Pioneering producer
Rick Rubin has signed a deal with Warner Bros. Records to distribute his American
Recordings label, according to the New York Post. Rubin, who founded Def Jam Records
in his NYU dorm room alongside rap impresario Russell Simmons, will bring several
acts including the Jayhawks into the partnership. Rubin recently returned to his
Hip-Hop roots as he laid down tracks for Jay-Z and Lil Jon & the East Side
Boyz in the past year. The move reunites Rubin’s American label with Lyor Cohen,
who brought the label into the Island Def Jam music fold before departing for
Warner Music Group.
Garage rapper The Streets
aka Mike Skinner and Eminem were triumphant at the 2005 Brit Awards held last
Wednesday (Feb. 9) as the two walked away with the British Male Artist and International
Male Artist honors, respectively. Eminem defeated Kayne West and Usher to capture
his victory, which was awarded by the British Phonographic Industry Ltd., an
industry association. Other winners included songstress Joss Stone and Gwen
Stefani.
Fourteen high school students
in Johnston, Rhode Island were suspended from school last week for recording
a hip-hop album that administrators deemed vulgar and violent, according to
the Associated Press. The students each received a five-day suspension and are
required to perform community service and receive in-school sensitivity training
once they return from their punishment. The group sold 50 copies of the album,
which featured lines like “I just wanna grab the Glock and c### it back
/ kill everyone here, how … is that,” before concerned parents contacted
school officials. A first amendment attorney said of the situation: “School
officials have a much stronger claim to jurisdiction even though the materials
were created off-campus.” A report by the school superintendent is due
this week.
Three members of
the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM) were arrested by NYPD officers last
Wednesday (Feb 9) while patrolling the streets of Brooklyn as a part of the
group’s Copwatch Program. The trio was videotaping a scene on a Bed-Stuy
street after being altered by residents of unusually high police activity in
the area. While approaching the scene, Djibril Toure, Lumumba Bandele and Dasaw
Floyd were confronted by an official who arrested and charged the men with assault
and obstruction of governmental administration, according to Toure. "This
arrest is outrageous," the group’s attorney Kamau Karl Franklin said
in a statement. "They were involved in completely legal activities, and
the irony is that their treatment by police underscores the very need for a
program such as Copwatch.”
