hiphopmusic.com:

I remember as a kid in the 80s, riding on the ferry to visit my cousins in Martha's Vineyard, listening to "King of Rock" on my walkman and looking around thinking "man, i must be the only person on this boat who knows or cares that this music exists." Never woulda guessed that 25 years later the Martha's Vineyard Times would be proudly profiling their own local rap groups. The me of today is sending a letter to the me of 1983, that reads "We won."

Moving to a different beat: Complex Humans
martha's vineyard times

Rap is difficult. An abbreviation for "rhythm and poetry," it is a form of music, and like any form of music, it doesn't follow rules, it is whatever the artists make it into.

Complex Humans, a group composed mostly of recently graduated regional high school seniors, is the Island's most prominent homegrown rap group...

...Like any form of music, there is nothing rap has to do and an infinite number of interpretable possibilities, it can do. The stereotypical urban rapper rolling within his reputation is not a target for emulation.

Mr. Brown's poise was put to the test as Saturday's show at Outerland was sparsely attended. But the group stepped up, unnerved, simply adapting their set and keeping the show moving. They demonstrated that rap is not about cheering crowds or rowdy mindsets but about expression, proposed through a microphone and married to a beat.

From locals who have become popular musicians to popular musicians who have become locals, the Island has sustained and cultivated many styles of music. It remains to be seen if Island hip-hop can continue to grow in appeal and legitimacy, but with groups like Complex Humans continuing to perform and improve, there seems to be no reason why it shouldn't succeed.

What's really sad about this sort of hipster racism isn't even the racism, it's the desperation of the pleas for attention.. all this shirt really says is "oh please oh please oh please, please be shocked by me!" In fact, are we sure this even happened? The only source verifying the alleged assault seems to be Braun himself.

"Obama Is My Slave" shirt sparks lawsuit threat
metro

When a 25-year-old Manhattan graduate student who was assaulted Tuesday night got dressed that morning, she probably didn’t anticipate that her T-shirt would provoke four teens into shoving her, pulling out her earphones and spitting in her face. Then again, with a shirt sporting the slogan, “Obama is my slave,” it may have been wise to consider the possibility.

Now she’s suing the $69 shirt’s designer, Apollo Braun, for “all he’s got,” the designer claims...

You gotta put some strategery into it.

from eurweb:

Rapper Nas is about to replace Lil Wayne atop the Billboard 200 chart Wednesday when sales figures for his new untitled album hit the streets from Nielsen SoundScan.

According to the tracking firm, the Def Jam release sold 113,000 copies during its first three days of commercial availability through Thursday. The total, however, is considerably less than the first week sales of Nas' last No. 1 album, "Hip-Hop Is Dead," which arrived in late December 2006 selling 354,000 copies during Christmas week...

Most interesting to me is this note at the end of the piece.. these places are where 80% of music is sold?

The three-day tally for Nas' album represents un-weighted sales at nine leading music merchants -- Trans World Entertainment, Apple, Best Buy, Circuit City, Borders, Starbucks, Target, Anderson Merchandisers and Handleman Co. They account for about 80% of the U.S. album market.

I was too tired to pay close attention so I will rely on y'all to render a verdict. this is the full "Black In America" special from Wednesday Night, July 23, 2008:

CNN Black In America Special, 7/23/08 Part 1

CNN Black In America Special, 7/23/08 Part 2

Colbert Report spent almost the entire show on Nas' Fox News protest.. here's the colbert's report on the Nas Fox Protest, the interview and performance of "Sly Fox":

Nas on Colbert Report part 1

Barack Obama's speech today in Berlin, Germany.
toi

US presidential hopeful Barack Obama kicked off on Thursday a European tour in Berlin, which was ready to give him a rapturous welcome amid a yearning on the continent for change in Washington.

Obama was to meet German chancellor Angela Merkel and foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier before making a foreign policy speech in front of an expected crowd of tens of thousands.

"He is awaited like a magician who can clear away the clouds of a troubled world," the influential German newsmagazine Der Spiegel said in a cover story. "Obama is the hope of a western world with a lot of worries..."

Barack Obama Berlin Speech

Yet another Bush administration scandal:

Monica Goodling Hiring Scandal
mercury news

Monica Goodling, and other top aides to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales broke the law by letting politics influence the hiring of career prosecutors and immigration judges at the Justice Department, says an internal report released Monday.

Gonzales was largely unaware of the hiring decisions by two of his most trusted aides including Monica Goodling, according to the report by Justice's Office of Inspector General and Office of Professional Responsibility. [yeah right]

But it singles out his former White House liaison, Monica Goodling, for violating federal law and Justice Department policy by discriminating against job applicants who weren't Republican or conservative loyalists.

"Monica Goodling improperly subjected candidates for certain career positions to the same politically based evaluation she used on candidates for political positions," the report concluded.

In one instance, Justice investigators found, Monica Goodling objected to hiring an assistant prosecutor in Washington because "judging from his resume, he appeared to be a liberal Democrat."

In another, she rejected an experienced terror prosecutor to work on counterterror issues at a Justice Department headquarters office "because of his wife's political affiliations," the report found. It also found she rejected at least one job applicant who was rumored to be a lesbian...

shoutout to The Real, ran into one of them on the train this weekend..

from the discussion page for Wikipedia's entry on "rapping":

Please include the BAD side of rap

this artical does not include anything about the bad side of rap the bad side includes

1. talking in ununderstandable slang
2. swearing
3. violence
4. noise pollution (blasting out of phones (ect.)

Wow.. there's gotta be more to this story than what's come out so far. I believe the police version of this about as much as I believed that cop who pushed the dude off the bike. Best wishes to Naledge and Double-O..

Kidz In the Hall Fight, Arrest in Arizona
sohh

Kidz In The Hall rapper Naledge was recently arrested after a performance led to violence in an Arizona nightclub.

According to Phoenix’s East Valley Tribune, the Chicago-bred emcee (born Jabari Miles Evans) was taken into police custody on Saturday (July 26) after a fight broke out at Tempe’s Cherry Lounge & Pit. Police spokesman Sgt. Steve Carbajal said Naledge was arrested for interfering with the cops’ investigation of the case.

“He refused multiple police commands to leave a crime scene,” Carbajal said in a police report. “[He] had to be physically removed.”

SOHH spoke with the group’s label, Duck Down Records, who said that while details about the fight are still sketchy, Kidz DJ, Double-O is currently recuperating.

“From my understanding it was a pretty serious altercation,” Duck Down Founder Dru Ha told SOHH exclusively. “While we’re still trying to get the complete accurate story, as opposed to what everyone is writing in rumor sections on web sites, Double-O is recovering and our best wishes are with him.”

Following the arrest, Naledge was booked on suspicion of violating the city’s code of obstructing justice and taken to Tempe City Jail. He was then released on $500 bail.

UPDATE - A statement is out from KITH's management:

Double O from the hip hop group Kidz In The Hall was assaulted by several bouncers early Saturday morning, July 26, while inside a nightclub in Tempe, AZ following a Kidz In The Hall performance. Group member and friend Naledge, who did not witness the assault on Double O, was arrested outside of the club. Naledge's attempt to get medical assistance for Double O was misconstrued as a hinderence to the investigation. Reports that no injuries were sustained are false as Double O was taken to the hospital with multiple injuries from the excessive force used by club security. On Sunday morning Double O underwent surgery for one of his injuries. He is still in the hospital, but in stable condition.

In the last 2 years, Kidz In The Hall have traveled to over 10 countries, have done 200+ shows and never before been involved in any altercation, big or small, with club or concert security, or police officers.

Kidz In the Hall Fight, Arrest in Arizona