the mixtape show

If you've been following this blog for at least a couple months, you'll remember that Vince78 mentioned he was going to the march for Megan Williams in Charleston, West Virginia. Well, he's back, and he's put together a quick slideshow and a flickr gallery for everyone. Take a few minutes out of your weekend and check these out. The below is a youtube consisting of images from the rally set to Talib Kweli's "For Women": National March Against Hate Crimes & Racism - Vince78's Report And here's ...

Think about this: We've got six high-school age Black kids either in jail, or on the verge of going in. And I know that not all Black kids listen to a whole lot of rap music - but for the sake of argument, check this: A lot of the same artists that these kids spend their lunch money on, that these kids (for better or worse) idolize, that these kids think speak for them; are now, in their hour of need, nowhere to be found. I'm not necessarily talking about Kanye footing the bill for the defense fund, but about somebody saying ...

Note: The Jena 6 Episode is up now. Check it out here. I've been thinking for the past few days on this Jena 6 case. I know that on the 20th there is going to be a nationwide action, centered in Jena, Louisiana. I can't be there, but I feel like we can still do something. So I'm working on an episode. Some tunes, some beats, some talking. I'm not exactly sure how it's going to turn out. So I'm looking to you - yes, you reading this right now - to help. ...

(click the image to check the show...)

embed this episode in your myspace/blog/whatev:

This is not a simple interview, and it's definitely not just another episode. This is an hourlong (!) special on the state of hip-hop in the media today. This special covers everything from the Imus-inspired backlash on Hip-hop to sexism/racism in the media to the Stop Snitching 'movement" to the number of people that actually dictate what videos get played on BET and subsequently MTV (hint: it's less than four). The Background: During the last few weeks, Hip-Hop has been under serious fire from the mainstream media – not only because of the backlash following Don Imus’ termination, but the more recent 60 minutes interview featuring Cam’ron and Anderson Cooper’s interpretation of the Stop Snitching mantra. So in order to bring some clarity to the situation, I spoke to several different community leaders, all of different backgrounds. The Guests: Aishah Simmons – An African-American feminist and activist documentary filmmaker, producer of the award-winning No!: The Rape Documentary, and perhaps best known to longtime listeners of the Mixtape Show as the older sister of Atlantic Recording artist DJ Drama (previously interviewed here). John Robinson – also known as Lil Sci – a producer, MC, and President of Shaman Work Recordings, which has put out releases from artists such as Emanon, CL Smooth, and MF Doom. Willie D – a solo artist and core member of one of the most influential rap groups to ever come out of the South, the Geto Boys. Davey D – Hip-hop historian, journalist, deejay, and community activist, whose website, Davey-D’s Hip-Hop Corner, is one of the oldest and most respected Hip-Hop sites on the net. and David K Far-El – aka D-Brad, the former producer for BET’s Rap City and the creator of Spring Bling. He was fired some time after Viacom’s buyout of BET and is currently working on a book and DVD exposing the commodification of the nation’s biggest outlet and representation of Black and Hip-Hop culture. The Next Step(s): I encourage everyone to listen to this feature, pass it on (messageboards, myspace, wherever), and continue the discussion both here in the comments and elsewhere. Or hell, request this on your local community station (see below). Community Radio: If you are a radio programmer and are interested in airing this on your local college/community station, click here to download the radio friendly version. It is standard radio format (56 minutes) and is completely clean by US FCC standards. If you have any questions, email me and we'll talk. So, yeah. What do you think? Hit the comments section.