Oscar Grant & Mumia: What is Black life worth in America?
Oscar Grant & Mumia: What is Black life worth in America? Let me be very candid and straight to the point. This is not a post-racial America. This broken system of America is a joke to the fullest and could care less about giving justice to the Black people within its borders. We were brought […]

Lil Wayne, Oscar Grant and Hip-Hop
Lil Wayne just finished a bid of 9 months in jail.T.I. just started a new bid of 11 months after serving. Mike Vick served 23 months in jail. The police officer that murdered Oscar Grant in cold blood was sentenced to 2 years in jail. I’m back, b***hes. That’s right, I said B***HES. Want to […]

Tyler Perrys For Colored Girls
Push pause before watching for colored girls . People either love or hate filmmaker Tyler Perrythat much is clear to me. Weeks before I decided to see Perrys For Colored Girls on opening night I could hear the extreme reactions to the fact he was adapting, producing, and directing a film version of Ntozake Shanges classic 1970s […]

Oscar Grant, Oakland & Hip-Hop: Connect the Dots
The sentencing of Johannes Mehserle sent shock waves through the Bay Area Friday. There was hurt and anger throughout the region. I was in downtown Oakland when the sentencing came down. Two years with credit for time served felt as bad as if he was acquitted. At that very moment, the hopelessness rushed in as […]

What We Need Now Is Not Another Blues Poem (In Memory of Oscar Grant)
In the words of hip hop theologians Goodie Mob, black folks are often “fighting for our spirits and mind.” I too know the paralyzing fear and total horror of being targeted by the police solely for living while black. Grant’s tragedy struck a chord in me cause because we can longer stand on the side […]

T.I. Writes Letter To His Fans (and Enemies)
“Thank you to all that took the time to check out my new video GET BACK UP with my homie Chris Brown. And a bigger thanks to those of you who decided to comment (good & bad). To all of you who say He should practice what he preaches and How could he do something […]

T-Pain Comments On “Haters” Of His Michael Jackson Remake
On the internet, an unreleased song was leaked and the internet went nuts on T-Pain. The song was “PTY,” originally recorded by the late Michael Jackson and produced by Quincy Jones. Well, what those detractors didn’t know is that Michael personally requested T-Pain and also Robin Thicke to remake the classic song. T-Pain asks, “Why […]

The Journalist MC, The Novelist MC, And The Artist-Leader
And no I aint get shot up a whole bunch of times Or make up s*** in a whole bunch of lines And I aint animated like say a Busta Rhymes But the real s*** you get when you bust down my lines – Jay-Z on What More Can I Say? If you ever wanted […]

Jasmine Mans Explains “The Mis-Education of a Barbie Doll”
Last week, spoken word poem Jasmine Mans released a poet that garnered her the adoration (and scorn) of the internet when the video virally spread across social networks and websites alike. In this exclusive editorial to AllHipHop.com, Mans explains, her poem “Nicki Minaj” (often called “The Mis-Education of a Barbie Doll”) was not a diss. […]

Rhymefest: Why Im Running For City Council
When Hip Hop first started, it was a local movement of artistic expression and social commentary. Hip Hop artists and lovers challenged the status quo by scratching records, tagging buildings and defying gravity.Those who had been ignored and forgotten grabbed the microphone, hopped on (and sometimes off) stage and ushered in what would become a […]

Shyne Apologizes To L.A. Reid
A great leader has the unique ability to admit when hes wrong. Without this ability you suffer the fate of Napoleon and end up dead on your way to Russia. I was wrong about my assessment of Chairman Reid. After I stopped being all Carl Thomas emotional and things like that, I thought about the […]

Inner City Violence: “The Mothers Cry”
The following editorial was written by Silky Slim, a former gang banger than had seen the way violence has ravaged his hometown of Baton Rouge. Silky again speaks on the violence ravaging the inner cities and African Americans across the nation. Click here to read his previous work, “Lil Boosie and the New KKK.” […]

Time Warp: 2010 Artists Using The 1990s Business Model
While some have tried to use Nas scathing letter to Def Jam executives (https://allhiphop.com/stories/editorial/archive/2010/10/07/22425459.aspx) as more evidence to condemn the music industrys exploitative practices I saw it as a teachable moment on the subject of artist responsibility an opportunity to explain to todays young artists how important it is to think more like an […]

Video: REPUBLICAN WOMAN STAY AWAY FROM ME
REPUBLICAN WOMAN STAY AWAY FROM ME! The inspiration for this song came while attending Ignite 2010, a conference hosted by VIBE and The League of Young Voters in Atlanta on the eve of the BET Hip-Hop Awards. The purpose of the event was to bring together Bloggers, Artists and Community Activists to see what could […]

A Well-Read Opinion of Kanye West’s “Runaway”
Troy Cle is the creator of The Marvelous Effect, a fantasy book & science fiction series The Marvelous World Saga. After watching Kanye West’s “Runaway,” he was compelled to write this opinion piece and review. There is a special place where the disaster prone and eternally compelling Kanye West resides. It is a sacred place […]

Young Guru Speaks On Artist Enslavement and The Future of the Music Game
Young Guru has been the sound man on some of the biggest records, including numerous Jay-Z records. At the recent seminar in Newark, NJ, which was hosted by Hakim Green of Channel Live fame, Young Guru gave the listeners one to grow on. The cornerstone of his 9-minute diatribe of the recording industry was artist […]

Why Vote?
<!]]>If you live in California, today Monday (Oct 18 2010) will be your last day to register to vote. You can do that by going here.. http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_vr.htm For many, with a messed up economy, unmet expectations and seemingly out of touch and unresponsive politicians, this has been a pretty dismal year in terms of choices […]

Shyne’s Open Letter To Def Jam
Def Jam is dying…. Thanks L.A. Reid! Middle fingers to you too!!!Antonio L.A. Reid, quite frankly, doesn’t give a curse word about Hip-Hop!!! He doesn’t get it. He fails to comprehend the holy institution that is Def Jam. How a Jewish guy named Rick & an African [American] guy from Hollis queens by the name […]

Who Are The Top Rappers Of The 21st Century?
One of the oldest discussions in Hip-Hop is quite simply Who Is The Best? BET has taken that discussion and put it in a new special with a twist. Who Are The Top Rappers Of The 21st Century? is a new program by the network that presents a roundtable of DJs, artists, tastemakers and Hip-Hop […]

Nigeria At 50: Inside Storm 360: West Africas Hottest Entertainment Company (Part 2)
Nigeria At 50: Inside Storm 360: West Africas Hottest Entertainment Company (Part 2) Where else could one find 1) a star rapper who while at the top of his game is also earning his Masters in Energy Studies 2) a rare talent who once lived in California but is now thousands of miles away – […]