Classic Hip-Hop: Rap for Geezers

A Houston news radio station changed formats last week:

“. . . Rechristened Boom 92, the station declared that it would become the first major market radio station dedicated to classic hip hop. Instead of Drake and Nicki Minaj, it would play “the hip hop you grew up with”—assuming that you grew up with Dr. Dre and Missy Elliott. If that sounds awesome to you, you’re going to love a recent Boom 92 playlist.

In many ways, this is an idea whose time has come, which is another way of saying that hip-hop, and its first-wave fans, are, well, old. Dre will be 50 in February; Ice-T is just 10 years away from his first Social Security check. Licensed to Ill topped the Billboard charts in 1987; three years later, hip-hop made up one-third of the Hot 100. By 1999, it was the country’s best-selling genre, with more than 81 million albums sold. The fans who propelled the early boom probably don’t know Young Thug from Rich Homie Quan, and don’t want to.

Girls Rock! DC

 The sound! The fury! The Silly Bandz®! It was the 3rd Annual Girls Rock! DC Concert Showcase at the 9:30 Club last Saturday morning.

Washington Goes to SXSW

Washington DC’s annual assault on Austin’s South-by-Southwest (SXSW) Music Festival includes these local shock troops:

Bomani Armah & Project Mayhem
Carol Bui
Laura Burhenn
Deleted Scenes
Benjy Ferree
Gaybomb
Hall Monitors
H.R. Band
Kid Congo Powers
Medications
Middle Distance Runner
Nadastrom
Thao Nguyen and the Get Down Stay Down
Pygmy Lush
Edie Sedgwick
These United States
Tittsworth
Turboslut
U.S. Royalty
Wayna

Support DC’s troops in Travis County. Follow the action on GOG Blog, Black Plastic Bag, DC Rock Club, PostRock.

Image by Mike Licht, after Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze). Download a copy here. Creative Commons license. Credit: Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Near-Witness to Pseudo-Events of History

[Looking for the program of the Swearing-In Ceremony (starts 11:30 AM 20 January 2009)? It’s here.]

We went down to the Pre-Inaugural Concert Sunday afternoon, exiting the Farragut West Metrorail station about 2:30 PM and walking down 18th Street, NW to the Lincoln Memorial and National Mall. Motor traffic was banned from the area,  just as it is during World Bank meetings. There was a party atmosphere as the crowd ambled along, and Springsteen‘s voice echoed up from the performance.

The area nearest the Lincoln Memorial concert site was already at capacity and security checkpoints were closed, so we watched the concert on the three giant Jumbotron screens set up between the World War II Memorial and the Washington Monument. The jubilant crowd was friendly and well-behaved, and people of all ages and origins from all around the nation and the world joked and chatted amiably, exchanging notes on the music and performers, expressing their relief, joy, and hopes. It may have been a pseudo-event, but the feelings were genuine.

Inauguration ‘Refresh’

One DC Inaugural Weekend event seems rather … effervescent; even a bit … gassy. It’s the Refresh the World Symposium  on January 19th, presented by Spike Lee, Howard University and PepsiCo.

The event at historic Cramton Auditorium (2455 Sixth Street, NW) is free to college students, and features Spike Lee (natch) with fave celebs Rev. Al Sharpton, Bay Buchanan, Sean Combs, Arianna Huffington, DC Mayor Adrian Fenty, Queen Latifah, Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Michelle Rhee, Dr. Cornel West, and more. Pepsi says topics will include the economy, education, race, gender, hip-hop, carbonated beverages, and other vital national issues.

Sweatpants — Threat or Menace?

Super Bowl star Plaxico Burrris shot himself because he was wearing sweatpants.

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has threatened Freedom of the Press, our National Pastime, and Democracy Itself. What was he wearing when arrested? Sweatpants.