hop, she replied, "Man, can people stop talking about this already?" She's right, in a way. The jazz/hip-hop nexus is simply a cultural and genealogical fact. Turntablists, MCs, and jazz musicians are collaborating every day. And yet the impact of hip-hop on some of the best new acoustic jazz still isn't widely understood.

To borrow a term from DJ Shadow, jazz and hip-hop are omni-genres, held together more by musical and cultural philosophies than by any limiting parameters of "style." While hip-hop has devolved time and again into disposable pop, it has never lost its vitality as an underground, alternative art form. This is the aspect of hip-hop that jazz musicians are responding to; they're encountering hip-hop on creative rather than commercial terms. And they're refuting the popular view that today's jazzers are stuck in the '50s and '60s.

Also weirdly intriguing, if you missed it: Rappers' rivalries create totally weird social-network science

What the hell are you scientists thinking about? Don't you go to the movies? This does not end well. And the black guy dies first.

On Wednesday Tony Neal of the Core DJs crew organized a conference call with Julia Beverly, Benzino, Funk Flex and a number of other DJs. Thanks to DJ Pete Butta I've got the entire call on MP3:

Benzino, Julia Beverly, Funkmaster Flex - Core DJs Conference Call

Part 1 45 min.

Part 2 42 min.

Once again, wow. I gotta give utmost props to Julia Beverly for standing up to Benzino this week, and helping expose him once again for the bully that he is.

EDIT: I probably should have warned you that most of the call is, as trent said, a chaotic mess, and some of it is difficult to hear since most conference call technology is not designed for thugged-out shrieking.