Category: Whats Buzzing in the Streets

Maurice Ashley was born on this date in 1966. He is an African-American chess player, educator and Grand Master.

From St. Andrew, Jamaica he moved to Brooklyn, NY with his family at age 12. His brother was the source of his learning the game of Chess. Ashley also got a great amount of inspiration from writings of former World Champion Paul Morphy. While attending Brooklyn Tech High School he gained proficiency in local tournaments. Ashley also sharpened his Chess competition with the Black Bear Chess Club.

In 1986, he earned the rank of National Master, this occurred with his surpassing the 2400 barrier with a 2606. Soon after, Ashley was coach of the Raging Rooks (J.H.S. 43) of Harlem, winners of the National Junior High School Championships (1991), and the Dark Knights (also from Harlem), two time National Champions (1994 and 1995) in the Junior Varsity Division. He was the head of the Dark Knights program as they continued to win six National Championship titles.

In 1993, Ashley earned the status of International Master, and in 1999 he became the first player of Black African heritage to attain the rank of Grand Master. That same year, Ashley opened the Harlem Chess Center. Recently he was named 2003 Grandmaster of the Year by the U.S. Chess Federation. Maurice Ashley makes appearances all over the country speaking to young people and adults about chess and its benefits.

Ashley waa featured in May, 2005 at the richest ever Global Chess Challenge in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Written by Dianne Washington

Timbaland & Magoo are a rap duo consisting of producer and rapper Timothy “Timbaland” Mosley and rapper Melvin “Magoo” Barcliff. Originally from Norfolk, Virginia, the duo first met when they were teenagers. They later paired up as a duo and released their debut album Welcome to Our World, spawning their highest-charting single “Up Jumps da Boogie”. They would release two more studio albums as a group, Indecent Proposal in 2001 and Under Construction, Part II in 2003. The latter was meant as a sequel to Missy Elliott’s fourth album Under Construction.

Written by Dianne Washington

Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1972), known professionally as Timbaland, is an American record producer, rapper, singer, songwriter and DJ. Timbaland’s first full credit production work was in 1996 on Ginuwine…the Bachelor for R&B singer Ginuwine. After further work on Aaliyah’s 1996 album One in a Million and Missy Elliott’s 1997 album Supa Dupa Fly, Timbaland became a prominent producer for R&B and hip hop artists. As a rapper he initially released several albums with fellow rapper Magoo, followed by his debut solo album Tim’s Bio in 1998. In 2002, Timbaland produced the hit single “Cry Me a River” for Justin Timberlake, going on to produce most of Timberlake’s subsequent LPs such as FutureSex/LoveSounds and The 20/20 Experience and their respective hit singles. A Timbaland-owned imprint label, Mosley Music Group, featured artists such as Nelly Furtado, whose Timbaland-produced album Loose (2006) was a commercial and critical success. In 2007, Timbaland released a solo album, Shock Value, which was followed by Shock Value II in 2009.

Aside from the aforementioned artists, Timbaland’s production credits from the 2000s forward include work with Jay-Z, Nas, Ludacris, Bubba Sparxxx, Madonna, Rihanna, OneRepublic, Brandy, Drake, Rick Ross and others. As a songwriter he has written as of 2014, 85 UK hits and 99 hits Stateside. Timbaland has received widespread acclaim for his production style. In 2007, Entertainment Weekly stated that “just about every current pop trend can be traced back to him — from sultry, urban-edged R&B songstresses … to the art of incorporating avant-garde sounds into No. 1 hits.

Timothy Zachery Mosley was born on March 10, 1972 in Norfolk, Virginia, to Latrice, who ran a homeless shelter, and Garland Mosley, an Amtrak employee. He graduated from Salem High School of Virginia Beach, Virginia. During his time as a DJ, he was known as “DJ Tim” or “DJ Timmy Tim”. His brother, Sebastian, is reportedly around nine years younger. His sister Courtney Rashon is a makeup artist and author from New Jersey. While attending high school, Timbaland began a long-term collaboration with rapper Melvin (Magoo) Barcliff.

Written by Dianne Washington

In 2015, Karine “Sho-time” Thornton started Sho-Time Battle Rap League, which was inspired by his mentor Troy “Smack White” Mitchell.  In addition, Karine started his own network, Sho-TimeTV and began hosting video content that featured some of the hottest names in the battle rap culture such as, Murda Mook, Loaded Lux, and Goodz da Animal. Sho-time contributes the creation of Sho-time Battle Rap league to Smacks dvd series S.M.A.C.K. dvd’s and the Ultimate Rap League. 

For more info click link below

https://shotimetv.com/sho-time-battle-league

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American lawyer and writer who was First Lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She is married to the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, and is the first African-American First Lady. Raised on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, Obama is a graduate of Princeton University and Harvard Law School, and spent her early legal career working at the law firm Sidley Austin, where she met her husband. She subsequently worked as the Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago and the Vice President for Community and External Affairs of the University of Chicago Medical Center. Barack and Michelle married in 1992 and have two daughters.Obama campaigned for her husband’s presidential bid throughout 2007 and 2008, delivering a keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. She returned to speak at the 2012 Democratic National Convention, and again during the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, where she delivered a speech in support of the Democratic presidential nominee, and fellow First Lady, Hillary Clinton.As First Lady, Obama became a role model for women, an advocate for poverty awareness, education, nutrition, physical activity and healthy eating, and a fashion icon.Born Michelle LaVaughn Robinson in Chicago, Illinois, she is the daughter of Fraser Robinson III, a city water plant employee and Democratic precinct captain, and Marian Shields, a secretary at Spiegel’s catalog store. She grew up in a two-story house on Euclid Street in Chicago’s South Shore. They attended services at nearby South Shore Methodist Church.She and her brother, Craig skipped the second grade. By sixth grade, Robinson joined a gifted class at Bryn Mawr Elementary School (later renamed Bouchet Academy). She attended Whitney Young High School, where she was a classmate of Jesse Jackson’s daughter Santita. She was on the honor roll for four years, took advanced placement classes, a member of the National Honor Society and served as student council treasurer. Robinson graduated in 1981 as the salutatorian of her class.She followed her brother to Princeton University. While at Princeton, she got involved with the Third World Center (now known as the Carl A. Fields Center), an academic and cultural group that supported minority students, running their day care center, which also included after school tutoring. Robinson majored in sociology and minored in African American studies and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in 1985. She earned her Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Harvard Law School in 1988. At Harvard she participated in demonstrations advocating the hiring of professors who were members of minorities and worked for the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, assisting low-income tenants with housing cases. She is the third First Lady with a postgraduate degree, after Hillary Rodham Clinton and Laura Bush. Following law school, she was an associate at the Chicago office of the law firm Sidley Austin, where she first met her future husband Barrak Obama.At the firm, she worked on marketing and intellectual property. In 1991, she held public sector positions in the Chicago city government as an Assistant to the Mayor, and as Assistant Commissioner of Planning and Development. The couple’s first date was to the Spike Lee movie Do the Right Thing. They married in October 1992. In 1993, she became Executive Director for the Chicago office of Public Allies, a non-profit organization encouraging young people to work on social issues in nonprofit groups and government agencies. She worked there nearly four years and set fundraising records for the organization. In 1996, she served as the Associate Dean of Student Services at the University of Chicago, where she developed the University’s Community Service Center. Obama had her first daughter, Malia Ann in 1998 and Natasha (known as Sasha in 2001.In 2002, she began working for the University of Chicago Hospitals, first as executive director for community affairs and, beginning May 2005, as Vice President for Community and External Affairs. She continued to hold the University of Chicago Hospitals position during the primary campaign, but cut back to part time in order to spend time with her daughters as well as work for her husband’s Presidential election. She serves on the board of directors of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. In 2008, Obama accepted the invitation to become an honorary member of the 100-year-old black sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha, which had no active undergraduate chapter at Princeton when she attended.Promoting Service and working with young people has remained a staple of her career and her interest. In 2010 as First Lady, Obama launched Let’s Move a campaign to bring together community leaders, teachers, doctors, nurses, moms and dads in a nationwide effort to tackle the challenge of childhood obesity. In 2011, Obama and Dr. Jill Biden together launched Joining Forces, a nationwide initiative that mobilizes all sectors of society to give our service members and their families the opportunities and support they have earned, and to raise awareness of military families’ unique needs as pertains to employment, education and wellness. Joining Forces has been working hand in hand with American businesses who are committed to answering the President’s challenge to hire or train 100,000 unemployed veterans and military spouses by 2013.In May 2017, during an appearance at the Partnership for a Healthier America conference, Obama rebuked the Trump administration for its delay of a federal requirement designed to increase the nutritional standards for school lunches. In June, while attending the WWDC in Silicon Valley, California, Obama called for tech companies to add women for the diversifying of their ranks. In July, Obama honored Eunice Shriver at the 2017 ESPY Awards. In September, Obama delivered an address at the tech conference in Utah charging the Trump administration with having a fearful White House,appeared in a video for the Global Citizens Festival advocating more attention to giving young girls an education, and attended the Inbound 2017 conference in Boston. During an October 3 appearance at the Philadelphia Conference for Women, Obama cited a lack of diversity in politics with contributing to lawmakers being distrusted by other groups. In November, Obama discussed gender disparity in attitudes with Elizabeth Alexander while attending the Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago, and spoke at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford, Connecticut.

Written Dianne Washington