On Saturday freelance writer Julieanne Smolinski was diligently doing the NY Times crossword when she started trippin' on the clue for 28 down, which read "Wack, in hip-hop." According to the Paper of Record, the answer is "ILLIN," but Smolinksi, who identifies herself as "Not Even a Hip-Hop Expert," thought this was a misinterpretation of the word, so she fired off a letter to the Times crossword editor, Will Shortz, insisting that "illin'" is not "wack." Gawker obtained the correspondence, in which Shortz stands his ground: more ›

Move over, Schoolhouse Rock. Today the NY Times has an interesting piece today on how using rap to teach Regents History classes to New York's high schoolers has led to significant leaps in performance. Fresh Prep, a program run by the Urban Arts Partnership, is putting their instructors in the classrooms of seven high-poverty high schools in hopes that students will help them fill in the blanks in their otherwise prodigious flow. "The way land is shaped is topography / Mountains isolate, a harbor is by the sea / Geography affects the economy / Along with the climate environmentally," goes one song. Hey, maybe we don't blame them for deliberately skipping words. more ›

Yesterday FOX News ran a story about how President Obama, instead of creating jobs by abolishing taxes, chose to spend his birthday party on Thursday night just cold being "urban" at a "Hip-Hop BBQ" that included hip-hoppy guests like Jay-Z and…uh, UBS Investment Bank President Robert Wolf. The crowd probably shot dice and took bets on how much Olde English Attorney General Eric Holder could chug before the spinners on Joe Biden's Camaro wound to a halt. But Fox's executive VP of programming Bill Shine told Yahoo News that there is a perfectly logical explanation for the headline: it wasn't their fault. more ›

And here we have a screenshot of Fox News's report on President Obama's birthday party last night, which was attended by such hip-hop luminaries as UBS Investment Bank President Robert Wolf, FCC Chair Julius Genachowski, House Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Obama's Harvard law school friends. How street is that?! Oh, there were also gangsta celebs like Tom Hanks, Gayle King, and CSI: NY star Hill Harper! Heh, you can bet the baggy pants at this party were sagging lower than the Dow! more ›

On the eve of what would have been rapper Tupac Shakur's 40th birthday, a man has confessed to shooting the legendary rapper in 1994, inadvertently setting off the feud which would eventually claim both Tupac and Biggie Smalls's lives. Dexter Isaac, who is currently serving a life sentence at MDC Brooklyn for separate charges, confessed that he was paid $2,500 dollars by James "Jimmy Henchman" Rosemond to rob Tupac inside Manhattan's Quad Studios on November 30, 1994. Check out his full confession, which he gave to AllHipHop.com, here. more ›

Tomorrow Ja Rule will begin his two year prison sentence, but before that happens, he took a moment to discuss his thoughts on "Good Day New York" with co-hosts Rosanna Scotto and Greg Kelly. more ›

Last month the Park Slope set got all in a tizzy over a new venue, Prime 6, which was hoping to play hip-hop music. Petitions were written (and questioned) and lots of people made a scene at a community board meeting. But now that is all over—Prime 6 and its angry neighbors have come to a compromise. more ›

That stupid petition urging a new restaurant/lounge in Park Slope to program "indie artists" instead of hip-hop acts was authored by one "Jennifer McMillen." But there is no record of this McMillen on the voter rolls, no one recalls her attending the heated Community Board meeting about the establishment, and there's no proof that a woman with that name resides in Park Slope. Some now wonder if McMillen even exists, and Brownstoner wonders if it's "a successful parody of the Slope or unnecessary race-baiting?" We wonder if it matters. more ›

Prime 6, the new restaurant and bar coming to Flatbush and Sixth Avenue in Park Slope, may sometimes play hip-hop music. And as we noted yesterday, that fact has some Park Slope residents concerned that little Aidan may pick up some bad habits from the establishment's clientele and start asking mommy why pharaohs put the pussy in a sarcophagus. So one local, Jennifer McMillen, started a petition to pressure the club to book "indie artists" instead of hip-hop. This idea has generated some funny feedback on the petition website's comments. Here are the best ones: more ›

A group of Park Slope residents have a petition going around demanding that a big new restaurant and bar on the corner of Flatbush and Sixth Avenue change its programming from hip-hop to "indie local artists." The petition's author fears the club, called Prime 6, will drive up crime with its hippity-hop music. And this has nothing to do with race! As the petitioner explains: more ›

The rapper Shyne, who served nine years for an infamous 1999 nightclub shooting incident, is making a media splash with big interviews on his new turn as an Orthodox Jew. That's right—born Jamal Barrow in Belize and raised in Brooklyn—Shyne has legally changed his name to Moses Levi and is living in Jerusalem. He told the NY Times, "My entire life screams that I have a Jewish neshama [soul]," and said to the Jerusalem Post, "I’m a guy that has simcha [joy] and kedusha [holiness] in a prison cell with rats running - and walking - around." more ›

The rapper and street peddler who was gunned down by cops in Times Square had a brush with fame last year when he defeated Kanye West on an MTV trivia show. more ›

It's about time: Run-DMC will be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame tomorrow. In 1985 (nine years before the real deal opened) they put out a video for "King of Rock" that showed them trespassing at a fictional rock 'n' roll museum (watch it after the jump). Darryl McDaniels, aka DMC, remembers "people were saying that was kind of prophetic: 'You guys are bound for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame because of that.' "And now they're being welcomed with open arms. more ›

You can't really beat a $1 mini burger that comes with a side of hip-hop history. The NY Times reports on a tiny "new" burger joint in Hollis, Queens (called Hollis Famous Burgers) that also houses a Hip-Hop Museum, and admission is included with your meal (video!). The paper reports that "There are more than 100 items on the walls testifying to the neighborhood as a fertile ground for hip-hop artists. Along with a helping of chicken wings, washed down with a cup of 'Hollis Famous' lemonade, customers can examine the hit CDs of local rap legends" and much more. At the opening yesterday, the establishment (owned by a childhood friend of RUN DMC) received a blessing of sorts from DMC/Darryl McDaniels as he laid down some classic lyrics and delivered a little speech. Will this give Queens an edge against Brooklyn in the ongoing battle to gain ownership of the genre? Even though the birthplace is in the Bronx, the debate has spread to some of the other boroughs. more ›

The Birthplace of Hip Hop, 1520 Sedgwick, was recently sold to a new owner (a developer), leaving its future more questionable than ever. Luckily, folks are preserving the history of the area in any way they can, most recently Bronx Rhymes launched, which is a multi-media installation by digital artists Claudia Bernett and Maria Ioveva that "celebrates Hip Hop's innovative artistry, inspirational impact and community contributions. It highlights now legendary locations and milestones through a guerilla graphics campaign in the borough where it all began." more ›

NY1 reports that Bronx apartment building 1520 Sedgwick Avenue was sold to a new owner. The address is known as the "Birthplace of Hip-Hop" because DJ Kool Herc first "introduced extended break beats" in the apartment building's rec room back in 1973. Tenants had been trying to preserve its Mitchell-Lama status and keep it affordable by buying it themselves, but the landlord chose developer Mark Karasick to buy the building. Last week, Housing Preservation Department commissioner SHaun Donovan questioned the sale, "It is difficult to understand why the owners would choose to put the affordability of over 100 families’ homes at risk.” DJ Kool Herc himself told NY1, "We have landmark status in our hearts. The fight will continue." more ›

Some good news in the ongoing saga to save 1520 Sedgwick, better known as the Birthplace of Hip Hop. Today Senator Schumer, who has been lobbying on behalf of the tenants to preserve the building's affordability, announced that "the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development rejected the proposed sale to developer Mark Karasick because current rents could not be sustained if the sale had gone through." The move doesn't insure that the building’s owner won't still opt out of the Mitchell-Lama program, however. more ›

They’ll deny it, but most college students who write plays harbor some secret fantastic hope that their new opus will be hailed as the arrival of a fresh new voice and open on Broadway to triumphant acclaim. It obviously never happens, except when it does: 28-year-old Lin-Manuel Miranda, originally from Washington Heights, conceived the musical In the Heights as a sophomore at Wesleyan. After graduating, the show, a hip hop and salsa-inflected homage to his old ‘hood, caught the eye of the producers behind RENT and Avenue Q. It opened Off Broadway last year to rave reviews, packed houses and far too many awards to schlep home on the A train. Now the Broadway incarnation is bounding through previews, having kept most of the original Off Broadway cast, which includes Miranda himself in one of the starring roles. The official opening night is March 9th; ticket prices vary. more ›

Listening to Philadelphia duo Pattern is Movement for the first time can perhaps best be described as taking a ride through Disney's "It's a Small World After All", with each country representing a different period of music. It's a lot to take in, as sounds of the past are layered upon each other to create modern arrangements unlike anything you've heard before, while somehow remaining distantly familiar. more ›

Director of the legendary hip-hop documentary Style Wars, Tony Silver, died last weekend after battling an irreversible brain condition for several years. more ›

The Hollywood Reporter has news that Beastie Boy Adam Yauch will be expanding his music and film production operation, Oscilloscope Laboratories, into indie film distribution. Under the nom de plume Nathanial Hörnblowér, Yauch has orchestrated many of the Beastie Boys videos, as well as the hip hop group’s inventive full-length concert doc Awesome; I Fuckin’ Shot That! Oscilloscope also shot and produced live concert videos for Beck and Ryan Adams. more ›

Prospect Heights mom and Park Slope Food Coop member Yvonne Brechbuhler got a little something extra in a head of organic lettuce she recently brought home: a little green frog “no bigger than the tip of her pinky finger," according to the Daily News. Brechbuhler discovered the frog (pictured) only when she took out the lettuce to make a salad – after it had been in her refrigerator for three days. She insists that her fridge has no frog infestation and speculates the frog hitchhiked in the lettuce from South Florida, presumably seeking fame and fortune in the big city. more ›

Anthony Lappé is a writer, blogger, television producer and executive editor of GNN.tv, the web site for the Guerrilla News Network. He's written for mainstream press like the Times and was the National Affairs Editor for Black Book, and in 2003 he collaborated on the award-winning Showtime documentary about Iraq called BattleGround: 21 Days on the Empire’s Edge, which covered the front lines of the simmering guerrilla war in Iraq in 2003. Part of what he saw there influenced his new graphic novel, Shooting War, which started out as a serial on the Smith Magazine website. The lavish hardcover print edition, with illustrations by Dan Goldman, follows the gonzo adventures of a New York blogger who becomes a media darling in 2011 after his footage of a bombing at a Williamsburg Starbucks gets picked up by the mainstream media. Looking to keep coverage of the ongoing Iraq quagmire edgy, a global news network hires him to bring a youth angle to the guerrilla war. Part satire, part dystopian nightmare, Shooting War is unflinching in its depiction of the hellish future toward which the Bush administration is corralling us. more ›

MUSIC: When we talked to Jonny Greenwood (pictured) back in October, Radiohead's In Rainbows wasn't the only focus. His composition titled Popcorn Superhet Receiver will be performed tonight by The Wordless Music Orchestra with Brad Lubman as conductor. When we asked Greenwood if he would be in attendance, he said "I’d love to but I can’t really justify the flight just to come to that. I’d feel a bit weird about it. If I was in America already for touring or something I’d love to go but I can’t really justify it. It’s a shame." Since you won't be using as many carbon emissions to get there, we suggest you go. more ›

Last year we visited 1520 Sedgwick Avenue's past and uncertain future. The "Birthplace of Hip Hop" was, and still is, in danger of losing its lifeblood when the landlord (BSR Management) announced they wanted to abandon the Mitchell-Lama program. Essentially buying out of the program and leaving the doors open for a rent increase. Then things got worse when BSR made it clear they would be selling the building to a real estate mogul Mark Karasick, which was set to happen next month. more ›