http://theurbandaily.com/music/jbarrow/back-to-school-10-classy-rap-videos/

Music in the schools has been on the decline in more ways than one.  Now that everyone is gearing up to send their little ones back to the classroom (or reuniting with their long-distance loves in the dorms) I wanted to take a trip down memory lane to when school was cool enough to be a guest star in rap video.

De La Soul “Me Myself And I”

Pos, Dave and Mase lament getting assigned to take classes in rap with Professor Def Beat. If you look real close you can spot one of our wonderful HelloBeautiful staffers smacking Dave upside his head:)

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http://nwso.net/2010/09/02/no-ac/

Thanx to everyone that voted in the 2010 Black Weblog Awards. Unfortunately, there are no plaques for NWSO this year, just a few new readers and a couple press ops. If that ain’t a win then I don’t know what is. Congrats to my fellow bloggers that did take home top honors. It’s well deserved.

It’s hard to believe but it’s September already and this coming Monday will mark the American holiday known as Labor Day aka the unofficial end of summer. There’s still three weeks before the autumnal equinox, but BBQ season is a wrap come next week. Well, at least States side.

Yesterday, while getting dressed for work, I was watching the news when the anchor noted that this was the hottest summer in New York on record. Surprisingly, I survived the numerous 90-degree days without the assistance of an AC.

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It is my privilege to introduce you to a director who I believe is on course to becoming a major creative force in Hollywood. Her name is Ava DuVernay, a talented writer/director responsible for the new BET Original Documentary “My Mic Sounds Nice,” and “The Essence Music Festival” special that is currently airing on TV One, as well as another Essence documentary that covers the festival’s hugely popular empowerment panels. Already an award-winning director for her previous documentary “This is the Life,” as well as the short film, “Saturday Night Life,” DuVernay is at the threshold of endless possibilities.

The Robertson Treatment recently caught up the busy director during a break from her first film project “I Will Follow,” to get the scoop on her growing career.

Robertson Treatment: The year is not even over and yet you’ve managed to direct 3 major projects for television, how did you do it?

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D-Nice Presents Soul Survivors: Eric Benet from D-Nice on Vimeo.

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'Don't call it a comeback, I've been here for years!' LL Cool J.....

That may be the best comeback line EVER and it made such an impact at that time that I don't think anyone else can make such a statement and mean it the way LL did. Sure, Micheal Jordan kept it simple with two words, 'I'm back!', but we knew he left and didn't, in any way, believe he was finished and we didn't dare write him off in any way imaginable. But, before LL's infamous comeback line, he was written off, sent to the 'old school rappers home' and left for dead in the world of Hip Hop. Not only was it a blazing shot to the world, but his proclamation that he never left, lyrically 'knocked you out' as his mama told him!

Now you ask, why is this relevant and what does that have to do with what I'm writing today? Well, allow me to tell you! I've been in this game for over 23 years and I'm still here. The people who have known me for years, know that I'm vocal and straight forward with what I do. My face has been many places, my words have been read all over, my views known all over the internet. I was known to make things happen, for being a part of whatever was going on, known to be ahead of the game in terms of what was new. And then, in recent years, although I've never gone anywhere, the frequency of my posts have virtually diminished. I'm not at all the parties anymore. I'm not seen and/or heard from as much. But, that's about to change!

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http://mybrownbaby.blogspot.com/2010/08/bringing-up-boogie-spanking-time-outs.html

When I was a kid, I was always in trouble for doing something stupid. I don’t have the space to go into detail, but just trust: If there was an absurd way to break a rule before it was even a rule, I found that way. (“No luging on the front steps!”) I was threatened with beatings um... I mean spankings. I was never grounded because well, I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere anyway so what were my parents going to do? Ban me from the kitchen? (“You can’t open the oven!”)

While spankings worked on me, they didn’t for my youngest brother. On the rare occasion that my other brother would get in trouble—usually inspired by something that was the baby’s idea—he didn’t need spankings. A stern word or yelling would send him into an avalanche of apologies and “I’ll never do it agains.” I don’t remember my sister ever getting a spanking or even in trouble.... I’m going to have to investigate that further. Mostly, my friends were grounded, given time outs, or deprived of their favorite toys or activities while they were encouraged to “think about what they did.” When I became a parent, I was so dazed and confused that I didn’t really read up or study various punishment methods. I just figured, like my parents did, that I would know based on the personality of my kid.

And then Boogie happened.

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http://aliyasking.com/2010/08/26/writing-101-frequently-asked-questions/

I pride myself on being available to up and coming writers who are trying to get a toehold in this elusive industry. I don’t always get back to folks as quickly as I’d like. But I do try to get back–even if all I have to say is that I don’t have any answers for you.

In the past few weeks, I’ve gotten a lot of similar questions via email, FB, Twitter and formspring.

I thought it might be helpful if I tackled some of the most popular questions I get in one informative post. Enjoy! (And bookmark it! And forward it! And email it! And all that good stuff.)

1. How can I get a staff writer position at a magazine? Can a freelancer be hired to a staff position?

First, we do know that journalism is a tough game to get into. I am NOT one of those people who believe journalism is dead. But it is more difficult to navigate these days. You need to come with an arsenal of skills that set you apart from everyone else who will want that job.

If you’re a college student, you should be writing for your college paper–a lot. If you graduated from college and you don’t have a ton of clips from your college paper (and perhaps a few local outlets), then I can’t help you. (Well, it can be done. But it will be much harder.)

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