If you were to ask me to name two hop hop acts that, if I had the power to make things perfect within the group, so that they would've never split, A Tribe Called Quest and The Pharcyde would be my top choices. Tight rhymes, catchy hooks, and an all around fun vibe made them my fave rap crews in the 90s.

While Tribe generally gets the props that they deserve for their place in hip hop history, The Pharcyde, generally, gets the snub as the group that "had that song about the bitches and shit", as my homie Abe once remarked. But Pharcyde's catalog ran much deeper than that, so this week's Supernegro Video Pick is "Otha Fish" from the groups debut CD, Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde. Here Slim goes solo over a jazzed out beat, detailing the emotion of a relationship gone awry; I like to think of it as what would've happened if he would've landed the girl in "Passin' Me By". Enjoy. - Jay Wilson

Back in the early '90s when Afrocentricity in rap was at its pinnacle, one of my favorite rap crews, along with Digable Planets, was Arrested Development - their breakthrough disc, 3 Years, 5 Months and Two Days in the Life Of... owned my heart, soul, and my CD player-even moreso nowadays with all the aural diarrhea that funks up the airwaves.

With Public Enemy making a solid comeback, and AD on deck, could it be that black is indeed back? All we need is mofo'n X-Clan and I'm breaking out the blowout comb.  Mo' info after the jump. - Jay Wilson

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If you're about my age (early 30s) there are certain cultural aspects that you just can not front on, for those that came up in the decade of decadence: You secretly watched "Jem", thought Philip Michael Thomas was the silkiest brother on TV, and would hum along - if not outright sing - the chorus of "Born in the USA" whenever its chorus made its way to your ear. It was the '80s - nuff said.

But without question, the one face of the '80s thats continually berated for no apparent reason is my homie Phil Collins. Along with Michael Jackson, Prince, and a handful of others, he pretty much pwned the entire decade well into the early '90s thanks to an infectious string of pop hits. Not too bad for an balding Brit who was a former drummer.

My favorite track of his is "Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now)", the title track from the rather assy '80s remake of the definitive film noir, Out of the Past. Some comedian that I can't name describes it as music to "slit your wrist to", and I can see why; its all about being unable to return to the magic of the past. Whenever I hear it, I reminded of my  fun days in junior high school and the homies I lost over the years - very bittersweet. Phil  blows the track out of the water, with each iteration of the chorus more powerful than the last -  true classic. Enjoy. - Jay Wilson

Rapper, shit-talker, and over-muscled freak 50 Cent is ready to give the world the real deal on his early days in the autobiography 50 x 50: 50 Cent in His Own Words. Although the "In His Own Words" tagline is the calling card for every crap celebrity autobio in existence, many will probably be shocked to hear me say that I'm actually looking forward to paging through it. Fiddy always came of as a smart, insightful guy despite churning out sub-standard albums and movies. Granted, I wouldn't pay for it, but if one rapper could pen an engaging tome it would be he. And Chuck D. And KRS. And 2Pac. And possibly Nas. F-it, deets after the jump from the NY Daily News. - Jay Wilson

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Remember KRS-ONE's Stop the Violence movement, which produced that classic hip hop posse cut, Self Destruction? The Blastmaster is resurrecting the concept in order to help curb violence amongst the boys in the hood.

Members of the new group include Lil' Wayne, Ludacris, Pastor Troy, Chingy, Rick Ross, Cassidy, Ludacris, Jalil of Whodini, Hakim of Channel Live and Busta Rhymes - alotta of wack emcees, I know, but when it comes to delivering a good message lyrical skill isn't much of a message - though I suppose content is. The new jacks will participate in PSAs to get the young'uns to leave the guns and the knives alone. KRS is also planning to release a Stop the Violence album that will serve as a soundtrack to an upcoming docudrama about violence. The rap legend stated:


[Via All Hip Hop]

One of her father’s most aggressive actions occurred when he moved the family into a white neighborhood in Chicago. As a result, the family’s home was vandalized and on one occasion Hansberry was injured. Her father, determined to fight residential segregation, brought legal action with the help of the NAACP. Although he won the case, residential segregation continued in Chicago.

Hansberry's Early Writing Career

After high school, Hansberry attended the University of Wisconsin for two years. She left early to pursue a career as associate editor in the New York City based newspaper, Freedom. It was a radical black paper founded by Paul Robeson. In 1953, she married Jewish writer Robert Nemiroff and resigned from her position at the newspaper.

Hansberry Receives Praise for A Raisin in the Sun

Hansberry began pursuing a career in writing. Influenced by her father’s dedication to civil rights, Hansberry wrote the play A Raisin in the Sun (1959), which opened to glowing reviews in New York. Raisin was about a black family in Chicago who struggle against racism and try to achieve their dream of having a better life. Somewhat modeled after her own family’s experience with residential segregation, the family in Raisin also attempts to move into an all-white neighborhood.

The play won the New York Drama Critics Circle Best Play of the Year Award, making her the first African American to win the award. For the film version of the play, she won the Screen Writer’s Guild Award and an award from the Cannes Film Festival.

Hansberry Battles Cancer

In 1963, the same year that she was diagnosed with cancer, Hansberry’s play, The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, about Jews after World War II, opened in the theater. One year later, Hansberry’s marriage ended in divorce. For the next two years, Hansberry battled cancer with chemotherapy and radiation, while at the same time continuing to write. On January 12, 1965, Hansberry died.

After her death, Hansberry’s incomplete work was published. Her ex-husband, the executor of her estate, created To Be Young, Gifted and Black from her unfinished plays, poems, and writings. He also published her last three plays in Les Blancs: The Collected Last Plays.

[Via About]

Another 9/11 and it's tributes, conspiracy theories, and partisan bickering have come and gone, but new photos have found their way onto the web -apparently from a military source-that showcases the unbridled demolition of the World Trade Center. Truly fantastic shots of such a black day. - Jay Wilson

[Via Scribd]

From Alternet:

Comedian Bill Cosby is the walking and now writing proof of the ancient adage that good intentions can go terribly awry. That's never been more painfully true than in Cosby's latest tome, Come on People.

Cosby and his publisher boast that the book is a big, brash, and provocative challenge to black folk to get their act together. That's got him ga ga raves, and an unprecedented one hour spin job on Meet the Press.

In the book, Cosby harangues and lectures, cobbles together a mesh of his trademark anecdotes, homilies, and personal tales of woe and success, juggles and massages facts to bolster his self-designated black morals crusade. Stripped away it's the same stock claim that blacks can't read, write or speak coherent English, and are social and educational cripples and failures.

Since Cosby's much touted tirade at the NAACP confab a few years back, and on countless talk shows, and at community gatherings, he has succeeded marvelously in getting the tongues of blacks wagging furiously and their fingers jabbing relentlessly at each other's alleged mountainous defects. They stumble over themselves to hail Cosby as the ultimate truth-giver.

He isn't.

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