NBA All-Stars LeBron James, Dwight Howard, More Talk Hoops, Hip-Hop

Hip-hop and sports are practically kindred spirits, especially when it comes to basketball. At this year's NBA All-Star Weekend, a number of hoop stars, and the wife of one player in particular, wholeheartedly agreed with this observation.

"They always say all rappers want to be basketball players, [and] all basketball players want to be rappers," La La Vazquez, wife of New York Knick Carmelo Anthony and ex-MTV VJ, told MTV News.

Over the years, a number of NBA players have actually become rappers on the side. Besides four championships — three with the Los Angeles Lakers, one with the Miami Heat — Shaquille O'Neal also managed to release four albums. The first, 1993's Shaq Diesel, went platinum and the third, 1996's You Can't Stop the Reign, featured a pair of verses from the Notorious B.I.G. on its title track. More recently, L.A. Laker Ron Artest has embarked on a rap career, while his teammate Kobe Bryant once kicked rhymes on R&B singer Brian McKnight's "Hold Me."

Not every player necessarily has rap dreams to go along with their hoop dreams, though.

"Every player except me wants to be a rapper," said Dwight Howard of the NBA's Orlando Magic. "I don't want to do the rap thing."

Howard did add though about his fellow NBA stars, "We love music. We love hip-hop and we support it."

LeBron James, who is famously and charitably good friends with Jay-Z, mentioned how basketball players are frequently name-checked in song. For example, on Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind," the MC rhymes, "Jesus paying LeBron, I'm paying Dwyane Wade."

This synergy between players and rappers ultimately boils down to mutual respect.

"We all came from nothing," Boston Celtic Kevin Garnett told us. "The appreciation factor for each other, the fact you gotta grind and work hard to get where you at, it's similar. It's a very similar industry."

Garnett's teammate and fellow All-Star Rajon Rondo added, "We respect those guys the way they respect us. It kind of goes hand in hand. Rappers love to come see us play. We love to see them perform."

What do you think of the ongoing love between hip-hop and hoops? Sound off in the comments!

View the original article here

Read more...

Rhymefest Explains How Hip-Hop Career Helps Him In Politics

Move over, Barack Obama and Rahm Emanuel, there's a new face in Chicago politics. And it's probably not who you'd expect.

Rapper Che "Rhymefest" Smith, the Kanye West protégé whose collaboration on "Jesus Walks" earned the pair a Grammy in 2004, is knee-deep in a hotly contested race for the Chicago City Council. The artist received 20 percent of Tuesday's vote against incumbent Willie Cochran, forcing a runoff election for the alderman seat representing the city's 20th Ward.

A lifelong Chicago resident who grew up with West on the city's troubled South Side, 'Fest seems an unlikely political candidate, but the artist contends his musical career outside the political system makes him an ideal choice to be a councilman.

"We could talk on a hip-hop level and we can talk on a community level," Smith told MTV News. "On a hip-hop level, we rappers are always talking about 'hood credibility; we're more 'hood than the next artist is, but what are we really doing to make our community safer, to make people be able to have employment in our communities? We're living under tyrannical conditions. So as an artist, what can I do more than a song-and-dance for the community that has bought my records?"

The artist pointed to such factors as high unemployment and prison recidivism as key issues in his campaign, stating that his experience in the music industry has given him the skills necessary not only to help legislate, but to directly improve the lives of the citizens in his community.

"I think the great thing about the position I'm running for in city council is, unlike a president or a senator, we're on the ground," he said. "We're in the community. We get to [be] hands-on with the people every day. And I think that's where it starts. ... So what would I do as an advocate and legislator for the community? I'd begin with entrepreneur programs. As a brand -- Rhymefest -- and being in the industry, I can teach people how to market and promote and start their own businesses."

Like politicians who bring in celebrity donors to get out the vote, Smith has been able to rely on his own stable of high-profile names to help with his campaign. And he's issuing a call for other hip-hop notables to join his cause.

"[Kanye] helped with his generous donation," Smith said. "He helped to fund my whole field operation on Election Day. Lupe Fiasco helped to pay for hundreds of turkeys where we went door-to-door for Thanksgiving Day. Brother Ali stepped up. [But] Talib Kweli, Common: I need you. I'm asking for the so-called conscious, positive rappers to join me, to help us resurrect all our communities, starting with the 20th Ward in Chicago. I put down the mic to help save a community, and I need the positive rappers to come out too."

Rhymefest's burgeoning political career will face its strongest test when the runoff election is held April 5. But whatever happens, the artist will continue to push for change within his community. "One of the problems that's plaguing America is the individualism attitude," he said. "We really have to step up and be a village again."

What do you think of Rhymefest's political career? Let us know in the comments!

View the original article here

Read more...

Justin Bieber, Eminem Grammy Snubs Prompt Open Letter From Hip-Hop Brand Manager

Ad man, brand manager and occasional consigliere to many of hip-hop's most powerful stars, marketing mogul Steve Stoute took out a full page ad in Sunday's New York Times Style Section blasting the Grammy Awards, its parent organizational, The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS), and its president, Neil Portnow, for what he feels is both increasing irrelevance and possible malfeasance.

"Over the course of my 20-year history as an executive in the music business and as the owner of a firm that specializes in in-culture advertising, I have come to the conclusion that the Grammy Awards have clearly lost touch with contemporary popular culture," he wrote in the ad, which took the form of an open letter. "The awards show has become a series of hypocrisies and contradictions, leaving me to question why any contemporary popular artist would even participate."

In particular, Stoute focused on the relatively recent snubs of Eminem, Kayne West, and Justin Bieber, all musicians he believes have been unfairly beaten for awards by inferior artistic and commercial acts.

"We must acknowledge the massive cultural impact of Eminem and Kanye West and how their music is shaping, influencing and defining the voice of a generation," Stoute wrote of the two hip-hop superstars, adding of Bieber, "How is it that Justin Bieber, an artist that defines what it means to be a modern artist, did not win Best New Artist?"

While acknowledging in his letter that the most popular acts aren't always deserving of awards simply on the basis of their commercial success, of particular focus for Stoute is the seeming dichotomy between musicians the award ceremony chooses to honor and musicians the ceremony asks to perform.

"While these very artists that the public acknowledges as being worthy of their money and fandom are snubbed year after year at the Grammys, the awards show has absolutely no qualms in inviting these same artists to perform," he wrote. "Interesting that the Grammys understands cultural relevance when it comes to using Eminem's, Kayne West's or Justin Bieber's name in the billing [but not when handing out trophies]."

Not content to simply attribute these gaps to the general irrelevance or ignorance of the NARAS voters, Stoute goes on to suggest that performances are scheduled much more cynically and crassly, citing this year's Best Album winner Arcade Fire as an example of an act too serendipitous to be coincidental.

"What truly inspired the writing of this letter was that this most recent show fed my suspicions. As the show was coming to a close and just prior to presenting the award for Album of the Year, Arcade Fire performed 'Month of May' only to, surprise, win the category and, in a moment of sheer coincidence, happened to be prepared to perform 'Ready to Start'," he wrote. "Does the Grammys intentionally use artists for their celebrity, popularity and cultural appeal when they already know the winners and then program a show against this expectation?"

According to the official website of the Grammys, it would be impossible for anyone to know the winners of the various awards before the show, as they are delivered in sealed envelopes to the presenters by Deloitte Accounting.

The winners themselves are determined by several rounds of submission and voting, starting with a screening process where 150 "experts" ensure "that each entry is placed in its proper category."

From there, nomination ballots are sent out. Voters are encouraged to vote only in their area of expertise in addition to the four general categories, incidentally the same categories Stoute has the most problems with: Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Best New Artist.

The top five vote getters from this process are listed as the official nominees. Finally, ballots are sent out with the new, limited choices to determine a winner.

Not good enough, Stoute says, believing this system is possibly ripe for being corrupted.

"The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences hides behind the 'peer' voting system to escape culpability for not even rethinking this approach," he writes. "You are being called to task at this very moment, NARAS."

Representatives from NARAS have not responded to MTV's request for comment by press time.

View the original article here

Read more...