Support Mixtapes and the Justo's Mixtape Awards

I remember like it was yesterday. Back in the day I used to be a fiend for mixtapes. I would hit up the local corner stores and record shops to find the latest and greatest mixtape. Back then your mixtape came on a 90 minute Maxell cassette and you rocked it until the tape popped. One of my good friends in high school left to go to the Airforce and was stationed near NYC. So he would always send us the hottest mixtapes and we would have them weeks before they even hit our local spots. Kid Capri, Ron G, Tony Touch, Stretch Armstrong all taught us who the hottest Hip Hop artist were at the time and dropped the newest singles to the hungry masses. We even had local DJ’s who brought the heat just as much as the DJ’s from New York. I loved getting a new mixtape popping it in the ride and heading out for the night. I studied the lyrics, the beats and swagger that came with the hot tracks dropped on each and every mixtape.

Now it seems the mixtape game has changed. At first mixtapes brought us the hottest artist and new tracks. But it was not only that, but it was the DJ as well that captivated our minds. The formula of the rapper, the hot beats, and the DJ made each and every mixtape special. Now you might run across a few good mixtapes that give you all of those elements, but far too many mixtapes dropped now do not bring it like they used too.

Well just like the Grammys, The Billboarboard awards or (insert your favorite award show), there is a organization that each year gives out awards for mixtapes!!

The Mixtape Award Association launches a brand new innovative site January 1st, 2009.

Who: The Mixtape Award Association, presenter of the 2009 12th Annual "Justo's" Mixtape Awards is set to launch a new and improved, innovative two-part site dedicated to the DJ culture and The Music Industry in which it exists.

What: The site, www.TheJustos.com, is divided into two-parts. The first part, a site solely dedicated to The Justo's Mixtape Awards, to be held on Wednesday, April 29, 2009. This area of the site will be the powerhouse of the actual awards, through online voting, awards updates and all related events. The second part of the site, to be launched in March, will be an online comprehensive DJ community, with forums, blogs, goods and services catering to The DJ and the Music Industry.

When/ Where: THURSDAY, JANUARY 1, 2009, Log onto www.TheJustos.com and sign up for the online community to stay up to date with key information and year round events produced by The Mixtape Awards Association.

Key Information to be announced only via www.TheJustos.com includes:

* Information dedicated to the Nomination and Voting Process for "The 12th ANNUAL JUSTO'S MIXTAPE AWARDS"

* Contests, Press Releases and Updates regarding the events leading up to and taking place around The Justo's Mixtape Awards.

Please on January 1st go to the site and nominate your favorite mixtape. Show support to the site and the artist and DJ’s that drop mixtapes to the masses. By supporting the Justo awards you will be supporting Hip Hop!!!

Gadget Alert! Apple Mac might just put the laptop game on smash!!!!!

You saw it here first!!! Apple has a hot concept in the works that might just put every other laptop manufacturer on notice.

As someone who uses multiple screens when I’m working (or playing games) the idea of having a laptop with some extra screen space as portable as the unit itself is really exciting. Sure, that extra space would come in the form of folding, side-mounted monitors that have a break before the main screen — annoying for some — but some extra, segmented workspace on a portable platform is music to my ears.

And portable the triBook is: the conceptual rendering, picked up by Mac|Life, calls for a notebook that’s 10 inches wide and a little over six inches long. Click on through for more information than you’d ever want to know about the triBook concept.

The MacBook Air is about as sexy as a notebook gets. Just try pulling one out in a crowd. First comes the oohing, and then the ahhing, and then—sorry, but yes—the borderline-inappropriate fondling. There’s just something about the Air’s katana-thin profile that demands hands-on attention. People need to touch it, and open it, and prove to themselves that it is indeed a functional computer. But the honeymoon doesn’t last forever. The Air is the perfect computer for a very particular user, but it’s not perfect in toto. No optical drive. No FireWire. The hard drive—anemic. And while the Air’s height is essentially nonexistent, its width-depth footprint is still a bulkmeister. In a lot of book bags and backpacks, the Air is as awkward a fit as any traditional notebook.

Thus the triBook. At first glance, it’s not quite as spectacular looking as the Air, but its amazing story literally unfolds as you put it to use.

At a mere 6.75 inches deep, 10 inches wide, and about an inch tall, the triBook strikes a modest profile–it easily slips into most purses and man bags and completely disappears inside any book bag or backpack. But while portability is nice, it’s typically achieved at the expense of utility, and this is where the triBook is a triumph. When the triBook’s lid is closed, the two side screens tuck in neatly, sandwiched between the main display and the keyboard/touchpad. And when it’s time to use the machine, you lift the lid and unfold the side panels, just as if you were unfolding a cardboard box.

When the two side screens are fully unfolded to form a flat plane with the center screen, you’re left with an ultrawide landscape display of 21 diagonal inches. Indeed, not only is the triBook more portable than the Air, it also offers much more screen real estate. But have fun, play a little. The sides don’t have to pivot by a perfect 180. Cocked at a jaunty angle, each side screen can be set to form a little privacy barrier.

Now, we could claim that the triBook is Apple’s much-anticipated entry into the “netbook” market, but using the term netbook doesn’t do the machine justice. Netbooks are teeny, tiny notebooks stuffed with underpowered parts, including the most insubstantial of screens. In other words, they’re imminently portable, but really only good for surfing webpages and typing out email.

Not so with the triBook. Besides no-compromise screen real estate, the triBook comes with an 8x SuperDrive, a kick-ass hard drive, an array of I/O connectors, and a MacBook Pro-caliber CPU. All that plus a generous keyboard and an expanded multitouch trackpad that supports a whole new complement of touch gestures.

So this is it, the so-called “brick” notebook that’s been rumor-mill fodder for the last three months. An exceedingly simple but effective concept—in short, Apple to the very core.

Q and A with Tricia Rose, Author of The Hip Hop Wars

By Gilbert Cruz

Brown University professor Tricia Rose wants you to know that no one is right about hip hop. In her new book, The Hip Hop Wars, Rose takes on all sides, arguing that fans and detractors alike have advanced illogical, dishonest and offensive arguments about why the genre is bad and why it's great. She spoke to TIME about how radio is killing hip hop, why artists need to take more responsibility and what the music used to be like.

The rapper Nas released an album several years ago titled "Hip Hop is Dead." The first line of your book is "Hip hop is not dead, but it is gravely ill." Why do you think that? Many people would say it died a long time ago.
When Nas said hip hop is dead, it was really a way of making the statement I think that I'm making. He obviously doesn't think its entirely dead, or he wouldn't continue to labor there, but he is concerned about it enough to put people on notice that it is in the ICU ward. It was more a metaphor than a reality. But I think that there is no question that commercial hip hop, that is dead. But there is an incredibly rich world of hip hop that has been literally buried. I tell my friends and students, that's why they call it the underground — because it's in fact buried. But it's not dead, it's an underworld. It's like the Matrix, an alternative world that has its flaws but is part of a living force.

Coincidentally, I was watching the concert movie Dave Chapelle's Block Party the other night, in which he puts on a bunch of these alternative hip hop artists that you talk about in your book — Common, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Kanye West. Other than Kanye, why don't these artists sell as well as the Jay-Z's or the 50 Cent's?
There's a long history of a particular pleasure in consuming the ideas of black ghetto excess dysfunction. It used to not be ghettoized in setting, because black people weren't always urban people, but the same images can be found in American history for centuries. So this idea that a certain kind of sexual deviance or violent behavior defines black culture has had a huge market in commercial mainstream culture for at least 200 years. Also, sexist images, which hip hop has a lot of, seem to do very well across the cultural spectrum. So sexuality and sexual domination sell. Racial stereotypes sell. The market is more consolidated which makes it easier for those images to perpetuate themselves.

And those artists we just mentioned don't traffic in those stereotypes, so they don't fit into that corporate consolidated structure, don't get airplay, and therefore don't sell, right?
That's right. And of course it's a self-fulfilling prophecy. They deny this. They say that they don't influence sales, that there's no payola, that there's no influence on content. But there's ample evidence that that's false. If you play a song enough, you start singing it. It's really almost that simple. From what I understand, stations used to play a song on average about 40 times a week. It's up to 140 times a week now.
Look, I don't want it to seem like I'm bashing everything about Lil Wayne and Jay-Z, because I'm not. I think they're both very talented. If you look at the metaphors Lil Wayne produces, they're amazing, they're very creative. It's the substance. What are you making metaphors about 24 hours a day? Same thing with Jay-Z. Even he has acknowledged that he's "dumbed his music down" so that he can sell records. This economic imperative has had more of an impact on hip hop than rock or soul or R&B.


This is what hip hop is now. What did it used to be?
It was mostly for fun and for play. It wasn't primarly an economic industry, where people got involved more for money than for creativity. It had live community origins. When you really produce music in live community settings, you can't get away with a lot of what they get away with in studio generated spaces. You had block parties where you had multi-generational consumption. You have 12-year olds, 18-year olds, 30-year olds, 70-year olds, all at the block party. They live there. They're hanging out. They're not going to listen to a lot of the kind of commercial hip hop that we're talking about, where people are just rhyming about killing everybody who gets in their way and never caring about a woman — I'm not going to use bad language here, what's the point? — but you get it. there's no way that's going to be acceptable. So there's a kind of community regulation factor in early hip hop.
And when I say early, I don't mean really early. I give it the first ten, twelve years. It also had a lot of political content. And I don't mean just, "Burn down America." A lot of it was about education and learning more about your history and asking questions and making better choices and trying to change society for the better. Yes there was a lot of anger, but not by any means was it the dominant frame of the genre. Again, it's hard to tell this to people when they turn on the radio and they get T-Pain.

There seems to be the tendency when people complain about what they hear on the radio for artists to say, "Well, if you don't like it, just turn it off." There's that shift in responsibility from artist to fan. Is that a disingenuous defense?
I think it is disingenuous because they know that this isn't just about turning off one song. You would have to turn off all commercial black radio. You'd have to shut down all of your children's and your own investment in MTV, BET, VH1. You would basically have to unplug from society as a whole. So they know this is not going to happen. They know you're not going to do it because that means rejecting the entire system, not just a given artist. There's also this idea that parents need to watch their kids more. Well, OK, I agree, some parents are not very good at watching their kids. But a lot of parents are deeply struggling to figure out how to watch their kids and hold down three part-time jobs with no benefits. And they don't really need artists making their job harder by creating an allure, an excitement for behavior that is completely self-destructive. Artists tell you to turn off, but they really depend on you doing the opposite. And I say let's take them up on it. They'll change their tune, because they need an audience. They need us.

In these hip hop wars, what's one of the more prominent argument from critics that you counter in your book?
Hip hop causes violence. This is a very common argument that's been made pretty much from the beginning. There are a number of things that are wrong with this. One is that it posits an incredibly simple-minded causal relationship between music that has violent narrative in it and actual violent action. Hip hop takes the bigger weight for this problem than anyone else. And the reason it takes such a big weight is not because it's any more violent than slasher movies or than horror movies or action movies in general, but because there is a denial about the violent world that we created in post-1960s black America. These are communities whose stability has been profoundly disrupted. And when you destabilize communities, violence always goes up.
The hip hop causes violence camp is incredibly dishonest about the profound role of structural racism, of economic disadvtange that has been produced over dacdes. It's not just personal, lazy behavior. It's a dishonest way of dumping on hip hop a set of conditions that we are responsible for as nation. That being said, that doesn't mean that a constantly violent narrative is a good thing. I'm not suggesting there shouldn't be a challenge to it to some degreee. But it's not the source of the problem. It's a red herring.

So, are both sides wrong then?
Definitely. The critics are a little bit more wrong than the defenders. But overall, both arguments have enormous flaws. The defenders are the the most wrong about gender and sexism and the haters are most wrong about issues of violence and culture. I'm very upset about both sides in this war and I think the only way out is for the rest of us on the sidelines to get involved with an educated, sophisticated position. You have to be subtle, not extreme, in thinking about what's right and what's wrong when it comes to hip hop.

A Tribute to a True Legend: DJ Premier

Recently Peter Rosenberg made a tribute video honoring a true Hip Hop legend, DJ Premier. Check out the exclusive video here on UrbanEstablished.com!

An Analysis of Busta Rhymes “Arab Money”

By Anslem Samuel

Some may argue that Blacks (in America) can’t be racist because we as a people lack any real power, and without power one can not oppress another sector of human beings. While there might be some validity in that belief, I feel that racism has less to do with power and more to do with disrespect, ignorance and unprovoked hate based on one’s race. Sometimes this can manifest itself through purposeful actions, but other times it can be a completely unintentional act. I’d like to believe that Busta Rhymes participated in the latter.

By now most have heard Busta’s latest single “Arab Money,” where the veteran MC delivers braggadocios lyrics about his opulence that are peppered with references to stereotypes about people of Middle Eastern descent. To top it all off, producer Ron Browz employs an AutoTuned hook that includes a mimicking of an Arabic chant and the mispronunciation of the word “Arab.” Despite popular belief, Arab is pronounced Ah-rab not Ay-rab. The latter phrasing is actually considered derogatory, similar to how many African-American’s view the N-word. So this raises the question, is the title of Busta’s latest single racist?

To someone ignorant to the negative connotation attached to the usage of Ay-rab in the song, the answer may be no. But what if Busta, or any rapper, had made a similar song using another derogatory term? Imagine a White artist releasing “Ni**er Money,” a German artist releasing “Kike Cash,” or a Russian artist releasing “Spic Paper.” All of those examples would spark immediate controversy and protest, but somehow Busta’s “Arab Money” slipped past his label’s censor board. Perhaps, America’s current “war on terror” has made Middle Easterners the new “ni**ers” and label execs didn’t bat an eye at the racist title, but I’d like to believe it was merely an oversight that could be chalked up to ignorance. Then came the remix.

Although Browz has since rerecorded the chorus for the original to properly pronounce Ah-rab, the official remix of “Arab Money,” which features Diddy, Swizz Beatz, T-Pain, Akon, Bow Wow and Lil Wayne, now includes the addition of an interpretation of an Arabic holy prayer. This is the equivalent of a rapper blending the Our Father prayer into a secular song. Not only would better judgment likely prevail, such blatant disrespect of another culture would not fly. Still, the same common courtesy was not given to our Middle Eastern brothers and sisters regarding this release. In fact, the video not only features Arabic calligraphy throughout the opening credits, but several people sportin’ Keffiyeh scarves, which are traditionally worn in Middle Eastern countries.

This all brings us back to the initial question: Is Busta Rhymes’ song, and it’s accompanying video, racist?

Keep Your Fitted Cap On Point!

Just like your favorite pair of sneakers, the fitted cap is a must accessory to any true Hip Hop head. We all know that a good fitted can last a while with the proper care. We also know that it breaks ones heart when that day comes and you have to retire your fitted because it is too dirty or out of shape to salvage. Well while surfing the net this weekend I ran across something that might help us all out.

It's called the Fitted Pro. Let's check it out.




The FITTED PRO is a first of its kind; a device allowing cap collectors to clean, shape and maintain their collection of fitted baseball caps. Our exclusive preview continues with the second tier model in the series, the Fitted Pro Player.




The Fitted Pro product line consists of three models. The Starter is the basic mechanical model for blocking, stretching and holding the shape of your fitted cap. The Player is the deluxe dryer model that features a built in drying system with multiple settings. The Baller is the ultimate dryer-steamer model with an internal steaming apparatus in addition to blocking and drying features.

The Fitted Pro is set to be released very soon, keep checking back with UrbanEstablished.com for more info on where to purchase!

A Great Day In Hip Hop: Rewind to 1998

by Ogbonna Hagins

In 1998 the staff of XXL magazine first thought of redoing the "Great Day in Harlem" shoot, they had no idea how successful it would be. The first "Great Day in Harlem" photo, taken in 1958, brought together 57 jazz legends on the front stoop of 17 E. 126th St., a brownstone between Fifth and Madison Avenues, for an Esquire magazine piece. (The picture appeared in the January 1959 issue.) At XXL's historic recreation, 200 plus hip-hop greats flowed over three stoops—a new generation of cultural icons captured for posterity.

The shoot commemorated the 40th anniversary of Art Kane's famous photo of jazz greats such as Dizzy Gillespie, Charles Mingus, Count Basie, Thelonious Monk and Lester Young. It also honored the innovators of rap—a musical genre that has impacted popular culture as jazz did in its heyday.

"I'm just thrilled that so many artists found the time to come out and be a part of this special event," said Sheena Lester, editor-in-chief of the year-old magazine. "It was a glorious sunny day where there were East Coast, West Coast, Southern and Midwestern rappers acknowledging each other."

Artists came from near and far, representing the past, present and future of rap music. A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Jermaine Dupri, Canibus, Fat Joe, Da Brat, Wyclef, Pras, Kool Herc, Grand Master Flash, Onyx, E-40, Mack 10, Crucial Conflict, Run-DMC, Slick Rick, Goodie MOB, Luke, Kool Moe Dee, Heather B, Paula Perry and members of Wu Tang Clan and Goodie Mob were all present. Laughter permeated the air on this tree-lined street, just west of the Metropolitan Community Methodist Church that served as the meeting place of all the stars. Icons met icons who turned out to also be fans.

Organizing a photo of this magnitude was a great feat in and of itself. The icing on the top was getting a renowned photographer to capture the moment. Though many could have taken the shot, only one had the historical significance which would add an exclamation point to the event: Gordon Parks, the legendary, 84-year-old photojournalist who directed the films Shaft and The Learning Tree.

In the '40s, Parks shot for Vogue and Life, among others, breaking through the racism which permeated the magazine business and society.

Philadelphia was well represented in the photo: The Roots, King Britt, Kurupt, Jazzy Jeff and Schoolly D were among the legends in the photo. Ahmir Thompson of Philly group The Roots, who was documenting the event with a hand-held video camera, called the gathering incredible.

"I've been doing this for six years, and I never met Wu [Tang Clan]; I never met the essential people of hip-hop." Thompson admitted he hadn't met 60 percent of the artists there. Britt, a Central High School grad, was overwhelmed and honored to be a part of it.

"First, Gordon Parks taking the picture—in Harlem," mused Britt. "This is where the soul is, from jazz to now."

Other artists were also thrilled. Cee-Lo, from the Atlanta-based Goodie Mob, foamed: "I just met Greg Nice. I just met Daddy-O, from Stetsasonic, who I love! DJ Hollywood. All these people. I'd heard their names when I was young. These are my heroes. I feel blessed. And for them to tell me that they like what I'm doing? It's a trip."

Heather B suggested that the spirits of many of hip-hop's fallen stars were present: "It was something in the air. You felt the presence of Biggie, you felt the presence Tupac, you felt Eazy E, Scott La Rock. They represented hip-hop."

When the time came for this moment to be captured, there was so much to absorb. Sticky Fingaz of Onyx, striking a pose with no shirt, a camouflage jacket draping his body. Fat Joe standing erect, with the pride of the boricuas on his shoulders. Ahmir with the classic pick in his afro. Gordon Parks standing behind two cameras on tripods, eyeing his subjects as he has done for more than 50 years, hands shaking ever so slightly as he clicked the first and subsequent shots: the artists with their fists in the air, some looking away from the camera.

When the shoot was over, the crowd of rappers burst into applause, accompanied by yells of pride. The disassembled crowd continued to talk with their peers, their heroes, their fans.

Not unlike the jazz shoot, there were some key artists that were not present. But with so many that were there, it was hard to be distraught about those who weren't there. A disappointed Lauryn Hill arrived 10 minutes after the shot was taken in a red Range Rover driven by her beau Rohan Marley with her son Zion in the back seat. A dejected Ras Kass from Los Angeles, who showed up too late, asked if there was some way he could be superimposed into the shot.

Things may have changed a lot in 40 years, but a magic moment is still a magic moment.

Ludacris “Everybody Hates Chris” Video

Notorious Soundtrack Details (Track/Artist List)

Details on the sountrack from the upcoming Biggie Smalls biographical film called "Notorious" are now available. The OST will feature hit singles from Biggie, unreleased new B.I.G. songs, demos and appearances from family members. In stores on January 13th, the soundtrack will also feature material from Jay-Z, Faith Evans, Jadakiss and even Biggie's son, Christopher "CJ" Wallace Jr.

One song from the soundtrack "Brooklyn (Go Hard)" by Jay-Z had an unofficial video recently hit the internet. The video features animated text (spelling out "Brooklyn") creating images of Jigga & Biggie Smalls.



"Notorious" soundtrack track listing, according to Bad Boy Records:

1. "Notorious Thugs" (featuring Bone Thugs-N-Harmony)
2. "Hypnotize"
3. "Notorious"
4. "Juicy"
5. "Party & Bullsh--"
6. "Warning"
7. "One More Chance" remix (featuring Faith Evans)
8. "Brooklyn Go Hard" (Jay-Z featuring Santogold)
9. "Letter to B.I.G." (Jadakiss featuring Faith Evans)
10. "Kick in the Door"
11. "What's Beef"
12. "World Is Filled"
13. "One More Chance" (featuring CJ)
14. "The Notorious Theme" (composed by Danny Elfman)
15. "Microphone Murderer" (previously unreleased demo)
16. "Guaranteed Raw" (previously unreleased demo)
17. "Love No Ho" (previously unreleased demo)

Don't Call it a Comeback! Rocafella 2.0

by John Reese

December 1st 2008

GrandWizHipHop.Com

Dame Dash Prepares "Rocafella 2 " Label

After the bitter break-up of Rocafella Records in 2004, Dame Dash has been struggling to find his own musical identity again. "I was one of the pillars of that company" says Dash. "Me and Biggs built that shit and ya man had to go and do what he did, i wont go into details [because] you should already know. It hurt, but im gonna hit the reset button on this shit." Dash, in obvious reference to one time partner Jay-Z, speaks of what many consider to be the strong arming of the label away from Dash.

As of today the sole controller of the venerable label is Mr. Carter with Dash and Kareem "Biggs" Burke never being able to be part of it again, however Dash is confident in what he believes will be the rebirth of what he made over a decade ago. "Me and Biggs have been in discussion about doing another label, another Roc style label with Juelz and Jimmy at the forefront." "Them two are from the same hood im from with the same struggle and can make hits easy."

With Jim Jones, a proven hit maker with his smashes like "Summer in Miami" and the 2006 banger "We Fly High," and Juelz Santana whos highly anticipated duo album with Lil Wayne "I Cant Feel My Face" due out early next year, Dash is obviously very confident about his new venture with the former Dipset members and goes on to elaborate on what he thinks will be the rebirth of what he loved doing. "Im telling you, its gonna Be Rocafella 2, The Roc 2.0! Me and Jimmy and Juelz. Its gonna feel like '98 again I promise you that.

December 2008 Magazine Covers

Here's a quick look at some of the December 2008 Magazine covers hitting a news stand near you.

Artist to watch for 2009: Wale

This weekend I listened to 3 Wale mixtapes on my way back home from D.C. and I must say it has been a long time since a MC has really impressed me. I heard a few tracks from Wale in the past but never really took the time to sit down and digest his flow and delivery. On one of the tapes Wale tells us that Black Thought from the Roots is one of his favorite rappers and I can definitely see the influence that Black Thought has blessed Wale with. Most of all Wale does not stray from the sound of DC. Most of his tracks bear the DC GO GO influence that sets him apart from all the other rappers. Don't get me wrong, Wale can spit on any track and deliver FIRE!!! But it is refreshing to see an artist who does not bend and try to sound like he or she is from a city or region they are not from. Check out this track from Wale with Bun B and give me your thoughts!