You can get with this.

Dres revisits "The Choice is Yours," for the election season.

MTV remembers what the "M" was for

The Pharcyde |MTV Music

MTV recently soft launched MTVMusic.com, which gives users access to a sizable portion of the network's video vault. This isn't as revolutionary as it would've been before sites like youtube took hold, but with copyright holders becoming more vigilant, this may become the only place you can search for a Prince's "America" video and actually find it. And be reasonably certain that it will still be there a week from now.

The site is easy to navigate and has over 20,000 videos. Most of the big names are there, which have become hard to find on video-sharing sites, regularly perused by the copyright police. I haven't had the time to thoroughly search for rarer rap clips, but I'm sure the archive will be expanding soon. So until I can see some Yomo & Maulkie or Yaggfu Front clips, I'll reminisce with videos like this from The Pharcyde.

Marketing rep beats street rap

Is this what would happen if Soulja Boy battled Asher Roth? 

Nailin' Palin

Terry Tate offers Alaska's governor a strong rebuttal.

Rudy Ray Moore, dead at 81

I've never sat through one of Rudy Ray Moore's films, heard any of his comedy albums or his attempts at making R&B music, but I know his work. The comedian's voice was sampled on countless hip hop records and his persona as an articulate, larger-than-life pimp was a role model for men who came of age in the 1970s. Whether that was a good thing or not is up for debate.

Moore, also known by the name of the character he often portrayed, "Dolemite" died on Sunday died in Akron, Ohio after a long illness.

Here's some of Moore's work (The ass kickin' starts at 2:15):


Moore also played the character of Petey Wheatstraw:


Here's Dolemite talking out his life and his mother, who is 98 years old. An appearance on the Arsenio Hall show follows.


A clip of Dolemite's "son" on SNL

Man's Best Friend

Beside every great rapper is his friend from the 'hood whose music career will be forced on the public. Known on the internets as "weed carriers," referring to their obligation to assume responsibility for their monied friend's bad behavior and habit, their job is can be risky, but it has its perks.

Through his close connection with DMX, who doesn't have a problem with getting arrested, Ruff Ryders member Drag-On appeared in three films and released two albums. Most people couldn't tell you one of his songs if you waterboarded them. A report suggests the rapper is now an employee of a Yonkers dry cleaners, as DMX continues his tour of courthouses.

Ray, a guy who grew up watching the failed video show that inspires this blog, Wavelength, handles this interview and talks to Drag about the delay between his releases, the content of his new album and reveals a past affiliation with another rap crew before his days as a Ryder.

Big Nat Gets Up Like a Fart Machine

Big Nat is a DJ and blogger here in Richmond, Va. His latest post is way funnier than it should be.

Welcome Back Real Talk

Peter Rosenberg and Cipha Sounds decided to keep their "Juan Epstein" podcast going a few weeks ago and last week's edition might be their best ever. The duo sit down with The Large Professor and discuss his career in detail. There's a lot of new information, even for serious students of the professor's work.

"Juan Epstein" always reminds me of discussions the Wavelength staff would have after the cameras were off. Maybe we should've filmed that ...

A Woman's Worth

The addition of Yasmine as host was a game-changer for Wavelength, the failed video show that inspires this blog. Once I relinquished hosting duties to the stunning Hampton, Va. native, her personality and energy became the nucleus of the program's final years. 

I met her while shooting a video for a rap group she sang hooks for back in 2001. She impressed me with her enthusiasm, professionalism and lack of pretension. These three qualities are usually in short supply in low budget shoots. We talked for a minute and I knew she'd be my replacement, even though she was moving to New York in a few days. 

We lost the local backdrop of the Richmond, Va., the town that had supported us for years and traded it for small studio spaces around New York City.  We also gained access to rappers and singers didn't have our RVA n on their touring schedule. Before she decided to move on, Yasmine logged hours interviews with popular artists and few movie stars. Since then, she's appeared in a movie with Goodie Mob, acted in short films and written about entertainment for Black Star News.

In this clip, with a pre-murder trial Cassidy, she provokes the rapper to break union rules and smile. 

BET's Rap City: Is it Really a Wrap?

BET recently announced that its long-running video program, "Rap City," would end next month. After almost decade on the air, the show never rose above mediocrity, although it often dipped below the mark. While the news of this mercy killing didn't warm my heart, I am concerned by what I heard from an industry insider today.

The bad news: Rap City might come back. Sources say the cancellation is a publicity stunt to generate nostalgia and interest in the program. Viewers might see a renewed version of the show back on the air in a matter of months. 

BET has attempted to reinvent itself in recent years. The cancelled "Uncut," a video show that aired uncensored videos and hired Reginald Hudlin to create some original programs for the network known for reruns and rap videos. BET might not be living up to its potential, but it's certainly not the joke it once was. Bringing back a dated and flawed franchise like Rap City would be a step backward. 

I hope it's just rumor. I hope Rap City is shut down for good and the network has moved on. Maybe, but I wouldn't BET on it.

Ready to Debut

Looks good. I wonder who's playin' Craig Mack?

Remember Summer?

Skillz "Be Alright" feat. Kornbread & Aaries from Okayplayer on Vimeo.


Skillz does. His new clip for "Be Alright," features the rapper enjoying family and friends on a warm day in Richmond, Va. As the kids are in their second week in school, it seems a little early to reminisce over the season and too late to celebrate it. But I guess Skillz thinks that'll "Be Alright" too.

Gettin' to This

It's taken me awhile to appreciate the music of Q-Tip after his "Amplified" phase and the meandering jazz/rap stuff that leaked from two unreleased albums. I even found it hard to listen to his earlier work with A Tribe Called Quest after those musical missteps. But I'm digging this. Welcome home, Q-Tip.

Wild Wild West

"Til I got flashed by the paparazzi.. Damn, these n*ggas got me, I hate these n*ggas more than the Nazis.” - Kanye West.

There's never a good time to wild out in a airport, but if you had to pick a day, Sept. 11 would probably be the worst choice you could make. Yesterday, Kanye West and his bodyguard confronted a photographer who had taken his picture at LAX. In the video above, we see the bodyguard smash a photog's camera onto the floor while Kanye (grey hoodie) makes quick work of what looks like a flash. The bodyguard then runs up on the shooter who recorded the fracas on a video camera, but isn't able to wrest it from him, according to TMZ. The web site also claims that West was arrested after he was approached the same pap who videotaped the incident while a police officer stood beside him. The rapper's bodyguard was arrested as well and both were released on $20,000 bond yesterday afternoon.

Just Kidding

Thanks to the good people over at MOD for providing a home for the bits and pieces that have been trapped in my videocassettes for years. This clip reminds us why Kid N' Play got a movie deal and that they once a had a DJ named Wiz who wasn't Martin Lawrence.

The Source of Discourse

Former Source Editor-In-Chief Kim Osorio sued the ownerz of the magazine for sexual harassment in 2005, describing a workplace where "employees often watched pornographic movies and hung pictures of females in G-strings, smoked pot and called women bitches." Supposedly, this was the environment she worked in for five years, day in and day out, until she was fired. The jury found that she wasn't a victim of sexual harassment, but they did award her $7.5 million for unlawful termination.

While she waits for that payday, the former editor has been making good use of her time. She's the executive editor at BET Interactive and she's written a book about her time at the magazine once known as hip-hop's bible, "Straight From the Source," which came out yesterday. I haven't read more that the excerpts shared on the blogs, so its hard to tell if she's accepting responsibility for the mag's failure or painting herself as the helpless minion of morally bankrupt owners David Mays and Raymond Scott.

She admits to sleeping with rappers, which was one of the charges made by Scott in a interview where he was found to have defamed her character. The former editor explained her relationships with artists in a recent interview.

“I don’t think that I did anything wrong by dating people or being involved in relationships with people. For women it always comes down to the Scarlet Letter, sexual – oh my God, it doesn’t matter what year, what millennium we’re in; we are always looked at in that sort of light.”

She goes on.

“I love the way they hold rappers on a whole different level. Are you saying that no one is allowed to date anyone in the industry? Or are you saying writers aren’t allowed to date rappers? Or are you saying writers aren’t allowed to date anyone in the industry? What is it that you’re saying?”

It's been a long time since I finished journalism school, but I'm pretty sure they still have that rule about not sexing people you interview or write about. Once your drawers come off, your objectivity is already gone. Of course, things happen when adults work together closely over a period of time and that's when you make professional adjustments. NBC's Andrea Mitchell stopped covering financial matters once she started seeing her future husband Alan Greenspan. Reporter Maria Shiver was relieved of her duties at NBC once she became the First Lady of California. But Osorio doesn't seem to think there was anything wrong with her hook-ups with rap titans Nas and 50 Cent while she was editor of one of the top-selling music magazines.

That's the kind of attitude that led to the demise of hip hop journalism on ink and paper. If you want to read the truth about hip hop in 2008, blogs are the only source.

UPDATE (9/11/08): Kim might not have got that $7.5 million after all.

He said Whut Whut?

N.O.R.E. not only drops the f-bomb during this interview with former Wavelength host Ray, he also threatens fellow Queensbridge rapper Nas. If you can't recall the discouraging words that led to this lesser-known rap beef, listen to an emotional N.O.R.E. here and here.  A quick search of the internets suggest that N.O.R.E. ultimately chose to weaponize a flower pot as this feud climaxed in a nightclub.

Respect to the crew at MOD for the redesign. What y'all think?

Son of a Preacher Man

Former Fugee frontman Wyclef Jean's attempts to distract former Wavelength host Yasmine Weaver become more desparate and comical as this clip continues. He sings, he stares, he flirts and but doesn't get much more than a grin from Yas.

Children of Destiny

Although she's taking a step back in recent months to let her sister get some shine, Beyonce remains the MVP of the Knowles family and her former group Destiny's Child. I met them at the Impact Convention in Miami, Fl., back in 1999. Wavelength had a strict "No R&B" policy, back in the day, but the rules were bent for these young ladies and others followed in their path.

I had something clever for them to say that I wanted to use as a bumper. It didn't go the way I planned. Three of the four girls forgot, but B remembered ... half of it. You can hear my voice helping her out if you listen close.

This clip shows how strong the relationship was between these young ladies and also uncovers a previously unknown talent of LeToya's: talking through her teeth.

The Soul Men

It's hard to process what happened this weekend. Actor and comedian Bernie Mac dies in a Chicago hospital from pnemonia on Saturday. Isaac Hayes,65, found beside a still-running treadmill at his home in Memphis on Sunday.

I was in Las Vegas last week and after a three hours of a high-pressure sales pitch for a mediocre resort, my wife and I were given free tickets to see George Wallace. Towards the end of his act, Wallace did a Bernie Mac impersonation. He admitted that it needed some work, but it was good enough to remind the audience how funny Mac's stand-up once was. Wallace moved on to the next joke without saying much about the comedian's condition. Perhaps he knew something he wasn't able to share.

Hayes and Mac have left a lot for us to remember them with. Along with Hayes' productions for other artists, solo work, Mac's television and film roles, they recently finished work on a film called "Soul Men," with Sam Jackson.