The recordings were chosen by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington with the help of the Library’s National Recording Preservation Board for their cultural, aesthetic, or historical impact.

Check out the full list of recordings at the Library of Congress website.

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“We’re definitely gonna come out with Art Official Intelligence III,” Maseo confirmed in an interview with Pedestrian.tv. “The fans have been yearning for that. So we’re gonna put out music and we’re gonna continue to tour. That’s all we do!”

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The group’s last proper album, The Grind Date was released in 2004.  Since then, they have released a mixtape, The Impossible Mission, and a special iTunes only EP in collaboration with Nike, Are You In.

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Grind Music Producers Sean C & LV remember the late DJ/Producer Grandmaster Roc Raida.

It hasn’t even been a year since hip-hop lost one of its most innovative talents, DJ Grand Master Roc Raida, but it’s never too soon to pay homage. In this interview with producers Sean C and LV remember the turntable champion and founding member of the DJ collective, The X-ecutioners.

While most people know Sean C for his production for P.Diddy, Jay-Z, Ghostface and many others, most forget that he was an original member of The X-Men before becoming an A&R at Loud Records.  Here he shares how he met Roc Raida as a teen, the evolution of their friendship and being at his side during his final hours after a martial arts accident.

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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:)

Rah Digga “Ain’t No Little Kid Rap”

Digga Digga takes us all back to school in the first single from her Nottz-produced album, Classic.

Leaders Of The New School “Case Of The PTA”

A teenaged Busta Rhymes and his former group mates Dinco D and Charlie Brown spazz out over their school’s Parent Teacher Association. We’d just like to state for the record that there is nothing wrong with chillin with Pops listening to The Blues.

Special Ed, “I Got It Made”

I remember a few of my friends in East Flatbush being mad that Ed filmed this video by Tilden H.S. when he attended Erasmus Hall, but Ed explains that wasn’t exactly accurate: “I got kicked out of Erasmus before the album [Youngest In Charge] dropped and ended up in Tilden my last year,” Ed told TheUrbanDaily. “The producer liked filming in front of Tilden more.”

KRS-One, “You Must Learn”  The teacher gets thrown out of a school for letting knowledge reign supreme. How gangster is it to flatten a cardboard dog with a steamroller?

Monie Love, “Monie In The Middle”

This clip features BP’s very own Big CED playing Monie Love’s schoolboy crush.

Kid-N-Play, “Rollin With Kid-N-Play”

One of the first rap groups with their own Saturday Morning cartoon filmed this video at East Elmhurst High School in Queens, NY. Is this where they learned how to be tramps?

Missy, “Gossip Folks”

The slimmest Missy ever took her ADIDAS spokeswomanship to a local high school for a  hip-hop version of GLEE.

Missy elliot-gossip folks ft ludacris
Uploaded by rikma. – Explore more music videos.

Lil Mama, “Lipgloss”

It’s kind of sad that she’s more known now for an onstage fail than her music. The intro where she says “I wanna be a part of the cool crowd, I just don’t think I have what it takes” has a whole other meaning now.

Lil mama- lip gloss_ memorex
Uploaded by memorexNYC. – Watch more music videos, in HD!

Soulja Boy Tell’em – Yahhh! / Report Card ft. Arab

Is the joke on us that he made a hit song out of grunt? The video for “Report Card” kicks in at 3:47 mark. This is where the class has gone.

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While we were busy telling you who the most expendable rap group members were, our friends over at  theBVX have been wishing upon a star for some hip-hop reunions. What are the chances of these groups getting back in the studio? Read on and let us know what you think.

1) A Tribe Called Quest

Last heard: On 1998′s “The Love Movement”
Legacy: After signing a demo deal with Geffen Records, Tribe released five albums together, including their classic 1993 album, “Midnight Marauders.” But they broke up in 1998, partly due to issues with their label Jive Zomba and put out solo projects.
Chances of reuniting: Not very likely. Tribe is actually scheduled to perform the MM album in its entirety at this summer’s Rock The Bells shows. But a true Tribe reunion has been discussed so many times in the past now, we have a hard time believing it will ever actually happen. Maybe they’ll surprise us one of these days..

READ THE REST AT THEBVX.COM!

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De La Soul, my favorite rap group of all time, bring some new heat paying tribute to turntablist Grandmixer D. ST.
“Return Of D.ST” may or may not be on their forthcoming 8th album You’re Welcome but I’ll enjoy it just the same.

Props to Soulculture

De La Soul – The Return of DST by Hypetrak

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With the recent announcement that Bun B’s brand new album, Trill O.G. received a perfect 5-Mic rating from The Source, it’s only fitting that we take a look at all of the albums that have received the coveted rating.

44 albums in the magazine’s history have been given a perfect rating.  29 of them have been given retroactively.  The other 14 were received at the time of release.  It’s those 14 that we’ll be focusing on here.

The Source was dogged in the early 2000s amidst accusations that a good rating, which had become as important as a Grammy Award, was bought by the artist.  While many of their ratings were valid, there were more than a few head scratchers in the magazine’s later years.

A Tribe Called Quest
People’s Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm

I remembered two Tribe albums getting five mics, but I always thought it was The Low End Theory and Midnight Marauders that got a perfect score.  But lo-and-behold, research proves that Marauders only got four mics.  While it’s very difficult to listen to an album 20 years after its release and get back to the mindset of the hip-hop fan in 1990, I honestly can say that I never viewed Tribe’s first album as a classic.  Does it have classic songs?  Most definitely.  “Bonita Applebum,” “Can I Kick It?” “Footprints,” “Luck Of Lucien” are all hands down some of the best that hip-hop has ever seen, but the album feels a bit uneven and scattered.

Eric B. & Rakim
Let The Rhythm Hit ‘Em

This is another album that I never realized received a perfect rating.  Why?  Because Eric B & Rakim’s albums got progressively worse as their four album career went on.  Rhythm being their third album was not as good as Follow The Leader, and definitely not as good as their debut, Paid In Full (which was awarded 5-mics long after it’s release… a rating I highly contest due to the inclusion of songs like “Chinese Arithmetic,” “Extended Beat,” and, depending on the day you ask, “Eric B Is On The Cut.”)  Rhythm‘s title track is classic status, as is “Mahogany,” but once again, I never saw this album as being five-mic material.

Ice Cube
AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted

Ice Cube’s split from N.W.A. was probably the best thing that could have ever happened to the rapper, who penned most of the group’s lyrics.  His defection from the group led him to leave the west coast for the east where he linked up with the legendary Bomb Squad production crew, who produced all of Public Enemy’s classic albums.  The switch in production crews wasn’t as different, as a lot of N.W.A.’s sound had that Bomb Squad-esque, chaotic collage feel. The result of Cube’s collaboration with the Squad resulted in an album that built upon N.W.A.’s penchant for shock factor and married it with Public Enemy’s politics.  This album was very unique at the time of it’s release and deserved it’s five-mic rating.

Brand Nubian
One For All

Brand Nubian were almost like a 1990s Miami Heat with three legit soloists-Lord Jamar, Sadat X and Grand Puba-creating a hip-hop rarity: a group with no weak link. Puba’s salacious wordplay was balanced by Jamar’s rugged baritone and Sadat’s nasaled tales from the hood. Hailing from the outer reaches of the New Rochelle they extended the hoods borders a little further north incorporating the 5 Percent teachings with break beats funky enough for the radio and the clubs. One For All spawned two classics “Wake Up” and “Slow Down” along with the title track of this undisputed masterpiece.

De La Soul
De La Soul Is Dead

The Long Island, NY trio one-upped their instant classic debut, 3 Feet High & Rising, on the follow-up. De La Soul Is Dead was a conscious effort to abandon the D.A.I.S.Y. Age/pseudo-hippie image that people associated with them based on their debut.  The result was one of the most engaging and interesting hip-hop albums ever released.  They toughened up their sound and lyrics without sounding like they were fakin’ the funk yet still kept the sense of humor and quirkiness that made fans and critics alike fall head over heels for 3 Feet High & Rising.  Is De La Soul Is Dead perfect?   Far from it, but its imperfections are what made the album, as well as De La themselves, endearing and an album that still sounds fresh and fun 19 years later.  This one deserved its five mics.

A Tribe Called Quest
The Low End Theory

The difference between Tribe’s debut album and their second, The Low End Theory, is like night and day.  They may sound similar, but for the first time, Tribe put together a focused album.  Though it starts to lag a little towards the end (when’s the last time you listened to “Skypager?”), all is forgotten once one of hip-hop’s greatest posse cuts, “Scenario,” closes out the album.  Five mic worthy?  One could make a case for giving it four-and-a-half, but anything less than that would be absolutely criminal.

Nas
Illmatic

The album that really sparked the whole craze behind The Source’s mic rating system was Illmatic.  Miss Info’s five-mic review of Nas’ debut was both a blessing and a curse for the Queensbridge rapper.  His subsequent albums would always be compared to this one and each one seemed more and more disappointing.  Illmatic was pure NYC hip-hop — raw, intelligent, rewind-worthy, quotable, and it knocked in the whip.  The Source got it right on this one.

The Notorious B.I.G.
Life After Death

With Biggie dying shortly before this album’s release, it’s easy to peg The Source’s five-mic review of his second album as just a nod to an MC that died far too soon. And you’d be right.  While Life After Death has no shortage of great songs, it’s length as a double album was it’s biggest flaw.  If cut down to a single disc, Life After Death probably could have been better than Ready To Die.  But the beauty in this album is that most people probably would not be able to agree on what songs to keep and what songs to trash. However, since we are stuck with all twenty four songs, this album probably should’ve been knocked down to a four-and-a-half, at best.

Outkast
Aquemini

Outkast’s finest moment, hands down, and worthy of about six more mics.  We’ll even let “Mamacita” slide.

Jay-Z
The Blueprint

I will be totally honest.  I was not checking for Jay-Z until The Blueprint dropped.  Jay had singles that I liked, but I didn’t consider myself a fan until The Blueprint.  The production was fresh. Jay probably hadn’t been this inspired in the studio since Reasonable Doubt.  He captured lightning in a bottle on this album.  He’s been chasing this album ever since, and hasn’t come close, with the exception of The Black Album. The Source hit the nail on the head.

Nas
Stillmatic

And here is where The Source’s mic ratings all went downhill.  After a string of disappointing albums (hello Nastradamus!), Nas probably sounded better on Stillmatic than on any album since his debut, but this album was nowhere near five-mic worthy. Nas’ album of outtakes and leftovers, The Lost Tapes, was way better than this.

Scarface
The Fix

Scarface is one of hip-hop’s most underrated emcees. When The Fix was released, most of us were expecting a monster album, and based on songs like “Guess Who’s Back” and “My Block” it seemed like that’s what we were going to get.  But after listening to the album, it’s hard to understand why the album got a perfect score.  Perhaps it was just Scarface’s lifetime achievement award?

Lil’ Kim
The Naked Truth

By this point in the Source’s life cycle, the mic rating system ceased to have any sort of meaning.  When it was announced that Lil’ Kim had received a five-mic rating for this album, which featured the song “Lighters Up,” most people agreed that The Source had no authority or credibility left in hip-hop.

Bun B.
Trill O.G.

The Source had the internet all abuzz in the days before it was announced that Bun B’s Trill O.G. had received a five-mic rating.  The mag released a list of great albums released in 2010 saying that one of them would receive instant classic status in its upcoming issue.  While we have yet to hear the album, Bun B definitely has it in him to release an album worthy of five mics, but is it another situation like The Fix?  Is this just a lifetime achievement award, or a consolation for the loss of his partner in UGK, Pimp C?

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Hundreds of hip-hop fans braved threats of rain to gather in DUMBO for the sixth annual Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival.

Brooklyn Bodega brought together 3/5 of the producers of Illmatic (Large Professor, Pete Rock and DJ Premier) all on stage together for the first time in US history, united Q-Tip and Maureen “Ma Dukes” Yancey for an in-depth discussion on the late, great J Dilla for the first time ever on record, assembled a loaded line up of legendary DJs including the first session with DJ Rob Swift (of The X-ecutioners) and DJ Rhettmatic (of the Beat Junkies) since 1996 for tonight’s “Salute The DJ” and hosted De La Soul’s first major NYC show in 9 years.

Check out photos and videos from a historic weekend!

De La Soul rock the stage:

Pete Rock sounding like DJ Premier in an interview. Ha!

Q-Tip pretty much sums up how I feel about this song IN this song: “For our generation we’re still the cool kids…” Just hearing Dres from Black Sheep, Q-Tip, Dave from De La Soul and Mike Gee from The Jungle Brothers on one song is an amazing treat for anyone who is old enough to remember crying when Optimus Prime died.

The Native Tongues, a family of groups made up of A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, The Jungle Brothers and Black Sheep are a modern day equivalent of the Soulquarians…umm..Young Money honestly…there is nothing out right now that is quite like the Native Tongues. You would have to take four hot groups, not just solo artists, and then bring them all together to make a song. Can you say mission impossible?

I guess that’s what makes this song “Birds Of a Feather” even more special. It’s a reunion track of the Native Tongue family featured on Dres of Black Sheep’s upcoming project From the Black Pool of Genius. Check it out. [props to Potholesinmyblog]

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Rap has been in a downward spiral for sometime. If this was the nineties when I was in love with Hip Hop it would be hard to make a Top 100 list. Still their were tons of dope Hip Hop songs in the 00s. Here’s my Top 10, for today at least.

10. “Ooh” by De La Soul Ft Redman. This song can rock a party and has some of my favorite lyricists of all time.

9. “I’m Black” By Styles P. Dope song about the realities and pride of being an African American. Sucks they didn’t make this a single.

8. “What You Know” by T.I. This song has a dope beat a dope hook and T.I. rides the beat impeccably.

7. “Home” by Kanye West. This is a dope love song for Chicago. It was supposed to be on College Dropout but he used the lyrics later for homecoming on Graduation.

6. “Killa Cam” By Cam’ron. This is Cam at his best, nonsensical gangsta rap nursery rhymes over a dope soulful beat.

5. “Get By Remix” By Talib Queli Ft. Mos Def, Jay Z, Busta Rhymes and Kanye West. The original was dope but he addition of Mos, Jay and Kanye put it over the edge.

4. “Hate It Or Love It” By The Game Ft. 50 Cent. Neither rapper has been as good as they where on this song. Rather than glorifying gangsterism like they do on other songs they actually look inwards for the causes of it.

3. “Heart Of The City” Jay-Z. It’s hard to pick my favorite song off the Blueprint but this one represents the whole album to me. Jay presents his rap veteran status and the hate that comes along with it perfectly over a soulful beat and hook.

2. “Got Yourself” By Nas. I thought Nas was done after “Takeover” but he came back hard and intelligent. This song represents his re-birth.

1. “Wishing” By Ed O G And Masta Ace. I wouldn’t have even heard this song if it wasn’t for the Boondocks. Truly dope song by two of rap’s best veterans with a positive message and a soulful beat.

Mick Boogie and Terry Urban rounded up a gang of MCs and producers to pay tribute to De La Soul. The mixtape features the likes of Homeboy Sandman, Asheru, Tanya Morgan, Camp Lo, CurT@!n$, Big Pooh, Talib Kweli, ESSO and many more. With production from 6th Sense, The Kickdrums, Apple Juice Kid, Remot, Christian Rich, J. Rawls, etc.

Check out Tanya Morgan’s remake of “Breakadawn” produced by my man 6th Sense.

DOWNLOAD HERE

If the early hip-hop industry had a “village square,” an epicenter, one place where everyone had to be, it was the annual New Music Seminar in New York City.

In the wake of the music business’ post-disco crash, the New Music Seminar began in 1981 as a one-day event at a music rehearsal studio, a gathering place for young industry executives to talk about the future. The first speaker was Bob Pittman, who had just launched an obscure cable channel called “Music Television.” Ten years later, the “NMS” had become a multi-day, multi-venue affair featuring panels, performances, a week-long, citywide music festival, and a legendary MC and DJ “Battle for World Supremacy.”

It was at this battle in 1986 that an unknown DJ named Jeff Townes and his sidekick MC, Will Smith, got their first exposure outside their native Philadelphia. DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince were just one of countless hip-hop groups in 1980s and early 1990s that launched their careers at the New Music Seminar. De La Soul, Public Enemy and A Tribe Called Quest are just some of the artists who broke through in part because of the NMS.

The New Music Seminar sparked many imitators like South By Southwest in Austin, Gavin in San Francisco, and the Winter Music Conference in Miami. But by the mid 1990s, the NMS had been superseded by its competitors, and fizzled out.

“We sold out to the majors and diluted ourselves,” recalled NMS co-founder Tom Silverman, who sold his interest in the Seminar, focusing instead on his other company, Tommy Boy Records.

Over a decade later, in the wake of another crash prompted by digital downloading, Silverman has decided to relaunch the venerable convention.

“I had been asked to bring back NMS at least 10 times over the last seven years,” Silverman said, “But this time was different.  I had spoken on four panels this year in Toronto, Kingston, Jamaica, New York, and San Diego and each time, the audience was filled with artists looking for someone to give them real advice and information that would make a difference in their careers. But each time the panel was charged with debating some music industry issue like digital rights management or synch placements or the future of music on mobile phones… hardly the stuff the audience wanted or needed to hear about.”

The new New Music Seminar, happening tomorrow, July 21, at New York University’s Skirball Center, will focus on what Silverman calls “four critical concepts”: 1) redefining what success is in the new industry; 2) creating a fan base in the digital age; 3) helping artists differentiate themselves from others; and 4) breaking through the “elusive 300 ticket mark” on live performances.

This years seminar will feature a panel hosted by MTV’s Sway.

Another improvement over the previous incarnation of the New Music Seminar is the price, with walk-up registration available at $150, significantly reduced from the hundreds of dollars it cost to register in years past.

Find all the details at www.NewMusicSeminar.biz.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of 3 Feet High and Rising De La Soul gave Rollingstone Magazine a track by track break down of each song.

The first time I heard De La Soul was a 12″ of “Plug Tunin” that my cousin had borrowed from a friend. This was back in 1988 when hip-hop wasn’t played on the radio 24 hours a day so to hear a new song was damn near an event. If it wasn’t on Video Music Box we had to wait until Red Alert or Mr. Magic came on at night. So we huddled around a plastic Fisher Price turntable and prayed the batteries lasted long enough to make it to the end of the song. I think having to actually seek out and find the music is what made us appreciate it more. The slowed down sample of The Invitations “Written On The Wall” was unlike anything else out at the time and then they followed up with “Potholes In My Lawn” which was a strange statement on so many levels. Here you had these guys from Long Island talking about potholes, which were a scourge of the inner city roadways, but in their front lawns? In my part of Flatbush, Brooklyn the closest thing to a lawn was that little patch of grass by the lamp post that the dogs peed in.  But it turned out to be a  fantastic metaphor for biting styles that lives on til today for those of us that remember.

A lot of folks throw around the word “classic” in reference to albums that have come out in the past few years and as hip-hop matures we’re finding out who really deserved that title. As a longtime hip-hop fan and supporter it’s a privilege to be able to look back TWENTY YEARS at a project that I grew up listening to and know that it really was that good. Furthermore, when you look at all of the groups that have broken up after two albums the fact that Pos, Mase and Dave are still recording together is even more incredible.

So take a moment to read De La’s memories and hope that in 20 years your favorite artist will be around to do the same.

VIA DX:

De La Soul’s Posdnuos recently took time to speak about the group’s upcoming album, You’re Welcome.

“We have several tracks that are coming together incredibly,” said Pos, according to Entertainment Weekly. Included amongst the songs are “We Are (For the People),” featuring vocals from Chuck D and Flavor Flav (get out those running shoes!), as well as a song titled “We Are God.”

Pos also revealed that the group also hopes to get a feature from Damon Albarn, Blur’s lead singer and mastermind behind the Gorillaz.

De La Soul met Albarn after appearing on the Gorillaz’ 2005 hit “Feel Good Inc.,” featured on their multi-platinum album Demon Days.

In addition, Posdnuos discoled that De La Soul has contributed vocals to two songs so far for the next Gorillaz album, which is tentatively titled Plastic Beach. The working titles for the songs are “Sloped Tropics” and “Electric Shock.” The latter has the same name as one of the Gorillaz demos Albarn debuted on BBC Radio 1 in January of this year.

In related news, De La Soul released a 10-track mix of running music comissioned by Nike titled Are You In?

VIA DX:

Pioneering Hip Hop group De La Soul will partner with Nike label SportMusic to release their first full album in five years on Tuesday [click to read]. The project, a 44-minute workout LP titled Are You In?, will release as the trio celebrates the twentieth anniversary of their hailed debut, 3 Feet High and Rising.

“The set we did is an actual album, with eight or nine songs, not one long deejay set,” says group member Posdnuos. “We recorded the songs and took them to Nike for feedback, and then brought in Flosstradamus to mix it all together.”

The group chose to work with Nike instead of an independent or Big Four record label and found that the brand encouraged creativity, something they felt was lacking from major labels.

Click here to read the full story! Does De La Soul make our 100 Celebs gallery list? Check below:

VIA Press Release:

Babelgum announced that Ceri Levy’s Bananaz, about virtual cartoon band Gorillaz, has launched worldwide today on the new, Flash-driven Babelgum website and on its mobile video applications.

This is the first ever global, on-line premiere of the film simultaneously on web and mobile, prior to its subsequent theatrical release via EMI including DVD and broadcast rights worldwide.

Bananaz is an un-sanitized, free-wheeling documentary film spanning from 2000-2006, taking down the virtual walls of Gorillaz in an intimate, honest and often hilarious account of the working relationship between Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett and their extraordinary creative process.

The documentary reveals the creation of this virtual band from first drawings, animations, music and the musicians, to the faces behind the voices of Murdoc, 2D, Noodle and Russel Hobbs, and showcases appearances from many of those who occasionally pass through this virtual band including Dennis Hopper, De la Soul, Ibrahim Ferrer, Danger Mouse, Dan the Automator, D12, Bootie Brown, Ike Turner and Neneh Cherry.

You can watch the FULL documentary by clicking here!

Hip-Hop is not dead. Thanks to Ivan and Aaron at Hip-Hop Is Read for this gem.