The rumor mill was swirling Tuesday that Skull Gang leader, Julez Santana, was arrested for threatening to kill his wife. His publicist Lynn Robson attempted to shut down those reports late Tuesday stating that Julez is not married and was in an argument with a neighbor. Robson released a statement saying, “He has problems with the people in his complex, they hate on him because he is a rapper with big cars.”
After further investigation, The Associated Press reports that Teaneck police charged Santana with making terroristic threats and possessing a (more...)
The Summer of 2009 will go down in Hip-Hop history as one of the most oppressive summers to date. Not in the literal sense of the word, Hip-Hop artists are seemingly being hunted down and prosecuted with ferocity unseen before in the American justice system, mainly due to their own ignorance and ill-advised decisions.
From C-Murder and Lil' Boosie to throwback legends Coolio and Willie D, it would seem that the stars have aligned and solar flares are disrupting the thought process of some of the game's best and brightest talent, with even those who have recently come into commercial success choosing to involve themselves in idiotic endeavors. Terrance Boykin is a part of the latter group.
Known to the world as Bump J, Boykin reached the early commercial success with his hit “Move Around,” finding more acclaim when the song was chosen to be featured in one of (more...)
Two of the most divisive and disputed men in media are reeling from a verbal slap from Hip-Hop's reining ruler. Both Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly were the target of verbal assaults from Jay-Z on a leaked track from his The Blueprint 3 album. In “Off That” featuring Drake, Jigga says:
“Black vs. white my ni**a, we off that. Please tell Bill O'Reilly to fall back. Tell Rush Limbaugh to get off my balls, it's 2010 not 1864. Yeah we come so far. How's that for a mix, got a Black president, got green presidents.”
LeBron James, a star athlete of NBA, hosted a children's bike-a-thon in his hometown of Akron, Ohio.
Although most of the money raised will go to charities, James believes the kids' participation and having fun is just as essential.
"When I can see the kids have a smile on their face it means more to me than anything, and that's why I continue to do this," he said.
According to the Associated Press, James danced with the local kids and his two sons, LeBron Jr. and Bryce, joined in the fun.
The Cavaliers' coach, MIke Brown, New Orleans guard Chris Paul and TV host, Nick Cannon joined the NBA maverick in his cause.
"Its all about health and wellness and having an awareness of all of that we got to encourage the next generation to take care of themselves and step away from the TV step away from the video games and have fun like we use to," Cannon said.
While the children's trail was one-mile long, the adult's ride was a challenging 8-mile ride through Akron.
A local participant, Randy Mims, said he took his children on the trail for some rigorous exercise.
"It's definitely a good workout," he said. "You have to be in shape and be prepared. This is a real ride."
The bike-a-thon was one of many free event James hosted over the weekend. During his eventful weekend at Summit Lake Community Park he recognized and rewarded the young people who are making positives strides in their communities - the "Game Changers."
While James took the time thank the city of Akron, he saved his heartfelt accolades for his mother, Gloria James.
"She means everything," James said of his mom. "She is the reason why I am here and able to stand in front of you guys because she raised me by herself and I've seen how strong she was to do it by herself. So it's automatically made me become stronger and made me grow up faster than kids want to, but it set me up in life to become who I am today."
Despite the frailty of his appearance in recent months, Fidel Castro has not only resurfaced looking stronger than ever, he also makes a comeback with critiques of Obama's performance to date.
In Tuesday's edition of Cuba's state-run newspaper, "Granma," Castro warned that the withdraw of U.S. troops from Iraq to fight the Taliban in Afghanistan could prove unsuccessful because the Afghani Taliban "sank the Soviet Union."
Castro made further claims that he was taken back by President Obama's rapid decline in popularity polls and blames "traditional [U.S.] racism" for interfering with reform efforts, namely health care reform.
The former Cuban dictator frequently contributes his "reflections" to the state media and often blasts U.S. foreign policy.
In this week's commentary, Castro touched on his visit with former U.S. presidential candidate Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico.
Richardson was initially nominated in the Obama administration as secretary of commerce but ultimately withdrew. The U.S. governor took on a trade mission in the capital city of Cuba this week that was "designed to capitalize on potential agricultural and cultural partnerships between Cuba and New Mexico," reports CNN.
Although the trade embargo between the U.S. and Cuba has been in effect for close to 50 years, the U.S. Treasury Department allows the cash sale of agricultural, medical and IT products to Cuba.
In 1996, Richardson met with Castro to negotiate the release of three political prisoners in Cuba and is well-known for his diplomatic track record including high-level talks with North Korea, Sudan and Iraq.
The visit comes shortly after Castro's first video broadcast in 14 months.
In a speech earlier this month, the current Cuban leader and brother of Fidel, Raul Castro, stated made claims that he is willing to establish dialogue with Washington. He added, however, that political and regime change are not up for discussion or negotiation.
The Blastmaster KRS-One has been educating Hip-Hop and the masses for over 20 years. As he gears to release his latest project Survival Skills on September 15 with Duck Down front-man Buckshot, KRS spoke to Hip-Hop Wired exclusively about the controversial documentary The Obama Deception. In the film, KRS speaks on secret societies running the United States and the world as well as his views on the nation's first African-American President. Receiving some flack for his outspoken views, KRS-One addresses the film and his real feelings about President Obama and it's not exactly what you think. His philosophy never is but edutaining nonetheless.
“If they controlled it before, what makes you think they're not controlling it now? The country was on the verge of revolution. They threw a Black man up, now we like this (complacent). They put a Black face on the New World Order and now we all happy. KRS ain't buying it.” …KRS-One (The Obama Deception).
HipHopWired: KRS, you've never been one to hold your tongue but you feel that some misconceptions about you and your feelings about President Obama have been distorted. So do you support the film The Obama Deception where you raised some interesting questions on the government and The President?
KRS-One: I'm not in support of it but I am in support of everything I said. No doubt but when I did the interview it wasn't supposed to be a movie. It wasn't supposed to be what it is. I'm sensitive to the struggle. There's a whole truth movement separate from Hip-Hop. There's a whole 9-11 anti-war movement that needs me in that capacity so I don't really beef with it too much and I allowed the movie to come out without lawsuits and all that type of stuff. But really, no. I'm not personally in support. I have my views on that.
HipHopWired: So were your words taken out of context and will you do your own documentary on The New World Order?
KRS-One: Maybe somebody should one day. We can do our own documentary even answering The Obama Deception but what I will say is that it's just like when I was misquoted with 9-11 when The Daily News misquoted me saying that I said, “We cheered when 9/11 happened.” The Daily News then put me on blast saying that if Osama bin Laden was to buy an album, it would be KRS-One's. And then everybody in America was like, “Aww, f@&k KRS.” But around the world, the Muslim community was busting shots, like, “Yeah, KRS.” And it was a misquote. So in colleges, even though certain Palestinians, Muslims, Arabs …come up to me. Not that they was with 9/11 but they understood what I was saying about the cheering of that system going down. That whole fake, that corruption finally falling. They and the world understood it and the same thing is with The Obama Deception as well.
I don't really support the movie or how they tried to pull Obama out like that, I'm not in support of that. But Obama is on that sh%& too on another level. He is The President. F%@k all the dumb sh$%, he is the President and he has people that he must answer to that are not me and are not you and they don't have our interest in mind. No government does in that sense. It's about people power so in that instance I'm not ashamed of the message. I don't disagree with the message of the movie but KRS is a little deeper than the movie projects.
“Everyone is pointing to Barrack right now, President Obama and saying, 'You gotta get the economy together, you gotta get the economy together.' When in fact the president has very little to do with the economy. It's the Federal Reserve Chairman that at least sets the policy… that's a privately owned company. The Federal Reserve Bank, they set the agenda.” ...KRS-One (The Obama Deception)
HipHopWired: So how did you come to interview for The Obama Deception?
KRS-One: That was after a show. Somebody asked me a couple of questions and I gave them my heart and that was the end of it. Now to turn that into a movie and market it as my political view, that's a little over the top but when you're a revolutionary, sometimes you take one for the team and that's what I'm doing right now. I believe more in that movement than what I'm saying. I don't even care even if they had lied about me and said some sh&% that I didn't say. I'm more interested in the fact that 9/11 is being covered up. Firefighters and police officers did run into those buildings and now New York City doesn't want to pay their health expenses. I am concerned about that. I'm concerned about you putting up a new Freedom Tower in New York in the same place yet you not hiring New York City contractors to build that sh&%. I'm concerned about that sh&$ so yeah, KRS-One is a lil' deeper than what the movie is about but nonetheless the movement itself I still support.
The people who put the movie out, Alex Jones, all of them…that's my crew. Straight up. 9/11 Truth, all of that, we get down. All that sh%&, Conspiracy Theory all day. Judd, Maxwell, David, Ike, all of them. That's my crew. We hang out, we talk. That's what it is. But it's best that the message went out. I'm glad the message went out because it's better for a Black man to critique another Black man, I think, than any other race in that sense. America is not that grown up yet to have to have a White man critique Obama and have the country feel good about it. The reason why the Republicans even now can climb into Obama is because of The Obama Deception. Believe that.
HipHopWired: That's true and no one is above criticism. And just because you disagree with someone and provoke thought doesn't mean you're hating on them. What made you question The President and his mission while the majority of the country was wrapped up in the Obama cloud?
KRS-One: The first week. Before anybody said anything that was critical about the presidency, you first heard KRS-One, simple and plain. We spoke the week he was inaugurated. The week that Obama was inaugurated was the week that the interview went up and nobody understood. My own community, African Americans was like, “F*&k KRS” because he said “F**k Obama.” And that's what I had to endure. But then the White population, the Republicans, looked at that said you know what, “Brother got a point of view here.” We here at N.R.A. agree. We Christians over here, we agree. We Wal-mart, Target, all that sh#%, we agree with this Black man over here. And then you get the Republican Party like let's now take a look at this and that. But first you need a credible Black man to first ask credible questions before anybody else can say anything. And I'm not the only one because my man Dr. Cornell West peeled into the President as well, nicely and respectively.
HipHopWired: You say respectively and nicely. Who went about it in some tyrannical manner?
KRS-One: Not on no ni**a sh&% like Jesse (Jackson) did who straight up called him a “NI**A.” They was on some old school “Ni**a Sh&%” like Jesse came straight out, “You a ni**a” and that's it. We wasn't on that, Cornell West wasn't on that. That brother's a scholar and he came right out with it and “lets not get so emotional over a Black president. We got to clean this country up.” This is from Cornell West so you got KRS on one side, Hip-Hop talking. And we're saying, “Nah, Barrack is cool. He's the man no doubt. We don't disrespect that” but that could be the New World Order too, dawg. Don't get so wrapped up thinking just cause John McCain lost, you now got something. Nahh man. Keep your eyes open.
HipHopWired: Definitely. And you're not alone with those thinkings. Did you incorporate some of those thoughts with your new album Survival Skills with Buckshot?
KRS-One: A lot of young Whites, Blacks, Latinos, the young Asians and Native Americans, they agree. And that's what makes the film important. Even though I think the film goes a little over the top, I mean it's a conspiracy film so it goes over the top. But people agree so you match The Obama Deception with the Town Hall meetings that are happening all over the country right now and then you match that with Survival Skills the album with songs like “Think Of All The Things.” We're talking about being a father to your child and what are you doing. KRS talks to the mothers and Buckshot talks to the fathers. We coming with cuts like this is what new Hip-Hop is. This is what it is and we're a part of this debate. Don't just look at this album as KRS and Buckshot did an album that represents their art. This album is being put out very timely when citizens are in governors' and presidents' faces. We got a cut called “On The Grind” with Mary J. Blige and play that as you're watching CNN or FOX news because it's all relevant and it all sinks in.
So I'm really proud of this project because this is what KRS-One's career is really all about. Survival Skiils, the videos, the subject matter, the beats, the people on the album. This is what KRS-One needs right now. This is what Hip-Hop needs right now.
Buckshot: Politically this (album) is what the world needs. Kris didn't say the word F-U-C-K but he said Mr. Sean Hannity (Conservative Fox News Host and tyrannical Obama hater) is not gonna like that. I personally would say F**k Mr. Sean Hannity. I don't even like saying his name. I personally feel like throwing a tomato at my T.V. anytime my channel skips past it so he'll be another political issue that'll come up later on but that's for another day.
HipHopWired: People are quick to tear down the youth movement in Hip-Hop and say that they don't respect their elders and uplift the culture. Yet, you being The Teacha, you feel that they are as important and relevant as you are. You've even bigged up Soulja Boy and T-Pain so what do you want the youth to learn from you at this date and time?
KRS-One: When I did the quick little interview with Alex Jones, spoke my mind and sh&$ went up on the Internet, everybody was like, “Ohh sh&%, KRS is dissing Barrack.” And after I did like 20 interviews, I was like I'm not dissing Barrack, I'm dissing all motherf&%king presidents. First it was just an interview and then they made it into a movie. They took “my movie” and turned it into part of the movie The Obama Deception and put my views up there. And right away, they was like “KRS is dissing Obama.” And again I made it clear, I not dissing Obama. I could never diss Obama but all presidents are politicians and you know me with my conspiracy theories and the New World Order, I don't see it the way everybody else sees it. So I spoke my mind but look at that. A lot of elders felt the way I felt but they were just scared to talk and now I spoke up, just spoke my mind. Because ain't nobody kicking my a*s, ain't nobody feeding my kids or paying my mortgage. So what ni**a, I'm bussing my guns. So I'm gone speak the way I speak and that's that.
So I stepped up and I talked so now all of a sudden the young kids are like, “Oh Sh$^, who is that?” “Yo that's that dude called KRS-One.” Their older brother and sisters… their mothers and fathers are telling them that, “Oh yeah, that's KRS-One. That's that dude, he don't give a f*&k. He'll tell you straight up and down what it really is. Or you can catch him over here. I mention all of that to say just because you're an elder doesn't mean that young people have to respect you. F@%k that. If you're an elder, young people will work you harder for your respect today. You should be trying to get the respect of your children, not asking them to respect you. At 50 years old you shouldn't need mother fu&%ing respect.
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