Tue 25 Oct 2005
Mos and the Breed Love crew are coming to DC (where yours truly lives) and Rhode Island!!
See all the tour dates at the official Breed Love site.
This post is tagged: breed love, hip hop, live music, mos def, music, rap.
Tue 25 Oct 2005
Stumbled upon this flyer for the October 28th Breed Love Tour stop:
This post is tagged: breed love, hip hop, live music, mos def, music, rap, talib kweli.
Sun 23 Oct 2005
Howard Dukes of the South Bend Tribune has sharp words for rap artists and their actions before Katrina in his commentary, Where was hip-hop in the ‘foremath’ of Katrina?
Dukes points out that the hip-hop community was dutifully quick to respond to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and how the poorest of those victims were affected, but where was the majority of mainstream hip-hop before Katrina? Many rappers responded with strong public statements and even headed into the studio to record benefit tracks in the days following the devastating hurricane, but before Katrina, he says, most were “content to settle for being the “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” of the black community.”
Word.
Dukes calls out Mos Def, Talib, Kweli, The Roots, and Common as among the precious few that paid any real attention to the poor and important social issues prior to Katrina. He also recalls the names of the greats of the old-school:
In the 1980s, when the poor were even more out of favor than they are now, groups such as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Boogie Down Productions, Public Enemy and N.W.A. produced records that addressed social issues while packing dance floors across the nation.
This really should get all the “bling bling” artists, as I call them, to take a serious look at their lyrics and actions, but it won’t. It’s been obvious for years that the only people they’re really looking out for are themselves and the what they value most is making as much money as possible.
This post is tagged: conscious rap, hip hop, katrina, mos def, rap.
Sun 23 Oct 2005
Just wanted to give a quick shout out and welcome all of you coming from the Mos Definitely forums and the new Hip-Hop Spot forums. I appreciate the love I’ve received there and thank you all for checking out my site.
Make sure to visit often—I post nearly every day. You might also want to subscribe to one of the feeds to make it easier to stay up-to-date. Find the feed links over in the sidebar on the right.
As I’ve posted to the forums, it’s my intention with this site to collect any and all breaking news, old info, underground video, etc. about Mos Def that I can. (BTW, you will never find official albums or videos for download here. Don’t come here looking or asking for such things. If you love Mos, support him with your $$.)
I’m hoping that the community here and on other forums and sites around the web, who obviously loves Mos as much as I do, will help me to do this.
If you hear a little bird sing with news about Mos, hit me up.
If you spot him on the block and snap a pic of him, definitely send that.
If you have some home video of him freestylin’ somewhere, I want it!
If you’ve got suggestions for things you’d like to see, let me know.
Anything and everything related to the Mighty Mos Def is what it’s about! Spread the word. Tell your friends to stop by and be on the look out for me.
I’m really hoping to make a site that is THE spot for Mos Def info.
Thanks. Peace.
This post is tagged: community, hip hop, mos def, random, rap.
Sat 22 Oct 2005
If you haven’t heard about Pandora yet, um, you’re missing out… big time. This could be the future of music. At least the future of how to discover new music, and finding new music is a constant desire of mine.
Pandora is like the music suggestion services on many ecommerce sites (you know, like Amazon suggests stuff based on your purchases and surfing habits), but Pandora actually serves up selected tracks in a never-ending streaming playlist of music based on the artists you input. You can create many different stations based on whatever criteria you choose to input.
I’ve created a “Mos Def Radio” station. Right now, I’ve just added Mos Def and Talib Kweli as the suggestion criteria, but I’ll add more later. The last few tracks it played for me?
Nice work, if you ask me.
This is definitely worth checking out. The first 10 hours of streaming are free. After that, it’s $36/year. Get started with your own station, or just dive right into my Mos Def station.
This post is tagged: hip hop, mos def, pandora, rap, streaming music.
