ROCK THE BELLS CONCERT SCHEDULE 2008

Rock The Bells Tour 2008 7/19 Chicago, IL 7/20 Toronto, ON 7/26 Boston, MA 7/27 New York, NY 8/2 Miami, FL 8/3 Philadelphia, PA 8/9 Los Angeles, CA 8/16 San Francisco, CA 8/23 Denver, CO 8/30 Vancouver, BC Where's the good old STL??? Why doesn't anyone want to come to Saint Louis anymore. We have a huge Hip Hop scene. (Bump Nelly) We have beat up a few performers in the past i.e MC Eiht, DJ Quik...and we boo'd a few legends Biggie and R Kelly for example, but we sell out shows. Give us a chance!!! We'll be nice, I promise. THIS IS THE LIST OF PERFORMERS TO DATE: A Tribe Called Quest, Nas, Mos Def, De La Soul, Rakim, Method Man & Redman, Raekwon & Ghostface Killah, Immortal Technique, Dead Prez, Murs, Kidz In The Hall, Spank Rock (blegh, they better be booed off stage), Santogold, Kid Sister, Wale, Flosstradamus, Jay Electronica, The Cool Kids and it will be hosted by B-Real (Cypress Hill) and Supernatural.

NEW VIDEO: MOS DEF " YOUR FEETS TOO BIG" LIVE

NEW VIDEO: MOS DEF "GHETTO ROCK"

Directed by Coodie and Chike.

NEW VIDEO: MOS DEF PERFORMS @ MAGIC CONVENTION IN VEGAS

MOS DEF SPEAKS ON WORKING WITH KANYE WEST FOR HIS NEW ALBUM

Freshly signed to Downtown Recordings, rapper Mos Def is in the studio working on a new album.According to Downtown head Josh Deutsch, Kanye West will produce some tracks on the as-yet-untitled record. Mos Def recently appeared on the track "Drunk and Hot Girls" from West's new Def Jam album, "Graduation." Deutsch tells Billboard.com Downtown has no plans to reissue last year's "Tru3 Magic," Mos Def's swan song for Geffen. The set was pushed back numerous times and eventually appeared with no fanfare in late December. It has sold just 86,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Although he didn't appear in a film in 2007, Mos Def has no less than eight movie roles pending through 2009, including an appearance in the Danny Glover-directed "Toussaint." I can't wait to hear his new music.

MOS DEF VS. KANYE FREESTYLE....PART 2...OLD SH*T

MOS DEF VS. KANYE FREESTYLE....OLD SH*T

This is from way back when they were in London. Check it out!

NEW MUSIC: KANYE FT. MOS DEF "GOOD NIGHT"

Kanye West ft. Mos Def - Goodnight

Might I add......this song is not on his upcoming album "Graduation"......get it while it's hot peeps!

NEW MOVIE: BE KIND REWIND TRAILER STARRING "MOS DEF" & "JACK BLACK"

COMING SOON TO A THEATER NEAR YOU

HIP HOP is still 4 The People

Those who say that Hip Hop is no longer down for the cause haven’t checked out the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM) or the annual Black August Hip Hop Project.

Mos Def and Talib Kweli will headline this year’s show for the tenth consecutive year. dead prez will also perform.

For Talib and Mos, support for the show doesn’t require much thought.

“We’ve been big supporters of Black August since it first started, because we understand that music-- particularly hip hop music-- is the one element that binds people around the world,” Kweli says of the pair’s involvement. “To be able to play a part in educating young people, show them the importance of speaking up and making a difference, while also raise money for social and racial justice is a no-brainer.”

Those in the New York area can catch the show August 26 at the Nokia Theater. The show begins at 8 pm.

The focus of this year’s show is dedicated to “Hands Off Assata”, a public awareness campaign about the unlawful imprisonment and solitary confinement of 1970’s freedom fighter, Assata Shakur.

Also highlight “Free Your Hood”, the anti police brutality campaign of MXGM, which documents and speaks out against racial profiling by the police within communities of color.

This year marks the biggest show to date and also signifies the increasing number of young Hip Hop fans worldwide who are politically active.

“What started in 1997 as a local collaboration between organizations to use hip hop as a tool to raise political awareness, has evolved into a major fundraising benefit that has taken us around the world,” says Monifa Bandele, MXGM national co-coordinator. “This tenth annual concert marks a tremendous milestone, because it not only represents a decade of progress in the fight for social justice, but also accounts for a support base of politically active young people that is now global… and growing.”

Over the last ten years, the show has touched several countries including the U.S., Cuba and South Africa. It has also drawn some of the biggest names in Hip Hop and R&B including The Roots, Common, Erykah Badu, Mos Def, Talib Kweli and dead prez.

MXGM is a non-profit organization which strives to facilitate exchanges between international communities by promoting awareness about the social and political issues that affect young people in their communities. Every year, the concert raises money in support of political prisoners in the U.S. unjustly incarcerated for their efforts to end racial and economic oppression.

For more information on MXGM or “Hands Off Assata”, check out http://www.mxgm.org/web/ or http://www.handsoffassata.org/.

HHDX

HIP HOP JAM SESSION OF THE YEAR IN NYC LAST WEEK

Here is what Miss Info had to say about the Hip-Hop session:

On the tiny, cramped stage of tiny, cramped, unventilated S.O.B’s (which was so hot back in the days of the weekly Soul Kitchen parties….sigh), we the crowd witnessed a jam session like no other. I’m talking Common testifying, then Q-tip world-touring, then Talib Kweli and Mos Def just getting by, then Swizz Beats telling us she aint got no money in the bank, then Kanye makin’ em say and more…..and all the while, they’re all on stage together, chanting each others lyrics like fans of this, not just superstars in this. Then Mos Def pipes up and tells the crowd that back when Swizz first produced “Hustler” for Cassidy, he did a remix verse that never came out….So, of course, Mos spits that lost verse off the top of the head. Acapulco, of course. Then Drag-on (yes, I said Drag-on) jumps out and straight murders “Down Bottom.” Like 8 years was a day ago. Then Rah Digga appears with full Poetic Justice braids and a B-Girl freestyle. Then Saigon shows why he and Joell Ortiz are like the only two new artists I actually think are dope. Then…..Queen Latifah comes up out of the crowd (at Enuff’s request) and even though she didnt really seem to know all the words to “Unity” just her being there was enough. (peep the expressions on Kanye etc). Then Mos Def performed again, and Consequence and Kanye did “Dont Forget ‘Em” and it just went on and on and on…. One of my co-workers Gigi said, “this was my summerjam.” Lol. amen. And I really feel like it was better than that because….it was totally organic. Unplanned. These legends werent booked for this. They weren’t paid big Pepsi dollars. Thats why it wasnt cheesy like some prepped overhyped closing segment of some BET Awards or whatever. Like, where suddenly Aretha Franklin and Lil Boosie start performing a tribute to Fred Sanford for absolutely no good reason. Nope, this was none of that. The artists were as excited and happy as the audience. The audience had as much invested in the music as the artists. It was a good night. You can watch more footage at http://www.missinfo.tv/

WILDSTYLE FREESTYLES

Mos Def - I'ma Hustla Freestyle live @ S.O.B.'s last night

Kanye West - HOT 97 Freestyle over "Show Me What You Got" & "I Get Money"

New Music Alert

Talib Kweli Hints Possible Blackstar Re-up, "The Monster" Drops Blazin Track, Ride or Die in Far Rock?

Check out this clip of Talib politicing with Peter Rosenburg... interesting questions. Interesting answers.

"That's [Mos Def] the big homie you know what I'm saying. That's one of my best friends in the world. And we make music together constantly. We havent made another album in a minute. If we still inclined, we'll put another album out. But that's definitely one of my best friends."

Eardrum is slated for release July 24th... if all the samples are cleared, of course. __________________________________________________

It's showtime!!!!!

All I want to know is... who is responsible for the production of this track? I know Swizz didn't do all of the beats on his album. Swizz Beatz, also known as the self-proclaimed "Monster of Hip-hop," may not have lyrically blessed this track to its fullest potential, but this track is not bad. Makes you scratch your head and wonder who's behind it, kind of like the same way many asked 'who did Angie Martinez's "Live From the Streets"?'

Check out Swizz's "Top Down."

________________________________________ sohh.com