Rather see the above links in your inbox or feed reader?
Subscribe to our Links for hand-picked items from around the web
Wax and Herbal T - Low Budget · by Rafi Kam
Youtube MC Wax (the second one to rhyme in this video) has skills. His bro Herbal T is a beatmaker and he’s all right on the mic too.
This joint is just a lot of fun.
You should start checking for these dudes.
Comment [16]
Dec 12, 2008Chea We Can Believe In T-Shirt Victory Proves Anything is Possible · by Rafi Kam
Chea We Can Believe in T-Shirt addresses crowd of supporters on the evening of its historic victory:
If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
It’s the answer told by lines that stretched around our PollDaddy widget in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who tried to vote three or four times but were blocked by our IP checking measures, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.
It’s the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, javascript disabled and not javascript disabled.
It’s been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment Chea has come to the world.
I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you. As I belong to you, for a mere $25 at Spreadshirt.
This victory alone is not the Chea we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that Chea. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.
As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.
And to those of you whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your Chea t-shirt, too.
Plus you can actually get me printed. Printers are shook about stepping to Ikea’s copyright.
Word up.
Cop the Chea We Can Believe in T-Shirt right now for $25 or in XXXL (Rafi size) for $28.
We’ve also got a great DVD out showcasing the best of the Internets Celebrities in hi-res for your TV. Available right now in time for Xmas for a mere $15. Show some love.
Comment [2]
Dec 02, 2008Jay-Z - Brooklyn Go Hard - Open Source Video · by Rafi Kam
Artist and Graffiti Research Labs founder Evan Roth has created an interesting video for that new Jay-Z song (Brooklyn Go Hard) that’s been making the blog rounds this week. Roth says on his blog:
“Last week I was contacted to make a video for a new Kanye West produced Jay-Z song for RED & the Global Fund to Fight AIDS in Africa. It launched today (World AIDS Day) at red.msn.com. And while I’m happy to be able to help the cause I’m also more than a little bit excited about getting a chance to make something for the likes of Jay-Z and Kanye. I’ve been turning down client requests to use Typographic Illustration for 5 years in hopes that one day the phone would ring and it would be Hova.”
You can download the Flash source files for the video as well, if you’re into that kind of thing.
Comment [15]
Nov 20, 2008hip-hop journalism participatory survey · by Rafi Kam
Let us survey the landscape of hip-hop journalism a bit and ask have there been great works done in that realm this year?
There were Smoking Gun exposes, Unkut interviews and too many poorly thought out blogger rants to list. But when I think back on the stories that stand out from this year, only a few come to mind.
First, Michael A. Gonzales’ New York magazine piece on Kool Herc, Coke La Rock and the fight to preserve 1520 Sedgwick Avenue. Second, David Ramsey’s anecdotal tale of how, while working as a teacher in New Orleans, he came to adopt his students’ love for Lil Wayne.
I also want to mention this extremely well made video documenting an AntiPop Consortium reunion show at an NYC record store. The sound, video and editing are top-notch and the improvisational nature of APC’s act is fascinating and worthy of documenting. Via interviews with the group, the video also gets into the group’s history as well as the tension involved in reuniting after years apart.
Perhaps the promotional nature of the video is at odds with what we typically think of as journalism. But you won’t see work like this funded by an independent news source. This is documentary as advertising, similar to the Black Moon-centered Canadian radio show segment turned YouTube video, which was not nearly as high-quality an effort but (due to the difference in the group’s audiences) more widely seen by far.
Now if you don’t mind, can you help me out with two things..
1. I’m wondering what are your favorite examples of hip-hop journalism from this year? What articles / posts / videos from offline or online sources stick out to you as being among the year’s best?
2. I was thinking about that Lil Wayne piece and how I’d like to compile some lists of the best articles on various rappers. Weezy seems as good a place to start as any. I remember this Sasha Frere Jones piece from the New Yorker which was nice but more memorable was SFJ on his own blog going to bat for Wayne against the haters.
No constraint on how new or old these Wayne articles are… So what do you consider the best writing / coverage of Lil Wayne? The tone of your selections need not be positive.
Consider this an experiment. If it works out well, I’ll ask for other artists next time around.
Thanks.. I look forward to seeing what you come up with for both requests. I’m sure I’m forgetting lots of good stuff.
Comment [25]
Nov 18, 2008Dujeous kick you in The Shins · by Rafi Kam
Dujeous in their signature standing-around-dramatically-spaced-from-each-other-all-looking-at-the-camera pose.
NYC underground vets (and in full disclosure, my former classmates) Dujeous are about to get their internet grind on, announcing that they’ll be releasing a song each Tuesday from here to Inauguration Day.
The first official installment Into Night gets the series off to a good start, crafting an ethereal beat from a sample of Sealegs by The Shins.
Comment [3]
Nov 18, 2008Which t-shirt should we make? Obama or Ikea? · by Rafi Kam
Which t-shirt do you think we should put out around the Internets Celebrities catch-phrase “Chea!”
Vote in the poll above to help us decide. Click images for better view.
via my damn self.
Comment [23]
Nov 12, 2008The Blogs are Back in Town? · by Rafi Kam
I gotta take care of some ish in the next couple of weeks but things will be shaking up a lot after that. I’m finally moving this site over to Wordpress (the import is a pain but worth it) and dramatic changes are on the way.
In the meantime, for your perusal… Oh Word family have spread like the proverbial mustard seed.
agent b and friends at the minus world are still going strong. They recently got some mainstream coverage with MSNBC interviewing b about their election coverage.
RHS and friends at Philaflava’s TROY blog bring back that ol boom bap. That’s a crowded space to be in for sure but with a great forum for old school behind it, that blog has lots of goodies to make them stand out.
There’s more heads under the tent at Passion of the Weiss with Sach O and Dan Love dropping recent posts there.
At the Black Moon show Saturday night, I finally met Abe Beame (“Hi, I write for your site sometimes”) who has just launched his own blog for hip-hop criticism.
I also met G and Ming from Grand Good and retired blogger Angry Citizen that night. Good times. Oddly, there were Asher Roth quality females in the building even though it was a Duck Down show. They must have known that dude from Gym Class Heroes was going to be making a surprise appearance.
Comment [4]
Nov 07, 2008The Election as Video Game RPG · by Rafi Kam
via Non Threatening Black Male
I was waiting for McCain to use Palin and have the weapon critically misfire but apparently this little gem was made back in March.
Comment [5]
Nov 05, 2008The audacity of blog recommendations · by Rafi Kam
I’ve been a big fan of these two blogs this year. One is fairly new and one is just new to me. Both offer distinct voices, quality writing, astute political and cultural commentary plus guilt-free diversions….
And edutainment of the highest degree.
The Black Snob is the one that has been around for a while and is run by Danielle Belton, a professional writer and dedicated Michelle Obama fashion chronicler. The newer one is We Are Respectable Negroes where “three respectable negroes” (see original 40 Acres and a Mule decry to catch the reference) get deep or sometimes not so much. But the ride is good either way.
It’s been rewarding following both of these sites during the campaign and I suspect the same will be true for their coverage of the Obama presidency.
Comment [1]
Nov 05, 2008John McCain: The Heroic End of Darth Vader · by Rafi Kam
It’s always Star Wars, isn’t it?
We frame everything in Star Wars terms. And it’s usually all about Darth Vader. As an ultimate representative of evil, power, ruthlessness, Lord Vader is burned into our brains. And so we’ve all seen images of our favorite villains done up as Vader: George Steinbrenner, George Bush and especially Dick Cheney who famously referred to himself as the Darth Vader of his administration. Some Star Wars nerds may see Cheney more akin to the Emperor to Dubya’s Vader but lets not nitpick.
In the Democratic primaries this year, we suddenly realized we had the other half of what these Star Wars spoofs had been missing. Namely, a hero. In the real world Darth Vaders are a dime a dozen but where do you find a Luke Skywalker substitute? Some golden-boy outsider who emerges from nowhere, studies the Force and brings “a new hope” against the empire.
And so Empire Strikes Barack pit our young jedi knight against a new fitting Vader – Hillary Clinton this time. And that’s how it’s gone since… We all know that last night the Rebels finally beat the Empire. And if you couldn’t tell by the news coverage from cities all around the world, people are partying like the Death Star has just blown up. Cue the dancing Ewoks!
But before all the fireworks could start we needed one piece of redemption to go down. There was long ago a powerful Jedi who some thought might be the one to stop the corruption of the darkside. Something special there was in this one, yes. He was prone to follow his own volition even though it would get him in trouble sometimes but there was a power and goodness in him as well.
There is the unappreciated idea of Darth Vader as hero. The one whose loss leads him to pursue the power of the dark side. Think back to McCain’s primary loss in 2000 to the take-no-prisoners Bush campaign. And then how his own ambition drove him further to the right, aligning with the dark forces he was supposed to be up against, suddenly changing some five years back to please the conservative base so that he could have a shot in 2008.
Is the tragedy of Anakin Skywalker also the tragedy of John McCain? Last night in McCain’s concession speech, we saw the old man unmasked as he moved beyond the lure of vengeance and lifted himself above the booing crowd. Another Star Wars parallel… the chanting Joe Sixpack as hissing Emperor Palpatine in full “kill him!” mode. It was basically the Return of the Jedi conclusion playing out before us.
And there finally unmasked was the dignity of a human doing the right thing, acting with compassion and the greater good in mind. But this still being the internet, and me still being of the Star Wars generation, it all looked something like this to me.
Update: I told you this stuff is all elastic. Now Harry Allen has imagined a 2012 Republican primary where Palin plays Vader to McCain’s Obi-Wan. I think there’s zero chance of that happening (McCain won’t be running again and I’m doubtful about a Palin run as well) but I love that the Star Wars metaphor continues to shapeshift.
Comment [11]
