Follow us on twitter!

If you're on twitter, follow us to get our post links sent right to your feed. Thanks for reading!

GYMR: HipHop Culture x Music x Art x Politics x News x Style

The #hiphop Daily Awards @AWKWORDrap & @GYMRblog "Daily Top Story" for Nas Coverage

Click the image above to view the full post by The #hiphop Daily. Click here for the original GYMR post by AWKWORD.

FAIL: Lou Dobbs - All-American Hypocrite

This lunatic is known for his anti-immigration rants. He may be running for a government position. And The Nation clearly shows in this article that he's a lying hypocrite. Ultimate FAIL.

Click here for coverage from The Huffington Post.

And if you're on twitter, join me in sending FUCK-YOUs to Dobbs's account.

Nas: Letter to Def Jam ("PUT MY SHIT OUT!")

The Lefsetz Letter hit the Internet with the email first. Once Nation (Nah Right) received confirmation of its legitimacy, it was inevitable we would feature it ASAP...

From: Nas
To: LA Reid, Steve Bartels, Steve Gawley, Michael Seltzer, Joseph Borrino, Chris Hicks
Subject: PUT MY SHIT OUT!

Peace to all,

With all do respect to you all, Nas is NOBODY’s slave. This is not the 1800′s, respect me and I will respect you.

I won’t even tap dance around in an email, I will get right into it. People connect to the Artist @ the end of the day, they don’t connect with the executives. Honestly, nobody even cares what label puts out a great record, they care about who recorded it. Yet time and time again its the executives who always stand in the way of a creative artist’s dream and aspirations. You don’t help draw the truth from my deepest and most inner soul, you don’t even do a great job @ selling it. The #1 problem with DEF JAM is pretty simple and obvious, the executives think they are the stars. You aren’t…. not even close. As a matter of fact, you wish you were, but it didn’t work out so you took a desk job. To the consumer, I COME FIRST. Stop trying to deprive them! I have a fan base that dies for my music and a RAP label that doesn’t understand RAP. Pretty fucked up situation

This isn’t the 90′s though. Beefing with record labels is so 15 years ago. @ this point I just need you all to be very clear where I stand and how I feel about “my label.” I could go on twitter or hot 97 tomorrow and get 100,000 protesters @ your building but I choose to walk my own path my own way because since day one I have been my own man. I did business with Tommy Mottola and Donnie Einer, two of the most psycho dudes this business ever created. I worked well with them for one major reason……. they believed in me. The didn’t give a fuck about what any radio station or magazine said….those dudes had me.

Lost Tapes is a movement and a very important set up piece for my career as it stands. I started this over 5 years ago @ Columbia and nobody knew what it was or what it did but the label put it out as an LP and the fans went crazy for it and I single handlely built a new brand of rap albums. It’s smart and after 5 years it’s still a head of the game. This feels great and you not feeling what I’m feeling is disturbing. Don’t get in the way of my creativity. We are aligned with the stars here, this is a movement. There is a thing called KARMA that comes to haunt you when you tamper with the aligning stars. WE ARE GIVING THE PEOPLE EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANT. Stop throwing dog shit on a MAGICAL moment.

You don’t get another Nas recording that doesn’t count against my deal….PERIOD! Keep your bullshit $200,000.00 fund. Open the REAL budget. This is a New York pioneers ALBUM, there ain’t many of us. I am ready to drop in the 4th quarter. You don’t even have shit coming out! Stop being your own worst enemy. Let’s get money!

-N.Jones

For more background, click here (if you haven't already peeped the Nah Right post).

My opinion: Fuck Def Jam. Nas: Go indie. Put it all out yourself. I'll spend $ to support.


Posted by AWKWORD

Banksy Thief in Paris! ABOVE - "Because Now I'm Worth It"

Originally spotted at Highsnobiety. As stated by the artist ABOVE:

To understand this piece better please read the text before watching. If you already watched the video without reading the text, please read the text then watch the video again.

Full text below the video.



Last year I was traveling for 3-months around Europe and spent 2 weeks in Paris. One day when I was walking around Paris I found this spot but unfortunately I had just 1 day before my flight to Rome. After observing the large concrete frame on the wall, it gave me a lot of inspiration for several ideas on how to creatively interact with the un-used frame and location. One idea was to juxtapose an “art thief” stealing a popular painting like the Mona Lisa from the frame. I felt the idea and site-specific stencil would interact well with the un-used frame and the fact that the Mona Lisa is located just 10 minutes away inside the Louvre museum.

Time always changes things and with that new situations arise. Since last year when I was in Paris I’ve noticed a lot of new topics in street art and more importantly the thievery of art works in the street. I felt it more interesting and relative to have the art thief portrayed in the stencil stealing a piece of art that actually gets stolen quite often. The English artist Banksy is one of the most popular street artists and highly publicized victims of his street artworks being stolen. It’s not by random chance this happens to Banksy’s art as first and foremost he makes great work but also due to the fact that his indoor works have sold for several hundred thousand dollars you can imagine when he paints outside in the street his works are soon sought after by thieves.

It’s an interesting concept and somewhat of an irony as we the artists and the thieves are both working in an illegal manner. One illegal activity inspires another. The artist paints illegally with spray cans on a wall, while the thieves jack hammer and chip off illegally painted walls, illegally. It’s kind of like the pot calling the kettle black to a degree.
I took the initiative to comment and create a situation in this piece that could mimic both illegal acts simultaneously executed here in the painting and in the process.

Many years ago before Banksy’s mass appeal he painted his popular rat image that read, “Because I’m worthless.” Times have changed Banksy is a common household name as well as the increased value of his artworks. I felt like it would be applicable to the current state of affairs to appropriate his previous statement to “Because now I’m worth it” to reflect the past and current thievery of his street artworks.

“A lot of people never use their initiative because no-one told them to”
Banksy

@AWKWORDrap Street View: Still Selling Subway Signs in the City

Congratulations to William Leroy! Click the image for more on how he beat the system.



Billy's Antiques and Props, East Houston Street, a little before 6:00 p.m., September 23, 2010, the day of the owner's acquittal. Shot by AWKWORD with BlackBerry camera.

GYMR x G.O.O.D. BLOGTAPE

Love him or hate him, Kanye West inspires interest.

The Last Stop for The Last Stop for Hip Hop: R.I.P. Fat Beats

At about 1 PM today I heard the news that Fat Beats was closing. Bloggers and other people cooler than me apparently received this:

After 16 years, Fat Beats has announced the closing of the legendary label’s two remaining retail locations in New York and Los Angeles. Fat Beats will celebrate the legacies of the stores, which are scheduled to close in early September (New York: September 4th, Los Angeles: September 18th) by throwing a series of blow-out sales and tribute parties open to the public during their last weeks. Fans can check www.FatBeats.com for updates.

For the remainder of the release, click here.

The rest of the afternoon, my twitter feed was filled with people's memories of the legendary hip hop shop. Some of the biggest hip hop sites (e.g., HipHopDX and XXL) solicited fans' reactions with hashtags such as #FatBeatsMemories, #FatBeatsForever and #FatBeatsRIP.

The Brown Bag AllStars followed in the footsteps of Non Phixion and the Arsonists in making the original store on 6th Avenue in Manhattan their stomping grounds.



And they weren't alone among artists simultaneously lamenting and celebrating. At about 1:30, Fat Beats's DJ Eclipse tweeted: "Fat Beats NY & Fat Beats LA are closing in September. Fat Beats Records, Distribution & Dotcom will continue." Then, before his Halftime Show kicked off, he added: "Gonna talk a little about Fat Beats tonight on The Halftime Show, but next week's show is 100% dedicated to it. Many guests. 89.1FM WNYU".

All I can say is that I'd be honored to be a part of next week's show, especially having witnessed past Halftime Show Anniversaries.



They Reminisce Over You

• ILL BILL -- "during the mid-90s & early 2000s @FatBeatsNY was a record store by day & Non Phixion's rehearsal studio by night #ThanksJoe \m/".
• Talib Kweli -- "Wow my career started at #FATBEATS for real."
• Dante Ross -- "RIP Fat Beats I did a lot of lurking In The NY store over the years.... I also bought a lot of records there Much Respect @Djeclipse".
• Dujeous -- "R.I.P. to the legendary Fat Beats...thanks for all the love and support you've given us through the years."

As of 10:53 this evening, the Fat Beats Records myspace page read:



While the Fat Beats team has been slow to update at least one of its social networking sites (read: we still have a myspage page???), the news IS final -- and, for many, terminal in more ways than one. Some aint afraid to point fingers.

DJ Scratch tweeted: "Fat Beats is closing because of you sucka ass downloading MP3, AIFF ass no having any vinyl ass DJ's."

Detroit DJ HouseShoes took it to the inevitable (re: fans): "Hey guys? Wanna know why @fatbeatsla is closing? Cause y'all aint buy shit. From artists, to dj's to "fans". Thats why. #thanks4thesupport".


[Fresh Daily x Homeboy Sandman (2009)]

It's OK to be AWKWORD

Well... as far as I'm concerned, we're all to blame. Artists, fans, BIG CORPORATIONS... The ART of DJing is hanging on by a turntable needle, all because it's so damn easy to cut out the mechanics and just punch buttons in front of a screen. But Fat Beats the physical stores are closing not because of the DJs, who happened to keep them afloat for the last few years. The stores are closing because the fans stopped buying. And the fans stopped buying because most record labels -- mega and mini alike -- chose to fight "pirating" instead of embracing -- and leveraging -- the inevitable.

I believe in copyrighting, as I am an artist who understands how painful/pleasurable creation can be, and how clearly one's own that creation always is. But I do not believe in bleeding the people dry. The middle ground -- teasing with freebies while strategically dropping joints at cost -- is the answer. See: B.o.B.: I had like five of his mixtapes before his solo debut went #1 on the charts!



Anyway, here's what I said on twitter (times are approximate):

• 1:30, in response to news from XXL -- "So sad. This the place I 1st met @ItsDJEclipse @ILLBILL1972 10+ years ago."
• 3:30, in response to solicitation from HipHopDX.com -- "More than a decade ago, before I ever recorded 1 of my rhymes, I met elder Jewish NY MC @ILLBILL1972 at #FatBeats".
• 3:30 -- "we always kinda measured our success by how well we were received by patrons, workers & other artists at #FatBeats".
• 3:30 -- "Back when graf was about hand control & the right cans & caps, I copped from #FatBeats... It's all wheatpaste & stickers now."
• 3:30 -- "Before DVDs/mp3s, I got VHS freestyle battles from #FatBeats, 406 6th Avenue. And I copped my 1st fake ID across the street."
• 3:30 -- "1st realized what "underground" meant at #FatBeats -- when I walked in wearing a punk rock T & got more love than ever before".

As "female MC, producer, painter, photographer, filmmaker and all round good chick" H2L Browntown declared: "we are THE LAST RECORD STORE GENERATION".

And that's something any hip hop head or punk rocker could shed a tear over.


Written by AWKWORD.

VIDEO: Howard Dean Calls Fox News 'Absolutely Racist' For Its Handling Of Shirley Sherrod Controversy

I guess it's easy to tell the truth when you're not running for some ivory throne somewhere, but whatever, THANK YOU HOWARD DEAN!



Oh yeah, and Senior VP of Fox News Michael Clemente responded with this gem:

"As we said this past week, some people such as the failed candidate Dean reflexively blame Fox for almost anything."

MUST READ: Israel: To Boycott Or Not To Boycott

The issue of Israel/Palestine is complicated, and popular opinion is pretty anti-Israel these days. For that reason, for perspective, for a broader understanding, this is a MUST READ:

• Jasob Weisberg, "Don't Boycott Israel", Newsweek, July 24, 2010

Excerpt

Because Israel is a refuge for Jews persecuted everywhere else, this kind of existential challenge is hard to disassociate from anti-Semitism... When people are trying to murder you because of your religion, it is difficult to credit the bona fides of those who merely want to shun you because of your government.





WTF!?

For more on this topic, click HERE.

'The Great Divide: Who's getting paid (and how much) in the music industry'

If you thought the life of most musicians was comparable to the blissful and blinged-out existences of Kanye and Rihanna, you've clearly not heard much about our ever-desiccating music industry...

(Excerpted from "The Music Industry's Funny Money", July 6, 2010, the Root.)

Crooked Cops: Village Voice Exposes New York City Police Misconduct

Excerpted from The Village Voice, June 15, 2010.

"Last Halloween, three weeks after he made allegations of misconduct in Brooklyn's 81st Precinct, Adrian Schoolcraft's career in the New York City Police Department ended in rather spectacular fashion.

"On October 7, Schoolcraft had sat for three hours with an inspector, a lieutenant, and three sergeants with the Quality Assistance Division—the NYPD unit that monitors the accuracy of police reports—as they questioned him about his allegations that precinct bosses had refused to take criminal complaints and had downgraded crimes. They told him they would launch a substantial investigation.

"After the meeting, Schoolcraft went about his normal work as a member of the 81st Precinct. Then, on the afternoon of October 31, he felt sick and went home about an hour early. Precinct supervisors appeared at his door hours later, claiming he had violated policy and demanding that he return to work.

"One of his visitors was a deputy chief, who upbraided him while sitting on the edge of his bed. On orders from that deputy chief, Schoolcraft was then thrown to the floor, handcuffed, dragged from his Queens apartment, and taken against his will to a psychiatric ward at Jamaica Hospital. His forced hospitalization lasted six days. Police officers also removed papers from his home that documented his concerns about NYPD operations. Jamaica Hospital officials charged him $7,000 for his stay—and another $86 to obtain his own medical records."



"Schoolcraft has been introduced to Voice readers as the Bed-Stuy cop who secretly taped 117 roll calls at the precinct, as well as many other conversations with his fellow cops. In our series, "The NYPD Tapes," the Voice has been making these recordings public, and they show a pattern of police downgrading crimes, intimidating crime victims, and enforcing quotas for writing tickets and performing "stop-and-frisks."

"Schoolcraft also had his digital recorder rolling as his superior officers threw him to the ground and hauled him off to the mental ward. Those recordings reveal that he was rational throughout the encounter, and refused medical assistance that was then forced on him.

"In addition, hospital records show that the medical staff was misled by an NYPD sergeant about the events of that day, causing doctors to treat him as a psychiatric patient.

"Like the previous recordings the Voice has made public, these tapes suggest that Adrian Schoolcraft is an ordinary cop who got caught on the wrong side of department politics, tried to report corruption, and paid for it with his career.

"Despite repeatedly reporting what he saw as misconduct to a duty captain, a district surgeon, an NYPD psychologist, three Internal Affairs officers, and five department crime statistics auditors, nothing has come of these efforts..."

To read the rest of this article, click here.

GURU Memorial Date Set by Elan Family

R.I.P.
[July 17, 1961 - April 20, 2010]

On July 18, 2010, Family and friends will celebrate the life of GURU of Gang Starr, hip hop icon. The memorial will be held at the University of Massachusetts Boston campus.

The Elan family launched GuruTribute.com for fans to view video from the ceremony, as well as share their own memories of GURU and how his music impacted their lives.

For more on GURU, his life and death, his music, and all the tributes to him from other artists, click here.

Follow us here or here to get the latest news.

Joell Ortiz v. Gentrification

SLAUGHTERHOUSE!



Joell Ortiz saw gentrification engulf Greenpoint from the vantage of the Cooper Park housing projects. As the new millennium began, the 31-year-old rapper noticed the first changes sprouting up with "a little condominium here, a loft setup there." Before the influx of high-income housing, his section of Brooklyn suffered from a domino-effect blight: "My area was really drug-infested 'cause across from us was a shelter with a lot of drug addicts—the drugs bring the money, and the money leads to violence." But not these days. "Now, it's ridiculous. They brought in the hipsters, brought in the yuppies, and built up the big condos that no one in my 'hood can afford."

To read the rest of this important HIP HOP story, click above or here.

A Woman's Side: Aubrey O'Day, D. Woods Respond To Slim Thug

So... maybe this is an excuse to post a bunch of pics of Aubrey O'Day; or, maybe Aubrey O'Day (perhaps despite the pics) has a point...









Please. Drop the delusions of grandeur, gents. We see right through you! This paper-thin layer of unjustifiable ‘swagger’ and pseudo-confidence is simply masquerading the vulnerability and self-doubt of the modern day man. The subtext is clear… spineless men of all creeds are waving the proverbial white flag of defeat. Unable to cope with the demands of a new class of empowered, strong-willed and fiercely independent women, they’ve resorted to projecting their insecurities on those that, god forbid, expect them to live up to their potential....