News

Say Hello to Truck & P.O.R.N., KITH Interview, Prague Posse Cut, Sharpton Leads the Fight, Immortal Technique Chimes In, Taz’ Obama Vid, Tanya Morgan on iTunes.

• We know you’ve been asking “Who exactly are P.O.R.N. and Truck North, both featured on Rising Down?” You’ve heard about them before, possibly seen Truck perform live with The Legendary- but who are these mysterious Philadelphia rappers? We’ve got the answers! Get to know P.O.R.N. and Truck in our exclusive interview with the guys, and find out how they linked up with The Roots, what their experience has been like, and what we can expect from them in the future.

Here are two bonus cuts featuring each artist. First is the Noize Trip produced “Carolina” which ended up on Okayplayer years ago via Black Thought’s myspace page followed by a way old (yet exclusive) demo from P.O.R.N. which we thought would be a good place to start when getting introduced to his solo isht.

Black Thought & Truch Noth ft. Dice Raw - “Carolina”

P.O.R.N. - “I Don’t Give A F*ck” (old, yet exclusive)

• OKP gets down with the Kidz. Excited about their new release, The In Crowd, Kidz In The Hall’s Naledge and Double-O talk shop with Okayplayer’s Mel Blunt for an exclusive interview. Read about their feelings on the new album, the guest choices they made, and how they got down with Duck Down.

• This freestyle session is straight fire right here. At a show in Prague fans bared witness as MC’s Royce Da 5′9, Little Brother, Planet Asia, J-Ro, Nironic and many more who passed the mic around for a 15 minute freestyle session.

• Yesterday Al Sharpton, Nicole Bell, and dozens of others were arrested for peaceful civil disobedience at the “pray ins” organized strategically around New York City. Intended to “slow down” the city and to raise awareness about the injustice surrounding the Sean Bell verdict, these pray-ins forced the question: What kind of government do we have that can take peaceful protesters to jail, but let the murderers of Sean Bell go free? Listen to what Amanda Diva has to say on the subject, and then give it up to Nicole Bell who is Diva’s “Supa-Woman” of the week.

• As the weeks go on since the verdict, many members of the Hip-Hop community have taken a stand against this injustice. Immortal Technique has started a blog entry for Police brutality victims to help the cause. According to sohh, the stories will be sent to congress to raise awareness of police crimes. I’m sure these guys in Philly should have a story to contribute. Immortal Technique’s third solo album The 3rd World is due out this June. Much respect to Technique for putting this initiative together, and all others who have been doing more than just talking (or rapping.)

• Sa-Ra’s Taz Arnold dropped this Vote For Obama video recently. We’re feeling the vid, but not so sure about the song! Either way, glad he’s getting behind the cause, along with his celeb buddies in the vide, Kanye, Jay-Z, and more.

• Tanya Morgan’s 9 track EP The Bridge is now available on itunes. Go cop that now to hold you over ’till June 17th when the physical copies will be available.

-shamz, gingerlynn, & dantana