FAIR News- The Other Side of Hip Hop - May 20-26

Hip Hop News these days is either often about who got arrested, locked down and shot down. But beyond controversial lyrics, violence, sexism and the latest media scapegoating, Hip Hop makes news that doesn't get top billing. This week May 20-26. Stylin' Up in Australia: Hip Hop Festival "down under" combats social ills and celebrates indigenous roots. Long Island Feminist Hip Hop trio Northern State getting their due.





In Australia the Mob's Gone Hip Hop
By Kathleen Noonan
May 26, 2007

HERE'S the word. Crime is down in Inala, school attendance is up, fewer kids are causing trouble on the streets and it's all because of a hip-hop festival. Cynics may scoff: It's just a hip-hop festival, and not a miracle, they'd say. But miracles come in strange packages. If you want to see one in action, head to the grassy field at the C.J. Greenfields sports complex in Inala today.

There, more than 15,000 people will gather from as far away as Cape York for Stylin' Up, an annual indigenous hip-hop and R&B festival – the largest in Australia of its kind. Stylin' Up is, in short, a bit of black magic.

Music festivals anywhere are hard events to put on, notorious for infighting, politics and bureaucracy that often lead to their downfall. Yet, in its seventh year, Stylin' Up has defied the critics.

Read full article: In Australia the Mob's Gone Hip Hop

Fem Hop You Haven't Heard," An Interview with Northern State
Written by Rob Levy

The ever present NYC hype machine kicked into full gear, creating a buzz and getting Northern State some attention.

There is nothing marginal or gimmicky about Northern State. They are Long Island’s talented, savvy, whipsmart trio of female MCs who now do their thing in New York City. Northern State is Spero (AKA Guinea Love), Hesta Prynn and DJ Sprout. The force of their beats and the passion of their rhymes have led to them being christened as forerunners of a new sub genre, “fem hop.” Although this could be written off as yet another useless moniker laid out by The Man, there is some truth in the genre. Northern State are bringing a loud, intelligent, urgent femininity to hip-hop at a time when it needs something new.

Read full article: Fem Hop You Haven't Heard