Seandra Sims contributed to this report. Rappers Loon (r) and Freeway (l) during their pilgrimage to the Muslim Holy Land (Nov. 2009). “Deep like the mind of Farrakhan” – Notorious B.I.G.“Make your wife get on the horn call Minister Farrakhan / so he could persuade me to squash it (beef)” – Canibus “I’m headstrong / […]

David Banner has been to the left of the spotlight for a few years, but quietly the rapper/producer has been mastering his craft in other ways. First, is Death of a Pop Star, his upcoming collaboration with producer 9th Wonder. Another is his self-produced song “Evolve,” which was included in a recent campaign for Gatorade […]

During the 2008 presidential election, many from the political left and right insisted a straight line be drawn from Barack Obama directly to the “hip-hop community.” These folks, regardless of their political affiliation, often pointed to Obama’s race, his age, his claim to have Jay-Z in his iPod and his infamous brushing the dirt of […]

From June 1994 to April 2002, Ms. Erica Ford ran Tupac’s Code Foundation even after the rapper had passed away. Erica, Tupac, and his stepfather Mutulu Shakur, established The Code in 1994. The mission was simply to keep young people out of jail and to decrease “Black on Black” crime. Ms. Ford tells her taled […]

Gina Torres and Chuck “Jigsaw” Creekmur contributed to this report.   WHAT HAPPENED? An interesting thing happened to Styles P in 2005. The rapper released “I’m Black,” a song that lit a fire in the heart and minds of hip-hop fans of all colors and cultures. Fans waited and waited – for a video and a […]

This weekend one of hip-hop’s hottest acts, Drake, lent his talent to protest offshore drilling. On Sunday, the 23-year-old rapper performed at the ‘Stop The Offshore Drilling” rally at the 9:30 Club in Washington D.C. In May, hip-hop veteran Talib Kweli released a single about another hot political topic. It’s called ‘Papers Please’ — and […]

Jay-Z, Rich Righteous Teacher (Part I) (I’ve) never read the Qur’an, or Islamic scriptures The only Psalms I’ve read was on the arms of my n*****s – Jay-Z, Intro off of the The Dynasty: Roc La Familia If there were any track in the universe of Jay-Z’s catalogue, which I think represents the powerful puzzle […]

WATCH THIS ORIGINAL REPORT ON THE EVOLUTION OF HIP-HOP AND POLITICS Before hip-hop became the multi-billion dollar industry it is today, there was a group of young lyricists who were ahead of their time. Telling unfiltered truths about the struggles of blacks in the late 1960s and early 70s, they called themselves The Last Poets.”When […]

The relationship between Hip-Hop, community action and politics is a volatile and symbiotic relationship with all working with and against each other seemingly at the same time. Hip-Hop has typically been critical of the powers that be, but also been driven by a desire for those in power to improve the environment. Hip-Hop to the […]

NEW YORK –TheGrio.com and AllHipHop.com, in partnership with NBC News, will debut “Hip-Hop & Politics: From The Beat to The Ballot” starting June 14. The weeklong series will run on both websites as part of Black Music Month. Chuck Creekmur of AllHipHop and David Wilson of TheGrio discuss the series on MSNBC in the video […]

Normal 0 0 1 785 3220 68 15 5497 11.0 0 0 0 I’m the type of person who is always defending artists and what people’s expectations of them are because of the type of artist I am, and the type of stuff that I put out, because people expect certain things from me and […]

I’d like to start off by saying that the term “Hip-Hop Reform™” has been a baby of mine for the past three years. It is not a movement, it’s a revolution. Hip-Hop began as a form of expression between urban youth. Then it grew into a way to feed families. Now it is a billion […]

In a recent interview, rapper Slim Thug unleashed a very disturbing attack on Black women, here’s an excerpt: …Most single Black women feel like they don’t want to settle for less. Their standards are too high right now. They have to understand that successful Black men are kind of extinct. We’re important. It’s hard to […]

You may think this is a strange title for an article at a website devoted to the culture and industry of music. But it has everything to do with the future of Hip-Hop. Let me explain. One day, in 1998, within 6 months of my no longer serving as a GM of Wu Tang Management, […]

Editor’s note: The views expressed inside this editorial DO NOT and ARE NOT reflective of the views of AllHipHop.com.The way Black people think in general is messed up. Both men and women need to change their way of thinking. It’s hard to trust a Black woman [sometimes] because a lot of Black women’s mind frame […]

Teflon Don was a moniker given to John Gotti, the Boss of all Bosses, because he was able to avoid many attempts to be convicted due to being acquitted or by having a jury of his peers not able to agree on a verdict.  It wasn’t until 1992 when the United States Government, with the help […]

DONATE $5 to Kevin’s campaign NOW at www.kevinpowell.net (click DONATE) “When you consider the intelligence and breadth of Kevin Powell’s writing and activism, you come to the conclusion that there may be no better spokesperson and representative for a generation that has too long been counted out.” —asha bandele An interesting thing happens in America […]

This week was Lauryn Hill’s 35th birthday. Normally this event passes without fanfare in industry circles, except this year fans and media became prematurely excited at reports the sequestered star would be making a return by headlining this year’s Rock the Bells tour and performing all the tracks from her timeless debut, The Miseducation of […]

Nas is on a whole other level, right now. “All I do is stay focused – looking straight forward at the word, and beyond I feel people pulling me down I feel some pulling me up I can’t get stuck I just keep moving forward I got places to go man. Let’s go” – Nas, […]

DESTINY A learning process might appear … for the crushed, the forbidden-to-be, the rejected, that would teach them that, through serious, just, determined, untiring struggle, it is possible to remake the world. —Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of Hope: Reliving Pedagogy of the Oppressed (New York: The Continuum Publishing Co., 1994), p. 198. Must survive any how […]