The 2008 lineup is FRESH! KRS-One, 88-Keys, Buckshot, Blu & Exile, Fresh Daily, Mickey Factz, J. Period, Zaki Ibrahim and DJ Premier. The Brooklyn Hip-Hop main performance day is July 12th. Check the calendar on the Web site for the rest of the festival days programs & performers. If yer going, I’m super jealous - take me with you! I can fit in small spaces!

And just like that, the Shaquille O’Neal era of Maricopa County law enforcement has ended.

After O’Neal lambasted Kobe Bryant in a “freestyle” rap, in which the word “nigga” was used, Maricopa County sheriff Joe Arpaio stripped O’Neal of his ceremonial honors.

The whole situation is ridiculous. Shaq was about as much of a cop as I am a seven-foot NBA center.

At least nowhere near as well as Video Matt can. But hey at least he tried. Plus I think he can probably sing a little better than Matt. You can see for yourself, as The Hush Sound is currently making the rounds, first as part of the Honda Civic Tour, and then as part of the “Dance Across The Country” tour Check out the dates below: (more…)

British and Sri Lankan lady rapper M.I.A. (Maya Arulpragasam) is makin’ money. Besides her recent engagement to Warner Music Group (WMG) big-wig Edgar Bronfman’s son, rocker Benjamin Brewer, she is getting paid by some notorious sponsors. M.I.A. collected $100k for performing at an MTV Movie Awards after-party and she only had to be on stage for half an hour! The party was in West Hollywood and sponsored by Converse One Star and Target.

After performing, M.I.A. jumped on top of a photo booth and told the audience how much money she’d be making. She is very politically active and told the crowd she would use the money to build schools in Liberia. She said it cost $52,000 to build a school meant for 1,000 kids. A rapper using her insane paychecks to do good, who would’ve thought?

Thank you Internet for teaching me about rap music.

Although Bob Odenkirk can throw it down too.

His science is too tight.

“I got my momma playin very hard / I’m flirtin’ with sin but I’m married to god…”

When you flip through my CD books you’ll find a lot of indie rock and metal, but not too much hip-hop. It’s not that I don’t have an appreciation for the music, it’s just I hate the braggadocio aesthetic that sets the tone for the majority of hip-hop artists of the last few years.
You also won’t find much in terms of Christian music in my collection…my people get blamed for the crucifixion and I hate getting preached at by the misguided and unlearned. So it might strike some as strange that for today’s Synthesis Artist You’ve Never Heard Of Artist Of The Day, I’ve chosen Virginia Beach Christian rap artist El Prezidino.

I like El Prezbecause he’s working through his issues of spirituality and faith in a way that isn’t preaching as much as telling - his missteps handled with the same thoughtfulness as his strides along a righteous path. There’s a bit of bragging in there, but it’s more focused on his wealth of character, not wealth of material goods. And when he does rap about money, it’s almost more as a self-criticism, in that he should be paying more attention to God and self. I can get behind that, you know. Plus, his beats SLUMP. Check out his music on his Space, and you can find his EP The Warning here.

Check his live dates after the jump: (more…)