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.”

Malik is now a successful writer and musician. In fact, he is currently recording with Kanye West and Jay-Z. He still makes time to engage in current events. As a Huffington Post weekly blogger, Malik has gained a significant readership. I asked him what he thought about the case of Trayvon Martin, and others like him.

“There have always been negative stereotypes,” he said. “Everyone makes generalizations, black and white people. Our current media, (like reality TV) contributes to it. We don’t have to love each other with perfection, but we can respect one another.”

In only a few short minutes, I felt enlightened. No wonder this man is making a career as a spoken word poet and writer. He is working on his new project Nat Black right now. He plans to release some live recordings this summer. He is also the spokesperson for this year’s Hip Hop Caucus, “Respect My Vote” Campaign, proving once again that the core of hip hop is in the history of politics.

Photograph curtesy of Good Music

Steve Stoute, Jay’s main man, framed this scenario best with his best-seller, ‘The Tanning of America.’ In this book, Stoute addresses the many occurrences in history where cultures clash and Elton John’s on stage with Eminem, while Jay-Z is on stage with Bono. These collaborations were most likely inspired by Run DMC & Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way,” a song that changed the collaboration culture in music.

By the way, Jay-Z at #SXSW last night, c/o American Express is definitely considered a tanning moment.

As recent as New Year’s Eve, while you were preparing resolutions for 2012, Phil Ade (Feel A Day) was still living out his 2011 commitments. The DC-bred emcee released the 2nd installment of PhilAdeFriday, which is dope by the way, through various online music platforms. Don’t hesitate to FOLLOW one of the leaders of DC hip-hop on Twitter, @PHILADE301.

If listening to the highest grade of spoken word w/ with a beat is on your list of to-do’s this year as is mine, you’ve already won (in my Publisher’s Clearing House voice). Thank God it’s PhilAdeFriday, again!

[DOWNLOAD] “PhilAdeFriday2″

If you can’t win a caucus in your birthplace, it is definitely time to throw in the red, white, and blue towel. Today, Michele Bachmann announced that she was dropping out of the 2012 election after reports circulated about her sixth place position in her home state of Iowa. It’s apparent that if a candidate does not have the support of their local community, most likely they will not be viewed as a favorable candidate in other states as well.

Last night, Bachmann only received 6,073 votes, which was only 5 percent of the total votes cast. Let’s examine some potential reasons why her candidacy was so unpopular.

Inaccuracy: Bachmann was called out by “fact-checkers” on numerous occasions about incorrect information she said publicly.
Obsession with President Obama: Many times, when asked about how she would handle a national issue, her response would focus directly on how the president’s leadership failures were the cause of the problem. This talking point strategy was not as effective as actually answering the question.
Sarah Palin Syndrome: When Palin ran for the vice-presidency in 2008, she left a negative impression on conservative voters about women having the power to run the country.

What do you think caused voters to lose faith in Michele Bachmann?

“Four score and seven years ago, our fathers Mally Mel & Kool Herc brought forth a new genre.” Wait no – maybe that’s too far-fetched. “I have a dream that one day… I know it ain’t heaven-sent/ we ain’t ready to see a black president.” Maybe even that’s too harsh.

I’m looking at the world currently, both globally and nationally, and we are entering one of our most critical times in the history of our civilization. I’m wondering, who can save us from us? With one million and one questions about who will take over the throne in 2012 and what our country’s success will look like, who can weave out the truth? If you had a gut check now and BOOM the world as you know it changes, would you be ready?

I ask myself all of those questions and the one common factor I see is you. Yes, you, reading this story. You with your 9-5  job then 6-10 family time. You, who has never punched any clock but now owns the clocks which are being punched and of course, you. You, who left the inner city lifestyle to live in a more peaceful and quiet setting filled with singing birds, Sunday afternoon tailgating and desperate housewives. Somehow, 8 out of ten of us all fit into one of those lifestyles and the two that don’t – God Bless You. I ask you one more question. What do we all have in common?

HIP-HOP!

There was a time in hip-hop when lyrics weren’t just chess moves; they told stories. Words gave birth to movements, habits and a new culture. Racism, sexism and thug life were discussed and debated and lives were saved. You could listen to your favorite track and the entire load sitting on your shoulder suddenly would disappear. Those who didn’t make it to see graduation found ways to make a honest living and leave our generation the blueprint on how to change the game.

As the world turns and times change more than Nicki Minaj’s hair color, it’s time that we demand more and go back to what helped us in the first place. Hip-hop’s impact is no longer just an urban inner city culture, it’s worldwide. Forbes 500 companies, sports venues, even our political officers are using hip-hop to connect and market to our world. If they are smart enough to see the light, why can’t we do the same? When Sam Cooke said “A Change Gon Come,” he didn’t mean it would just fall from the sky, we must create change.

It’s time for us, as a people and culture, to mold the future. Music has always been an outlet for emotions, beliefs and informing others of our social status – both mentally and financially. It’s time we #OccupyHipHop. Let’s get away from downgrading our people and glorifying nonsense and reach those who need to be saved. The time is now. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for!

As you may know, the Libyan Leader, Muammar Gaddafi’s 42-year rule was put to an immediate end as he was recently captured and slain. However, you may not have caught the airing of the 1987 sitcom, ‘Second Chance,’ that displays the date July 29th, 2011 where he is sitting before God and is sent to hell. 83 days off, but what a guess. God Bless The Dead!

When it comes to music that will change the world, Jasiri X has got your back! The Pittsburgher emcee is blatantly labeling himself as part of the 99problems that the 1 percent is gonna continue to have until the wealth is evenly distributed. In fact, Jasiri’s music will be the soundtrack to the revolution that won’t be televised. Instead, it’s gonna broadcast live through your Twitter and Facebook news feeds! Refresh ya page!

gallup.com

Yes you’ve heard the argument before, but now America seems to agree. A new Gallup poll shows that for the first time in history, more Americans favor legalizing marijuana than are against it. Fifty percent say that it should be legal, while 46 percent say it shouldn’t. Liberals have the highest percentage at 69 percent, young people come in next at 62 percent. Last year, a similar Gallup poll showed 70 percent favor doctors making marijuana legal for medical pain and suffering.

Support for the legalization of marijuana is constantly increasing and I think the numbers clearly show that it will eventually be legalized, and I think it should be. Marijuana should be regulated the way alcohol and tobacco currently are. There are plenty of dangerous legal things out there and to me, it’s hard to argue that marijuana is any more dangerous than alcohol and tobacco.Regulate it like tobacco and treat it like alcohol, meaning you can’t drive under the influence of it.

Regulating marijuana the same way we do tobacco would also cut down people being jailed in this country. There are countless Americans whose only crime is using or buying marijuana and they have been put in to jail. Many ordinary people are introduced to the criminal justice system all just because of weed, which is the most commonly abused legal drug in America. We are making criminals out of many people who otherwise would probably not have a record. Legalizing marijuana would also make our jails and court systems less crowded.

Marijuana is currently legal for people with doctors recommendations in 16 states and D.C., though it is still illegal federally. A lot of these doctor recommendations are fairly easy to get, you could simply suffer from headaches or anxiety and be able to get weed if it’s legal medically in your state. Marijuana is clearly already on its way to being legal. Whether it happens when people of our generation are in control or sooner, remains to be seen. It will happen, and I say, why wait? The legal marijuana business could be a boom for the economy and would cut down the people crowding our jails and taking up our court system’s time. What’s most important is this poll shows it’s what the people want, and we really need to start having a real discussion about how we legalize and regulate marijuana.

With experience comes wisdom.

UPDATE: The Wisconsin League is holding a press conference at 4 p.m. at the Waukesha County Clerk’s office.  Demand accountability for our elections by signing the petition here.

Just when the memories of the 2000 election started fading away. Check out this amazing scary story. Apparently a county clerk in Wisconsin found thousands of votes that she failed to report, shifting the Supreme Court race to the conservative candidate. Apparently, numbers don’t lie. SMDH!

The problems with things like this is that they make people not trust democracy. I mean, humans make mistakes all the time, so anything is possible. But for some reason this one smells a little fishy, especially because the county clerk in question used to work for the now victorious judge. I dunno, maybe I am just paranoid. What do you think?

Check out the link to the story here.

Never has faking the funk been so legit, especially in music. The very popular game that allowed you do so is no longer being reproduced. Not only are the fake Guitarists looking for gigs now but the fake Djs, who found their swag through the DJ Hero console, are being laid off as well. It’s tough being a musician.

CHECK OUT THE FULL ARTICLEHERE

A 9-year-old girl was killed today while walking to the grocery store…sounds familiar. Every day, we lose thousands of children and youth to unimaginable gun-wars. Our government has never been so adamant about anti-violence until a member of their personal parliament was affected.

Don’t get me wrong… Any loss of life is tragic and the AZ shooting was another example of a senseless act of murder. But tragedy happens daily in our inner-cities.

During a meeting at the White House last year, I was told that miniature – i.e., child-sized – caskets were not an URGENCY to the House and Senate. I beg to differ…homicide rates in the US are 4 times that of the UK, 12 times that of Japan. Over 10,000 Americans die from gun violence every year, add on suicides/accidentals and it’s 20-30,000!

Eugene Robinson (Washington Post) said it best, “we have a murder rate that’s the shame of the developed world.”

The fact of the matter is elected officials aren’t the only parties we should be flying half staff for. WE THE PEOPLE should fly half staff everyday… every time WE THE PEOPLE lose someone to violence whether on home soil or not.

CJ and AR

Seems as if Haiti is back to being Haiti’s problem just like before. Maybe everyone has forgotten what happened last January 12th. Honestly, with all the turmoil on our own soil, it’s hard for me to remember how hard the ground shook over there. But now that I think back, how can we forget about the massive amounts of lives we committed to saving as well as the ones we couldn’t save. They say time heals all wounds but a year doesn’t seem like a lot of time.

It’s safe to say, social media played a very big role in generating support for the disaster relief efforts. If it wasn’t for Twitter, Facebook, and sms platforms, the most ignorant could’ve easily ignored the events that took place. Instead, it became trendy for young people, their parents, their parent’s parents, white, black, & brown, to subconsciously come together online and off with hopes of God showing mercy on them.

Wyclef Jean was like Barack, fore he was the biggest symbol of hope to a country that had went through what only New Orleans residents could attest that they’d experienced anything close to. While stopping through the free-world of worldstarhiphop, President Wyclef gives his account of what he dealt with and is still dealing with when it comes to his home, Haiti.

When it comes to the 9/11 first responders health coverage, The GOP aint buyin it. Jon Stewart, political satirist, dedicates a segment just for them.

Did someone say President Wyclef Jean? Reports are floating around the net that the ex-Fugee singer is considering a bid for the Haitian presidency. Jean has been a strong supporter of his homeland and its youth for several years. He founded the Yele Haiti Foundation in 2005 to help raise funds for Haitian youth putting almost 7000 children in school, and informing over 2000 young people a month about AIDs and HIV. Rumors of Jean’s aspirations could be traced back to when the singer was appointed ambassador-at-large in 2007, by the current president, Rene Preval. In an e-mail to the media, the Jean family stated, “Wyclef’s commitment to his homeland and its youth is boundless, and he will remain its greatest supporter regardless of whether he is part of the government moving forward … If and when a decision is made, media will be alerted immediately.” (Huffington Post) In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Jean reports he intends on being apart of the election on Nov. 28, whether his name will be found on the ballot is still unsure. Most candidates are expected to publicize their bids by Aug. 7,2010.

This is a tough decision for the artist to make. The impoverished Caribbean nation’s elections are often combative and violent. If Jean does decide to run, he would then have to prove that he has resided in the country for the past five years, own Haitian property, and has never been a citizen of any other nation.

From Tavis Smiley’s “We Count! The Black Agenda is the America Agenda” symposium on March 20, 2010.

I’m no baller, but over the course of the last several years I have had many interactions with the rich and the famous. Of course, most times nothing really spectacular happens. Famous people after all, are just regular people like you and me. (Well, some of them are regular, others are either extremely short or pretentious buttheads…but I digress.)

But there has been one or two times when I have been kicking it with a baller and something really cool happens. Like the time I almost got beat up at Death Row’s corporate office or the time ?uestlove told me that he’d “rather spin records than do coke.” (I think he was trying to say he likes to DJ because it keeps his mind busy, but ?uestlove is a bigger nerd than me so it was sort of hard to interpret what he was saying.)

So in the spirit of Charlie Murphy and Rick James, every now and then I plan to drop a blog about one of my Completely Not Fake Hollywood Stories. Heck, if Eddie’s little brother can get famous retelling his big bro’s experiences why can’t I get some blog traffic telling mine.

After the jump is a Completely Not Fake Hollywood Story about the legendary cartoonist Aaron McGruder.

A couple years ago I was an intern in this summer internship program that taught college students how to be effective community organizers. I really liked the program, especially because every weekend we went on a field trip to protest corporate bad guys who weren’t paying their employees or what have you.

This one time we were outside of the Beverly Center in Los Angeles protesting the unfair treatment of mall janitors, and it was hot as a bond fire outside. After about an hour of yelling and sign waving our group was getting ready to pack it up and head to the bar when Aaron McGruder stopped at our intersection.

Now, I’m sure most people didn’t even recognize the guy. After all Boondocks was still only a comic strip at the time and McGruder hadn’t quite blown up yet. (And it didn’t help that Aaron McGruder actually looks like every other neo-soul light skinned dude on the planet.) But me, being the nerd that I am, immediately recognized him. So I tested his gangsta.

“Hey Brother McGruder,” I said with swag as I tapped on his window. “Why don’t you come out here and join us.” (You know I emphasized the brother to make it seem like I was super down.)

Of course, I didn’t really expect him to get out of his whip, after all he was driving a baller Benz and we, well…we were just some ish talking kids who had been standing in the sun all day. But I was wrong, I could tell by the smirk on his face that he was excited by our energy and felt comfortable enough to lower the glass protecting him from us.

“Sure, thanks for asking. Let me go park my car and I’ll be right back”

I was shocked!! Here was one of the most well known dudes in the hip-hop generation saying that he was going to protest with us and there were no cameras and no publicists in sight. He was just interested in our issue.

We were immediately reenergized

After about another hour of chanting “Si, Se Puede” and shouting at cops and nervous mall staff, a seemingly giddy McGruder came up to me and said. “This is really cool , thanks for asking me to come out here. I gotta run now, but here’s my card, call me the next time you guys are out here.”

Now I never called him, as we never went back to the Beverly Center and I’m way too cool to be a groupie , but I always thought it was cool that this guy stopped to kick it with us. I mean, most people in Hollywood are too self absorbed to actually care about janitors or sweaty activists. But not Aaron McGruder, he is really a righteous ass dude.

According to social scientists and political practitioners, people are less loyal to products and political parties than they were in the past…a trend that is likely to affect the next election.

Think about it…Everyone knows people who have abandoned their religion, been divorced, or changed their political affiliation. Americans today are more likely to make such important changes than ever before.

Peter Hart, Democratic pollster, found that college students are more willing to transfer schools and that 40% of Americans will change their religion at least once. Linda Lea Viken, divorce attorney, has found a clear increase in the number of divorces among the elderly, even after being married for fifty years.

So how does this affect elections? When running Howard Dean’s campaign in 2004, Joe Trippi witnessed the fickleness of Americans. After coming in third place in the Iowa caucuses, Dean lost his supporters as quickly as he gained them. According to Morris Fiorina, political science professor at Stanford University, “Obama benefited from the looser ties people have today…” (Not a surprise considering the distrust of the Bush administration.) However, “…the flip side is that he cannot count on the depth of support that a winning candidate might have had a generation ago…And, of course, if ties are looser, then change can occur faster than if the ties bind more tightly.”

After all, didn’t we learn not to trust politicians? It may not be fair to say that it’s bad to be fickle and good to be loyal. Of course, fickle isn’t exactly a positive adjective but blind allegiance isn’t something we want either. What do you think? Is it good that Americans aren’t bound to a specific politician or should we be more loyal?

Iran’s elections have been all over the news lately. Anger is visible in the streets. Youth are tired of the same old thing and a revolution may be bubbling underneath the surface. We’ve got a firsthand account from a friend of The League/99Problems who is brave enough to venture in a field report directly from Iran! Check out this article by Laylo Fagroovy!

…………………………………….

The Revolution Begins by Laylo

June 15, 2009 The eerie howling of “Allah al-Akbar! Allah al-Akbar!”
(God is Great) could be heard from rooftops in the streets of Tehran
after dark. It is an echo from the 1979 Iranian Islamic Revolution 30
years ago, when Ayatollah Khomeini and his supports ousted Mohammad
Reza Shah Pahlavi, to replace the monarchy with a religious democracy,
forming the Islamic Republic of Iran.

But in recent years, the people of Iran have yearned for more freedom
under the current regime, with some sacrificing their lives to be
heard. On Monday, June 15, possibly as many as one million people took
to the streets of Tehran to march from Enqelab (Revolution) Street to
Azadi (Freedom) Square to support Mir Hossein Mousavi in the contested
presidential elections.

Leading up to the elections between the four presidential candidates
(Mohsen Rezayi, Mehdi Karoubi, Mir Hossein Mousavi, and incumbent
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) Mousavi’s supporters were the most
vivid and lively, taking to the streets and brandishing the campaign
color green; all within the parameters established by the government’s
Shoraye Negahban (Guardian Council). But, since the results of the
elections were announced on Saturday, with Ahmadinejad receiving 63%
of the votes, people have taken to the streets to contest these
results in a massive way of protests.

Today’s protests were the largest display of support for Mousavi, with
rallies held in Tehran, Shiraz, Esfahan and other cities throughout
Iran. Police have cracked down on some protestors since the elections,
and the state news reported that seven were killed, as well, hundreds
of arrests made including dozens at the University of Tehran where
students were arrested and their dormitories thrashed by police and
militia. Anarchy has also erupted in some parts of Iran, as dumpsters
were lit on fire and windows of banks and other structures were
smashed.

Mousavi joined his supporters at Azadi Square and called on them to
use restraint, as he and Rezayi file legal complaints to the Guardian
Council about the election results. Ahmadinejad has told reporters
that everything is fine in Iran and people are happy about the
results, citing the fact that this year 85% of eligible voters went to
the polls, the highest turnout in the history of the Islamic Republic.
But it seems that the government and the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, are worried. And for good reason. The people of Iran,
especially the youth, have taken advantage of a small opportunity for
change. And change is coming.

We’re wrapping it up over at 99problems but this story caught our eye:

Do not adjust your monitor, that is in fact a judge, shuffling a deck of cards,  flanked by two nervous/excited Arizonans.  Oh, the shoddy camera work; mic in the shot! But seriously…that card shuffle sounds good, right?

Don’t wonder what a deck of cards has to do with the American legal system; about as little as you expect.  That whole ‘checks & balances’ dealy doesn’t leave a lot of room for Lady Luck most of the time, but every now and then your legal compass leads you to the end of a heated city council race in Cave Creek, Arizona, and you really don’t have any other choice.

Well, not true.  You could play dice.

The story in and of itself is just a vignette, nothing to think hard about.  What originally piqued my interest was that guy on the right, the serious looking dude in black (Adam Trenk).   I was looking at the picture — you know, tryin’ to count the cards and all — when I noticed that Trenk was really young…and looked like a hipster.

Man! I thought. Everywhere you look lately there’s another 25 year old council member, mayor, state rep or high school principal. Good or bad, ready or not, a new generation of politicians are pushing their way into the public forum.

We are that generation, and we are hustlers:

Mr. Trenk, who considered himself a fresh face in politics, wanted the seat badly enough to spend $17,000 on his campaign, unheard of in races here that normally require candidates to shelve out several hundred dollars for a bunch of fliers. -nytimes

$17,000?  That’s Millennial money, progressive philanthropists and children-are-the-future kind of money.  Now, maybe it’s self made, or inherited; according to the NYTimes, Trenk is ” a law student and newcomer to town.”

However mysteriously he arrived, looks like he’ll be staying a while; in the final moment of reckoning, he drew the king of hearts, while his opponent, Thomas McGuire, picked a six. Life ain’t fair. The older I get, the more I know it. You can keep your head down or try to stay up, sit at home all alone or criss cross earth’s circumference…one way or another, we each pick our moment to engage with the wider world.  Many people go a life time, living privately; but we are Generation Y as in Why Not Me.   Our President and our peers encourage us to engage, and many of us are going at it with gusto.

Trenk invokes our youth driven political mandate with a quote from Obama’s trip to Europe on the bio page of his website, adamtrenk.com:

“Young people are unburdened by the biases or prejudices of the past. That is a great privilege of youth, but it is also a tremendous responsibility because it is you who must ultimately decide what we do with this incredible moment in history. We have just emerged from an era marked by irresponsibility, and it would be easy to choose the path of selfishness or apathy, of blame or division. But that is a danger that we cannot afford. The challenges are too great. It is a revolutionary world that we live in, and history shows us that we can do improbable, sometimes impossible things… We must not give up on one another. In a new century we must hold firm to our common values, hold firm to our faith in one another. Together I am confident that we can achieve the promise of a new day.”

A few hours after the show down, Trenk cast his first vote of office, re: whether to change the town’s general plan so as to allow WalMart to open one of its cultural blackholes superstores in the area.

Final count? 6 to 1, Trenk the loan dissenter.