OK, everyone remembers the track 'Hip Hop' off of Dead Prez's first studio album 'Lets Get Free' with that BANGIN bass line and the theme music status chorus chanting, "It's bigger than hip hop, hip hop, hip hop, hip, It's bigger than..!" Well they are back at it again better than ever! With the outstanding productions of DJ Green Lantern, they kicked out classic after classic of politically and socially charged joints. And don't get me wrong, when I say DJ Green Lantern did his thing on this mixtape, I mean you could play this CD in the car and feel like the man rollin' down any avenue, or kick back in the recliner and vibe to some QUALITY beats. On top of M-1 and stic.man spittin' fire on every last track, they've got guest appearances from Chuck D., Bun B., Styles P., K’Naan, and Johnny Polygon! If you're one of those people that only want the cream of the crop off of CD's then I suggest checking out 'Runnin Wild,' 'Gangsta Gangster,' 'NYDP,' 'Summer Time,' and 'Stimulus Plan.' Oh yea, I almost forgot to mention; Dead Prez is offering the album in an eco-friendly packaging! If you didn't already know, UWM is working on going green and has already installed a 'green roof' on top of Sandburg Hall dorms. Go Green!
Trust me, you don't want to sleep on this!
Last week thursday award-winning poet, filmmaker, author, and professor at Morgan State University, M.K. Asante, JR. came all the way out to UWM to deliver a speech that nearly swept the breath out of the ballroom. It was clear the majority of the audience hadn't seen him before because a gasp of astonishment descended upon the crowd as the brilliant 27 year old made his way to the podium. Wondering why everyone was so amazed after realizing he was only 27? Because the day before in the same room, Hip Hop Scholars hosted one of his award winning films '500 Years Later.' Let me tell you, breathtaking is an understatement. The film went all the way back to the roots of slavery and takes you layer by layer all the way to modern society, basically peeling hip hop's culture down to the core to describe why mainstream hip hop is so fucked up right now. And you know what I'm talking about!