As reported last week, New York DJ Funkmaster Flex declared that he was boycotting any and all artists signed to Interscope Records and would not spin any of their records/songs on his program. The higher ups at Hot 97 had something else to say about it.

“We’ve never held back on a whole label’s music,” said Ebro Darden, program director at Hot 97, in an interview with the New York Daily News. “And we won’t. We’ve got good relationships with labels…We had to muzzle Flex…People know a lot of what he says is showmanship, but that went too far.”

Showmanship is one thing, but having your boss say you needed to be muzzled is pretty rough and quite another. I hope for Flex’s sake there isn’t any additional blowback from Interscope or anyone else over this – that might be a little idealistic though.

Wendell Tucker, a Chicago native and gradutate of Southern Illinois and Chicago State Universities, has taken hip-hop and put it on stage. Basing his play off of Common’s “I Used To Love H.E.R.,” Tucker has utilized the personification of hip-hop as a woman and played off of how money and fame influences her direction. Read the rest of this entry »

[Raise a can of Red Bull to explicitmemory]

In a rare display of “sticking it to the man,” legendary New York DJ Funkmaster Flex threatened to ban all Interscope artists from his Hot 97 show due to the label mismanaging their music and influence. Flex went on about trying to start a movement with his actions and even called out 50 Cent to walk away from his deal with Interscope.

Sounds like Mr. Hot 97 has gotten pretty hot and bothered about the direction the industry has been taking and decided that he was going to carry the banner for change. The hip-hop Obama? Not quite but if he does stick to his word there will be no Detox or Relapse in the rotation while the Funkmaster is spinning.

There’s a pivotal scene in Slumdog Millionaire where a slum kid locks another slum kid in a portable toilet. The poor kid eventually jumps into a pile of sh!t just so he can run and get an autograph of his beloved Amitabh ji. There he is, drenched in poop standing next to his hero, who signs on his dog eared photograph. After seeing this post, I started wondering if there’s any artist worth jumping in a pile of sh!t for? Obviously, I wouldn’t jump in a pile of doo doo for an autograph from…oh f_ck, I’d probably do it for an autograph from Left-Eye. But I would also have to jump over the pearly gates for that one, since she’s dead and all.

My Slumdog sh!t list would also consist of:

1. Stevie Wonder
2. Nas
3. Prince
4. Thom Yorke
5. DJ Premier

So, here’s my question to you: What artist’s autograph would you pull a ‘Slumdog’ to get?

Dear Editor:
I’m trying to understand what possible motivation you may have had for publishing that vile cartoon depicting the shooting of the chimpanzee that went crazy. I guess you thought it would be funny to suggest that whomever was responsible for writing the Economic Recovery legislation must have the intelligence and judgment of a deranged, violent chimpanzee, and should be shot to protect the larger community. Really? Did it occur to you that this suggestion would imply a connection between President Barack Obama and the deranged chimpanzee? Did it occur to you that our President has been receiving death threats since early in his candidacy? Did it occur to you that blacks have historically been compared to various apes as a way of racist insult and mockery? Did you intend to invoke these painful themes when you printed the cartoon? Read the rest of this entry »

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Update: Danger has been averted. Thanks to Just and the other new followers. You’ve all earned one autographed copy of the Internet.

I missed part of Obama’s inauguration because I was too busy throwing shoes at the TV as George Bush hopped into Executive One and fled back home to Texas. You would do the same too if you learned that Dubya was going to spend the rest of his post-presidential days in your home state. I stopped throwing shoes just in time to see 2 Harvard graduates bumble through the Oath of Office.

I then reached out to some of your favorite rappers and DJs to find out what they were doing when Barack Obama officially became El Presidente and the significance of Obama’s victory. Their responses range from compelling to comical. Take a look. You’re also welcome to share your own experiences, as long as they don’t include tales of sexual trysts.
Read the rest of this entry »