144 Search results for "rap industry"

13 year-old rapper Lil’ Mouse’s music video ‘Get Smoked” has racked up nearly half a million views on youtube. But his profanity-laced gangsta rap lyrics – rife with references to drugs, sex, and guns – has sparked outrage. Is there any justification for this?

There is a quote that says “do what you love and the money will follow.” If you’re rapping simply because you love money, then your career is over before it starts. But if music is truly in your heart, then you have your work cut out for you.

It’s no secret that the mainstream rap industry has become almost synonymous with misogyny, violence, materialism, homophobia, and in some cases, just downright foolishness. The pervasiveness of these themes within the industry is what makes little gems like Frank Ocean’s “coming out” so extraordinary. Yet nevertheless, the ever-present reality is that the current orientation of […]

By now you’ve probably heard about Ashley Judd’s ridiculous comments in regards to Hip-Hop that she wrote in her memoir, but if you didn’t they pretty much went like this; “As far as I’m concerned, most rap and hip-hop music – with its rape culture and insanely abusive lyrics and depictions of girls and women […]

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again; record labels are dinosaurs. They’re big, clumsy and growing more and more obsolete by the hour. Philosophically, I am 100% down with Nas on this issue. And besides, Lost Tapes Vol. 1 was the shit….

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RvKxDp9o44 Honestly I never intend to write this song. My producer Religion, saw a post I put up about a extremely racist commercial from the pen company Uniball. He was so angry about it he made the beat which would later become “New Nat Turners“. He called me after he sent it and we discussed […]

I just got back yesterday from a 9 day trip to the West Coast that was one of the most productive, fun, and painful journeys I’ve ever experienced.  It started on February 10th in Portland, Oregon at Portland’s Sixth Annual Youth Summit. I was blessed to be a judge at the youth talent show competition, […]

This month Vibe Magazine featured an open letter from Karrine Steffans telling of her struggle to leave an abusive relationship. What Karrine Steffans is known for is her truth-telling first about the gender and sexual violence of being a “video vixen”in the rap industry and now she is known for her truth telling about her […]

by Dr. Ravynn K. Stringfield Social media is currently flooded with messages from people encouraging others online to “get into print media” or “go analog,” while simultaneously bemoaning the loss of politically aware print media that centered marginalized voices—RIP Bitch Media—and a dearth of media that represent our experiences. However, for Black artists, writers and […]

The Price of Presence: Notes From Atlanta’s Strip Economy Notes From An Urban Feminist A year ago I landed in Atlanta, Georgia without my three children, my husband or community. I arrived with four luggages in tow, and although I considered myself a fully realized feminist whose identity could stand alone, I felt like something […]

by Asha Ransby-Sporn A full decade ago this summer, I arrived at a retreat center in the Chicago suburbs with about a hundred other Black organizers, and community leaders from around the country brought together by Cathy Cohen’s Black Youth Project. Not long into former President Barack Obama’s second term, the goal of the gathering […]

A history of forced institutionalization in service of white supremacy