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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...

Al Gore likes to say that human caused global warming is an indisputable fact. And using the same way of thinking of an Al Gore, it’s just as rational for me to say that it’s an indisputable fact that RAP music kills more people than cigarettes. I mean we can see from a random sampling of two decades prior to RAP music in a scientific assessment of two decades since RAP music the increase in killings which, of course, we must attribute to human caused RAP music, not to speak of the message of murder, cop killing, rape, drugs and...

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...

Will this rap song with a positive message get any play in the MSM? Will a rapper that is telling kids to quit acting like a punk and grow up resonate?Okay, I'm a nearly 50 year-old white dude, so you won't catch me trying to be "all that" with the kid's rap music. In fact, I hate the stuff. [I was listening to Beethoven, Glenn Miller, U2 and The Police today, if that helps pinpoint me] HOWEVER... and this is a big one, too... I am compelled to pass on the latest tune from Mr. Bomani D. Armah, the self-proclaimed...

FReep This Poll! Do you think the NAACP's funeral for the 'N-word' will reduce its use? Yes No Not sure

The controversy continues to swirl around the remarks made by Don Imus about the Rutger’s Women’s basketball team being “nappy headed hoes”—which eventually got him fired. But my question is why the media and action groups continue to go after Imus and not rap artists? No one seems to even blink anymore when a new rap song comes out with degrading lyrics towards race and women. Where do we draw the line? Take a look at the top 10 rap songs on the Billboard charts this week—half of them use defamatory or racist remarks. The #3 song on the charts...

FLORENCE, S.C. - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) on Friday questioned the way some rappers talk about women in songs, saying the lyrics are similar to the derogatory language used by embattled radio host Don Imus. They are "degrading their sisters. That doesn't inspire me," Obama said of some hip-hop artists when a man in a crowd of about 1,000 questioned him. The Illinois senator was responding to a question of what inspired him, and said God and civil rights activists. Earlier this week, Obama criticized Imus, who was fired Thursday for labeling the Rutgers women's...

Let's stipulate: I have no love for Don Imus, Al Sharpton, or Jesse Jackson. I repeat: A pox on all their race-baiting houses. Let's also stipulate: The Rutgers women's basketball team didn't deserve to be disrespected as "nappy-headed hos." No woman deserves that. I agree with the athletes that Imus's misogynist mockery was "deplorable, despicable and unconscionable." And as I noted on Fox News's O'Reilly Factor this week, I believe top public officials and journalists who have appeared on Imus's show should take responsibility for enabling Imus—and should disavow his longstanding invective. But let's take a breath now and look...

Let's stipulate: I have no love for Don Imus, Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson. A pox on all their race-baiting houses. Let's also stipulate: The Rutgers women's basketball team didn't deserve to be disrespected as "nappy-headed hos." No woman deserves that. I agree with the athletes that Imus's misogynist mockery was "deplorable, despicable and unconscionable." And as I noted on Fox News's "O'Reilly Factor" this week, I believe top public officials and journalists who have appeared on Imus's show should take responsibility for enabling Imus — and should disavow his longstanding invective. But let's take a breath now and look...

Rap music sags in popularity Critics blame it for negative influences on our society. Nekesa Mumbi Moody the Associated Press April 9, 2007 NEW YORK -- Maybe it was the umpteenth coke-dealing anthem or soft-porn music video. Perhaps it was the preening antics that some call reminiscent of Stepin Fetchit. The turning point is hard to tap. But after 30 years of growing popularity, rap music is now dealing with an alarming sales decline and growing criticism from within about rap culture's negative effect on society.

NEW YORK — Maybe it was the umpteenth coke-dealing anthem or soft-porn music video. Perhaps it was the preening antics that some call reminiscent of Stepin Fetchit. The turning point is hard to pinpoint. But after 30 years of growing popularity, rap music is now struggling with an alarming sales decline and growing criticism from within about the culture's negative effect on society.

The 800-pound gorilla is back, and as usual folks are pretending the critter ain't in the room. We'll call this particular 800-pound gorilla Joey, in tribute to that 1940s film about the giant ape called Mighty Joe Young. I think it's time Joey got his props. I think it's time we acknowledge Joey. Joey, meet the guys. Guys, shake hands with Joey. "The guys" in this case are those Baltimoreans who, for the past week, have expressed angst and dismay about the appalling way some young black men in this city, addicted to the thug life, dispatch each other with...

Byron Hurt takes pains to say that he is a fan of hip-hop, but over time, says Mr. Hurt, a 36-year-old filmmaker, dreadlocks hanging below his shoulders, “I began to become very conflicted about the music I love.” A new documentary by Mr. Hurt, “Hip Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes,” questions the violence, degradation of women and homophobia in much of rap music. The intended audiences include young fans, hip-hop artists and music industry executives — black and white — who profit from music and videos that glorify swagger and luxury, portray women as sex objects, and imply, critics say,...

ALBANY State Senator Ada Smith has been found guilty of harassment stemming from an altercation with a staffer. The Queens Democrat was accused of throwing hot coffee in a staffer's face at her Albany office in March. She was also accused of pulling a hairpiece from the woman's head. Smith was originally charged with misdemeanor assault, but the charged was reduced to harassment, a violation, in July. Smith will have to pay a $250 fine and any medical expenses for the former staffer, Jennifer Jackson. She will also have to enroll in anger management courses. Jackson says she feels justice...

The celebrities will be on risers along the side of the hall, while the main floor, emptied of seats, will be given over to fans, to roam and hoot and jeer as they please. Which raises the question: What if some wild fan abandons his network-designated station and rushes toward the beautiful people? “He should be encouraged at all points to storm the stage and to create a television moment that people will talk about at the water cooler the next day,” said Hamish Hamilton, one of the producers. “Or even better, that people will download and put on...

Degrading lyrics lead to early sex, study says Monday, August 07, 2006 By , Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Common sense says exposing children to sexually degrading song lyrics cannot be a good thing. Now, a multiyear study of teen sexual behavior and listening habits, led by a researcher in Pittsburgh, is setting out to prove it scientifically. The Rand Corp. study, released today, shows that the more often teens listen to sexually degrading songs -- marked by obscenities and stereotypes of women as sex objects and men as sexual predators -- the likelier they are to have sex at an early age....

Bill Cosby didn't waste a second Saturday afternoon giving an almost entirely black audience at the Georgia World Congress Center exactly what they probably expected, which, in the comedian's words, was a "whuppin'." "It has come to this," Cosby said, reprimanding his hosts and the audience as he took the podium, following civil rights leader Andrew Young at the 20th Annual 100 Black Men of America convention. "Who would think that Andy Young would be sitting and I would be standing last to be the keynote speaker? Either they [the sponsors of the event] don't know. Or they tend to...

DETROIT - Proof, a member of rap group D12 and a close friend of Eminem, was shot to death early Tuesday at a nightclub along Eight Mile Road, a publicist said. The death of Proof — whose real name is Deshaun Holton — was confirmed by Dennis Dennehy, the publicist for D12's label, Interscope Records.

Four Kennedy High School students were charged Thursday in an assault on a Kennedy senior who was pummeled in the school auditorium in front of scores of students and who, witnesses said, was attacked with feces later found strewn across the auditorium floor. Teachers and students were horrified by the incident, which left the victim, an 18-year-old honor student, with a broken nose, two black eyes, abrasions on both eyes and a swollen cheek, according to his father. "For these [attackers] to do what they did is beyond disgusting,'' said one teacher who asked for anonymity. "No kid should go...

Did anyone catch the name of the young rap artist featured on Fox News this morning? The young girl is supposed to be singing racist lyrics, similar to Prussian Blue I suppose. I missed her name and of course there is NO MENTION of the story in the MSM.

If like me you are a student of contemporary culture, then I’m sure that you understand rap music and what separates the good from the bad. Having watched a number of rappers rise and ultimately fall (literally) over the past decade, I think I am beginning to understand what rap music is all about.

Superstar rapper Eminem remarried his ex-wife Saturday, a month after he announced they were getting back together, his publicist said.

US celebrities and rights activists have lamented the execution of Stanley Tookie Williams at his funeral. Hundreds of mourners came to the violence-wracked area of Los Angeles where Williams founded the murderous Crips gang three decades ago. Under heavy police presence, a long line of people entered the 1,500-seat Bethel AME Church. Vendors sold T-shirts with Williams' picture, and a large TV set up in the parking lot allowed the overflow crowd to watch the service. Williams was executed on December 13 despite clemency pleas from celebrities and others who said he had rededicated his life to peace. "It's nine-fifteen...

After 9/11, everyone knew there was going to be a debate about the future of Islam. We just didn't know the debate would be between Osama bin Laden and Tupac Shakur. Yet those seem to be the lifestyle alternatives that are really on offer for poor young Muslim men in places like France, Britain and maybe even the world beyond. A few highly alienated and fanatical young men commit themselves to the radical Islam of bin Laden. But most find their self-respect by embracing the poses and worldview of American hip-hop and gangsta rap. One of the striking things about...

HUNTSVILLE, Texas - A man was executed Thursday for gunning down a Texas state trooper in 1992, a slaying his trial attorneys had argued was prompted by anti-police rap music. For his final statement, Ronald R. Howard looked at the trooper's widow, daughter and brother and said he hoped "this helps a little. I don't know how, but I hope it helps." Then he turned to friends and a brother who were among his witnesses, expressing love and thanking them for locating two of his young children, who visited him on death row within the past week. "Love you all....

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Los Angeles city officials on Wednesday rejected a demand for $18 million (10 million pounds) by the family of slain rapper Notorious B.I.G. to end a lawsuit that accuses two former Los Angeles policemen of conspiring in the 1997 murder. Lawyers for the family said they had sought a settlement to spare the city further litigation over the death of the rapper born Christopher Wallace, who was shot to death at the age of 24 after leaving a party in Los Angeles.

A Brooklyn College professor says Ebonics is superior to the tongue of White Devils --Assistant Professor of Adolescence Education at Brooklyn College --Teaches that rap music is an effective tool for teaching English literacy to schoolchildren, and that proper English is language of white "oppressors" --Required students to view Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 911 Priya Parmar is an Assistant Professor of Adolescence Education at Brooklyn College's School of Education in New York, where she teaches both graduate and undergraduate courses to aspiring teachers. Of special interest to Parmar, whose doctoral dissertation is titled "KRS-One Going Against the Grain: A Critical Study...

The American Civil Liberties Union has sued a school district on behalf of a 14-year-old rap music fan who was expelled after he posted lyrics on the Internet in which, according to police, he threatened to shoot up his school and named a potential victim. The ACLU said the songs by Anthony Latour, of Ellwood City, are protected speech, among other reasons, because they were composed at home and not brought to school. The suit says Latour's expulsion in May from the Riverside Beaver County School District violated his parents' right to control his upbringing. "The school may not like...

HOUSTON — When Bassam Khalaf raps, he's the Arabic Assassin. His unreleased CD, "Terror Alert," includes rhymes about flying a plane into a building and descriptions of himself as a "crazy, suicidal Arabic ... equipped with bombs." Until last week, Khalaf also worked as a baggage screener at George Bush Intercontinental Airport. "I've been screening your bags for the past six months, and you don't even know it," said Khalaf, who also said Thursday that he is not really a terrorist and that his rhymes are exaggerations meant to gain publicity. Andrea McCauley, a spokeswoman for the regional Transportation Security...

As a big fan of Hip Hop and vocal opponent to the negative messages that the rap industry has sought to perpetuate, I am glad to see such a socially relevant issue being addressed by such a well know R&B artist. Even if you don't like Rap you should check it out! Click Pic for more...Craig DeLuzVisit The Home of Uncommon Sense… www.craigdeluz.com

Hip-hop music usually gets a bad rap for its misogynistic overtones and violence, but amid the criticism comes a refreshingly courageous song with a message to which parents can proudly expose their children, particularly teens. "Can I Live?" which debuted recently on Black Entertainment Television's "106th & Park" video music show, stars former Nickelodeon television star, turned rapper and movie star Nick Cannon, as the yet-to-be son of a teenage mother. The video, set in the 1970s, takes place at an abortion clinic where a teenage mother, played by actress Tatiana Ali, formerly of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," arrives...

HOLLYWOOD, CA, June 10, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Nick Cannon, an accomplished actor, comedian, songwriter and producer with a host of credentials to his name at the age of twenty-four, including his own television show, has released his debut solo album. The album marks Cannon's first all-out effort to cross from the film-making/television industry into the music industry, although he has been involved in the music scene for years, working closely with the likes of Will Smith. The feature song entitled "Can I Live", on the album by the same name, is being praised by advocates of the culture of life...

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rapper DMX was arrested after a three-car crash involving a police cruiser on a major New York City expressway, police said on Saturday. Police said a car driven by DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, hit another car, which then slammed into the cruiser late Friday on the Major Deegan Expressway in the Bronx. Two police officers were treated for minor injuries. The 34-year-old hip-hop star was charged with driving with a suspended license and released, police said. The driver of the first car hit was treated for minor injuries, according to local papers. Last...

McDonalds is hoping to lure US hip hop artists to name drop the Big Mac into lyrics, it was reported today. The fast-food chain will not pay money upfront but will instead offer rappers up to $US2.80 ($A3.63) every time their song is played on the radio, according to the Advertising Age magazine. Its goal is to have the signature sandwich featured in several songs by June, the US magazine said. McDonald's has reportedly hired marketing firm Maven Strategies to help encourage rappers artists to integrate the Big Mac into new tracks. Tony Rome, Maven president, said his aim was...

The Rev. Al Sharpton, upset about violence in rap music, asked the Federal Communications Commission on Thursday to punish artists and radio stations connected with violent acts. Artists connected to such acts should be denied airplay on radio and television for 90 days, he told reporters after meeting with FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and two other commissioners. He also urged the agency to fine and review the licenses of radio stations "that encourage a pattern of this, including allowing employees to do on-the-air inciting of violence.'' "The outrage of the pattern of violence that has occurred at radio stations requires...

Astronomers have detected an unusual, powerful burst of intermittent radio waves emanating from the direction of the center of our galaxy. Now the search is on to trace the source of the mystery radio bursts, or at least find more like it. Was it a dying star "burping" its last radio emissions? Or is there something out there completely new to science? The discovery "will cause a stampede of further observations," write astronomers Shri Kulkarni and Sterl Phinney in tomorrow's issue of the science journal Nature. They're in the Division of Physics, Mathematics, and Astronomy at the California Institute of...

CAMDEN, N.J., Dec. 23 - If anybody was surprised that Camden was recently ranked America's most dangerous city, it wasn't the people who live here. In the past 12 months, there have been 53 homicides, including a 12-year-old shot to death on his porch for his radio, more than 800 aggravated assaults, including a toddler shot in the back of the head, at least 750 robberies and 150 acts of arson, more than 10,000 arrests and one glaring nonarrest - a serial rapist on the loose downtown. All in a city of 79,000, nine square miles small. For decades, Camden...

Eminem Is RightBy Mary Eberstadt f there is one subject on which the parents of America passionately agree, it is that contemporary adolescent popular music, especially the subgenres of heavy metal and hip-hop/rap, is uniquely degraded — and degrading — by the standards of previous generations. At first blush this seems slightly ironic. After all, most of today’s baby-boom parents were themselves molded by rock and roll, bumping and grinding their way through adolescence and adulthood with legendary abandon. Even so, the parents are correct: Much of today’s music is darker and coarser than yesterday’s rock. Misogyny, violence, suicide, sexual...

JACKSONVILLE, FL -- David Ross, 26, began as a substitute teacher in the 2001-2002 academic year. He was hired on as a language arts instructor in 2002, and most recently was assigned to the Northwestern Middle School as a television instructor. Now, David Ross is suspended with pay by the Duval County School board. He's been pulled from his classroom and reassigned to a desk job at one of the school district's warehouses. Ross is under investigation for allegedly recording a lengthy videotape of his students in their classroom, each taking turns rapping to the camera, and uttering profane language....

High on a hill overlooking triple-decker houses and hairpin streets, a handful of girls from the predominantly African-American and immigrant-rich Dorchester neighborhood of Boston are giving their own spin to radio. These are the young women of Radio LOG 540 AM, a low-power station that sends out a high-decibel message of respect and empowerment for girls. These are young women on a mission. Conceived by three teenage girls fed up with the bad-mouthing of women and girls in rap and hip-hop songs, the station has expanded to include 12 girls and a 12-week course in media literacy through the Log...

Likely Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry claimed Tuesday night that he's a big fan of rap and hip-hop music. The straight-laced Beacon Hill blue-blood who married into the $700 million Heinz ketchup fortune told MTV, "I'm fascinated by rap and by hip-hop. I think that there's a lot of poetry in it. There's a lot of anger - a lot of social energy in it." Kerry said America's leaders disregard rap music at their peril, telling MTV, "I think you better listen to it pretty carefully because it's important." Asked about some of the more outrageous lyrics in today's rap...

A white supremacist group has circulated fliers questioning a scheduled rap concert, saying the music promotes violence. The flier, circulated by the local chapter of National Alliance, targets this weekend's performance at the Casper Events Center of rappers Ludacris and Chingy and criticizes efforts by Casper city officials to promote diversity. The flier also denounces the recent appearance of rapper Mystikal, who was sentenced last month to a six-year prison term for committing sexual battery on his hair stylist. Mystikal, whose legal name is Michael Tyler, was the featured artist at the Dec. 6 Rap Fest 2003. The flier states:...

ESPN.com: NFL Monday, November 3, 2003 Updated: November 4, 3:45 AM ET Official: Some things 'shouldn't have happened' Associated Press FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. -- As if they didn't have enough problems, the Atlanta Falcons were scrambling to defend a halftime show featuring three rap groups. Bonecrusher, Youngbloodz and Jermaine Dupri performed Sunday during a 23-16 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, the Falcons' seventh straight loss. Bonecrusher, a hefty, Atlanta-based artist, sang the hip-hop hit "Never Scared," in which he muses about shooting someone in the head. According to profanity-laced lyrics obtained from an Internet Web site, the song goes, "Let...

Gutter-lyric rap star Ludacris has fired back at his cable news nemesis, Bill O'Reilly, for getting Pepsi to stop using him in their commercials last year - by apparently insulting the top talker in his latest musical endeavor, "Hoes in My Room." We say "apparently" because the song in question is so vulgarity-laden it's hard to tell what the gangsta rapper is trying to say. In a verse sung with that other poet of the streets, Snoop-Doggy-Dog, Ludacris waxes indelicately about several "hoes" who evidently appeared in his dressing room one day. "Now, these chicks wouldn't leave, they was...

All of the excesses of rap music are coming home to roost with a vengeance. In his book, Hip Hoptionary: The Dictionary of Hip Hop Terminology, author Alonzo Westbrook argues that rap music has great social and cultural significance and redeeming value. But he and other commentators who see only the positive in rap have unwittingly given birth to antirap products, such as the board game Ghettopoly. I will return to Ghettopoly shortly. "Through catchy tunes, inventive phrases, and expressive voices," Westbrook writes, "rappers address the concerns and hopes of America in ways "intellectuals' have not or cannot because they...

Come one, come all -- comment on this year's freak show. It began with three sluts on stage in their underwear.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Beanie Sigel's clothing line boasts hidden pockets and gun holsters designed, he says, to withstand a police chase. ``You know how you put your gun in your waistline and you gotta worry about it slipping? With these clothes, you don't got to worry about that,'' the rapper told allhiphop.com last year. ``Don't worry about having to run from the police neither, because State Property (clothing) can stand the search.'' But run he did, authorities say, ditching his 2002 Cadillac Escalade when police tried to make a traffic stop on April 20. Sigel also opted against the hidden-pocket...

American Rapper DMX Arrested for Using Profanity During St. Kitts ConcertBy Clive Baccus Associated Press WriterPublished: Jun 28, 2003 BASSETERRE, St. Kitts (AP) - Authorities arrested American rapper DMX on Saturday for using profanity during a concert the night before on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts and Nevis, police said. DMX, whose real name is Earl Simmons, was released on bail of $376 until Monday, when he is due in Basseterre Magistrate's Court. The 32-year-old rapper left the Caribbean island on Saturday afternoon, but he pledged to return for his court date. "I'll go to court on Monday,"...

Man Convicted Of Murder For Torturing, Eating Roommate Jury To Decide If Aspiring Rapper Was Sane At Time Of Crime POSTED: 9:23 a.m. EDT June 26, 2003 COMPTON, Calif -- An aspiring rapper was convicted Wednesday of murder and aggravated mayhem in the April 2002 slaying of a woman who authorities say had her chest ripped open and one of her lungs partially eaten. A Superior Court jury deliberated less than an hour before returning the guilty verdicts against Antron Singleton, 26. Jurors will now consider Singleton's plea of insanity at the time of the murder. Prosecutors said they...

Rap music should be outlawed even if it takes an Act of Congress to do it. As a child of the fifties, I’m well aware of the fits that popular music caused my parents’ generation. Rock and roll was blamed for everything from teenagers’ Brylcreem ducktails to lewd dancing to juvenile delinquency. Fifties rock and roll, though, seems high art compared to what saturates the airwaves today. Back then, religious and civic leaders fulminated from pulpit and public square alike in condemning “the devil’s music.” In a famous and widely seen newsreel clip, the president of a citizens’ council from...