AHH Stray News: Ice-T, Chamillionaire, J-Bo

Popular rapper/actor Ice-T will speak at Teachers College at Columbia University, one of the United States’ leading graduate schools. The rapper will be featured during a two-day gathering called "Teach, Think, Play: Popular Culture in the Classroom." According to organizers, the conference is designed to explore challenges and power of integrating pop culture into the […]

Popular rapper/actor

Ice-T will speak at Teachers College at Columbia University, one of the United

States’ leading graduate schools. The rapper will be featured during a two-day

gathering called "Teach, Think, Play: Popular Culture in the Classroom."

According to organizers, the conference is designed to explore challenges and

power of integrating pop culture into the classroom curricula. Other speakers

include Art Spiegelman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning comic book artist of Maus,

who also created The Garbage Pail Kids trading cards. Spiegelman’s wife Françoise

Mouly, poet Taylor Mali, Danny Simmons, Popmaster Fabel, mental_floss magazine

founder Will Pearson and others are also expected to attend. The conference takes

place at Teachers College, Columbia University, on Sat. Mar. 24 from 8:15 am –

7 pm and Sunday, Mar. 25, from 8:15 am – 4 PMEnergizer

has enlisted the help of rapper Chamillionaire, will judge the company’s "Energizer

Titanium Technology Freestylin’ Music Contest.” The contest returns

after after hundreds of hip-hop hopefuls entered their freestyle submission in

2006 for celebrity judge Slim Thug, who helped pick the 2006 winner. This year,

one winner of the contest will have the opportunity to meet Chamillionaire and

perform live with the rapper on stage at the 2007 DUB Magazine’s Custom Auto

Show and Concert in Atlanta, GA, on May 20. Between now and Apr. 21, hopefuls

can submit their verses by visiting www.mySpace.com/energizer to enter the online

music contest. There contestants will be given the opportunity to download beats

(created by breakthrough producers Mysto and Pizzi), record their original lyrics,

as well as upload their completed song to enter into the contest. The entry should

be no longer than two minutes and no larger than five mega bytes. Starting April

29, five semi-finalists will have their songs featured on the contest site for

their peers to vote down to the top two finalists. The grand prize winner will

be selected by Chamillionaire on May 7.J-Bo,

one half of the popular Atlanta-based group Young Bloodz, is dropping a solo mixtape

this week featuring artists like Lil Jon, Jazze Pha, T.I., Lil Scrappy and more.

J-Bo’s STILL Against the Grain mixtape, hosted by DJ Rip, is the result

of a recent joint venture deal with Ball or Fall Records. The mixtape was predominantly

produced in house by his own ‘Fully Focus Camp’ production team. The

21-track mixtape features songs with 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes, Too $hort, Pimp C,

Lil Scrappy and others. Two bonus tracks, including Michael Jackson’s ‘Give

It To Me’ remix, are also featured on the album.