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IN MEMORIAM: Dwight “Heavy D” Myers, 1967 – 2011. Hip-Hop performer and actor Heavy D died on Tuesday, November 8, 2011, in Los Angeles, California. Another Hip-Hop icon passes away that I never got to see perform live in person. I’m not sure when I first heard his music. Circa 1986 – 87, when his first singles and debut album, Living Large , came out, I was in the eighth grade. I remember a classmate making a passing mention of somebody with a record out called “Mr. Big Stuff”. I didn’t have cable at home, so BET (and, whenever it premiered, Yo! MTV Raps ) was out. When it comes to the Chicago radio stations that were my frame of reference for new music, I’m not sure if they were playing the records. I’m thinking that I finally caught on to 'Hev' with the second LP, Big Tyme . A classmate sold me his cassette of it, and it was one of the first rap albums I managed to pick up in my school years (mainly, I settled for taping songs of the radio with blank cassettes.) By the sum

OCCUPY DETROIT 2011 On Friday, October 14, 2011, protesters from various parts of Metropolitan Detroit and beyond gathered in Downtown Detroit, Michigan for the "Occupy Detroit" event. Speakers began the march at the Spirit of Detroit statue in front of the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center in Detroit. The event was a parallel of the recent "Occupy Wall Street" events in New York City and similar public demonstrations in cities across America and now even foreign countries like Italy (where demonstrations turned violent.) The march went up Woodward Avenue to stop at the nearby Grand Circus Park. Some of those camped out in the area (with permits) plan to live there for up to 60 days. With the Detroit Tigers' Comerica Park and the Detroit Lions' Ford Field in the background, activists held up signs expressing their displeasure with the events of recent years. Speakers spoke out against bank bailouts, home foreclosures, foreign war, lack of jobs for the p

RICK'S HEALTH SCARE SHOULD GIVE PAUSE Miami-based rapper Rick Ross was recently hospitalized twice in the past 24 hours, relating to unreleased health issues. In both cases, Ross suffered from a seizure, which left him temporarily unconscious. http://www.freep.com/article/20111015/ENT07/111015008/Rapper-Rick-Ross-reportedly-hospitalized-2nd-time?odyssey=navhead ...as much as I have a problem with his overall image and themes, I wish him the best during this crisis. I also hope it prompts him to take whatever his health situation is more seriously, and take steps to address it. It's definitely missing the point to just write this off as nothing, or just an isolated episode of "exhaustion" or whatever. Who knows whether he has a health insurance plan. He definitely should have the money to afford one. If he can blow "a million" on strip bars, high-end cars, clothes and jewelry, I really hope he's got some comprehensive coverage.. Medicaid information - ht

REMEMBER FOR ALWAYS On this, the 10th anniversary of the September 11th attacks , many people have been pondering the meaning of the attacks and the legacy that they have left the country. This author has many conflicted feelings about the events of that fateful (and fatal) day. Waking up like any other day, this author saw the spectacle unfold on national television (mostly Good Morning America ) before heading to work. Work was at an office building (converted from a defunct small hospital) near downtown Detroit. Everyone in the office was abuzz about what the events meant: the unpredictability, the "prophecy", and whether there would be a local analog to the chaos that was expanding in New York City , Washington, D.C. , and rural Pennsylvania. This author's college classes were canceled for that day. This author felt deep anger at those responsible, a coiling frustration at trying to comprehend the depth of depravity that could compel someone to concieve of,

MARCH OF THE FUNKATEERS On Monday, September 5, 2011, funk music grandmaster George Clinton brought the latest incarnation of Parliament-Funkadelic to the stage of the 14th Annual Arts, Beats and Eats festival. The festival showcases local and national artisans of various kinds, in conjunction with hip restaurant booths and both local and nationally prominent musicians. Clinton and his original collaborators are rightfully considered godfathers of hip-hop, as many of their records have directly or indirectly influenced the legions of hip-hop MCs and producers in the years following the funk ensemble's heyday. Several of the band's seminal albums were recorded forDetroit-based indie label Westbound Records , and so Detroit usually shows up en masse to see Uncle Jam and company when they perform locally. The crowd gathered in the Detroit suburb of Royal Oak was shoulder-to-shoulder as far as the eye could see by the time the concert got going. The eclectically-dressed multi-p

VALLEY GIRL THUGS Gucci Gucci, Louis louis, Fendi Fendi, Prada The basic bi*ches wear that sh*t, So I dont even bother I put that on my partner, I put that on my family Oakland city representer, address me as your majesty http://www.youtube.com/user/kreayshawn Kreayshawn, "Gucci Gucci" Over the 30+ years of its wax-based recorded history, hip-hop has birthed a number of artists with unusual motifs. Afrika Bambaataa , Digital Underground , and Cee-Lo Green/Gnarls Barkley , come to mind. One of the genre's current stars is Nicki Minaj , whose performance-art/cartoon-inspired outfits and antics easily make her a hip-hop analog to Lady Gaga . Where it concerns racial and gender diversity, the white female rapper has, surprisingly, been starkly rare stateside. Over the years, several mainstream pop and rock artists have dipped their toes into hip-hop based rhythm tracks for singles ( Debbie Harry, Madonna, Paula Cole, Christina Aguilera ) and others

FOOD FIGHT http://tinyurl.com/3lzenmo http://tinyurl.com/3apv6wz Currently, Detroit Public Schools are under the control of a governor-appointed Emergency Financial Manager, former General Motors executive Roy Roberts . Plans are underway to merge the lowest performing 5% of statewide schools into a single district, targeting reform until academic standards/graduation rates are raised. Roberts has only been in office since approximately May of 2011, but his tenure has been controversial. Among the complaints against him are a recent announcement of an across-the-board 10% wage cut for teachers in the system, as well as a recent voiding of all contractual based services pending a re-evaluation. Labor interests such as the Detroit Federation of Teachers are promising to fight Roberts' reform efforts in court. This week, controversy struck again, but from a different corridor. Just the other day, a new federally funded pilot program has been announced for this fall. All

NO SMILES FOR SMILEY & DOC WEST On August 8, 2011, radio hosts and political commentators Tavis Smiley and Dr. Cornel West 's "Poverty Tour" of the United States came to Detroit, Michigan. The event was hosted at the Coleman A. Young Municipal Center (Detroit City Hall), in an upper-level auditorium. In recent years West and Smiley have come under fire for their harsh criticisms of President Barack Obama. Within the past year alone, both men have had on-air arguments with National Action Network president and radio host Rev. Al Sharpton. There was a contingent of local protesters who came to voice their dissent with West and Smiley as they spoke at the event. A blog site has uplifted the counter-protest as sensible Detroiters standing up for themselves: http://tinyurl.com/3qnlnhs (Incidentally, I really hope their use of 'refudiate' was with ironic intent, since, well, it's not a word) I'm of the opinion that not all criticisms

THE HOLLOW PRIZE: Tulane professor Melissa Harris-Perry guest-hosted the Rachel Maddow Show , and featured a segment highlighting the cities of New Orleans and Detroit. She compared the current plight of President Barack Obama to that of African-American mayors in America, particularly focusing on current Detroit mayor Dave Bing . " The Hollow Prize " refers to black mayors being elected to oversee cities that have already slid into economic decline-- which in the case of Detroit, has been ongoing since its first black mayor-- the late Coleman Young-- was elected in 1973. This week Mayor Bing has announced the beginning stages of his administration's " Detroit Works " initiative, where certain specific neighborhoods will be identified for particular attention from city services to maintain their quality of life, while other neighborhoods will get a minimum of police, fire and garbage patrols, but mostly public service attention will amount to blighted structu

CAPTAIN AMERICA HAS STAR-SPANGLED ACTION Captain America: The First Avenger is the first major motion picture based on the venerable Marvel Comics superhero character that first debuted in print over 70 years ago. Since then, there have been largely forgettable cross-media interpretations, including a 1940s movie serial and an aborted attempt at a television series in the late 70s that left two telefilms in its wake. With the power of Marvel Studios (now wholly owned by Disney and partnering with Paramount Films for distribution), Marvel attempts to return the luster to its onetime flagship hero that matches his mighty shield. Here, Chris Evans ( Fantastic Four , Cellular ) plays heroic shrimp Steve Rogers, who in 1942 wants to enlist in the military but is determined to be a 4-F. Still, the little guy has heart, as displayed when he keeps confronting local bully. His gumption impresses military scientist Abraham Erskine ( Stanley Tucci ) and gruff Colonel Chester Phillips ( Tomm

TWITTERGATE SCANDAL ROCKS THE HOUSE (Photograph) I don't want your /(Photograph) I don't need your /(Photograph) All I've got is a photograph (Photograph) /But it's not enough... Santana w. Chris Daughtry , “Photograph”, 2010 Congressman Anthony Weiner (D-New York City) has for 13 years built up a reputation as a liberal lion of the House of Representatives, frequently offering a staunch counter-point to Republicans on political television during the George W. Bush years. Even as the tenure of Bush ended and the Barack Obama presidency began, Weiner maintained his status as a voice of progressive interest: As policy was developed such as the stimulus packages, health care reform and financial law reform, Weiner warned against premature compromise with Republicans and stumped for such statutes as a public option for health care and stiffer penalties for stock-market manipulators. Hated by the opposition party, and in some circles resented by the centrists of his own,

DETROIT REHAB PROGRAM GIVES SECOND CHANCE A group of men and women graduated from Detroit/Wayne County’s 3rd Circuit Court Adult Drug Court program on Monday. The program is a creation of the aforementioned court, and administered by the Salvation Army of Detroit, whose downtown Detroit main headquarters (a converted warehouse) also hosted the commencement ceremony. Eight of the 25 graduates were present for the noontime commencement (others had work commitments), dressed in caps and gowns. The origins of the program were to offer non-violent substance-addicted offenders an alternative to imprisonment. Entrance into the program is at the discretion of the presiding judges in the defendant’s case. Once accepted into the program, participants are put through an intensive 12-step drug/alcohol rehabilitation, and also including educational instruction/GED, life-skills training, job-readiness training and placement. R&B singer Kem , a Detroit native, was present at the event as a keynot

HYPE'S RETRO REVIEWS: N.W.A. ALUM BUSTS SHOTS ON SOLO EP Artist: MC Ren Release: Kizz My Black Azz Label: Ruthless/Priority/EMI Year: 1992 “Kizz My Black Azz” is the first solo EP from former N.W.A. member MC Ren . Quiet as it's kept, Compton, California native Lorenzo "MC Ren" Patterson allegedly signed on to Eazy- E’s Ruthless Records as a teenager with the intent of being a solo artist. So the story goes, a fateful opportunity presented itself when N.W.A. founding member Ice Cube took a leave of absence from the group to attend an architectural-drafting vocational college in Arizona. Eazy allegedly asked Ren to contribute to ghostwriting raps for Eazy and making guest-appearances on recordings like “Ruthless Villain”. By the time tech-school grad Ice Cube came back into the fold, Ren was a full-fledged member of the group. While N.W.A. as a group managed to change hip-hop and pop-culture forever with their groundbreaking and controversial music, unfortunately,

NBC'S MEET THE PRESS NBC's David Gregory and this week's roundtable on national politics; New York City's mayor Michael Bloomberg makes an intriguing suggestion about immigration policy and the city of Detroit: Visit msnbc.com for breaking news , world news , and news about the economy

congratula ­tions to Mariah and Nick, many blessings to the both of them.. Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

THEATER REVIEW- FORGIVING JOHN LENNON When:Sundays : 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. (ends May 22) Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays : 8:30 p.m. (ends May 22) Saturdays : 3 p.m. (ends May 22) Except April 24 www.detroitreptheatre.com Writer: William Missouri Downs The play explores intercultural relations, through a lens of interactions between an American married couple and a Somali national who is of the Muslim faith. The couple, who are both college professors, are both interracial and intercultural themselves-- Joseph (Benjamin Williams) is African-American and Katie (Leah Smith) is Caucasian and England born and raised. Asma (Yolanda Jack), the guest, is a poet who has lived in several countries, and has been brought to America for a performance sponsored by two colleges, including the one that the couple works for- A misunderstanding places her in their care for the evening, and thus begins the narrative. The title is a flip reference to the Vatican's official newsletter, L'Osserv

THOR MOVIE PREVIEW

DETROIT MEDIA PARTNERSHIP'S IDEAQUEST 2011 The two major Detroit newspapers ( Detroit News and Detroit Free Press ) are having a free contest on how the newspapers can better serve the Metro Detroit and Michigan communities. They started an online contest where people were given an open-ended solicitation to come up with ideas that both the News and the Free Press can potentially take on as real initiatives or policies. From content delivery to editorial content and coverage to supporting charity initiatives, "the sky's the limit" in the words of the promotion staff. This author came up with a pitch that would involve both newspapers bankrolling a charter school for urban Detroit school-age children, providing a quality education with a lean towards media-skills instruction that would prepare them for an eventual career in that industry. The "Media Academies" pitch can be found here- http://ideas.michigan.com/forum/index.php?topic=87.msg96;topicseen#msg96

STRAIGHT TALK WITH THE GOVERNOR AND MAYOR Detroit Mayor Dave Bing and Michigan Governor Rick Snyder sat together for a joint interview at WXYZ-TV 7 studios in Southfield (Detroit), Michigan. The live broadcast included questions lifted from emails, a chat-room, and video questions submitted through the Web. This author appears at the 3:15 mark--

Question to Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, for a planned live interview with constituent questions, collected by Detroit's WXYZ TV-7.