hip-hop

Saul Williams, The Fader Label, 2005. Music review

Review which finds that Saul Williams fails to translate potent political polemics into poetic musical magic...

Slam Dunk Funk Sunk by Clunky Punk Junk

Nuthin’ But a “G” Thang: The Culture and Commerce of Gangsta Rap, by Eithne Quinn, Columbia University Press, 2005. Book review

Tom Jennings reviews an invicisve history of an important contemporary music genre.

Can’t Knock the Hustle by Tom Jennings

Ms Dynamite, Judgement Days, Polydor, 2005. Music review – Tom Jennings

Tom Jennings judges Ms Dynamite’s second album a mismatch of unremarkable smooth music and remarkably self-indulgent rant.

MsJudged Blandishments by Tom Jennings

Dancehall Dreams by Tom Jennings (2004). Music review – Tom Jennings

Tom Jennings’ essay on contemporary urban music, gender and class.

Dancehall Dreams by Tom Jennings

8 Mile, dir. Curtis Hanson (2003), Eminem and hip-hop. Film review – Tom Jennings

Tom Jennings’ essay on the Eminem phenomenon and its cultural context.

Br(other) Rabbit’s Tale by Tom Jennings

Beautiful Struggles and Gangsta Blues. Music review/essay – Tom Jennings

Tom Jennings’ urban music review of the year 2004.

Beautiful Struggles and Gangsta Blues by Tom Jennings

‘Life is a beautiful struggle / People search through the rubble / For a suitable hustle / Some people using their noodle / Some people using their muscle / Some people put it all together / Make it fit like a puzzle’ (Talib Kweli, ‘I Try’).

Pick A Bigger Weapon, The Coup, Epitaph Records, 2006. Music review – Tom Jennings

Tom Jennings reviews a new album from the radical Cali rap duo.

Weapons-Grade Funk by Tom Jennings

Dead Prez: three new albums in 2006. Music review – Tom Jennings.

A slew of new Dead Prez releases deepen and diversify revolutionary US hip-hop, according to Tom Jennings.

Zero Sum Game by Tom Jennings

Rebel Poets Reloaded. Music review

Tom Jennings’ essay reviews recent radical US hip-hop

Rebel Poets Reloaded by Tom Jennings

At the Crossroads. Music review

Tom Jennings follows trends in contemporary urban music.

At the Crossroads by Tom Jennings

news

London bus workers to strike
2,500 bus drivers in east, west and central London will be going on strike tomorrow (August 29th) to oppose a below-inflation pay offer.

articles

James Carr, The Black Panthers, & All That
"Jimmy was the baddest motherfucker..." - George Jackson.
Afterword to Bad: the autobiography of James Carr, Pelagian Press, UK, 1995.
A look at the life and times of James Carr and the Black Panthers and their relationship to the prison struggles and wider social movements of the 1960s.

1968

1952-1973: Radical perspectives in the Caribbean
The experiences of Fundi, Carribean Situationist. " From the start we saw through the fraud of the "independent" unions ... We decided that the union bureaucracy must stop; that there should not be any mediation between us and the boss for this has been responsible for suppressing confidence in ourselves to take up the total task of ending capitalism. ... We developed the capacity for instant strike action. We had meetings on the factory compound and the farms during work hours against the wishes of the boss and traditional unionism. ... Such actions are the bedrock of direct participation which stands in truth against the lies of centralized leadership."

Tea Break

Tea Break July 2008
First issue of an irregular workers' bulletin put together by users of the website, libcom.org. This issue focuses on the 2008 pay dispute over sub-inflation pay offers.

hip-hop

1968

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