The homie FRANZ DIEGO is back with another playful banger. Back in the day, I used to pop up to the Twin Cities and get it in with Franz and his crew. Franz was always the youngest dude in the mix. Glad to see that he is still having fun and coming into his own as an artist. Video after the jump. #dope
“Habits & Contradictions” now on iTunes.
On 1.11.12, New Orleans’ Dee 1 and 99problems.org hit the streets of Los Angeles. After getting up with the homie Nipsey Hussle, Dee 1 and the crew hit John Muir High School in Pasadena. Have #missionvision #yaheardme!?
Check the video after the jump.
… Continue Reading
In 2008, community activists struggled to be heard as the noise from the presidential race convinced voters that the fate of our nation lay in a battle between two juggernauts, and that non-partisan organizing, once the back-bone of our democracy, had become superfluous.
Fast forward four years, and everything has changed. Seeing our hijacked democracy hurtling towards a fiery crash, the American citizen wrestled itself into the driver’s seat, and is putting our country back on track. We see that our futures will be determined, not by blind hope that a politician will do right by us, but by our country’s most marginalized voices coming together to advocate, loudly and tirelessly, for each other.
The first time I traveled to Cincinnati, I thought it was the most effed up city I had ever seen.
For Cincinnati's youth, Elementz is a creative safespace
In 2005, my friend, Gavin Leonard, invited me and my colleagues at the League to conduct a civic engagement training at a fledgling youth arts center that he co-founded in Cincinnati’s Over the Rhine, one of the most economically deprived communities in the country. The premise of his project, Elementz Hip-Hop, was deceptively simple: if you provide urban youth with access to studio equipment, art teachers, and mentors, they can choose creative outlets over criminal ones, and ultimately live fuller, richer lives.
A simple premise, but as Gavin took us on a tour through his hood, I couldn’t see how it would work. 2005-era Cincinnati’s Over the Rhine neighborhood looked like the warped offspring of The Wire’s Amsterdam and Gangs of New York’s 5 Points. On every street corner we passed, I saw young African-American men in over-sized white T-shirts, pitching narcotics to drug addicts while posturing to protect their territory. The tension, the hopelessness was palpable.
![#NewMusic: Phil Ade “PhilAdeFriday2″ [MIXTAPE]](http://99problems.org/wp-content/plugins/simple-post-thumbnails/timthumb.php?src=/wp-content/thumbnails/20645.png&w=300&h=100&zc=1&ft=jpg)