What the BLEEP happened to Hip Hop?

“They mine metals for the phones killing trees for the loose leaf
I write raps on both to tell you what it do, g”

-- Mike Wird, Soul Pros, Regenerative Lifestyles and Hip Hop Congress

Do you know what the 1996 Telecommunications Act and how has it influenced culture in the United States?

Have you ever heard of Lyric Committees, and the story of how record labels try to control artists money?

Why haven't artists truly been successful in organizing as a labor force when so many of them are working in our schools, youth centers, prisons and organizations?

And most importantly, what the (bleep) happened to Hip Hop?

Hip Hop Congress and Move to Amend and are partnering to present “What the Bleep Happened to Hip Hop?”, a public education campaign seeking to raise awareness of the dangerous power corporations currently wield over the hip hop industry specifically, and over our society in general.

We invite you to join us on March 14 and 15, 2015 when this unique collaboration arrives in Houston. On Saturday, we will have educational panels and participatory conversations, with an artists showcase that evening. We will close with a People's Movement Assembly on Sunday afternoon that connects to the United States Social Forum.

The cultural terrain of society is a crucial battlefront in the struggle for social justice. Culture retains its dynamism by reflecting and creating consciousness. Exploitation and oppression have always been synonymous with popular culture, from D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation to the struggle of the media justice movement in the late 90's. The United States of America, long heralded as a melting pot, has also been acknowledged as virtual factory for the commodification of culture and the production of a facsimile of culture that greatly resembles the McDonald's of thought, art, music, and humanity.

Hip Hop Congress is an international grassroots organization dedicated to evolving hip hop culture by inspiring social action and creativity within the community. Move to Amend is a national campaign to amend the US Constitution to abolish the court-created legal doctrines of corporate constitutional rights and the legal premise that money equals speech. Both organizations are explicitly committed to anti-racist and feminist organizing principles, and challenge us to organize, create and assert our humanity.

For more information on the agenda, locations, times, or to RSVP for the Educational Forum or the PMA, go to the Facebook event page and register via e-mail contacts there.

Musical artists include Don Claude, Mic Crenshaw, Shamako Noble, Faithful Five, and others.  Open Mic and Cypher.

#WhatTheBleep Happened to Hip Hop? is brought to you by Hip Hop Congress, Move to Amend, Global Fam.org, Houston Peace & Justice Center, Healthy Habitz, S.H.A.P.E. Community Center, Multi-Media Center, Harris County Green Party, For Our House at Project Row Houses, Civil Rights Law Society, Thurgood Marshall School of Law and The US Social Forum.

TMF blames losing SD-26 on GOP, TLR

And shows -- or at least tells -- his math.  QR, full graphic effect.

As Menendez is sworn in, TMF argues the new Democratic senator was elected by Republicans

“It seems Republicans were really worried about Democrats sending the strongest voice to the State Senate…”

In what may be a sign of things to come in Alamo City politics over the next 18 months, Rep. Trey Martinez Fisher, D-San Antonio, called the victory of his opponent in the recent special election runoff “bizarre” and said it was driven by Republicans. He noted big GOP turnout in the race won by Sen. Jose Menedez in the heavily Democratic district formerly represented by Leticia Van de Putte.

Menendez, also a Democrat, was sworn in as Senator on Wednesday.

Prior to that, Rep. Martinez Fisher took to his campaign website to say that "while most folks know I lost the runoff election for state senate by 4,253 votes, many didn’t know that 6,307 consistent Republican primary voters voted in the runoff." A "consistent voter is someone who voted in 2, if not all 3, Republican primaries in 2014, 2012 and 2010,” Martinez Fisher explained.

“What is even more bizarre than 6,307 consistent Republican primary voters getting involved in a race between two Democrats, is that there were 2,000 more votes cast by Republicans in the February runoff than in the January special election when there were actually 2 Republican candidates in the race,” he said.

Charles has already spent a good bit of effort teasing out these numbers -- and knocking down this premise fairly quickly -- so since he's the expert in these things, I'll defer to his wisdom and simply guess that when he weighs in tomorrow Friday morning we can put this deal back to bed.

Should TMF have a case for winning fair and square, it's in a Democratic primary and not a jungle one.  He can probably beat Menendez that way, and win a fall election when the seat comes up again (in 2016, it appears).  It does sound a little sour-grapey for him to be complaining on the day of Menendez's swearing-in, so I would expect to see that grudge match happen again in two years.