Category: Whats Buzzing in the Streets

Grace Jones

Grace Beverly Jones (born May 19, 1948) is a Jamaican-American model, singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Born in Jamaica, she moved when she was 13, along with her siblings, to live with her parents in Syracuse, New York. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent and Kenzo, and appearing on the covers of Elle and Vogue. She worked with photographers such as Jean-Paul Goude, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer, and became known for her distinctive androgynous appearance and bold features. 

Beginning in 1977, Jones embarked on a music career, securing a record deal with Island Records and initially becoming a star of New York City’s Studio 54-centered disco scene. In the early 1980s, she moved toward a new wave style that drew on reggae, funk, post-punk and pop music, frequently collaborating with both the graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude and the musical duo Sly & Robbie. Her most popular albums include Warm Leatherette (1980), Nightclubbing (1981), and Slave to the Rhythm (1985). She scored Top 40 entries on the UK Singles Chart with “Pull Up to the Bumper”, “I’ve Seen That Face Before”, “Private Life”, and “Slave to the Rhythm”. In 1982, she released the music video collection A One Man Show, directed by Goude. 

Jones appeared in some low-budget films in the US during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1984, she made her first mainstream appearance as Zula in the fantasy-action film Conan the Destroyer alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Douglas, and subsequently appeared in the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill as May Day. In 1986, she played a vampire in Vamp, and acted in and contributed a song to the 1992 Eddie Murphy film Boomerang. She appeared alongside Tim Curry in the 2001 film Wolf Girl. For her work in Conan the Destroyer, A View to a Kill, and Vamp, she was nominated for Saturn Awards for Best Supporting Actress. 

In 1999, Jones ranked 82nd on VH1’s 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, and in 2008, she was honored with a Q Idol Award. Jones influenced the cross-dressing movement of the 1980s and has been an inspiration for artists including Annie Lennox, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Solange, Lorde, Róisín Murphy, Brazilian Girls, Nile Rodgers, Santigold, and Basement Jaxx. In 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 40th greatest dance club artist of all time.

Written by Dianne Washington

SLICK RICK

Richard Martin Lloyd Walters (born January 14, 1965); better known as Slick Rick, Rick The Ruler and MC Ricky D, is a British-American rapper. He has released four albums: The Great Adventures of Slick Rick (1988), The Ruler’s Back (1991), Behind Bars (1994) and The Art of Storytelling (1999). His music has been sampled and interpolated over 600 times, in over 35 songs by artists including Eminem, Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, The Beastie Boys, TLC, Nas, Miley Cyrus, Kanye West, Black Star, The Notorious B.I.G., Snoop Dogg, MC Ren, Montell Jordan and Color Me Badd. In the process, Walters has become the most-sampled hip-hop artist ever. Many of these songs based on Slick Rick samples went on to become hit singles. He’s been a VH-1 Hip Hop Honors honoree, and  ranked him No. 12 on their list of the Top 50 MCs of Our Time, while The Source ranked him No. 15 on their list of the Top 50 Lyricists of All Time. He has acted and cameoed in 10 movies and videos.

Walters was born and raised in the southwest London district of Mitcham, to a British-Jamaican family. He was blinded in the right eye by broken glass as an infant. In 1976, he and his family migrated to the United States, settling in the Baychester area of the Bronx. At Fiorello H. Laguardia High School of Music & Art, where he majored in visual art, Rick met Dana Dane. The pair became close friends and formed The Kangol Crew, performing at school contests, parks and local hole-in-the-wall clubs.

At a 1984 talent showcase he entered, Rick met Doug E. Fresh. Impressed by Rick’s talent, Doug made him a member of his Get Fresh Crew (which also included DJs Chill Will and Barry Bee). Doug’s beatbox and Rick’s fresh flow turned “The Show”/”La Di Da Di” into an international anthem that turned rap music on its head and became the launching pad for “Hip Hop’s greatest storyteller.”

His career began in late 1985; Walters first gained success in the rap industry after joining Doug E. Fresh’s Get Fresh Crew, using the stage name MC Ricky D. He was featured on the single “The Show” and its even more popular B-side, “La Di Da Di”, which featured Walters’ rapping over Doug E. Fresh’s beatbox. Both tracks gained some mainstream attention, they appeared on Top of the Pops and Soul Train with the Get Fresh Crew. Reflecting on the double-sided gem in Rolling Stone magazine, Roots drummer and Tonight Show bandleader Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson said, “Point blank: Slick Rick’s voice was the most beautiful thing to happen to hip-hop culture […] Rick is full of punchlines, wit, melody, cool cadence, confidence and style. He is the blueprint.”

In 1986, Slick Rick joined Russell Simmons’ Rush Artist Management and became the third artist signed to Def Jam Records, the leading rap/hip-hop label at the time. Collaborating with his friend, DJ Vance Wright, Walters produced his solo debut, The Great Adventures of Slick Rick, which came out in 1988 on Def Jam. The album was very successful, reaching the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s R&B/Hip-Hop chart. It also featured three charting singles: “Children’s Story”, “Hey Young World”, and “Teenage Love”. The release is known for its storytelling and vocal characterizations. “With the combination of Rick’s Dick Van Dyke-on-dope accent and his unique narrative style, the record was an instant classic,” wrote critic Matt Weiner. “Each of Rick’s songs was an amusing, enthralling story that lasted from the first groove to the last.”

In 1989, Walters’ mother, Veronica, hired his first cousin, Mark Plummer, as his bodyguard. By 1990, Plummer had become a liability, having tried numerous times to extort money from the artist. Plummer was fired and, unsatisfied with his severance package, tried to rob Walters on numerous occasions and also threatened to kill the rapper and his mother. When Walters found bullet holes in his front door, he bought guns for protection. On July 3, 1990, Walters spotted Plummer in his neighborhood, and fired at least four shots. One bullet hit Plummer; another caught a passerby in the foot. Neither suffered life-threatening injuries.

He eventually pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted murder and other charges, including assault, use of a firearm, and criminal possession of a weapon. The rapper called it an act of self-defense. He spent five years in prison, two for the then-second-degree attempted-murder charges he received for the shooting, and three for his struggle with the Immigration and Naturalization Services over his residency in the U.S. He was released from prison in 1997

After being bailed out by Russell Simmons, Walters recorded his second album, The Ruler’s Back, released in 1991. Despite peaking at No. 29 on the Billboard 100, the album received mixed reviews and wasn’t as commercially successful as his debut. In the documentary film, The Show, Russell Simmons interviewed Walters while he was imprisoned on Rikers Island.

Walters’ third studio album (the fourth for Def Jam) Behind Bars was released in 1994, while he was still incarcerated. It was met with lukewarm sales and reviews. Behind Bars peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and No. 51 on the Billboard 200.

Walters remained with the Def Jam label, and on May 25, 1999, released a fourth album, The Art of Storytelling. Generally considered the authentic follow-up to his 1988 debut, The Art of Storytelling was an artistically successful comeback-album that paired him with prolific MCs like Nas, OutKast, Raekwon, and Snoop Dogg. The Los Angeles Times announced it as the “triumphant return of rap’s premier yarn-spinner,” calling the song “2 Way Street” “a much-needed alternative to rap’s misogynistic slant.” It charted higher than any of Slick Rick’s prior releases: No. 8 on the Billboard 200; No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

After performing on a Caribbean cruise ship in June 2001, Walters was arrested by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) as he re-entered the United States through Florida. He was promptly told that he was being deported under a law allowing deportation of foreigners convicted of felonies. Rick was continuously refused bail, but after 17 months in prison he was released on November 7, 2003. In October 2006, the Department of Homeland Security began a new attempt to deport Walters back to the United Kingdom, moving the case from the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit based in New York to the more conservative Eleventh Circuit. The court is based in Atlanta, Georgia but the trial was expected to proceed in Florida, where immigration agents originally arrested Walters.

On May 23, 2008, New York Governor David Paterson granted Slick Rick a full and unconditional pardon on the attempted murder charges. The governor was pleased with his behavior since the attempted murders. Slick Rick has volunteered his time to mentor kids about violence.

Walters married his wife Mandy Aragones in April 1997, four years after the couple met at a Manhattan nightclub. The performer has two children, Ricky Martin Lloyd Santiago and Lateisha Walters, from a previous relationship. He and his wife have donated about a dozen items from his collection to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Slick Rick and the Soul Rebels Brass Band collaborated on June 21, 2012 in Washington, D.C. at the historic Howard Theatre which re-opened in April 2012.

In 2014, Rick participated in Will.i.am’s “Trans4M” concert, which raised more than $2.4 million for the music producer’s i.am.angel Foundation.

In addition, Rick recently was a Mixx Cares Humanitarian Award recipient.

On April 15, 2016, Rick was granted U.S. citizenship, remarking, “I am so proud of this moment—and so honored to finally become an American citizen.” He will also retain his UK citizenship.

On November 2, 2018, Rick released the single “Snakes Of The World Today”.

Written by Dianne Washington

Earth Wind & Fire

CREATOR AND MASTERMIND OF THE ONLY SUPERGROUP WHO GAVE US LIFE AND SHUT THE WORLD DOWN! HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAURICE!! 

Maurice White (December 19, 1941 – February 4, 2016) was an American singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, arranger, and bandleader. He was the founder of the band Earth, Wind & Fire. He was also the older brother of current Earth, Wind & Fire member Verdine White, and former member Fred White. He served as the band’s main songwriter and record producer, and was co-lead singer along with Philip Bailey.

He won seven Grammys, and was nominated for a total of twenty Grammys. White was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame as a member of Earth, Wind & Fire, and was also inducted individually into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

Also known by his nickname “Reece”, he worked with several famous recording artists, including Deniece Williams, the Emotions, Barbra Streisand, and Neil Diamond. White was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in the late 1980s, which led him eventually to stop touring with Earth, Wind & Fire in 1994. He retained executive control of the band, and remained active in the music business until his death.

White was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on December 19, 1941. He grew up in South Memphis, where he lived with his grandmother in the Foote Homes Projects and was a childhood friend of Booker T Jones, with whom he formed a “cookin’ little band” while attending Booker T. Washington High School. He made frequent trips to Chicago to visit his mother, Edna, and stepfather, Verdine Adams, who was a doctor and occasional saxophonist. In his teenage years, he moved to Chicago and studied at the Chicago Conservatory of Music, and played drums in local nightclubs. By the mid-1960s he found work as a session drummer for Chess Records. While at Chess, he played on the records of artists such as Etta James, Ramsey Lewis, Sonny Stitt, Muddy Waters, the Impressions, the Dells, Betty Everett, Sugar Pie DeSanto and Buddy Guy. White also played the drums on Fontella Bass’s “Rescue Me” and Billy Stewart’s “Summertime”. In 1962, along with other studio musicians at Chess, he was a member of the Jazzmen, who later became the Pharaohs.

By 1966, he joined the Ramsey Lewis Trio, replacing Isaac “Red” Holt as the drummer. Holt and bassist Eldee Young left and formed Young-Holt Unlimited with pianist Hysear Don Walker. Young was replaced by Cleveland Eaton. As a member of the Ramsey Lewis Trio, Maurice played on nine of the group’s albums, including Wade in the Water (1966), from which the track “Hold It Right There” won a Grammy Award for Best Rhythm & Blues Group Performance, Vocal or Instrumental in 1966. White featured on other Ramsey Lewis albums including: The Movie Album (1966), Goin’ Latin (1967), Dancing in the Street (1967), Up Pops Ramsey Lewis (1967) and The Piano Player (1969). While in the Trio he was introduced in a Chicago drum store to the African thumb piano or kalimba and on the Trio’s 1969 album Another Voyage’s track “Uhuru” was featured the first recording of White playing the kalimba.

In 1969, White left the Trio and joined his two friends, Wade Flemons and Don Whitehead, to form a songwriting team who wrote songs for commercials in the Chicago area. The three friends got a recording contract with Capitol Records and called themselves the Salty Peppers. They had a moderate hit in the Midwest area with their single “La La Time”, but their second single, “Uh Huh Yeah”, was not as successful. White then moved from Chicago to Los Angeles, and altered the name of the band to Earth, Wind & Fire, the band’s new name reflecting the elements in his astrological chart.

With Maurice as the bandleader and producer of most of the band’s albums, EWF earned legendary status winning six Grammy Awards out of a staggering 14 nominations, a star on the Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame, and four American Music Awards. The group’s albums have sold over 90 million copies worldwide. Other honors bestowed upon Maurice as a member of the band included inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, The Songwriters Hall of Fame and The NAACP Image Awards Hall of Fame.

White brought the kalimba into mainstream use by incorporating its sound into the music of Earth, Wind & Fire. He was also responsible for expanding the group to include a full horn section – the Earth, Wind & Fire Horns, later known as the Phenix Horns. White began showing signs of the Parkinson’s disease in 1987, and was finally forced to retire from Earth Wind & Fire in 1994. He retained executive control of the band and was still very active in the music business, producing and recording with the band and other artists. Messages of encouragement from celebrities including: Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, Boyz II Men, Smokey Robinson, Isaac Hayes, Michael Jackson, Eric Clapton and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine were published for White.

From time to time, after his retirement, he appeared on stage with Earth, Wind & Fire at events such as the 2004 Grammy Awards Tribute to Funk, and alongside Alicia Keys at Clive Davis’s 2004 pre-Grammy awards party where they performed the band’s 1978 hit “September”.

Maurice’s younger brother, Verdine, an original member of Earth, Wind & Fire, still tours with the band as its bassist and a backing vocalist. Additionally, their brother Fred joined the band in 1974, when the band recorded “Devotion”. Maurice was a married father of three and owned two homes in California; one in Carmel Valley, and the other, a four-level condominium in Los Angeles. As recorded in his obituary, his parents, Dr. and Mrs. Verdine Adams, Sr., MD, had a total of ten children, and Maurice White was the oldest. He was affectionately called Reese by many of his brothers and sisters, according to his obituary which was distributed at his Memorial Service held at Agape International Spiritual Center March 22, 2016 in California.

White died in his sleep from the effects of Parkinson’s disease at his home in Los Angeles, California, on the morning of February 4, 2016, at the age of 74. He was survived by his wife, Marilyn White, sons Kahbran and Eden, daughter Hamia (nicknamed MiMi on his obituary) and brothers Verdine and Fred. As written in his obituary, he was the eldest of nine siblings.

Written Dianne Washington

DMX

Earl Simmons (born December 18, 1970), known professionally as DMX, is an American rapper and actor. He began rapping in the early 1990s, and released his debut album, It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot in 1998 to both critical acclaim and commercial success, selling 251,000 copies within its first week of release. He released his best-selling album, … And Then There Was X, in 1999, which included the hit single “Party Up (Up in Here)”. Since his debut, DMX has released seven studio albums.

He has been featured in films such as Belly, Romeo Must Die, Exit Wounds, Cradle 2 the Grave and Last Hour. In 2006, he starred in the reality television series DMX: Soul of a Man, which was primarily aired on the BET cable television network. In 2003, DMX published a book of his memoirs entitled, E.A.R.L.: The Autobiography of DMX.

Written by Dianne Washington

Dionne Warwick

Dionne Warwick (born Marie Dionne Warrick; December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress and television show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health.

Having been in a partnership with songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest hit makers of the entire rock era, based on the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles Charts. She is second only to Aretha Franklin as the most-charted female vocalist of all time, with 56 of Warwick’s singles making the Billboard Hot 100 between 1962 and 1998 and 80 singles making all Billboard charts combined.

Having been in a partnership with songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest hit makers of the entire rock era (1955–2012), based on the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles Charts. Dionne Warwick is second only to Aretha Franklin as the most-charted female vocalist of all time with 56 of Dionne’s singles making the Billboard Hot 100 between 1962 and 1998.

Warwick was born in East Orange, New Jersey, to Mancel Warrick (1911–1977), who began his career as a Pullman porter and subsequently became a chef, a gospel record promoter for Chess Records and later a Certified Public Accountant; and Lee Drinkard Warwick (1920–2005), manager of The Drinkard Singers (see below). Warwick had a sister Delia “Dee Dee” and a brother, Mancel Jr., who was killed in an accident in 1968 at the age of 21. She has African American, Native American, Brazilian and Dutch ancestry

Dionne came from a family of singers. Dionne’s mother, aunts and uncles were members of the Drinkard Singers, a renowned family gospel group and RCA recording artists that frequently performed throughout the New York metropolitan area. The Drinkard family originated from Blakley, Georgia and migrated to Newark, New Jersey in 1923. The family was composed of Nitcholas “Nitch” Drinkard, and Delia Drinkard, Warwick’s grandparents, and their children: William, Lee (Warwick’s mother), Marie “Rebbie” (Warwick’s namesake), Hansom, Anne, Larry, Nicky, and Emily “Cissy” (who is the mother of Warwick’s cousin, Whitney Houston). Dionne’s paternal grandfather, Elzae Warrick was the preacher at St. Luke’s AME, the church attended by the Drinkard family. Lee Drinkard and the preacher’s son, Mancel, were later married and Dionne became the Drinkard family’s first grandchild on December 12, 1940.

The original Drinkard Singers (known as the Drinkard Jubilairs) consisted of Cissy, Anne, Larry, and Nicky. Marie instructed the group and they were managed by Lee. As they became more successful, Lee and Marie also began performing with the group, and they were augmented by Judy Guoins, later known as pop/R&B singer Judy Clay, whom Lee had unofficially adopted. Elvis Presley eventually expressed an interest in having them join his touring entourage. Dionne began singing gospel as a child at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey. She performed her first gospel solo at the age of six and frequently joined The Drinkard Singers.

Her first televised performances were in the mid-and late 1950s with the Drinkard Singers on local television stations in New Jersey and New York City. Warwick grew up in a racially mixed middle-class neighborhood. She stated in an interview on The Biography Channel in 2002 that the neighborhood in East Orange “was literally the United Nations of neighborhoods. We had every nationality, every creed, every religion right there on our street.” Warwick was untouched by the harsher aspects of racial intolerance and discrimination until her early professional career, when she began touring nationally.

Warwick graduated from East Orange High School in 1959 and was awarded a scholarship in Music Education[citation needed] to the Hartt College of Music in Hartford, Connecticut (from which she earned a masters degree and which would later award her an honorary doctorate in Music Education in 1973). In My Life, as I See It: An Autobiography, Warwick lists her honorary doctorate from Hartt among those awarded by six other institutions.

Dionne Warwick married actor and drummer William David Elliott (1934–1983) (CBS’s Bridget Loves Bernie – 1972–73) in 1966; they divorced in May 1967. They reconciled and were remarried in Milan, Italy, in August 1967, according to Time. On January 18, 1969, while living in East Orange, New Jersey, she gave birth to her first son, David Elliott. In 1973, her second son Damon Elliott was born. On May 30, 1975, the couple separated and Warwick was granted a divorce in December 1975 in Los Angeles. The court denied Elliott’s request for $2000 a month in support pending a community property trial, and for $5000, when he insisted he was making $500 a month in comparison to Warwick making $100,000 a month. Warwick stated in Don’t Make Me Over: Dionne Warwick, a 2002 Biography Channel interview, “I was the breadwinner. The male ego is a fragile thing. It’s hard when the woman is the breadwinner. All my life, the only man who ever took care of me financially was my father. I have always taken care of myself.”

Warwick lived in Brazil, a country she first visited in the early 1960s, until 2005, according to an interview with JazzWax, when she moved back to the United States to be near her ailing mother and sister. She became so entranced by Brazil that she studied Portuguese and divided her time between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. In April 2010, in an interview on talk-show Programa do Jô, she said Brazil was the place where she intended to spend the rest of her life after retiring.

In 1993, her older son David, a former Los Angeles police officer, co-wrote with Terry Steele the Warwick-Whitney Houston duet “Love Will Find a Way”, featured on her album, Friends Can Be Lovers. Since 2002, he has periodically toured with and performed duets with his mother, and had his acting debut in the film Ali as the singer Sam Cooke. David became a singer-songwriter, with Luther Vandross’ “Here and Now” among others to his credit.

Her second son, Damon Elliott, is also a noted music producer, who has worked with Mýa, Pink, Christina Aguilera and Keyshia Cole. He arranged and produced his mother’s 2006 Concord release My Friends and Me. She received a 2014 Grammy Award nomination in the Traditional Pop Category for her 2013 album release, Now.

On January 24, 2015, Warwick was hospitalized after a fall in the shower at her home. After ankle surgery, she was released from the hospital.

Warwick’s sister Dee Dee Warwick also had a successful singing career, scoring several notable R&B hits, including the original version of “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me” and “I Want To Be With You”, from the Broadway version of the musical ‘Golden Boy’. She also recorded the original version of the song “You’re No Good”, which later became an R&B hit for the late Betty Everett and also a #1 Pop smash for Linda Ronstadt. It was also covered by Liverpool group The Swinging Blue Jeans in 1964, reaching No.3 in the UK and No.97 in the US. This group also recorded ‘Don’t Make Me Over’ and had a 1966 hit, reaching No. 31 in UK.
Warwick’s cousin was the singer Whitney Houston, and her aunt is Gospel-trained vocalist Cissy Houston, Whitney’s mother.

In her 2011 autobiography, My Life, as I See It, Warwick notes that opera diva Leontyne Price is a maternal cousin.

Written by Dianne Washington

Mos Def

Yasiin Bey born Dante Terrell Smith; December 11, 1973), best known by his stage name Mos Def, is an American hip hop recording artist, actor and activist from Brooklyn, New York City, New York. Best known for his music, Mos Def embarked on his hip hop career in 1994, alongside his siblings in the short-lived rap group Urban Thermo Dynamics (UTD), after which he appeared on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. He subsequently formed the duo Black Star, alongside fellow Brooklyn-based rapper Talib Kweli, and they released their eponymous debut album in 1998. He was featured on the roster of Rawkus Records and in 1999 released his solo debut, Black on Both Sides. His debut was followed by The New Danger (2004), True Magic (2006) and The Ecstatic (2009). The editors at About.com listed him as the 14th greatest emcee of all time on their “50 greatest MC’s of our time” list.

Prior to his career in music, Mos Def first entered public life as a child actor, having played roles in television movies, sitcoms, and theater. Since the early 2000s, Mos Def has been well known for his roles in films such as Something the Lord Made, Next Day Air, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, 16 Blocks, Be Kind Rewind, The Italian Job, The Woodsman, Bamboozled and Brown Sugar, as well as for his portrayal of Brother Sam in the Showtime drama series Dexter. He is also known as the host of Def Poetry Jam, which aired on HBO between 2002 and 2007.

Mos Def has been vocal on several social and political causes, including police brutality, the idea of American exceptionalism, and the state of African Americans.

Mos Def was born as Dante Terrell Smith in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of Sheron Smith and Abdul Rahman. The eldest of 12 children and step-children, he was raised by his mother in Brooklyn, while his father lived in New Jersey.

Although his father was initially a member of the Nation of Islam and later followed Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, who merged into mainstream Sunni Islam from the Nation, Mos Def was not exposed to Islam until the age of 13. At 19, he took his shahada, the Muslim declaration of faith. He is close friends with fellow Muslim rappers Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Kamaal Ibn John Fareed (Q-Tip) of the rap group A Tribe Called Quest.

Mos Def attended middle school at Philippa Schuyler Middle School 383 in Bushwick, Brooklyn where he picked up his love for acting. After returning from filming You Take the Kids in Los Angeles, and getting into a relationship with an older girl, Mos Def dropped out of high school during sophomore year. Growing up in New York City during the crack epidemic of the 1980s and early 1990s, he has spoken about witnessing widespread instances of gang violence, theft and poverty in society, which he largely avoided by working on plays, Off-Off-Broadway and arts programs. In a particularly traumatic childhood experience, Mos Def witnessed his then five year old younger brother Ilias Bey (b. Denard Smith) get hit by a car. Bey, who later adopted the alias DCQ, was described by Smith as “my first partner in Hip Hop”.

Mos Def began his rap music career in 1994, forming the rap group UTD (or Urban Thermo Dynamics) along with younger brother DCQ and younger sister Ces. In 2004, they released the album Manifest Destiny, their first and only release to date. The album features a compilation of previously unreleased and re-released tracks recorded during the original UTD run.

In 1996, Mos Def emerged as a solo artist and worked with De La Soul and Da Bush Babees, before he released his own first single, “Universal Magnetic” in 1997.

Mos Def signed with Rawkus Records and formed the rap group Black Star with Talib Kweli. The duo released an album, Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star, in 1998. Mostly produced by Hi-Tek, the album featured the singles “Respiration” and “Definition”, which both reached in the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

Mos Def released his solo debut album Black on Both Sides in October 1999, also through Rawkus. The single “Ms. Fat Booty” charted, while the album reached #25 on the Billboard 200. Around this time he also contributed to the Scritti Politti album Anomie & Bonhomie.

In January 2002 Rawkus Records was taken over by Geffen Records, which released his second solo album The New Danger in October 2004. It included contributions by Shuggie Otis and Bernie Worrell, Doug Wimbish,and Will Calhoun as the Black Jack Johnson Band. The album reached #5 on the Billboard 200, making it the most successful for the artist to date. The single “Sex, Love & Money” charted, and was nominated for a Grammy Award. Mos Def’s final solo album for Geffen Records, titled True Magic, was released in 2006.

Mos Def married Maria Yepes in 1996, and has two daughters with her: Jauhara Smith and Chandani Smith. He filed for divorce from Yepes in 2006. The former couple made headlines when Yepes took Mos Def to court over failure in child-support obligations, paying $2,000 short of the monthly $10,000 he is ordered to pay. Mos Def has four other children.

His mother Sheron Smith, who goes by her nickname “Umi”, has played an active role managing portions of her son’s career. She is also a motivational speaker, and has authored the book Shine Your Light: A Life Skills Workbook, where she details her experience as a single mother raising him.

In January 2016, Mos Def was ordered to leave South Africa and not return for five years, having stayed in the country illegally on an expired tourist visa granted in May 2013. Also that month, he was charged with using an unrecognized World Passport and having lived illegally in South Africa since 2014. Mos Def had reportedly recruited Kanye West to help defend him, and posted a message on West’s website announcing his retirement from show business. There was an ongoing court case in relation to immigration offences involving the artist and his family.

Written by Dianne Washington

Universal Hip Hop Museum: A Bronx Tale

When it comes to the city of New York, the 5 boroughs, each borough has its own particular magic that the others don’t have. Each borough has its own “Picasso” to perfectly represent it. Harlem has 125th Street and the Harlem Renaissance history, Queens has Queensbridge projects and the history of all the hip hop greats that came out and survived it, Brooklyn has Biggie Smalls and the Barclay’s Center downtown where all the greatest stars from all over the world go to sell out shows and then there’s The Bronx. For a very long time, The Bronx was only known mostly for negative things. It’s environment, the people, the atmosphere, the food, the neighborhoods, the crime, the poverty, sounds like every other ghetto in the entire New York City right? But to those who dislike The Bronx solely like to focus on the negatives due it’s borough’s own reputation. Outside of it’s constant ignorant picking and biggin’ up the negatives of The Bronx, there’s one main positive story to look forward to about the borough and it’s the story about the birthplace of Hip Hop culture. It’s a place where all the hip hop pioneers and early gangs have walked the land. They fought, made up, and created something out of what their environment was. Just when the Civil Rights Movement and the Disco era were slowly coming to a close, here’s this music, style, & culture that was born. Born to represent the poor kids with run down sneakers from playing outside all day, to having little to no food, living in a place that burned down and abandoned, Hip Hop became the soundtrack of the ghetto. Block parties & house parties took over, DJ’s stole equipments and vinyl just to make these parties happen. Climbing up electric poles in the street to hook the wiring up to the equipment so that the DJ could do his thing, it was then the DJ’s gave birth to the break dancers or what they were called the “B-boy’s” and “B-girl’s.” Coming our to dance during the break part of the song the DJ spun over and over on a loop, there was also the “emcee” or put MC aka the Mic Controller or Master of Ceremony. It was then during the 1970’s when hip hop emerged out of the ghetto streets of The Bronx, New York. So many years later, the culture has captivated and progressed into so much more. The fashion, movies, the artists, everything. Even better, The Bronx even has a new Universal Hip Hop Museum at The Bronx Terminal Market that takes you on a historical journey of hip hop’s history. I like to call it a “Disney World” for a Bronx native. A Bronx native like myself is proud to be walking the land of the pioneers everyday. To see these important figures names and faces on the walls is an everyday inspiration to keep doing what I’m doing. It makes me proud to BE from Da Boogie Down Bronx, The South Bronx, where the people are fresh! Word! A small exhibit for now to give us a preview of what’s to come. The official place will be built in 2023. 50 years after it’s official birth, August 11th, 1973. It’s the place to be! You can check out the website at uhhm.org and purchase a free ticket for entry at the place. Pick a day, a time, all that good stuff! The place is opened from 10am to 7pm. You don’t wanna miss out on this! You can’t! Go visit ASAP!

What Happened To Hip Hop

I remember when my mom introduced me to hip hop back in the early eighties. She would play sounds of Flash and the Furious Five, Kool Moe Dee and Afrikka Bambatta. I jammed to the sounds of Erick B. and Rakim, Big Daddy Kane and KRS One and the Boogie Down Production. I loved to record songs on my tape deck to listen to in my Walkman. It was the late eighties when I began jamming to the tunes of Salt & Pepa, Queen Latifah, MC Lyte and YoYo. These were the female MC’s that every young girl aspired to be like. From the style of dress, down to the no nonsense attitudes, the first ladies of Hip Hop were the epitome of excellence. Back in the beginning hip hop contained lyrical content and a message that empowered the community. We were proud of the hip hop culture and all that it stood for. The question now is What Happened To Hip Hop? The new hip hop generation is filled with trap rappers that have poor lyrical content with catchy hooks and illicit messages. The focus is no longer about striving to improve the community. It’s now about adapting by the use of drugs and alcohol. There is blatant disrespect for women and women disrespecting themselves to sell records. The saddest part is that these are the people that the urban community looks to as role models. Little girls want to look like Barbie Dolls and Twerk like the celebrities that they hear and see degrading themselves on MTV and popular radio stations. Female MC’s went from “Who You Calling A Bitch to calling themselves bitches”. There is no more respect for the community in my favorite music genre. Instead the message is about popping pills, drinking alcohol, selling drugs and initiating violence. I would like to give a heartfelt apology to the pioneers of hip hop for the blatant disrespect of the culture. Again let me ask What Happened To Hip Hop
Written By:
Regina Annette

Jermaine Jackson

Jermaine La Jaune Jackson (born December 11, 1954) is an American singer, songwriter, bass guitarist and member of the Jackson family. He was a member of The Jackson 5, a singing group composed of him and four of his brothers, from 1962 to 1975, where he was the second lead vocalist (after brother Michael) and played bass guitar. He sang the lead on some of their songs and had featured vocals on many others, including many of their biggest hits like “I’ll Be There” and “I Want You Back”. When the group left the Motown label and reformed as “The Jacksons”, Jermaine stayed with Motown, due to loyalty to Motown founder Berry Gordy, whose daughter he had married, and was replaced in the group by youngest brother Randy. He rejoined the group in 1983, and has remained with them since, through various breakups and reunions.

Jermaine also had a solo career concurrent with his brother Michael’s, and had a number of top 30 hits throughout the 1970s and 80s. He also produced and recorded duets with American singer Whitney Houston in her early years as a recording artist, and was a producer for the band Switch.

Jackson was born December 11, 1954 in Gary, Indiana, after his brother Tito Jackson. He is the fourth child born to Joseph and Katherine Jackson. His siblings are Rebbie, Jackie, Tito, La Toya, Marlon, Michael, Randy, and Janet. His father Joseph had musical aspirations, playing guitar with his brother’s band, The Falcons, and Katherine was a passionate pianist and singer. But their large family and lack of money ended their dreams with Katherine becoming a housewife, and Joseph, a steel worker at nearby Inland Steel Company in East Chicago, Indiana (his parents lived there before they moved to Gary in 1950). While his father worked long hours as a crane operator, Jermaine and his brothers, Tito and Jackie, secretly practiced their own songs using their father’s guitar. Jermaine became the original lead singer of the Jackson Brothers—an earlier incarnation of The Jackson Five until 1966, when younger brother (Michael Jackson) began singing lead. Jermaine would continue to provide some leads over the years. Jermaine graduated from Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California in 1973.

Jermaine and his brothers first signed as The Jackson Five with Gordon Keith of Steeltown Records in November 1967, and their first single “Big Boy”, was released on January 31, 1968. After the group recorded three more songs with the Steeltown label (on two records) they were signed with Berry Gordy of Motown Records in 1968 and 1969. As the co-lead singer of The Jackson 5 after his brother Michael, Jermaine sang notable parts of “I Want You Back”, “ABC”, “I’ll Be There”, “The Love You Save”, “Dancing Machine”, and many other Jackson 5 songs. Jermaine performed as part of the group for six years. Not feeling that they were being paid fair royalties by Motown Records for their success as well as their desire for creative control, the Jackson 5 decided to leave the label and sign with Epic Records in 1975. However, Jermaine decided to stay with Motown Records, citing loyalty to the company as the reason. Others argue that Jermaine’s marriage to Motown founder Berry Gordy’s daughter Hazel, whom he married in 1973, was the reason. Jermaine split from the Jackson 5 to start a solo career at Motown, and was replaced by his brother Randy Jackson. Unbeknownst to the group, Gordy had trademarked the name The Jackson Five and did not allow the group to continue using the name when they left the label. Once signed with Epic, the group became known as The Jacksons. Several years later, in 1983, Gordy asked the group to perform at the Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever television special. After the success of the broadcast, Jermaine rejoined the band to record the album Victory which featured all six brothers on The Jackson’s album cover. Jermaine also participated in the band’s Victory Tour. He stayed with the group for their final album, 2300 Jackson Street, in 1989. In 2001, he reunited with his brothers to perform for the 30th Anniversary Special.

Like Michael, Jermaine began a solo career while still a member of The Jackson 5, and had a hit with the 1972 Shep and the Limelites cover “Daddy’s Home”. It sold over one million copies by March 1973, and was awarded a gold disc. When The Jackson 5 left Motown, Jermaine left the group and stayed at Motown. Jermaine was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for his 1980 album Let’s Get Serious. He had a number of Billboard Top 30 hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s, including “Daddy’s Home” (#9), “That’s How Love Goes”, “Let’s Be Young Tonight”, “Bass Odyssey”, “Feel the Fire”, “Let Me Tickle Your Fancy” (featuring Devo on backing vocals) (#18), “Let’s Get Serious” (#9, also one of his only two UK hits, peaking at #8), “Dynamite” (#15), “Do What You Do” (#13), and “I Think It’s Love” (#16). A duet with his brother Michael, “Tell Me I’m Not Dreamin’ (Too Good to Be True)”, hit No. 1 on the dance chart in 1984. He and Michael also collaborated with Rockwell, both providing guest vocals on his 1984 hit single, “Somebody’s Watching Me”. In 1985, his duet with Pia Zadora, “When the Rain Begins to Fall”, topped several singles charts in Europe. His final chart success, 1989’s “Don’t Take It Personal”, hit #1 on the R&B singles chart. Some of Jermaine’s finest moments as a singer can be heard in the soulful “Castle of Sand” and the Earth Wind & Fire-inspired “You Need To Be Loved”.[13] Jackson is proficient on the electric guitar and is a talented bass guitar player. At an early age, he performed the parts of legendary bass player James Jamerson and others when the J5 performed live. Jermaine also composed and produced for other artists, such as Switch, and he produced and sang duets on Whitney Houston’s debut album for Arista Records.

Jackson has been married three times and has seven children. His first marriage was to Motown founder Berry Gordy’s daughter, Hazel Gordy, from 1973 until 1988. He has three children with Hazel: Jermaine La Juane “Jay” Jackson Jr., (born January 27, 1977), Autumn Joy Jackson (born July 10, 1978), and Jaimy Jackson (born March 17, 1987). Jermaine Jr. and his longtime girlfriend, Asa Soltan Rahmati, have a son, Soltan Jackson, born January 20, 2017.

Jackson was in a relationship with Margaret Maldonado from 1986 till 1993 that produced two sons: Jeremy Maldonado Jackson (born December 26, 1986), and Jourdynn Michael Jackson (born January 5, 1989).

Jackson, like the rest of his family, was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness. In 1989 he converted to Islam after a trip to Bahrain in which he was impressed by the local children’s devotion to their religion.

He began a relationship with Alejandra Genevieve Oaziaza while she was dating his younger brother Randy. He married Oaziaza on March 18, 1995, and the marriage lasted until May 19, 2003. They had two childreen: Jaafar Jackson (born July 25, 1996), and Jermajesty Jackson (born October 3, 2000).

In January 2004, Jackson met Halima Rashid while in line at Starbucks. In March 2004, he proposed to her and five months later they got married in a mosque in Los Angeles Rashid was arrested on November 28, 2015 in Los Angeles for alleged domestic violence. She was booked for felony corporal injury on a spouse by the Los Angeles Police Department. The charges were later dropped when prosecutors could not determine who the aggressor was. Rashid filed a petition for divorce on June 21, 2016 citing irreconcilable differences.

Jermaine supported his brother, Michael, during the 2005 child-abuse trial. He came to Michael’s defense on CNN’s Larry King Live and appeared with him in court on many occasions. On June 25, 2009, Jermaine held a press conference at Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and broke the news of Michael Jackson’s death to the media.

Written by Dianne Washington

Monique

Monique Angela Jackson (née Imes; born December 11, 1967), known professionally as Mo’Nique, is an American comedian and actress. She is best known for her role as Nikki Parker in the UPN series The Parkers while making a name as a stand-up comedian hosting a variety of venues, including Showtime at the Apollo. Mo’Nique transitioned to film with roles in such films as Phat Girlz, and Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins. In 2009, she received critical praise for her villainous role in the film Precious and won numerous awards including the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She hosted The Mo’Nique Show, a late-night talk show that premiered in 2009 on BET; it was cancelled in 2011.

Mo’Nique was born in Baltimore, Maryland, to Steven Imes, Jr., a drug counselor, and Alice Imes, an engineer. She is the youngest of four children: sister Millicent is her personal assistant; brother Steve is her manager. Mo’Nique graduated from Milford Mill High School in Baltimore County and attended Morgan State University. She is a 1987 graduate of the Broadcasting Institute of Maryland.

Before working in her chosen career, Mo’Nique worked as a phone operator. She got her start in comedy at the downtown Baltimore Comedy Factory Outlet, when her brother Steve dared her to perform at an open mic night.

Mo’Nique revealed during an interview with Essence magazine in 2008 that she was sexually abused by her brother, Gerald, from the age of seven until she was eleven. He went on to sexually abuse another girl and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. After her twin boys were born in 2005 she cut all contact with her brother and they have not spoken since.

On April 19, 2010, Mo’Nique’s brother admitted on Oprah to sexually abusing her and that the abuse continued for over several years. Her brother, who has struggled with substance abuse, was also abused himself by other family.

She played the role of Nicole “Nikki” Parker on the UPN television series The Parkers. The show ran from 1999 to 2004. Mo’Nique was subsequently featured on a number of leading stand-up venues, including stints on Showtime at the Apollo, Russell Simmons’ Def Comedy Jam, and Thank God You’re Here.

She was also named hostess of Showtime at the Apollo. She is currently the hostess and executive producer of Mo’Nique’s Fat Chance, a beauty pageant for plus-sized women, on the Oxygen cable network. She hosted the first season of Flavor of Love Girls: Charm School on VH1, where she crowned Saaphyri as the winner.

Her 2007 documentary I Coulda Been Your Cellmate!, focuses on women who are incarcerated. Mo’Nique touches on the common factors that bring many women into the penal system in her interviews with individual women. The documentary was related to her filming a comedy special at the Ohio Reformatory for Women, also known as The Farm. In 2007, Mo’Nique had a guest-starring role on the hit television series Ugly Betty as L’Amanda, Mode’s weekend security guard.

Mo’Nique starred in her own late-night talk show called The Mo’Nique Show. Taped in Atlanta, the show premiered October 5, 2009, on BET.

Written by Dianne Washington