I guarantee most of you readers have heard about the whole Chris Brown beating Rihanna situation.  It’s been all over the news for a while and frankly I think it’s incredibly absurd that this could happen.  I’m definitely with the crowd that’s reacting strongly to violence against women.  It’s unacceptable and genuinely makes me angry to hear about.
Still, I think my outrage pales in comparison to that of the black community.  This is an interesting phenomenon that has been popping up.  Besides Terrance Howard being a doofus and supporting Chris, …

It’s urgirlash always bringing you the coolest in hip hop and R&B with my girl angieBfresh on ‘The Corner’ and now I am bringing it to the fans of 4080 records. With Valentine’s Day coming up soon I have the playlist to play for your significant other that is guaranteed to put you two in the mood. There are some classics, popular picks and up and coming artists featured on the playlist. Whether you have been together forever, going through some rough patches or have yet to tell someone …

We’ve talked this over and over, but now it honestly seems like something good is happening in Zimbabwe.  I know it’s been a minute since we did a politics post, but this needed to be said.
Zimbabwe is one of the worst economic situations in history.  It’s inflation rate is so high that most retailers don’t even take the local currency anymore.  In fact, Zimbabwe recently cut 12 zeros off the end of their currency just to make it reasonable.
Months ago, when it seemed clear that the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangrai …

At the risk of becoming 4080YouTube, I thought I’d toss this up here.  It entertained me as another one of those silly little YouTube geekraps.

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At the Grammy’s a few nights ago, a very pregnant M.I.A. performed.  In fact, it was actually her due date!
In the words of Queen Latifah, this was a hip hop ‘rap pack’.  Yes, that was a Latifah play on the ‘rat pack’ nickname.  Still, it’s not everyday you’ll see M.I.A, Jay-Z, Kanye, TI and Lil’ Wayne all perform together on the same track.
It seemed to be one of the biggest hip hop Grammy performances in recent memory, which is definitely a good thing.  Plus, it’s not really that bad.

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Sites all over the internet have been going crazy for this new mixtape.  Okay, definitely not new, since it came out back in Feb of 2007.  But somehow I, and many others, slept on this. 
J. Sands of Lone Catalysts fame decided to lay down a bunch of tracks over some Dilla beats.  The mixtape, entitled Mrs. Sands.
You can stream some of the tracks off Sands’ MySpace if you want a taste.  Not bad, check out the track “Love feat. Rashad“.  It’ll give you a good idea of what the …

For as long as I’ve been paying attention to hip hop, Will Smith (as The Fresh Prince) has always been a major presence.  It’s the squeaky-clean family fun type rap that everyone can get behind.  It was insanely successful and has continued to be huge in syndication for the last few years.
The iconic opening sequence of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air wil forever be burned into my memory, and not just because of the wicked neon clothing Smith rocks in it.
Here’s the extended intro (which is rare enough, and kind …

Lil’ Wayne has decided that his next venture needs to be into the realm of rock music.  The album, titled Rebirth, has been getting surprisingly good press so far.  The first two singles (Prom Queen and Hot Revolver) have been getting all kinds of love from Pitchfork.
Pitchfork, quite frankly, is the last site I thought would get on the Wayne rock train, but I guess they were swayed by him somehow.
Critically, I should note that without a doubt I dig this album more than Kayne’s 808 and Heartbreaks.  At least …