rap music

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Old School? New School? Kids Rap to Better Grades

(Newser) - A novel afterschool program, developed in Chicago and Cleveland and just now hitting Denver, uses rap music to make kids better students, the Post reports. “They learn about similes, different poetic devices,” the program’s founder said. They “learn to rap a Shakespearean piece.” One decidedly...

Anti-Chris Brown Song Gets Radio Play

Singer's actions 'a thousand percent wrong' says member of Smoke Jumpers

(Newser) - A song criticizing Chris Brown is getting radio airplay in Chicago, LA, and New York, among other markets. "My Flow So Tight," by a little-known dance group called Smoke Jumpers, features the repeated line: "Chris Brown should get his ass kicked," the AP reports. A website...

Merde! French Rapper Sparks Feminist Fury

Lyrics threaten to break lovers arm, legs

(Newser) - A French musician's rap about beating his girlfriend has so enraged activists that they're lobbying to have him banned from an upcoming rock festival, the Guardian reports. OrelSan sings about a broken arm, broken legs, and a wished-for miscarriage and "slow death" for his lover in his song Sale ...

20 Years Later, Young MC Still Busts a Move

(Newser) - It’s been 20 years since self-described “1 Hit Wonder” Young MC released Bust a Move, but the rapper is happy the song has held up as well as it has, he tells Rolling Stone. People aren’t “going to get a babysitter to go to a club...

Paltrow: Phoenix 'Intense' But Just a 'Big Softy'

But he is a little 'intense'

(Newser) - Gwyneth Paltrow has defended increasingly bizarre Joaquin Phoenix as a "real softy, kind person," reports the Boston Globe. But Paltrow conceded the actor-turned-rap-wildman can be a bit ... distant. "He has trouble relaxing. He's very intense. Sometimes you don't want to disturb him," said the actress, who...

Colbert Challenges RNC Chair to Rap Debate

(Newser) - Stephen Colbert wants to help Michael Steele bring his flava to the masses. The Colbert Report star can tell the new RNC chairman is a gangsta at heart, because he’s said he wants to bring the conservative message to “urban-suburban hip-hop settings,” which he promises will be...

Phoenix Might Be Losing His Mind: Shrink

Whatever is happening 'isn't funny,' says doc

(Newser) - A Chicago psychiatrist has offered yet another theory for the recent odd behavior of actor Joaquin Phoenix: he might be losing his mind. While bloggers speculate that the zombie-like Phoenix is either hooked on drugs or spoofing his fans with a zoned-out tumble into a laughable rap music career, Dr....

MC Hammer Lands Reality Show
MC Hammer Lands
Reality Show
Feb 18, 2009 3:02 PM CST

MC Hammer Lands Reality Show

'90s rapper to A&E viewers: It's Hammertime

(Newser) - MC Hammer will follow his upcoming concert with Vanilla Ice with another project sure to inspire nostalgia: a half-hour reality show. Hammertime, which will air later this year, follows the once-bankrupt rapper as he "lives a more economically balanced life," the A&E show's reps said....

Phoenix: Music Is My Legacy
 Phoenix: Music Is My Legacy 
Feb 17, 2009 4:03 PM CST

Phoenix: Music Is My Legacy

Not my acting

(Newser) - Joaquin Phoenix thinks he’ll be remembered for his music, rather than his Oscar-nominated acting, he tells the Mirror. Phoenix is a lot wordier than he was in his monosyllabic appearance on Letterman, telling the paper he’s serious about becoming a rapper. “I feel like everything in my...

Phoenix On 'Internal Exploration' Tour

(Newser) - Bizarre behavior aside, Joaquin Phoenix does have ambitions for his new career in rhyming, as he revealed in an interview with ABC News. “I want it to be big,” he said of his debut album, which is in the works. “Not big like popular. I want it...

Joaquin: Junkie or New Borat?

increasingly bizarre behavior churns rumor mills

(Newser) - The case of Joaquin Phoenix gets curiouser and curiouser following the actor' shambolic appearance on the David Letterman show. The odd tics and nodding-off behavior that drew Letterman's scathing wrath are typical of a heroin user, Gawker points out. But many speculate that it's all a Borat-like hoax act by...

Hello, 1991: MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice Plan Concert

Nineties rap stars will appear in Utah

(Newser) - Your inner adolescent is not going to believe this: MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice are back. And they’re back together, reports TMZ. The aging rappers will team up Feb. 27 for a concert in, of all places, Orem, Utah—a town commonly referred to as “Family City USA....

Phoenix Denies Hip-Hop Is Hoax

Actor-turned-rapper says he has made his last film

(Newser) - Actor Joaquin Phoenix insists he really has quit Hollywood for hip-hop,  AP reports. He’s made his last movie and is busy recording rap tracks in his home studio, said the star. Rumors that the career change was actually an elaborate practical joke swirled after video emerged of Phoenix...

Joaquin's Rap Dream Is Real: Rep

(Newser) - Joaquin Phoenix really is a struggling rap artist, a rep tells MTV. “The transition from one career to another is never seamless,” the actor’s publicist says. “He intends on exploring his musical interests despite speculative, negative, or positive reactions.” The statement is in direct contrast...

Phoenix 'Breakdown' More Like a Put-On

Phoenix' rap career might just be a show

(Newser) - Joaquin Phoenix's transformation from Oscar-nominated actor to bumbling rapper may be a prank meant to satirize media coverage of pompous actors, Entertainment Weekly reports. “He said, ‘It's a put-on. I'm going to pretend to have a meltdown and change careers, and Casey [Affleck] is going to film it,...

Rapper, 6, Touts Obama to Peeps
Rapper, 6, Touts
Obama to Peeps
Jan 19, 2009 2:49 AM CST

Rapper, 6, Touts Obama to Peeps

YouTube hit makes campaign volunteer shortie a star

(Newser) - Though the historical context of Barack Obama's victory may be lost on "Lil Yani," the president-elect has made the 6-year-old very proud—enough to produce a rap tribute that's fast becoming an online hit, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Like the other upbeat raps from the charismatic Californian,...

Bhutto's Daughter Mourns With YouTube Rap Video

She would take the pain away, apparently

(Newser) - Benazir Bhutto’s oldest daughter has marked the anniversary of her mother’s death with a heartfelt tribute—in the form of a dirge-like YouTube rap video. Over a montage of images of her late mother, 18-year-old Bakhtawar Zardari sings lines like, “You have beauty and intelligence, everything you...

Rap's Roots Found in, Uh, Scotland?
Rap's Roots Found in, Uh, Scotland?
Dec 28, 2008 8:02 PM CST

Rap's Roots Found in, Uh, Scotland?

Scots' obscene verbal tradition gave birth to musical 'dueling': prof

(Newser) - While most don't associate rap with a bunch of white guys in skirts, a University of New Mexico professor traces the music’s roots back to the barrooms of medieval Scotland, the London Telegraph reports. “The Scots have a lengthy tradition of flyting—intense verbal jousting, often laced with...

Run-DMC's Christmas Jam Made Rap American
Run-DMC's Christmas Jam Made Rap American
OPINION
Dec 25, 2008 3:40 PM CST

Run-DMC's Christmas Jam Made Rap American

Enmeshing the genre with America's one real tradition sealed the deal

(Newser) - If Christmas is one authentic American effort to create traditions in a nation that has mostly imported them, Christmas music is about as American as it gets, writes Morgan Meis on the Smart Set. “When you do the Christmas song you are solid, you are in the club,”...

Female Rappers Can't Beat 'Boys Club'

For women in rap, carving out an identity is no easy feat

(Newser) - Queen Latifah is about to release her first rap album since 1998, but female rappers are still no better represented on the hip-hop charts now than they were 30 years ago, laments Jonah Weiner in Slate. No female artists received BET nominations this year, and they face an uphill struggle...

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