Samples

Got 'Em in Lockdown
If Mayor Jordan has his way, Proposition L will amend the current youth curfew law with even stricter conditions, mandating that people under 18 be out of public places by 11 p.m. on weeknights and midnight on weekends. Violators would be detained at a central facility in the Western Addition. Unsurprisingly, such curfews have been historically enforced in a discriminatory manner, and do little, if anything, to lower the juvenile crime rate. "Youth should be given privileges, not have them taken away," says Michael O'Connor of Four Fingers and a Thumb (FFAAT), one of nine organizations in the Youth Uprising Coalition, which is organizing a march and rally on Friday, Nov. 3, at 3:30 p.m. from Yerba Buena Park to the Civic Center. "This is both to protest Proposition L and to promote the need for more positive spaces, such as 24-hour youth centers," O'Connor says. Midnight Voices, AK Black, Bored Stiff, Urban Soul, Q-Bert, and the Pirate DJs are scheduled to perform, and anti-L Supervisors Tom Ammiano and Angela Alioto have been invited to speak out against this obvious re-election ploy. Later that night Informal Nation, Massive Jazz, and Release join forces with Cream of Beat for a Willie Brown "voter awareness hip hop party" at 174 King; call 665-6715.

Rap Sheet
Hip hop culture is usually maligned as anti-social, but Rap Sheet's second annual Hip Hop Caucus, subtitled "Toward a Unified Hip Hop Nation," was overwhelmingly positive. Rappers, DJs, industry execs, journalists, and fans converged on the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood last week for a variety of seminars and music showcases and the prerequisite schmoozing. Panels touched on topics like radio, retail, and marketing; this writer participated in "Hip Hop Journalism 101," representing 4080 hip hop magazine among colleagues like Sheena Lester from RapPages, Tracii McGregor from URB, Adario Strange from The Source, and Mimi Valdes from Vibe. On the table were issues like balance and objectivity, the role of urban publications as the "protectors of hip hop," payola (the previous night one artist offered 4080 $5,000 for a cover -- refused, of course), and the separation of church and state -- editorial and advertising, that is. Among the rap celebrities in the house were Kool Keith of Ultra Magnetic MCs, JT the Bigga Figga, Get Low Playaz, and Chuck D, spotted taking notes at the "Media Assassins" panel. Performance highlights came via Smif-N-Wessun, Ice Cube, and Group Home. Meanwhile, the elderly tourists who chose the Roosevelt because of its proximity to the Hollywood Walk of Fame were buggin' to see a legion of b-boys and -girls in hoodies and Timbos hanging out for four days.

By Billy Jam, Eric K. Arnold