I can’t help it. I love Alicia Keys. Her videos are thoughtfully created, and always tell a story. Cheers to the musicians who still contribute art and vision to the increasingly lame music video platform.

Yesterday, Huff Post compiled a baffling list of the “The World’s Most Bizarre Man-Made Disasters,” that’ll make you wanna slap your forehead. From a hot pool of sulfuric mud that’s expected to gush for another 30 years, to entire towns condemned thanks to toxic water, strip mining, and radioactive explosions. Each of these locations represent the extreme consequences of drilling, mining, and wasting, but like those Russian dolls, this complex issue has so many layers. There are other places just like these across the globe that go undocumented and unseen–they may not be considered the Most Bizarre, but they’re harmful nonetheless. Who knows that effect the current oil spill in the Gulf will have on the region, but maybe this time we’ll wise up?

In the desert in Turkmenistan is a hole 328 ft. wide that has been on fire, continuously, for 38 years. In 1971, a Soviet drilling rig accidentally punched into a massive underground natural gas cavern, causing the ground to collapse and the entire drilling rig to fall in. Poisonous fumes began leaking from the hole. To head off a potential deadly catastrophe, the Soviets set the hole aflame.

See the rest of the list here. 

OoooWeeeeee!

This music feels so good. “Onwu Ama Dike” by St. Augustine & His Rovers Dance Band is the work-while-grinding-in-your-seat song of the day. This track was pulled from the compilation album, Nigeria Special: Modern Highlife, Afro-Sounds, and Nigerian Blues 1970-6, and is just one of many joyous songs featured on this two-disk dance fest. 

Here’s some background info, and a writer’s take. If you don’t already have this album, hurry up and join the party.

Sometimes space is limited when illustrating stories on the site. You just have to pick the best images, do a little Photoshop action, and move on.

The solution? Set up a Flickr page! 

Now you can experience everything in greater detail here. Think of it as a reservoir of images, perfect for those stories that spill out beyond the simple slideshow. 

Check out the images uploaded today, and listen out for more updates. Summertime is approaching, which means there will so many more exciting people, places, and events to capture. Stay tuned…

Lena Horne in London, 1964

The Brooklyn-born beauty passed on Sunday at 92 years-old, commemorating a life marked by activism, triumph, and elegance during a time in America when the opportunities for black performers were virtually nonexistent.

“You wouldn’t be allowed to get on a particular bus, but you’d be asked to sign your autograph,” Horne said in a 1998 interview with the Chicago Tribune.

Here’s to Lena Horne, and to all of the black actresses and entertainers who did the best they could despite the hostile circumstances. Your work, persistence, and energy will never be forgotten.

Read this glowing biography from the Chicago Tribune, and for the ’80’s babies who remember watching Lena Horne on The Cosby Show:

This post is about two months late (write me up a late pass please), but will continue to be a relevant conversation as ringtone rap still gets top billing across the nation and the world.

“To be lyrical, or not to be lyrical?”

That’s the question that blogger Jay Smooth kicked out to the web world in this recent video, made in response to Georgia rapper Waka Flocka Flame’s comment that he doesn’t care about lyrics, because lyrics won’t bring in the money. 

“I don’t got no lyrics. The n—as who they say is lyrical, they ain’t got no shows … that ain’t finnin’ to get you no money.”

Sigh.

Is it true that lyricism will leave you broke? Watch Jay Smooth’s commentary. It might surprise you…

Sadly, Waka Flocka Flame’s music is generally the only kind that gets the most love on local radio stations. It’s easy for fans to say, “Well, if you don’t like this music, just change the station!” That’s valid point, but what’s important is that with nearly 14,000 registered AM and FM stations in the U.S., that’s a lot of free programming, and a lot of targeted messages being sent across the airwaves to billions of people. Each of us memorizes through repetition, and if the same song gets played three times in an hour, imagine what we’re learning–or not learning–as a culture? The radio is a powerful medium, and according to this video, it certainly doesn’t play what listeners actually spend their money on.

©Nicolas Karakatsanis

Good music and creativity is thriving across the globe. Thanks to Society HAE for introducing us to this Congolese Belgian artist. Watch Baloji’s latest video for “Indépendance cha-cha – Le jour d’après,” and discover more. 

Today the Rebel Diaz Arts Collective hosted a massive May Day Freedom Festival at Union Square in NYC, where hundreds rallied together in protest against the passage of SB1070 in Arizona. People of all ages and backgrounds came together to hear music, speak out, and march the streets.  

“The history of May Day is a date that commemorates the struggle of workers worldwide, and was brought to light by the Haymarket Affair martyrs in Chicago who fought and died for an 8 hr. day. In recent years it has been the date in which the Immigrant Rights movement has taken to the streets to fight for Immigrant and Workers Rights. It is especially important this year with the racist laws that were just passed in the state of Arizona. One of the laws passed, eliminated all ethnic studies programs at state and city colleges and the other one which gives regular cops the power of ICE officials. At RDAC BX we like to think that without Immigrants and Immigration, Hip Hop would not exist. From Kool Herc’s Jamaica influences in his booming sound system, to Greek grafitti artist Taki 183, to the Cuban and Puerto Rican bboys in Rocksteady Crew to Slick Rick from England. Therefore it is Hip Hop’s responsibility to defend Immigrant Rights. It is with this sentiment that we put on the show. This is not your everyday Hip Hop show. It is Hip Hop standing up and performing for a cause. To bring awareness to the struggle of day laborers, to those that pick our tomatoes and grapes, and those that clean the homes of the rich and raise their kids.”

              -Rebel Diaz Arts Collective

Stay tuned for video coverage of the rally and march. What are your thoughts on immigration laws? Has your city or town organized any events? Send in your pictures!

The state of Arizona is up to no good. In an effort to nip illegal immigration in the bud, the House of Representatives passed SB1070, a bill that will allow state police to perform random checks on any individual where “reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the U.S.,” a.k.a. ”any Latino who just might happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Once illegal, the legislation now gives police total freedom to stop anyone suspected of being an illegal immigrant, and arrest anyone for not carrying the required forms of identification. This bill is guaranteed to take racial profiling and hate crimes to new heights across the nation, and violate the rights of all “minority” citizens in the state of Arizona. 

According to representative John Kavanagh (R-Fountain Hills), 

“This updated version gives our local police officers the tools they need to combat illegal immigration, while protecting the civil rights of citizens and legal residents.”

Opponents, like writer Miguel Guadalupe, who wrote a passionate op-ed for The Huffington Post, aren’t buying it:

“What of fellow citizens? What of the millions of US born and naturalized persons, or those who are in the process of becoming so, who might share the physical characteristics of these “outsiders?” Shall we pin our papers to our coats when walking on the street to avoid harassment? Perhaps we should stitch patches to our sleeves so the police can easily tell who we are and what our status is? If you can ask for papers of any one on the street, why not at their homes? Better yet, why not relocate us to a central part of town, so that the authorities can have an easier time monitoring our movements, all in the name of keeping out the undesirables…I fear for an America where liberty can be so fickle and discriminate.”

Read the bill in detail, and find out how you can raise your voice.

Global Girl Media is hoping to change that. An article published in The Atlanta Post details the work of this new non-profit initiative that will give 20 South African teenagers the skills to report on the upcoming World Cup tournament.

The project, called “Kick it Up!” will introduce the girls, ages 15 to 20, to local trained media professionals, teaching them online reporting through blogging, filming, and video editing.

As stated on their website, GlobalGirlMedia.org:

“The perspectives of many poor girls the world over remain marginalized and their voices are often silent. Without access to training and equipment, and computers they can’t share their ideas and communicate with each other. At the same time many girls’ real-life experiences are often absent from larger mainstream news and entertainment outlets, and when they do portray girls, these images often misrepresent their varied worldviews and their real lives and struggles.”

Global Girl Media was created to give underserved young women around the world the confidence and the tools to participate in online media, and to share both their joys and their struggles. Pilot projects are in the works to bring media training to girls in Thailand, India, Mexico, and Kenya.

Visit the Global Girl Media website to find out more about the project, and to learn how you can help change the face of journalism.