controversy, it was the international spotlight shown on the Rutgers women's basketball team, student-athletes who didn't give up when their season seemed If there will be a silver lining in the current debate about hip-hop, which, though unrelated, was dragged into the fray by Imus and others, maybe it will be additional interest in the genre's lesser-known, more positive artists. So many of hip-hop's detractors have been given tons of attention for on violence and consumerism, but its supporters have been virtually ignored. Yes, there's plenty to complain about in hip-hop, but stereotyping the music is unfair.
For all the anger about Ludacris' boastful "Area Codes," there should also be a reminder about his poignant "Runaway Love," which, in addition to topping the charts, also led to a rise in the number of runaways further than Nas' brilliant "Hip-Hop Is Dead" (Def Jam) album, which not only The recent album from k-os, "Atlantis: Hymns for Disco" (Virgin), is another example of hip-hop's use of positive themes, especially in "Sunday Morning," when he raps, "Every day is Saturday night, but I can't wait for The new album, "The Hollywood Recordings" (Babygrande), from Sa-Ra - the production team who have worked with Jill Scott, Common, Bilal and others - hits stores Tuesday, showing how hip-hop continues to mutate musically. The trio blends old-school Afrika Bambaataa-styled spacey sounds with snippets of soul, jazz and funk, and live instrumentation to create a more laid-back cousin to OutKast. Sa-Ra's "Right now, hip-hop's in an emergency," says Polyrhythm Addicts' Shabaam Sahdeeq on his Web site.
"Nas said, 'Hip-hop is dead.' We think it can still be saved. You can see it.
All you gotta do is just break the emergency glass and it's right there.
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