Hawdwerk & Jansport J High Power Moves album:  hawdwerkjansportj.bandcamp.com
Hawdwerk Off The Clock mixtape:  hawdwerk.bandcamp.com

Hawdwerk & Jansport J — “Computer”

Twitter:

@Hawdwerk

@JansportJ

No One

No One consists of Dae One and Noni Spitz.  Featuring Hawdwerk and Jansport J.

the Presubstance mixtape http://noone.bandcamp.com
the Substance album is coming soon october

Twitter:

@daeone
@nonispitz

Blakface

Blakface consists of Funk Logik & Kaleem Sincere Wasif

Blaktastic Vol. 1 mixtape http://blakface.bandcamp.com
The Blakface album Past Due is being released Sept. 21, new single “Miscommunication” out Labor Day under Cov Original Music, LLC

Twitter:

@funklogik

@kaleemwasif

@covoriginal

Blakface is a group which consist of 2nd Cousins, Kaleem (Sincere) Walif and (Funk) Logik.This most recent project BLAKTASTIC VOL.1 is a collection of smooth tracks with soulful grooves, slick rhymes and has a bit of a ’90s feel to it. This mixtape takes you on a tour from relationships and summer jams to common topics of late, including the current state of hip-hop and the rebirth that’s evolving in the hip-hop cultural. This project features top producers such as elite producer “Jansport J”, UK Monster “Josh G the Jass Kat”, L.A. underground sensation “Dj Rokem” and Mike “Latterborn” Wofford just to name a few. With lyrical appearances from “Poetik Force”, and “Avi the most ill”, the lavish and diverse featured appearances never over shadows the track. Blakface is a group of high quality artists that make excellent music.

This is a screengrab of the company’s website to be posted tomorrow in conjunction with the Apple press conference, wherein Apple is expected to announce an immediate solution to their loyal customers, who once brought the company back from the brink of oblivion:

Upon news of the iPhone 4 patch, Apple shares went up 8% to $252.20.

YES on Proposition 15, for Clean Elections.

This proposition does two significant things: It starts a pilot program wherein candidates for Secretary of State for California in 2014 and 2018 will have the option of accepting public funds for their race instead of seeking donations. Contrary to what many of these mailers have been repeating, these funds are not from taxpayers. Where does the money come from? Lobbyists. The current state fees for lobbyists to register to be able to collect money to affect elected officials is cheaper than it is to apply to college. This prop will make California lobbyists registration fees closer to (but still not as much as) the cost of auto registration in California. 

The other significant thing this proposition does is repeal a ban on public funded elections that was inserted into California law years ago. Many incumbents, regardless of party, will want to stay in power and continue accepting large cash from the concerns that have business matters being decided by the State Assembly, so why mess up the status quo of quid pro quo? Outgoing Governor Schwarzenegger saw fit to include this on the ballot after years of this proposal being ignored in Sacramento, and it may well be the only improvement he brings to the gridlock in state politics, the sworn enemy which managed to devour his time in office.

NO on Proposition 16, the Gift to Pacific Gas & Electric

This proposition requires a 2/3 approval of the ENTIRE STATE OF CALIFORNIA to force Pacific Gas & Electric to allow any competition in the marketplace, or expand services to new territories, as opposed to elected government officials being sufficient authority. California is in its celebrated state of dysfunction because of old laws on the books that require two thirds of the state to agree on anything to make it law. The budget crisis in California lingers on because over 60% of the California Assembly has to placate the minority opposition on everything. Why stop there, Pacific Gas & Electric? Why not require 99% voter approval to make you lower your rates to be more affordable, and require an in-person headcount with your utility bill in hand to make the vote legit?

Let’s look at this line of reasoning another way, when huge energy concerns get to preemptively use the elections for legal cover: say some negligent utility concern did something unbelievably careless and destructive, like killed some workers and began leaking tens of millions of gallons of crude oil onto our coastline. While this crisis is still unfolding, we could have our elected officials ride rough shod on these tycoons who prefer to downplay disaster daily, OR, we could set a future date to go to the polls and send out mailers to everyone in the state of California meant to confuse them into voting to let the oil keep gushing into the water.  Sarah Palin might even swing through and let everyone know how the anti-drilling environmentalists obviously caused such an oil spill, and with her comes news cameras and angry people who will protest anything if they get to wear a tri-corner hat. And then our local crisis has become a talking point for cable news trying to play the eternal horse game of who is ahead, Democrats or Republicans, not that either side will do much different, anyway.

Pacific Gas & Electric has spent over $46 million to get you to vote for their monopoly in our elections. The Prop 16 opposition, who does not get money from every single resident in the state, has spent closer to $300,000.

When just anyone can get a proposition on the ballot, you will get the corporate shills eager to impress their employers, who would have had us celebrating Enron Day. Likewise, when the one shot in a long time comes around to take the ‘Pay to Play’ out of elections and make candidates have to listen to the voters, not their donors, you can expect the same corporate free for all in misleading election mailings.

With the SEC lawsuit and $25 million settlement with Diebold, as well as its investigation of three top Diebold executives, there are still numerous investigations into the legitimacy of Diebold being able to sell off their voting machines division, Premier Election Solutions, to their only other competitor, Election Systems & Software (ES&S), thereby creating a voting machine maker monopoly.

If Diebold’s top leadership has been found by federal investigators to be guilty of inflating their profits, is it unreasonable to be able to ask if their number-crunching company approach has carried into their administration of numerous elections that have long stood out as dubious?

For too long, Max Cleland has not been vindicated for losing his U.S. Senate seat in Georgia in 2002, amid suspect results in a bitter election that included his Republican opponent attacking the decorated war veteran and triple amputee for being soft on terrorism. Chris Hood, a former elections technician for Diebold, spoke to Velvet Revolution to identify his role in applying a “patch” on election night in Georgia in 2002 under direction from the Diebold president.

Even after elections have been called and conceded, their problems need to be investigated, and laws need to be enforced.

The irregularities on Diebold machines widely reported throughout Ohio in the 2004 presidential election led me to explore and document Diebold’s role in how secure our vote tabulation is, and how they received such significant contracts with states in the first place in my election film FREE FOR ALL! The electronic voting machines documentary Hacking Democracy investigated how vulnerable these machines are, and how determined Diebold was to cover up their faulty process rather than improve transparency.

So is it so surprising that Diebold, the one-time protector of America’s votes, is the kind of company that would leave kinda sensitive stuff lying around a hotel lobby recently in their home state Ohio, like tech specs for getting in and out of their ATM machines, as well as decals that would let you pimp your ride to look like an official Diebold employee?

There’s a whole book of ATM specs, but I hesitate to share more, since Diebold could try to screw me like they did Stephen Heller, the Diebold Whistleblower (described here in the election integrity doc Uncounted) , who as a legal temp came across documents proving Diebold’s intent to mislead the California Secretary of State about improvements to their voting machines. Heller alerted the media and Diebold was exposed, and their voting machines were dropped by the California Secretary of State, who also referred Diebold for criminal charges. Unfortunately for Heller, he was prosecuted by the District Attorneys office and had to pay $10,000 in damages for violating attorney-client privilege.

So, in advance, I have some Diebold money to pay them with, which was also laying around this Ohio hotel lobby after a recent Diebold sales conference, presumably used to demonstrate how securely their machines protect Monopoly money:

Seeing as how Wally O’Dell, who as Diebold president infamously promised to deliver Ohio for George W. Bush in a 2004 Republican fund raising letter, will have to pay $470,000 personally in damages, here is some incentive to do your business with Diebold, who clearly needs to boost their sales if they have just been convicted for lying about them for years:

In this video, emcee/producer Oddisee explains Diamond District’s musical goals, and the group performs their album’s opening song, “Streets Won’t Let Me Chill.” Insisting on getting the small gathering hyped, Oddisee leads those present in call and response during the song, rather amusingly.

Oddisee, the group’s producer and one of Diamond District’s three emcees, explains that the juxtaposition of the poorest neighborhoods and the richest centers of power makes for “a terrible combination.” Nonetheless, he asserted that having traveled the country and around the world, the D.C. area is still one of the best places to be African-American. At Diamond District’s performance the previous evening at the Self-Help Graphics Center on Caesar Chavez in East L.A., Oddisee introduced himself to the audience as part Arab, part Black.

D.C.’s diverse music scene has been known in the past for Hard Core or Go-Go, and home to such multi-genre masters as Thievery Corporation. The array of cultures and sounds is a theme throughout Oddisee’s layered arrangements and moody composition on the Diamond District tracks, and Oddisee openly aspires to the ranks of the late J Dilla, the innovative and influential DJ/emcee. Oddisee Music has put out several solo rap albums, an album of beat instrumentals akin to DJ Dimitri from Paris or DJ Shadow, as well as produced with other local artists.

Diamond District is a collaboration of Oddisee with emcees yU and XO, backed by DJ Quartermaine, all of whom are independently prolific solo artists. Their collective effort is an earnest attempt to revive the sound of early Hip Hop, a styled once termed “Boom Bap” by KRS-ONE for the classic old school rhythm comprised of a booming bass line, complimented by a bumping cymbal/snare sound.

Diamond District’s socially conscious lyrics are a welcome relief from the played-out materialism of mainstream rap, removed from thuggery and overindulgence. Their rhymes and alliteration, punctuated with a staccato flow, carve dense portraits of scrapping to get by, direct outrage at corrupt powers, and map out their disciplines and dreams, while asserting their love of soul music with vigor. Their voices seem bigger than their years, their flows sharpened with a DC-area drawl, and their delivery confident and charismatic.

At this in-store performance in West Hollywood, this group that has traveled the world nonetheless warmed to the inauspicious setting as their introduction to the entertainment capital of the world. Oddisee even ripped on his DJ, Quartmaine, for being a Cancer-Leo cusp, a pretty L.A. thing to do. Though their debut album In The Ruff has only been out a few weeks, several in the crowd knew it well enough to request songs and sing along.

This video is the performance of Diamond District’s single off In the Ruff, “I Mean Business.” A mantra to discipline and ambition, the song features a hook from Gang Starr, a knowing homage, released before the untimely passing of Guru.

Diamond District aspires to the integrity and artistry of Black Star, the classic collaboration between Mos Def and Talib Kweli released over a decade ago, and they work it like they are determined to prove themselves worthy heirs to the cause.

http://diamonddistrictdmv.com
http://oddisee.bandcamp.com
http://twitter.com/oddisee
http://twitter.com/yuthe78er
http://twitter.com/thequartermaine

Yalamanchili will now challenge U.S. Representative Jean Schmidt in November for her House seat. While the political establishment has already taken a dim view of his chances, Yalamanchili has already exceeded expectations in winning the party nomination, and has the networking ability you might expect from someone who worked at LinkedIn. Besides, he was on “The Apprentice,” and those people are hard-core.

Here is Surya’s speech Tuesday night upon hearing that his opponent David Krikorian had conceded the election.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Krikorian’s remarks at a campaign event last week with veterans in Clermont County struck one attendee as racially insensitive in how Krikorian referred to his opponent for the Democratic nomination, Surya Yalamanchili. That attendee then wrote a letter to the current representative for Ohio’s 2nd District, Jean Schmidt, concerned that Krikorian had suggested to the audience that Yalamanchili could not get elected in the Second District of Ohio because of his name.

Jean Schmidt then took the surprising step of writing a letter to David Krikorian, deploring his conduct and intolerant attitude. Her public reprimand was quickly joined by similar letters to Krikorian from David Lane, Chair of the Clermont County Democratic Party, Tim Burke, Chair of the Hamilton County Democratic Party, and Chris Redfern, Chair of the Ohio Democratic Party. Such a broad condemnation for a candidate less than a week before the primary election is virtually unprecedented, according to people who have been in Ohio politics for decades.

In this exclusive sit-down interview with The Huffington Post, David Krikorian takes the opportunity to respond to Keith Olbermann for naming Krikorian the “Worst Person in the World,” as well as hit back at those who had singled him out, particularly Ohio party leaders. In the interest of fairness, their responses to several of Krikorian’s charges have been included in this video, as this debate has intensified in recent days and devolved into further internal party conflict. In as much as conflicting accounts can allow, this report from the Ohio campaign trail is intended to illuminate Ohio voters amidst a local political dust-up, and also satisfy onlookers observing the cultural sensitivities of Southern Ohio.

These profiles from the Ohio campaign trail are for my upcoming documentary on campaign reform, PAY 2 PLAY.

These profiles from the Ohio campaign trail are a chance for candidates to get their message out in a way they might not be able to otherwise, in consideration of the obstacles and considerable expense required to run for office. No endorsement is implied by the inclusion of any of the candidates in this series.

Democratic Primary for U.S. House of Representatives: Ohio’s 2nd District

This coming Tuesday, May 4th, Ohioans vote in their primary elections for national and statewide offices. Ohio has long been romanticized as a microcosm of America and a bellwether for national politics. Yet primary elections are a pivotal point in our democratic process, and it often goes ignored by the media and the public, even on the local level. Supporting a candidate early on can make a real impact, as money and momentum are much harder to come by before winning the nomination.

Ohio’s 2nd District is currently represented by Republican Jean Schmidt, first elected in 2005 in a special election running against Paul Hackett, a race that drew national attention–Hackett, a Marine having just returned from Fallujah, ran as an anti-war Democrat. His narrow loss suggested that a reliably conservative district stretched across Southern Ohio could one day be in play for Democrats. While the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) has eyed Rep. Schmidt’s House seat as vulnerable over the past election cycles, Schmidt has nonetheless survived.

This Democratic Primary brings three candidates who look to challenge Rep. Schmidt for her House seat. In the interest of providing an equitable platform, here are video introductions from the candidates, along with their websites, so that they can speak for themselves, without having to pay for it.

Surya “Chili” Yalamanchili
(www.votechili.com)

David Krikorian
(www.ilikedave.org)

Jim Parker
(http://JimPARKER4ad.blogspot.com/)

Follow the progress of the film PAY 2 PLAY at www.johnennis.tv

On Saturday, Sarah Palin urged her supporters to “stop” cars with Obama stickers and confront them with her sarcastic cutsey catchphrase, “How’s that hopey-changey thing working out for you?” (Road rage encouraged at 3:30)

Sarah Palin has already defended her violent rhetoric lately accompanying the crosshairs on her Facebook page “targeting” Democratic Congressional candidates, and now she is basically telling her followers to self-righteously stop traffic and confront drivers of cars with Obama stickers on them—particularly a ‘Subaru’ for some reason?  Not VWs or Toyotas?  What an easy hipster target missed by the debutante demagogue.   And who can go by old bumper stickers on cars for accountability for anything?  I still see those sad Kerry/Edwards stickers on cars around town, and I think, “Why?”  (Although, admittedly, all those W stickers I used to see on the highways did go away fast.)