Doc Franchise has been making music for Chicago hip-hop artists for a few years now. Always an individual, this self-proclaimed “nerd” drops his new EP this month. His music is eclectic, classic, and futuristic all at the same time. Watch this exclusive interview with his message on education, style, and hip-hop after the jump.
Artist, poet, writer, musician, MC, rapper, and Chicago native, Malik Yusef is no stranger to success. This year, he won a Grammy with Kanye for the writing of “All of the Lights,” but this poet didn’t always have it so good.
Malik dropped out of high school because he had difficulty writing and speaking aloud in class.
“I used to crack a lot of jokes, distract the class, and get sent out all so I didn’t have to read out loud,” he said.
After dropping out of school, Malik decided to educate himself by spending a lot of time in the library. He started to write poetry about growing up on Chicago’s South Side as a coping mechanism.
“I had to learn ways to deal with people,” Malik said. “[young people should] figure out how to learn. They need to understand environmental literacy, and use context clues to inform themselves.”
“Rebirth of a Nation: The Black Image in the American Mind,” the latest in the #RapSessions series will be live YoungVoterLive.com on Tuesday from 7-10 ET.
From entertainment and politics to the media images that accompany them, the civil-rights era idea of “Blackness” is currently in flux. A panel of leading national experts will explore contemporary moments in popular cultural and politics where race, image and identity have taken center stage. This discussion seeks to help students look at hip-hop culture as a cross-racial phenomenon that has political and cultural roots in black and brown communities.
Tweet @TheLeague99 using the hashtag #RapSessions to join the conversation.
Tuesday was an election day in Wisconsin and the crew at the Milwaukee League of Young Voters Education Fund were getting people out to vote all day. Starting at 8:30 a.m., volunteers started arriving. People were making calls, organizing maps, and breaking into teams to canvass the neighborhood by 9:00 a.m.
As I started volunteering to make phone calls reminding people to vote, I discovered that most people did not know that the Scott Walker Voter ID Law was suspended just in time for the primary. I also discovered that people didn’t know they could vote for presidential candidates from both parties in the primaries.
As I looked around the League office, I realized the room was full of young male and female volunteers. The room represented a contrast to the popular concept that young people are not engaging in politics. Not only were they personally engaging in politics, but they were organizing to engage and inform others. Like other primaries, voter turnout throughout the day was low, however, the Wisconsin primary was important because Wisconsin is a swing state.
As the 2012 presidential election approaches, it is becoming painfully clear that the U.S. economy may be the topic helping voters decided which candidate to choose. Unemployment has remained relatively high across the nation, but some populations have been hit harder than others. The Obama administration has made progress in its attempts to stabilize unemployment, and job growth has been on a small but steady rise. But if stabilizing the economy is the greatest challenge for the 2012 election, then increased employment is the only solution.
While job growth has increased, the questions regarding who is gaining employment still remains. Today, the White House released a press release announcing the Summer Jobs Act to employ nearly 180,000 youth between the ages of 16-24 nationwide. The White House has been encouraging youth employment since 2009, and has worked with many private companies to ensure that young people received on-the-job training and paid internship positions. However, today they took an aggressive stance toward youth employment stating:
“America’s youth can’t wait for Congress to act.”
Obama is moving forward without Congress by proposing $1.5 billion to make sure that youth can be hired not only in the summer, but year-round.
![[VIDEO] Chicago’s Son: Doc Franchise Speaks](http://99problems.org/wp-content/plugins/simple-post-thumbnails/timthumb.php?src=/wp-content/thumbnails/22219.jpeg&w=300&h=100&zc=1&ft=jpg)
