Major props are in order to my homeboy H Samy Alim. He becomes the latest in a rapidly increasing list of college professors and instructors who are now teaching Hip Hop music and culture on college campuses. Folks who attend Stanford University here in the Bay Area now have the option to take a class called 'The Language of Hip Hop Culture'. Here they will study the lyrics of rap stars ranging from P-Diddy to Mos Def. The objective is to connect today's current lyrics to the African Oral Tradition that has long manifested itself from generation to generation within the African American community. One of the interesting facets about Stanford being the latest home to Hip Hop on an academic level is the fact that it is the long time home to veteran DJ Kevvy Kev who still does The Drum Hip Hop show on the school's radio station KZSU. Kev has been doing the show for over 17 years and was one of the first Hip Hoppers to go online and take Hip Hop to cyber space. Kev graduated as a computer programmer and was on line as far back as 1987. Stanford was also home to another well known Hip Hopper-Taje from the group Souls of Mischief. For those who are interested yours truly-Davey D will be lecturing at the Stanford Hip Hop class this Tuesday night from 7-9pm on the campus.
Other colleges that currently have Hip Hop included in its academic curriculum include UC Berkeley my alma mater where they are currently gearing up for a Hip Hop conference this spring. Professor Cecil M Brown is heading up that effort. Cal was also the site for a poetry and Hip Hop class on 2Pac. A few years prior a Hip Hop class taught by Beni B who now heads the Bay Area Hip Hop Coalition was founded. Big shout out to rap star Superstar Quam Allah who currently teaches on the campus. Imagine having your term paper graded by a cat who's album you just brought? He was the teaching assistant for a required Hip Hop class called Power Moves. Across the Bay, San Francisco State has a Hip Hop class taught by Professor Ricky 'Uhuru Maggot' Vincent who wrote the book 'The History of Funk' and currently host a show on KPFA. In Southern Cali, UC Irvine has just kicked off its first Hip Hop class.
Columbia University under the direction of Manning Marable is establishing a Hip Hop Think Tank. Harvard University is in the process of putting together a Hip Hop archive. It is also home to Professor Cornel West who just released a Hip Hop CD called 'Sketches of My Culture'. Harvard was also the home to the Source Magazine's founders Dave Mays, James Bernard and Jon Schecter. Folks may recall mays and Schecter putting out a record back in the late 80s called 'Play That Funk' under the name BMOC- Big Man on Campus. The also put out their newsletter which later became The Source Magazine. Neighboring Boston College was also home to a Hip Hop course taught by former label executive and Hip Hop promoter Will Strickland.
In 1999 the University of Michigan established the Hip-Hop and Cultural Studies Collective where a number of students along with community members began collecting and archiving Hip Hop papers. University of Washington has a vibrant Hip Hop organization jumping off. University of Virginia has recently establsihed the Organization for the Advancement of Hip Hop Culture. Howard University in Washington DC was the site of one of Hip Hop's first conferences on a college campus. That feat has now been followed by all sorts of Universities ranging from UCLA to Oberlin College to the University of New Mexico to the University of Wisconsin at Madison just to name a few.
Queen Latifah is making some power moves as she will bring her talents on to the screen adaptation of the Broadway Play 'Chicago'. If everything goes to plan, Latifah will be playing the role prison matron mam Morton. Her co-stars will include Renee Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Richard Gere. Thats not bad company-Long live the Queen.
Big shout outs are in order to M-1 of dead prez and Boots of the Coup who threw down at the Hip Hop Peace concert at San Francisco's Delores Park this weekend. M-1 shocked it when he took Notorious BIG's classic song 'Juicy' and flipped it by adding some new 'revolutionary lyrics. The crowd went nuts. He explained afterwards that their next album will be 'Its A Takeover Not A Makeover'. Here the group has penned new lyrics to some of Hip Hops dopest songs. They remade everyone from Biggie to Ice Cube. From what I heard the lp is shaping up to be a landmark album that will leave its mark for sure.
Sad news for DMX who has been getting high marks for his new album 'The Great Depression'. He gets even higher marks for the new video to the song 'Who We Be'. He's been on a roll as of late and has been celebrating the release of what many are saying is his best album ever, by traveling from city to city doing free concerts. He rolls with an huge 18 wheeled truck that opens up and doubles as a fully equipped soundstage. DMX dubbed his promo tour as Hoodstock. Unfortunately he ran into a snag last week when he attempted to perform in his hometown of New York. Officials sighted security concerns and would not allow a free outdoor concert. DMX took it all in stride considering the current state of things in the Big Apple. He wound up going up to 125th in Harlem to the HMV Record store where he signed autographs...
Speaking of videos.. Has anyone peeped the new one by D-12 and Eminem for their song 'Fight Music'? For those who didn't peep it, the video is an excellent remake of the classic flick The Warriors. Many consider this cult classic which highlighted New York's notorios gangs of the 1970s to be Hip Hop's first film. More then a few folks have sampled sound bites from it. Most notably the often used phrase 'Can You Dig It?', which was delivered by the charismatic Cyrus the leader of the Gramercy Riffs gang. The Riffs were often compared to the Black Spades and later the Zulu Nation which is what the Spades evolved into.. Ice T does a cameo in the video and re-enacts that immortale role. Its a very creative video.. major props to them kids from Detroit for bringing that film nack to the forefront.
Capone and Noreaga are making some noise for the good the bad and the ugly. First up we have Nore who is currently working on a film called 'Whut Whut'. This flick which chronicles life on the road is being directed by Ted Demme who is best known for his work on Yo MTV Raps.There will be cameo appearnces by Snoop Dogg, P-Diddy and Nore's newest friend O.J.Simpson. In addition to that Nore working on a solo album titled 'God's Favorite' which is due out December 4th. It will be released on Def Jam Records.
On the other hand, Nore's partner Capone has been having some bad luck as of late. A couple of months back Capone was arrested and accussed of being involved in a gun fight at a Queen's night club. He was scheduled to appear in court on November 14. One would think he's do his best to stay out of trouble, but as luck would have it he was arrested over the weekend at the Greensboro-High Point Marriot Hotel near the Triad International Airport in North Carolina. Local police had gotten a call about a disturbance at the hotel that morning. When they arrived they entered Capone's room and discovered 49 grams of weed. Capone was promptly arrested and released on bail. His next court date has not been established. Maybe its me but the police have been coming down hard on rappers as of late for their weed smoking habits. The other week Snoop Dogg was collared near Cleveland for having weed. A few months back Lil Cease was caught purchasing weed up in Harlem by under cover cops who observed him. Maybe the po-po want these artist to have a clear head so they can be ready to deal with all the madness that is going on around us..
Speaking of weed, folks may wanna be on the lookout for 'How High' which is a new film and soundtrack by Redman and Method Man due out by December 11th. The plot of the movie centers around a guy named Silas which is played by Method Man and his buddy Jamal played by Redman. There some average cats who like to puff some weed. They decide to do this just before taking their college entrance exam. The pair manage to get unusually high scores because of their 'high' and as a result they get scholarships to Harvard University. The fun begins once the pair get to college. The pair have been filming some of the scenes at Brooklyn College and its being directed by actor Danny Devito. Look for the film to drop nationwide December 12th.
Red and Meth pairing up to release a film seems to be in line with Dr Dre and Snoop pairing up to rlease their new film 'The Wash'. I wonder if they will all get together to do a film.. That would be great.. All they would have to do is bring back Kid-N-Play to take it over the top. They could call it House Party-The New Millineum. Oh well that's wishful thinking.
Since we mentioned Dr Dre we should note that he was vindicated last week by the city of Detroit and Auburn Hills Michigan. City officials issued formal apologies to the Hip Hop mogul after he launched a 25 million dollar lawsuit. His troubles took place last year during his Up In Smoke Tour. Dre had a controversial video which included topless women and a violent shootout, that they would show as an intro to them entering the stage. Dre was initially prevented from showing the short film by Detroit city officials who own the Joe Loius Arena. They thought it was too graphic. There was a standoff which resulted in city officials threatening to pull the plug on the show if the video was shown.
Dre's troubles continued the next night in nearby Auburn Hills. Although Dre was granted a court order giving him permission to show the film, he was slapped with a misdemeanor obscenity charge. Dre responded by launching his lawsuit. The respective parties settled the lawsuit out of court last week. Dre agreed to drop the lawsuit in exchange for his legal fees being paid, a official apology and city officials being required to take First Amendment sensativity training classes. Dre's people noted it was never a money issue it was the principle of the matter. He has now been vindicated.
