If you’ve got the gift of prose or shutterbugging, Louisville, KY-based and Barry Hankerson-owned urban magazine Inferno is looking for a few good writers to report on the scenes in their particular regions. Inferno goes national with its distribution as of Jul. 1. Submit queries and resumes to editor Latasha Smith at lsmith@infernomag.com, or phone (502) 500-5148.
The “American Battleground” DMC/Technics turntable competition for the Mountain State region will be Jun. 16 at the Fox Theater, in Boulder, CO next to the University of Colorado campus. Judging will be conducted by the three-member panel of DJ’s Roc Raida, Craze, and Infamous. The trio will also showcase their skills, along with host Rass Kass. To register for the DJ battle, (212) 777-6676. Sign up for the B-kid and MC battles for state supremacy by phoning (303) 575-1212.
If you’re not getting enough strictly underground hip-hop on the Internet, try the Lindenhurst, IL-based search engine Hip-Hop Quest
(hiphopquest.com). Besides links several underground sites, it also carries concert and recorded music reviews, some hip-hop news, and message boards. No fancy eye candy though, but then it’s geared toward literate hip-hopheads. Email them your news and press releases at john@hiphopquest.com.
Some of the coldest Midwestern hip-hop will featured on the 12-city Live Lyrics Tour that will begin Jun. 19 in Chicago and end Jun. 30 in New York City. Midwestern headliners will include Michigan acts Prhyme Numbers, Sun, One Man Army of Binary Star, Artfull Dodgers, Young Bastards and Chicago mic-controllers O-Type Star and Juice. For more information, visit thes.com or email sbwoy@aol.com.
Speaking of the Waterworld, as the Wolverine state is known in hip-hop, the True Skool party is bringing back the true meaning of hip-hop from 10 p.m.-2 a.m. every Thursday at Detroit Times Square (1431 Times Square St.). For the bargain basement admission of $5 a head, you can feast on talent from some of the hungriest and most accomplished mic-controllers and turntable maestros, including resident DJ’s Heavy, who spins in the hip-hop room, and Steelo, who presides over the jungle room. Also grab more details a thes.com or sbwoy@aol.com.
The Ohio-Pennsylvania-San Diego-New York City crew Wanna Battle is organizing a crew compilation LP and peace concerts to raise funds for victims of the Cincinnati rioting triggered by the slaying of an unarmed teen in the city’s inner-city Over-The-Rhine neighborhood during a chase over warrants for unpaid traffic tickets. Visit wannabattle.com for information on both projects or on contributing to the cause.
If you’re in the quad state Wisillianagan region—from Milwaukee to around Benton Harbor, MI—and want to preserve your hip-hop scene’s memories for prosperity, you might want to holler at Raymond Codrington, a post-doctoral degree fellow at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago. Through the Field Museum and the Columbia College Center for Arts Policy, Codrington is studying hip-hop as an informal art. Email rcodrington@fieldmuseum.org, phone (321) 665-7476, or snail mail 1400 S. Lake Shore Dr., Chicago, IL 60605-2496.
MARK FITZGERALD ARMSTRONG
11706 SOUTH THROOP STREET
CHICAGO, IL 60643
markarmystrong62@aol.com
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