Monday, March 17th, 2008

Chuck Phillips On Pac & Diddy

Sometimes a journalist makes the story and sometimes the story makes him. For the better part of the past decade, Chuck Phillips, an investigative reporter for the Los Angeles Times whose beat included the music industry, has been pursuing the Tupac and Biggie murders. Today’s bombshell has been promised for a while, and now it’s here:
a front-pager claiming the FBI has evidence that Diddy’s henchmen plotted the ambush of Pac at Quad Studios in 1994.

The stories of Lil Shawn, his manager Jimmy Henchman, and mob-connected industry insiders James Sabatino and Haitian Jack have been circulating for years, and Cheo Coker discussed Haitian Jack in some detail in Unbelievable, his essential bio of Biggie. What’s new is that Phillips seems to have confirmed the story with a number of witnesses as well as an FBI informant. One, now in prison, even promised to produce the medallion snatched from Pac on that night for a price.

This morning, Diddy issued a terse press release, saying, “This story is beyond ridiculous and is completely false. Neither Biggie nor I had any knowledge of any attack before, during, or after it happened. It is a complete lie to suggest that there was any involvement by Biggie or myself. I am shocked that the Los Angeles Times would be so irresponsible as to publish such a baseless and completely untrue story.”

posted by @ 11:07 am | 2 Comments

Wednesday, March 5th, 2008

Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s The Break/s Opens This Week!

So I’m in the Dirrrty Dirrrty this week to do some talks–stand up Arkansas and Elon!–and to see my man Bamuthi Joseph open his play “The Break/s” at the Humana Festival, the premier American showcase for young playwrights.

It’s gonna be off the chain, with two turntables and video by Eli Jacobs-Fantauzzi to support Bamuthi’s incredible spoken word text and movement. Bamuthi tells me it was partly inspired by Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, but when you check this I think you’ll agree with me that he’s on a whole nother level of the game that CSWS couldn’t reach.

Here’s a piece in Playbill that talks a little about the piece.

If you’re in the area, get tickets right now. If not, Bamuthi comes to the Walker in Minneapolis next month and the Yerba Buena Center in SF this summer.

Trust me, I’m not gonna miss any of the performances.

posted by @ 12:06 pm | 0 Comments

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

2G2K Circus :: Green Jobs + Hip-Hop

2G2K continues. Ferentz asks, “What if Obama suddenly starts preaching the gospel of ‘green jobs?'”

He has, actually, and I think this is potentially very much a winning hip-hop gen angle. Before Sharpton claims credit for this too, I wanted to point out that the idea came from hip-hop activists at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights here in Oakland.

A few years ago, these veterans of the anti-Prop 21 campaign pushed through legislation in the city to launch the Oakland Green Job Corps program, a $250K pilot project that brings together urban youth employment and green jobs, fighting pollution and poverty at the same time. It’s a simple idea that could be scaled up and gain broad popularity.

The plan has gained lots of traction since, with the key support of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Hillary’s co-sponsorship of the bill–titled the Green Jobs Act–is undoubtedly one of the reasons the topic came up as part of Obama’s agenda on Tuesday night.

posted by @ 11:47 am | 0 Comments

Sunday, February 24th, 2008

Maths + English :: Your Boy CNNing

Hey fam, well the CNN thing has come and gone and what have we learned?

Time delays suck. I suck at looking where I’m sposed to look (the little smiley face above the camera thing). Lesson learned in kindergarten remains true: I suck at sitting still. And it all ends up looking so unpretty.

And I still suck at math, especially on TV.

So I was making some point about the real issue around John McCain is whether he supports corporate interests vs. the public interest (prompting “Right Wing” Mike from the Daily Standard to call me “boring”…ohhh man, if only!) and said it was something we’d all be looking at more closely over the next 5 months of this election. Mike corrected me, said 8. The actual answer is 8 and 1 week and 2 days.

Ah, so what. Still breaking stereotypes, I am!

Shout out to Jill “In The Middle” Zimon. They doubled us up this time so next time they should give us twice as long.

If anyone wants to send me a Youtube link of my date with infamy or a calculator, do that thing.

I’m no longer ridden with the flu, but I gotta head outta town for some work.

Back on Tuesday or Wednesday with more 2G2K and other hot sh*t…

Chuck/Flav 2012!

posted by @ 4:30 pm | 9 Comments

Sunday, February 24th, 2008

LA Times on Saving 1520

A piece from Louise Roug in today’s LAT on 1520 Sedgwick:

In August 1973, a hulking Jamaican American teenager named Clive Campbell started throwing back-to-school parties with his sister Cindy in their building, 1520 Sedgwick Ave.

Campbell, nicknamed Hercules because of his size, bought multiple copies of the same albums and, spinning his turntables, stitched together a new genre with a mix of music and break beats.

Soon teenagers were flocking to parties in the recreation room. Two-by-fours and metal crates served as chairs and tables, but no one was sitting down; the place was packed with dancing kids.

“It got a little out of control,” said Campbell, who became known as DJ Kool Herc. And so music and turntables moved from Sedgwick Avenue to the nearby Twilight Zone club, and hip-hop spread throughout the city.

“We weren’t doing [the parties] for money — it was just about music,” said Campbell, who is considered by many a founding father of hip-hop.

He sees the building on Sedgwick as a musical monument like Graceland or the Apollo Theater in Harlem. “This is part of the American dream,” Campbell said.

This summer, state officials declared the building the “birthplace of hip-hop,” making it eligible for national and state registers.

But for Pauline Beckham, 54, the battle to buy the building is not about preserving the past. She is fighting to save her home of eight years, a place where she has watched children hunt for Easter eggs in spring and attended barbecues in summer.

“I thought I had a safe environment,” Beckham said, referring to her modest two- bedroom apartment decorated with family pictures and ironwork above the kitchen door.

“Why are they taking the little bit we have?” she asked, despair creeping into her voice. “I didn’t think they could do that.”

Built almost 40 years ago, the building is covered by the state Mitchell-Lama program, which helps moderate-income families afford housing.

Last year the owner announced plans to sell the building to high-profile New York investor Mark Karasick and opt out of the rent-control program.

A representative for the building’s management company didn’t return calls for comment.

Tenants raised money online and from city agencies and other organizations — about $11 million with high-profile help from DJ Kool Herc, Rep. Jose E. Serrano (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.), who have lobbied the city and the owner on the residents’ behalf. But the tenants need $14 million.

The city, which can overrule the sale, is expected to make a decision before the end of the month, according to Amy Chan, an organizer with Tenants and Neighbors, a statewide tenants’ rights organization that is working with the Sedgwick Avenue residents…

posted by @ 8:56 am | 1 Comment

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

Your Boy On CNN Sunday

Shoot, guess I really am sick.

Here’s the official PR thang from the good folks at Picador Books:

Jeff Chang will appear in CNN’s “Blog Buzz” segment this Sunday, February 24, at 6:30 PM EST live/3:30 PM PST. This weekly segment, hosted by Tony Harris, features two people, one from the Left and one from the Right, discussing the political issues currently being buzzed about online. The program is broken into two segments of approximately 2 and a half minutes each. For a sample, the Blog Buzz segment for January 13 can be viewed here.

Tune in. I’ll be talking about all the things I said I was too diseased to talk about in the last post. At least whatever fits into 5 minutes. And don’t worry, I’ll dress nice.

posted by @ 3:55 pm | 0 Comments

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

I’m Sick!

Hey fam, I’m sick. No metaphor there. I’m just sick. After a great weekend in Ithaca–thank you ECAASU, Thu, Blue Scholars and Brian, D-Lo, NAASCONers, my family–the Lins–out there, and everyone for the warm hospitality in the cold cold weather–I’m flat on my back fighting off the flu bug I’d managed to buck the whole winter.

So while I have mad stuff I want to say regarding Plagiarism-gate, McCain, Michelle, the seemingly inexorable shift of Latinos to Obama, whether Obama has an Asian problem (answer: nope), my homestate of Hawai’i going 3-1 for Obama–uh, who was saying that Latinos and Asian Americans won’t vote for an African American?–and a whole bunch of other stuff, I’ma catch some sleep and get back into fighting condition first.

In the meantime, go Ramielle!

posted by @ 10:16 am | 0 Comments

Monday, February 11th, 2008

Yes Yes Yes!

In case you missed the (thankfully) estrogen-rich Grammys ceremony last night because you were still tripping over “The Wire”…

Is Amy finally healthy and happy? If so, it’s a very good look.

posted by @ 8:29 am | 0 Comments

Monday, February 4th, 2008

2G2K :: Will.I.Am And A Cast of SuperHotties Endorse Obama

Also viewable in higher def here.

posted by @ 8:12 am | 2 Comments

Sunday, February 3rd, 2008

2G2K Circus :: Underdog Love Is Back


David Tyree wants more confetti!

Cal Men’s sweep through Washington. Cal Women’s headed for the Top 5. Cal student activists past present and future showing their huge hearts at the Activism Right There event Friday night.

Stevie Wonder’s surprise endorsement. Maria Shriver’s surprise endorsement. Michelle Obama’s brilliant, funny, and heartrending speech.

Belichick leaving his team on the field and not congratulating Coughlin, just like the ass he really is. Manning to Tyree. Manning to Burress. The best Super Bowl ever. And the rains are finally over in Cali.

Even if Obama doesn’t squeak out a victory in sunny Cali on Tuesday and shock the country by vaulting ahead of Clinton in the delegate scrum–both of which I think will happen but am now cautioned not to just come out and be like, it’s going down–The Underdog Love is back.

Doesn’t mean I won’t be a critical killjoy sometimes, but hey. Taking a letter from Maria–I’m enjoying the moment.

posted by @ 7:52 pm | 2 Comments



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