San Diego Hip Hop graffiti Solid Savage

ILLFLUENT's Latest Video!

2008-08-19T13:28:00.000-07:00

2007-04-25T21:17:00.000-07:00

CHIEFTAIN PHOTO/BRYAN KELSEN

Ian Herrera, 7, smiles as he makes an angel in pea-size rock, instead of customary snow, near the playground equipment at City Park on Monday. Ian was spending some after-school time at the park with his family enjoying the warm spring weather.

Rap criticism grows in the hip-hop community

2007-03-02T06:52:00.000-08:00

AP PHOTO/FILE
Snoop Dogg performs 'I Wanna Love You' at the 2006 American Music Awards in Los Angeles.
By NEKESA MUMBI MOODYTHE ASSOCIATED PRESS
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.
Rap insider Chuck Creekmur, who runs the leading Web site Allhiphop.com, says he got a message from a friend recently ‘‘asking me to hook her up with some Red Hot Chili Peppers because she said she’s through with rap. A lot of people are sick of rap ... the negativity is just over the top now.’’
The rapper Nas, considered one of the greats, challenged the condition of the art form when he titled his latest album ‘‘Hip-Hop is Dead.’’ It’s at least ailing, according to recent statistics: Though music sales are down overall, rap sales slid a whopping 21 percent from 2005 to 2006, and for the first time in 12 years no rap album was among the top 10 sellers of the year. A recent study by the Black Youth Project showed a majority of youth think rap has too many violent images. In a poll of black Americans by The Associated Press and AOL-Black Voices last year, 50 percent of respondents said hip-hop was a negative force in American society.
Nicole Duncan-Smith grew up on rap, worked in the rap industry for years and is married to a hip-hop producer. She still listens to rap, but says it no longer speaks to or for her. She wrote the children’s book ‘‘I Am Hip-Hop’’ partly to create something positive about rap for young children, including her 4-year-old daughter.
‘‘I’m not removed from it, but I can’t really tell the difference between Young Jeezy and Yung Joc. It’s the same dumb stuff to me,’’ says Duncan-Smith, 33. ‘‘I can’t listen to that nonsense ... I can’t listen to another black man talk about you don’t come to the ’hood anymore and ghetto revivals ... I’m from the ’hood. How can you tell me you want to revive it? How about you want to change it? Rejuvenate it?’’
Hip-hop also seems to be increasingly blamed for a variety of social ills. Studies have attempted to link it to everything from teen drug use to increased sexual activity among young girls.
Even the mayhem that broke out in Las Vegas during last week’s NBA All-Star Game was blamed on hip-hoppers. ‘‘(NBA Commissioner) David Stern seriously needs to consider moving the event out of the country for the next couple of years in hopes that young, hip-hop hoodlums would find another event to terrorize,’’ columnist Jason Whitlock, who is black, wrote on AOL.
While rap has been in essence pop music for years, and most rap consumers are white, some worry that the black community is suffering from hip-hop - from the way America perceives blacks to the attitudes and images being adopted by black youth.
But the rapper David Banner derides the growing criticism as blacks joining America’s attack on young black men who are only reflecting the crushing problems within their communities. Besides, he says, that’s the kind of music America wants to hear.
‘‘Look at the music that gets us popular - 'Like a Pimp,’,’’ says Banner, naming his hit.
‘‘What makes it so difficult is to know that we need to be doing other things. But the truth is at least us talking about what we’re talking about, we can bring certain things to the light,’’ he says. ‘‘They want (black artists) to shuck and jive, but they don’t want us to tell the real story because they’re connected to it.’’
Criticism of hip-hop is certainly nothing new - it’s as much a part of the culture as the beats and rhymes. Among the early accusations were that rap wasn’t true music, its lyrics were too raw, its street message too polarizing. But they rarely came from the youthful audience itself, which was enraptured with genre that defined them as none other could.
‘‘As people within the hip-hop generation get older, I think the criticism is increasing,’’ says author Bakari Kitwana, who is currently part of a lecture tour titled ‘‘Does Hip-Hop Hate Women?’’
‘‘There was a more of a tendency when we were younger to be more defensive of it,’’ he adds.
During her ’90s crusade against rap’s habit of degrading women, the late black activist C. Dolores Tucker certainly had few allies within the hip-hop community, or even among young black women. Backed by folks like conservative Republican William Bennett, Tucker was vilified within rap circles.
In retrospect, ‘‘many of us weren’t listening,’’ says Tracy Denean Sharpley-Whiting, a professor at Vanderbilt University and author of the new book ‘‘Pimps Up, Ho’s Down: Hip-Hop’s Hold On Young Black Women.’’
‘‘She was onto something, but most of us said, ‘They’re not calling me a bitch, they’re not talking about me, they’re talking about THOSE women.’ But then it became clear that, you know what? Those women can be any women.’’
One rap fan, Bryan Hunt, made the searing documentary ‘‘Hip-Hop: Beyond Beats and Rhymes,’’ which debuted on PBS last month. Hunt addresses the biggest criticisms of rap, from its treatment of women to the glorification of the gangsta lifestyle that has become the default posture for many of today’s most popular rappers.
‘‘I love hip-hop,’’ Hunt, 36, says in the documentary. ‘‘I sometimes feel bad for criticizing hip-hop, but I want to get us men to take a look at ourselves.’’
Even dances that may seem innocuous are not above the fray. Last summer, as the ‘‘Chicken Noodle Soup’’ song and accompanying dance became a sensation, Baltimore Sun pop critic Rashod D. Ollison mused that the dance - demonstrated in the video by young people stomping wildly from side to side - was part of the growing minstrelization of rap music.
‘‘The music, dances and images in the video are clearly reminiscent of the era when pop culture reduced blacks to caricatures: lazy ‘coons,’ grinning ‘pickaninnies,’ sexually super-charged ‘bucks,’’’ he wrote.
And then there’s the criminal aspect that has long been a part of rap. In the ’70s, groups may have rapped about drug dealing and street violence, but rap stars weren’t the embodiment of criminals themselves. Today, the most popular and successful rappers boast about who has murdered more foes and rhyme about dealing drugs as breezily as other artists sing about love.
Creekmur says music labels have overfed the public on gangsta rap, obscuring artists who represent more positive and varied aspects of black life, like Talib Kweli, Common and Lupe Fiasco.
‘‘It boils down to a complete lack of balance, and whenever there’s a complete lack of balance people are going to reject it, whether it’s positive or negative,’’ Creekmur says.
Yet Banner says there’s a reason why acts like KRS-One and Public Enemy don’t sell anymore. He recalled that even his own fans rebuffed positive songs he made - like ‘‘Cadillac on 22s,’’ about staying away from street life - in favor of songs like ‘‘Like a Pimp.’’
‘‘The American public had an opportunity to pick what they wanted from David Banner,’’ he says. ‘‘I wish America would just be honest. America is sick. . .America loves violence and sex.’’

SignOnSanDiego Entertainment Guide > Event Profile: Blackalicious

2006-12-27T08:01:00.000-08:00

SignOnSanDiego Entertainment Guide > Event Profile: Blackalicious

2006-12-23T08:44:00.000-08:00

Colorado State Spirit Championship Sand Creek

2006-12-23T08:19:00.000-08:00

Mile High Sports TV - Broncos Country

2006-12-19T08:24:00.000-08:00

San Diego Coronado Bridge

2006-12-19T08:23:00.000-08:00

San Diego Coronado Bridge

2006-12-18T07:10:00.000-08:00

White and Nerdy

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Solid Savage in San Diego

2006-12-16T18:43:00.000-08:00

2006-12-16T18:23:00.000-08:00

2006-12-03T09:41:00.000-08:00

MARLY-GOMONT, France (AFP) - A black rapper from a backwater village is rapidly becoming a media sensation in France after a tongue-in-cheek video of him singing about his rural experience debuted on the Internet.

Kamini, as he is known, has been thrust into the spotlight since his tune about his home town (population 423) of Marly-Gomont first hit the web in September.
He has been interviewed on television, sung on a talent show, and been fought over by record labels who see him as a new entertainer offering a rap wrested free of the urban angst common to the genre.
"'Marly-Gomont' is a song about my life," the 26-year-old told AFP as he sat outside his home in the rolling countryside north of Paris on Sunday. His father, a Congolese doctor, has his practice on the ground floor.
The video, made over three days by a friend doing film studies, features Kamini rapping about being a young black guy growing up in a rustic setting populated by cows, tractors, old farmers, and more cows.
Although humouristic, it takes stabs at the latent racism he often ran up against, with for instance lyrics that go: "There's no concrete, only pastures, but even so I've come across a lot of trash."
Locals from the village are seen dancing along in the video, which has none of the flashy cars and g-stringed models common to the more traditional rap clips, even in France.
After being sent in as a sample to French music companies, it found its way on to video websites such as YouTube, where the number of viewers has grown to over a million. Its success on Kamini's own site (www.kamini.fr) shows no sign of flagging.
A small label in the northern city of Lille which is backing Kamini, La Plebe, said interest from the big record firms was now running red-hot.
"The majors have contacted us. They know that the public and the media are behind us," the head of La Plebe, Martin Coulon, said.
Kamini, who is keeping his job as a part-time psychiatric nurse until a deal is signed, said that "a lot of people think this is a flash in the pan. But we've got other tracks. We've already got a finished album."
yahoo

Rapper Snoop Dogg Arrested, Again

2006-11-29T16:32:00.000-08:00

Rapper Snoop Dogg Arrested, Again: BURBANK, Calif. — Snoop Dogg was arrested for investigation of illegally possessing a handgun and drugs as he left NBC Studios after performing on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno," police said.
The 35-year-old rapper, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, and two members of his entourage were arrested around 6 p.m. Tuesday after a search of his Diamond Bar home and car, Sgt. Kevin Grandalski said.
Police seized a handgun and some illegal drugs, Grandalski said. He did not have details.
The rapper was arrested for investigation of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm, possessing cocaine, transporting marijuana and having a false compartment in his vehicle, Grandalski said.
"He was in a car pulling out of the studio" when police stopped him, said Donald Etra, the rapper's attorney.
Etra said he believed Broadus was booked at the jail for investigation of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm. He made bail of $60,000 and was released shortly after 1 a.m. Wednesday, about seven hours after his arrest.
"As of this point, he stands innocent of all charges," Etra said. "The goal tonight was to get him out of jail. The goal tomorrow is to deal with the case."
The rapper was expected to be arraigned Jan. 11, Etra said.
Two acknowledged gang members who are associates of Broadus also were taken into custody, Grandalski said.
Michael Mingo, 33, of Lakewood, was arrested for investigation of possessing burglary tools and Lovell Polk, 36, of Moreno Valley, was arrested for an outstanding warrant, Grandalski said. He did not know the nature of the warrant.
The arrests stemmed from an investigation that followed the rapper's Oct. 26 arrest at Bob Hope Airport after airport police said they found a gun and marijuana in his car, Grandalski said.
"Additional follow-up investigation led detectives to obtaining the search warrant," the sergeant said. He did not have details.
No charges have been filed in that case but Broadus has a Dec. 12 court appearance for an arraignment.
Etra said the rapper also has a Dec. 4 arraignment in Orange County following his Sept. 27 arrest for investigation of carrying a deadly weapon at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana.
Security officers said they found a collapsible baton in the entertainer's carry-on luggage. The rapper told deputies at the time of his arrest that the baton was a prop for a movie.
The rapper was convicted in 1990 of cocaine possession and was charged with gun possession after a 1993 traffic stop. Facing a possible three years in prison, he pleaded guilty in exchange for three years' probation and his promise to make anti-violence public service announcements.
He was acquitted of murder in 1996 following the death of an alleged street gang member killed by gunfire from the vehicle in which he was traveling.
___

Montrose writes new anti-graffiti ordinance

2006-11-29T16:23:00.000-08:00

Montrose writes new anti-graffiti ordinance: "Montrose writes new anti-graffiti ordinance

By BEVERLY CORBELL The Daily Sentinel

Wednesday, November 29, 2006
MONTROSE — Montrose is fed up with an upsurge in graffiti in the past year so the town council recently passed an ordinance to make penalties stiffer.
Mayor Noelle Hagan said the new laws are “just another tool in the tool box” to combat graffiti that include a graffiti task force that’s been meeting for about the past six months.
“Some of the strategies reviewed by the task force were what other communities were doing,” she said. “We wanted to pass an ordinance but we had to deliberate.”
During one of those deliberations, the task force decided against requiring property owners to remove graffiti because they are the victims.
Instead, the ordinance states that if caught, graffiti vandals must clean it up themselves within 24 hours.
The eight-page ordinance states that anyone convicted of graffiti vandalism will be fined from $250 to $1,000 and could serve up to a year in the city jail. Parents or guardians of minors who break anti-graffiti laws will be held accountable for fines and if they don’t pay up their property could be seized.
Up to 20 hours of community service can also be a requirement set by the courts for those convicted of creating graffiti and their parents have to go along for half of that time.
The ordinance also allows for a reward system for tips on graffiti vandals and reimbursement of expenses. The rewards will be funded by an “anti-graffiti account” that will be set up with collected fines from graffiti violations.
But whether the new laws will be a deterrent is hard to say, Hagan said.
“It�"

2006-11-27T18:26:00.000-08:00

CentrIX, 11.26.06

2006-11-10T08:16:00.000-08:00

An image from a video provided by attorney B. Kwaku Duren and shot by a resident in the area shows Los Angeles police with a suspect on a Hollywood street on Aug. 11, 2006. (AP / Image from video provided by B. Kwaku Duren)

Video of Violent Arrest Triggers Probe of L.A. Police Officers

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A founding member of a Logan Heights tagging gang was sentenced yesterday to 50 years to life in prison for fatally shooting a member of a rival crew four years ago.

A San Diego Superior Court jury convicted Pedro Zepeda-Garcia, 24, in June of murdering Manuel Barajas on Aug. 11, 2002. More >>>>

Visit to San Diego Logan

2006-09-03T19:29:00.000-07:00

George Bush singing "Sunday Bloody Sunday" - Google Video

2006-08-29T16:22:00.000-07:00

This is great !
George Bush singing "Sunday Bloody Sunday" - Google Video

Beatboxen Bush

2006-08-29T16:20:00.000-07:00

Bboy Bush you will love this
Beatboxen Bush - Google Video

CNN.com - Rapper Foxy Brown flip-flops on plea - Aug 28, 2006

2006-08-28T22:09:00.000-07:00

Ill bail her out

CNN.com - Rapper Foxy Brown flip-flops on plea - Aug 28, 2006

Solid Savage San Diego Barro Logan

2006-08-22T13:26:00.000-07:00

Must see Barrio Logan Art grafiiti

San Diego Barrio Logan Hip Hop graffiti Art


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