Good Hip-Hop Lives on 99p!! J. Cole!!

J. Cole is my new favorite rapper. And no, it’s not because he is the first artist signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation. It’s because the dude can actually SPIT. Check out his mixtape “The Warm Up” if you don’t believe me. At first, I thought Charles Hamilton was going to be the next superstar but he self destructed, so now, J. Cole is up next.

Check the video for his song “Simba”, after the jump!!!
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Posted by:

Biko Baker

Paying YOU To Use Electricity?

Did your parents ever yell at you for wasting electricity? You know, for keeping the TV and the radio on at the same time? Or not turning your light off when you leave a room? Mine did. I was the child of a thrifty family.

So, naturally, this would drive my mother to drink: apparently, there is so much energy being generated by wind and nuclear power, that electricity has become ‘cheaper to use than free’ for certain people. Check this:

In west Texas and Illinois, when the wind blows at night and nuclear plants run around-the-clock, power generators produce more electricity than people need. This oversupply “has forced electricity prices into the negative range,” an expert explains—meaning that some customers are paid to use electricity.

Energy companies are experimenting with ways to store this excess energy, such as with compressed air. Pacific Gas and Energy can be done by “pumping compressed air into an underground reservoir, using mainly wind energy produced during non-peak hours, and then release it to generate electricity during periods of peak demand”. However, it’s going to take 5 years to develop this technology. As of now, there’s no technology in place, so all of this energy is going to waste. Is this drastically unsustainable? What do you think?

Posted by:

Steve Romain

Jay-Z and Yankee Stadium

I’m currently chillin’ in Madison, Wisconsin for an event and watching Jay-Z and Alicia Keys perform before the start of Game 2 of the World Series last night, filled me with such pride – both as a born-and-raised New Yorker, and for hip-hop. Yeah, I’m a longtime Yankee fan since the Reggie Jackson candy bars in 1978, but it was the fact here this dude Sean Carter, from Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn (Bedford-Stuyvesant stand up!!), who went to high school with some of my homies from back-in-the-day, has the whole world’s attention (again. smile) in this forum, was a really, really dope event to witness!

I’m 36 and I don’t have the same passion for rap music like I used to (enter anyone of your criticisms here_______________ ). I get more hyped watching Countdown with Keith Olberman these days or NBC’s “The Office”. I’m older, I have a beautiful wife and son, so what goes in the world on a spiritual/social/political level has much more of effect on me these days than your favorite hip-hop blog. However, last night I could not help in reveling in all things, Jay, Brooklyn, Alicia (oooooh : ) ) New York…hip-hop.

Go Yankees!!!

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Joshua Fahiym Ratcliffe

Real (And Fake) Pundits on Health Care

When it comes to smart, funny television, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart run neck and neck in the race for the lead. In a brilliant piece of satire and biting television, last night’s Colbert Report took on Insurance Companies. Absolutely genius:

I’m gonna digress for a second. Instead of simply asking what you think and sending this piece out to pasture, I’ll present you with some commentary that a “for-serious” pundit actually spit onto the airwaves.

When you’re going to have to make a decision because we can’t afford good healthcare for everybody, somebody’s not going to get a kidney transplant. Somebody’s not going to get heart surgery. Somebody’s not going to get kidney dialysis. Somebody’s not going to get that surgery. Who’s it going to be? Is it going to be the Millennial that doesn’t give a flying crap about anybody else but themselves because they’re special, look at all the trophies they won?

That was an actual recent quote from your favorite pundit and mine: Glenn Beck.

I find it ironic that Beck can go spout this sort of nonsense when youth are so engaged in the health care debate, as activists for a hundred different youth driven organizations or in more passive roles, as a segment of the American citizenry facing some of the highest rates of unemployment and lack of healthcare coverage.

Think about it this way: many young people are voting their confidence in progressive health care reform by consistently watching programs, such as The Daily Show and Colbert Report, which are lately discussing health reform every other night. These young people keep coming back: Jon Stewart isn’t the most trusted man in news for nothin’.

Alas, I’m taking a long road to a short conclusion: as much as the ‘RAWR I’M LOUD’ pundits like to say young people aren’t engaged, you and I – the engaged young people – know we are. We’re living with the health care crisis some like to think only exists in “REAL America” – the America where everyone has two-and-a-half kids, a picket fence, a dog and a yard – which is insulting and degrading to the diverse ranks of our society. But hey, you knew that.

Posted by:

Steve Romain

Good Hip-Hop Lives On 99p!! Jasiri X!

Once again, Jasiri X drops a heat bomb.

This time the Pittsburgh based MC goes after BET and its CEO Debra Lee. At this point, I think Jasiri is prolly the most consistent MC in the game. Come on, who else has dropped so many “good” viral videos on such a regular basis? Check the video after the jump.

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Posted by:

Biko Baker