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Young was discovered in his bed at around 10:30 a.m. Saturday by his mother, who attempted to rouse him, the coroner's spokesperson told MTV News. Young was unresponsive, so she called paramedics, who responded to the scene. After their efforts to revive him failed, he was pronounced dead at the scene. According to the coroner's spokesperson, Young had spent the previous evening with friends. His mother told police that he'd returned home Saturday at around 5:30 a.m., and that she'd heard him in his bedroom. Police said they did not suspect foul play

[Phoenix] - John McCain made it clear who his daddy was Monday morning. Daddy Yankee, the hip-hop star from Puerto Rico, endorsed the Republican candidate Monday morning. Wearing black aviator shades in the library of Central High School here, Daddy Yankee said, “I believe in his ideals and his proposals to lead this nation…He’s been a fighter for the Hispanic community.”

T.I. is joining the Hip Hop Caucus for the newly announced Respect My Vote! campaign to register and mobilize voters: "The campaign, led by T.I. will employ other celebrities, athletes and high profile influential figures to get out the vote in a variety of ways including PSAs for radio, television and online use; in person appearances; press events; mobile and email alerts from celebrities themselves; and an aggressive online campaign." "Famed photographer Jonathan Mannion has been exclusively tapped to shoot portraits of the famous faces adoring the "Respect My Vote!" slogan and t-shirt produced by forthcoming AKOO clothing line as...

If Barack Obama is the most admired black man in America right now, it may be no exaggeration to say that John McWhorter is a candidate for the unpopularity prize. Which is an odd thing to say about a courteous academic from the arcane realm of linguistics. Yet by venturing onto the mean streets of hiphop with a dispassionate critique of a multimillion-dollar industry, he risks becoming a target of drive-by shootings by enraged academics, book reviewers and bloggers. McWhorter is not all that surprised that critics have given him a pummelling. He lets out a sigh of resignation: “By...

nearly hemorrhaged when Lil’ Wayne approached the microphone at the 2008 BET Awards saying, “I am nothing without God, baby! I just want to say thank God, thank my family and thank Universal.” What god is he thanking? Does he worship some ancient god named “Misogyny?” There is a serious disconnect in the hip hop community that allows rappers to evoke the name of God in thanks while producing music that celebrates evil.

It was an Obama lovefest at the Black Entertainment Television awards last night. Puff Daddy/P Diddy/whatever chanted “Obama or die” and urged his peers to elect the “first black president.” Alicia Keys, last heard spreading conspiracy theories about the government killing Tupac and Biggie and creating gangsta rap to perpetuate black genocide, yelled “Obama, y’all!” It was one big race-based ad for Obama. So, who’s obsessing about his race? Oh, yeah. All of us non-black bigots!

Stars like P.Diddy and Alicia Keys rallied up to show their support for Obama at the BET awards on Tuesday. Diddy got on stage and started chanted "Obama or Die." He told the crowd, "If we all register and vote, we will have the first black president in the history of America." Diddy wasn't the only one overexcited about the possibility of having Obama as our next president. As Alicia Keys picked up her award for Best Female R+B Artist, she said, "Together we can do anything," before adding, "Obama y'all!"

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO ALICIA KEYS Just in case you didn't know it, Alicia Keys has informed us that Gangsta Rap was invented, apparently by white people, to get black people to kill each other. Also ... just in case you were aware of the bi-coastal feud between Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. ... that was a plot by the government and the media "to stop another great black leader from emerging."

Connoisseurs of political embarrassment might remember the toe-curling scenes as Tony Blair and the Queen grimaced their way through Auld Lang Syne in the Millennium Dome eight years ago. But that’s nothing compared with what awaits Gordon Brown and Boris Johnson at the Beijing Olympics closing ceremony. They will be ‘treated’ to a group of hoodies gyrating to hip-hop music – in a segment intended to celebrate our national identity. For the British political delegation, it will be a test of nerve – do they dare to stay stony-faced as Rap-on-zel, Jaxx and DJ Spinderella rap about life in an...

A Cook County jury on Friday acquitted R&B superstar R. Kelly of child pornography charges, marking the end of a high-profile trial rich in courtroom drama and celebrity intrigue. The 41-year-old singer, whose real name is Robert Kelly, long denied charges that he videotaped himself engaging in a variety of sex acts with his then-underage goddaughter. Authorities said the female in the video could have been as young as 13 at the time. The jury of nine men and three women deliberated for 7 ½ hours before finding Kelly not guilty on all 14 counts. As the verdicts kept coming...

There was black, there was white, and then there was black and white: jazz and rock and electric blues and stuff so new you couldn’t categorize it. All along, there was wondrous pandemonium, fevered mingling, one tribe swapping their pretty beads and shiny mirrors for the pelts and dried fish of another. For that we should be grateful, or at least resigned, because American culture has one great theme—race—and one great art form—pop music—and the two will always be inseparable. Race and pop music will always be the twin helices of America’s cultural DNA, or so I would like to...

Barack Obama will be appearing on the new Q-Tip album, according to the rapper. The former A Tribe Called Quest star tells the Guardian, "I've got Norah Jones on there, but Barack is the big one. You'll see what happens, I can't reveal too much." Also set to appear on the currently untitled record - his first studio LP in nine years - are D'Angelo and Raphael Saadiq. Nigel Godrich, who has worked with Radiohead and Beck, will help produce the album. Q-Tip says of Godrich: "He's a big fan of rap, (he's) really dope. It'll be cool working with...

American rap music is an industry ruled by machismo. It is a place where reputations are made by shady pasts, the aura of violence and ultra-masculinity. But now an explosive new book is lifting the lid on one of hip hop's most unexpected secrets: that many people in the business are gay.

As family members and friends grieved the loss of an 18-year-old budding hip-hop artist, police on Friday continued to search for at least one and up to three suspects involved in the stabbing that killed the rapper known as "Young Noddo" outside a Bushwick brownstone Thursday evening.

New pastor to head Obama's 8,000-member Chicago church Apr 30 04:14 AM US/Eastern By SOPHIA TAREEN Associated Press Writer CHICAGO (AP) - When the Rev. Otis Moss III takes to the pulpit before a congregation that includes Barack Obama, he's as likely to preach about Tupac Shakur or one of his favorite authors as he is the Apostle Paul. The 37-year-old "hip-hop pastor," as he's called by congregants, will become the head of Trinity United Church of Christ in June, taking over at a time of turmoil for the 8,000-member church, the nation's largest United Church of Christ congregation, Moss'...

A British court has overruled the government's decision to deny Snoop Dogg a visa after he was involved in an airport lounge brawl in 2006. The Guardian newspaper says a panel of immigration judges has rejected an attempt by Britain's Home Office to keep the 36-year-old U.S. rapper out of the country. A lower court ruled in January that Snoop hadn't started or been responsible for any public disorder. Police arrested Snoop and five members of his entourage after a brawl at British Airways' VIP lounge at London's Heathrow airport. The rapper, whose real name is Cordozar Calvin Broadus, was...

Map Of Recent Shootings Wednesday afternoon's shooting comes on the heels of a particularly violent weekend in the city. Between Friday night and early Monday morning, 36 people were shot in Chicago, nine fatally, and two people were stabbed.

Honestly, this is one of the most disturbing things I've ever seen. The DVD and music-sharing website World Star Hip Hop is currently featuring a video of what appears to be an elementary school student threatening to kill President George W. Bush.

Barack Obama, who says he listens to Jay-Z along with his “old school guy” favorites like Earth, Wind & Fire and the Temptations, alluded to the rapper’s 2003 hit “Dirt Off Your Shoulder” on Thursday to sweep away concerns about his pugnacity. After conceding that the Philly debate was tough, he brushed the imaginary lint of Hillary, George and Charlie from his shoulders, in a wordless reference to Jay-Z’s lyrics in his anthem about not letting anyone crimp your ride as you cruise from the bottom to the top: “Got some, dirt on my shoulder, could you brush it off...

Bill Cosby's path has taken him from pudding pops to hip hop. The 70-year-old has recorded a hip-hop CD set for release next month. "Cosby Narratives Vol. 1: State of Emergency'' blends the comedian's concepts and stories with a hip-hop, pop and jazz soundtrack. "I do not rap on any of these things,'' Cosby told The Associated Press on Monday. "I wouldn't know how to fix my mouth to say some of the words.'' What Cosby does know, though, is that the hip-hop music he hears is profane and degrading. His album is "the opposite of what I think is...

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Comedian Bill Cosby's hip-hop album, described as an "unflinching look at life in the 21st century, but without the profanity, misogyny, violence and braggadocio" is expected to reach stores within the next several weeks, a spokesman said. "Cosby Narratives Vol. 1: State of Emergency" is designed as a companion to Cosby's provocative book "Come on People: On the Path From Victims to Victors," which he co-wrote with Dr. Alvin Poussaint last year. The album weaves hip-hop, jazz, pop, funk and other genres around frank, positive messages drawn from Cosby's lyrics, stories and musical ideas. Cosby does...

LONDON - Organizers of one of Britain's best-known music festivals on Tuesday defended their decision to book Jay-Z as their headline act after Oasis songwriter Noel Gallagher blamed the U.S. rapper for disappointing ticket sales. The outdoor Glastonbury festival is a cornerstone of Britain's music calendar. But this year's festival has yet to sell out, in contrast to past years when tickets were snapped up within hours. Gallagher, whose band headlined the festival in 1995 and 2004, said rap was to blame. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," Gallagher said in an interview, an audio of which was posted...

<p>DIAMOND BAR, California (AP) -- In what some may consider an unexpected move, rap artist "Snoop Dogg" has reportedly converted to Mormonism after nearly a year of study with the fast-growing, Utah-based faith.</p> <p>Snoop Dogg says he "can't get enough of the Book of Mormon."</p>

THE ARGUMENTS Here’s what local officials have to say about the gun issue: U.S. REP. JASON ALTMIRE, D-4, McCANDLESS TWP. In Altmire’s opinion, the Second Amendment allows the right to bear arms, and Philadelphia, like Washington D.C., would be included in that same argument. Within the last month, Altmire and hundreds of other congressional leaders signed an amicus brief to the Supreme Court supporting that fact, that the court should uphold the constitution and overturn the D.C.’s ban on handguns. “I think we have a Congress that the majority supports the Second Amendment and believes we don’t need more gun...

Hip Hop Revisionism by: Christine Axsmith Benedict, March 26, 2008 The Democratic Party lost its strong connection to young black professionals, asserts Keli Goff in her new book entitled Party Crashing: How The Hip Hop Generation Declared Political Independence. The visceral attachment to the Democratic Party, born of standing against fire hoses, is not present in her generation of American black. There's been "a shift in how race defines the American experience and you have to adjust the message to the audience you are trying to reach, and I don't think the Democratic Party has done that," Ms. Goff announced...

If you’re looking for a two-word motto for hip-hop in 2007, you could do worse than that: “Keep grinding.” This was the year when the gleaming hip-hop machine — the one that minted a long string of big-name stars, from Snoop Dogg to OutKast — finally broke down, leaving rappers no alternative but to work harder, and for fewer rewards. Newcomers arrived with big singles and bigger hopes, only to fall off the charts after selling a few hundred thousand copies, if that. Hip-pop hybrids dominated the radio, but rappers themselves seemed like underground figures, for the first time in...

1) 50 Cent was hired to rap the sermon and give the service “street cred.” 2) When a recent visitor asked about advent services, a confused volunteer gave her directions to the nearest pharmacy. 3) Thanks to a new title sponsor, the service was renamed “The Starbucks Christmas Eve Extravaganza at Springfield Community Church” 4) Hannah Montana offered to sing in the service but was told she is “too over the hill.” 5) The sign language translator was sacked and replaced by someone who instant messages the sermon text to the PDAs of the hearing impaired. 6) The entire Christmas...

THERE'LL be no ho, ho, ho this Christmas. Aspiring Santas have been told not to use the term "ho" because it could be seen as derogatory to women. Thirty trainees at a Santa course in Adelaide last month, held by recruitment company Westaff, were urged to replace the traditional festive greeting with "ha, ha, ha".

The late Pope John Paul II is the star in a new “trip hop� music video backed by the Vatican which is expected to challenge for the number one slot in the Christmas DVD charts. With music composed by British composer Simon Boswell, an agnostic who made his name scoring for Italian horror movies, Santo Subito! is intended to build on the growing cultic veneration of the late Pope and add impetus to the campaign to make him a saint. The DVD, to be launched in the UK by Universal, the company that publishes Amy Winehouse, takes its title...

November 12, 2007 -- The mother of rapper Kanye West died Saturday night in Los Angeles, his spokesman said yesterday. The cause of death was not released. Donda West, 58, served as chief executive of West Brands LLC, the parent company of her son's business, according to the Web site of the Kanye West Foundation, which she chaired.

This was written by the bloggers girlfriend. Top 5 Reasons Why Hip Hop Is Considered Dead": In the year 2007, it is likely to hear people talk of the long awaited Hip-Hop album releases and who’s really hot. Though with almost an equal amount of negative characteristics to Hip-Hop, it is also likely to often hear a simple three lettered phrase, “Hip-Hop is dead.” Now, this doesn’t mean go throw Nas and Jay in the bin, it just means that the art is due for a major repair. There are a number of reasons as to why people turn away...

Song Links Saggy Pants to Being Gay The Bryant Park Project, October 26, 2007 · A new campaign by the city of Dallas targets the hip-hop style of wearing your pants low enough that your boxers are showin — and part of your posterior, too. The campaign has a signature song, "Pull Your Pants Up," by Dooney Da' Priest, that links so-called saggin' with being gay. After the BPP blogged NPR's original report on the public service announcement, listeners objected to lyrics they consider homophobic. Andrew Jones commented on a line about living "on the down low" — common slang...

As cousins Travis and Chuckie Jones stroll off the South Broward High campus on school days, they're "gooned out." Wearing oversized T-shirts and low-riding jeans, they mimic the hard core look that gangsta rappers first popularized in the 1990s. The Jones boys' jean shorts, held up by belts, are hanging around their thighs and sag so low that you can't help but see the gym shorts they wear underneath. "I like saggin'," said Travis, a 15-year-old sophomore. For him, wearing baggy, ill-fitting jeans, is cool — and makes a strong statement. It's all about attitude. "It tells everybody to kiss...

No, these two don't have the latest hit on the Billboard charts. They are Carwin Jones and Bryant Purvis of the so-called "Jena 6." The two walked the red carpet of the 2007 BET Hip-Hop Awards, held this weekend in Atlanta. According to those in attendance, they spoke briefly about the case before presenting the Hip-Hop Video of the Year Award. Though their cohort Mychal Bell is back behind bars, that didn't stop the two from hamming it up for the cameras (even holding up the number six with their fingers). What does it say about the culture's celebrity obsession...

ATLANTA (AP) - Grammy-winning rapper T.I. was arrested Saturday—just hours before he was to take the stage at the BET Hip-Hop Awards—after federal officials said he had paid his bodyguard to buy machine guns and silencers for him. The arrest resulted from an investigation that began this month when a federal firearms licensee contacted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives about a man inquiring about buying a machine gun without registering the weapon as required by law, according to a criminal complaint filed Saturday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta. After trying to buy several machine guns from...

This Saturday, some Episcopalians will be interfaithing all over downtown Seattle: Join us on October 13 for a day of learning and experiencing the ways in which movement becomes a form of worship. There will be opportunities to whirl with the Sufis, dance with liturgical dancer Betsey Beckman, to walk the labyrinth. While in Beantown, they'll be doing this all weekend: All are welcome at St. Paul’s Cathedral in Boston, Massachusetts on October 13 at 5:30 p.m. for the HipHopEMass ’Big Bean’ Celebration with the newest Hip Hop Bishop, ’Great Momma’ Gayle Harris. On October 14, 10 a.m. - 3...

Dear brothers (do you mind if I call you brothers?), Have you heard about the movement to ticket and fine people - meaning, people like you - for wearing sagging, underwear-revealing pants? It started in a small Louisiana town, where you can now get up to six months in jail and a $500 fine for exposing your undergarments. Proposals have since popped up from Atlanta to Baltimore to Trenton, and last week even in Yonkers. It's only a matter of time before some enterprising City Council member puts it on the table here in New York. And in every city,...

Lawmakers, music industry executives and rappers disagreed Tuesday over who was to blame for sexist and degrading language in hip-hop music but united in opposing government censorship as a solution. "If by some stroke of the pen hip-hop was silenced, the issues would still be present in our communities," rapper and record producer David Banner, whose real name is Levell Crump, said in prepared statements to a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing. "Drugs, violence and the criminal element were around long before hip-hop existed." At the hearing, music videos showing scantily clad women were played; music executives in dark...

GREENSBORO - Future games between bitter rivals N.C. Central University and N.C. A&T State University are in doubt after football players and coaches clashed in a benches-clearing brawl Saturday night. The latest melee to mar the NCCU-N.C. A&T rivalry started after the final seconds ticked off the clock with NCCU winning 27-22 on a game-saving interception. Players from the Durham university then ran out from their sideline and stomped on the Aggies' bulldog logo painted at the center of the field, taunting the defeated team. Fists and helmets were soon flying. The fight, which lasted about five minutes, cleared the...

Despite the fact that seemingly half of his time is spent doing good works on behalf of the legal system, Snoop Dogg's court docket is looking refreshingly clear for now. Scrapping a previous denial, the actor-rapper pleaded guilty to one felony count of possession of a dangerous weapon in connection with his arrest last September at Orange County's John Wayne Airport for trying to carry a collapsible baton onboard a flight to New York. Originally, the hip-hop star had claimed that the baton, which airport security detected in his carry-on, was a prop for a music video and he...

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sued a San Jose semiconductor company today on charges that it racially harassed an African American assembly technician and then laid him off him when he complained. Novellus Systems Inc. allowed a Vietnamese American employee to play and rap aloud to music lyrics that included anti-black epithets, the federal agency said. The assembly technician, Michael Cooke, complained repeatedly to his superiors, but the co-worker continued to sing along to the music and use racial slurs, the agency said. "That kind of language pains me," Cooke said. "The N-word is not something I take lightly....

Only very rarely does a publishing event turn into a major culture-shaping phenomenon. Yet if we’re honest with ourselves, I think every person in this room today would have to agree that, however accomplished we as a group may be, our collective influence on American culture pales by comparison with the publishing landmark I’m about to discuss. I refer, of course, to the fact that 2007 is the anniversary — the fortieth anniversary — of the founding of Rolling Stone Magazine. That means we were 20 years into the revolutionary phase of rock & roll when Allan Bloom famously assessed...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Trousers that dangle way below the belt and expose what the wearer has on -- or just has -- underneath have been banned in two cities in the southern state of Louisiana, city officials said Wednesday. "We unanimously passed the legislation because we have had so many complaints from citizens who don't want to see young men with pants hanging so low, showing their underwear and, in some cases, their posterior," Louis Marshall, a city councillor in Alexandria, told AFP by phone. "The legislation is gender neutral: we wouldn't want to see young ladies walking down the...

JAMARCUS MARSHALL, a 17-year-old high school sophomore in Mansfield, La., believes that no one should be able to tell him how low to wear his jeans. “It’s up to the person who’s wearing the pants,” he said.Mr. Marshall’s sagging pants, a style popularized in the early 1990s by hip-hop artists, are becoming a criminal offense in a growing number of communities, including his own.Starting in Louisiana, an intensifying push by lawmakers has determined pants worn low enough to expose underwear poses a threat to the public, and they have enacted indecency ordinances to stop it.Since June 11, sagging pants have...

Deputies with the Maricopa County sheriff's office raided the Cave Creek, Arizona, home of rapper DMX on Friday morning (August 24), and according to a police spokesperson, 12 pit bulls were removed from the residence, all in bad condition. Police would not get into specifics but did say the animals are being tended to by veterinarians. At this point, DMX (real name: Earl Simmons) has not been officially charged with any crime, but police are still investigating. DMX was not at his home at the time of the raid, during which police also discovered a large cache of weapons. Police...

Times-Union Editor Regrets Offensive Word In Cartoon Readers, NAACP Complain To Newspaper UPDATED: 12:35 pm EDT August 20, 2007 This cartoon on the editorial page of Friday's Florida Times-Union generated strong reaction from readers and the leader of the NAACP. JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- An editorial cartoon taking shot at those who fail to turn in violent criminals generated controversy, then a response from the Florida Times-Union. The cartoon appeared on the editorial page of Friday's newspaper with a caption saying, "The new rule of law." It shows what appears to be a man shot, and a gunman standing over the...

I refuse to have one ounce of sympathy for Michael Vick, who recently plead guilty in federal court to arranging dog fights on his Virginia property and when those dogs did not perform accordingly Vick was accused of killing several dogs himself It is mind-boggling to imagine what the hell was going thru Michael Vick’s mind when he was engaged in his dog fighting venture? Here is a Black NFL Quarterback, who was pretty much set for life with the Atlanta Falcons, making millions of dollars a year on and off the field of play with endorsements from major retailers....

50 Cent believes his new album will outsell Kanye West's upcoming disc, and he's betting his solo career on it. Both 50 Cent and West have albums due out Sept. 11. 50 Cent, who has sold better than West, has been riled by forecasts that sales of West's "Graduation" could rival those for his "Curtis" CD. "Let's raise the stakes," the 31-year-old rapper told hip-hop Web site SOHH.com in an interview posted Friday. "If Kanye West sells more records than 50 Cent on September 11, I'll no longer write music. I'll write music and work with my other artists, but...

The generation-long swim in a musical sewer may experience a mild sanitization thanks to the imprudent use of black gangsta-rap by a 66-year old, pasty-faced white guy from Westport, Conn. The Associated Press reports that in the wake of the Don Imus flap, such superstar rappers as Chamillionare, Master P, Talib Kweli, and popular 17-year-old newcomer Sean Kingston aim for heavy airplay without the filth. Hopefully, they’ll get it. Before the rhythmic idiosyncrasy known as gangsta-rap infested our cultural arena, composers purposed to soothe, entertain and energize the human spirit. “I think music in itself is healing. It's an explosive...

All the breathless debates about Michael Vick are missing the point. The bigger issue has nothing to do with whether or not he deserves the right of due process, or whether NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell should suspend him, or whether Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank should enable him or give him tough love. It's not even about whether ... Nike should be launching another designer shoe with his name on it. All of those are minor distractions from ...: How did someone like Michael Vick ever come to exist? Are we really ready to have that conversation? Do we dare...