On March 3rd, I was invited to speak at an intimate panel at Seattle University called “How Can Hip Hop Save the World?” The gathering, brought together by SU’s Mary Pauline Diaz, featured Mako Fitts, Ready C from my crew Alpha P, and myself, as well as about 10 student participants. I didn’t know what [...]

In celebration of International Women’s History Month we decided to highlight the voice of many who are often overlooked, taken for granted or forgotten about. Those are our sisters in Hip Hop. Women have always been on point from day one when it comes to architecting this culture called Hip Hop. We can start with Cindy Campbell-the [...]

20 years ago Rodney King was brutally beaten by police..It was shocking and caught on film, folks just knew the officers were going to jail.. It was a slam dunk. Who could refute the evidence?  My how times have changed..or have they? Fast forward to the Oscar Grant murder which was also caught on film [...]

WRITER’S NOTE: Please visit this site right away to learn more about Kool Herc and how you can support him during his time of medical challenges: http://www.djkoolherc.com/ I can’t even remember the first instance I heard the name “Kool Herc,” but I am fairly certain it was during the mid to late 1980s. Ronald Reagan was [...]

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by BAR editor and columnist Jared A. Ball Hip-hop flourishes overseas while becoming grotesque and underdeveloped at home. In foreign lands, hip-hop is seen as part of the American brand, along with Barack Obama. But domestically, as the product of a “subnation” within the U.S., real hip hop is suppressed, [...]

[Note: Chuck D wrote this essay as a letter to Chuck "Jigsaw" Creekmur (AllHipHop.com) and Davey D (DaveyD.com). With permission, the message by the Public Enemy leader, has been edited slightly into a scathing editorial about the media, Hip-Hop and the how the culture has been pimped by a mere few.] Chuck D: I really [...]

Shout out to author Adam Mansbach who pretty much ethers the Boston Globe columnist Alex Beam for his recent article that weakly attempts to skewers Hip Hop in Academia.. The article in question is called Meet the Rap-ademics..In it you’ll find missives like: In the late 1990s, two California newspapers, the San Jose Mercury News [...]

Growing up in Cleveland, I can remember being in that back room with all the children, late night, playing cards, watching TV, and getting into the regular mischief that kids whose parents couldn’t afford a babysitter would get into while the adults got their groove on the front room in the mist of zigzags, album covers, and strong [...]