Stop Snitchin' may be the hidden link between
hip hop and the 1980s alternative rock group,
House of Freaks. According to the New York Post, journalist
Ethan Brown has accomplished
"making the Stop Snitching movement seem reasonable" in his new book
Snitch: Informants, Cooperators, and the Corruption of Justice. Brown argues that harsh
mandatory minimum sentences for drug offenses have created a "cottage industry of cooperators" and
informants who fabricate evidence, because
Provision 5K1.1 of federal sentencing guidelines gives leniency in exchange for "substantial assistance to authorities." According to Brown, two of these
criminal cooperators included
Ray Dandridge and
Ricky Gray, the perpetrators of the
Richmond spree murders that ended the life of
Brian Harvey of House of Freaks, his wife, and his two children. On the other hand,
Mark Kleiman argues that the Stop Snitchin' movement has driven
homicide clearance rates so low that, in some cities, "you have a better than even chance of literally getting away with murder."
[more inside]
posted by jonp72
on Dec 11, 2007 -
61 comments
China is famed for its many inventions: gunpowder, paper, printing; some even claim golf and football. Who knew that
the origins of hip-hop lie in the vast northern wastes of the Celestial Empire too?
posted by Abiezer
on Nov 19, 2007 -
18 comments
BBC Introducing is an excellent way to keep tabs on what's fresh in the British popular music scene without having to live in a rainsoaked armpit. There are four podcasts for you to download, the flagship
Best of Unsigned Podcast,
Homegrown Mix with Ras Kwame,
Scotland Introducing and BBC Radio Northampton's
Weekender. All feature bands that are either unsigned or just recently signed and the music ranges from hip hop to punk rock to what sounds awfully like the soundtrack for a NES game with half-hearted chanting over it. This is an excellent resource whether you're casual searcher for new songs or the kind of anorak who knows which British indie band was first to use an 808.
posted by Kattullus
on Nov 5, 2007 -
9 comments
Triumph of the Will - the Director's Cut This rare director's cut of Triumph of the Will (German: Triumph des Neger) is a propaganda film by the German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl. It chronicles the Nazi getting fonky at Nuremberg. The film contains excerpts from rhymes kicked by various Nazi leaders at the Congress, including dat Brooklyn flava by Adolf Hitler, interspersed with footage of splifted party members.
posted by empath
on Oct 6, 2007 -
39 comments
4 Brothers Beats.
This is a tribute to all the original music that built hip-hop – the best beats in soul, funk & jazz collected by four brothers. An amazing collection of out-of-print releases from the 70s and 80s.
posted by KevinSkomsvold
on Sep 20, 2007 -
18 comments
Socially conscious rap and hip hop may be making a comeback, but it seems to be doing so at the expense of stereotyping and bigotry. Videos like
Read a Book (hilarious) and
Serve Below Zero may be intended to send a “good” message to the black community, but it’s hard to ignore blatant racist undertones (or overtones) in the lyrics and images.
[more inside]
posted by FeldBum
on Sep 17, 2007 -
63 comments
Read a Book. Drink some water. Buy some land (not rims). Brush your teeth. Wear deodorant (it's not expensive). Some say it's a parody, some say it's an important urban social statement set to a phat beat. The artist is
Bomanni "D'Mite" Armah and it was originally
aired at the NY Comic Con and a few times on BET.
posted by revmitcz
on Jul 10, 2007 -
46 comments
Wordsworth... for the YouTube generation is a rapped version of ' Wandered Lonely As A Cloud'
The squirrel is the stuff of nightmares
posted by darsh
on Apr 11, 2007 -
12 comments
Harder, better, stronger, faster - Hilty and Bosch, often called the masters of locking, pair up with Co-Thkoo to serve up 10 riveting minutes of dance. The routine to Daft Punk's classic starting about midway in the clip is brilliant. [more]
posted by madamjujujive
on Apr 1, 2007 -
54 comments
Why I Gave Up On Hip-Hop "Hip-hop was still largely about the break-beat and dance moves and brothers who battled solely on wax. It was Whodini, Eric B. & Rakim, Dana Dane, EPMD, A Tribe Called Quest. And always and forever, Lonnae Loves Cool James. I knew all LL Cool J's b-sides and used to sleep under a poster of him that hung on my wall. I still have a picture of the two of us that was taken one Howard homecoming weekend.
And if, gradually, we noticed a trend,
more violence, more
misogyny, more
materialism, more hostile sexual stereotyping, a general
constricting of subject matter, for a very long time
we let it slide (.pdf)"
posted by four panels
on Oct 17, 2006 -
118 comments
WaxDJ.com - an excellent source for free downloads and streams of original electronic music mixes of all sorts, from seasoned pros to beginning bedroom amatuers, all told numbering in the hundreds or thousands. My current brand new favorite is the very diverse and well-versed Detriot/Chicago techno stylings of DJ
Rubsilent. Recomended mix: Future Funk 23:
(Direct MP3 link) (Streaming mp3 link) But don't let me divert you - search for your favorite local DJ or browse for new ones.
posted by loquacious
on Oct 11, 2006 -
19 comments
Then, as he escorted me to the elevator, he said, “New Yorker? How many people
see that shits?”
He reflected a moment. “Damn. Who needs Hot 97? I got New Yorker and MySpace.”
posted by jne1813
on Jul 10, 2006 -
32 comments
