by Latoya Peterson
Today, I got three text messages in rapid succession from my friend Hae.
“Check out the new MV from 2ne1 called Fire!”
“Song is addicting!”
“Street version is better than space version!”
I knew YouTube wouldn’t let me down, so I headed over there to see if someone posted an English translation:

2NE1 is just one group in [...]

by Latoya Peterson
I am officially a hip hop curmudgeon. After a weekend spent in Houston listening to “Da Stanky Leg” and “the Halle Berry” on local radio, I am officially declaring myself one of those annoying ass old heads who is always waxing about the good old days. Notice here, I’m not talking [...]

Excerpted by Latoya Peterson

A variety of clubs cater to queer women of color in the San Francisco Bay area. Some are wall-to-wall women of color – Black, Latina, Asian and most play hip-hop music non-stop. In each club, there are all different kinds of women. For instance, there might be women over [...]

by Guest Contributor M.Dot, originally published at Model Minority
I think I have fallen in love with Camus (a dead white Algerian philosopher who argues that the death penalty is premeditated murder) and Anthony Hamilton simultaneously.
What does this have to do with being an artist? Everything, simply because over the last few days I have been [...]

A Racialicious Roundtable
Whether you describe it as the dawning of a post-racial age or just the end of white America, we’re approaching a profound demographic tipping point. According to an August 2008 report by the U.S. Census Bureau, those groups currently categorized as racial minorities—blacks and Hispanics, East Asians and South Asians—will account for a [...]

Excerpted by Latoya Peterson
I thought the insanity would end after the election. But oh-no! I was wrong!
”There was underlying concerns we had become too regionalized and the party needed to reach beyond our comfort” zones, he said, citing defeats in such states as Virginia and North Carolina. “We need messengers to really capture that [...]

by Latoya Peterson
(Continued from Part 1)
LP: [We should] think some more about this formula, because it seems to me that with every year that passes, the formula gets whittled down into the need to find the next hit. Catchy hooks, lyrics, whatever – they just want a hit. And it appears [...]

by Latoya Peterson
In the Noir Issue of Bitch Magazine, I interviewed Tricia Rose about her new book The Hip Hop Wars: What We Talk About When We Talk About Hip-Hop.
My interview assignment was 2,000 words. The transcribed interview came back as 6,000.
This is the overflow.
—
Latoya Peterson: You’ve had other works published, including [...]

by Special Correspondent Fatemeh Fakhraie
I know, I know. If you’re looking for socially conscious rap or hip hop, you don’t go to Busta Rhymes. But this still surprises me:
Maytha from KABOBfest has highlighted Rhyme’s song “Arab Money,” which has some disgustingly racist lyrics. Maytha brings up some great points about this video, namely, that it [...]

by Latoya Peterson

In this month’s issue of Vibe, Barack Obama receives a formal endorsement from the magazine. Danyel Smith’s Editor’s Letter is an impassioned plea to get involved and help push Barack all the way into the White House. She writes:
We value freedom and aspire to be better than we are, and to [...]

by Guest Contributor M.Dot, originally published at Model Minority

Two major things happened in Black television in the last week or so.
Rap City was canceled, TRL was canceled and VH1 presented the 100 best songs in Hip Hop.
All of these are interesting because they relate to hip hop. I remember when I first learned that 106 [...]

It wasn’t always like this. From 1998 to 2003, female rappers such as Lauryn Hill, Eve, and Missy Elliott were among the genre’s most bankable artists. But nearly all of their successors — including Lil Mama, Kid Sister, Ms Dynamite, and Jean Grae — have struggled to connect with listeners. And it’s harder than ever [...]

Excerpted by Latoya Peterson
Warning: Explicit Language.

Saying that this interview blew my mind is an understatement. Reading “It’s All One: A Conversation between Juba Kalamka and Tim’m West” in the Total Chaos anthology was an illuminating experience in reference to queerness and hip-hop culture. There were so many pieces I wanted to type to [...]

by Guest Contributor M. Dot, originally published at Model Minority

Yes. David Banner said it.
Talk about colored girls, homicide and patriarchy.
You would think that Capitalism, the fall of the stock market and the price of rice were controlled by who we had sex with.
What if a white man sat on that stage and said that?
R.I.O.T.
David [...]

by Latoya Peterson
Skimming through the MTV newsfeed, I saw an interesting item that sheds a little more light on the ideas and concept of Nigger.
MTV explains:

We’ve heard him rap from the perspective of a gun that has been used in several homicides. He’s rapped from the perspective of a kid on a project bench. [...]